Sophie Conde

Students to city council members don’t want the organization in town and want taxpayer money funding the event back

DAVID TAFFET | Senior Staff Writer
taffet@dallasvoice.com

Flags will fly at half staff throughout the National Rifle Association’s Dallas convention this weekend to remember Dallas Police Officer Rogelio Santander who was killed in gun violence last week.

City leaders tried to convince the NRA they weren’t welcome and more than 40,000 people signed a petition to ask the organization to move the convention, but about 80,000 attendees and more than 800 vendors are expected to fill the Dallas Convention Center from May 4-6.

Students are among the protest organizers and, with one police officer remaining in critical condition after her gunshot wound during the same incident that killed Santander, a diverse group of people are expected to turn out.

After the Parkland, Fla. school massacre, Dallas officials tried to convince NRA leaders they might not find a warm welcome here.

At a press conference in February, Mayor pro tem Dwaine Caraway asked the NRA to reconsider coming to Dallas. This week, he said the group is coming and it will generate $42 million in revenue, but, “A kids life is worth more than $42 million.”
Caraway said he’s a gun owner.

“I have five guns myself,” he said. “And I’m a supporter and believer in the Second Amendment.”

But he objects to the NRA’s attitude and level of influence on elected officials. He said he doesn’t blame them for pulling the trigger in recent incidents in Parkland or at the Waffle House, “but their powerful influence can help us end gun violence.”

Dallas resident Jonathon Herzog has collected more than 40,000 signatures on a Care2 petition online entitled The NRA Is Not Welcome in Dallas.

“I love the city of Dallas, it has always been where I call home and I was truly devastated after the Dallas shooting of police officers,” Herzog wrote in his petition. “It’s hard to fathom the city is not only welcoming the NRA, but literally funding the event. Please sign my petition to tell Dallas to rescind their funding of this event.”

When the NRA signed a contract with the city to rent the Dallas Convention Center in 2012, the city gave them a $22,840 discount. Discounts off the full rental price are standard and are based on a number of economic impact factors like hotel room-nights booked.

VisitDallas, the city’s visitor and convention bureau, which is a non-profit organization, paid the additional $387,778, so the NRA paid nothing to rent the facility.

What infuriated Herzog more than anything was that after the massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, donations to the NRA spiked.

“The NRA has a strong financial incentive to not prevent mass shootings,” he said.

While it’s unlikely the city will get the $410,000 cost of the convention center for the weekend back directly, the city does expect to earn quite a bit of tax revenue from the more than 20,000 hotel room booked and restaurant bills from 80,000 attendees. VisitDallas estimates an economic impact of more than $42 million from the convention — and that doesn’t include the large number of protesters expected to come into town.

Only one Saturday protest has been issued a city permit. The Dallas student group StudentsMarch.org that organized the local March For Our Lives has planned Rally 4 Reform at Dallas City Hall Plaza at 10 a.m. with voter registration beginning at 9 a.m.

The group’s demands are specific: universal background checks, a ban on bump stocks and a ban on high-capacity magazines.

In a letter, organizer Sophie Conde said, “It’s critical that we support elected officials who stand with students calling for common sense reforms such as universal background checks.”

A number of elected officials agree with her.

State Rep. Eric Johnson was recently recognized by Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America and said, “I am proud to stand up for gun violence prevention and support common sense gun safety.”

Police will protect protesters with uniformed officers separating the crowd from NRA counter-protesters and plain clothes intel officers will be embedded throughout the plaza. However, carrying guns is legal, Assistant Chief Paul Stokes said, and the right to carry will be protected.

Another group has reserved City Hall Plaza through Saturday afternoon and police expect protests on Friday to accompany the presidential and vice presidential visits.

At a press briefing earlier this week, Stokes was tight-lipped about the Trump and Pence appearances. No details were given, so the time of their arrival at Love Field, which could disrupt traffic in Oak Lawn and roads into downtown, is unknown. The convention center does have a helipad, so they could be shuttled from the airport directly to the venue.

Protesters will be kept at Dallas City Hall, although some protesters taking DART could walk alongside the building to get to the protest area from Convention Center Station. A safer, less confrontational route would be a five-block walk from Akard Station to City Hall.
Next Generation Action Network is planning a protest at City Hall on Friday at 6:30 p.m.

“As we reflect on Newtown, Parkland, Sutherland Springs, Ferguson, Chicago and many others, we cannot sit idly by while organizations like the NRA continue to buy off politicians for silence on sensible gun regulation,” the group said in a press release.

Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson also weighed in on Dallas hosting the NRA convention and what Congress should be doing to protect people from gun violence.

“As the NRA hosts its convention in Dallas, I hope its leadership as well as my fellow members of Congress have also taken notice of the high schoolers here in North Texas, and around the country, who have shown their determination to making schools and streets safe. It is way past time we adequately address both gun control and gun safety laws as well as mental health concerns that will save the number of American lives lost to senseless violence.

“I am committed to working with anyone to end this terrible plague in our society and working for a safer American future. Congress should support Americans fighting for many common sense measures that will prevent children from becoming innocent victims of gun violence. To name a few: a ban on assault weapons and high capacity magazines; universal background checks; enforceable waiting periods; removing the unlicensed sales loophole in the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (gun shows, private/internet sales); outlawing gun possession by those with mental illnesses or those on the no fly list; enforceable relinquishment laws; increasing the legal age for gun purchasing.

“There would be no better way to honor the fallen of Sandy Hook, Stoneman Douglas, Las Vegas and too many others.”