title:  NRA Breaks Silence On Orlando By Claiming ‘Political Correctness’ Caused The Massacre
text: As is typical for the NRA whenever there s a high-profile shooting, they waited days before issuing a real statement on Orlando. They likely do this so they can craft a statement that makes themselves and all gun owners out to be the real victims, instead of calling the shooting what it was and using their considerable clout to work on doing something real about it.In the case of the Orlando massacre, they re saying Obama s politically correct refusal to actually go after radical Islamic terrorists is what caused this. Chris Cox, executive director of the NRA s Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA), wrote an op-ed that was published in USA Today about the whole tragedy. As expected, he toed the party line instead of saying something of substance. But the real gem was the second paragraph: The terrorist in Orlando had been investigated multiple times by the FBI. He had a government-approved security guard license with a contractor for the Department of Homeland Security. Yet his former co-workers reported violent and racist comments. Unfortunately, the Obama administration s political correctness prevented anything from being done about it. Funny thing is, he just debunked the NRA s whole argument that this is Obama s fault right there. By mentioning how Omar Mateen was on the FBI s radar for possible ties to terrorist groups, Cox completely destroyed his own argument. Mateen was able to get his guns legally despite having been the subject of two FBI investigations for ties to radical Islamic groups because of the NRA, not Obama, and certainly not  political correctness. Mateen had no criminal record and already had a concealed carry permit as a licensed security officer. It s not clear whether he was on any terror watch lists, but even if he had been, he may still have been legally able to buy guns. Senate Republicans might have been able to stop this, but instead, they killed a bill that would have prevented suspected terrorists from buying guns last year, on the grounds that it would only hurt innocent Americans who happen to end up on that list for no reason.They ll do anything to maintain their A+ ratings with the NRA. Who cares who dies? The NRA s blessings are the only things that matter here.For its own part, the NRA-ILA once wrote about a study saying criminals don t get their guns legally anyway. The implication there is that we can t stop criminals from getting guns, so everything we could do to prevent even some criminals from getting guns is pointless.In fact, the NRA s policies actually serve to arm criminals, potential terrorists and other violent people more easily. John Fugelsang said it perfectly with this tweet:Guns don t kill ppl, but NRA ppl who own Congress ppl make it very easy for deranged ppl to get guns & kill innocent ppl.  John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) June 14, 2016But we don t need a tweet to prove this. The Coalition To Stop Gun Violence has a list of all the ways the NRA s work actually arms dangerous people:For details on just how the NRA accomplishes each of these items, click on the link above.The laxness that allowed Mateen to get his guns exists because of the NRA s  more guns everywhere  crusade. The massacre at the Pulse nightclub didn t happen because Obama is too weak and politically correct to do something about radical Islamic terrorism. It happened in large part because the NRA created the very environment that allowed Mateen to get his guns. To blame Obama and his  political correctness  is a gross and disgusting insult to everyone who has died at the hands of someone with a gun. Guns don t kill people, people kill people,  is what the NRA s entire agenda boils down to. But a gun makes it far, far easier for a murderer to murder. The NRA is cold and callous, and Cox s attempt to twist this into a problem of  political correctness  is absolutely vile.Featured image by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images