Nuanced

Beck to NRA: 'Freedom of Mankind' at Stake

Waves antique rifle on stage, gets standing ovation.

There are few things more unnerving than the image of an emotional Glenn Beck waving an antique rifle on stage at the National Rifle Association convention to the roaring applause of more than 10,000 gun fanatics. Delivering the keynote speech at Saturday’s main “Stand and Fight” rally in Houston, the television and radio host warned NRA members that the “freedom of all mankind is at stake” and stressed that their foes “want to fundamentally transform our country and they’ve just about finished the project.” Beck’s eyes welled up with tears from time to time as he cited Second Amendment rights, bringing the audience to its feet with lines like “a gun is only a reflection of the people who use it” and “we cannot falter, we cannot fail.”