NRA Tweets Second Amendment In Response To Boulder Shooting

While the nation waited in horror for details of Monday’s shooting in Boulder, Colorado, the National Rifle Association decided the moment was right to remind Twitter of the importance of gun rights.

On Monday evening, the NRA tweeted out the text of the Second Amendment, doing its best to counteract the public cries for firearm regulation that accompany each new mass shooting.

The current death count for the King Soopers supermarket shooting in Boulder stands at 10. That includes one police officer, Eric Talley, who was first to respond to the scene and leaves behind seven children, CNN reports.

The suspected 21-year-old shooter survived and will face 10 counts of first-degree murder.

Shoppers being evacuated from a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado after a gunman opened fire on March 22, 2021 -- killing 10 people — Shoppers being evacuated from a grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, after a gunman opened fire on March 22, 2021, killing 10 people. GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Chet Strange

A number of related topics trended on the social media site on Tuesday in response to the shooting, including the Second Amendment and AR-15, the weapon used in this spree. Popular posts were overwhelmingly against the interpretation of the Second Amendment as giving individuals unlimited access to firearms.

Former conservative Chief Justice of Supreme Court Warren Burger: The 2nd Amendment "has been the subject of one of the greatest pieces of fraud, I repeat the word fraud, on the American public by special interest groups that I have ever seen in my lifetime" pic.twitter.com/GhxhggXVtY
— Robert Maguire (@RobertMaguire_) March 23, 2021

Happy Tuesday to everyone who DOESN'T believe the founding fathers were thinking of AR-15s murdering innocent civilians when they wrote "well regulated militia" into the 2nd Amendment
— BrooklynDad_Defiant!☮️ (@mmpadellan) March 23, 2021

As main author of the historians' brief in D.C. v. Heller, the big 2nd Amendment case, I simply note that no one in 1789 thought that citizens had an inherent right to bear arms to terrorize their neighbors and murder random strangers. Its only true subject was the militia.
— Jack Rakove (@JRakove) March 23, 2021

The NRA, ever willing to engage in a spirited debate over gun rights, reminded people of the text of the Second Amendment. "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed," reads their post.

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed. pic.twitter.com/eFBP2PTTUu
— NRA (@NRA) March 23, 2021

Given that many of their ideology’s critics directly referenced the text’s use of the phrase “well-regulated militia” or insisted on applying historical context to the document, it seems unlikely their tweet changed many minds.

Really thinking about that "well-regulated" part of the 2nd Amendment right about now.
— Jake Lobin (@JakeLobin) March 23, 2021

💥Reality check💥

The 2nd Amendment was written about muskets.
— The USA Singers (@TheUSASingers) March 23, 2021

Other victims in the shooting include Denny Stong, 20; Neven Stanisic, 23; Rikki Olds, 25; Tralona Bartkowiak, 49; Suzanne Fountain, 59; Teri Leiker, 51; Kevin Mahoney, 61; Lynn Murray, 62; Jody Waters, 65.

"I promise that all of us here will work tirelessly...to make sure that the killer is held absolutely and fully accountable for what he did," Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty said Tuesday at a news conference, CNN reports.