President Trump will give a speech at the National Rifle Association’s annual gathering in Atlanta later today. The NRA has fought tirelessly to make sure that gun owners can take their guns anywhere. But ironically, conference attendees won’t be able to hold onto the rock-hard steel of their sensuous guns as they watch Donald Trump’s speech.
Yes, despite the fact that Georgia has an open carry law, and the fact that this is America’s biggest gun-friendly circle-jerk of the year, the Secret Service has banned guns from the event while President Trump is there.
The NRA is fond of saying that the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. But when it comes to important people, I guess the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a total ban on guns. Go figure.
“The Secret Service works closely with our local law enforcement partners in each state to ensure a safe environment for our protectees and the public,” the Secret Service told CNN in a statement. “Individuals determined to be carrying firearms will not be allowed past a predetermined outer perimeter checkpoint, regardless of whether they possess a ticket to the event.”
Trump is the first sitting president to speak at the conference since Ronald Reagan did in 1983, and guns will still be allowed at the rest of the conference, as you might expect. But as long as the President of the United States is there, you won’t be allowed to enter with a firearm of any kind.
Trump is seen as an ally of gun nuts everywhere, despite that fact that he was in favor of some gun control policies in the past. The feisty and grizzled face of the NRA, Wayne LaPierre, boasted in a letter to conference attendees that the gun rights organization, “helped make the critical difference that pushed Trump over the top.”
In the same letter LaPierre said that liberals were bent on destroying the Second Amendment and taking everyone’s guns away—something that President Obama apparently forgot to do during his eight years in office. In fact, there were no new federal restrictions put on guns during the Obama administration, even after the nation was horrified in the wake of the brutal mass shooting at a school in Newtown, Connecticut that killed 20 children and 6 adults.
Six and seven-year-olds were murdered en masse and the country still couldn’t find the political will to pass any kind of new gun control laws, which is a testament to the tremendous power of the NRA in America. And LaPierre probably has a point about helping push Trump over the top. The organization run ads attacking Hillary Clinton as hostile to gun owners.
LaPierre’s letter said that liberal groups are only attacking Trump to lay the groundwork for attacking gun rights. Because apparently every road leads to guns in LaPierre’s world.
“These are the very same groups who, if they could, would also destroy our NRA and our Second Amendment freedom,” LaPierre said in the letter. “They’re going after the president to come after us next.”
LaPierre didn’t mention the gun ban that will be in place while President Trump was in the vicinity of the conference. But I’m sure he understands the necessary precautions. It’d be insane to let someone with a gun near the president. Especially with all those online threats made against him.
As for the rest of us? I guess we’re on our own.
[CNN]