President Donald Trump took the podium at the NRA convention on May 4 amid massive applause, thanked NRA leadership and the “American patriots of the NRA,” then launched into a speech reaffirming that our natural rights originate in God.

Trump said, “The people of his hall have never taken our freedom for granted, ever, and you’ve never stopped fighting for our constitution.” He talked of NRA members’ commitment to fight for “our sacred rights, given to us by God.”

He said, “Your second amendment rights … will never, ever be under siege as long as I am president. … We believe that our liberty is a gift from our Creator, that no government can ever take it away.”

Trump stressed his love for country, saying, “We have pride in history, and respect for our heritage. We put our hand on hearts for the Pledge of Allegiance and we all proudly stand for the National Anthem.” The crowd broke into chants of “USA!, USA!, USA!”

Trump’s words echoed the sentiment of our third President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson. It was Jefferson who penned the Declaration of Independence, writing, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.”

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, 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.