Syndicated conservative radio host Dana Loesch canceled a book signing at Texas Christian University over the weekend because the store was located in a gun-free zone. Her reasoning: It wasn’t safe. Security wasn’t provided and authorities prohibited her from packing heat.
As a journalist who has received a steady stream of death threats over the years, Loesch refuses to do events where security isn’t provided. Her book is aptly titled Hands Off My Gun. “Regrettably, today’s signing event for Hands Off My Gun at the TCU Bookstore from 2-3:30 central is canceled,” she wrote in an announcement post Sunday. “I was really looking forward to this but unfortunately am uncomfortable gambling with my own, my family’s, or readers/listeners’s security.”
She added, “I’m just not cool with being a sitting duck somewhere or asking any of you to be also.”
A previous incident made her wary. A man came to a signing ranting about how much he hated her and her boss, Glenn Beck. When ordered to leave, he punched the promotional materials and yelled at store employees and people in line.
Loesch explained to The Mirror, “It’s expensive to pay someone else to hold a gun for you and I don’t have a bank account like Michael Bloomberg, so if I’m prohibited from carrying I just ask for the host or venue to provide security. TCU wasn’t able to accommodate, but unfortunately we only found out shortly before the event.”
With threats being the norm, she isn’t chancing it. “While I would love to live in a world where political disagreement could exist without violent rhetoric or threats, sadly, that isn’t a reality for me,” she said. “TCU is a great school and it’s unfortunate that they’re bound by Texas’s idiotic gun laws.”
She says they want to reschedule.