Ken Thomas and Steve Peoples Posts

"They can call me crazy and whatever else they want, but NRA's nearly 5 million members and America's 100 million gun owners will not back down — not now, not ever," an emboldened Wayne LaPierre, the CEO and executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, told conservatives gathered at an annual conference. He pointedly ignored President Barack Obama's most restrictive proposals in his speech, using it instead to assail the one that has the potential of getting approved — a near-universal background check for gun owners.

In the hallways of the Conservative Political Action Conference, many activists echoed LaPierre. Few of them talked with urgency about the outcome of an assault weapons ban or some of the other proposed restrictions. And many exuded a quiet confidence that a divided Congress won't act on even the more modest proposal to implement mandatory background checks.

"I don't think it's going to get done," said Randy Smith, a California technology company owner. "There's no way."

The conference speaker list is a who's who of possible 2016 Republican presidential contenders: Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, among them.