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NRA wraps up national convention in Houston
Attendees line-up to meet musician Ted Nugent (not pictured) at a book signing event during the National Rifle Association's annual meeting in Houston, Texas on May 5, 2013. Organizers expect some 70,000 attendees at the 142nd NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits in Houston, which began on Friday and continues through Sunday.
Credit: Reuters/Adrees Latif
HOUSTON |
HOUSTON (Reuters) - The National Rifle Association on Sunday wrapped up its first national meeting of members since the high-profile mass shootings last year at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, and the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
The convention ended with a prayer breakfast and a presentation by rock musician Ted Nugent, which was closed to the media.
Speakers throughout the weekend included NRA Chief Executive Wayne LaPierre, Texas Governor Rick Perry and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
Not only was the convention the NRA's first national gathering of members since the shootings in Colorado and Connecticut, but it came less than a month after the U.S. Senate voted down a measure to expand background checks for gun buyers - a step favored by U.S. President Barack Obama and most Americans.
An estimated 70,000 attendees at the NRA convention participated in gun raffles and shooting sports and browsed among more than 550 booths showing firearms and myriad gun-related items.
Thermal vision cameras — similar to equipment used by authorities hunting for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as he hid in a boat - attracted a crowd of interested onlookers.
The NRA said it would release a statement on Monday with an official tally of attendance.
(This story was corrected to fixe to show booths were showing, not selling, firearms)
(Reporting by Andrea Lorenz; Editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Maureen Bavdek)
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I’m a gun owner and living in Alabama, don’t have to register my weapons but I wouldn’t have a problem if I did.
Look at who was there as speakers at the convention.
LaPierre: I think he actually believes that nonsense he spouts.
Having background checks at gun shows is _NOT going to allow the federal government to come into your homes and take your weapons.
Sarah Palin: She doesn’t even understand geography and history yet she’s invited to speak to the NRA crowd ?
Beck: A right wing hate and fear monger who needs to be in jail instead of getting paid big money to ‘speak’ at conventions.
The Republicans who voted against the proposed legislation are on the way out (they may not know it yet) because they defied their voting constituents when 90% of the country approved of a policy change to gun laws.
I’ll never join the NRA because they don’t actually offer anything for a membership.
I’ll just stay here in Alabama with my guns and my concealed weapon permit and live without all the nonsense that was spoken in Houston this weekend.
I see the NRA has you indoctrinated.
So what if the numbers aren’t 90% ? Its _still an overwhelming majority of US citizens who want gun legislation changes.
Stick to the facts, man.
LaPierre got the right-wingers believing the government was going to take away their weapons if legislation was passed to protect children and other defenseless members of society.
That and the money spent by NRA lobbyists to line the pockets of Republican Congresspeople’s pockets.
I’m not a ‘leftist’ and President Obama can’t do anything to curtail gun violence if Congress stymies everything he tries to do by refusing to pass legislation to actually help stop the violence.
President Obama isn’t at gun shows selling firearms to people with no background checks. Its right-wingers like you who sell those guns.
And which regular American citizen needs an assault weapon with a 30 or 50 round banana clip magazine ? Not me. I have plenty of 6-15 round guns to protect myself and my family from criminals and to use for recreation.
I used the M16A1 in the Army with a 20 round magazine and we taped two magazines together for 40 round capability. Now you can buy 50 round magazines. Who needs that much ammunition to fire at one time ?
Do you think a serious hunter is going to shoot a deer 50 times and then find the meat inedible ?
_No civilian needs a weapon with that much firepower.
The _only people who want something like that are gang thugs, right-wing militias who want to overthrow the government, and crazies like adam lanza. And they have them because there’s no significant legislation in place which would allow law enforcement to stop them.
Why is there no legislation ? Because any effort to pass legislation is being blocked by Congressional supporters of the NRA.
Don’t blame the President, blame yourselves, which is where I put the blame. On _you, and the NRA, and members of Congress who have blocked any efforts to change existing laws.
God bless sane America, not the NRA and call your psychiatrist. He or she may be able to help with your delusional way of thinking.
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