In the wake of the mass murder of 17 schoolchildren in Parkland, Florida earlier this month, the controversial National Rifle Association has been on the PR offensive - with emphasis very much on the ‘offensive’.

The organisation tweeted radio host Dana Loesch last night after a town hall meeting in which she had adopted a pro-gun stance. Doing so, it added a GIF of the character Leslie Knope from ‘Parks & Recreation’.

Naturally, this annoyed the comedy’s creator, Michael Schur, and actress Amy Poehler, who played Knope in the series, and they got in contact to voice their displeasure.

Amy PoehlerAmy Poehler is not on Twitter, but communicated through Michael Schur

“Hi, please take this down. I would prefer you not use a GIF from a show I worked on to promote your pro-slaughter agenda,” Schur replied to the NRA on Thursday (February 22nd). “Also, Amy isn't on twitter, but she texted me a message: 'Can you tweet the NRA for me and tell them I said fuck off?’”

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Indeed, it was a strange choice of GIF for the NRA to use, as Poehler’s character was a staunch liberal progressive, and idolised Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. Perhaps Ron Swanson, the libertarian boss against whom she was constantly pitted during the seven seasons of the NBC show, would at least have been more appropriate.

The last couple of weeks have seen high emotional drama in the United States, in the wake of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The 19 year old suspected perpetrator, Nikolas Cruz, gunned down 17 children and injured 14 more on February 14th.

The days since have seen the organisation of the victims’ classmates, pressurising for a change in the law regarding access to weapons. Even the County Sheriff for the area concerned had condemned Loesch during the town hall discussion mentioned above.

“I understand you’re standing up for the NRA and I understand that’s what you’re supposed to do. But you just told this group of people that you are standing up for them. You are not standing up for them until you say, ‘I want less weapons’.”

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