Timothy Johnson: Jay Leno Cancels Appearance With Newtown-based Gun Lobby Group, Conservative Media Melts Down

Conservative media are freaking out after Jay Leno canceled an upcoming gig at the gun industry's 2015 trade show, the National Shooting Sports Foundation's (NSSF) SHOT Show, calling the comedian a "coward" who has "no spine." The NSSF had responded to the deadly 2012 school shooting in the association's hometown of Newtown, CT, by opposing all proposed gun safety measures.Newtown Group And Other Gun Safety Organizations Successfully Lobby Jay Leno To Cancel His SHOT SHOW Appearance Newtown Action Alliance: Leno Appearance "Is Helping To Legitimize A Crass Commercialism Which Values Profit Over Human Lives." A joint statement and petition from Newtown Action Alliance, the Campaign to Unload, and Coalition to Stop Gun Violence issued November 18 called for Leno to cancel his appearance because host NSSF has "lobbied against even the most modest" gun safety initiatives and "has done nothing to reach out to the families whose children were killed in the [Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting], despite the fact that the association is headquartered in Newtown": Less than two years after the gruesome mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary school, former "Tonight Show" host Jay Leno has agreed to perform at the 2015 Shooting, Hunting, Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show on behalf of the Newtown, Connecticut-based National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the trade association for the gun industry. Since the shooting, which claimed the lives of six adults and 20 first-grade children, the NSSF has opposed any and all attempts to strengthen U.S.