NRA: Democrats used Newtown 'opportunity' to push gun control

HOUSTON, May 4 (UPI) -- National Rifle Association members at the group's national convention in Houston are celebrating legislative victories and taking aim at gun control advocates.

Convention speakers Friday charged President Barack Obama and other Democrats were using the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre in Newtown, Conn., to push for tougher gun laws, CNN reported.

Chris Cox, executive director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action characterized Obama and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg as opportunists, and said NRA members "want to prevent Newtown, not take advantage of it."

"While we pray for God to comfort those suffering unimaginable pain," he said, "they rush to microphones and cameras, gather in war rooms on Capitol Hill and scheme about how to use that suffering to push their political agenda."

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin charged Obama had used the "politics of emotion" by having Newtown families appear at political events.

The widow of slain former military sniper Chris Kyle made a surprise appearance at the convention, addressing the death of her husband at a gun range by a Marine reservist who had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Implying his death was not cause for more gun restrictions, Taya Kyle said, "we know all too well there will always be evil, but that evil shouldn't take away our freedoms. In fact, the only way to take away evil is by taking advantage of those freedoms."