Remarks at the National Rifle Association Leadership Forum in Dallas, Texas

The President. Thank you, Chris. Thank you. Thank you very much, Chris. [Laughter] Oh, we love you folks. We love you here.

Audience members. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

The President. Not bad. Thank you. Thank you, folks. Thank you very much. A great honor to be here. And I want to thank Chris and so many people who have done such an incredible job. And these are real patriots. They really are. And they don't get the kind of adulation—but really, they do, and we know that. I want to thank Wayne LaPierre. I want to thank my friend, our great Vice President, Mike Pence, for his terrific remarks.

I also want to recognize our great Texas leaders. Do we love Texas? Do we love Texas? Governor Greg Abbott, my friend. Where is Greg? Governor Greg Abbott. And he's running—and I've already done it, but I will tell you, Greg, I fully endorse you. You are endorsed. He has done a great job. I'll tell you, he would—you had your water just pouring down on top of you. Just kept coming and coming; he kept calling and calling, "We need more money, money, money." [Laughter] And you know what? We gave it to you. Fully endorsed. Attorney General Ken Paxton, tremendous guy. And by the way, Ken, you have my full endorsement. And Angela, your wife, has my full endorsement. She just had a big victory.

Senator John Cornyn, been with me right from the beginning. John, thank you. Thank you, John. Full endorsement for this man: Ted Cruz. Where's Ted? Where's Ted? Thank you. Boy, that was very rousing. [Laughter] That's a good sign. Congressman Pete Sessions and Congressman Mike Burgess. Great friends.

We're also joined by Pete Ricketts, Dana Loesch, Charlie Kirk, Diamond and Silk. Where are they? Where are they? They're so great. Mark Geist, Richard Hudson, Pete Brownell, and Leslie Rutledge.

Finally, I want to thank all of you, the true American patriots of the NRA, who defend our rights, our liberty, and our great American flag. Thank you. Thank you very much. The people in this hall have never taken our freedom for granted. Never. And you have never stopped fighting for our beloved Constitution. Incredible people. Thank you. You give your time, your energy, your vote, and your voice to stand strong for those sacred rights given to us by God, including the right to self-defense. And now, thanks to your activism and dedication, you have an administration fighting to protect your Second Amendment. And we will protect your Second Amendment. Your Second Amendment rights are under siege, but they will never, ever be under siege as long as I'm your President. All of us—[applause]. Thank you. Thank you.

All of us here today are united by the same timeless values. We believe that our liberty is a gift from our Creator and that no government can ever take it away. We believe in the rule of law, and we support the men and women of law enforcement. We have pride in our history and respect for our heritage. We put our hands on our hearts for the Pledge of Allegiance. And we all proudly stand for the national anthem. We proudly stand.

Audience members. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A! The President. What people. What great people. And this is your record crowd. You know, all-time record crowd. You do know that. So just remember, nice to set records.

We love our country, and we believe our citizens deserve a government that shows them the same love and loyalty in return. For the last 15 months, that is exactly what we have been doing. We are all finally putting America first. And we are seeing the incredible results. As a result of our massive tax cuts—and everybody is benefiting, and everybody is happy, and the Democrats are very concerned. You watch how well we do in '18. You watch. You watch. Get out and vote. Don't be complacent. Don't be complacent.

You know, history says that when you win the Presidency, you get complacent. We all know the feeling. You know the feeling? Not too many. [Laughter] Like 90 percent of the time, you win the Presidency, and for whatever reason, you lose the midterm. We can't let that happen. And the word is complacent. You know, I kept thinking to myself, why is that? I wonder why. Think about it. You win, you have this great win, now you take a breath, you relax. All of a sudden, 2 years is up, they're fighting like hell, and you're complacent. We cannot get complacent. We have to win the midterms.

Because since the election, we've created 3.2 million jobs. Unthought-of. If we would have said that three years ago during the campaign, people would have said, what a horrible exaggeration; that's so terrible. They wouldn't have believed it—3.2 million. The unemployment rate—you saw that just today—just fell beneath 4 percent for the first time since the beginning of this century. You know, I heard it was about 19 years. I said, wait a minute. The "beginning of the century" sounds better. [Laughter] So I say, "The beginning of the century." [Laughter] More beautiful.

African American unemployment has reached another alltime—in history—record low. In history. And by the way, Kanye West must have some power, because you probably saw, I doubled my African American poll numbers. We went from 11 to 22 in 1 week. Thank you, Kanye. Thank you. When I saw the number, I said there must be a mistake. How can that happen? Even the pollsters thought there must be a mistake. [Laughter] No, we've come a long way.

You remember, I'd come into big rooms, big audiences, and I'd say, what do you have to lose? Because the Democrats have always had that vote. I said, what do you have to lose? Horrible on crime. Horrible on education. Horrible on everything. I say, what do you have to lose? And they voted for me, and we won. But now the numbers are much higher than they ever were with African American—but we're happy.

And the same thing with Hispanic American unemployment, which is also at the lowest level in history. Unemployment, lowest level in history. And women unemployment—women, many women—is at the lowest level in almost 20 years. Think of that. So we have the best employment numbers we've virtually ever had, and yet all we hear about is this phony Russia witch hunt. That's all we hear about.

Audience members. Boo!

The President. So just when I'm walking on the stage, a highly respected judge in Virginia made statements. It says—the Wall Street Journal—it says, "Judge Questions Mueller's Authority to Prosecute Manafort." Now, Paul Manafort is a nice guy, but, you know, he worked for me for a very short period of time. Literally, for, like, what, a couple of months? A little period of time. Then, what happens? He worked for Ronald Reagan. He worked for Bob Dole. They worked, I think, as a firm for John McCain. They worked for others. Does anybody say that? No. But he's out there fighting. On Fake News CNN—[laughter].

Audience members. Boo!

The President. I think NBC may be more distorted and worse. [Laughter] No, but on CNN, they have a headline: "Judge in Manafort Case Says Mueller's Aim Is To Hurt Trump." You believe that? This is what we're up—it's called the witch hunt. So I just said, give me that article; I want to read it. Just happened a few minutes before I walked on stage. "A Federal judge Friday questioned Special Counsel Robert Mueller's authority to bring tax and bank-fraud charges unrelated"—unrelated. Nobody knows that. Everyone thinks, oh—"unrelated to the 2016 election against former Trump campaign manager—chairman Paul Manafort." He was there for a short while. But he's a good person; he is. I really believe he's a good person.

"Judge T.S. Ellis"—who is really something very special, I hear, from many standpoints. He's a respected person—"suggested the charges before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia was just part of the Mueller team's designs to pressure Mr. Manafort into giving up information on President Donald Trump or others in the campaign." I've been saying that for a long time. It's a witch hunt. Then, "None of that information has to do with information related to the Russian Government coordination and the campaign of Donald Trump." It doesn't have anything to do. It's from years before. Then, "How does this have anything to do with the campaign?" the judge asks.

Let me tell you, folks—we're all fighting battles, but I love fighting these battles. It's really a disgrace. What's happening to our country is a disgrace. [Applause] Thank you. Thank you. Can you imagine if we ever called for a rally in Washington, DC? There wouldn't be enough room. [Laughter] There wouldn't be enough room. We have a lot of love going on. You know, people don't realize we have great love going on in this country. Great love. It's right here.

We have—and by the way, you just saw the recent poll, it came out, the Rasmussen—51 or 52. It's highest level I've ever been at. How does that happen when you only get bad publicity? How does that happen? That's because people realize—that's because people realize that a lot of what you read and a lot of what you see on television is fake. They realize it. The people are smart. The people are smart.

So you have a battle also. You have a battle to keep your rights. And we're going to keep those rights. You're going to be so happy. You have to say it—you weren't sure that Trump was going to win, but you all went out there. You all went out there, and you voted. You voted. And there were times—they'd put up their "Trump-Pence, Trump-Pence"—there were times you'd say—gee, a week before, they were saying—I remember they came out with a lot of phony polls.

You know what that's called? Suppression. They'd convince you that you're wasting your time. Why should you vote? Go to a movie instead; come home, watch the results. Very few of the people in this room and this country did that. And we really had a big night. Remember they said, there's no way—electoral college—"There's no way to 270," for me. "There is no way to 270." And they were right. But 306 was okay, right? [Applause] Crazy—306. So we had a great time, and I think we're doing better now than ever before. I think we're more popular now, from the standpoint, now we've produced.

You know, when I was running, I said, we're going to give you tax cuts. And by the way, we are decimating Obamacare. We got a bad vote the evening—[applause]—we got a bad vote the evening that we were going to terminate Obamacare. We got a bad vote. You know about that, right? [Laughter] That was not a nice thing. That was an unexpected vote. But if you look at the massive tax cut bill, we also got rid of the individual mandate, which is the worst part of Obamacare, right?

I don't know if the people in Texas are going to like this, but we also got ANWR in Alaska. So I don't know if you're going to like—a little competition. But you know what it is? It's called energy for this country. It's called energy. That we like. So, Ted, I think they're happy with that. I think. Right?

So we've delivered. And when we were running, I would say we're going to this, we're going to that, we're going to that. A certain person that's not a very fair person in the media said, "I have to say, Trump has actually delivered more than he promised," which is probably the first time people have ever heard that statement. We actually delivered more than we promised.

And let me just tell you this: We're really doing well with North Korea. We're really doing well. Okay? [Applause] Right? We're doing real well. Remember they said, "Oh, it's going to be terrible." They were actually saying, 3 months ago, when the rhetoric was rather sharp—do we agree? [Laughter] I won't use the rhetoric now. Now I'm trying to calm it down a little bit. [Laughter] So I'm not going to use the rhetoric. But let's put it—[laughter]—he goes, "Use it." [Laughter] I know you come from Texas, whoever the hell you are.

Look, for years—for years, they've had this problem. And everybody has said, sort of: "Oh, don't talk. Don't talk. Please don't talk." The last administration had a policy of silence. "Don't talk. You may make them and him angry!" [Laughter] "Don't talk." "If a horrible statement is made about the United States, don't say anything; we have no comment. Please, please, oh, my God." [Laughter]

Same thing with Iran. Remember? We're signing that horrible deal, and they're marching in the streets, saying, "Death to America." I said, "Who signs a deal when they're marching, saying, 'Death to America'"? Who marches? They're saying, "Death to America," and we have the former administration——

Audience member. Traitor!

Audience members. Boo!

The President. ——as represented by John Kerry.

Audience members. Boo!

The President. Not the best negotiator we've ever seen. He never walked away from the table, except to be in that bicycle race where he fell and broke his leg. That's it. [Laughter] See, that was the only time. I said: "Don't tell them you broke your leg. Just stay inside. Say you don't want to negotiate. You'll make a much better deal." [Laughter] But he broke his leg. And I learned from that. At 73 years old, you never go into a bicycle race, okay? Just saying. [Laughter] You just don't do that. I'm not 73; he was. Okay? Just don't—[laughter]. But I'll be there.

But we have great things going on. And with respect to North Korea, remember how strong it was, and they were saying: "This is going to be nuclear war. We're going to have"—no, you know what gets you a nuclear war? Weakness gets you a nuclear war. Being weak gets you a nuclear war. That's what gets you a nuclear war. So let's talk about guns, shall we? Paris, France, has the toughest gun laws in the world. The President just left Washington—Emmanuel. Great guy. Nobody has guns in Paris. Nobody. And we all remember more than 130 people, plus tremendous numbers of people that were horribly, horribly wounded. You notice, nobody ever talks about them? They talk about the people that die, but they never mention that 250 people had horrible, horrible wounds. I mean, they never mention that.

But they died in a restaurant and various other close-proximity places. They were brutally killed by a small group of terrorists that had guns. They took their time and gunned them down one by one. "Boom. Come over here. Boom. Come over here. Boom." If you were in those rooms—one of those people and the survivors said, it just lasted forever. But if one employee or just one patron had a gun, or if one person in this room had been there with a gun, aimed at the opposite direction, the terrorists would have fled or been shot. And it would have been a whole different story. I mean, right? [Applause] Right?

We all know what's going on in Chicago. But Chicago has the toughest gun laws in our country. They're so tough. But you know what's happening. It seems that if we're going to outlaw guns, like so many people want to do—Democrats—[laughter]—you'd better get out and vote—[applause]—then we will get out—and you know what I'm going to say—we are going to have to outlaw, immediately, all vans and all trucks. [Laughter] Which are now the form of death for the maniac terrorists. Right? They take a truck, and they run over eight people and wound sixteen. Like what happened in New York and what just happened. It's happening all over. So let's ban, immediately, all trucks, all vans, maybe all cars. How about cars? Let's ban—let's not sell any more cars.

Audience member. I love you!

The President. I love you too. Thank you. [Laughter]

I recently read a story that, in London, which has unbelievably tough gun laws—a once very prestigious hospital—right in the middle—is like a war zone for horrible stabbing wounds. Yes, that's right: They don't have guns; they have knives. And instead, there's blood all over the floors of this hospital. They say it's as bad as a military war zone hospital. Knives. Knives. Knives. London hasn't been used to that. They're getting used to it. It's pretty tough.

We're here today because we recognize a simple fact: The one thing that has always stood between the American people and the elimination of our Second Amendment rights has been conservatives in Congress willing to fight for those rights. And we're fighting. We're fighting. We're fighting to defend our freedom. We need the people in Washington to support our freedom, to support our candidates, to support Ted, to support the people that have to raise their hand.

You know, they say we have a majority. We have what, a majority of one person? That's not really a majority. We need Republicans to do it right. To get the kind of things we want, we've got to get Republicans elected. We've got to do great in '18. Those midterms, we have to beat them. We need judges who will enforce our laws, protect our sovereignty, and uphold our American way of life. The Constitution can't be changed by judges, bureaucrats, or the United Nations. That is why we are appointing Federal judges who will interrupt the law as written.

In my first year, I nominated, and the Senate confirmed, more circuit judges than any new administration, by far, in history. And we will have the alltime record very soon. President Obama was very nice to us, because he left us a lot of judges to—and I said, that's a lot of judges. Like, almost 140. That's a lot of judges. I was very surprised. I was very happy. And we put an incredible new Justice on the Supreme Court, Judge Neil Gorsuch. Yet virtually every single Democrat in the Senate opposed Neil Gorsuch, just like they have consistently opposed judges who will protect your basic freedoms. And by the way, the way they're slow-walking people that are supposed to be working for us in Government——

Audience members. Boo!

The President. ——if you look at what they're doing—in the history of this country, there has never been anything like what the Democrats are doing on great people who gave up their jobs and their lives to take a job as an Ambassador or people working for our Government, and they can't get approved, because every single one of them is being slow-walked by the Democrats. And it's never happened before. And you know what? I hope we have long memories, but we hope you don't have to worry about it, because we're going to be there a long time. So we won't have to worry about it.

But what they're doing is disgraceful. What they are doing—Schumer and the group—what they are doing is disgraceful. And what they're doing to the wall and immigration is disgraceful. And you just take a look at the border. Okay? You take a look. Take a look at what's happening. My administration and conservatives in Congress were elected to uphold your rights, to rebuild our military—which we are doing a great job of rebuilding——to restore our prosperity, to secure our communities, and defend our borders.

Oh, we have the worst immigration laws anywhere in the world. But I'll tell you what—it's not easy for people to come in. I will tell you, it's not. But we have the worst laws. After years of defending the borders of other counties—we go into wars with other countries; we shouldn't be there. We go into wars to defend their borders; we don't defend our own borders. And we're going to start defending our country. We're going to start defending our borders.

We've all seen on television, all over the papers, the illegal migrants pouring up through Mexico, flooding the border—many from Central America, Honduras—all over the place, coming up by the thousands. We're stopping them at different fronts, but we don't have laws. We have laws that were written by people that truly could not love our country.

Illegal immigration must end. Illegal immigration must end. We are going to have strong borders. I will tell you, we have maxed out every law. We are going to have truly strong—and we're going to take people into our country, but they're going to come in based on merit, not based on picking somebody out of a bin.

We are not going to let our country be overwhelmed. And we're going to demand Congress secure the border in the upcoming CR. It's going to be very soon. Going to be very soon. In recent months, Democratic lawmakers have voted against legislation to close deadly immigration loopholes, like catch-and-release. How about that one? "We caught him. Oh, release him. Bye-Bye." [Laughter] Welcome to America. Welcome to America. That's what we have.

We're going to keep the violent criminals out. Senate Democrats, like Jon Tester—you saw what happened there——

Audience members. Boo!

The President. What he did to one of the finest people in our country, what he did to the admiral—what he did is a disgrace. Jon Tester. Bill Nelson and Bob Casey voted against Kate's Law, legislation made for Kate Steinle, who was gunned down by a five-time deported illegal immigrant. And you saw what happened with that court case. Can you believe the result of that court case? Can you believe that?

Audience members. Boo!

The President. The same Senators, along with nearly every other Democrat, also voted to protect something that's actually becoming very unpopular: sanctuary cities. Can you believe, finally, people are starting to get it?

Audience members. Boo!

The President. Democrats and liberals in Congress want to disarm law-abiding Americans at the same time they're releasing dangerous criminal aliens and savage gang members onto our streets. These countries send up their worst. Remember what my opening speech—I got criticized for it. Remember? Well, guess what? They're not sending their finest. That I can tell you. We're getting some real beauties in here.

But we're taking MS-13—horrible killer gang members—we're getting them out, because our guys are much tougher than theirs. There is not even a little bit of a contest. And that's the only language they understand. That's the only language they understand. These are savage killers.

My administration believes our cities should be safe havens for Americans, not sanctuaries for criminals. And we believe that violent gang members must be thrown out of our country immediately, not left to stay, to fester, and to get larger. We get them out, and we are taking them out by the thousands. And if we had the right laws—which we can have quickly with cooperation—we wouldn't even have a problem. It'd be so much better, so much easier. We believe that politicians who put criminal aliens before American citizens should be voted out of office immediately.

As we secure out borders, we're also supporting the heroes who fight crime, serve our citizens, and secure our streets: our brave men and brave women in blue. We love them. In my administration, we have a simple policy: We will protect those who protect us. You saw what I did with the military equipment, the excess equipment that was sitting all over the country in warehouses, never to be used again. And other administrations, they just didn't want to give it to the police. They said: "It's too much protection. It looks too strong. It looks like military." Guess what? It's now being distributed all over to our police forces. And it's better than they could ever buy. Can't buy stuff like that.

Today our love and prayers go out to the family of slain Dallas Police officer Rogelio Santander, who last week was murdered in the line of duty, very, very close to this arena. We ask God to help the others who were wounded. And they will recover, they will be better, they will be back. Send our love. So important. Thank you. And we mourn together with the entire Dallas Police Department—it's a great police department—a police force that has lost too many heroes, but has never lost its will to protect and to serve you.

We're also taking very strong action to secure and protect our most valuable resource, our children. All of us here today are deeply committed to school safety. Nothing is more important than protecting innocent lives.

And I will tell you, Wayne and Chris and all of the people at the NRA—we speak about it all the time—these are great people. These are great Americans. These people have great heart. They know what they're doing. Our entire nation was filled with shock and grief by the monstrous attack on a high school in Parkland, Florida. We mourn for the victims and their families. Gotten to know members of those families. These are incredible people. And our hearts break for every American who has suffered the horrors of a school shooting. In the aftermath of the terrible attack, I met with the survivors, the parents of school shooting victims, at the White House. I was inspired, like all of you were, by their incredible courage.

We agreed that it is not enough to simply take actions that make us feel like we're making a difference; we must ensure that we actually make a difference. And my administration has pursued an aggressive strategy on community safety. We're working to improve early warning systems so that when the police are called, when the community sees the red flags—which they saw in Parkland all over the place. There has never been a case where more red flags have been shown. Swift action was taken by the authorities. Law-abiding gun owners want to keep firearms out of the hands of those who pose a danger to themselves and to others. We all want that. [Applause] We all want that.

I recently signed legislation that includes more than $2 billion to improve school safety, including the funding for training and metal detectors, and security, and mental health. Mental health is a big one. They don't like to talk about mental health. Mental health. That was the number-one example in Park. That legislation also made vital improves to our background check system, which everybody wants.

Finally, all of us agree that we must harden certain schools. At the same time, the police have to be able to get into those schools if there's a problem. We want armed guards. We want to be able to get in. I saw some of the craziest plans that I've ever seen. You can spend a fortune on each school. You will spend so much—nobody knows more about construction than I do. You will spend so much—you're going to make it so hard that you can't run a D8—you know what that is, right—through the doors. It means a tractor. [Laughter] There's only one problem. If one of these maniacs get in—and it's so hard, you can't get in. So you have to be careful.

We strongly believe in allowing highly trained teachers to carry concealed weapons, if they're highly trained. And we want highly trained security guards. Ninety-eight percent of mass public shootings have occurred in places where guns are banned, just so you understand. Tragically, as we've seen, there's no sign more inviting to a mass killer than a sign that declares: "This school is a gun-free zone. Come in and take us." Ninety-eight percent.

You know, they're cowards. You saw that in the recent case where he did all of his damage, and then he sort of slinked out of the school. And the policeman outside caught him in a different community. That policeman did a good job. That policeman did a good job, caught him in a different community. But they are cowards.

When they know there's guns inside, they're not going in. We just don't understand that. We can't get that word out. But highly trained people. At the same time, there is no stronger deterrent for a sick individual than the knowledge that their attack will end their life and will end in total failure. When they know that, they're not going in. You're not going to have school attacks.

We support the Second Amendment not only because we believe in freedom, but also because we trust in everyday, talented, wonderful people. They love our students. And by the way, these teachers, they love their students. They love their students. They understand that they love their students, and they're not going to let anybody hurt their students. But you have to give them a chance.

In America, we trust the people to be wise and to be good. We trust them to take responsibility for themselves, their families, and their communities. And that is why, in America, we have always trusted the people to keep and bear arms. It is fitting that we gather today in the great State of Texas, a place that cherishes their right like no other.

You know, before I left today, a couple of people came up to me—good political people. They said: "You know, going to the NRA convention and speaking today, that will be very controversial. It might not be popular." You know what I say? "Bye-bye. Got to get on the plane." [Laughter] Because we have to do the right thing. [Applause] We have to do the right thing. [Applause] Thank you.

This proud State would not exist if not for a handful of determined and defiant Texans who refused to surrender their rights nearly two centuries ago. Right? You know you who I'm talking about. Right? You know who I'm talking about. You know who I'm talking about.

In 1835, soldiers from General Santa Anna's army marched into the little Texas town of Gonzales and ordered those settlers to surrender their small cannon they relied on to protect their lives and protect their homes. The Texans refused. You refused. You're tough.

Audience member. [Inaudible]

The President. That's right. [Laughter] They were not about to give up their only means of self-defense. In response, Santa Anna's army returned with a large group of additional people. They had men all over the place; the army was big. This time, they were met by dozens of Texans—settlers, soldiers, and ordinary citizens—who had rushed to Gonzales to defend their rights and their freedom. As Santa Anna's men watched from a distance, those brave Texans raised a flag for all to see. And you know what it said. On the banner, they painted a cannon, along with four words that echoed through the ages. And you know what it is. It said: "Come and take it. Come and take it."

Audience members. U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!

The President. Like those early Texans, Americans will never surrender—ever, ever, ever. We will never, ever surrender. We will never give up our freedom. Americans are born free. We will live free. And we will die free.

So again, it is a great honor to be with you. Very special people. We truly appreciate your support. I'm doing the right thing. I'm doing it for you, but we're doing the right thing. We're doing the right thing together.

I want to thank again all of our friends and patriots from the NRA. We will never fail, and we will always protects your Second Amendment.

Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America. Thank you all. Thank you.