Carry at the NRA Annual Meeting in Atlanta, Georgia

by Dean Weingarten April 25, 2017

By Dean Weingarten

Arizona – -(Ammoland.com)-
This year, 2017, the NRA Annual Meeting is being held in Atlanta at the Georgia World Congress Center. 80,000 people are expected to attend. There will be 450,000 square feet of exhibits. As with the past two annual meetings, attendees will be able to carry firearms in accordance with state laws. In Georgia a carry permit is required.

Georgia recognizes carry permits from 32 other states.

Handgunlaw.us lists the states.

Virginia is not listed on the official Georgia.gov page, but I understand that Georgia reciprocity with Virgina has been restored. You are responsible for validating your own information.

From handgunlaw.us:

Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming all recognize Georgia-issued firearms licenses.

Georgia recognizes both resident and non-resident permits from the above states. Georgia carry law covers both handguns and knives that are designed for defense or offense, and have blades that are over five inches in length.

A carry permit is required for both open and concealed carry.

There are gun free zones in Georgia law, but most do not apply to the Georgia World Congress Center where the Annual Meeting will be held. However, the food court at the CNN Center in their hotel complex is a gun free zone. There are other areas in the CNN Center, which has a number of retail shops, that ban guns.

Here is a statement from the nraam.org:

Firearms Policy for the 2017 NRA Annual Meetings:

During the 2017 NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits, lawfully carried firearms will be permitted in the Georgia World Congress Center and the Omni Atlanta Hotel at CNN Center in accordance with Georgia law. However, firearms are not allowed in the remainder of the CNN Center, including the food court and shops. When carrying your firearm, remember to follow all federal, state and local laws.

Be aware of your surroundings. If someone asks you to leave an area because you are carrying, it is best to politely leave.

Last year there were a number of open carriers at the NRA annual meeting in Louisville, Kentucky.

Anti-rights political activists complained that the NRA would not allow people to carry firearms at their annual meetings. The NRA stopped those complaints by insisting on allowing legal carry. The anti-rights groups cannot make that claim any longer.

It seems unlikely that the NRA leadership would schedule an Annual Meeting for a state that does not honor the right to bear arms. That would rule out California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island. It might rule out Washington State, Oregon, and Illinois, on the basis of lack of reciprocity.

The next few Annual Meetings are:

2018 Dallas, Texas
2019 Indianapolis, Indiana
2020 Nashville, Tennessee
2021 Houston, Texas
2022 Undetermined
2023 Indianapolis, Indiana

Attendance at the NRA Annual Meetings has grown to about 80,000. There are a limited number of venues that can accommodate that number of attendees. In addition, a central location makes it a bit easier for attendees to travel to the Meeting.

Link to Gun Watch

About Dean Weingarten:

Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of constitutional carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and recently retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.