INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – President Donald Trump vowed to fight for gun rights as he addressed the National Rifle Association on Friday and implored members of the group – struggling to maintain its influence – to rally behind his re-election bid.
Speaking to the group for his third straight year, Trump declared himself a “champion for the Second Amendment.”
“It’s under assault,” he said of the constitutional right to bear arms. “But not while we’re here.”
And he told the thousands in the crowd: “You better get out there and vote,” saying of the 2020 election, “It seems like it’s a long ways away. It’s not.”
The nation’s largest gun rights organization was pivotal to Trump’s victory in 2016. But three years later, the group is limping toward the next election divided and diminished.