technology: After Newtown, NRA goes silent

Three days after fatal school shooting in Connecticut, the NRA remains silent onlineNational Rifle Association hasn't tweeted since Friday's killingsThe NRA's Facebook page has been deactivatedSocial media expert: NRA's silence is a missed opportunity to have a dialogue on guns

(CNN) -- Despite an escalating nationwide debate on gun control in the wake of Friday's mass shooting at a Connecticut elementary school, the National Rifle Association has remained conspicuously silent.

As of Monday evening the largest and most powerful gun-rights lobbying group in the U.S. had not posted anything to its website since Friday morning, when a gunman entered Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton and killed 26 people, 20 of them children.

The NRA's Facebook page has been deactivated, and visitors are redirected to a bare-bones page where comments are disabled (although "Likes" are still allowed). Its Twitter account, which typically posts several times a day, also has been quiet. The group's last tweet, on Friday morning, was a promotional message that said, "10 Days of NRA Giveaways - Enter today for a chance to win an auto emergency tool!"

In a statement provided to CNN Friday about the shootings, NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said only, "Until the facts are thoroughly known, NRA will not have any comment."

This time around, the NRA's silence comes amid widespread criticism of the group on social media and calls by some politicians for tougher gun-control laws. Two new polls conducted after Friday's shooting suggest Americans are becoming more supportive of gun-control measures.

Bloomberg expands on his call for gun control action

So is the NRA's self-imposed silence a good idea?

No, said Allyson Kapin, co-founder of Rad Campaign, a digital-strategy firm that works with nonprofits and political campaigns on social media policy.

"There is no social media handbook I know that says, 'Don't respond in a crisis, bury your head in the sand,' " she said.

"You need to be prepared to respond even if you aren't prepared to make a statement. There are still people out there on the fence about the NRA, and this was an opportunity to engage and start a conversation. They didn't even have to take a political stance, but they could have at least taken a human one and reacted. Instead they said nothing."

Lawmakers seem prepared to tackle gun control

The NRA did not return messages seeking comment on Monday. A representative for Facebook told CNN they were not able to speak for the NRA and do not comment on organization's actions on their own pages.

The gun-rights lobby is typically aggressive in defending Second Amendment freedoms.

Less than 24 hours after NBC's Bob Costas advocated for stricter gun-control laws during a broadcast of a football game December 2, the NRA took to Twitter, citing a Daily Caller Column to say Costas "offended millions of law-abiding gun-owning football fans w his gun-ban rant & owes us an apology."

That same day, the head of the NRA told CNN he expects an "unprecedented" attack on Second Amendment rights in the new Congress.

"I think it is going to come hard, I think it is going to come fast, and I think it is going to come soon," Wayne LaPierre, NRA's executive vice president and chief executive officer, said in an interview.

"We are going to stand and fight," he said. "We are prepared to do what we have always done. Our strength isn't the (NRA) building, it is not money. ... Our strength is the individual people all over the country who value their ability to own a gun."

Will Newtown change America's attitude toward guns?

CNN's Brandon Griggs contributed to this story.

Watch CNN's LIVE TV coverage of the Connecticut elementary school shooting as the story continues to unfold.

Details continue to emerge about what precisely happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Here is a timeline of events that compiles the latest reporting.

An interactive tribute to the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. December 18, 2012 -- Updated 1811 GMT (0211 HKT)

With memories of last week's school massacre still hauntingly fresh, most students in Newtown will return to the classroom with their sense of normalcy shattered. December 18, 2012 -- Updated 1537 GMT (2337 HKT)

Friday began with the mundane. A chilly December day, Christmas on many residents' minds.December 18, 2012 -- Updated 1530 GMT (2330 HKT)

Placing yourself in the path of flying bullets to protect innocents. It's a job description fitting for a soldier or police officer, but not for a school teacher.December 18, 2012 -- Updated 1454 GMT (2254 HKT)

Black vans with tinted windows took the place of school buses carrying dozens of elementary school children. December 18, 2012 -- Updated 1519 GMT (2319 HKT)

Ken Henggeler poured his grief into the thing he loved most: carpentry.December 18, 2012 -- Updated 1521 GMT (2321 HKT)

Nearly three decades ago, a woman disappeared from the Connecticut town of Newtown, leaving behind a trail of questions. December 18, 2012 -- Updated 1849 GMT (0249 HKT)

Nancy Lanza was raising a quiet, socially awkward young man, the kind of teenager who, a former classmate recalled, would just go stand in the corner. December 17, 2012 -- Updated 1045 GMT (1845 HKT)

Robbie Parker has a message for the family of the gunman who killed his 6-year-old daughter and 19 of her school mates. December 17, 2012 -- Updated 1905 GMT (0305 HKT)

The suspect in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting took to his grave the reasons that compelled him to mow down more than two dozen people before taking his own life.December 17, 2012 -- Updated 1312 GMT (2112 HKT)

In some cases around the world, mass shootings have been a catalyst for changes in gun control laws.December 17, 2012 -- Updated 1949 GMT (0349 HKT)

Security experts predict what comes next: A strong reaction -- maybe an overreaction -- to school safety. And within months, it'll be back to cuttign security budgets.December 17, 2012 -- Updated 2111 GMT (0511 HKT)

Learn how to help the victims and families affected by the Connecticut school shooting tragedy.

technology

Wednesday, 19 December 2012

After Newtown, NRA goes silent

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