Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton will court voters on opposite sides of the gun debate over the next two days.
Trump and other top Republicans will speak at the National Rifle Association convention Friday in Louisville, where organizers are trying to unite gun-rights voters by painting Clinton as a foe of their causes who must be stopped.
Clinton will appear Saturday in Florida with the mother of Trayvon Martin and other parents who have lost children to gun violence. She's become a forceful advocate for restrictions meant to reduce the nation's 33,000 annual gun deaths.
The dual appearances highlight the opposing positions the candidates have staked out on gun rights and safety.
"If you cherish Second Amendment rights, the stakes have never been higher than they are in this election," NRA spokesman Jennifer Baker said.
The NRA — which Clinton listed as an enemy in a debate last year — is warning its 5 million members that Clinton would appoint anti-Second Amendment justices and "implement a radical gun-control agenda," Baker said.
Clinton has said she supports the Second Amendment but that commonsense safety measures are needed to keep firearms out of the wrong hands. She has called for expanding background checks to sales at gun shows and online purchases, and for reinstating a ban on assault weapons.
She has often campaigned with families of gun violence victims and will rejoin many on Saturday as the keynote speaker at an event sponsored by the Trayvon Martin Foundation. The fatal shooting of the unarmed black teenager in 2012 continues to be a flashpoint in the debate. Former neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman recently said he planned to auction off the gun he used in the slaying.
Trump, who often notes that he has a concealed-carry permit, has called for making it easier for law-abiding citizens to carry guns for self-protection, saying they could help prevent terrorist attacks and mass shootings. He argues the existing background check system should be fixed, not expanded, and that assault-weapons bans do not work.
The latter view marks a change from 2000, when Trump wrote in a book that he supported the ban on assault weapons as well as a slightly longer waiting period for gun purchases.
Read Saturday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.