( CNN ) -- Wayne LaPierre , the nation 's most visible gun-rights advocate , rallied supporters on Saturday for a renewed fight against gun control , saying membership is up since the Newtown massacre , and calling the effort to stop new limits a `` long war '' and a `` fight for everything we care about . '' The National Rifle Association 's executive vice president vowed in remarks at the group 's national convention that `` we will never surrender our guns . '' He implored members to step up their outreach to members of Congress as part of a fight against `` elites '' and others who `` use tragedy to try to blame us , to shame us '' into compromise and who `` want to change America , our culture and our values . '' LaPierre delivered a speech heavy on militaristic and sweeping patriotic rhetoric . It was a signature moment at the weekend event , which sought to embrace a culture war theme in its so-far successful fight in Washington against recent gun-control initiatives . LaPierre singled out President Barack Obama , who has pushed for new firearms restrictions following the December 2012 massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown , Connecticut , which left 20 children and six adults dead . The killings jolted the nation and energized gun-control advocates , while putting pressure on LaPierre 's group and testing its political muscle anew . Polls have shown most Americans favoring some kind of new restrictions . LaPierre said NRA membership has spiked , reaching a record 5 million , and he implored members to counter efforts by leading gun-control advocates , like New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg , Obama , and Democrats in Congress . `` We are in the midst of a once-in-a-generation fight for everything we care about . We have a chance to secure our freedom for a generation , or to lose it forever , '' LaPierre said . `` We must remain vigilant , ever resolute , and steadfastly growing and preparing for the even more critical battles that loom before us , '' he said . LaPierre disparaged what he called Obama 's `` all-out siege against our rights '' and efforts in Congress to enact new gun control measures , calling it `` political posturing . '' `` Mr. President , you can give all the speeches you want . You can conjure up all the polls you can and call NRA members all the nasty names you can think of , but your gun control legislation wo n't stop one criminal , would n't make anyone safer anywhere , '' LaPierre said . `` And that flawed failure lost on its merits and got the defeat it deserved , '' he said , referring to the setback sustained by gun control advocates last month when a bipartisan compromise to expand background checks failed in the Senate . The outcome was considered a victory for gun rights advocates , who lobbied hard to block its passage . Obama has vowed to keep pursuing new restrictions , and a co-author of the ill-fated legislative amendment is working to revive it . LaPierre and the NRA propose , instead , that current laws be enforced , that schools include armed guards , that the government rebuild a `` broken mental health system , '' and `` for God 's sake , leave the rest of us alone ! '' LaPierre said the failed compromise background check proposal by Sens . Joe Manchin , a West Virginia Democrat , and Pat Toomey , a Pennsylvania Republican , were ineffective . `` The Manchin-Toomey bill you later backed would n't have prevented Newtown , would n't have prevented Tucson or Aurora , '' he said of other deadly mass shootings in Arizona in 2011 and Colorado last July , `` and wo n't prevent the next tragedy , '' `` None of it , any of it have anything to do with keeping our children safe at school anywhere , '' he said . LaPierre also struck out specifically at Bloomberg , who has poured funds into the group Mayors Against Illegal Guns , for acting as a `` national nanny '' and criticized the media for , as he said , failing to hold Obama accountable . Incoming NRA President Jim Porter is setting his sights on congressional midterm elections in 2014 as crucial in the gun rights debate , urging members to support House and Senate members who have voted against recent efforts to instate a background check system .
NRA executive rallies supporters ; says `` we will never surrender our guns '' Says membership in group up since the Newtown massacre , at record high . LaPierre goes after President Obama , New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg . Says ill-fated background check proposal in Senate was ineffective .