Indiana Senate republicans signed a resolution Tuesday honoring the National Rifle Association. The resolution comes just before the annual NRA Convention comes to the Indianapolis Convention Center this weekend.
Republican senators James Tomes, Jack Sandlin and James Buck authored the resolution where they praise the NRA for providing firearm safety training.
The resolution came one day after a mass shooter killed five people in Louisville, Kentucky, a city located on the Indiana Border. Police said the shooter purchased his firearm legally.
No Democrats voted in favor of the resolution, according to the Indiana Capital Chronicle.
“Our neighbors are still in mourning, and we’re honoring an organization that has played a central role in preventing the adoption of common-sense gun safety laws across the nation,” Democratic Senator Greg Taylor said in a statement.
Indiana Democratic Senator Shelli Yoder, who represents Bloomington, said in an email that the resolution inaccurately portrays the NRA’s history.
“It’s frankly abhorrent to me that one day after our neighbors in Louisville lost 5 souls in a mass shooting, the NRA and its head were allowed to stand on the Senate floor and honored by Republicans,” she said.
Yoder said she left the Senate floor, along with other democrats, to protest the resolution.
“I couldn’t stomach being part of a body that thinks the legacy of the NRA is something worth celebrating,” she said.
