DALLAS – Practitioners of the First and Second Amendments faced off on the plaza at Dallas City Hall Saturday, one block away from the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center where an estimated 80,000 gun rights advocates were attending the 147th Annual Meeting of the National Rifle Association.
One side carried guns while the other stayed mostly stayed silent in a political and social standoff that most likely may be repeated when the NRA brings its 2019 conference to Indianapolis next spring.
After two anti-NRA protests, when demonstrators were nearly outnumbered by the media, gun rights supporters, many of them armed and proudly displaying their weaponry, congregated at a corner of the plaza to celebrate their interpretation of the Constitution, emboldened by the visit Friday of the President and the Vice President who assured them that, “you have a true friend in the White House.”
“I know there’s a lot of stuff going around how they’re trying to hack away at our Second Amendment right and I think it’s important to make it known where you stand,” said Ryan Scogin of Dallas from behind mirrored sunglasses with a pistol on his hip and an assault-style semi-automatic rifle slung over his shoulder. “I imagine there’s a good number of people who see me and would rather not approach me to have a conversation.”
That’s what Drew Deal, a non-gun owning Dallas resident who tried unsuccessfully to engage a pair of women with signs detailing their concerns about school violence found out.
“If people come to take guns, I just want them to shoot me first because I would rather lay down my life for my friend than to just be caught up in an escalating battle,” he said. “At the end of the day the First Amendment is the last sense of protection because once you can’t say words anymore then you do start resorting to guns.”
Despite the invitation to dialog, gun violence opponents preferred to remain mute, presumably assuming their silence spoke volumes.
“I’m not anti-gun but I think the leadership of the NRA is just a little bit on the very far fringe and whenever I hear them speak they just sound really whacky,” said Dwight Bartholomew who stood alongside the quiet gun opponents. “People can discuss it but when it comes to laws that are written, I think they have a little too much power.”
Inside the convention center, on the exhibit hall floor, Indianapolis Colts placekicker, hunter and likely NFL Hall of Famer Adam Vinatieri signed autographs and extolled the virtues of gun ownership and Indianapolis’ role as 2019 NRA host.
“I’m loving it down here, all the Second Amendment followers and supporters down here, this is a great time. Obviously Dallas has a great venue for the convention here and I’m excited it’ll be in Indy next year.”
The NRA’s contract with the host city designates the Free Speech Zone where opposing opinions can be expressed in the vicinity of the convention site.
In 2014, the last time the NRA visited Indianapolis, that zone was located at the War Memorial, several blocks away from the Indiana Convention Center where there was virtually no chance opponents on the gun issue would encounter each other.
“People that come to Indianapolis next year I hope, like this one, that they bring what’s in their heart and what’s important to them there and then share it with everyone because that’s what makes this nation the country that it is and that we all stand up for what we believe is right in our heart,” said Sgt. Sammy L. Davis, retired serviceman, resident of Freedom, Indiana, and recipient of the Medal of Honor for heroics in Vietnam in 1967 who also signed autographs on the floor of the Dallas Convention Center on behalf of an armaments gear supplier. “The color of the hat that you wear politically is not what this is about. What this is about is what’s right in your heart. We the people. Stand up for what you believe is right in your heart.”