One day before it's scheduled to hold a press conference on "meaningful contributions" it plans to offer in the fight against rampant mass shooting incidents, the National Rifle Association appears to be signaling that it's not nearly ready to let the government pry the gun from its cold, dead hands seeing as how it's very much alive.

According to an anonymous NRA source who spoke with Fox News's James Rosen, the group reportedly saw a rise of 8,000 new members in the days immediately following Friday's shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary.

Rosen says that "while this broadly mirrors trends seen after similar incidents in the past," the source claims the most recent surge "dwarf[s] trends discerned in previous years."

One things that is important to note: These numbers are coming from an organization which The Atlantic Wire points out "has been accused of puffing up its numbers," and whose overall membership figure remains unclear.

Two other things worth noting: Nearly half the members of the new Congress were elected in part thanks to contributions made by the NRA's political action committee, and the CDC says that deaths from firearms will eclipse car accidents for the first time by the year 2015.

[photo via AP]