The Second Amendment Foundation kicked off the annual Gun Rights Policy Conference on Saturday in Chicago, marking the 33rd gathering for gun rights groups to discuss policy agendas….

Executive director of Gun Owners of America, Erich Pratt, delivered remarks for the Federal Affairs Briefing in which he described 2018’s activities on gun rights as “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly,” a reference to the famous Clint Eastwood western.

For the good, he praised gun rights activists for preventing gun control legislation following multiple mass shootings. “Stopping these bans is a very very very good thing,” he said.

He also praised Republicans passing a national reciprocity bill, which would allow concealed carry permit holders to carry across state lines, in the House of Representatives….

For the bad, Pratt also slammed “spineless” Republicans in the Senate for failing to pass the national reciprocity bill and for federal lawmakers advancing red flag laws, which are designed to keep potentially dangerous individuals from obtaining firearms. He said such laws could be easily abused.

For the ugly, he warned of bump stock bans and the passing of Fix NICS legislation. Last year, President Trump directed federal regulators to re-write interpretations to effectively ban bump stocks, a device that allows a rifle to mimic full auto fire. The device became a subject of debate after a it was used to murder 58 people and injure some 850 others by a single gunman in Las Vegas on Oct. 1, 2017.

Although the Fix NICS bill largely directed more funding to the federal background check system and had the support of mainstream gun rights organizations, Pratt said the legislation will allow the system to have “a lot more innocents being denied gun rights.”

Pratt said his organization identified a “hero,” Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan for leading 25 other Republicans to [vote against] the bill. He said GOA will support him as speaker to replace current House Speaker Rep. Paul Ryan, who will retire at the end of this year’s session.

[Ed. Note: The text above made several corrections to the original article. Photo credit: Jacki Billings/Guns.com.]

Read More at Guns.com