July
18, 2005--Wayne LaPierre, Executive Vice President of the National
Rifle Association, announced today that the organization has cancelled
plans to hold its annual convention in Columbus, Ohio. LaPierre
stated the cancellation was in response to the Columbus city council's
vote to ban military-style semi-automatic firearms. (See
Columbus, Ohio City Council Votes To Ban "Assault Weapons.")
“Two months ago, I was pleased to
announce that the National Rifle Association chose the great city
of Columbus to host our 136th Annual Meetings and Exhibits in
May of 2007,” LaPierre said. “The NRA is not coming
to Columbus in 2007. The convention is cancelled because last
week your City Council unanimously voted to revoke the constitutional
rights of law-abiding citizens in Columbus by banning perfectly
legal firearms.”
"Thanks to the Columbus City Council,
65,000 people will not be coming to your wonderful convention
center," LaPierre continued. 'Hundreds of exhibitors will
not fill your halls with the latest guns, outdoor gear, and accessories."
The three-day convention was expected
to draw 60,000 or more attendees, and pump some $15 million into
the city's economy.
Experience Columbus, central Ohio's convention
and visitors bureau, had worked for months to attract the NRA.
Officials described the event as one of the largest conventions
the bureau has ever booked.
Joe Marinelli, senior vice president of
sales for Experience Columbus, said his group was holding 7,000
hotel rooms for the NRA.
City officials were quick to criticize
the NRA's decision.
"We fully support Americans' constitutional
right to bear arms and respect hunters, sportsmen and law-abiding
gun owners, but we will not have our public safety policies dictated
by national special interest groups," Columbus Mayor Michael
Coleman said. "We will not be held hostage by the NRA or
any other group which attempts to force its agenda against the
safety of our residents. The assault weapons ban passed ... is
a reasonable piece of legislation that has widespread community
and police
Gun-control groups also criticized the
NRA's action.
"The NRA's actions today are nothing
less than an assault on the values of our community," said
Toby Hoover, executive director of the Ohio Coalition Against
Gun Violence. "We applaud the city of Columbus for standing
up to this extremist organization and hope their courage becomes
an example to other communities and lawmakers."
City Councilman Mike Mentel, the sponsor
of the "assault weapons" ban, said that the NRA had
been informed in advance of the vote on the ban, and said that
the ban was in the best interest of the city of Columbus.
LaPierre responded by challenging Mentel.
"I would like to see City Council
member Mentel go to the range and prove to you in any way that
these guns fire faster, that they make bigger holes, that they're
weapons of war, that they're convertible or any of the other outrageous
claims they've made in describing the guns on this Columbus ban
list," LaPierre said. "It's simply not true."
The NRA's 2006 convention is scheduled
to be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Wisconsin has a state pre-emption
law, which prohibits municipalities from enacting gun control
laws more stringent than state law. Thus, a ban such as the one
enacted in Columbus would not be possible in Milwaukee or any
other Wisconsin city.
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