As the sun was setting and evening rush traffic barreled down Mile Hill Road on Monday, about 200 people, many with placards in hand, stood in the freezing cold in front of the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) headquarters, rallying both in support and opposition to expanded gun control.

The protestors and the counter-protestors huddled amid frigid, windy conditions to publicize their views to passing motorists, many of whom honked their horns as they drove through the congested area rife with pedestrians.

The protestors and counter-protestors were intermixed in a long row that stretched along the northern side of Mile Hill Road.

Members of Newtown Action Alliance (NAA) staged the protest rally to raise public awareness about NSSF’s marketing and lobbying practices on behalf of the firearms industry. NAA formed after 12/14 to lobby for increased gun control laws.

Also at the rally on Monday afternoon were members of  Connecticut Against Gun Violence, Greenwich Council Against Gun Violence, Brady Campaign (Southwest Connecticut  Chapter), and the Enough Campaign.

NSSF supporters also gathered in numbers to express their viewpoint.

The NAA-backed protest rally coincided with the January 19 to 22 Shooting, Hunting, and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show and Conference, an annual business-to-business firearms trade show hosted by NSSF, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In a prepared statement, NAA Chairman Po Murray said, “We can no longer accept the status quo where guns are killing more than 30,000 Americans annually. We are on the right side of history. The conversation has changed since the Sandy Hook tragedy. States are passing background-check bills. Presidential candidates are debating gun violence like never before.”

During a December trip to Washington, D.C., for the third National Vigil for All Victims of Gun Violence, NAA members hand-delivered a coalition petition, signed by more than 28,000 people, to a representative at the Department of Justice, asking that the department cancel a $2.4 million grant to NSSF for its Project ChildSafe program, according to NAA.

“No taxpayer in America should have to foot the bill for a profit-focused gun lobby group looking to improve its public image,” according to NAA.

NSSF View

In a statement made in response to the protest rally being scheduled, NSSF late Monday morning said,  “The gun control organizations that have decided to gather again at [NSSF] headquarters during the [SHOT Show] are simply continuing their media relations campaign to falsely demonize America’s firearms industry. Ours is a responsible, regulated industry, and the fact is we are the gun safety experts in the true meaning of that phrase and are proud of our many successful firearms safety initiatives.”

NSSF’s Project ChildSafe and the firearms industry have distributed more than 100 million free firearms safety kits and gun locks to more than 15,000 communities nationwide, and any community can request free gun locks, according to NSSF.

Both accidents and crimes involving the misuse of firearms are at record lows, even as the number of firearms in the hands of more law-abiding citizens has increased, according to NSSF.

“Our ‘Don’t Lie for the Other Guy’ program works with law enforcement and retailers to help deter illegal straw-purchase acquisition of firearms,” NSSF’s January 18 statement also said in part.

“Our FixNICS initiative has succeeded in getting 16 states to report all appropriate criminal and involuntary mental health commitments records to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

“We will continue to advocate for what works to help prevent the misuse of firearms, while standing up for the rights of our law-abiding customers. The full enforcement of the many laws already on the books will do the most to reduce the criminal misuse of firearms,” according to the NSSF statement.