WASHINGTON – After four days of self-imposed silence on the shooting that killed 26 people inside a Newtown, Conn., elementary school, the nation's largest gun rights lobby emerged Tuesday and promised "to offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again."

The National Rifle Association explained its unusual absence "out of respect for the families and as a matter of common decency" after Friday's shooting that left dead 20 children, all ages 6 or 7.

The group — typically outspoken about its positions even after shooting deaths — went all but silent since the rampage. As it faced public scrutiny online and in person, the group left many wondering how — if at all — it would respond to one of the most shocking slayings in the nation's history.