Press and Political Elites Blistered by NRA's CEO Wayne LaPierre at @ACUConservative Conference

National Rifle Association CEO Wayne LaPierre delivered a blistering campaign-style speech Thursday, blaming the media and gun-control proponents for a decline in American economic standing and for threatening "God-given" gun rights.

"You feel it in your heart, you know it in your gut: Something has gone wrong" in America, LaPierre told a packed audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference. "Neighborhood streets once filled with skateboards ... and laughter in the air are now filled with silence."

LaPierre, who received the loudest applause of any speakers so far at the conference, put the blame squarely on the media and "political elites," saying that Americans feel their freedoms "slipping away."