Andrew Wolfson

@adwolfson

As Louisville struggles with escalating gun violence, a group of business and civic leaders, including attorney Ed Glasscock, will gather next week for cocktails at a local restaurant to “celebrate, preserve and protect our Second Amendment freedoms” and raise money for the NRA.

Some attorneys and others criticized the event, which comes as the city is on a pace for more than 100 homicides for the year, a level of violence not seen here since at least the 1970s.

“Maybe they’ll come up with an innovative plan to stop gun violence that doesn’t include arming every man, woman and child,” U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth, D-Louisville, said.

Glasscock, the chairman emeritus of Frost Brown Todd who was listed on an invitation as a featured guest, said he is neither a gun owner nor an NRA member and will attend because the two hosts – Jimmy Dan Conner and Jim Patterson II – “are very good clients of ours and friends.”

Glasscock – who has served as chairman of Greater Louisville Inc., the Bridges Coalition, Bellarmine University, the Kentucky Center and the fundraising campaign that led to the merger of city and county governments – said, “We are all concerned about gun violence in the community – very much so.”

But Glassock, co-managing partner of the firm for eight years and managing partner of its predecessor firm for 23, said he supports the NRA for bringing millions of dollars to Louisville through its national meeting in May.

“It was a very positive convention,” he said.

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The featured speaker at the cocktail reception Thursday at Volare Italian Ristorante is Chris Cox, the NRA’s chief lobbyist, who commands a staff of at least 12 lobbyists and was paid $764,000 in 2014. Cox, a skilled marksman and big-game hunter, is the point man on one of the NRA’s biggest political priorities this year – defeating Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

The NRA’s Susan Metts, to whom RSVPs are to be sent, said about 40 to 50 people are expected at the reception, which she described as an “intentionally small group.” She said it is a “chance to find out about the election.”

Another guest featured on the invitation, J. McCauley “Mac” Brown, a retired executive at Brown-Foreman Corp. and chairman of the Kentucky Republican Party, said in an interview that the NRA is not the cause of gun violence.

“Why isn’t it the fault of our city leaders for not doing more to protect the victims?” he asked.

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Brown, speaking in his personal capacity, said he thinks the NRA should do more to “strengthen its relationship” with people and programs that “profess nonviolence.” He noted that when MADD in the early 1980s pointed the finger at the liquor and restaurant industries for not doing more about drunk driving, “MADD was right. And the industry did itself a service by recognizing that it had a responsibility.”

“I think the NRA has a responsibility to address violence in America,” he said.

John McCall, a partner at Frost Brown Todd, said: “Personally, I am not a supporter of all the NRA stands for, but I am a big supporter of the right in a free society for everyone to express their views on all political issues, including the Second Amendment.”

McCall also said: “I also am a big supporter of Ed Glasscock, who I believe has had the most positive impact on our community than any other living citizen. Ed is owed commendation for all he has done and is doing, not condemnation for expressing support for his interpretation of our Constitution.”

McCall added: “I think it is foolish to blame the violence in Louisville on the NRA or any other single institution, but I respect the right of others to express that view.”

Patterson, co-host for the reception, is an entrepreneur and philanthropist who started a number of successful businesses, including Long John Silver’s, Chi-Chi’s Mexican Restaurant, Rally’s Hamburgers, and AmeriCall Services and First Phone. He gave the lead gift for University of Louisville’s baseball stadium, which bears his name, and helped found School Choice Scholarships, which has allowed more than 1,000 children, most from poor families, to attend private schools from kindergarten through sixth grade.

Conner, an insurance agent for BB & T Insurance Services, formerly was co-owner of Old Colony Insurance Services with Glasscock’s son, Clinton. Conner was named Kentucky Mr. Basketball in 1971 playing for Anderson County High School and later played for the University of Kentucky and one season in the American Basketball Association for the Kentucky Colonels.

He and Patterson did not respond to phone messages.

To tackle the city’s rising homicide rate, Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer in June called for state legislation reversing an NRA-backed law that barred cities and counties in the state from enacting local gun control ordinances.

"We should have the right locally to implement our own gun safety laws that the citizens of our cities and counties want," Fischer said.

Spokesman Chris Poynter said the mayor had no comment on the reception.

Sixty-four of the 84 people killed in homicides last year in Louisville died from gunshots wounds.

Reporter Andrew Wolfson can be reached at (502) 582-7189 or awolfson@courier-journal.com.