The Associated Press issued a correction on Monday after reporting that the National Rifle Association was banning guns at its annual meeting during Vice President Mike Pence’s speech.
AP has deleted a tweet that incorrectly said the NRA had banned guns during Trump and Pence speeches at its annual meeting. The ban was put in place by the Secret Service. A corrected tweet is coming.
— The Associated Press (@AP) April 30, 2018
It was widely reported on Monday that the guns rights group would not allow members to carry guns at the NRA Leadership Conference in Dallas “prior to and during” Mr. Pence’s speech on May 4.
“Due to the attendance of the Vice President of the United States, the U.S. Secret Service will be responsible for event security at the NRA-ILA Leadership Forum,” the NRA said in a statement. “As a result, firearms and firearm accessories, knives or weapons of any kind will be prohibited in the forum prior to and during attendance.”
Several survivors of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting accused the NRA of hypocrisy.
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
A fact check in the Weekly Standard called reports of the gun ban “misleading.”
“In a routine decision, the Secret Service is banning guns (along with selfie sticks, backpacks, drones, and a list of other items) from Pence’s speech at the NRA convention in Dallas; just as the Secret Service did during Trump’s appearance at the NRA convention last year and the Republican National Convention the year before that,” Holmes Lybrand, the magazine’s fact-check columnist, wrote on Monday.
• Bradford Richardson can be reached at brichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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