Neal Knox Report

NRA At Denver

By Neal Knox

DENVER (May 2) - Yesterday's radically abbreviated annual meetings of members went off without incident despite demands from Denver's mayor that NRA stay out of the city, and what police estimated to be 8,000 people protesting NRA holding any meeting in the wake of the Columbine High School killings in suburban Littleton.
With the halls crawling with reporters from throughout the world, all internal NRA controversies-including the cancelled Exhibit Hall and a string of new legislative policies announced by Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre-were stifled without discussion.
Past President Marion Hammer moved to adjourn as soon as new Directors were formally seated.
In anticipation of a low turnout, NRA had moved the annual meeting from the convention center to the largest room in the hotel, which seated some 2,500. But about twice that many jammed the room (until the fire marshal wouldn't let any more in), overflowed into a large lobby area where a sound system was set up, or went outside to counter-protest the anti-NRA protesters.
Many members, most of them Coloradoans, told me they hadn't planned to come until the mayor disinvited NRA. They came as a show of solidarity.
But members were sharply divided over the wisdom of canceling the many work sessions, the Continuing legal Education seminar for lawyers, and canceling the popular displays of new and antique firearms.
Many believe it "sent the wrong message," citing <I>Atlanta Constitution<D>/Cox Newspapers columnist Tom Teepen's claim that NRA had "confessed" to a role in the Columbine tragedy.
Despite many cheers for Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre's nationally broadcast speech Saturday, many members (and Directors) were stunned by some of his announced policies.
LaPierre said "First, we believe in absolutely gun-free, zero-tolerance, totally safe schools, that means no gun in America's schools, period ... with the rare exception of law enforcement officers or trained security personnel."
There was widespread muttering among the members about the lack of exceptions for high school shooting teams, historical firearms displays, or teachers and other adults authorized to carry firearms by state law.
Existing law in several states--including Colorado and neighboring Utah--as well as Federal law, allows licensed carrying on school property but anti-gun groups are trying to prohibit such possession. (Assistant Principal Joel Myrick stopped Luke Woodham's murderous rampage at Pearl, Miss., High School with a personal .45.)
Another startling LaPierre statement was that NRA "believes in no unsupervised youth access to guns, period."
That didn't sit well with countless members who were privileged to hunt or shot alone whenever their parents considered them to have reached an acceptable level of training and mature gun-handling-and who had trained their teenage children in the same responsible way.
LaPierre's opposition to magazine size limits, one-gun-per-month proposals, lawsuits intended to drive gunmakers out of business, and opening juvenile serious crime records drew resounding applause.
But blackpowder shooters-who may outnumber handloaders-bristled at LaPierre's statement that "we would not oppose (an 'instant check' on explosives purchasers) as long as it does not include the traditional reloading powders used by millions of budget-minded hobbyists."
LaPierre clearly offered a compromise with President Clinton's campaign to require "Instant Checks" on private sales at gun shows. He said: "We will consider instant checks at gun shows when, and only when, this Administration stops demanding new gun taxes and stops illegally compiling the records of millions of lawful gun buyers."
President Charlton Heston went even further this morning on ABC "This Week" by saying he was "in favor" of gun show background checks if the government does not keep records on buyers.
In an earlier segment of the program, Deputy Attorney General Eric Holder said "No court has ever held the Second Amendment to be an individual right."
When President Heston was asked about Holder's claim he relied, as usual, on the statements of the Founding Fathers. He clearly was unaware that Federal District Judge Sam Cummings ruled in U.S. v Emerson March 30 that the Second Amendment guarantees an individual right to bear arms-precisely what Heston has been saying in his speeches.
Mr. Heston's NRA briefers obviously had not informed him that Judge Cummings had dismissed as unconstitutional a San Angelo, Texas, physician's indictment under the Gun Control Act for possessing a firearm while under a routine divorce restraining order.
Tomorrow's Board meetings may not be nearly as brief as the officers have planned.
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