Political provocateur Larry Ward made a huge splash last January with “Gun Appreciation Day,” a campaign that prompted rallies from coast to coast intended to counter legislative efforts to tighten gun control in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting a month earlier.

The boisterous rallies highlighted the deep cultural rift over firearms in America, with millions of citizens believing the Sandy Hook shooting tragically illustrated the danger of guns and millions more believing the shooting tragically illustrated the danger of gun control.

That cultural divide, which the Courant covered extensively in print and in collaboration with the PBS documentary series Frontline, is back on display as the anniversary of the Newtown massacre approaches. Larry Ward and a coalition of pro-gun groups are back, too. But this time, their instinct for the dramatic may have gotten the better of them.

Ward’s Washington public relations firm, Political Media, Inc., last week began promoting “Guns Save Lives Day,” which was slated for Dec. 14 – one year after Adam Lanza shot his way into Sandy Hook Elementary and killed 26.

“Guns Save Lives Day is on December 14, 2013, the Anniversary of Newtown,” a web site set up by Ward proclaimed. “We plan to honor these victims by doing everything within our power to prevent misguided gun control laws from leaving Americans defenseless or worse victims. Don’t be a victim, ARM YOURSELF.”

Groups on both sides of the gun-control battle have accused their opponents of politicizing the Sandy Hook shooting, and the plan for “events and activities in all 50 states” during Guns Save Lives Day prompted significant backlash, particularly within Newtown. “For this group to use our Sandy Hook tragedy as a springboard for political action is disrespectful to our community of Newtown and is of particularly insensitive timing,” Newtown First Selectwoman Pat Llodra said. “I respect their right to promote their beliefs regarding guns. I ask that they respect our community and not use us for their purposes.”

That sort of reaction apparently had the desired effect. Organizers of Guns Save Lives Day have now pushed the day off Dec. 14, and the web site was reworked to read: “Guns Save Lives Day is on December 15, 2013, Bill of Rights Day, the day after the Anniversary of Newtown.”

But for organizers, the message of the day remains the same.

“Americans are concerned about attempts to erode their gun ownership rights, and for good reason,” said Alan Gottlieb, president of the Second Amendment Foundation and chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, which are both co-sponsors of the day. “Our mission with Guns Save Lives Day is to assure them our groups are working day and night to thwart government gun-grabbers at every opportunity. We are going to show America that there is a good side to guns.”