‘The only one they wanna prosecute is Donald Trump!’: Ex-president tells NRA conference
Former President Trump turned a speech to gun rights activists at the National Rifle Association (NRA) into a stupid post-indictment speech by tearing up prosecutors for going after him instead of “thugs and outlaws.”
“The only one they want to prosecute is Donald Trump,” the former president said after leaving New York, where DA Alvin Bragg charged him with 34 counts of business fraud and Attorney General Letitia James is launching a $250 million lawsuit over his company practices.
“Let’s get that bastard!” joked Trump.
“Biden’s gun control agenda is an integral part of the leftist crusade to arm the government against law-abiding citizens while also allowing criminals to run wild… As soon as you go to get a loaf of bread, you get shot,” Trump said.
He promised that he would direct the Justice Department to investigate every “radical” prosecutor and attorney general, such as Bragg and “racist in reverse” James. “They’re stupid or they hate our country… I think they hate our country.”
Trump turned a speech to gun rights activists at the National Rifle Association (NRA) into a stupid post-indictment speech by tearing up prosecutors for going after him instead of “thugs and outlaws”
“Biden’s gun control agenda is an integral part of the leftist crusade to arm the government against law-abiding citizens while also allowing criminals to run wild… As soon as you go to get a loaf of bread, you get shot,” Trump said
While the speech resembled a rally speech and touched on a range of Trump’s favorite issues, it returned to gun control at certain points.
“I promise you this – with me at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, no one will lay a finger on your firearms,” Trump said.
He promised to reverse the Biden Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms’ (ATF) handgun bracing rule, which requires gun owners to register either handguns with stabilizing braces with the ATF.
‘Don’t know. They wanted me to put that in there. I think some people are happy with it. I don’t know,” Trump said after announcing he would reverse the rule to the applause of the crowd.
“Let’s be very clear: it’s not about too many guns. The problem is that there are too many thugs, gangsters and savage criminals on our streets.”
Trump vowed to order the ATF to “stop going after gun shop owners for paperwork errors” and instead focus on cartels and traffickers.
“This is not a gun problem, this is a psychological problem, this is a social problem, this is a cultural problem, and this is a spiritual problem.”
“For about $12 million dollars armed guards in every school in America, and gun teachers,” Trump said, adding that he would introduce a tax credit that would reimburse teachers for the “full cost” of a concealed firearm and training.
His plan to address mental health includes directing the FDA to “convene an independent outside panel to examine whether transgender hormone treatments and ideologies increase the risk of extreme depression, aggression and even violence.”
Trump spoke just after leaving New York, where he spent eight hours Thursday in Attorney General Letitia James’ office about her $250 million lawsuit alleging fraud in his business practices.
Earlier, Vice President Mike Pence took the stage to be booed at the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) annual leadership summit in his home state.
“I love you too,” Pence said sarcastically at the event in Indianapolis, about an hour before former President Trump.
Pence called for the execution of mass shooters as soon as possible and blamed transgender people and mental illness for the country’s chronic gun violence.
“I am tired of the senseless violence and loss of life that could have been avoided if our leaders supported law enforcement, protected our schools, institutionalized the clearly mentally ill, and passed legislation that would ensure that anyone engaging in this horrific acts of mass violence will meet their fate in months, not years,” Pence said.
Vice President Mike Pence took the stage to cheers at the National Rifle Association’s (NRA) annual leadership summit in his home state
“We don’t need gun control,” Pence added. “We need crime fighting.”
The former vice president called for armed guards in US public and private schools. “The answer to mass shootings is not less guns,” he said. “It’s more institutional mental health.”
“By ignoring the motivations of the trans activist who killed three children and three adults at that Nashville Christian school, and the ‘mental health challenges’ of the man who killed five people and injured eight others in Louisville, President Biden and the Democrats have bounced back against the same tired arguments about gun control and confiscation,” Pence said.
The female shooter at Covenant Christian school in Nashville used masculine pronouns on social media.
Pence called on the US to “go back to institutional mental health settings.”
Pence addressed the crowd before Trump. The former running mates and close allies now prepare for a political duel against each other as Pence goes ahead with plans to enter the presidential race.
Trump and another GOP presidential candidate – former Vice President Mike Pence – speak with gun rights activists at the NRA convention in Indianapolis.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott and United Nations Ambassador, the other three GOP front runners in the presidential election, also appear via video messages.
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson and candidate Vivek Ramaswamy appear in person, as do Indiana Senator Mike Braun and Rep. Jim Jordan from Ohio.
NRA annual leadership attendees listen to the national anthem
Guests inspect merchandise while attending the 152nd National Rifle Association Convention at the Indiana Convention Center on April 14, 2023 in Indianapolis, Indiana
The convention comes in the wake of mass shootings in Kentucky and Tennessee – this week a gunman killed five people at a bank in Louisville, Ky.
The convention comes in the wake of mass shootings in Kentucky and Tennessee – this week a gunman killed five people at a bank in Louisville, Ky. Three weeks ago, a gunman killed three children and three adults at a Nashville elementary school.
The convention also falls on the anniversary of the Indianapolis mass shooting that killed 9 people at a FedEx facility.
Last year’s NRA convention took place in Houston, Texas, days after 19 children and two adults were killed by a gunman a few hundred miles west of Uvalde, Texas.
But NRA Chairman Wayne LaPierre, undeterred by the shootings, said “politicians who hate guns should never go to bed without fear of what this association and all our millions of members can do to their political careers.”
Last year, Congress passed the most significant gun reform in decades