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He also claimed the Boston Marathon bombings “proved” the need for more Americans to be armed, saying: “Frightened citizens sheltered with no means to defend themselves. How many Bostonians wish they had a gun two weeks ago? How many other Americans now ponder that life or death question?

“Lying in wait right now is a terrorist, a deranged school shooter, a kidnapper, a rapist, a murderer waiting and planning and plotting in every community across our country, lying in wait right now.”

Television and radio host Glenn Beck told NRA members at a “Stand and Fight Rally” that “the freedom of all mankind is at stake”. He said: “They feel they must regulate us until we comply, but I will not comply. Weapons will always find their way into the hands of bad people, always. But we must declare this, that guns must remain in the hands of good people.”

The convention in Houston, Texas, was the first since last year’s mass shootings at a cinema in Aurora, Colorado, and Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, where 26 people including 20 children were killed.

More than 70,000 NRA members attended to peruse acres of displays of weapons including sniper rifles, pink assault weapons for women, an air gun shooting range for children, swords, hunting gear, and accessories such as handbags with handgun compartments.

Across the road, around 60 gun control advocates gathered. Mark Kelly, the husband of former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head and nearly killed in 2011, said: “The NRA leadership’s priority is to make sure the corporations that make guns and ammunition continue to turn huge profits.”

James Porter, the incoming NRA president, said Obama’s gun control efforts have created a “political spontaneous combustion” that has prompted millions of Americans to become first-time gun owners and created a national outrage that will manifest itself in next year’s midterm elections.

“The Senate and House are up for grabs,” Porter said during Saturday’s meeting. “We can direct this massive energy of spontaneous combustion to regain the political high ground. We do that and Obama can be stopped.”

With files from the Associated Press