If gun control arguments were true, then the NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits (NRA AM) would be the most dangerous place on the face of the earth for a terrifying 72 straight hours. Yet, year after year, it proves to be the safest and most respectful crowd just about anywhere, even though a huge percentage of attendees are carrying handguns. What was that saying about an armed society being a polite society? Apparently, it’s true.
The 2016 event in Louisville, Kentucky, drew 80,452 of the more than 5,000,000 National Rifle Association members for 3 days of exhibits, manufacturer demonstrations, educational seminars and speeches by various national figures.
Not even counting the seminar and speech events, you can’t think of the NRA AM as a gun show. Yes, there are manufacturers there – a whopping 800 of them. But we’re not talking tabletop exhibits like the ones you see at the local fairgrounds. This year, the Kentucky Exposition Center opened up 500,000 square feet to exhibitors and attendees. Filling that space were exhibitor booths the size of small city blocks and miles of aisles.
The NRA AM is also a “must do” stop on the campaign trail during election years and even those in between ballot races. This year, presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump made an appearance shortly after receiving an official endorsement from the NRA. (Click here to see highlights from his speech.)
Rather than comment on the speech of one of the most non-traditional presidential candidates ever, I’ll let him speak for himself.
On Hillary Clinton: “Hillary Clinton wants to abolish the Second Amendment. Just remember that. We’re not talking about changing it. She wants to abolish the Second Amendment. We’re not gonna let that happen, I can tell you that right now. We’re going to preserve it. We’re going to cherish it. We’re going to take care of it.”
On guns and terrorism: “We talk about Paris or we talk about San Bernardino, and nobody there had guns. Paris is probably the toughest place in the world to have a gun, France in general, but Paris in particular. If you look at Paris, 130 people [were] killed and hundreds of people [are] still in the hospital horribly wounded. They’ll never be the same – and these guys just came in and stood there and shot everybody. No guns on the other side. If a couple of people had guns, like a couple of the folks in here, I promise there wouldn’t have been 130 people killed and hundreds of people lying in the hospital to this day. It might not have happened at all.”
On gun free zones: “Gun free zones – we’re getting rid of them.”
On teleprompters: “You never get yourself in trouble when you use a teleprompter. You know the problem is that it’s too easy. We have a president who uses teleprompters. Teleprompters are too easy. We should have non-teleprompter speeches for people running for president. It’s the only way you really find out about people. The other way you don’t find out about anybody.”
On the assault on gun rights: “The Second Amendment is under threat like never before. Crooked Hillary Clinton is the most anti-gun, anti-Second Amendment candidate ever to run for office.”
On the National Rifle Association: “The NRA has led the fight, time and time again, to protect our fundamental freedoms. This is an amazing group.”
On the Supreme Court situation: “We’re going in with one opening. You’ll probably have three, possibly four, it could even be five judges, and we’re talking about a 4-year period, although we’re planning to be there for 8 years. If Hillary gets to appoint her judges, she will, I believe, abolish the Second Amendment.”
On self-defense rights: “Hillary wants to disarm vulnerable Americans in high crime neighborhoods, whether it’s a young single mom in Florida or a grandmother in Ohio, Hillary wants them defenseless. She wants to take away any chance they have of survival.”
On his recent list of Supreme Court potential nominees: “Before the Republican convention, we’ll be releasing names of more potential Supreme Court candidates, and I think you’ll like them. Now, I’d like to call for Hillary Clinton to put together a list also. OK? Let her put together a list. Because I’d like to see what that list consists of and you will see its day and night, and it won’t be good for the people in this room, and it will not be good for the people in this country.”
On the benefits of gun ownership: “Americans use guns to protect against violent crime more than a million times a year, and they want to take guns away. Heartless hypocrites like the Clintons want to take them away, yet they have bodyguards that have guns. So I think that in addition to calling for them to name judges well also call for them to let their bodyguards immediately disarm. They should immediately disarm. Let’s see how they do. Let see how they feel walking around.”
On lawful concealed carry: “There are 13 million concealed carry holders in the United States – I happen to be one of them. These are among the most law-abiding folks statistically. In fact, they’re like at the top of the list. In Florida, for example, they’ve issued more than 3 million concealed carry permits in the past 30 years. Only 168 have been revoked. That’s .006 percent. There’s very little difficulty. Hillary wants to go in the opposite direction. She says that President Obama didn’t go far enough with his Executive Orders. He’s gone too far. We’re going to stop it. We’re going to un-sign those orders. They’re going to be un-signed so fast. They’ll be un-signed the first hour I’m in office. The first hour.”
