Widow of 'American Sniper' Navy SEAL speaks at NRA convention

The widow of a Navy SEAL gunned down at a rifle range by a Marine reservist in February says her husband’s death – and other recent gun-related tragedies – is no excuse to curtail the right to bear arms.

Speaking at the National Rifle Association’s convention in Houston, Texas, Taya Kyle reportedly told a packed auditorium of gun enthusiasts to continue their defense of the Second Amendment in the face of those who would legislatively curtail it.

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“I challenge anyone to tell me there isn’t evil in this world,” Kyle said, according to The Los Angeles Times.

“From the days of Cain and Abel, we know all too well there will always be evil, but that evil shouldn’t take away our freedoms. In fact, the only way to take away evil is by taking advantage of those freedoms. America needs people like you who are willing to stand up and fight.”

Kyle is the widow of Chris Kyle, the author of "American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History."

The book recounts Chris Kyle’s experiences during four tours in Iraq, where he reportedly said he killed at least 160 insurgents.

Kyle, 38, and friend Chad Littlefield, 35, were shot to death by a fellow Iraq veteran – 25-year-old Eddie Ray Routh -- on Feb. 2, according to The Times. The duo had squired Routh to a gun range after Routh had been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD. Routh turned his weapon on them.

“Thank you for understanding the difference between the use of guns in terrorizing innocent people in our country and abroad and the use of guns in fighting an evil that will not be reasoned with,” Taya Kyle, 38, reportedly said at the NRA’s convention.

Wearing her late husband’s dogtags, Taya Kyle added that Chris Kyle, with whom she has two children, was at work at the time of his death on a book called “American Gun.” The tome, which she has finished in his honor and will publish next month, tells the story of 10 historic guns and the people who used them, according to The Times.