Kinzinger says the NRA 'has become a grifting scam' instead of 'defending the rights of gun owners'

• GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger on Sunday called the National Rifle association a "grifting scam."
• The Illinois lawmaker affirmed that he is "a strong defender of the second amendment."

Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger slammed the National Rifle Association amid recent mass shootings.

"The NRA ... it's gone from defending rights of gun owners, it has become a grifting scam," he said during an interview on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday. "And all you have to do is look at the last few years of the grifting scam of the NRA to know that that's true."

The NRA has long opposed efforts to restrict access to guns. In 2011, it sued Texas in a failed effort to force the state to lower the legal age for possessing a handgun to 18 from 21. Kinzinger has called it a "no brainer" to raise the age requirements.

He said that the NRA is completing with another gun rights organization, Gun Owners of America. He noted that the organization called him a "Rino" (Republican in name only) after he called for banning bump stocks — devices that give weapons rapid-fire capabilities — after the Las Vegas mass shooting in 2017.

When asked by moderator Jonathan Karl how he went from being "right in line with the gun lobby" to calling for a change in age limits, Kinzinger said he's "getting sick of seeing the mass shootings."

"I'm a strong defender of the second amendment," he added. "And one of the things I believe that for some reason is a very rare thing is that as a person that appreciates and believes in the second amendment, we have to be the ones putting forward reasonable solutions to gun violence."

Thousands protested the NRA at its annual convention, which began on Friday in Houston, 300 miles from the mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas that left 19 children and two adults dead. The convention showcased "over 14 acres of the latest guns and gear."