Tens of thousands of people gathered in Houston over the weekend for the annual gathering of the National Rifle Association. In an address to conference attendees, NRA chief Wayne LaPierre celebrated the recent defeat of gun-control legislation in the Senate.

Wayne LaPierre: “Apparently, there is nothing the president will not do to get something, anything, through Congress to advance his agenda to destroy our Second Amendment — nothing. So far, thanks to you and millions of Americans all over this country just like you, that’s exactly what President Obama has gotten: absolutely nothing.”

LaPierre will now be joined in helming the NRA by James Porter, who begins his term as the group’s new president today. Porter has previously referred to the U.S. Civil War as the “War of Northern Aggression.” The weekend gathering also heard from a number of top Republican and right-wing figures, including former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, the radio host Glenn Beck and the musician Ted Nugent. Gun-control activists held a small counter-protest in an adjacent park. On the eve of the conference, the Houston airport was partially shut down after one man shot himself dead in the terminal.