Posted on 05/01/2018 12:22:41 PM PDT by gattaca
Victims of the Florida high school shooting and their parents are criticizing the National Rifle Association after it announced gun advocates won’t be allowed to bring weapons to watch Vice President Mike Pence deliver the NRA-ILA’s leadership forum keynote address in Dallas on Friday.
“Wait wait wait wait wait wait you’re telling me to make the VP safe there aren’t any weapons around but when it comes to children they want guns everywhere?,” Matt Deitsch, a student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School who helped organize the March For Our Lives protest, wrote on Twitter.
“Can someone explain this to me? Because it sounds like the NRA wants to protect people who help them sell guns, not kids,” he added.
The national convention “brings together our nation’s top Second Amendment leaders in government, the media, and the entertainment industry,” according to the NRA. It is expected to draw 80,000 members to explore more than 20 acres of firearm exhibits over three days.
A notice posted on the event page explained that, “Due to the attendance of the Vice President of the United States, the U.S. Secret Service will be responsible for event security at the NRA-ILA Leadership Forum. As a result, firearms and firearm accessories, knives or weapons of any kind will be prohibited in the forum prior to and during his attendance.”
A second page lists in detail all of the items that will be prohibited, including selfie sticks, backpacks, signs, drones, laser pointers, toy guns and weapons of any kind.
It is standard operating procedure for the U.S. Secret Service to coordinate security wherever the vice president travels, U.S. Secret Service officials told NPR. And the agency has “authority to preclude firearms from entering sites visited by our protectees, including those located in open-carry states,” it said in a statement.
Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter Jaime was among the 17 killed in the massacre, noted the irony in the policies concerning the vice president’s welfare and those of the general public.
“On so many levels, this is enlightening. According to the NRA, we should want everyone to have weapons when we are in public. But when they put on a convention, the weapons are a concern? I thought giving everyone a gun was to enhance safety. Am I missing something?,” he asked on Twitter.
But the advisory is also drawing fire from NRA members who view the restrictions as a violation of the organization’s core tenets, including those of Pence, who the NRA describes as, “a lifetime supporter of the Second Amendment” with “a long a record of fighting to defend our freedoms.”
Members of a Texas gun rights advocacy group called Texas CHL posted concerns to an online forum.
“If I was a [democrat], I’d have a field day with this,” one member wrote. “Obviously even republicans and so called leaders don’t trust the ‘good guys.’ I realize it’s the VP, but still makes our whole argument look foolish. You may disagree…but in my opinion the very people that claim to protect the 2A should never host an event that requires disarming the good guys. Sad. No excuses for this…it makes us look stupid.”
On Monday, NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesch dismissed any claims of hypocrisy by the organization after linking to a story about the temporary gun ban by The Associated Press on Twitter.
“NRA banned nothing. The media does this every year,” she wrote, adding that the Secret Service’s rules supersede all start [state] and local control. “Don’t complain about your eroding credibility and people calling you “fake news” when you publish things like this.”
White House officials confirmed to NPR’s Mara Liasson President Trump will be attending the Dallas convention later this week, though it’s unclear when he will speak.
It will be the fourth year in a row that he addresses the NRA, one of his strongest and most loyal supporters.
As Liasson reported, the NRA spent more than any other outside group on Trump’s presidential campaign — over $30 million.
He has told the gun rights group that they came through big for him and he would come through big for them. But after the Parkland, Florida, school shooting his views on certain gun laws appeared to shift away from the NRA’s long-held positions. Trump raised the possibility of raising the age to buy a long gun from 18 to 21 and the administration is moving to potentially implement a ban on bump stocks.
But at recent rallies, Liasson reported, Trump has been warning his supporters that if Democrats win in November, they will take away their guns.
Of course it is. Hypocritical NRA bans guns while promoting guns. Except the secret service guys. Do they believe no one is armed at the dance convention? You know in support of oberstormfurher Hogg.
shows how stupid the left and media are.As pointed out the SS NEVER allows guns at any event with the Veep or POTUS
How stupid is that? The event will obviously be protected by plenty of men with guns. So there’s no need for law abiding citizens to have a gun in such a venue. Are these idiots saying that in every day life people have such protection at their disposal? The educational system is really short changing people in the department of reasoning and logic!
Kinda along the lines of Democrats not wanting Voter ID Laws, yet require an ID to get into their convention.
I think Secret Service might have a problem with guns around the President and Vice President, no matter the party.
“...dnc convention.....” NOT “dance convention”. Doh!
Guns weren’t permitted at HILLARY speeches either, and she also ‘claimed’, non-stop, to support the Second Amendment.
What’s the difference?
Do they think the Secret Service would allow the meet to take place otherwise?
There we be so much trained firepower there that civilians with guns would be irrelevant. Contrast: gun free zones such as schools and waffle houses where no one with a gun but the bad guy is present.
Will be*
No, Matt, there will be lots of guns around to keep the VP safe. They're being carried by the Secret Service, and there will be metal detectors to ensure that no other weapons are brought into the venue.
The rest of the time at the NRA convention, there won't be Secret Service providing security, and personally owned and licensed handguns will be welcome.
See the difference, Matt?
This is a nothingburger. It is well known in the law enforcement community that whenever the POTUS or VPOTUS or major candidate visits a local venue, the ONLY weapons they want inside are those of the protection detail. Even as LEO’s we would have perimeter duty in order to make the SS’s job easier.
Besides, How many Trump rallies have you seen where some Code Pink or Black Lives Matter operatives crashed the party and created a problem. It’s amazing how the left thinks.
Duh! POTUS and VPOTUS!
Did anyone expect the crowd to be packing?
Are you dumb naturally of do you attend classes for instructions?
The story CLEARLY STATES it is the SECRET SERVICE which is prohibiting weapons at the NRA Convention and NOT the NRA.
This is similar to recent challenge with our local Reno Ace ball park. They do not want guns inside but do not allow for people carrying to/from the venue AND they do not escort to/from. They should have location to check in guns while inside the venue.
As “Trump-crazy” as leftists are, I wouldn’t put it past them to join the NRA just to have access (for disruption and other sordid purposes) to these types of NRA events.
It might be a special concession for the Veep, who is indeed covered by the SS. Still it speaks to the sadness of the times.
That is a valid caution. The NRA is not an “extreme vetter.” It does not possess the resources to do that, even if it wanted to, which would upset some libertarians.
I can see doing it as a special concession to Trump and Pence.
So the prohibition is not coming from the NRA, but from armed, uniformed agents of the State.
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