Tens of thousands of NRA members are expected to attend the organization’s Annual Meetings in Dallas this May, and the anti-gunners are already up in arms (so to speak) about the event. Texas Public Radio station KERA spoke to one gun control activist who isn’t just upset that there’ll soon be 14 acres of guns and gear on display, but that (gasp!) the meetings are a family affair for many attendees.
“From entertainment to special events, it’s all happening in Dallas!” the event website says. “Make plans now to join fellow Second Amendment patriots for a freedom-filled weekend for the entire family!”
But not everyone believes the weekend should be family oriented — and some say the association is pushing its message on a vulnerable population.
“They are actually marketing to children because they are encouraging their attendees to bring their…entire family,” gun violence prevention advocate Miriam Sharma told KERA. “Its not even hiding it.”
Dragging your kid to a gun control rally is perfectly fine, but bringing your kids along to a pro-Second Amendment event is verboten. I’m surprised Sharma didn’t demand that any parent who’s caught with their kid in the exhibit hall be charged with child abuse.
You can bring your kid with you to the liquor store in Texas. Does Sharma think that means Tito’s Vodka or the store itself is marketing to children? This is a patently stupid argument, but Sharma and her fellow prohibitionists actually believe it, which makes it a dangerous argument as well. They’re not just interested in banning your guns. They want to prevent the next generation of voters from learning about the Second Amendment and its importance to a free society.
Sharma is a registered nurse — with three small children — and the co-lead for the Dallas Chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. The group advocates for limiting firearms inside homes — and especially around kids.
Sharma said weapon manufacturers that come out for trade shows like the NRA’s annual meeting are promoting versions of extremely powerful firearms that repeatedly have been used in mass shootings.
The NRA’s website lists hundreds of companies that will be at its convention this year. Among them is a company whose lineup of weapons includes the semiautomatic AR-15 rifles.
“Those aren’t the type of guns that people are going to use for hunting,” Sharma said. “So they are actively marketing very, very destructive weapons.”
You don’t have to travel far from downtown Dallas to see AR-15s being used to hunt feral hogs, and I can introduce Sharma to several Texas gun owners who use their AR-style rifles to protect their livestock from coyotes and other predators.
More importantly, however, is the fact that the Second Amendment IS NOT ABOUT HUNTING. Yes, hunting with a firearm is one of the activities protected by the language of the Second Amendment, but that’s not why the Founders enshrined those protections into the Bill of Rights.
As utterly ridiculous as Sharma’s argument is, she’s sticking to her guns (again, metaphorically speaking) about the NRA supposedly targeting kids by welcoming families to its convention.
“We won’t stand for this, we won’t stand for them coming to our city to market to children,” Sharma said. “We have to know the gun industry, with the NRA acting as a shield, plays a major role in gun violence in America.”
A 2015 pornography expo also faced opposition from community members — and some Dallas elected officials.
The next year, the city council voted to ban the company that hosts the event from using city-owned property. Then-Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said allowing the event would send the wrong message.
“We could say the same thing here,” Sharma said. “[The NRA is] marketing weapons of war, pure and simple.”
If Sharma brings this same level of judgment to her job as a nurse, I feel sorry for anyone unfortunate enough to be her patient. Not only is the NRA is marketing to kids in her deranged point of view, but it’s marketing weapons of war to children.
There will be hundreds of exhibitors on hand in Dallas, and while some of them may very well have contracts with the military and law enforcement, the firearms that will be on display will overwhelmingly be marketed to civilians for lawful purposes; primarily self-defense, but also hunting, target shooting, competitive shooting, and just a fun day at the range.
I’ve attended almost every NRA Annual Meeting since 2004, and over the past two decades I’ve seen thousands of kids wandering the aisles with their families; some of them bored to tears, some eager to take in every exhibit, but almost all of them happy to be out spending time with mom and dad (if not their siblings). I’ve never brought my own kids with me, but that’s only because I’m working long hours once the convention begins.
In a way, I’m actually glad to see Sharma’s unhinged screed. Yes, it’s fundamentally dishonest, but the same is true of Moms Demand Action’s attempts to portray themselves as reasonable people just looking for a few “common sense” regulations. At least Sharma is showing her true colors, and letting the world know exactly what she and her fellow red-shirted moms are demanding: the denormalization of the Second Amendment and the destruction of our right to keep and bear arms.
