Open Carry at the NRA Annual Meeting in Nashville, 2015

Gun Watch ^ | 12 April, 2015 | Dean Weingarten

[marktwain]

There have been  a number of stories written claiming that functional guns are not allowed at the NRA annual meeting in  Nashville.  The New York Times ran  an article, and National Review ran  an  article debunking the claims in the New York Times.  Charles C. W. Cooke does a good job of debunking.   But pictures do a better job.   I noticed some people openly carrying arms inside the media room at the NRA meeting.  Glocks seemed to be favored, but I also saw a 1911 and a J frame Smith & Wesson revolver.  I asked for and took these photographs of three media people openly carrying in fifteen minutes.

The other two open carriers in the fifteen minute interval carried Glocks as well.

I thought the Cold Steel push dagger was a nice touch on the belt.   The carrier said that he was convinced by a Massad Ayoob article.  Notice the folding knife in the back pocket.

I know that there were at least a couple of concealed carriers in the room, because I was confided in by confidential sources.  After all, concealed is concealed.

It is likely that some of the open carried guns in the media room were concealed on the floor of the convention.  The media room is restricted to people in the media, so people are a little more relaxed among their peers.  The NRA has been on the forefront of recognizing the new media.  Two years ago, the number of new media people at the NRA meeting surpassed  those of the old media.

I saw a lot of familiar faces from the Shot Show, and from the Gun Rights Policy Conference.  If you are able to attend one of these events, I highly recommend them.

Update:  More open carry pictures from the media room.

 1911 type.

Kahr.

Glock with peep sight.

Off side.

As the days went on, jackets came off and people were a bit more casual about bending over, and "printing.  I saw a number of people who were clearly carrying concealed... for the most part.

I estimate that about 20 percent of the people in the media room were armed.


©2015 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
Link to Gun Watch

[marktwain]

I saw a few open carriers on the floor, but not as many as in the media room.

[Bogey78O]

20% of the ones you can see... Pretty impressive.

[papertyger]

If men like guns because they represent the penis, do Moms Demand Action hate and fear open carry because of the holster?