(from Fox News) National Rifle Association (NRA) spokeswoman Dana Loesch ripped Rep. Ilhan Omar after she blamed the gun rights group for the deaths inside a Virginia Beach municipal building on Friday. The Minnesota Democrat took a swipe at the NRA just hours after a disgruntled city employee went on a shooting spree that left 12 people dead and four more injured.
“I am outraged and heartbroken,” she wrote in a tweet. “How much longer will we ignore the pain of our communities? We need to immediately confront the power of the NRA and end the epidemic of gun violence in this country.” DeWayne Craddock, the suspected shooter, died in a gunfight with police officers. He was a veteran employee of the Public Utilities Department who made multiple legal firearm purchases, including for a handgun and rifle, in recent weeks, the Wall Street Journal reported.
A police officer was also wounded, but was saved by his bullet-proof vest. The police didn’t reveal the motive for the shooting. Omar’s comment about the NRA prompted the group’s spokeswoman to question how it was related. “This was a heinous tragedy,” Loesch wrote in a tweet. “Your remarks move me to ask: What do 5 million members of the NRA have to do with this man’s crime? Was this man a card-carrying member? His purchases were legal, whose fault is that? Does he bear any blame at all? Serious questions.” The Minnesota Democrat has long been opposed to the NRA, often decrying the supposed influence of the group on the gun control debate in the country.