The Claim: NRA Bans Guns at Annual Conference
The National Rifle Association has advocated for more armed personnel in schools, a position it appears to maintain in a statement about the May 24 massacre of 19 children and two teachers at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas..
This position has been central in recent media posts accusing the organization of hypocrisy for supposedly banning guns from its own annual conference, held in Houston May 27-29.
“The NRA wants guns in schools, but they are banning guns at their conference in Texas this weekend for safety reasons,” reads a Facebook post from the liberal political organization Occupy Democrats shared. more than 4,900 times. “Hypocrisy on parade.”
Tens of thousands of people shared similar claims about the supposed NRA ban, including a liberal commentator Brian Tyler Cohen.
“Hey @NRA, why are guns banned at your conference in Houston?” Cohen tweeted.
But the assertions are irrelevant.
Visitors to the NRA’s annual meetings and expositions may carry firearms “in accordance with Texas law,” a spokesperson said, referring to the conference’s website.
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The exception to this rule is the NRA-ILA Leadership Forum, where former President Donald Trump will speak on May 27. ILA refers to the Institute for Legislative Action, the advocacy arm of the NRA. The Secret Service, not the NRA, prohibits firearms during this part of the event, along with many other items.
The NRA allows open carry at the conference; Secret Service bans guns during Trump speech
The Secret Service – not the NRA – is asking visitors to give up their weapons in order to secure the building, according to online reports of the event and an NRA spokesperson.
“Restrictions are in place exclusively at the NRA-ILA Leadership Forum under the direction of the United States Secret Service,” spokesperson Lars Dalseide wrote in an email to USA TODAY. He called the claim that the NRA bans guns during his lecture “incorrect”.
This warrant is not recent or related to the Texas school shooting, contrary to what some posts suggest. Records of the event’s webpage show that this information was released since May 14, two days after the NRA announced that Trump would speak at the event.
The ad was linked to an online flyer listing other prohibited items, including backpacks, drones, toy guns, knives, selfie sticks and umbrellas.
The same notice was issued by the NRA in 2018 to inform visitors of the Secret Service’s firearms ban warrant for speeches by Trump and then-Vice President Mike Pence. The event’s gun ban was also similarly scrutinized by media outlets and social media critics at the time, leading NRA spokeswoman Dana Loesche to send a fiery response to an Associated Press report on Twitter.
“The NRA didn’t ban anything” she wrote. “The media does this every year. It’s Secret Service SOP (standard operating procedure) and they supersede all start-up and local (sic) scrutiny. Don’t complain about your eroded credibility and people calling you a ” fake news” when you post things like this.”
Fact check:Comparison of US school shootings, other countries use old data
Occupy Democrats told USA TODAY that the source of its message was a Business Insider article, although the article attributes the ban to Secret Service directives.
Cohen said he knew guns were prohibited under Secret Service protocol, but he wanted to point out that they presented an obvious security concern.
“The NRA…is committed to insisting that more guns equals more safety,” he wrote to USA TODAY in an email. “If more guns really made a situation safer, then why the hell wouldn’t the Secret Service and the NRA insist that all attendees bring guns?”
Our opinion: Partially false
Based on our research, we rate the claim that the NRA bans guns at its annual conference PARTLY FALSE. The NRA permits conference attendees to carry firearms in accordance with local, state and federal laws and has ordered no bans or limitations on its policy. Instead, the Secret Service is demanding that attendees at the leadership forum, where Trump will speak, not carry firearms or other dangerous items.
Our fact-checking sources:
- Lars Dalseide, May 26, email exchange with USA TODAY
- NRA, May 26, Annual Meetings and Exhibitions: Frequently Asked Questions
- NRA, Archived May 14, NRA-ILA Leadership Forum Event
- NRA, accessed May 26, Secret Service Notice (archived)
- NRA, April 2018, Secret Service Notice (archived)
- Dana Loesch, April 30, 2018, Tweeter
- PBS NewsHour, February 22, 2018, NRA backs Trump’s call to arm teachers: ‘Schools must be hardest targets’
- USA TODAY, May 26, Texas school shooter warned of attack with online posts ahead of rampage; Beto O’Rourke takes on Abbott: Live Updates
- USA TODAY May 4, 2018 When Trump Speaks, NRA Annual Meeting Will Be A Gun Free Zone, Secret Service Orders
- Business Insider, May 25, NRA conference won’t allow attendees to bring guns
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