Washington, May 5 (IANS) US President Donald Trump addressed the National Rifle Association (NRA) annual convention where he reassured his commitment to protect gun owners’ Second Amendment rights to keep and bear arms, media reports said.
“Thanks to your activism and dedication, you have an administration fighting to protect your Second Amendment and we will protect your Second Amendment,” CNN quoted Trump as saying to a pumped-up crowd on Friday in a Dallas arena.
“Your Second Amendment rights are under siege, but they will never ever be under siege as long as I am your President.”
His message in front of the adoring crowd was a stark departure from the defiant tone he took toward the NRA in the immediate aftermath of the February 14 shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17 people, when he embraced tougher gun restrictions and proudly boasted that the powerful gun lobby has “less power over me” than over Republican lawmakers, reports The Washington Post.
On Friday, Trump in a 45-minute speech allied himself with some of the gun group’s biggest priorities.
“The people in this hall have never taken our freedom (for) granted. Never,” Trump said. “And you have never stopped fighting for our beloved Constitution. Incredible people.”
Trump endorsed a top NRA goal to allow trained teachers to carry concealed weapons and to install more armed security guards in schools.
Signs declaring a school a gun-free zone, Trump argued, were essentially invitations to attackers to “come in and take us”.
“They love their students and they’re not going to let anybody hurt their students. But you have to give them a chance,” Trump said.
“In America, we trust the people to be wise and good… That is
