A National Rifle Association press conference held Friday to address calls for gun control in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Newtown, Conn., was twice interrupted by protesters carrying signs.
In this footage from the presser, NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre is first interrupted by a male protester who raised a sign in front of cameras, blocking LaPierre as he spoke.
The pink banner had the slogan "NRA Killing Our Kids" written on it, along with the web address for Code Pink, which describes itself as a "women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement" that opposes militarism and war.
"We've got to stop the violence. Violence begins with the NRA," the man said as he was escorted from the room by security.
Moments later, a second protester raised a sign that read "NRA Blood On Your Hands." She was promptly escorted from the room as she called for a ban on assault weapons.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer identified the protesters as Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin and member Tighe Barry.
In his speech at the conference, LaPierre called for armed police officers to be posted at schools, and blamed video games, movies and music videos for exposing children to a violent culture day in and day out.
"In a race to the bottom, many conglomerates compete with one another to shock, violate, and offend every standard of civilized society, by bringing an even more toxic mix of reckless behavior and criminal cruelty right into our homes," LaPierre said.
Slate pointed out that Columbine High School, the scene of a mass shooting in 1999, had an armed guard who exchanged shots with gunman Eric Harris.
The conference comes amid heated debate over gun control exactly a week after the Sandy Hook shootings, in which a gunman armed with an assault weapon killed 27 people, including 20 children, then took his own life.
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