What a difference a decade makes. From standing defiantly against growing calls for gun regulation when it last came to Charlotte, N.C., in 2000, the National Rifle Association now returns with public sentiment turning in its favor and a key Supreme Court decision to back its stance on firearms in America.
This year’s NRA convention in Charlotte is significantly larger than the last one it held there, with more than 70,000 members expected to descend on the city this weekend. More than 400 exhibitors will be on hand to display firearms of all kinds, from the practical to the historic, and a parade of celebrities – most of them right of center – will address the convention. According to NRA survey data, 80 percent of those in attendance will be male.
In contrast to 2000, when Hollywood actor and then-NRA president Charlton Heston raised a musket high above his head to deliver a message to the Clinton Administration – “From my cold, dead hands!” – public opinion appears to be souring on tighter regulation of firearms. A Gallup Poll survey last fall found that only 44 percent of Americans, an all-time low, support tighter controls on gun sales, a 34-percentage-point drop from 1990. Another poll by the liberal-leaning Democracy Corps-Third Way found that Americans overall hold the NRA in higher esteem than the President, Congress and both major political parties.
In addition, a landmark Supreme Court decision in 2008 endorsed the NRA’s longstanding position that the Second Amendment confers an individual right to own guns on American citizens. The ruling struck down a District of Columbia ban on handgun possession.
Among the parade of mostly Republican politicians slated to address the convention is the tea party favorite, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Palin, who usually commands a hefty fee for public speeches, will address the NRA convention for free.
Written by Sandy Smith
For HULIQ.com
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