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Donald Trump has lavished praise on the National Rifle Association, saying the controversial and powerful US gun rights lobby are "great American patriots" and "work so hard".

As the US president waded deeper into the gun control row in the wake of Florida mass shooting, he wrote of his support for the organisation amid a flurry of tweets.

He said: “What many people don’t understand, or don’t want to understand, is that Wayne, Chris and the folks who work so hard at the NRA are Great People and Great American Patriots.

“They love our Country and will do the right thing."

He concluded: "MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!"

It came as NRA leader Wayne LaPierre used his address to the conservative conference CPAC on Thursday to lash out at anti-gun campaigners.

He said supporters of gun control were exploiting the mass school shooting, in which 17 students and staff were killed, to promote an anti-gun agenda.

Mr LaPierre hit out at Democrat politicians and the national media, claiming they were eager to blame the NRA for the tragedy.

He said: “They hate the NRA, they hate the second amendment, they hate individual freedom.

”The elites don’t care not one wit about America’s school system and school children. If they truly cared, what they would do is they would protect them.

“For them, it’s not a safety issue, it’s a political issue.

“They care more about control, and more of it. They’re goal is to eliminate the second amendment and our firearms freedoms so that they can eradicate all individual freedoms.”

Mr LaPierre added in his address: “They fantasise about more laws stopping what other laws have failed to stop", adding "so many existing laws were ignored”.

He said: "They just want to get more laws to get more control over people. But the NRA, the NRA does care.”

Mr LaPierre also bolstered a call by Mr Trump to arm teachers following the Parkland shooting, and offered free training.

"We must immediately harden our schools," he said. "Every day, young children are being dropped off at schools that are virtually wide open, soft targets for anyone bent on mass murder."

The massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland was the second-deadliest shooting at a US public school and has spurred youth-led protests in cities across the country.

Former US President Barack Obama took to Twitter on Thursday to praise those who are taking a stand.

He said: "Young people have helped lead all our great movements.

"How inspiring to see it again in so many smart, fearless students standing up for their right to be safe; marching and organizing to remake the world as it should be. We've been waiting for you. And we've got your backs."