NRA chief slams 'shameful politicisation' of Florida tragedy

February 22, 2018 22:10

The head of America's National Rifle Association today lashed out at critics of the powerful gun lobby, accusing them of exploiting last week's deadly school shooting in Florida for political advantage.

In his first public comments since the Parkland shooting that left 17 dead, NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre accused gun control advocates within the Democratic Party of seeking to roll back the constitutional right to bear arms.

"The shameful politicisation of tragedy, it's a classic strategy right out of the playbook of a poisonous movement," he told an annual conservative conference, hitting out in turn at supposed "socialists" on the political left, and at the "so-called national news media."

"For them it's not a safety issue, it's a political issue," he charged. "They hate the NRA. They hate the Second Amendment. They hate individual freedom."

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