Why was PETA outside the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center  in downtown Dallas?

Because the National Rifle Association (NRA) was holding its annual meeting inside, and we wanted to make our position on gun control clear to the thousands of attendees and the army of TV crews and newspaper reporters who assembled for the three-day convention.

And there was no misinterpreting that position when PETA members joined other protesters on opening day. Holding signs proclaiming, “Stop ALL Gun Violence ,” they called for an end to the use of firearms against all living, feeling beings—including nonhuman animals.

“The culture of gun violence often starts with hunting helpless animals, whose families are ripped apart and who are left badly injured when hunters wound them,” said PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman.

PETA’s presence in Dallas was a timely reminder of the connection between violence against animals and violence against humans. The meeting was the NRA’s first since 17 students were gunned down at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The accused shooter, like those in Springfield, Oregon; Pearl, Mississippi; and Littleton, Colorado, had reportedly abused animals for years.

In January 2016, the FBI started collecting data on incidents of cruelty to animals and now counts them alongside felony crimes like murder, assault, arson, and burglary in its criminal database.

Hunting may not be tracked by the bureau, but it’s also an act of cruelty, and it was with that in mind that PETA’s Reiman called on gun-control advocates “to stop giving hunters a free pass, because there’s nothing responsible about fostering a sadistic urge to kill.”

Written by Craig Shapiro