No matter what you may have read, both open and concealed carry of guns and knives was generally legal and accepted at the NRA Annual Meeting of 2018. There was one obvious exception: the Leadership Forum that featured President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence speaking to a packed crowd.
The Secret Service took over jurisdiction over that event’s security arrangements and forbade the carrying of guns and knives into the forum. Not just knives and guns, but a long list of other items were forbidden, too. Items you might not have considered. It was a rainy day in Dallas and lots of people had umbrellas, but those too were considered contraband.
Fortunately, Knife Rights has been providing a free public service for the last three NRA annual meetings. All of them featured presidential or major party candidate speeches at the Leadership Forum. For no cost, Knife Rights checked any knives attendees were carrying. They also accepted other items on the forbidden list (sorry, no guns). And they did a booming business checking umbrellas.
Doug Ritter of Knife Rights came up with the brilliant idea three years ago. The need was obvious. Who wants to park their vehicle, or take a shuttle from their hotel, spend 15 minutes getting to the Leadership Forum, and another 15 minutes waiting in line, only to be told you can’t bring your pocket knife, umbrella, or mini-flashlight (yes, those were out, too) into the venue?
You’d be faced with a set of poor options. Spend half an hour retracing your steps, or discard a valuable piece of gear.
Doug and Knife Rights solved the problem for a lot of people with their free Knife Check. As a plus, if then stopped by their booth on the floor of the exhibit hall and turned in your stub, you had a chance to win a very nice Bowie knife for your trouble.
Circle Ten Council of the Boy Scouts of America, Troop 312 of Royse City, Texas, volunteered to provide the manpower to man the knife check station. They did what Boy Scouts are very good at, offering courteous, polite, efficient service.
It appears that knife checks will be a feature at NRA annual meetings for the foreseeable future. And given the reception he’s gotten here, the smart money is on President Trump addressing future NRA Leadership Forums.
©2018 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.