Trump endorsed by NRA after calling for gun rights in Texas

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
19 May 2024 11:02

Trump vows to keep defending the Second Amendment as he calls himself “the best friend gun owners have ever had in the White House.”

Supporters cheer for former President Donald Trump before he speaks at the National Rifle Association Convention, on Saturday, May 18, 2024, in Dallas. (AP)

During the National Rifle Association's annual meeting in Texas on Saturday, former President Donald Trump called on gun owners to vote for him in the 2024 election, just right after the NRA endorsed him before he went on stage.

“We’ve got to get gun owners to vote,” Trump said. “I think you’re a rebellious bunch. But let’s be rebellious and vote this time.”

He said the Second Amendment “is very much on the ballot” in November, alleging that, if current President Joe Biden “gets four more years they are coming for your guns, 100% certain. Crooked Joe has a 40-year record of trying to rip firearms out of the hands of law-abiding citizens.”

Claiming that the Amendment is “under siege,” Trump vowed to keep defending it as he called himself “the best friend gun owners have ever had in the White House”, which all comes while the US ended last year with 42 mass killings and 217 deaths, making it one of the deadliest years on record.

The Second Amendment in the US Constitution states that American citizens have the right to bear arms.

Trump: RFK Jr. previously called NRA a 'terror group'

Trump also didn't spare a moment to bash independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., saying he's a “radical left” and “a disaster,” and recalled that Kennedy had previously called the NRA a ”terror group.”

“Don’t think about it. Don’t waste your vote,” he said, adding, “He calls you a terrorist group, and I call you the backbone of America.” Kennedy however denied this claim in a Fox News interview saying, “I don’t consider them a terror group, and I support the Second Amendment”.

It is worth mentioning that the rise in gun deaths among children and teens is part of a broader recent increase in firearm deaths among Americans overall. In 2021, there were 48,830 gun deaths among Americans of all ages – by far the highest yearly total on record and up 23% from the 39,707 recorded in 2019, before the pandemic.

'A matter of freedom'

Trump confirmed that he would be appearing next week at the Libertarian Party’s convention and affirmed that he will urge its members to vote for him.

“We have to join with them,” he said. “We have to get that 3% because we can’t take a chance on Joe Biden winning.”

Trump’s campaign and the Republican National Committee that same day announced establishing a new “Gun Owners for Trump” coalition for gun rights activists and those who work in the firearms industry.

In response, Biden spokesperson Ammar Moussa said, “Tonight, Donald Trump confirmed that he will do exactly what the NRA tells him to do — even if it means more death, more shootings, and more suffering”.

Trump also did not leave his speech without calling out Democrats for being the reason behind his legal cases because he is Biden’s opponent.

“Never forget our enemies want to take away my freedom because I will never let them take away your freedom,” he expressed.

The Republican took a jab at Biden's border policies, and abortion and warned Republicans not to be so extreme on abortion to remain electable.

“In my opinion, Republicans have not been talking about it intelligently. They haven’t been talking about it with knowledge,” he said. “Remember, speak from your heart. But you also have to get elected again.”

Biden has declared gun violence a top priority of his administration, recognizing that firearms remain the "number one killer of children" in the United States. Despite his pledges to tackle the crisis at hand, the Biden administration is failing to mitigate the burden of the domestic crisis on US citizens, with civilians dying en masse on a weekly basis.