Dallas official to NRA: Take your convention elsewhere

David Goins | WFAA-TV, Dallas-Fort Worth

DALLAS — The nation's largest gun lobby on Monday brushed aside criticism from a Dallas city council member calling for the National Rifle Association to move its annual convention out of Dallas.

Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway said Monday the NRA would be "met with opposition" if they continue with the planned event from May 4-6 in downtown Dallas.

"There will be marches and demonstrations should they come to Dallas," Caraway said.

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Caraway stopped short of calling for a vote on a resolution that would formalize the city's opposition to the expected 80,000 attendees and estimated $40 million in revenue for the city over three days.

"It is a tough call when you ask the NRA to reconsider coming to Dallas," Caraway said.

The NRA is scheduled to host its annual meeting at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center. The group’s annual meeting will include national elected officials participating in leadership meetings, along with exhibits that will include the legal sale of guns.

Andrew Arulanandam, a spokesman for the NRA, said the group is ready to return to Texas for the first time since the annual convention was held in Houston in 2013.

"No politician anywhere can tell the NRA not to come to their city," said Arulanandam. "We are already there. Dallas, like every American city and community, is populated by NRA members. Our members work in fire stations and police departments. They save lives in local hospitals and own businesses in communities urban and rural throughout this country."

Caraway's push to ask the NRA to move its convention is not shared by all council members.

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Council member Jennifer Staubach Gates said while she doesn't agree with every aspect of the NRA stance on gun legislation, it's clear the group has a right to hold the convention in Dallas.

“They’re constitutionally protected to be in the convention center," Staubach Gates said. "It’s a public building. We can’t be in the business to censor who uses that building.”

Caraway says the May event is not appropriate after the Florida school shooting and events that have happened in Dallas — such as JFK's assassination, five Dallas police officers that were gunned down in July 2016 and the fatal shooting of a Dallas mother of six in November.

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