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Trump vows to protect the right to bear arms in the US

Donald Trump was cheered as he addressed the National Rifle Association convention in Dallas
Donald Trump was cheered as he addressed the National Rifle Association convention in Dallas

The US President has promised gun owners that he will protect their right to bear arms.

Addressing the National Rifle Association annual convention in Dallas, Donald Trump referenced the recent Parkland shooting in Florida and said he wanted to make schools safer with mental health awareness programmes, increased security and by arming specially-trained teachers.

He also made reference to gun control laws in other countries and the Paris terrorist attacks.

President Trump's comments come after he suggested in the aftermath of the Parkland shooting, in which 17 people were killed, that he would take on the powerful gun rights group.

Arming teachers and increasing school security to head off future mass shootings are supported by the NRA.

With Republican control of the US Congress up for grabs in November's midterm elections, President Trump used the NRA platform to return to rhetoric he used in 2016 to appeal to pro-gun voters, warning that Democrats are determined to take away guns.

He made no mention of gun-control proposals he tentatively floated in the past, such as raising the age limit for buying rifles.

The NRA opposes that and other limits on gun sales as a violation of the right to gun ownership under the Second Amendment to the US Constitution.

Mr Trump told the cheering crowd: "Your Second Amendment rights are under siege. But they will never, ever be under siege as long as I'm your president ... We've got to get Republicans elected.

"The one thing that stands between Americans and the elimination of our Second Amendment rights has been conservatives in Congress."

The Parkland massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on 14 February seemed to mark a turning point in the long-running gun debate in the US, sparking a youth-led movement for tighter gun controls.

Days after the shooting, Mr Trump promised action on gun regulation, and at a gathering of state officials, he said of the NRA: "We have to fight them every once in a while."

But, since then, no major new federal gun controls have been imposed, although the administration is pursuing a proposed regulatory ban on "bump stocks", which enable a semi-automatic rifle to fire a steady stream of bullets.

The devices were used in a mass shooting in Las Vegas last October that killed 59 people.

At the NRA event, speaking of the Parkland shooting, President Trump said: "Our hearts break for every American who has suffered the horrors of this school shooting."

As he spoke, shares rose in major gun makers Sturm Ruger & Co and American Outdoor Brands, maker of Smith & Wesson firearms.