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'Our rights are under attack': Voices from inside and outside the NRA convention

DALLAS — In a carpeted sea of guns and ammunition — and knives and holsters and bullet-splat earrings — Charlie Harwood stopped in his tracks as the president’s son brushed past him at the 147th annual meeting of the National Rifle Association.

The encounter, while brief, managed to capture the prevailing spirit of the four-day convention, which drew roughly 75,000 attendees to Dallas from across the United States: being pro-gun and pro-Trump, feeling on the attack and under attack, all at once.

“We love our guns,” Harwood said. “We love our president. We love our country. We want the nonsense to stop.”

This year’s convention, which ends Sunday, was held seven months after one of the deadliest mass shootings in American history, in Las Vegas. It came six months after the nation’s worst church shooting, in Sutherland Springs, Texas, and 11 weeks after the school shooting in Parkland, Florida. It took place blocks from where a gunman killed five Dallas police officers in 2016, and days after the funeral for another slain officer, Rogelio Santander Jr., who was shot on April 24.

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Inside the event, which was booked in 2012, children played with AR-15-shaped balloons. A packed arena cheered country-music songs one minute and videos denouncing the news media the next. One man who was asked about gun control gave his answer by pointing to his trigger finger.

There was the young protester who marched and chanted outside the convention her relatives were attending. The Democratic mayor of Dallas who tried to accommodate all sides, all while being a gun owner himself. And there were NRA members who defied political stereotypes.

“I voted for Hillary,” said Gene Heafner, 62. He was a retired construction worker from rural Godfrey, Illinois; an NRA member for decades; and a Democrat. Asked who makes up the NRA, he replied: “Go look in the mirror. We’re just like you.”

ASHLEY SURIS

NRA member and assistant national program director for the Well Armed Woman Shooting Chapters

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Age: 28

From: Cleburne, Texas

It does seem like the NRA as a whole and the members are a bit under attack. We’re an incredibly law-abiding group yet it seems that the Connecticut governor called NRA members terrorists. I think gun owners know that our rights are under attack and at risk, so we all have a fire in our bellies to get more involved and get more vocal.

It is nice to be among other gun owners and know that when I’m asked the question of what do I do for a living, I don’t have to skirt around the fact that I’m in guns. Because I know everybody here is welcoming and supportive.

You’re not going to look at somebody and know that they’re a gun owner. We’re in line behind you at coffee. We’re at the grocery stores with you. Our kids go to school with your kids. We’ve met at PTA meetings. We’re everywhere.

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ALICE TRIPP

NRA member, gun lobbyist and legislative director of the Texas State Rifle Association

Age: 71

From: Paige, Texas

We’re not here circling the wagons, surrounding the fort. We don’t do that. It’s not political. These are set up five to 10 years in advance. I got my hotel reservations a year ago. People got their reservations before Sutherland Springs, before Parkland, before Las Vegas. Those things are criminal activities. We’re not criminals.

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Columbine was in April 1999. The NRA annual meeting was in Denver in May. The mayor of Denver said we don’t want you here. Well, it’s an annual meeting. It’s part of the requirement because of the nonprofit status. The NRA canceled the exhibit hall completely but they had the meeting. Marion P. Hammer was the first woman president of the NRA, and she was the president. I know her, and I was close to her. She had a bodyguard. The pickets were that vile and that scary. This is nothing.

JULIA HEILRAYNE

Sophomore at Stephen F. Austin High School who attended an anti-NRA rally and march outside the convention

Age: 16

From: Austin, Texas

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I’m not against gun ownership. I’m just against irresponsible gun ownership. I’m against uncontrolled gun ownership. I have two relatives right now who are at the convention. I believe that they know I’m here, but we definitely have different opinions on this matter.

The people in there don’t live our realities. They don’t know how scary it is for us going to school.

There was a kid who had one of the plastic water bottles, and if you screw the top on, you can twist it and pop it, and the kid did that, and the entire cafeteria went silent. And this is in the middle of a high school lunch, and teenagers are notorious for being very loud, so it’s not a small feat to make us grow quiet all at once. It’s terrifying. There was a kid who dropped a textbook in the middle of the hallway and we froze. That’s our reality and that’s how scared that we are.

MICHAEL S. RAWLINGS

Mayor of Dallas

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Age: 63

From: Dallas

Right now this city is a little sore, because we just lost another police officer. We buried him on Tuesday. A gun killed him and almost his partner — she’s sitting in Presbyterian with major head wounds in critical condition, which reminds us back to July 7. We’re a little raw right now and anything that has to do with guns is a very sensitive issue for us.

We wanted to host an event. We reserved the venue to have a reasonable, levelheaded discussion about guns — why the Second Amendment is important, what does reasonable gun reform look like — and listen to all sides. And I couldn’t get the NRA to participate and I couldn’t get Michael Bloomberg to participate in this. And the organization I had signed up for, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, they wouldn’t participate. So I’m a little disheartened that everyone is in their tribal camp, and we’re not really engaging in good conversation.

I’m a bird shooter and so I’ve got a shotgun. People don’t understand that we live in a bell curve of nuance in this country. Most of us are in the middle of that bell curve.

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RUSTY EDWARDS

NRA member and fire marshal, with his 5-year-old son, Tucker

Age: 36

From: Ruston, Louisiana

He hasn’t actually shot a firearm yet. He’s shot BB guns. Right now we’re just at the level with him: Don’t touch it unless you’re with an adult, keep your finger off the trigger, don’t point it at anybody. And he’s getting it. You go back to fire safety, vehicle safety, traffic safety, stranger danger. It’s all about safety. He needs to understand about gun safety. Because all these weapons in here are safe, so that’s a good opportunity to reinforce that with him.

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We’re not an evil monster. We’re not. Ultimately, it’s an American fundamental. We’ve had presidents of the United States who are lifetime NRA members. It’s ingrained in our fabric as a nation.

There’s always been a political climate that we’ve always been through. It’s not just Parkland. It goes back to Newtown, Connecticut. It goes back to Columbine. It even goes before that. It’s nothing new. We’re used to it. It helps us to outreach and to explain to people, “Hey, this isn’t the NRA.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

MANNY FERNANDEZ © 2018 The New York Times

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