Report and Photos
By Dave Workman | Senior Editor
The 147th annual meetings and exhibits of the National Rifle Association featured an historic first with the appearances of both President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence on the same stage before a roaring audience in Dallas.
Pence appeared first, asserting that the national media does not tell “the whole story” about gun rights and gun owners. He called on the press to change that, but there was no indication in the reports that followed that the dominant media paid much attention.
“President Donald Trump and I will always stand for the right to keep and bear arms,” Pence promised.
He called the NRA an organization “forged in freedom.” Pence added a moment later, “President Trump and I are here to say ‘thank you.’”
President Donald Trump delivered a free-wheeling pro-gun-rights speech to an enthusiastic audience of NRA members at the Freedom Rally in Dallas on May 4.
When Trump took the stage, the audience was ready and they were not disappointed.
In his typical free-wheeling style, the president took swipes at Congressional Democrats for “slow walking” nominations to the federal courts.
“We need federal judges who will interpret the Constitution as written,” Trump observed.
This was after he told the crowd that it has been conservatives who have protected the Second Amendment on Capitol Hill.
“Democrats in Congress want to disarm law-abiding Americans at the same time they are letting violent criminals loose,” he said.
Vice President Mike Pence helped make history when he and the president appeared on the same NRA program.
As is often the case with a Trump speech, he occasionally veered into different subjects including the economy, but while he was on message, NRA members were tuned in. At one point, the president observed that, “We will never give up our freedom. We will live free and we will die free.”
He also reiterated his support for arming qualified schoolteachers.
Several news reports reminded readers that the NRA “spent about $30 million” to support Trump’s candidacy in 2016. Gun rights activists have noted that the alternative would have been a Hillary Clinton presidency. When Clinton’s name was mentioned, the crowd loudly booed.
