Former Lt. Col. Oliver North speaks at the NRA-ILA Leadership Forum on May 4, 2018, in Dallas. | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Oliver North looks to recruit millions to NRA

Incoming National Rifle Association President Oliver North said Sunday that he wants to expand the powerful group's membership by millions as it looks to fend off gun control efforts amid an outbreak of fatal school shootings.

North outlined his plans in a "Fox News Sunday" interview after 10 people were killed Friday in a shooting at Santa Fe High School near Houston. The massacre has again prompted calls for Congress to take action.


North, best known for his role in the Iran-Contra scandal during the 1980s, said Sunday that he is looking at ways to more than double the NRA's membership of 6 million — an expansion aimed at boosting the group's political clout.

"My goal is a million more members," he said. "Then I'm going to go out and ask every NRA member to recruit one more. That will put 14 million activists on the street — not the types [billionaire philanthropist] George Soros is fielding, not the types that showed up down there in Dallas to protest our right to gather. But those who are going to vote for people who support the Second Amendment."

In discussing Friday’s mass shooting, North reiterated the NRA position that guns are not to blame.



“We’re trying like the dickens to treat the symptom without treating the disease. And the disease in this case isn’t the Second Amendment,” the former Marine lieutenant colonel said.

“The disease is youngsters who are steeped in a culture of violence. They’ve been drugged, in many cases. Nearly all of these perpetrators are male. And they’re young teenagers, in most cases. They’ve come through a culture where violence is commonplace — all you need to do is turn on a TV, go to a movie.“