Security measures in place during Donald Trump’s address Friday at the National Rifle Association’s Leadership Forum in Louisville, Kentucky, prohibited attendees from bringing weapons, prompting a knife-rights activist to put together a check-in station where thousands of blades were stored during the course of the day’s events.
“We’re happy to help NRA members here. For whatever reason, the Secret Service doesn’t want knives in, and we’re happy to help,” the organizer of the Knife Check, Doug Ritter, told New York Daily News.
Mr. Ritter’s advocacy group, Knife Rights, was organized in 2006 “to ensure a Sharper Future,” according to its website.
He told the Daily News that his check-in tent accumulated around 3,000 knives on Friday afternoon from attendees who were there to hear Mr. Trump, the GOP presumptive nominee, speak. They were either unaware of the event’s no-blades rule or simply forgot to empty their pockets ahead of time.
“You can’t have guns anyway, but a lot of people would forget they have knives, pocket knives, utility knives, Swiss Army knives,” radio host and NRA member Don Huskey told the Daily News.
“People forget knives and almost every good ol’ boy and girl still have knives. I forgot I had it on me. It happens to be an NRA knife. So it’s kind of sentimental. So I didn’t want to let it go,” he added.
Indeed, firearms weren’t the only weapons being fawned at during during the event. Fourth-generation knife maker CJ Buck attends the annual meeting every year armed with 100 special-edition NRA blades, and he spent a good portion of Friday autographing his blades for enthusiasts, the Courier-Journal reported.
NRA spokesman Lars Dalseide said the group planned about 70,000 people to come to the Kentucky Expo Center for the weekend-long event, the likes of which was expected to generate $53 million for the group, Louisville’s WLKY News reported.
In addition to knives and guns, attendees at the event were also prohibited from bringing umbrellas and e-cigarettes to Mr. Trump’s speech, WAVE News said.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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