Sen. Cruz, Perry to address NRA at convention

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) will both speak at the National Rifle Association's three-day convention in Houston.

Cruz and Perry, who ran for president in 2012, are set to speak on May 3, according to The Dallas Morning News.

Cruz and Perry have both been outspoken critics of additional gun restrictions even as President Obama and a number of Congressional lawmakers advocate passing new legislation to prevent shooting massacres similar to the one in Newtown, Connecticut in December that resulted in 28 dead.

Cruz, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which handles gun legislation, has argued against new gun legislation. Cruz also sent a letter to Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D) criticizing Emanuel's "anti-gun crusade."

Perry also said a set of anti-gun violence executive actions unveiled by Obama would be in effective.

"Guns require a finger to pull the trigger," Perry said in the statement responding to Obama's executive actions. "The sad young man who did that in Newtown was clearly haunted by demons and no gun law could have saved the children in Sandy Hook Elementary from his terror."

Cruz and Perry's appearance at the NRA convention come as legislators continue to work to pass new gun legislation. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) recently decided to move ahead with gun background check legislation after Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), who had been Schumer's partner in bipartisan talks on a background check bill, walked away from the negotiations.

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