Holy hypocrisy, Batman! The NRA bans guns at its own convention! That was the gist of breathless reporting in the run-up to this weekend’s festivities in Nashville. Such notable and allegedly reputable purveyors of infotainment as MSNBC, the Daily News and the New York Times reveled in the blinding double standard of the nation’s preeminent gun rights org “banning working guns” from their own shindig. They were apparently parroting misinformation served up by the noted legal scholars at Moms Demand Action. The glee and condescension fairly dripped off the screen in the Times’ editorial . . .
Seventy-thousand people are expected to attend the National Rifle Association’s convention opening on Friday in Tennessee, but they won’t be allowed to carry firearms in one of the main convention venues. This may run counter to the N.R.A.’s ideas about carrying guns everywhere, from elementary schools to workplaces.
Somehow, the Times’ vaunted phalanx of fact-checkers missed the statement on the NRA’s site explaining that properly licensed attendees were free to tote to their heart’s content. And no one at the paper reads anything published west of Hoboken, either. If they had, they might have noted that tennessean.com ran a piece earlier in the week noting that convention-goers were free to carry as the Music City Center follows state and local laws where firearms are concerned.
The fact is that the Times and the other usual suspects were caught obscuring the true nature of the situation in a naked attempt to make some political hay…at the cost of any semblance of accuracy. Yes, one venue, the Bridgestone Arena across the street from the convention center that will be used for some events, prohibits firearms. And the NRA mandates that guns being exhibited on the show floor be rendered inoperative, a common practice at virtually all such events. Those policies, however, have precisely nothing to do with show-goers packing heat, either openly or concealed. But you can’t something like facts get in the way of an overarching agenda.
RF snapped the image of me at the top while I was checking out a Browning rifle yesterday. And that’s an FNS-9C on my ample hip. Still, no one tackled me, I wasn’t arrested or escorted off the premises, and I certainly wasn’t the only one. Before the show started we talked to the NRA as well as a few local NPD cops just to be sure we were staying on the right side of Johnny Law. So, much like news of Mark Twain’s death, we can attest that reports of double standards and the demise of gun rights at the hands of the NRA have been greatly exaggerated. If you’re planning to check out the show either today or tomorrow, strap on your favorite heater and dive on in. The water’s fine.