The National Rifle Association has put off $32,000 in cable TV advertising one day after the mass shooting in Las Vegas, The Hill reported.
The NRA's political action committee, the NRA-PVF, had planned to air political ads in Virginia beginning Tuesday, according to ad-buying firm Advertising Analytics, but those were delayed until Oct. 10, when the group will also begin a $1 million ad campaign in markets near the state.
Although the NRA declined to comment on the change, an unnamed "source close to the group" told The Hill it is a part of their overall election strategy, and an unnamed source of NBC News' said the ads had been rescheduled several times, and the movement does not come in response to the shooting.
The NRA officially cast its support for Republican Ed Gillespie for governor of Virginia. NRA-PVF chairman Chris W. Cox called him "a leader in the growing national movement to expand our Second Amendment freedoms."
The group noted it awarded Gillespie an "A" rating "for his strong support of the Second Amendment," and gave his opponent, Ralph Northam, an "F" rating "for his hostility toward law-abiding citizens' constitutional right to self-defense."