NRA gives Ajit Pai “courage award” and gun for “saving the Internet”

Enlarge / FCC Chairman Ajit Pai at the Conservative Political Action Conference on February 23, 2018 in National Harbor, Maryland. Pai was given the 'Charlton Heston Courage Under Fire Award' by the National Rifle Association at the conference. (credit: Getty Images | Chip Somodevilla)

The National Rifle Association (NRA) today gave its Charlton Heston Courage Under Fire Award to Ajit Pai, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.

Pai was about to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland when the award presentation seemed to catch him by surprise. The award is a handmade long gun that could not be brought on stage, so it will be housed in the NRA museum until Pai can receive it.

"Ajit Pai, as you probably already know, saved the Internet," American Conservative Union (ACU) Executive Director Dan Schneider told the audience. The ACU is the host of CPAC; Schneider made a few more remarks praising Pai before handing the award presentation over to NRA board member Carolyn Meadows.

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