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Charlton Heston (left), then president of the NRA, meets with fellow leaders Wayne LaPierre (far right) and Jim Baker (center) on April 30, 1999, ahead of the NRA's annual meeting in Denver. Around the same time, leaders discussed how to respond to the shooting at Columbine High School in nearby Littleton, Colo. More than 20 years later, NPR has obtained secret recordings of those conversations. Kevin Moloney/Getty Images hide caption
Charlton Heston (left), then president of the NRA, meets with fellow leaders Wayne LaPierre (far right) and Jim Baker (center) on April 30, 1999, ahead of the NRA's annual meeting in Denver. Around the same time, leaders discussed how to respond to the shooting at Columbine High School in nearby Littleton, Colo. More than 20 years later, NPR has obtained secret recordings of those conversations.
Kevin Moloney/Getty ImagesFollowing the Columbine shooting in April of 1999, top leaders of the National Rifle Association huddled in private to discuss their public response to the tragedy.
Secret tapes of those deliberations were obtained by NPR investigative correspondent Tim Mak. He explains what's revealed in the tapes: that the group considered a much different stance than the one it ultimately took — a stance that would help set the stage for decades of debate about gun violence in America.
Tim Mak is also author of the book Misfire: Inside the Downfall of the NRA.
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This episode was produced by Brent Baughman and Monika Evstatieva. It was edited by Our executive producer is Cara Tallo.
