NRA dismisses calls for more background checks after shootings as ‘rhetoric for billionaire activists and campaign rallies’

In a lengthy Twitter statement put out on Thursday, the National Rifle Association (NRA) responded to recent calls for new background check laws in the wake of the El Paso and Dayton shootings as "rhetoric for billionaire activists and campaign rallies."

In the statement, which can be found below, the pro-gun organization expresses "our deepest sympathies to the families and victims in El Paso and Dayton," before addressing recent gun control proposals that have come up in the wake of the shooting.

"Real solutions save lives – televised, choreographed spectacles don’t," the statement said. "In support of this goal, we appreciate the need for honest and open dialogue on how to stop these horrific murders."

To the end of finding real solutions, the Second Amendment group said, "We must invest in law enforcement, demonstrating a real commitment to the job they do to protect us, and we must prosecute those who commit crimes with a gun under the federal gun laws to the fullest extent possible."

However, in response to other gun control proposals, the group also added, "It is not enough anymore to simply say that 'we need more background checks.' Considering both suspects in El Paso and Dayton passed them, that is rhetoric for billionaire activists and campaign rallies – not a call for constructive progress."

In recent days, congressional Democrats have called for the Senate to reconvene from its summer recess in order to take up a House-passed background check measure that was sent to the upper chamber earlier this year. On a recent trip to visit shooting victims and their families, President Donald Trump discussed the possibility of "bring[ing] up background checks like we've never had before."

However, both suspects bought their firearms legally, indicating that the House-passed bill wouldn't have done anything to prevent either of them from getting guns. As CR senior editor Daniel Horowitz explained earlier this week, “Basic criminology teaches that most murderers first build up a prior rap sheet before committing the ultimate offense. … Unfortunately, most of these mass murderers defy that trend.”

The NRA's statement also touched on recent "red flag" gun confiscation proposals, which have found support from the president and are currently being worked on in Congress.

"It is the NRA’s long-standing position that those who have been adjudicated as a danger to themselves or others should not have access to firearms and should be admitted for treatment," the statement says. "But, there needs to be real evidence of danger – and we cannot sacrifice anyone’s constitutional rights without due process."

Those who have been "adjudicated as a mental defective" or "committed to a mental institution" are already prohibited from purchase guns legally under federal law.

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