The National Rifle Association executive director Wayne LaPierre spoke in Washington, DC, Friday to deliver a statement in response to the Newtown shootings.
In the speech, LaPierre said that the violent films and video games influenced killers and called for Congress to pass a law that would put armed officers in every school. "The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun," LaPierre said.
His comments were immediately met by the expected liberal backlash, but some top conservative figures also found his comments ill-timed.
RedState.com editor-in-chief and radio show host Erick Erickson tweeted:
Senior contributor to the Daily Caller, Matt K Lewis, said "snarky media types" are part of the problem and was disatisfied with LaPierre's comments:
Conservative commentators – including New York Post columnist and Commentary magazine editor, John Podhoretz – felt LaPierre's rhetoric increased the political divide on gun crime discussions.
Republican strategist John Weaver called the NRA's response a "train wreck" and "tone deaf".
Journalist Melissa Hayes covers New Jersey politics and shared a dispatch from the state's Republcian governor Chris Christie:
Mediaite reports that former RNC chairman Michael Steele called LaPierre's speech "very haunting and very disturbing."
I just think that this was a missed opportunity to create another conversation at a higher level where the American people are right now. This incident cut to the bone. This is unlike anything that's come before it because it did involve such precious young people and it really starkly called us to think about our society, those issues, not just gun control laws but mental health and a whole bunch of other things I think the NRA could have brought to the table, the idea that the message, the top line message out of this press conference is let's put a gun in the hands of teachers in our classroom and I do not think that's where rank-and-file NRA members expected this to go to.
And some, including David Frum of The Daily Beast, chose to be more blunt:
Fox News Andy Levy:
