Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Carry at the NRA Annual Meeting in Atlanta



This year, 2017, the NRA Annual Meeting is being held in Atlanta at the Georgia World Congress Center. 80,000 people are expected to attend.  There will be 450,000 square feet of exhibits. As with the past two annual meetings, attendees will be able to carry firearms in accordance with state laws. In Georgia a carry permit is required.

Georgia recognizes carry permits from 32 other states.

Handgunlaw.us lists the states.

Virginia is not listed on the official Georgia.gov page, but I understand that Georgia reciprocity with Virgina has been restored. You are responsible for validating your own information. From handgunlaw.us:
Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming all recognize Georgia-issued firearms licenses. 
Georgia recognizes both resident and non-resident permits from the above states. Georgia carry law covers both handguns and knives that are designed for defense or offense, and have blades that are over five inches in length.

A carry permit is required for both open and concealed carry.
There are gun free zones in Georgia law, but most do not apply to the  Georgia World Congress Center where the Annual Meeting will be held.  However, the food court at the CNN Center in their hotel complex is a gun free zone. There are other areas in the CNN Center, which has a number of retail shops, that ban guns.  Here is a statement from the nraam.org
Firearms Policy for the 2017 NRA Annual Meetings:

During the 2017 NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits, lawfully carried firearms will be permitted in the Georgia World Congress Center and the Omni Atlanta Hotel at CNN Center in accordance with Georgia law. However, firearms are not allowed in the remainder of the CNN Center, including the food court and shops. When carrying your firearm, remember to follow all federal, state and local laws.
Be aware of your surroundings. If someone asks you to leave an area because you are carrying, it is best to politely leave.
 
Last year there were a number of open carriers at the NRA annual meeting in Louisville, Kentucky.

Anti-rights political activists complained that the NRA would not allow people to carry firearms at their annual meetings.  The NRA stopped those complaints by insisting on allowing legal carry. The anti-rights groups cannot make that claim any longer.

It seems unlikely that the NRA leadership would schedule an Annual Meeting for a state that does not honor the right to bear arms. That would rule out California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island. It might rule out Washington State, Oregon, and Illinois, on the basis of lack of reciprocity.

The next few Annual Meetings are:

2018  Dallas, Texas

2019  Indianapolis, Indiana

2020  Nashville, Tennessee

2021  Houston, Texas

2022  Undetermined

2023  Indianapolis, Indiana

Attendance at the NRA Annual Meetings has grown to about 80,000. There are a limited number of venues that can accommodate that number of attendees. In addition, a central location makes it a bit easier for attendees to travel to the Meeting.

©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
 


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

this is the very reason and situation the second amendment should be in control of. the supreme court ruling that your rights, all of your rights, travel with you. the next supreme court ruling that applies is No body can deny you your constitutionally guaranteed rights. On private property the owner can refuse to allow anyone on their property for any reason. On public property you are entitled to exercise all of your constitutional rights. a convention center owned by the government entity city, county, state or federal is public use and an area that is legal to exercise all of your guaranteed rights. One state can not deny the citizens of other states their constitutionally guaranteed rights. It does not take a degree in rocket science to understand this is the law. these kinds of state laws violate the sixth article of the US constitution in paragraph 2. these laws violate the 14th amendment section one. No state can deprive any citizen of the equal protections of the laws. No state can pass laws that abridge the rights of citizens. the 14th amendment clearly states we are citizens under the federal government and citizen residents of the individual states. state can not pass laws that abridge citizen rights. Abridge is the same as infringe. states have no authority to write laws concerning second amendment issues. the second amendment is national reciprocity. Our rights are not subject to political opinion. Time, the lapse of time, How long these unconstitutional laws have been in effect does not change by lack of an amendment or make them valid. Unconstitutional is unconstitutional, therefore these infringing laws are all void and unenforceable. We are a nation of laws not of political opinion or special interest demand. If you do not like a law work to change it but unconstitutional laws are void and unenforceable. anyone wilfully violating your guaranteed rights is subject to a law suit with a maximum of 15 million dollars per violation. Know the law ignore the opinion.

Anonymous said...

Equal protection under the law is equal protection where ever you are in this country no matter what state you are in. this is the Bar for legal American citizens. the constitutional protections belong to legal American citizens. federal district court recently ruled non citizens are not guaranteed the protections of our constitution. the constitution belongs to legal citizens, not foreigners. You gain those protections by becoming a legal citizen.

Anonymous said...

The supreme court refused a challenge to the federal district court ruling. that makes it settled law.

Anonymous said...

PERFECT! EXACTLY RIGHT. THESE BS LAWS INFRINGING ON OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS ARE PREEMPTIVE AND THEREFORE ILLEGAL AND UNCONSTITUTIONAL. OUR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS COME FROM GOD....NOT MAN!

Anonymous said...

The only reasons we created government was to protect our rights. call us to action when our nation is threatened and remove the bad from our society. It was not created to make criminals out of law abiding citizens.