In an indicator of the continued influence of the nation’s largest gun-owners’ group, Republican politicians addressed the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting in Houston Friday, celebrating the defeat of gun legislation in the Senate, assailing the media and offering a strong defense of the powerful lobbying organization.
Alluding to the defeat of a Senate measure two weeks ago to expand background checks on gun buyers, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas told the crowd that gun control measures a month ago had “looked like an unstoppable freight train” but that they and fellow gun owners across the nation had mobilized to stop it in a victory that was “truly amazing.” But he said President Barack Obama and his allies have said “that they intend to come back at us” with another attempt to pass gun legislation in the Senate
“We must do everything we can to stop violent crime,” the Texas Republican said, as he accused the Obama administration of not doing enough to prosecute felons and fugitives who try to buy guns as well as criminals who use a gun in the commission of a crime.
Cruz also challenged Vice President Joe Biden, who like Cruz is a potential 2016 presidential contender, to an hour-long debate on how to
stop crime. “If Vice President Biden really believes the facts are on his side … I would think he would welcome the opportunity to talk about the sources, the causes of violent crime and how we do everything humanly possible to stop it.”
Wayne LaPierre, the executive vice president of the NRA, used part of his speech Friday to assail “media elitists” who “think they know better than we do” and “think they’re smarter than we are.” He accused news organizations of “a vicious effort to attack the Second Amendment and demonize lawful American gun owners.”
Another NRA leader, Chris Cox, the head of the group’s Institute for Legislative Action, said in Friday’s session that since the shootings at a school in Newtown, Conn., last year, “We’ve seen the politicians, the national media, and their billionaire supporters attack us, ridicule us, and, worst of all, blame us for the acts of violent criminals and madmen.”
He accused President Barack Obama and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg of trying to exploit the Newtown killings as they “scheme about how to use that suffering to push their political agenda.”
Also scheduled to speak Friday were former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.
Jindal and Santorum are also possible contenders for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016.
Two weeks ago, the NRA scored a major victory when the Senate rejected an amendment sponsored by two senators who had gotten NRA backing in their past campaigns, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., and Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa.
The Manchin-Toomey amendment would have required background checks on would-be firearms purchasers at gun shows at which 75 or more firearms were available for sale.
Under current law, although background checks are required to buy a weapon from a federally licensed dealer, no check is needed for those who buy from a private gun owner or at gun shows or similar events.
While most Republican senators opposed the Manchin-Toomey measure, three GOP senators in addition to Toomey himself voted for it. And while most Democratic senators voted for it, five Democrats voted no, including two who are up for re-election next year, Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Sen. Mark Begich of Alaska.After the April 17 vote on the Manchin-Toomey measure, Cox said, “some of our more aggressive adversaries may have started to believe their own propaganda. I’m sure some had convinced themselves that the intensity of their anger toward gun owners was all that was necessary to assure victory.”
Looking ahead to the 2014 elections Cox said, “Pro-Second Amendment senators stood with us and we will stand with them, as we have with other elected representatives who have supported the Second Amendment before them.”
