Remember: There is no such thing as liberal media bias.
The National Rifle Association’s annual convention kicks off in Nashville this week, with 70,000 people expected to participate in the three-day gathering.
Attendees can expect to find the usual NRA fare and exhibitors at the 350,000-square-foot Music City Center, but they shouldn’t expect to find functioning weapons. The Tennessean reports this week on the “multilevel security plan,” which includes an important safety measure: “All guns on the convention floor will be nonoperational, with the firing pins removed, and any guns purchased during the NRA convention will have to be picked up at a Federal Firearms License dealer, near where the purchaser lives, and will require a legal identification.”
Ha ha ha ha ha! Wow, those gun-totin’, sister-humpin’ rednecks sure are dumb, huh? They all worship firearms, but they can’t bring their precious widdle penis-substitutes to their creepy gun-cult hoedown. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!
As Benen notes, there’s a good reason for this:
Of course, there’s also a political angle to keep in mind as the far-right group gathers in Tennessee.
As the local report noted, at least eight likely Republican presidential candidates are scheduled to speak at the NRA-ILA Leadership Forum…
Donald Trump and Sarah Palin are also expected to appear.
Yep. All those trigger-happy teabaggers, runnin’ around a-hootin’ and a-hollerin’ and a-firin’ their pea-shooters in the air, might bust a cap in Trump’s butt. Wouldn’t want that, would we, eh, Steve? 😉
There’s only one problem with this scenario, as Benen had to acknowledge in a series of humiliating updates:
Activists are pushing back against the reporting from The Tennessean and the New York Daily News, arguing that guns on the convention floor will not be operational, but those safety rules don’t override the state’s open-carry laws…
Oops.
A knowledgeable source tells The Rachel Maddow Show that convention attendees will be permitted to carry their guns in the Music City Center – so long as they have the proper permit – but they will not be able carry loaded firearms into the Bridgestone Arena where NRA leaders and Republican presidential hopefuls will speak…
Double-oops.
Some of the details took some twists and turns, and some of the early reporting was incomplete, but we have the details straight now.
Oh, do ya? You have the details straight now? Well, that’s nice.
Of course, the details didn’t take any twists or turns. The details are the details. Benen simply didn’t know them. He didn’t know what he was talking about. He made an assumption, based on his unshakeable biases, and he embarrassed himself.
But Benen shouldn’t feel too bad. As National Review’s Charles Cooke points out, the NYT and the NYDN told the same lie. It was too good to check, so they didn’t.
Because they’re journalists.
Update: Benen has now deleted those mortifying updates, but they’ve been preserved for posterity.
These MSNBC corrections are glorious. Next, it’ll be the @nytimes’s turn, right @Sulliview. http://t.co/2BVnr7LcGS pic.twitter.com/BFSxTGsshX
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) April 10, 2015