In a year in which Americans experienced horrific shootings at a high school in Parkland, Florida, a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and in countless communities that rarely made headlines, the attacks against Parkland’s students and survivors stood out for being especially cruel. Today, Politifact gave its “Lie of the Year” award to “the lies against the Parkland students in the wake of unspeakable tragedy.”
There’s no denying that the NRA has played a leading role attacking the survivors of the Parkland shooting. From calling a Parkland shooting survivor “another useful idiot” to peddling outrageous conspiracy theories to suggesting the Parkland students may be actors, NRA personalities like NRATV commentator Chuck Holton, NRATV host Colion Noir and former Sheriff David Clarke have repeatedly attacked and disparaged the teenagers who survived the mass shooting in Parkland.
NRA board member Ted Nugent said Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student David Hogg and his classmates “have no soul” and are “mushy brained children.” Days later, Ted Nugent doubled down and said, “I stand by my words.”
On the eve of the historic March for Our Lives rallies, Noir had the audacity to say, “No one would know your names” if a student gunman hadn’t stormed into their school and killed three staff members and 14 students.
Fortunately, these attacks didn’t stop the Parkland students from making history and helping create a new generation of gun safety leaders. More than two million Americans participated in March for Our Lives events in Washington, D.C., and Students Demand Action, which began as a pilot program in California, is now a movement of nearly 100,000 students and counting.
Following the horrific mass shooting in Parkland, 20 states passed meaningful gun violence prevention bills, including nine state with Republican governors and corporations, including Delta, Hertz, MetLife and United, cut ties with the NRA. And just last month, Americans elected gun sense champions up and down the ballot, making clear that the NRA is toxic and out of touch with the vast majority of Americans.