ATLANTA — A southeast Georgia gunmaker made its Twitter account private and reportedly pulled out of the NRA Convention in Houston after coming under the microscope for manufacturing the weapon used in the elementary school shooting in Texas.
Daniel Defense is based out of Black Creek, Georgia - outside Savannah - and makes a range of guns and gun accessories, including AR-15 semi-automatic rifles.
Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas identified the company as the manufacturer of the weapon used in the shooting at Robb Elementary School that left 19 children and two teachers dead earlier this week.
The gun was reportedly a DDM4 V7 make of AR-15 rifle, the company's basic AR-15 model selling at a starting point of $1,870.
A message on the Daniel Defense website acknowledges the tragedy, saying in part: "We are deeply saddened by the tragic events in Texas this week. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families and community devastated by this evil act... it is our understanding that the firearm used in the attack was manufactured by Daniel Defense. We will cooperate with all federal, state, and local law enforcement authorities in their investigations."
According to NBC News, a Daniel Defense spokesperson said the company had decided against going to the NRA Convention "due to the horrifying tragedy in Uvalde, Texas where one of our products was criminally misused."
The company also faced harsh scrutiny from gun control advocates for an ad they'd posted days prior to the shooting, featuring a child.
The ad showed a young boy holding an AR-15 rifle, with a Bible proverb as the caption: "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it."
The ad was seized on by gun control advocates who framed it as a stark example of the excesses of gun culture and consumerism.
"Can you imagine a beer or tobacco company using a toddler to sell, promote, justify the selling of its products the way gun maker Daniel Defense did with this ad?" tweeted MSNBC host Ayman Mohyeldin.
Some gun rights advocates defended it. One commenter, Breck Worsham, said she did not see a problem with it.
"Maybe I'm just a rebel but I prefer to raise my kids to not be victims and to know how to shoot back," she wrote on Twitter.
According to Forbes, Daniel Defense is "one of the country's largest privately held manufacturers of guns and accessories" after being founded in Savannah by CEO Marty Daniel more than 20 years ago.
Three of its AR-15 rifles and one its AR-10 rifles were also among the huge arsenal found inside the hotel room of the shooter in the 2017 Las Vegas shooting at a country music festival.