The NRA used a ‘Parks and Recreation’ GIF. People from the show weren’t happy

Following a CNN town hall with survivors of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting, the National Rifle Association tweeted out praise for its spokeswoman who attended the event.

Dana Loesch, a spokeswoman for the gun rights organization, faced heavy opposition and boos at the event as many students, parents and even a law enforcement official expressed support for banning AR-15s and other assault rifles.

The NRA argues that the right to own such weapons is protected under the Second Amendment and that the best way to stop a bad person with a gun is a good person who is also armed.

In its tweet, the NRA used a GIF of Leslie Knope, the politically minded go-getter played by actress Amy Poehler on the TV show “Parks and Recreation.” She’s giving an approving “thank you.”

That didn’t go well with those who worked on the TV show.

“Parks and Recreation” creator Michael Schur tweeted at the NRA, saying, “I would prefer you not use a GIF from a show I worked on to promote your pro-slaughter agenda.”

He also included a message from Poehler, who does not have a Twitter account.

Schur wasn’t the only person to tweet his displeasure at the NRA.

Nick Offerman, who plays the lovably stiff libertarian Ron Swanson, had a harsher message for the influential organization.

He told them to “please eat s---.”

A shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida last Wednesday left 17 dead and more than a dozen wounded. The shooter used an AR-15 assault rifle during the attack — just as the shooters in Las Vegas (58 dead), Pulse (49 dead) and Newtown (26 dead) did.

A new poll from Quinnipiac University found that 67 percent of Americans support a nationwide ban on the sales of assault weapons. But a recent poll from The Washington Post found that only 50 percent of Americans support such a ban.

Each massacre sparked a nationwide discussion on mental health issues and gun control. But media coverage and Google search trends for this shooting appear to be different, according to an analysis by Vox.

One explanation could be the high school students who have started to advocate for stricter gun laws after 17 of their teachers and classmates died in a barrage of gunfire.

Cameron Kasky, one of those students, elicited raucous cheers from the crowd at the town hall Wednesday night when he asked Marco Rubio if he would no longer accept money from the NRA.

CNN reports that Rubio received just under $10,000 from the NRA during the 2016 election cycle. The NRA gave $1,085,000 to candidates in personal contributions during that time and more than $54 million overall in outside spending, according to OpenSecrets.

Kasky also took aim at Loesch after the town hall in a series of tweets, calling her a “contemptible Disney villain.”

The NRA hasn’t deleted the “Parks and Recreation” GIF and on Thursday morning tweeted out a story about an armed man coming to the aid of a police officer.

“An event that could have ended very badly,” the organization wrote, “was stopped by an armed citizen who did exactly what he was trained to do. #ArmedCitizen #2A.”

This story was originally published February 22, 2018 at 8:46 AM with the headline "The NRA used a ‘Parks and Recreation’ GIF. People from the show weren’t happy."