"This is not a battle about gun rights" was the message perpetuated at the National Rifle Association's "Stand and Fight"-gathering on Friday.AUSTIN, Texas — The National Rifle Association kicked off its annual convention Friday with a warning from its incoming president that its members are engaged in a "culture war" that stretches beyond gun rights, further ramping up emotions surrounding the gun control debate.
NRA First Vice President James Porter, who will take over the top job Monday, issued a full-throated challenge in the opening hours to President Barack Obama after the NRA's major victory on gun control and a call to dig in for a long fight that will stretch into the 2014 elections.
More than 70,000 NRA members are expected to attend the three-day convention amid the backdrop of the defeat of a major gun control bill in the U.S. Senate that was introduced after December's mass shooting at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school.
Porter's remarks came in a short speech to about 300 people at a grass-roots organizing meeting and set the tone for a "Stand and Fight"-themed convention that is part gun trade show, political rally and strategy meeting.
"This is not a battle about gun rights," Porter said, calling it "a culture war."
"(You) here in this room are the fighters for freedom. We are the protectors," said Porter, whose father was NRA president from 1959-1960.
On Friday afternoon, a political forum will feature speeches from several state and national conservative leaders, including Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former Republican 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.
Wayne LaPierre, the NRA's brash, no-compromises chief executive, speaks to the convention Saturday before the "Stand and Fight" rally that night.
Rob Heagy, a former parole officer from San Francisco, agreed with Porter's description of a culture war.
"It is a cultural fight on those ten guarantees," referencing the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution. "Mr. Obama said he wasn't going after our guns. As soon as the Connecticut thing happened, he came after our guns."
NRA Executive Director Chris Cox bragged about the organization's efforts to defeat the gun control bill.
"It was great to see the president throw a temper tantrum in the Rose Garden," Cox said.
Gun control advocates were determined to have a presence outside the convention hall. Across the street Friday, the No More Names vigil read the names of gun violence victims since the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre. Gun control advocates also planned a petition drive to support expanded background checks and a Saturday demonstration outside the convention hall.
Erica Lafferty, whose mother, Sandy Hook principal Dawn Hochsprung, was killed by the gunman, was outside the building and said she hoped to talk to as many NRA members as she could.
"I am not against people owning guns. I am asking for safe and responsible gun ownership and gun laws. I don't understand where the problem is with background checks," Lafferty said.
Inside the convention hall, visitors strolled past acres of displays of rifles, pistols, swords and hunting gear. Under Texas law, attendees could conceal and carry weapons with a permit.
Debbie and Daniel Ferris of Gun Barrel City, Texas, also agreed with Porter's assessment of a culture war.
"It's about fighting tyranny," said Debbie Ferris, who has been an NRA member for five years. Her 35-year-old husband is a lifetime member.
"We don't like to be pushed around," Daniel Ferris said. "We are free Americans."
But polls also show that most Americans favor some expansion of background checks and gun control supporters promise to keep pressing the issue.
Sen. Joe Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, has said he will re-introduce the bill to require criminal and mental health background checks for gun buyers at shows and online. And despite their loss on the federal level, gun control advocates have scored some significant victories at the state level.
Colorado lawmakers passed new restrictions on firearms, including required background checks for private and online gun sales and a ban on ammunition magazines that hold more than 15 rounds. Connecticut recently added more than 100 firearms to the state's assault weapons ban and now requires background checks for private gun sales.
Maryland and New York have passed sweeping new guns laws, and in Washington state, supporters of universal background checks recently announced a statewide campaign to collect 300,000 signatures to put the issue straight to voters.
"There are 90 percent of Americans that support this," Lafferty said. "We are not going away. It's a huge issue."