US Gun Debate Stirs Conservative Conference After Florida Tragedy

National Harbor, United States, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd Feb, 2018 ) :Florida college student Sarah Gibson renewed her National Rifle Association membership with a credit card swipe at a conservative conference Thursday, days after a deadly school shooting in her state triggered soul-searching about America's gun violence.

"I don't think guns are the problem, they're in fact the answer," the 20-year-old said. "When you have more security and you have more people carrying (firearms), that is deterrence in itself." Gibson and thousands of fellow Republicans converged on the Conservative Political Action Conference near Washington, where they gather each year to celebrate their causes -- and, in 2018, the populist movement that swept President Donald Trump into office one year ago.

Many speakers touted the administration's achievements including passing recent tax cuts, repealing job-killing regulations and appointing conservative judges. "It's been a year of promises made and promises kept," Vice President Mike Pence told the CPAC crowd, as he offered tough words to North Korea and urged Republicans to gird for battle in hugely consequential congressional elections this November.

The ongoing and deepening investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 US election, and whether Trump's campaign colluded with Moscow, was barely a footnote in CPAC discussions. But it was impossible to ignore the ever-present tragedy of rampaging gun violence, which has roiled American political discourse and put gun rights advocates and opponents under a hot spotlight.

While a moment of silence was held to honor the 17 people killed at a Florida high school, CPAC's attendees or speakers did not shy away from the issue. Several actually went on the offensive. NRA chief Wayne LaPierre hit back at what he called "the shameful politicization of tragedy," fighting a rearguard defense against street protests and mounting demands to tighten America's permissive gun laws.

In his first public comments since the Valentine's Day rampage, LaPierre reiterated long-standing accusations that gun control advocates were seeking to roll back constitutional protections. The powerful gun lobby's spokeswoman, Dana Loesch, took it further, saying that "many in legacy media love mass shootings."