OTUS

Glenn Beck at NRA Rally: 'Freedom of All Mankind Is at Stake'

Speakers warned NRA members that their 2nd amendment rights were being attacked.

ByABC News

May 5, 2013, 8:12 AM

HOUSTON, May 5, 2013 -- Television and radio host Glenn Beck warned NRA members that the "freedom of all mankind is at stake" and the "right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

"They want to fundamentally transform our country and they've just about finished the project," Beck told an audience of thousands Saturday evening at the NRA convention's Stand and Fight Rally in Houston, Texas. "They feel they must regulate us until we comply, but I will not comply."

Beck grew teary at times and used historically significant guns to talk about the importance of keeping second amendment rights free from any sort of federal gun control laws, stressing "a gun is only a reflection of the people who use it" and warning the audience "we cannot falter, we cannot fail."

"We have to admit two things," Beck added. "That weapons will always find their way into the hands of bad people, always…but we must declare this: that guns must remain in the hands of good people."

Beck's speech ended the second day of the NRA's annual convention where speaker after speaker warned the crowd of thousands of members that their second amendment rights were being attacked by the president specifically and Washington in general.

The leadership told the crowd they may have been victorious when the Manchin-Toomey amendment failed, but the fight is not over.

"Let's not fool ourselves it doesn't mean the war is over," NRA president David Keene told the crowd. "We must never confuse winning a battle with winning a war. We all know that as we meet here our opponents are regrouping and we know that they'll be back. They are as dedicated today as they've ever been to consigning you and me and all those who believe in the freedoms guaranteed us by these nation's founders to the outer darkness."

Wayne LaPierre, the group's executive vice president and face of the organization, focused the fight on President Obama saying "there is nothing the president will not do to get something, anything, through Congress to advance his agenda to destroy the Second Amendment. Nothing."

"So far, thanks to you and millions of Americans like you, that's exactly what President Obama has gotten — absolutely nothing," LaPierre said.

LaPierre said the failed background checks vote was "significant," but warned it was only "one skirmish in what can only be defined as a long war against our constitutional rights."

"We are in the midst of a once-in-a-generation fight for everything that we care about," LaPierre said. "We have a chance to secure our freedom for a generation, or to lose it forever. We must remain vigilant, we must remain ever resolute, and steadfastly growing and preparing for the even the more critical battles that loom before us. I am proud to report as I stand in front of you this morning that the state of our NRA is stronger and larger than it has ever been...Our commitment to freedom is unwavering, our growth unprecedented."

LaPierre continued saying "without that freedom, we aren't really free at all."

"They can try to blame and shame us with all their might, but when it comes to defending the Second Amendment, we will never sacrifice our freedom upon the altar of elitist acceptance," LaPierre said to applause. "And we will never surrender our guns — never."