The NRA has apparently decided that
the "Connecticut effect" has had enough time to fade—and the gun lobby group celebrated by
robocalling residents of Newtown, urging them to oppose new gun laws in Connecticut:
"I received one of these," Newtown resident Christopher Wenis wrote on Facebook Thursday afternoon. "I was insulted and offended." Wenis told The Huffington Post in an interview Friday night that in the 36 hours since he first posted his response, he received two more robocalls from the NRA, one later on Thursday night and one on Friday evening.
"I've got a 5-year-old son who went to preschool on the Sandy Hook Elementary School campus," Wenis explained. "And this was a really hard week for me on a lot of levels. These calls were the very last thing I needed."
Wenis said that he called the NRA twice to request that his name be placed on a "Do Not Call List"—first on Tuesday and again Thursday. He said an NRA phone operator assured him he would be removed from NRA call lists. But the calls kept coming. By Friday night, Wenis said, he was desperate to be left in peace.
The NRA insists it's just calling its members and supporters in Connecticut, but the calls seem to be going to Newtown residents who are neither, and are pissed about it. While the gun lobby group appears to be fighting a losing battle against expanded gun-control measures in Connecticut, it has
regained some of its sway in Washington, DC, and will likely be able to block federal legislation requiring universal background checks
supported by 88 percent of Americans and 85 percent of gun owners. Which just goes to show, when an NRA lobbyist said the group had to wait for the "Connecticut effect" to "go through the process," he wasn't talking about Connecticut, or about voters. He was talking about NRA lobbying overcoming the short memories of Washington politicians.
Tell the NRA: Stop calling residents of Newtown.