Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson is slated to speak at the NRA convention today, even in the wake of mass shootings across the country — what has become “expected behavior” from the guy who “bragged about owning AR-15 rifles to use ‘in case the government gets too big for its britches’ just 24 hours after the Buffalo shooting in 2022. The Charlotte Observer editorial board is slamming his appearance this morning writing: “North Carolinians don’t want Robinson’s crocodile tears. What they want is a leader brave enough to stand up to the gun lobby.”

North Carolina Republicans just passed a law that would make it easier for domestic abusers and potential school shooters to own guns, which is yet another example of Robinson’s failure. As the editorial notes: “Robinson says we need to make schools safer, yet he refuses to do anything to protect children from the weapons that are killing them.”

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Charlotte Observer: As mass shootings continue unabated, NC’s Mark Robinson cozies up to gun lobby

• As communities in Louisville, Nashville and across the country grapple with the too-familiar horror of gun violence, North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson will be cozying up to the gun lobby.

• Robinson is slated to appear again at the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting, delivering the keynote address Friday at a luncheon and auction held by the NRA Women’s Leadership Forum.

• Robinson has also received campaign support from the NRA — the NRA Political Victory Fund spent more than $82,000 to get Robinson elected in 2020, WRAL reported.

• North Carolinians don’t want Robinson’s crocodile tears. What they want is a leader brave enough to stand up to the gun lobby. Robinson says we need to make schools safer, yet he refuses to do anything to protect children from the weapons that are killing them. Although a majority of North Carolinians support stricter gun laws, Robinson has remained firmly opposed, speaking out against common-sense safety measures such as universal background checks.

• This should be a reminder of who Mark Robinson is — of who he has shown himself to be over and over again. Delivering the Republican response to Cooper’s State of the State address in March, Robinson sounded far more reasonable than we’ve come to expect from him, perhaps in hopes of catering to a wider, more moderate audience. But the truth is that Robinson remains a gun zealot, no matter how many mass shootings occur.