A gunfight

Juan A. Lozano has an Associated Press article about gubs:

National Rifle Association leaders told members at their recent convention in Houston, Texas that the fight against gun control legislation was far from over, with battles yet to come in Congress and next year's midterm elections, but they vowed that none in the organization would ever have to surrender their weapons.
Proponents of gun control also asserted that they are in their fight for the long haul and have not been disheartened by last month's defeat of a bill that would have expanded background checks for gun sales.
The debate over gun-control legislation has reached a fever pitch after December's mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, in which twenty first-graders and six educators were killed. The expanded background checks bill supported by President Obama and other lawmakers in response to the Connecticut shooting failed to pass in the Senate.
During a fiery and defiant speech, 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 seventy thousand NRA members are expected to attend the three-day convention. Acres of displays of rifles, pistols, swords, and hunting gear could be found inside the convention hall.
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. "We can direct this massive energy of spontaneous combustion to regain the political high ground. We do that, and Obama can be stopped."
LaPierre said the NRA now has a record five million members, but he urged for increased membership, and added that it "must be ten million strong" in its battle against gun control.
Meanwhile, across the street from the convention, advocates of expanded background checks and other gun control measures vowed to continue their fight. Kellye Bowman of the Houston chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, a national grassroots effort promoting gun control that was started after the Sandy Hook shooting, said her organization was not discouraged by last month's failure of the gun control bill. She said its defeat actually increased her group's membership. Bowman, who described herself as a fifth generation Texan who grew up shooting guns, said her group's primary focus now is meeting with legislators and supporting those who agree with their efforts and using the ballot box to remove those that don't. "We can turn any mom into an activist. They need to start listening to us," said Bowman, who was among more than sixty protesters who had gathered across the street from the convention. Many of the protesters held up signs that read: Texans For Smart Gun Regulations and 90% Want A Background Check, a reference to recent polls that have shown that up to ninety percent of Americans are in favor of expanded background checks.

Rico says some photos just sum up the whole story: 'At the NRA convention, Janet Bero waits to have her German Luger appraised.' (And why does that line from Help come to mind: "If only I had a Luger..."