Category: NRA Convention

I’m attending the NRA Law Seminar today. If I were an attorney this would qualify for Continuing Legal Education credits. Among the speakers is Dave Hardy, Stephen Halbrook, Don Kates, and Nelson Lund. I’ll try to update a bit during the day, but I’m running on battery here and they have no WiFi. Like the dorky kid in class, I’m sitting at the front row.

As you can see, there’s a lot of material to cover today. This should be very interesting.

A view of the show floor being set up.

This is the view from the media office. Really, I meant to post this last night, but didn’t have a chance.

We’re hurling down the Pennsylvania Turnpike, on our way to Charlotte. Been on the road since 5AM at this point. There some pretty good media coverage of the NRA Annual Meeting today in the media. First, Josh Sugarmann notes that NRA is getting in good with the Teabaggers and Militia whakos in Charlotte:

Palin’s appearance is only the most public example of growing links between the NRA and the Tea Party movement. The recently released Violence Policy Center (VPC) study Lessons Unlearned: The Gun Lobby and the Siren Song of Anti-Government Rhetoric details NRA marketing to Tea Party supporters and reveals links in nine states between NRA State Election Volunteer Coordinators, the Tea Party movement, and other factions of the “Patriot movement.” The study also offers examples of how the NRA is once again embracing and validating anti-government rhetoric.

What a sad, rage filled man Josh is these days. WBTV Charlotte notes that the convention will be the largest in the state’s history, and says, “The entire event is expected to pump $20 million into the local economy. Love it or hate it, the NRA is going to have a very large, very positive effect on businesses here.”

Huluq notes that there will be 400 vendors with their wares on display, and that “80 percent of those in attendance will be male.” I am happy to report that 33.3% of this car is female, so we’re helping balance that a little bit at least. The Charlotte Observer notes what the other side will be doing during the convention, and sadly it doesn’t seem like they will be protesting us.

“We don’t protest the right to own guns and gunowners,” [North Carolinians Against Gun Violence] said. “We work with them. This is simply another option for people who want to prevent gun violence.”

A shame, because we need someone to snicker at.

One disappointment about the NRA Annual Meeting for the past few years has been the lack of protesters. Nothing draws a community together like being vilified and protested. The Brady folk have been touting a few events that make me think we might just have some this year. Neither looks protest oriented. The Federalist Society Debate will be with Alan Gura, and the second event doesn’t look much like a protest, but I’m sure if the turnout is big enough it could turn into one.

But even if the other side is more content talking among themselves, there’s also the possibility we’ll be having a protest form our own side, over the carry nonsense. Just imagine if those people would show up in Raleigh where their protest might actually make a difference in changing the law. But why direct your righteous indignation at the proper targets when you can get a little NRA hating going?

It’s going to be fun, that’s for sure!

Will someone please explain to me why NRA, after allowing carry at their meetings in the past at venues that allow it, such as the Kentucky Expo Center, and the Phoenix Convention Center, that they would deliberately not make an effort to let attendees carry in Charlotte? Keeping in mind that with the Phoenix Annual Meeting, they went to great lengths to get the Arizona Department of Liquor Licenses and Control to suspend the liquor license of the convention center for the duration of the Annual Meeting (except for the banquet, which traditionally serves beer and wine) so that attendees could carry at Annual Meeting.

Now, in terms of site selection, I am going to agree with everyone that Charlotte, from what I’ve seen so far, is less than ideal, and not just on the issue of carry. I’m going to be an opponent of NRA going back there unless they fix their carry laws, among other things. But NRA has hosted its Annual Meeting in a lot of places, for reasons that I’ve mentioned before. Some of those venues are more friendly to carry than others.

NRA’s official statement about this issue goes as follows:

The claim that NRA does not want members to carry is flat out wrong. Both Phoenix and Louisville allowed concealed and open carry in the convention center. In fact, NRA fought to make sure attendees could carry at those locations.

In Charlotte, just like in every city that we have held our annual meeting, NRA is bound by legal and contractual obligations. We were unable to remove the prohibition due to state, city and convention center regulations.

Some people have mentioned an exception under the law for “A person participating in the event, if a person is carrying a gun, rifle, or pistol with the permission of the owner, lessee, or person or organization sponsoring the event.” This exception has two prongs. First, the person must be a participant. Second, the person must have permission.

While some may suggest that NRA could be the one giving permission, the reality is that NRA would not be the one who would determine whether or not someone is a participant. A prosecutor, judge, and jury would be ultimately making that determination.

Even if NRA declared all attendees participants, a prosecutor could argue that he/she was an attendee, spectator, guest of a member or a ticket holder, so that could not be relied on for a legal defense. And, in the end, it is the person with the gun who would be prosecuted. This is indeed a gray area, but without a clear exception there is a serious risk of arrest and prosecution, and NRA does not want our members risking prosecution.

The fact is if NRA only went to places that allowed CCW in convention centers, we would be limited to 2 or 3 choices. Because of the size of NRA’s conventions, we already are limited with our choices of cities that can accommodate us. We also strive to have regional balance to allow members from all over the country to attend. People should also be mindful that NRA has worked to change laws all over the country. With incremental wins, those who may not be able to carry in a certain location today may be able to do so down the road. After all, Arizona’s gun laws have come long way since we were there last year.

I am hoping this puts this issue to bed. I have no problem with reasonable, informed criticism of NRA, or the site selection committee. There’s a lot of valid points to be made for why Charlotte is less than an ideal site. But in the big picture, I think it’s a waste of time and energy to fret over this particular issue in this particular context. We’d be far better served working to change the laws and the political climate, much like happened in Arizona after the Annual Meeting was held there last year.

Sailorcurt is not alone in his disappointment that NRA has picked an off limits venue for the Annual Meeting. I would obviously rather be at a venue that allows carry as well, and this has been a constant complaint I’ve heard from members. It was nice in Kentucky and Phoenix because it was allowed. But NRA has competing interests to deal with in this regard.

NRA moves its Annual Meeting every year so that every once in a while, if you’re an NRA member, one will be coming to your neighborhood and you’ll have an opportunity to attend. They try to have it in places where as many NRA members as possible are within the radius of a day’s drive. Because the NRA Annual Meeting draws approximately 60,000 to 70,000 people, prominent political figures, a fair amount of media, and has some very significant space requirements, the number of venues that are capable of handling it is very limited, and it’s getting more limited as the meeting gets larger. For instance, Phoenix’s convention center is brand new and was built large enough to handle a convention of our size, and that opened that city up as a possibility which NRA took advantage of last year. We set a record for the largest single meal ever served in the history of Arizona. The Annual Members Banquet drew, if I recall, something like 6000 people.

The fact is there just aren’t that many venues scattered around the country that can handle a convention that large, with NRA’s room and space requirements, that also don’t have issues with carry. NRA’s alternative would be to always have the convention in Pittsburgh, Louisville, Houston and Phoenix. That would be great for people who carry, but would kind of suck for people who would never get to go because there was never any venue that was good enough.

I would also consider that the amount of money NRA brings to an area is not an inconsiderable incentive to improve laws in an area. Governor Jan Brewer, at the Phoenix Convention, announced support for cleaning up the restaurant carry situation while we were in Phoenix, and it wasn’t that long after we left that we had a fix. If we go back to Phoenix, that’s going to be nice not to have to deal with having to run back to the hotel to dump off a gun because you go to a place for lunch that serves alcohol, even if you don’t plan on drinking. I’m not saying we’ll be able to repeat that performance with North Carolina, but it’s not outside the realm of possibility. If politicians are impressed enough with the amount of money we bring into the region, and the positive publicity we get for their convention center (a favorite pork project of state level pols everywhere), they just might come asking what they have to do to get us to come back.

Just some things to keep in mind before getting angry about the situation. Nobody really likes it, but choices are limited, and someone is going to end up getting stiffed one way or another, no matter which direction you go.

I should direct your attention to Eric Shelton’s Handgun Podcast.  He was one of the attendees at the 2A Blog Bash last weekend, and has some coverage of the NRA Annual Meeting here and here.  Go have a listen.  His podcast has around 3000 downloads in the week, and it’s of very high quality.

Thirdpower offers his perspective on the NRA Annual Meeting / Blog Bash of 2009.  He was also one of the Bash sponsors, since he donated a bunch of the stickers and patches he’s been hawking.

Dave Adams has a video of some of the local news coverage of NRA’s event in Phoenix.  Local coverage, I’m told, was almost universally positive.  Phoenix has been particularly hard hit by the economic downturn, and I think they are happy just to have the money.