Last weekend, the National Rifle Association held its annual convention bringing together Second Amendment supporters, firearms enthusiasts, and plenty of high profile guests.
Unsurprisingly, the event was met with a lot of negative reaction from the Left, including the mainstream media and Hollywood celebrities who derided NRA members and attempted to smear the attendees.
I spoke with CRTV host and NRA member Graham Allen who attended the convention. He set the record straight on the event and shared his thoughts on the Left’s hypocritical attempts to shame gun owners.
Q: Some in the media have speculated that this past weekend’s NRA Convention in Dallas, Texas was a gathering of white supremacists. Who was actually at the convention and what was the purpose of the event?
GA: The National Rifle Association has this convention once a year so like-minded Americans can get together to exercise their right to open carry, hear from Second Amendment supporters, see new advances in firearms technology to make your home safer.
Although the media would have you believe that it was a gathering for white supremacists or the alt-right or anything imaginable would be at this event, what I saw was real gun-toting, law-abiding American citizens. I saw adults and kids. I saw people of every ethnicity there. It was a true testament to what America truly is.
Q: Now, the media says that the NRA send supporters a big, fat paycheck to go out and talk about gun issues. Are you being paid by them to speak out in support of the Second Amendment?
GA: (Laughs). No. Absolutely not.
Q: We saw two protests at the convention. One was being led by a convicted criminal and the other was being led by TV actress Alyssa Milano. The interesting thing is that right there with her were security armed with guns. Shouldn’t her bodyguards be armed with bows and arrows?
GA: It’s hypocrisy at best. Now she would go on later to tweet that it was not her personal security, they were just assigned to the protest. Honestly, it doesn’t matter. She knew that in her general vicinity there were armed guards protecting her.
Despite what Alyssa Milano will ever say, the reason the security was there was because she felt safer with armed security there. At the end of they day when you have trained people with weapons around you, you feel safer. You don’t feel endangered, you feel protected and secure.
Like I said before, it’s hypocrisy at best, but I think it goes deeper than that. I believe that celebrities have tunnel vision in that they think they’re more important than normal citizens that it makes sense for them to have security. Whereas normal citizens are not important, special, talented, or famous enough to need a firearm to protect their families.
Q: You had a very high-profile guest. President Donald Trump gave a speech where he doubled down on his support of the Second Amendment. I’m curious what the reaction was for those at the event. As far as I know, there hasn’t been a president in a while who has shown this much support in the sense of speaking at events like this.
GA: The one thing our current president has done is show that he will not bend to what the PC media wants him to. Other companies have bent to the politically correct in dropping the NRA, but the president has done the opposite of that.
The truth is the NRA is there to defend the Second Amendment, which I believe is the most powerful amendment in the Bill of Rights, since it defends what the others stand for. The president knows that.
Q: It was announced this week that former Reagan official Oliver North would take over as president of the National Rifle Association. What are your thoughts on that?
GA: I would like to say his predecessor did a good job of weathering several storms. That being said, at the end of the day the NRA is business and I think that standpoint it is a good move. You have this change of command while the NRA is under scrutiny like it is, and I think it shows that they are doing business as usual. It is the next man up.
Q: What are some of the advances in firearm technology and safety gear that impressed you while you were there?
GA: I’m always a fan of the Glock and what they have to offer. Sig Sauer has some really good pistols that they are introducing.
Honestly, my favorite part of the NRA is to go and do meet-and-greets. I love to stand and say hello to people who open carry with weapons on their hips and nobody flinches. Nobody makes a move or feels endangered. It’s gun-toting, freedom-loving Americans who are exercising their Second Amendment rights and it’s a beautiful thing to see.
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Graham Allen is the host of “Rant Nation” on CRTV. You can find out more about him on his Facebook page.