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National Rifle Association (NRA) President David Keene on Thursday promised that gun owners would do "whatever's necessary" to "get rid of those in public office" that they viewed as working to erode the Second Amendment right to bear arms.

Speaking at a rally of about 7,000 people protesting New York gun laws in Albany, Keene promised that the NRA would "soon have five million members" because of a surge of interest after lawmakers passed laws in response to the shooting of 20 elementary school children in Connecticut.

"Because of the fact that we, as believers in the Second Amendment, are willing to do something that most people in this country are not willing to do, which is not just to stand up for our rights, but to support those people who stand with us and work to get rid of those in public office who do not," the NRA president told the crowd.

"So we're with you," Keene added. "We'll help you defeat the politicians that would deprive you of your rights. We'll help you overcome these statutes in court. We'll do whatever's necessary to make certain the Second Amendment rights that we have had passed down to us are are going to be passed down to future generations."

Earlier this year, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed a law to expand the state's assault weapons ban, ban high-capacity magazines and address gun ownership by those who have mental illnesses.

But if Thursday's demonstration is any indication, some gun owners in New York are going to go along with the new law quietly.

Chants at the rally in Albany included, "Cuomo's got to go" and "We will not comply."

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National Rifle Association (NRA) President David Keene admits that that the gun industry funds his organization with generous donations but would like to see even more cash pumped into pro-gun lobbying as opponents try to move forward with efforts to stop mass shootings.

"One of the big questions here is who does the NRA represent?" CNN host Candy Crowley told Keene on Sunday. "You do take millions of dollars from people who make guns and who make bullets, all perfectly legal. I'm sure they're all fine folks."

"Actually, Sandy [sic], we get less money from the industry than we'd like to get," Keene interrupted. "But we get some. We get more than we used to."

"You get millions of dollars from them," Crowley insisted. "The criticism has been out there that you, that the NRA and some other gun-supporter groups gin up this, 'They're going to come take your guns away.' Because what happens, those gun sales rise. And people go out, and you sort of frighten people into thinking your guns are going away... The accusation is that you are ginning up this conversation because it helps gun sales."

"The two people who are selling so-called assault rifles are Sen. [Dianne] Feinstein and President [Barack] Obama, not us," Keene replied. "They're the ones that are scaring American gun owners. It isn't the NRA."

A 2011 report from the Violence Policy Center determined that 74 percent -- or as much as $38.9 million -- of the up to $52 million corporations had contributed to the NRA over six years had come from the firearms industry. During the 2012 election cycle alone, the NRA spent more that $17 million on presidential and congressional races.

And Keene suggested that all that money translated into the ability to block any efforts to ban assault weapons or high-capacity magazines.

"I think right now we do [have the votes in Congress]," the NRA president said. "I would say that the likelihood is that they are not going to be able to get an assault weapons ban through this Congress."