Leaders of the US’ National Rifle Association (NRA), an influential gun-rights group, told members on Saturday that the fight against gun control legislation is far from over, but they vowed that none in the organization will ever have to surrender their weapons.
Proponents of gun control also asserted that they are in their fight for the long haul and have not been disheartened by last month’s defeat of a bill that would have expanded background checks for gun sales.
The association’s convention comes as debate over gun control legislation in the US has reached a fever pitch in the wake of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in December last year, in which 20 young children and six educators were killed.
Photo: AFP
The NRA had a major victory regarding gun control last month when an expanded background checks bill supported by US President Barack Obama and other lawmakers in response to the Connecticut shooting failed to pass in the US Senate.
However, the group lost ground in some places, as several states passed laws expanding background checks and banning large ammunition magazines.
During a fiery and defiant speech on Saturday, NRA executive vice president Wayne LaPierre, the body’s public face, said the “political and media elites” have tried to use Sandy Hook and other recent shootings “to blame us, to shame us, to compromise our freedom for their agenda.”
He said the proposed bill “got the defeat that it deserved” and that the measure would do nothing to prevent the next mass shooting.
“We will never surrender our guns, never,” LaPierre told several thousand people during the organization’s annual member meeting, which was part of the yearly NRA convention being held over the weekend in Houston.
More than 70,000 members are expected to attend the three-day convention, which began on Friday. Acres of displays of rifles, pistols, swords and hunting gear could be found inside the convention hall.
Incoming NRA president James Porter said Obama’s gun control efforts have created a “political spontaneous combustion” that has prompted millions of US citizens to become first-time gun owners and created a national outrage that will manifest itself in next year’s midterm elections.
“The Senate and House [of Representatives] are up for grabs,” Porter said during Saturday’s meeting. “We can direct this massive energy of spontaneous combustion to regain the political high ground. We do that and Obama can be stopped.”
LaPierre said the NRA now has a record 5 million members, but he urged for increased membership and added that it “must be 10 million strong” in its battle against gun control.
Meanwhile, across the street from the convention, advocates of expanded background checks and other gun control measures vowed to continue their fight.
Kellye Bowman of the Houston chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a national grassroots effort promoting gun control that was started after the Sandy Hook shooting, said her organization was not discouraged by last month’s failure of the gun control bill. She said its defeat actually increased her group’s membership.
Bowman, who described herself as a fifth generation Texan who grew up shooting guns, said her group’s primary focus now is meeting with legislators and supporting those who agree with their efforts, and using the ballot box to remove those that do not.
“We can turn any mom into an activist. They need to start listening to us,” said Bowman, who was among more than 60 protesters who had gathered on Saturday afternoon across the street from the convention.
Many of the protesters held up signs that read: “Texans for smart gun regulations” and “90% want a background check,” a reference to recent polls that have shown that up to 90 percent of Americans are in favor of expanded background checks.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was