Welcome to my community-building diary series, "Houston, Texas news you can use." As always, opinions are my own. Links, re-posts, comments etc., not necessarily endorsements. I'm an out loud and proud liberal, card-carrying LGBT community member, nonprofit professional, and DKos Trusted User. I appreciate any/all feedback.
Today's very special guest is the 2013 NRA Convention in Houston's George R. Brown Convention center. When carrying your firearm, remember to follow all federal, state and local laws.
So come on y'all! Let's join Wayne LaPierre, NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris Cox, and our nation's top Second Amendment leaders in government, the media, and the entertainment industry as we chart the course for defeating Barack Obama's gun ban agenda!
FILE UNDER: "You Can't Make This Shit Up"
So yesterday afternoon, while I was working and keeping one eye on twitter, I see the following tweets:
Houston Chronicle @HoustonChron
Seeing multiple Twitter reports and hearing scanner chatter about shots fired at #IAH airport. We're checking.
Houston Chronicle @HoustonChron
Reports indicate Terminal B at #IAH is locked down for now. No one coming in or leaving.
Houston Chronicle @HoustonChron20h
Apparent witness to #IAH shooting. RT @gnewburn: Two shots. Then a pause. Then a lot of shots.
Yes, on the day before the National Rifle Association begins its national conference, 29-year-old Carnell Marcus Moore walked into George Bush Intercontinental Airport Termial B and reportedly fired an AR-15 in the air, then shot himself.
According to the Houston Chronicle he wrote of death on his Facebook page earlier Thursday and, according to Houston police, apparently left a suicide note that said he was having trouble controlling his "monster inside."
Moore was killed in gunfire about 1:35 p.m. near a Terminal B ticket counter. It is unclear who fired the fatal shot.
HPD spokesman Kese Smith said an armed male in his early 30s entered the airport and fired at least once into the ceiling just inside the doors of the terminal's pre-security departure area.
Hearing the gunfire, a Homeland Security Investigations agent came out of his office and confronted Moore, ordering him to put down the gun, Smith said.
When Moore refused the command, the officer pulled out his weapon and the man turned toward him, Smith said.
The agent fired once, and Moore shot himself - apparently at the same time, according to Smith. Moore died at the scene. No one else was injured. (Further details on the shooting. http://bit.ly/...)
And today, the gun show opens as 70,000-plus NRA members and convention attendees peruse displays of firearms, hunting apparel and gun paraphernalia.
Today's event is a political forum with speeches from several state and national conservative leaders, including
Texas Governor Rick Perry, a former GOP presidential candidate, and vice presidential nominee
Sarah Palin, former Pennsylvania senator and presidential candidate
Rick Santorum and
Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican Texas firebrand who has become one of the top tea party voices in Washington since being elected last year. More from Chron.com and the AP:
The powerful gun rights lobby gathers in Houston this weekend for its annual convention and organizers anticipate a rollicking, Texas-sized party — both to celebrate the victory in Washington and recharge for more political struggles as gun control advocates tally their own successes in states around the country.
"If you are an NRA member, you deserve to be proud," Wayne LaPierre, the NRA's brash, no-compromises chief executive wrote last week to the organization's 5 million members, telling them they "exemplify everything that's good and right about America."
The NRA couldn't have picked a friendlier place to stage its annual event. More than 70,000 people are expected to attend the three-day "Stand and Fight"-themed convention, which includes a gun trade show, political rally and strategy meeting.
Texas, with its frontier image and fierce sense of independence, is one of the strongest gun rights states in the country. More than 500,000 people are licensed to carry concealed handguns, including Gov. Rick Perry, who once bragged about shooting a coyote during a morning jog.
Concealed handguns are allowed in the state Capitol, where simply showing a license allows armed visitors to bypass metal detectors.
Chron.com is also reporting that protesters organized by the
Occupy the NRA movement will read the names of 4,000 victims of gun violence since last December's Newtown mass-shootings, in which 20 children and six adults died. The readings start early Friday in Discovery Green across from the convention center and will continue virtually non-stop through two days and nights until the meeting ends on Sunday.
Also Friday, the Houston chapter of Moms Demand Action will kick off what it terms a "Signatures for Shame'' event in front of the Memorial-area office of Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. The group intends to gather signatures on two placards with photos of all the senators who voted to block a compromise background-check bill introduced by Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Pat Toomey, R-Penn.
My good friends over at Gawker posted a great article and video aobut the NRA's new President, Jim Porter who fantasizes about "whipping" anti-gun opponents. Good times!
Just in time for its wingnut-filled annual meeting tomorrow, the National Rifle Association is set to install a new president: an Alabama lawyer who laments "the war of Northern Aggression," calls Barack Obama "this fake president," and fantasizes about "whipping" opponents of the gun lobby's agenda.
In the clip below Porter, then Vice-President of the NRA, was the featured speaker at the New York Rifle & Pistol Association's Annual Meeting hosted by the Ulster County Rod and Gun Club.