The student leaders of the #NeverAgain anti-gun violence movement were quick to point out the glaring hypocrisy on display Monday as the National Rifle Association (NRA) announced that firearms would not be permitted at its annual meeting in Dallas when President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence are speaking.
Cameron Kasky, a student from Parkland, Florida and co-founder of the March for Our Lives campaign, called out the NRA for becoming "such a hilarious parody of itself."
Wait wait wait wait wait wait you’re telling me to make the VP safe there aren’t any weapons around but when it comes to children they want guns everywhere? Can someone explain this to me? Because it sounds like the NRA wants to protect people who help them sell guns, not kids.
— Matt Deitsch (@MattxRed) April 28, 2018
The NRA has evolved into such a hilarious parody of itself. pic.twitter.com/6Pw6NTQAe6
— Cameron Kasky (@cameron_kasky) April 28, 2018
.@NRA won't allow members to carry guns during the Trump and Pence speeches. In other words: the event is a giant gun free zone -- the very kind of zones @NRA wants to eliminate b/c they lie and say that they are targets for shooters.
HYPOCRITES
HYPOCRITES
HYPOCRITES
HYPOCRITES https://t.co/wkeAjK33U4— igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) April 30, 2018
The NRA has been the target of ire in recent months as the #NeverAgain movement has gained traction, calling attention to the powerful lobbying group's donations to lawmakers and efforts to defeat even very popular gun control reform proposals, like the expansion of background checks.
At the group's annual gathering, the Secret Service will oversee security during the president and vice president's appearances, banning guns as they do at any event where Trump and Pence are present. But the firearm ban was taken by many gun control advocates as a tacit admission that a "good guy with a gun" would not in fact be capable of stopping an attack should one occur—contrary to what the NRA has insisted for years.
The NRA banned guns at their convention because Mike Pence is speaking but if the only solution to gun violence is more guns then why don’t they just give everyone a gun at the door instead?
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— Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) April 30, 2018
Even Mike Pence's security team doesn't believe guns actually keep people safe.
Ban assault weapons now.https://t.co/aowAh5qeZq
— Randy Bryce (@IronStache) April 30, 2018
On so many levels, this is enlightening. According to the NRA, we should want everyone to have weapons when we are in public. But when they put on a convention, the weapons are a concern? I thought giving everyone a gun was to enhance safety. Am I missing something? https://t.co/f4wgNhJ7RI
— Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) April 28, 2018
Students and their supporters called on the Trump administration and the NRA to offer the same protection to the American public as they do to the president.
If only American schoolchildren could be given the same protection from gun violence these hypocrites demand for themselves.https://t.co/fYUnn1miGB
— Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) April 30, 2018
Since the Parkland shooting, at least 17 shootings have taken place at schools in the U.S. According to the Washington Post, nearly 230 people have been fatally shot by the police since Parkland—an aspect of the country's gun violence epidemic that student activists should not be overlooked.
