Singer to Reno's baseball team: No guns in your stadium, no national anthem from me

Note: This story has been updated to include a comment from President of the ‎Reno Aces Baseball Club and the Reno 1868 Football Club Eric Edelstein.

It's not the high notes of the Star Spangled Banner that has Alishia Wolcott turning down a spot to sing at a Reno Aces baseball game this summer.

The 2016 University of Nevada, Reno graduate said no to her chance to sing the national anthem at Greater Nevada Field, the downtown Reno stadium where the Aces minor league baseball team plays, because she can't bring her gun.

Wolcott declined to sing or ever attend another baseball game in a letter to the team after learning of the stadium’s new policy where everyone will be checked with hand held metal detectors before entering the stadium.

The policy is in line with measures taken by the other professional sports leagues across the country. The ballpark has previously said weapons, including guns of concealed carry permit holders, are forbidden, but the new checkpoints using metal detectors are a tougher enforcement over bag checks.

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The metal detectors will be used at other Greater Nevada Field events, including at matches for Reno's professional soccer team, Reno 1868 Football Club.

President of the ‎Reno Aces Baseball Club and the Reno 1868 Football Club Eric Edelstein said safety is a priority for the stadium.

"We have joined every other ticketed sports facility in Reno as well as every Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer venue in the United States in the use of metal detection. The list of prohibited items at Greater Nevada Field has remained unchanged since our inception in 2009.”

Singer said she doesn't feel safe in downtown Reno

“I will not sing our national anthem at a place that seeks to strip me of my Second Amendment rights, nor will I be attending any future events at Ace’s ballpark while these things take place,” Wolcott said in her letter to Aces.

Wolcott received her concealed weapons permit earlier this year and planned to bring her Glock 43, a 9mm pistol, to games for protection. She either wears the gun or keeps it in a purse.

She said she loves baseball and often attends games by herself parking in nearby casino parking garages.

She said she was thrilled when she was given a spot to sing after sending in an audition tape, but she said she doesn't feel safe walking alone in downtown Reno at night.

"Men look you up and down," she said.

“When I walked up to the game on Saturday and saw the way security was checking people, I realized the hand wand wasn’t going to stop someone who has ill intentions.”

In her letter to the Aces, she said she and her husband considered leaving their guns behind and walking in to the game but instead walked away.

“We walked away angry and disappointed … Disappointed because it happened at a venue that hosts one of America’s favorite pastimes," she wrote.

She said she considered making her feelings known in “a sort of Colin Kaepernick style," referring to the UNR graduate and former San Francisco 49ers quarterback who says he has been penalized by the NFL because he kneeled during the playing of the national anthem last season to protest racial injustice.

She thought about getting up to the microphone at the game when it was time for the anthem and telling fans why she refused to sing.

“But, I have too much respect for the national anthem and the time dedicated for it.”