More often than not, I find links to articles to support what I am writing. Occasionally, however, information is not accurate and needs to be updated or corrected.  I am writing this to correct what I wrote in my last post. Though it has been difficult to assess with accuracy, it does look like concealed carry permit holders will be allowed to carry guns inside of the Nashville Music Center at the upcoming NRA convention. What I learned from my own sources is that guns are not allowed in the music performance center but are allowed in the convention center attached to it. But one can see why there is confusion because this sentence from the security section about the convention says: ” All guns on the convention floor will be nonoperational, with the firing pins removed.” Seems like that could mean ALL guns on the floor. But, from one of my readers who presumes to know:

Carry is permitted at NRA HQ in Fairfax by everyone, this is also allowed at NRA Annual Meeting unless it’s prohibited by the venue. The last place that carry was prohibited by the venue was in Charlotte, and that law has since been changed to allow carry at that venue in the event of a future return there.

The article you found only applies to firearms being displayed at Annual Meeting as part of an exhibit, not firearms being legally carried. It is just a common sense safety measure to render exhibit firearms inoperable.

So yes, apparently loaded guns will be allowed inside of the Nashville Convention Center if this reader is correct. That should be fun. Hopefully there will be no “accidental” discharges by any of those “good guys” with guns. There was a recent case of this at a gun range in Florida where armed police officers were training. One of the guns accidentally discharged, killing another officer. It happens. Thus one can see why allowing a bunch of armed people in one place could be a very bad idea. But, whatever. It looks like there is no concern for that at NRA conventions. Except all of those guns on display that will be handled by armed folks need to be unloaded. Why? To prevent “accidental discharges”. Hypocrisy.

(Updated since first posted) Not so fast. I have learned that guns are not allowed in Bridgestone Arena at the Nashville Convention Center. So I guess armed visitors will have to disarm if they want to attend any workshops or events at this venue.

The problem with the idea that ALL permit holders will be safe with their guns and nothing bad will happen is that it’s not true. I write about such incidents on this blog all the time. In my last post I wrote about a man whose gun discharged “accidentally” at an Easter mass church service. It turns out that there’s a lot more to that story. Check it out in this latest report:

Officials at Mount Aloysius College confirmed the same man expelled for having a gun on campus, is the same one who police say saw his gun go off during an Easter mass over the weekend.

On Tuesday, WTAJ obtained a letter to students sent out by the school, letting them know that Matt Crawford, the man expelled from school last week, is now at the center of another gun related incident.

Back in 2010, Crawford was arrested after pulling a gun on a relative during an argument. He faced simple assault charges then.

Shouldn’t the 2010 incident disqualify this guy from keeping his permit? If not, it should because his pattern of gun handling and carrying seems pretty dangerous to me. This one was an accident or intentional shooting waiting to happen. But the gun lobby has pushed legislators into the false premise that permit holders will be safe with their guns and there won’t be incidents like this.  As more people carry guns in more public places because of the loosening of gun laws all over the country, we can expect to see more incidents like the this one. This is the hypocrisy of the gun lobby. The thing is, lives are at stake. Public safety is at stake.

And speaking of more hypocrisy, not one gun rights advocate reading my blog commented on all of the examples I gave of “good guys” with guns shooting people intentionally or unintentionally. Why not? Because those incidents don’t fit with the ideas purported by them about more guns making everyone safer. In fact, the lies are still coming and continue to come. Check out this Iowa legislator who made a false claim about a bill but got caught in his hyperbole. From the article:

While critics have argued the measure opens a loophole that would allow some buyers to avoid background checks, Windschitl, R-Missouri Valley, told The Des Moines Register it would actually lead to more background checks for firearm purchases.

We rate this statement FALSE.

In a follow-up interview, Windschitl clarified that his statement was an “assumption” and wasn’t rooted in any evidence. In fact, the data necessary to determine how the law would affect the number of background checks performed and firearms purchased aren’t collected and don’t exist.

Windschitl’s prediction is also based on questionable logic. It assumes that firearms consumers will not take advantage of the option to forgo a permit, and that private sellers will go out of their way to perform background checks on prospective buyers.

Sigh…..

And in Tennessee, again, a bill has been proposed to ban squirt guns but allow real guns in school zones :

The Tennessee House of Representatives passed a bill Monday night that makes it illegal to take a squirt gun — but not a real gun — within 150 feet of a school.

The new ban was included in a larger bill that would nix any local laws prohibiting people with gun permits from taking guns to parks.

You can’t make this stuff up. What are people thinking? Real guns are clearly more dangerous than toy guns. Yes, I know that kids have been shot by officers when they have been carrying air soft guns or other toy type guns. But that’s not the point here. If you are going to ban any kind of gun in a school zone, it needs to be all guns. But the corporate gun lobby, of course, is against banning guns anywhere. Hypocrisy as far as the eye can see.

So during the upcoming NRA convention in Nashville, armed attendees will be treated to the usual ridiculous nonsense spewed by Wayne LaPierre, whose over the top rhetoric is meant to inspire fear and paranoia. His speeches are amazing for the content, hardly any of which is true. So a new video produced by Everytown for Gun Safety makes those speeches all the more ridiculous. When children say the words, they come out seeming like the nonsense they are. “Li’l Wayne LaPierres” can say it in a way that adults just can’t. Kids know baloney when they see and hear it and they also sometimes have more common sense than the adults.

And last, as to concealed guns allowed at NRA headquarters, information is not easy to obtain. A friend called NRA headquarters and someone there confirmed that something had changed regarding their policy about no guns inside so apparently now permit holders can carry inside of the building. It’s likely only in the public areas and not in the offices of the CEO and other leaders of the organization. I’m sure they would want to be safe from guys like the Altoona permit holder I wrote about above.