The claim: The NRA is banning guns at its annual conference
The National Rifle Association has advocated for more armed personnel in schools, a position he seemed to be holding in a declaration about the massacre of 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas on May 24.
This position has been central in recent Social media publications accusing the organization of hypocrisy for allegedly banning guns at its own annual conference, held in Houston May 27-29.
“The NRA wants guns in schools, but will ban them at its conference in Texas this weekend due to safety concerns,” it read. a Facebook post by the liberal political organization Occupy Democrats shared more than 4,900 times. “The hypocrisy in the parade”.
tens of thousands of people shared similar claims about the NRA’s alleged ban, including liberal commentator Brian Tyler Cohen.
“Hey @NRA why are guns banned at your conference in Houston?” Cohen tweeted.
But the claims are misplaced.
Visitors to the NRA Annual Meetings and Exhibitions can carry firearms “in accordance with Texas law,” a spokesman said, referring to the conference website.
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The exception to this rule is the NRA-ILA Leadership Forum, where former President Donald Trump will speak on May 27. ILA refers to the Institute for Legislative Action, the lobbying arm of the NRA. The Secret Service, not the NRA, is banning guns from that part of the event, along with many other items.
NRA allows open transportation at conference; Secret Service bans guns from Trump’s speech
The Secret Service, not the NRA, requires visitors to surrender their weapons to secure the building, according to /online information about the event and an NRA spokesman.
“The restrictions are in place exclusively at the NRA-ILA Leadership Forum under the direction of the United States Secret Service,” spokesman Lars Dalseide wrote in an email to USA TODAY. He called the claim that the NRA is banning guns at his conference “incorrect.”
This mandate is not recent or related to the Texas school shooting, contrary to what some publications suggest. The archives of the event web page show this information has been published since May 14two days after the NRA announced that Trump would speak at the event.
The ad linked to an online brochure which listed other prohibited items, including backpacks, drones, toy guns, knives, selfie sticks and umbrellas.
Exactly the same notice was published by the NRA in 2018 to inform visitors about the Secret Service’s no-firearms mandate for speeches by Trump and then-Vice President Mike Pence. The event’s weapons ban was similarly examined by media outlets and social media critics at the time, prompting then-NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesche to send a fiery response to an Associated Press report on Twitter.
“NRA didn’t ban anything,” she wrote. “The media does this every year. It’s Secret Service SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) and they supersede all startup and local control (sic). Don’t complain about your credibility being eroded and people calling you ‘fake news. ‘ when he posts stuff like this.”
Fact check:Comparison of school shootings in the US, other countries uses old data
Occupy Democrats told USA TODAY that the source of their post was a Business Insider articlethough the article attributes the ban to Secret Service guidelines.
Cohen said he was aware the weapons were prohibited under Secret Service protocol, but wanted to stress that they present an obvious security problem.
“The NRA…is hell-bent on insisting that more guns equals more security,” he wrote to USA TODAY in an email. “If more guns really did make a situation safer, then why wouldn’t the Secret Service and the NRA insist that everyone in attendance bring guns?”
Our rating: Partially false
Based on our research, we rate the claim that the NRA is banning guns at its annual conference PARTIALLY FALSE. The NRA authorizes conference visitors to carry firearms in accordance with local, state and federal laws and has not mandated any prohibitions or limitations of its policy. Rather, the Secret Service requires that attendees of the Leadership Forum, where Trump will speak, not carry firearms or other dangerous items.
Our fact-checking sources:
- Lars Dalseide, May 26, email exchange with USA TODAY
- NRA, May 26, Annual Meetings and Exhibitions: Frequently Asked Questions
- NRA, archived May 14, NRA-ILA Leadership Forum Event
- NRA, accessed May 26, secret service notice (archived)
- NRA, April 2018, secret service notice (archived)
- Dana Loesch, April 30, 2018, cheep
- PBS NewsHour, February 22, 2018, NRA backs Trump’s call to arm teachers: ‘Schools should be the toughest targets’
- USA TODAY, May 26, Texas school gunman warned about attack with online messages before rampage; Beto O’Rourke confronts Abbott: live updates
- USA TODAY, May 4, 2018, When Trump speaks, NRA annual meeting will be a gun-free zone, Secret Service orders
- Business Insider, May 25, NRA conference will not allow attendees to bring their gun
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Reference-www.usatoday.com