Donald Trump–former President and current frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination–will speak at the NRA’s hunting and outdoor expo in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on February 9, 2024.
The event, the Great American Outdoor Show, runs February 3-11, 2024. Trump will speak at the expo’s Presidential Forum.
FOX News quoted from an NRA press release in which the organization’s president, Charles Cotton, said, “President Trump’s unwavering support for the Second Amendment, and his track record of protecting the rights of gun owners, make him an exemplary speaker for this momentous event. His fellow NRA members can’t wait to hear from him for the eighth time.”
NRA-ILA director Randy Kozuch added, “President Trump’s presence at the Great American Outdoor Show is a testament to his ongoing commitment to our constitutional freedoms. His leadership has been crucial in safeguarding the rights of hunters, sportsmen, and all Americans who cherish our outdoor heritage.”
“As President, Trump upheld this commitment by appointing a record-setting number of judges who respect the Second Amendment,” the press release stressed, “designating firearm retailers as critical infrastructure during COVID-19, and unsigning from the ATT arms trade treaty on stage at the 2019 NRA Annual Meeting in Indianapolis.”
On May 4, 2018, Breitbart News sat in attendance during President Trump’s speech to the NRA’s Annual Meetings, held that year in Dallas, Texas.
During the speech Trump said:
In 1835, soldiers from General Santa Anna’s army marched into the little Texas town of Gonzales and ordered those Texans to surrender their small cannon that they relied on to protect their lives and protect their homes. The Texans refused! They were not about to give up their only means of self-defense.
In response, Santa Anna’s army returned with a large group of additional people. They had men all over the place … [but] this time, they were met by dozens of Texans … who had rushed to Gonzales to defend their rights and their freedom. As Santa Anna’s men watched from a distance, those brave Texans raised a flag for all to see. On the banner, they painted a cannon along with four words that echoed through the ages. It said, “Come and Take It.”
A man waves a a “Come and Take It” flag in support of military-style semi-automatic weapon ownership during an anti-vaccination protest rally near City Hall in Los Angeles, California, on August 14, 2021. (DAVID MCNEW/AFP via Getty)
Trump added, “Like those early Texans, Americans will never surrender, ever, ever. We will never surrender. We will never give up our freedom. Americans were born free. We will live free and we will die free.”
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ahawkinsAWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010, a speaker at the 2023 Western Conservative Summit, and he holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at
