Is the NRA really banning guns at their convention in Texas?
One of the places that you won’t be allowed to carry a gun in Texas on Friday is at the NRA forum in Houston where former President Trump will speak.
The National Rifle Association Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) is holding a leadership forum on Friday. The organization is known for its lobbying to relax gun laws including the right to carry them in public spaces where they are currently banned.
So, it should come without a little irony that their event at the end of the week will be “gun non grata.” The reason, fair enough, is not the organization banning deadly weapons but the Secret Service who will be there to protect former President Trump who will be speaking at the event.
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firearms, firearm accessories, and other items WILL NOT BE PERMITTED
The NRA informed guests that after Trump agreed to speak at the forum the US Secret Service would have control of the general assemble hall. Upon entering the event guest “are consenting to a search of your person and belongings.” The NRA advises that there is no storage and anyone carrying any of the prohibited items will not be allowed in.
The Secret Service will have magnetometers in place before attendees can access the hall looking for any item determine to be a potential safety hazard.
The following items are prohibited inside the General Assembly Hall:
- Aerosols
- Ammunition
- Backpacks
- Bags larger than 18″x13″x7″
- Drones and other unmanned aircraft systems
- Firearms
- Glass, Thermal, or Metal Containers
- Gun Parts, Holsters, Magazines, etc
- Knives
- Laser Pointers
- Mace/Pepper Spray
- Selfie Sticks
- Signs
- Toy guns
- Umbrellas
- Weapons of any kind
Source: NRA
This isn’t the first time an NRA event has been gun-free. In 2018 firearms were banned from part of the annual convention when then-Vice President Mike Pence gave a speech. In a statement to NPR at that time the Secret Service said it has the “authority to preclude firearms from entering sites visited by our protectees, including those located in open-carry states.”
NRA and GOP headliners still going forward with the event
The NRA forum will have more than Trump, who is headlining, to represent the GOP. “A star-studded cast of political heavyweights” including Sen. Ted Cruz and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and North Carolina Lt Gov. Mark Robinson.
Despite the tragic events on Tuesday when 19 children and two teachers were shoot to death in Uvalde about 300 miles from the scheduled event, the NRA has not announced plans to postpone or call off the event. All the Republican politicians set to speak have confirmed that they will still attend, with the exception of Gov. Abbott who has just said “as far as future plans are concerned, listen, I’m living moment to moment right now.”
Two of the people the NRA has listed, Sen. John Cornyn and US Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas, announced that they will not be attending due to changes to their schedules prior to the massacre at the Robb Elementary School.
According to multiple reports one person “decided it would be disrespectful and hurtful” in the wake of the Texas school shooting to attend the NRA forum. “American Pie” singer Don McLean announced that he will not perform at the event. “I’m sure all the folks planning to attend this event are shocked and sickened by these events as well. After all, we are all Americans,” he said. Adding “I share the sorrow for this terrible, cruel loss with the rest of the nation.”