In brief: Gun control battles aren’t over, NRA says
Houston – National Rifle Association leaders told members Saturday that the fight against gun control legislation is far from over, with battles yet to come in Congress and next year’s midterm elections.
The debate over gun control legislation has reached a fever pitch in the wake of December’s mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., in which 20 first-graders and six educators were killed. An expanded background checks bill supported by President Barack Obama and other lawmakers in response to the Connecticut shooting failed to pass in the Senate.
During a fiery and defiant speech Saturday, Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre, the public face of the NRA, said the “political and media elites” have tried to use Sandy Hook and other recent shootings “to blame us, to shame us, to compromise our freedom for their agenda.” He said the proposed bill “got the defeat that it deserved” and that the measure would do nothing to prevent the next mass shooting.
“We will never surrender our guns, never,” LaPierre told several thousand people during the organization’s annual member meeting, which is part of the yearly NRA convention being held this weekend in Houston. More than 70,000 NRA members are expected to attend the three-day convention, which began Friday.
James Porter, the incoming NRA president, said Obama’s gun control efforts have created a “political spontaneous combustion” that has prompted millions of Americans to become first-time gun owners and created a national outrage that will manifest itself in next year’s midterm elections.
“The Senate and House are up for grabs,” Porter said during Saturday’s meeting. “We can direct this massive energy of spontaneous combustion to regain the political high ground. We do that and Obama can be stopped.”
E! Online says Twitter account hacked
Los Angeles – E! Online said hackers compromised its Twitter and text messaging accounts, sending out erroneous news alerts about Justin Bieber and Angelina Jolie. The Syrian Electronic Army claimed responsibility for Saturday’s hack.
E! Online said it was working with Twitter to correct the issue and that an investigation into the attack was underway.
The SEA has taken credit for a string of Web attacks on media targets it sees as sympathetic to Syria’s rebels, including the BBC, Al-Jazeera English and the Guardian.
The group claims to have hacked the Twitter feed of the Associated Press last month.