Bush bashes Holder to NRA crowd

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) bashed Attorney General Eric Holder on Friday before gun advocates at the National Rifle Association’s annual convention. 

“Eric Holder was asked what his greatest failure was as attorney general. I can think of a few — if he needed any guidance on that,” the likely 2016 presidential told thousands gathered. 

“He was sorry he didn’t impose enough gun control on America,” Bush said in Nashville. “If Eric Holder calls that a failure, I’ll take it as a win.”

{mosads}Holder, who has said he will leave his role once his replacement, nominee Loretta Lynch, is confirmed by the Senate, said back in October when preparing to leave he had regrets on the issue.

“I think the inability to pass reasonable gun safety laws after the Newtown massacre is something that weighs heavily on my mind,” Holder said during an interview aired on CNN.

Bush also took aim at Holder, a favorite target by gun advocates, when arguing at the NRA national conference that the federal government was “too big,” “too powerful” and “too intrusive.”

“It’s the liberal, progressive worldview of Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton and Eric Holder, and all the other people who want to take the guns out of the hands of the good guys, in the hands of the law-abiding citizens,” Bush said. 

Bush said that the administration had run into the “Kevlar-covered wall of the NRA.”

Bush also alluded to a plan from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) recently shelved after uproar from gun owners and advocates by mentioning the bullets commonly used in AR-15 hunting rifles.

Bush, who has an A+ rating from the NRA from 2002, touted his work on gun rights during his time as the executive of Florida, including a “stand your ground” law in 2005 that caught national attention following the shooting death of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin in 2012.

“In Florida, you can defend yourself anywhere you have a legal right to be,” Bush said Friday. “This is a sensible law that other states have adopted.”

Bush also argued that the right to bear arms was part of a broader fight for freedom in other areas around the country. 

“The Second Amendment is the original Homeland Security Act,” he said.

He offered broader arguments against the status quo, saying current tax policies were “stifling,” the education system is “broken” and D.C. deficits and debt are “out of control.”

He also took shots at President Obama on a variety of issues. 

“We’re using the laws of 1934 to regulate the access to the Internet,” Bush said.

“In the face of rising danger from Russia, from Iran, from ISIS, among others, our president is indecisive and weak and is making bad deals and leaving America exposed,” Bush added later.