Trump to speak at NRA convention as US gun-safety groups sound alarm

When Donald Trump last addressed members of the National Rifle Association in February, he pitched himself as a paragon of inaction on gun violence, vowing to again march in lockstep with the gun rights group if he is reelected in November.

“During my four years, nothing happened. And there was great pressure on me having to do with guns. We did nothing. We didn’t yield,” Trump said at the NRA’s Great American Outdoor Show then. “When I’m re-elected, every single Biden attack on gun owners and manufacturers will be terminated.”

With the former president set to speak at the NRA’s annual convention on Saturday, gun safety groups are bringing renewed attention to the potential consequences of a Trump victory in November. They fear that, if elected, Trump will follow through on his threat to roll back the firearm regulations enacted by Biden and expand gun rights at the expense of Americans’ safety.

Emma Brown, executive director of the gun safety group Giffords, said: “The gun lobby, candidly, loves Donald Trump because they know that they can control him …[The NRA] really reflects a gun industry that has profited from mass violence in this country, and that is the industry that Trump is aligned with.”

Trump’s first term provided a preview of his approach to gun violence. The NRA spent $31m helping Trump win the 2016 election, making it the largest outside contributor to his campaign, and the group’s leaders had a direct line to the White House once he assumed office. After a pair of mass shootings in Texas and Ohio in 2019, Trump promised his administration would pursue “very meaningful background checks,” but he quickly walked back that pledge after a phone call with then NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre.

“When it comes to