Dallas Official To NRA: Please Consider Another City For The Convention

The National Rifle Association’s (NRA) national downfall appears more likely than ever thought possible thanks to the efforts of Parkland, Florida’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students in the wake of Wednesday’s mass shooting. The collective effort to call the organization out for its role in lobbying against gun control has led to politicians cutting ties with the NRA.

Dwaine Caraway, Dallas’ mayor, said that the NRA’s annual convention would be met with protests if the organization went moved forward with its plans to host the convention in the city. He suggested that the organization is no longer welcome:

“It is a tough call when you ask the NRA to reconsider coming to Dallas, but it is putting all citizens first, and getting them to come to the table and elected officials to come to the table and to address this madness now. At the end of the day, we need to connect the dots. The NRA needs to step up to the plate, and the need to show leadership.”

“I am saddened by the fact that every time that we turn around some type of gun violence.”

If the NRA were to move its event, the decision could cost Dallas an estimated $40 million. But leadership across the nation is finally starting to understand that the cost of lives cannot be measured. Thousands of Americans lose their lives every year due to gun violence. The United States has a staggering number of mass shootings annually. As high school senior Emma Gonzalez said regarding the amount of money Donald Trump’s campaign received from the NRA:

“You want to know something? It doesn’t matter, because I already know. Thirty million dollars. And divided by the number of gunshot victims in the United States in the one and one-half months in 2018 alone, that comes out to being $5,800. Is that how much these people are worth to you, Trump?”

Caraway is a supporter of the second amendment and yet still believes that people should not be allowed to possess assault weapons. He called the current epidemic of gun violence “madness” and called on the NRA to step up and address its role.

The NRA appears in denial of the recent wave of dissent:

“No politician anywhere can tell the NRA not to come to their city.”

The fight for gun control continues nonetheless.


Featured Image via Michael Vadon Via Wikimedia Commons/CC-By-SA-4.0.