In a mood to celebrate and fight, NRA meets

AUSTIN, Texas - The National Rifle Association has spent much of the last year under siege, ardently defending gun rights after mass shootings in Colorado and Connecticut and fighting back against mounting pressure for stricter laws in Washington and state capitols across the country.

Now, after winning a major victory with the defeat of a gun-control bill in the U.S. Senate, the gun-rights lobby will gather in Houston this weekend for its annual convention.

Organizers anticipate a rollicking, Texas-sized party - one that celebrates the group's recent victory while stressing that the fight is far from over.

"If you are an NRA member, you deserve to be proud," Wayne LaPierre, the NRA's brash, no-compromises chief executive wrote to the organization's five million members last week, telling them they "exemplify everything that's good and right about America."

More than 70,000 people are expected to attend the three-day "Stand and Fight"-themed event, which includes a gun trade show, political rally, and strategy meeting.

Texas is one of the strongest gun-rights states in the country. More than 500,000 people are licensed to carry concealed handguns, including Gov. Rick Perry, who once bragged about shooting a coyote during a jog.

Concealed handguns are allowed in the state Capitol, where simply showing a license allows armed visitors to bypass metal detectors.

Friday's big event is a political forum with speeches from several state and national conservative leaders, including Perry, former GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, former Pennsylvania senator and presidential candidate Rick Santorum, and Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican Texas firebrand who has become one of the top tea-party voices in Washington since being elected last year. LaPierre speaks to the convention Saturday before the "Stand and Fight" rally at night.

Gun-control advocates say they will have a presence around the NRA convention, with plans for a vigil for victims of gun violence, a petition drive to support background checks, and a Saturday demonstration outside the George R. Brown Convention Center.

Despite polls that show most Americans favor some expansion of background checks, Ladd Everitt, spokesman for the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, said a big challenge facing gun-control advocates was matching the NRA's grassroots organizing, or as he called it "closing the passion gap."

Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, has said he will reintroduce the bill to require criminal and mental-health background checks for gun buyers at shows and online.