This post was updated after the NRA tweeted Monday evening.
The NRA, the country’s most powerful gun rights lobby, was silent on Twitter on Sunday and most of Monday after the mass shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando early Sunday morning. The organization briefly popped up on one of its many offshoot accounts to encourage customers to buy NRA-themed gifts for Father’s day mid-morning on Sunday, but its main account was dormant until 7:01 p.m. ET on Monday—40 hours and 59 minutes after the first reports of the attack. The tweet was unsurprisingly defiant:
We looked back at 21 of the country’s deadliest shootings since 2009, when the NRA launched its Twitter account, to see how long it took the organization to tweet in the wake of tremendous tragedy and what message it chose to share in each instance.
Binghamton, New York, 2009
What happened: Jiverly Antares Wong shot and killed 13 people at an immigration center in Binghamton, New York.
Time between attack and first tweet: 3 days, 23 hours, 21 minutes
Fort Hood, Texas, 2009
What happened: Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan murdered 13 people in a shooting spree at Fort Hood, where he was based.
Time between attack and first tweet: 2 hours, 50 minutes
Huntsville, Alabama, 2010
What happened: A professor at the University of Alabama in Huntsville opened fire during a faculty meeting, killing three.
Time between attack and first tweet: 55 days, 20 hours, 39 minutes
Manchester, Connecticut, 2010
Time between attack and first tweet: 1 hour, 35 minutes
Tuscon, Arizona, 2010
What happened: Six people died in an attack on U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords at a constituent meet-and-greet.
Time between attack and first tweet: 1 day, 23 hours, 44 minutes
Seal Beach, California, 2011
What happened: Scott Dekraii ended a custody battle with his ex-wife by murdering her and seven other people at the salon where she worked.
Time between attack and first tweet: 22 hours, 29 minutes
Oakland, California, 2012
What happened: Seven people died when a former student opened fire at a college campus in Oakland, California.
Time between attack and first tweet: 5 minutes
Aurora, Colorado, 2012
What happened: James Holmes opened fire at a screening of The Dark Knight Rises, killing 12.
Time between attack and first tweet: 9 days, 19 hours, 48 minutes
Oak Creek, Wisconsin, 2012
What happened: A white supremacist killed six people at a Sikh Temple, then committed suicide after being wounded by police.
Time between attack and first tweet: 1 day, 5 hours, 49 minutes
Minneapolis, Minnesota, 2012
What happened: Upon being laid off, a disgruntled employee killed five coworkers, then himself.
Time between attack and first tweet: 2 hours
Brookfield, Wisconsin, 2012
What happened: The estranged husband of a spa worker killed his ex-wife and two bystanders before shooting himself.
Time between attack and first tweet: 22 hours, 52 minutes
Newtown, Connecticut, 2012
What happened: Adam Lanza killed his mother before murdering 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary.
Time between attack and first tweet: 1 minute
Santa Monica, California, 2013
What happened: John Zawahri murdered his father and brother and set their house on fire before going on a shooting spree at Santa Monica College, killing three more people, which ended when police shot him.
Time between attack and first tweet: 37 minutes
Washington D.C. Navy Yard, 2013
What happened: Navy contractor Aaron Alexis murdered twelve people in the Washington Navy Yard before being killed by police
Time between attack and first tweet: 7 hours, 31 minutes
Fort Hood, Texas, 2014
What happened: A gunman killed three people at Fort Hood, site of a 2009 attack.
Time between attack and first tweet: 18 hours, 19 minutes
Isla Vista, California, 2014
What happened: Elliot Rodger murdered his roommates and went on a shooting spree, targeting sorority members at the University of California-Santa Barbara, killing six people before ending his own life.
Time between attack and first tweet: 11 hours, 47 minutes
Charleston, South Carolina, 2015
What happened: Dylann Roof shot and killed nine people at the historic Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.
Time between attack and first tweet: 12 hours, 52 minutes
Chattanooga, Tennessee, 2015
What happened: A shooter attacked a military recruiting center and a Navy reserve center in Chattanooga, Tennessee, killing four.
Time between attack and first tweet: 4 hours, 48 minutes
Roseburg, Oregon 2015
What happened: Ten people died in a shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, including the shooter.
Time between attack and first tweet: 6 minutes
Colorado Springs, Colorado 2015
What happened: Robert Lewis Dear, Jr. killed three people in an attack on a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Time between attack and first tweet: 2 days, 20 hours, 53 minutes
San Bernardino, California, 2015
What happened: Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik killed 14 people at an employee holiday party at the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health. They were shot and killed by police four hours later.
Time between attack and first tweet: 20 hours, 15 minutes
