The NRA digs in after the Florida shooting: 'The mainstream media loves mass shootings'

Screenshot/NRA

NRA activist Colion Noir

• The National Rifle Association is aggressively attacking the "mainstream media" in the aftermath of the mass shooting at a Florida school last week.
• Gun rights activist Colion Noir said in a new NRA TV video that the "mainstream media loves mass shootings." 
• In an ad that aired on "Morning Joe" on MSNBC, Noir argues that the media uses mass shootings to boost their ratings and profits and push an anti-gun agenda.

The National Rifle Association has been pushing a specific narrative in the wake of one of the deadliest school shootings in American history - the mainstream media loves these tragedies because they're good for ratings.

NRA activist Colion Noir appeared in a new NRA TV video on Thursday arguing that the "mainstream media" uses mass shootings to boost their ratings and profits and push an anti-gun agenda. And as a result, he says, the media recruits the next mass shooter by glorifying the last. 

"The mainstream media love mass shootings," says Noir, who's real name is Collins Idehen. "If there's one organization in this country that has a vested interest in the perpetuation of mass tragedy, it's the mainstream media." 

Noir argues that national, legacy media outlets use mass shootings to "juice their ratings and push their agenda." 

"Tragedy is their business model," he says. "I mean, if it bleeds it leads, right?" 

Noir argues that the media prefers to cover mass shootings in suburbia rather than the everyday gun violence in inner cities because black kids dying isn't compelling enough for their audiences.

"Mass shootings have become the most successful show in the history of the American news media," he said.

Noir goes on to blame overzealous media coverage for promoting violent perpetrators and encouraging others to commit similar crimes for fame and notoreity.

"You, the mainstream media, just put out the casting call for the next mass shooter," he said. 

NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch and NRA executive vice president and CEO Wayne LaPierre hammered home this same argument during their speeches at the Conservative Political Action Committee annual conference on Thursday morning. 

"Many in legacy media love mass shootings," Loesch told the crowd. "Crying white mothers are ratings gold."

LaPierre made a larger argument that the media is telling Americans what to think and indoctrinating viewers with socialist "propaganda." He said the organization would double down on its efforts to spread its message through its own media arm. 

"The elites don't care not one whit about America's school system and schoolchildren," he said. "For them, it's not a safety issue, it's a political issue."

A 19-year-old gunman killed 17 students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida last week.