Eight days before a Texas teenager killed 19 children and two teachers at Robb Elementary School, the manufacturer of the rifle used in the massacre posted an ad on social media that featured a toddler holding a similar weapon.
“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it,” read the post from Daniel Defense on May 16, the same day the Robb Elementary shooter turned 18.
The company, which declined interview requests, is now on the defensive in the wake of Tuesday’s mass shooting in the tiny town of Uvalde. Daniel Defense pulled out of an NRA convention taking place this weekend in Houston. It also locked its Twitter page amid growing outrage.
◾️Daniel acknowledges that high-profile shootings are good for his business.
◾️Say Terms like “common sense” are meant to take guns away.
◾️Four semi-automatic rifles manufactured by Daniel Defense were used in 2017 at Las Vegas where 58 were killed and close to 500 wounded.
◾️Daniel Defense sent “Our deepest thoughts and prayers” after the Las Vegas shooting.
◾️After this week’s shooting at Robb Elementary, Daniel Defense said, “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and community devastated by this evil act.”
◾️In an interview with Steve Bannon, Daniel said: “he believes the right to bear arms is granted by God.”
◾️He added: “We are in business, we believe, to be a supporter of the Gospel, and, therefore, a supporter of the Second Amendment. In other words, not only do we have those Second Amendment rights because God gives them to us, but also the Gospel.”
The owners of the Georgia-based company have donated more than $70,000 directly to GOP candidates for federal office this election cycle, according to a review of filings with the Federal Election Commission. Daniel Defense itself gave $100,000 last year to a PAC backing incumbent Republican senators.
