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   / Updated By Jonathan Allen 
   
   NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — In his first public remarks since last week's deadly shooting at a high school in Florida, Wayne LaPierre, leader of the National Rifle Association, told a conservative convention on Thursday that gun control advocates care more about destroying liberty than protecting kids. 
   
   "Opportunists wasted not one second to exploit tragedy for political gain," LaPierre, executive vice president of the nation's most prominent gun-rights lobbying organization, said at the Conservative Political Action Conference. 
   
   In a wide-ranging speech stocked with red meat for conservatives and attacks on Democrats, LaPierre called for increased school security, repeatedly ripped the "rogue" leadership of the FBI and blasted the left for promoting a "socialist" agenda. 
   
   Name-checking a long list of prospective Democratic 2020 presidential candidates and lawmakers like Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, a leading advocate for gun control measures, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, along with the "national media," LaPierre condemned those he said were "eager to smear" the NRA. 
   
   "For them, it's not a safety issue," he said of protecting students. "It's a political issue." 
   
   Schumer quickly fired back on Twitter. 
   
   "The NRA is once again spewing pathetic, out of touch ideas, blaming everything but guns," Schumer said. 
   
   The NRA is once again spewing pathetic, out of touch ideas, blaming everything but guns. In the past, even after horrible shootings and empathetic words, President Trump and Congressional Republicans have toed the NRA line. 1/2 — Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) February 22, 2018 
   
   LaPierre's remarks came the day after President Donald Trump and his aides outlined plans to combat mass shootings: Tighten the national background-check system, raise the age for buying semi-automatic weapons to 21, and allow some teachers and school officials to carry firearms on campuses. 
   
   Calling schools "wide open, soft targets for anyone bent on mass murder," LaPierre said that banks, jewelry stores, movie stars and politicians are "all more protected than our children." 
   
   "We must immediately harden our schools," he said. 
   
   But the NRA chief didn't limit himself to guns or their potential effect on school safety. LaPierre went after the FBI for failing to prevent the shooting that killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School last week, and blasted "corruption" within the bureau's ranks. 
   
   Those advocating for gun control in the wake of the shooting want "to sweep right under the carpet the failure of school security, the failure of family, the failure of America's mental health system, and even the unbelievable failure of the FBI," he said. 
   
   A top FBI official admitted Thursday the bureau made a mistake in not properly handling a report it had received about the Florida shooter before he attack the school. Acting FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich said that while it was "a tragedy" that a tip about the gunman, Nikolas Cruz, was never passed along to local investigators, the FBI is determined to fix the problem. 
   
   Shortly before LaPierre took the stage, Trump praised him and NRA staff as "Great People and Great American Patriots" on Twitter. 
   
   NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch, a favorite of Tea Party activists, spoke before LaPierre and said major media organizations cover mass shootings based on race and ratings. 
   
   "Many in legacy media love mass shootings," Loesch said. "You love the ratings. Crying white mothers are ratings gold." 
   
   She went on to say that the media ignore the shooting deaths of people of color in Chicago. 
   
   LaPierre said the NRA's critics are interested only in eliminating liberty for Americans — not preventing more shootings. 
   
   "They hate the NRA. They hate the Second Amendment. They hate individual freedom," he said. 
   
   "To stop a bad guy with a gun, it takes a good guy with a gun," LaPierre added. 
   
   Speaking shortly after LaPierre, Vice President Mike Pence struck a more conciliatory tone, saying Americans "mourn with those who mourn and grieve with those who grieve." 
   
   Where LaPierre warned gun control was a subversive liberal plot to enable authoritarianism, Pence praised Trump's recent call for Congress to strengthen background checks and his call to government regulators to restrict bump stocks that can speed up semi-automatic weapon fire. 
   
   Pence said he would "pray for God's wisdom that all of us in positions of authority might find a way to come together with American solutions to confront and end this evil in our time." He lamented that the aftermath of the shooting had brought "a time of too much division and too much anger in America." 
   
   Pence did not address Trump’s proposal, reiterated on Twitter Thursday morning, to train and arm teachers around the country in order to deter a "sicko shooter" from firing on students. ||||| After a week of media silence following the school shooting in Florida, the National Rifle Association has gone on the offensive in its first public response to the massacre, pushing back against law enforcement officials, the media, gun-control advocates and calls for stricter gun laws from the teenage survivors of the attack. 
   
   The gun rights group — a powerful force in American politics — used speeches and videos to try to blunt an emotionally charged wave of calls for new gun restrictions since a gunman armed with an AR-15 rifle killed 17 people at a Parkland, Fla., high school. As the teens who escaped the bloodshed have passionately campaigned for new laws, it appears the politics around the fraught issue of gun control are shifting, with President Trump and some conservative lawmakers expressing a willingness to consider at least modest measures. 
   
   While the NRA initially held back from the fray, that changed as a spokeswoman debated survivors of the attack during a heated town hall and then Wayne LaPierre, the group’s chief executive, forcefully decried gun-control advocates and the media for its coverage of the shooting. 
   
   [Florida high school students demand change to gun laws at boisterous rally] 
   
   “They don’t care about our schoolchildren,” LaPierre said Thursday morning near the start of the Conservative Political Action Conference in Oxon Hill, Md. “They want to make all of us less free.” 
   
   LaPierre also restated his belief that more armed security would stop school shootings, echoing Trump, while calling on parents and local authorities to beef up security on campuses. Later in the day, the Broward County Sheriff acknowledged that an armed and uniformed deputy who was assigned to the Florida school did not enter the building while the attack was happening last week, taking a defensive position outside; the deputy, who was suspended, has since resigned. 
   
   “Evil walks among us,” LaPierre said. “And God help us if we don’t harden our schools and protect our kids.” 
   
   LaPierre’s speech came on the heels of the NRA releasing a video claiming that “the mainstream media love mass shootings.” The video argued that members of the media benefit from covering mass shootings and use them “to juice their ratings and push their agenda.” 
   
   [Teachers: What do you think of President Trump’s proposal to arm some teachers in the classroom?] 
   
   Since the rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, media coverage has been dominated by the attack’s survivors, who responded with a push of furious activism unseen after previous mass shootings. Teenagers who hid in closets and ran for their lives quickly began calling for increased gun control, assailing the NRA and organizing around their message. 
   
   The survivors called for new gun restrictions in a rally Wednesday in Tallahassee, the Florida capital, and then reiterated the pleas that night at a town hall hosted by CNN and attended by lawmakers and Dana Loesch, an NRA spokeswoman. 
   
   Loesch, speaking Thursday before LaPierre, echoed the NRA’s advertisement and castigated the news media with racially charged remarks. 
   
   “Many in legacy media love mass shootings,” Loesch said. “I’m not saying that you love the tragedy. But I am saying that you love the ratings. Crying white mothers are ratings gold.” 
   
   [Dana Loesch, the NRA’s brash spokeswoman, dials back the rage at CNN town hall] 
   
   Loesch questioned why there was a nationally televised town hall after one of the deadliest mass shootings in modern American history but no similar event for “thousands of grieving black mothers in Chicago every weekend.” 
   
   During her appearance the previous night, Loesch sought to direct the discussion toward who should be able to obtain firearms, highlighting numerous red flags in the alleged gunman’s past, including concerns from school officials and a warning ignored by the FBI. 
   
   Israel — who has said his agency is reviewing its prior interactions with the shooter as well as its response to the attack — said more armed officers alone would not solve the problems revealed by the Douglas shooting, but he announced plans to send deputies with rifles to police the county’s schools. 
   
   The alleged shooter had no criminal record and was able to purchase his guns legally, officials said. Loesch sharply questioned how law enforcement had handled warnings about the suspect and criticized what she called “flawed” background check systems. 
   
   “I don’t believe that this insane monster should have ever been able to obtain a firearm,” Loesch said during the forum Wednesday night. “This individual was nuts.” 
   
   Speaking the following morning, Loesch also said she condemned those at the FBI who fumbled warnings about the shooter. “The government has proven it cannot keep you safe,” she said. 
   
   David Bowdich, acting deputy director of the FBI, said Thursday that he was concerned about his agency’s public standing. 
   
   “When I look through the prism of risk for our organization, I find the number one risk for our organization is losing the faith and confidence of the American people,” Bowdich said in response to a question about attacks on the bureau, including those by the NRA. 
   
   Critics of the NRA dismissed its comments, which Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called “pathetic, out of touch ideas.” Some gun-control groups also questioned why the NRA was being given such a prominent platform in the debate, both by CNN and in Trump’s remarks. 
   
   “I am so outraged that the NRA is being given a seat at the table, whether its by the media or by the president,” said Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action, an advocacy group seeking gun-control changes. “We’re acting as though lobbyists have a right to have a say, or to help us write our nation’s gun policies. They don’t.” 
   
   She also attributed the NRA’s push to put more guns in schools as a way to increase firearms sales, noting that gun sales have fallen under Trump. Under Obama, amid fears that his administration would seek more gun restrictions, these sales reached record highs. 
   
   Much like Loesch’s remarks, LaPierre’s speech went beyond the gun debate to touch on other politically charged issues. LaPierre, whose confrontational remarks have become a CPAC tradition, mentioned “rogue leadership” at the FBI, warned of “European socialists” in the Democratic Party, invoked illegal immigration and referenced the opioid epidemic. 
   
   LaPierre said he was “horrified” by the Parkland tragedy, criticizing what he called “opportunists” who would “exploit tragedy for political gain.” He invoked his own comment following the 2012 massacre of 20 children and six adults at an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., saying Thursday that “to stop a bad guy with a gun, it takes a good guy with a gun.” 
   
   During his speech, LaPierre decried schools as “gun-free zones,” though Douglas had an armed officer on the campus at the time of the attack — who Israel has said did not enter the building or confront the shooter as people were being killed. LaPierre questioned why more armed protection was afforded to everything from banks and jewelry stores to movie stars, professional sports games and politicians. 
   
   Shortly before LaPierre spoke, Trump tweeted a message of support for him and others at the NRA as “Great People and Great American Patriots” who he said would “do the right thing.” 
   
   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. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 22, 2018 
   
   Trump has also echoed the NRA in calling for more armed security at schools and emphasized the idea of arming teachers as a way to deter future attacks. Trump has publicly and privately floated actions that would be at odds with some positions of the NRA — a group that heavily backed him during his campaign for the presidency — including suggesting that the age for purchasing assault rifles be raised from 18 to 21. 
   
   “Legislative proposals that prevent law-abiding adults aged 18-20 years old from acquiring rifles and shotguns effectively prohibits them for purchasing any firearm, thus depriving them of their constitutional right to self-protection,” Jennifer Baker, a spokeswoman for the group, said in a statement. 
   
   The alleged shooter in South Florida had purchased at least 10 guns, all rifles and shotguns, including the AR-15 used in the massacre, according to a law enforcement official familiar with the probe. 
   
   Grover Norquist, a member of the NRA’s board, said he supports gun-purchase restrictions on those who are adjudicated as dangers to themselves and those who are violent felons, but he said he opposes raining the gun ownership age. 
   
   “I am opposed to infantalizing teenagers,” Norquist said. “The guys on the left believe that treating people as children who are eligible to vote and join the military makes sense. I take the view that restricting people as children who are 18, 19, 20 years old is not helpful. I think it is a bad idea to treat adults as children.” 
   
   In Florida, a day after high school students swamped the state capital to rally for new gun restrictions, Republican lawmakers were expected to release legislative language Thursday or Friday with proposals responding to Parkland. The bills are expected to include at least one provision increasing in the minimum age for purchasing semiautomatic rifles to 21. 
   
   Republican Sen. Bill Galvano, the next Senate president who has long supported the NRA’s legislative priorities, is leading the effort in his body, and he said the NRA’s opposition to raising the age limit was unlikely to defeat the bill. 
   
   “It doesn’t complicate my efforts,” he said Thursday. “I think the desire to act and do something meaningful right now seems to be what’s going to win the day.” 
   
   Michael Scherer, in Tallahassee, and Matt Zapotosky and Tom Hamburger contributed to this report, which has been updated. 
   
   Further reading: 
   
   How a survivor of the Florida school shooting became the victim of an online conspiracy 
   
   The NRA once believed in gun control and had a leader who pushed for it ||||| National Harbor, Maryland (CNN) The head of the biggest gun lobby in the US has accused Democrats of pushing a "socialist" agenda to deprive gun owners of their weapons, in an uncompromising speech just a week after 17 people died in the Florida school shooting. 
   
   Wayne LaPierre, CEO of the National Rifle Association, made no attempt to moderate his message a day after survivors of the Parkland shooting faced down lawmakers in a CNN debate and the President at the White House. Instead, he told conservative activists that voters should be "frightened" of any future Democrat election victories, and accused Democrats of exploiting the deaths in an effort to destroy the Second Amendment. 
   
   "Socialism is a movement that loves a smear," he said. 
   
   Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference, an annual gathering of conservatives outside Washington, LaPierre warned Democrats would use the tragedy to push an agenda that went beyond gun control. "What they want is more restrictions on the law-abiding," LaPierre said. "They want to sweep right under the carpet the failure of school security." 
   
   Staring out into the audience, LaPierre told them "you should be anxious and you should be frightened" about the potential of another Democratic takeover of the House, Senate and White House. 
   
   "If they seize power ... our American freedoms could be lost and our country will be changed forever," he said. "The first to go will be the Second Amendment." 
   
   LaPierre spent a significant portion of his remarks warning against the expansion of socialist political ideas, despite the fact that Republicans control both chambers in Congress and the White House, and the suggestion by President Donald Trump Thursday morning that he's open to gun reforms opposed by the NRA 
   
   He called out rising-star Democratic lawmakers -- many of them potential candidates for the 2020 presidential election -- by name. He criticized independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, California Democratic Sens. Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren and other high-profile Democrats, whom he accused of backing European style socialism as well creating new victimized groups and hurling insults at conservatives. 
   
   Polarizing figure 
   
   In the aftermath of a high school shooting that left 17 dead, the country has found itself once again balancing the scope of the Second Amendment with its desire to protect children in schools. LaPierre has been a deeply polarizing figure as an outspoken and consistent advocate for gun rights , who has previously been among the public figures to voice the NRA's position in the wake of mass shootings. 
   
   Once again LaPierre repeated his calls for schools to increase security, even arming schoolteachers, a controversial proposal that even some Republicans have rejected. 
   
   NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference outside Washington. 
   
   LaPierre said the NRA will provide support and guidance on how schools can protect themselves free of charge. He argued that was "more" than the Democratic Party or news organizations were doing. 
   
   "We share a goal of safe schools, safe neighborhoods and a safe country," LaPierre said, and warned that "evil walks among us." 
   
   He also returned to an oft-used NRA slogan, one LaPierre invoked following the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that left 20 students and six adults dead,"To stop a bad guy with a gun, it takes a good guy with a gun." 
   
   Contrast with Rubio 
   
   LaPierre's speech comes just a day after Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, who has an A+ rating from the NRA, announced he was opposed to arming teachers and was in favor of raising the age limit from 18 to 21 on individuals purchasing semi-automatic weapons like the AR-15. Rubio also told the audience he was reconsidering his past opposition to limiting the size of large gun magazines. 
   
   "I absolutely believe that in this country if you are 18 years of age, you should not be able to buy a rifle, and I will support a law that takes that right away," Rubio said, making the comments during a CNN town hall in Florida. 
   
   Limiting the size of gun magazines and raising the age limit on buying rifles, including guns like AR-15 style rifles, are both positions that the NRA opposes. 
   
   The NRA was represented at the town hall Wednesday night by the organization's national spokeswoman, Dana Loesch, who faced sharply critical comments from Parkland shooting survivors and family members of shooting victims. 
   
   On Wednesday, President Donald Trump hosted students and parents at the White House for a raw, televised listening session . By Thursday morning, Trump tweeted he was committed to pushing for comprehensive background checks and limiting the age of those buying assault-style weapons. 
   
   "I will be strongly pushing Comprehensive Background Checks with an emphasis on Mental Health. Raise age to 21 and end sale of Bump Stocks! Congress is in a mood to finally do something on this issue - I hope!" 
   
   A cornerstone of LaPierre's speech centered around the fact that the NRA says they've worked to try and fix the country's background check system by encouraging lawmakers to fight to incentivize states to enter records into the National Criminal Background Checks system. 
   
   "When you hear politicians who won't fix the broken system talk about expanding it, don't buy it," LaPierre said in a pre-recorded video. 
   
   The comment came after Trump suggested on Twitter he wanted to overhaul the background checks system. 
   
   LaPierre didn't directly address Trump's tweets or positions in his speech. 
   
   Just minutes before LaPierre was scheduled to speak, however, Trump defended the NRA. 
   
   "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. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!" Trump tweeted. 
   
   This story has been updated.
target: – "Many in legacy media love mass shootings," NBC News quotes NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch as saying Thursday at the Conservative Political Action Conference. "You love the ratings. Crying white mothers are ratings gold." A week after 17 people were killed at a school shooting in Florida, the NRA went on the defensive in speeches, videos, and statements targeting gun-control advocates, Democrats, the media, and even some ideas put forth by President Trump, the Washington Post reports. In his own speech at CPAC, NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre warned citizens to be "frightened" of any Democratic election victory. "What they want is more restrictions on the law-abiding," CNN quotes LaPierre as saying. "If they seize power ... our American freedoms could be lost and our country will be changed forever." Following in Trump's footsteps, LaPierre called for more armed security in schools, including arming teachers. "Evil walks among us," he said, adding, "God help us if we don’t harden our schools." However, the president has also suggested increasing the age to purchase semi-automatic rifles from 18 to 21 in opposition to the NRA. An NRA spokesperson says such a law would deprive young people "of their constitutional right to self-protection." LaPierre spent most of his time at CPAC railing against what he says is a "socialist" agenda pushed by Democrats in the wake of the Parkland shooting. "Opportunists wasted not one second to exploit tragedy for political gain," he said. Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer responded: "The NRA is once again spewing pathetic, out of touch ideas, blaming everything but guns."