Donald Trump made headlines with his appearance at the NRA’s Leadership Conference event yesterday in Atlanta. With upwards of 5,000 enthusiastic NRA members in attendance, President Trump could not have enjoyed a more enthusiastic audience.
People began filing in well bef0re 8am. The news trucks were all lined up to cover the event with some very nice gear there.
Folks had a great attitude waiting to get in. For some reason, the Antifa goons didn’t make an appearance. And there weren’t any troublemakers in the audience, either. Instead event oozed of Americana, patriotism and love of all things American. Nancy Pelosi would have vomited and a President Hillary would never have attended in a million years. Well, she might have if the NRA made an eight-figure donation to the Clinton Global Initiative.
Here are some sights I enjoyed after getting through security. That, in and of itself, proved an ordeal of sorts.
As you’d expect, security was heavy, although few long guns were seen. I was semi-surprised the Atlanta SWAT team is still using EOTechs.
They had about a dozen lanes to screen attendees. Still, folks still waited an hour or more in line to get through he process. While we didn’t have to wait as long in the media line, screened we were and we had to wait for them to sweep our gear.
The Secret Service folks took a couple of photos with each of my cameras — apparently so make sure they were really cameras. They asked us to leave everything behind in the hallway on the floor. I must say, leaving one’s keys, phone and thousands of dollars in camera gear in a pile with everyone else’s stuff felt a little…risky. No problems though.
Media creds left me able to float around inside the venue. Here’s a mainstream media reporter making sure her hair looked just right.
I'd rather have a Colt 1911 that says "Property of the US Government", but heh.
As Chris Cox warmed up the crowd, Don Jr. and his lovely wife popped out about 15 feet from me.
And the introduction…
President Donald Trump came out and stood shoulder-to-shoulder with NRA-ILA’s Chris Cox (l) and NRA’s Wayne LaPierre. The symbolism was impossible to miss.
A lot excitement in the front row.
I saw someone I recognized sitting in a seat, surrounded by Secret Service. So I approached with a big smile. We talked for a minute or two. About Second Amendment stuff, of course.
One thing led to another and I took a selfie with her. Kelly Anne Conway was supremely kind and sweet.
Folks started getting their picture taken in front of the stage as the President spoke.
Everyone loved PDT’s speech.
All in all, a good time was had by all. The Secret Service people along with the Atlanta constabulary acted with kindness, courtesy and professionalism. Clearly they knew this was a friendly crowd of law-abiding folks. Their presence, along with the Georgia State Police and area municipal and county police ensured the hooligans stayed away.