HOUSTON // Clutching the shattered shell of a policeman's sidearm, a conservative media personality, Glenn Beck, warned the National Rifle Association (NRA) that a tyrannical US government was bent on taking their guns away.
More than 70,000 members of the nation's premier gun-rights organisation flocked to Texas for the NRA's three-day annual meeting, hard on the heels of the defeat of new federal gun laws in the Senate.
But Beck warned a cheering crowd gathered for a "Stand and Fight Rally" that the battle is far from over, and that there is far more at stake than just gun control.
"They want to fundamentally transform our country and they've just about finished the project," Beck told Saturday's crowd. "They feel they must regulate us until we comply, but I will not comply."
Beck said that if Americans allow the government to infringe upon their right to bear arms as enshrined in the second amendment of the US constitution, then every other right and fundamental freedom will also be lost.
Beck used historically significant guns as props to illustrate his point in an emotional, nearly two-hour long speech.
The most poignant was that of a New York City police officer, Walter Weaver, a lifelong NRA member, who died trying to save others in the World Trade Centre during the attacks of September 11, 2001.
The skeleton of the gun found in the rubble is "a silent token of liberty and freedom", Beck said.
Gun-control advocates converged on the Houston convention centre hoping to counter the NRA's message with a vigil for the more than 30,000 people killed by guns in the US every year.
The NRA, which claims 4.5 million members plus support from the multibillion dollar firearms industry, faced its first major challenge in years after a school shooting left 20 young children and six educators dead in Newtown, Connecticut in December.
The US president, Barack Obama, pushed hard for tougher gun controls and finally got a bill on to the senate floor that would have expanded background checks for gun buyers. But while the NRA once supported universal background checks, it fought hard against the measure, which was defeated on April 17.
While politics dominated the podium and the chatter among members, the convention also offered gun enthusiasts a chance to check out the latest firearms and accessories from more than 550 exhibitors.
The sprawling showroom floor was filled with visitors peering into rifle scopes and handling revolvers to test their weight and feel.
Many brought their children, who were offered paper headbands made to look like deer antlers and a chance to play at an airgun shooting range.
Debbie Sprague, a Texas office worker at the event with her husband, held politicians in low esteem. Legislators who were "undermining" gun rights were hypocrites because they had armed bodyguards, she said.
"It's part of our right to protect ourselves and our families," she said. "Get the criminals off the streets and get the guns out of their hands."
Game Changer
Director: Shankar
Stars: Ram Charan, Kiara Advani, Anjali, S J Suryah, Jayaram
Rating: 2/5
Famous left-handers
- Marie Curie
- Jimi Hendrix
- Leonardo Di Vinci
- David Bowie
- Paul McCartney
- Albert Einstein
- Jack the Ripper
- Barack Obama
- Helen Keller
- Joan of Arc
Ibrahim's play list
Completed an electrical diploma at the Adnoc Technical Institute
Works as a public relations officer with Adnoc
Apart from the piano, he plays the accordion, oud and guitar
His favourite composer is Johann Sebastian Bach
Also enjoys listening to Mozart
Likes all genres of music including Arabic music and jazz
Enjoys rock groups Scorpions and Metallica
Other musicians he likes are Syrian-American pianist Malek Jandali and Lebanese oud player Rabih Abou Khalil
A list of the animal rescue organisations in the UAE
Start-up hopes to end Japan's love affair with cash
Across most of Asia, people pay for taxi rides, restaurant meals and merchandise with smartphone-readable barcodes — except in Japan, where cash still rules. Now, as the country’s biggest web companies race to dominate the payments market, one Tokyo-based startup says it has a fighting chance to win with its QR app.
Origami had a head start when it introduced a QR-code payment service in late 2015 and has since signed up fast-food chain KFC, Tokyo’s largest cab company Nihon Kotsu and convenience store operator Lawson. The company raised $66 million in September to expand nationwide and plans to more than double its staff of about 100 employees, says founder Yoshiki Yasui.
Origami is betting that stores, which until now relied on direct mail and email newsletters, will pay for the ability to reach customers on their smartphones. For example, a hair salon using Origami’s payment app would be able to send a message to past customers with a coupon for their next haircut.
Quick Response codes, the dotted squares that can be read by smartphone cameras, were invented in the 1990s by a unit of Toyota Motor to track automotive parts. But when the Japanese pioneered digital payments almost two decades ago with contactless cards for train fares, they chose the so-called near-field communications technology. The high cost of rolling out NFC payments, convenient ATMs and a culture where lost wallets are often returned have all been cited as reasons why cash remains king in the archipelago. In China, however, QR codes dominate.
Cashless payments, which includes credit cards, accounted for just 20 per cent of total consumer spending in Japan during 2016, compared with 60 per cent in China and 89 per cent in South Korea, according to a report by the Bank of Japan.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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