The Newtown Bee received the following statement from the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), Monday, January 18, in response to the rally scheduled for later in the day, in front of NSSF headquarters, at 11 Mile Hill Road in Newtown:

“The gun control organizations that have decided to gather again at the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) headquarters during the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show (SHOT Show) are simply continuing their media relations campaign to falsely demonize America’s firearms industry. Ours is a responsible, regulated industry, and the fact is we are the gun safety experts in the true meaning of that phrase and are proud of our many successful firearms safety initiatives.

“NSSF’s Project ChildSafe and the firearms industry have distributed more than 100 million free firearms safety kits and gun locks to more than 15,000 communities nationwide, and any community can request free gun locks through ProjectChildSafe.org. We would note that both accidents and crimes involving misuses of firearms are at record lows, even as the number of firearms in the hands of more law-abiding citizens has increased.

“Our ‘Don’t Lie for the Other Guy’ program works with law enforcement and retailers to help deter illegal straw-purchase acquisition of firearms.

“Our FixNICS initiative has succeeded in getting 16 states to report all appropriate criminal and involuntary mental health commitments records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.”

The SHOT Show is open only to members of the shooting, hunting and outdoor trade, according to information from NSSF.

“This is a business-to-business show. The public cannot buy a firearm there. Many programs and services exhibited at the show are related to the safety of the public and of our industry’s customers.

“We will continue to advocate for what works to help prevent the misuse of firearms while standing up for the rights of our law-abiding customers. The full enforcement of the many laws already on the books will do the most to reduce the criminal misuse of firearms.” 

Newtown Action Alliance, a grassroots organization formed after 12/14, and representatives from Connecticut Against Gun Violence, Greenwich Council Against Gun Violence, Brady Campaign Southwest CT Chapter, and the Enough Campaign have organized the Monday afternoon rally to protest NSSF’s marketing and lobbying practices, on the eve of the SHOT Show 2016, which runs January 19-22 in Las Vegas.