Vice President Mike Pence addressed the NRA-ILA Leadership Forum and invoked the words of Charlton Heston, saying, “From my cold, dead hands.”

He was referencing Heston’s famous 2000 speech in which he hoisted a rifle over his head and said, “I want to say those fighting words for everyone within the sound of my voice to hear and to heed: ‘From my cold, dead hands.'”

The crowd erupted in applause.

Pence stressed that under the Trump administration, “no one is taking your guns.”

He noted that “the right of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms is a freedom that is at the heart” of the American experience. He said the colonists won their freedoms not simply because of the “power of their ideas,” but “the powder in their muskets.”

Pence added, “Firearms in the hands of law-abiding citizens don’t threaten our families; they protect our families. And firearms in the hands of law-abiding citizens make our communities more safe, not less safe.”

AWR 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. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.