NEW YORK (AP) -- A gun industry group discontinued a planned three-year advertising campaign aimed at gaining sympathy for recreational use of firearms after just two weeks due to last month's Colorado high school slayings. The campaign's objective was to let opinion leaders know that millions of Americans use rifles and guns responsibly for hunting and target shooting despite widespread associations of guns with crimes and violence. But the foundation's executive director, Doug Painter, said Thursday the campaign was pulled a few days after the April 20 shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., left 15 people dead. ``It was a difficult decision, but we felt that after Littleton, the messages in these ads might not be as appropriate, might not be as relevant in the context of this moment,'' he said. ``There is so much emotion surrounding this issue, we felt our message would be lost.'' Painter said foundation officials also didn't want to offend readers. ``There was an understandably emotional reaction against everything that has to do with firearms,'' he said. On Thursday, authorities said a student at a school in Georgia shot six classmates before surrendering. In Washington, the Senate approved fresh restrictions on firearms sales at gun shows and pawnshops. Clive Chajet, who heads his own corporate image consultancy in New York, said the gun industry group had no alternative to ending the ads. ``Anybody who attempts to promote the use of guns at this point in history is, pun intended, shooting themselves in the foot,'' he said. The shooting sports foundation, based in Newtown, Conn., represents 16,000 manufacturers, distributors and retailers of firearms and ammunition. It had never before advertised in magazines outside those intended for sportsmen and the gun trade. But the industry has been under attack in recent years and several municipalities have sued gun makers over the public costs of violence caused by people using guns. The foundation hired the public relations firm Porter Novelli, which has represented antitobacco forces in a similar campaign against cigarette makers, in August 1998 to develop a campaign to get out its message about the safety and popularity of hunting and target shooting. Painter said Porter Novelli's research indicated ``opinion leaders in this country were not so much against the shooting sports but were not aware of them. That was a side of the story they didn't know.'' The firm prepared three ads. One showed a rifle below the headline ``The very fact that it can be dangerous is what makes it safe.'' The ad called the shooting sports ``the safest of all sports. Another ad showed a handgun and a target. ``Ever shoot a wad of paper into a wastebasket? Then you already understand target shooting,'' the ad headline said. It noted there are 21 Olympic shooting events. Painter said he didn't know how much of the first year's $1 million media budget was spent before the ads were discontinued. He said it was too soon to tell whether the ad campaign would ever be revived. The National Rifle Association, an organization of gun owners, has been running a campaign for more than a year featuring celebrity NRA members like author Tom Clancy, former baseball star Nolan Ryan and actor Tom Selleck. A spokesman for the group, Bill Powers, declined to say whether the NRA had adjusted its ad plans in the wake of the Colorado shootings. ``It's an ongoing periodic campaign. It doesn't have anything to do with'' the shootings in Colorado, he said. -=-=- 