NRA: We Will Never Surrender Our Guns

By Associated Press - 5/6/2013

HOUSTON -- A leader of an influential gun rights lobbying group implored members Saturday to never give up their weapons in the wake of recent gun control efforts in Congress that he said will "destroy us and every ounce of our freedom."

The National Rifle Association is holding its convention at a time when the gun rights group finds itself in a national fight over gun control in Washington, D.C., and state capitals around the U.S. The NRA had a major victory regarding gun control with the defeat last month in the U.S. Senate of a bill that would have expanded background checks for gun sales. But it lost ground in some places as several states passed laws expanding background checks and banning large ammunition magazines after December's mass shooting at a Newtown, Connecticut, elementary school that killed 20 children and six educators.

A defiant Wayne LaPierre, the NRA's executive vice president, said the "political and media elites" have tried to use December's school massacre and other recent ones "to blame us, to shame us, to compromise our freedom for their agenda."

"We will never surrender our guns, never," LaPierre told several thousand people during the organization's annual member meeting, which is part of the yearly NRA convention being held this weekend in Houston.
LaPierre directed much of his criticism at President Barack Obama and his efforts to pass legislation in Congress that would have expanded background checks for gun sales. The bill would have expanded background checks to cover online and gun show sales. Background checks are now required only for sales by federally licensed firearms dealers.

Supporters of the measure said it would help keep guns out of the hands of criminals and severely mentally ill people. The NRA led the opposition by raising concerns that the measure would lead to a national registry of gun owners, making it easier for the government to tax or confiscate firearms.

LaPierre said the bill "got the defeat that it deserved."

"The bill wouldn't have prevented Newtown or Aurora," he said, also referencing last year's shooting at a Colorado movie theater. "It won't prevent the next tragedy. None of it has anything to do with keeping our children safer in any school anywhere."

Gun control supporters have promised to keep pressing the issue and have made significant strides at the state level, including passing new restrictions on firearms in Colorado and Connecticut.

LaPierre implored lawmakers to direct their efforts not at new gun control legislation but to enforcing current federal gun laws and sending to prison violent criminals who break these laws and rebuilding "our broken mental health system."

"And for God sakes leave the rest of us alone in this country," he said to loud applause.

More than 70,000 NRA members are expected to attend the three-day convention, which began Friday. Acres of displays of rifles, pistols, swords and hunting gear could be found inside the convention hall.

Friday's highlight was a 3 1/2-hour political rally filled with fiery speeches from state and national conservative leaders, among them Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. They warned attendees that new gun laws are an effort to take away their right to bear arms guaranteed under the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

The presence of protesters has been minimal during the convention. Across the street, the No More Names vigil read the names of gun violence victims killed since the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Connecticut. By Saturday afternoon, about 20 protesters were present.

"It's time to move toward global thinking and global peace and solutions that don't require guns," said Tim Campbell, 73, from Houston, who held up a sign that read "No To Arms. No To Force."

The NRA has shown no sign of softening its position. Its incoming president has a penchant for bold statements that are sure to enflame the already explosive national debate over gun control spurred by the massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School.

James Porter, an Alabama attorney and first vice president of the NRA, assumes the presidency on Monday after the group's national convention wraps up. He didn't wait until then to ignite a new furor over gun control, telling the NRA grass-roots organizers on Friday they are the front line of a "culture war" that goes beyond gun rights.
"(You) here in this room are the fighters for freedom. We are the protectors," Porter said.

Porter, 64, whose father was NRA president from 1959-1961, is part of the small, Birmingham, Alabama, law firm of Porter, Porter & Hassinger. The firm's website notes its expertise in defending gun manufacturers in lawsuits.

As shown by his "culture war" comment Friday and others in his past, Porter's style is likely to be one that fans the flames of an emotionally combustible debate.

Porter has called President Barack Obama a "fake president," Attorney General Eric Holder "rabidly un-American" and the U.S. Civil War the "War of Northern Aggression." On Friday, he repeated his call for training every U.S. citizen in the use of standard military firearms, to allow them to defend themselves against tyranny.

Gun control advocates say Porter makes outgoing NRA President David Keene look like a moderate on gun issues, even though Keene had said the NRA would try to punish lawmakers who voted in favor of expanded background checks and other gun control measures.

Keene had worked to offer a softer, if equally staunch voice for the gun lobby's ideas when compared with LaPierre, the fiery executive vice president who remains the NRA's most prominent voice on the public stage.

Porter as president, "pulls (the NRA) more into the extremist camp," said Josh Horwitz, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, which supports tighter gun control measures. "With Jim Porter, they've gone full crazy."

Porter has served as a head of the NRA's legal affairs committee. His legal experience will be counted on to help the organization challenge some of the gun control laws passed in several states around the country in court, Keene told the Washington Times.