This oughtta be good: 70000 people are expected for a 3 day conference about guns with the NRA battling the nation's renewed push demand for increased gun regulation and safety.
It's not a pep rally
“The NRA doesn’t do pep rallies,” said NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam, dismissing suggestions that the 142nd NRA convention will be a time for celebration.
“We’re engaged in a long battle (against gun control advocates) that will take years,” he was quoted as saying in the Houston Chronicle newspaper. “We know it’s not over.”
There will be protests.
Various groups plan a variety of actions from a reading of names of gun victims, which should take days, to educating the public about the NRA being a manufacturer's group more than "a civil rights group".
What would be a measure of success is how we increase public understanding of what the NRA has become, that they are a trade foundation for the gun industry,” said Josh Sugarmann, of the Violence Policy Center in Washington.
“It’s very important that this insular world the NRA has created, which is ofttimes a fantasy world, comes face-to-face with the reality of gun violence in this country,” he said in a conference call with journalists.
More at the link.
But...
Running alongside this weekend’s convention is a gun fair with more than 550 exhibitors including gun manufacturers, hunting outfitters and collectors of antique firearms.
There’s also an air-gun shooting range for youngsters — a likely target for NRA critics after a five-year-old boy in Kentucky shot and killed his two-year-old sister this week with a .22-caliber rifle marketed for children.
Like I said, this ougghta be good.