Washington (CNN) – The National Rifle Association said Monday they saw a record number of attendees at their annual meeting in Houston last weekend with 86,228 attending, up almost 15,000 from last year’s annual meeting in St. Louis, according to the group’s spokesman Andrew Arulanandam.

The NRA had estimated 75,000 would attend.

Former President David Keene rounded out his two-year term as president of the NRA at the meeting. His replacement is former Alabama lawyer James “Jim” Porter, who officially assumes the position Monday as part of a formal rotation.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A pair of reports show that gun homicides have dropped steeply since their 1993 peak, adding fuel to Congress’ battle over restricting firearms.

A study released Tuesday by the government’s Bureau of Justice Statistics found that gun-related homicides dropped from 18,253 in 1993 to 11,101 in 2011. That’s a 39 percent reduction.

Another report by the private Pew Research Center found a similar decline by looking at the rate of gun homicides, which compares the number of killings to the size of the country’s population. It found that the number of gun homicides per 100,000 people fell from 7 percent in 1993 to 3.6 percent in 2010, a drop of nearly half.

Both reports also found the rate of non-fatal crimes involving guns was also down significantly over that period.

The trend in firearm-related homicides is part of a broad nationwide decline in violent crime over past two decades, including incidents not involving firearms.

While congressional gun control advocates and gun-rights supporters duke it out with words and parliamentary tactics, Texas Republican Rep. Steve Stockman is showing off his Second Amendment fervor by doing what some consider unthinkable: giving away a Bushmaster AR-15 rifle, the same weapon crazed murderer Adam Lanza used in his December massacre at a Connecticut elementary school.

Stockman, a congressional freshman whose campaign boasts on Twitter that he is ‘the most conservative Congressman in Texas,’ is angling for a second term.

His campaign – not his government office, spokesman Donny Ferguson told MailOnline – is offering the unusual prize to entrants who join his online mailing list.

Twitter erupted late Wednesday after the congressman announced the prize giveaway by tweeting: ‘Want to win a FREE AR-15? Congressman Steve Stockman is giving one away! … Grab this gun before Obama does!”

The Missouri Legislature sent the governor a bill Wednesday that would expand gun rights and declare all federal gun regulations unenforceable, in a response to President Obama’s push for gun control legislation.

The Republican-led Legislature passed the measure hoping to shield the state from federal proposals that would ban assault weapons and expand background checks. But the U.S. Senate’s defeat of a background check expansion three weeks ago did nothing to assuage the fears of Missouri Republicans who pressed forward with their legislation.

The Missouri House voted 118-36 Wednesday to send the bill to Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon. The Senate passed the measure earlier this month.

Supporters argue the measure protects the rights of law-abiding gun owners, and it includes language condemning the theft and illegal use of firearms. The measure’s sponsor, Rep. Doug Funderburk, said his aim is to ensure Missouri is the only regulator when it comes to firearms.

NEW LEBANON — An upstate man was arrested under the state’s new gun law when troopers found him with a legally registered pistol that had a magazine that held nine bullets – two more than the new statute allows, state police said.

Troopers from the New Lebanon barracks in Columbia County stopped a car driven by Gregory D. Dean Jr., 31, of Hopewell Junction, around 9:45 p.m. Sunday on Route 22 because the vehicle’s license-plate lamp was not working.

While interviewing Dean, troopers noticed a handgun on the front seat, partially covered by a sweatshirt.

The troopers determined the gun, a .40-caliber pistol, was legally registered and possessed. However, when the troopers inspected the pistol, its magazine contained the nine bullets – New York’s Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Actonly allows seven bullets per magazine.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Six months after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, some of the victims’ families are heading to Capitol Hill to remind lawmakers they are painfully waiting for action, while some of the president’s allies are asking him to do more without any new prospects of legislation to toughen gun laws.

Gun control advocates also are anticipating further action from President Barack Obama, who said he would do everything he could to stem gun violence even without Congress.

The Center for American Progress, a Washington think tank with close ties to the White House, is asking Obama to issue a dozen more executive actions they say are within his power to reduce gun crimes. The group has been pushing those measures in meetings with the White House, where point man Vice President Joe Biden declared in an email to supporters Friday, “This fight is far from over.”

Obama issued 23 executive actions in the aftermath of Sandy Hook and hasn’t ruled out doing more. His aides say he isn’t planning to announce any new initiatives or hold a gun-related event this week but will likely acknowledge the anniversary.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden met Thursday with relatives of the victims of the Connecticut school shooting, who were visiting Washington on the eve of the six-month anniversary of the tragedy to push anew for gun control.

Legislation to expand background checks for gun buyers failed in the Senate in April, and there are no indications it has gained any traction over concerns about protecting gun rights. But some of the Sandy Hook victims’ relatives have been making emotional pleas to lawmakers this week and appeared with supportive lawmakers at a Capitol news conference Thursday.

“The bill that passes the Senate must include background checks and not a watered-down version of background checks,” Reid said. “We’re not going to let the forces of an extreme minority water down and damage the contents” of the legislation.