Respond to prefers-color-scheme dark in app web views

Follow section front redirects in Spectrum

Enable NLP source in PCS for load testing

Switch off the News Alerts Survey Widget when we have enough responses

Poll to determine if new LUF updates are available

Allows the winning A/B test variant to be turned on without Spectrum deployment

Show infinite scrolling sections in Assembler MultiView

Show option for NLP article summaries in Action Bar

A general feature flag for Recipe Features that aren't yet released

Feature flag for media team features that aren't yet released

Use new Orca video player for preroll plugin in Spectrum

Show the snow tracker (instead of the heat tracker) on Spectrum

There’s still time for Congress to Trump-proof the Insurrection Act 

The Post endorses April McClain Delaney and Tom Royals for Maryland’s 6th District

On Press Freedom Day, little to celebrate for Hong Kong’s journalists

Ask Amy: I live with my boyfriend – and his sister and her family

Carolyn Hax: Working for a celebrity has this employee feeling ‘small’

Carolyn Hax: Longtime friend won’t forgive being last-minute canceled for a guy

How Pope Francis opened the Vatican to transgender sex workers

Israel shuts down Al Jazeera’s operations, raids Jerusalem office

Hamas attacks border crossing, killing 3, as Gaza cease-fire talks drag on

Strangers help Sesame Street puppeteer after heirloom necklace was stolen

Teen grabs wheel when driver passes out and school bus veers into traffic

Cat climbed into Amazon return box, found alive 630 miles away

Top RNC lawyer resigns after rift grows with Trump

Trump escalates attacks on prosecutors, says Democrats run ‘a Gestapo administration’

Divided Trump campaign weighs joining TikTok, the app he tried to ban

A frank look at hot dog prices at MLB ballparks

Sloppy first inning dooms the Nationals in a 6-3 loss to the Blue Jays

In a pinch, the Nationals finally find some offense

The New York Times, alone in its outrage over access to Biden

The ‘Access Hollywood’ video cemented Trump’s air of invincibility

Stephen A. Smith would like even more of your attention

The new cure-all for vacation excess: the IV drip 

What’s the best bus to New York? We tested 5 for comfort and value.

You asked: Do I need a passport for my cruise?

In photos: The 150th running of the Kentucky Derby

Bodies found in Mexico where 3 tourists went missing

Protesters clash with law enforcement at U-Va.

Twitch streamers become go-to news source for campus protest coverage

After years of delay, Boeing to try again with Starliner space capsule

After a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/07/07/minn-cop-fatally-shoots-man-during-traffic-stop-aftermath-broadcast-on-facebook/">Minnesota police officer fatally shot a black man</a> on Wednesday, gun control advocates weren’t the only ones criticizing the National Rifle Association. Some of the blowback was coming from within the organization.

The NRA is facing internal division as its members argue that the group did not do enough to defend gun owners’ rights by speaking out on behalf of Philando Castile of Falcon Heights, Minn., who was shot to death during a traffic stop.

Castile had <a href="http://www.startribune.com/philando-castile-had-permit-to-carry-gun/386054481/" target="_blank">a valid permit</a> to carry a gun. He also reportedly informed the officer who shot him that he was armed in an attempt to head off a misunderstanding.

Monica Akhtar

Jenny Starrs

Gillian Brockell

Still, Castile was killed by police, prompting outrage that following the rules was not enough to save him from a violent death.


<i>
    [Houston police fatally shoot man who officers say pointed a gun at them]
  </i>


The NRA appeared to drag its feet on the Falcon Heights shooting, taking more than a day and a half to address it publicly. When a statement was posted on the NRA Facebook page, the group obliquely referred to “reports from Minnesota.” It neither named Castile directly nor took a position on the shooting.

“It is important for the NRA not to comment while the investigation is ongoing,” the organization said. “Rest assured, the NRA will have more to say once all the facts are known.”

From the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/NationalRifleAssociation/photos/a.10150117108031833.307969.22561081832/10154483218346833/?type=3&amp;theater" target="_blank">NRA’s Facebook page</a>:

As the nation’s largest and oldest civil rights organization, the NRA proudly supports the right of law-abiding Americans to carry firearms for defense of themselves and others regardless of race, religion or sexual orientation.

The reports from Minnesota are troubling and must be thoroughly investigated. In the meantime, it is important for the NRA not to comment while the investigation is ongoing.

Rest assured, the NRA will have more to say once all the facts are known.

Unlike its reaction to the Minnesota shooting, the NRA released a statement hours after the attack in Dallas early Friday morning left five police officers dead. The Dallas NRA statement did not mention the officers killed in the line of duty, emphasizing instead the “right of law-abiding Americans to carry firearms for defense of themselves and others.”

Deirdra O'Regan

The NRA’s approach bore a close resemblance in tone to its statement after last month’s mass shooting in Orlando. Two days after the massacre, a lobbyist for the gun rights group wrote an op-ed in USA Today going on the offensive against stricter firearms regulation.

“Destroy radical Islam, not the right of law-abiding Americans to protect themselves,” wrote Chris Cox, executive director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action. Cox’s broadside against greater restrictions was viewed as tone-deaf by many gun-control advocates, while gun proponents lined up on the other side.

This time, however, the NRA faces criticism from its members who argue that the group did not do enough to defend gun owners’ rights by speaking out on behalf of Castile.

July 10, 2016

July 9, 2016

July 8, 2016

July 7, 2016

July 6, 2016

The delay in addressing Castile’s death, compared with the promptness of the NRA statement after the Dallas shooting, has sparked complaints of a double standard in how the organization defends gun owners.

“Your lack of message concerning the Castile case disappoints me and makes me question my membership,” Marco Gallologic <a href="https://www.facebook.com/NationalRifleAssociation/photos/a.10150117108031833.307969.22561081832/10154483218346833/?type=3&amp;comment_id=10154483263076833&amp;comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R9%22%7D" target="_blank">wrote</a> on the NRA’s Facebook page. “…What do I pay fees for if you do not represent gun owners and our rights?”


<i>
    [Georgia man accused of ambushing police officer following fake 911 call]
  </i>


“Your silence is causing NRA members such as myself to question/wonder what exactly you do and don’t stand for,” Facebook user Bruce Johnston <a href="https://www.facebook.com/NationalRifleAssociation/photos/a.10150117108031833.307969.22561081832/10154483218346833/?type=3&amp;comment_id=10154483290251833&amp;comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R0%22%7D" target="_blank">wrote</a>.

That sentiment was reflected across social media this week, with NRA members and non-members alike demanding that the group voice its support for Castile.

Other firearms groups have reacted with alarm to the shooting. On Thursday, the <a href="https://www.saf.org/saf-ccrkba-call-for-independent-probe-of-fatal-shooting-of-legally-armed-citizen/" target="_blank">Second Amendment Foundation</a>, a gun rights group based in Bellevue, Wash., said that “exercising our right to bear arms should not translate to a death sentence over something so trivial as a traffic stop for a broken tail light.”

As David Graham wrote in <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/07/alton-sterling-philando-castile-2nd-amendment-guns/490301/" target="_blank">the Atlantic</a> magazine, U.S. history is strewn with cases of uneven observance of the Second Amendment, with some Americans — mainly whites — benefiting disproportionately from the law over others. But those criticizing the NRA believe the advocacy group should be protesting Castile’s death as an unjust violation of the Constitution.

“Philando Castile had a valid concealed weapons permit but was shot and killed,” wrote Dennis Gesker <a href="https://www.facebook.com/NationalRifleAssociation/photos/a.10150117108031833.307969.22561081832/10154483218346833/?type=3&amp;comment_id=10154484041116833&amp;comment_tracking=%7B%22tn%22%3A%22R9%22%7D" target="_blank">on Facebook</a>. “As an NRA member I urge you to take a strong position in favor of this man.”

The NRA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

<a data-pb-field="web_headline" data-pb-placeholder="Write headline here" data-pb-url-field="canonical_url" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/07/09/dallas-attacker-was-an-army-veteran-who-targeted-white-police-officers-officials-say/">A nation reels from Dallas shootings</a>

<a data-pb-field="web_headline" data-pb-placeholder="Write headline here" data-pb-url-field="canonical_url" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2016/07/09/dallas-attacker-was-an-army-veteran-who-targeted-white-police-officers-officials-say/">Obama: ‘Demented’ attacker doesn’t represent black Americans</a>

London School of Economics, MSc. in International Relations

Middlebury College, BA in Political Science

Brian Fung covered business and technology for The Washington Post. He left The Post in 2019. 

Brian Fung

The Washington Post

Climate

Education

Health

Innovations

Investigations

National Security

Obituaries

Science

National

prism://prism.query/site-articles-only,/national

The Washington Post's national news coverage. Get the latest national news, featuring national security, science and the courts. Read breaking national news headlines from across the U.S.