Donald Trump made headlines with his appearance at the NRA’s Leadership Conference event yesterday in Atlanta. With upwards of 5,000 enthusiastic NRA members in attendance, President Trump could not have enjoyed a more enthusiastic audience.
People began filing in well bef0re 8am. The news trucks were all lined up to cover the event with some very nice gear there.
Folks had a great attitude waiting to get in. For some reason, the Antifa goons didn’t make an appearance. And there weren’t any troublemakers in the audience, either. Instead event oozed of Americana, patriotism and love of all things American. Nancy Pelosi would have vomited and a President Hillary would never have attended in a million years. Well, she might have if the NRA made an eight-figure donation to the Clinton Global Initiative.
Here are some sights I enjoyed after getting through security. That, in and of itself, proved an ordeal of sorts.
As you’d expect, security was heavy, although few long guns were seen. I was semi-surprised the Atlanta SWAT team is still using EOTechs.
They had about a dozen lanes to screen attendees. Still, folks still waited an hour or more in line to get through he process. While we didn’t have to wait as long in the media line, screened we were and we had to wait for them to sweep our gear.
The Secret Service folks took a couple of photos with each of my cameras — apparently so make sure they were really cameras. They asked us to leave everything behind in the hallway on the floor. I must say, leaving one’s keys, phone and thousands of dollars in camera gear in a pile with everyone else’s stuff felt a little…risky. No problems though.
Media creds left me able to float around inside the venue. Here’s a mainstream media reporter making sure her hair looked just right.
As Chris Cox warmed up the crowd, Don Jr. and his lovely wife popped out about 15 feet from me.
And the introduction…
President Donald Trump came out and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with NRA-ILA’s Chris Cox (l) and NRA’s Wayne LaPierre. The symbolism was impossible to miss.
A lot excitement in the front row.
Folks started getting their picture taken in front of the stage as the President spoke.
Everyone loved PDT’s speech.
All in all, a good time was had by all. The Secret Service people along with the Atlanta constabulary acted with kindness, courtesy and professionalism. Clearly they knew this was a friendly crowd of law-abiding folks. Their presence, along with the Georgia State Police and area municipal and county police ensured the hooligans stayed away.
The observation that someone made yesterday that Trump made a campaign speech was spot-on.
Trump would have gotten a rock-the-rafters cheer worthy of TV time if had just said he would sign gun rights legislation if it gets dropped on his desk. But he didn’t. He blew a serious opportunity…
I do agree with this statement. One thing that stand out in my mind is that Trump doesn’t show his moves to his enemies before he makes them. I’m actually seeing this as a good thing. He showed up and said he wouldn’t infringe. That was more than damn near anybody besides Cruz would have done. Get the rinos to send him some legislation and I’m feeling pretty good about the chances Trump will pass it. Now if we could just get those damn rinos to step up for once.
Anyone think Obama or Hillary would have failed to mention a popular AWB bill at a nationally televised gathering of Bradys & Bloombergs? Or would they have focused on refugees & gay marriage in their remarks?
If Trump had even mentioned HPA, it’d be getting a floor vote within a few weeks. It’s the #2 most-viewed bill on congress.gov for shit’s sake, and it was totally ignored at the big pro-gun NRA speech.
And NBC managed to cover the story for about 30 seconds without choking. I was actually surprised that they even mentioned it. They routinely only cover the other side.
First Presidential speech at the NRA Convention in 34 years, and all we do is complain. BTW, Reagan didn’t say much about what he would do for gun rights, either. Other than no one was going to take a gun away from a lawful gun owner who wanted to protect his or her family. He kinda tripped up on “her”.
What, you weren’t expecting anything meaningful to be in the “first speech in 30 years” at the NRA? Why would the speech have any meaning in that case? Trump’s alliance with the NRA and gun owners only matters if he actually pushes for some legislation. Otherwise he’s no different than an ambivalent Bush, whose apathy is taken as tacit endorsement for further restrictions by his underlings.
FWIW, I loved that he brought up self defense, though to not admonish all the places that deny it to millions (like his beloved NYC for example) is rather odd for a policy-oriented guy who likes telling us what all he wants to accomplish. I liked that he referenced the Revolution, though it also sounded mostly like lip-service (granted, so does the NRA when it goes on about our history). He’s a pro-gun guy of the 2.0 culture, or at least seems to understand us; but that isn’t enough, and isn’t what his supporters voted for. Otherwise they wouldn’t have been so gleeful about all the stuff he was gonna do “day one” during the primaries or the general. Hell, I can be pro-gun and not do/accomplish a damn thing for any of us on that front –doesn’t mean I deserve to be president for doing so. If even a rare radical like Trump can only make tentative, tiny moves in our direction…we’ve already lost.
I don’t think Trump is actually a radical. He seems to take great joy in disrupting the establishment media’s left-of-Lenin talking points, which is both radical and refreshing, but policy-wise he’s more like a standard-issue Reaganite. It only seems radical because the political center has shifted so far to the left over the last several decades.
Reagan was a largely anti-gun liar who blew smoke up everyone’s ass about freedom and shrinking government while banning open carry in CA and signing anti-gun bills after getting shot (not condemning the awful efforts of Brady’s family despite having greater moral authority post-murder-attempt also ranks pretty damn high, considering that shooting resulted in all the restrictions of the 80’s/90’s nation wide which lasted decades) and presiding over massive expansions of government & abuses of power.
There have been no pro-gun presidents since well before ‘gun control’ was a thing at the national level. Trump is arguably the first…if he would only act on our behalf on this issue.
Don’t forget that Ronnie “Conservative Legend” Reagan supported Bush the 1st’s import “assault weapons” ban along with the Brady Bill, background checks, domestic “assault weapons” ban, ban on “hi-cap” magazines, AND actively pushed for gun control after he was president not to mention he banned all future machine gun production in 1986 while the NRA smiled on and declared a victory. Yeah I remember George Bush the 1st’s “No new gun laws” campaign speeches in 1988 months before he banned more guns than any president up to that time. And I remember his son, Bush the 2nd, stating that if congress sends a permanent domestic “assault weapons” ban to his desk that he would sign it – another NRA backed guy. Talk is cheap and the talk lately hasn’t been that great either – time for real action and not just the carrot on the stick HPA and national carry. Time for the real restoration of the 2nd Amendment.
The 2nd Bush also banned imported “machine gun” barrels for parts kit builds.
That kid needs a suppressor 😉
Hillary would have created a department of gun co trip with bloomberg as leader. Start appreciating what we have instead.
Trump isn’t anti 2nd amendment. Is he full on no infringement? Nope. I’m content with Trump so far. Prices are down and the air just seems to smell sweeter knowing there won’t be any federal anti-second legislation passed.
Hey, I’m sure that if she’d won, Hitlery would have been at the convention — with a hundred armed BATF agents in full battle regalia.
Trump is an unreliable opportunist. Sticks a finger in the wind before setting his sails.
One day an anti-gun Democrat, next day a pro2nd card-carrying RINO.
Yep. Trump is neither reliable, nor proven on 2A issues. Just a WHOLE lotta wishful thinking going on among his believers.
Don’t get me wrong, I hope the wishful thinking turns out the way we want it to. But absolutely nothing is a slam-dunk with this guy.
The God-Emperor has no clothes. The man has always been an opportunist, and not an especially competent one at that, but despite his constantly shifting opinions and allegiances, despite his track record of business failures and bankruptcies, you’ve convinced yourselves that because he told you what you wanted to hear, he can be trusted. I’m reminded of The Scorpion and the Frog:
A scorpion asks a frog to carry it across the river on his back, but the frog is hesitant. The scorpion tells the frog “Surely I wouldn’t sting you, as then I would die as well.” The frog agrees, and halfway across the river, the scorpion stings him. “You’ve doomed us both! Why?” The scorpion responds “Because it’s my nature.”
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