NRA magazine features 'Target Practice' headline next to photo of Nancy Pelosi and victims of gun violence

The NRA is facing widespread condemnation after its latest magazine issue hit mailboxes, with a feature article titled “Target Practice” next to a large glossy color photo of Nancy Pelosi with House Democrats standing behind her. As if that weren’t bad enough, the photo was taken when Speaker Pelosi and her Democratic co-sponsors were announcing the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019. Standing behind Pelosi in the photo is Rep. Lucy McBath, whose 17-year-old son, Jordan, was gunned down at a Jacksonville gas station when 45-year-old Michael David Dunn pulled up next to the car Jordan was in with his friends and fired on the teens because he felt their music was too loud; and former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head in 2011 during an assassination attempt by Jared Lee Loughner, whose murder spree that day killed six and wounded 18 others.

The article was written by Chris Cox, the chief lobbyist of the NRA. He described Nancy Pelosi as the "arch anti-gunner." See if you can pick up on the problem with how he describes other participants at the press conference.

Giffords was in attendance as Pelosi and Thompson introduced H.R. 8, along with other fixtures of the anti-gun cause, including Josh Horowitz, David Hogg, Lucy McBath and Shannon Watts.

Two of those “anti-gun” fixtures had their lives turned upside down by gun violence.

Jennifer Bendery of theHuffington Post was the first to share the image on Twitter, and the reaction was swift. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said it seemed clear the NRA "knew what they were doing" with this outrageous pairing. Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter, Jamie, was murdered at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, called it an “incitement of violence.”

Rep. Eric Swalwell called for “legal consequences.”

When will the NRA be held accountable? Why should these victims of gun violence have to be subjected to even more danger from the gun lobby? Just last week U.S. attorneys in Maryland announced charges against Christopher Paul Hasson, a Coast Guard officer who they say was planning to "murder innocent civilians on a scale rarely seen in this country." The FBI affidavit listed the guns and accessories Hasson has purchased over the last two years to carry out the planned attack, and specifically noted the purchases Hasson made directly from the NRA Range gun store, inside the headquarters of the NRA.

"According to financial records, [suspect] made purchases at “NRA RANGE” in 2017 and 2018. Based on my training and knowledge of this investigation, I believe “NRA RANGE” is a reference to the shooting range at the National Rifle Association headquarters in Virginia."

WHEN IS ENOUGH ENOUGH?