Activists called for stricter gun laws and denounced the gun lobby for pushing back any reforms of existing gun laws.
About 80,000 gun owners are expected at the National Rifle Association's annual meeting, which began Friday evening in Dallas, Texas, and will continue till Sunday.
Speaking at the convention, US president, Donald Trump, defended gun rights and promised not to tighten U.S. firearms laws.
Trump once again called for arming teachers in U.S. schools, and increasing school security to head off future mass shootings.
The National Rifle Association's annual conference in Dallas is its first since the high school killings in Parkland, Fla.
The Parkland massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on 14 February seemed to have marked a turning point in America’s long-running gun debate, sparking a youth-led movement for tighter gun controls.
Days after the shooting, Trump promised action on gun regulation at a gathering of state officials.
But Trump has largely moved his rhetoric back in line with the NRA, which spent US$55 million to support him and other Republican candidates in the 2016 elections, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a campaign finance watchdog.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll found in March 2018 that 54 percent of adults wanted “strong regulations or restrictions” for firearms. That was up from 39 per cent in a similar poll carried out in April 2012.
Among Republicans in the poll, 40 per cent wanted strong regulations or restrictions, up from 22 per cent in April 2012.
