Every year about this time, we have dim-witted members of the media suckered by the gun control lobby into writing misleading stories that firearms are not allowed at the National Rifle Association’s Annual Meetings and Exhibits, held this year in Atlanta, Georgia.

Hogwash.

I’ve attended every NRA Annual Meeting since I became editor of Bearing Arms, and this is the second year that Bearing Arms and Townhall Media are sponsoring the NRA Institute for Legislative Action’s Leadership Forum. In each and every one of these events (Indianapolis, Nashville, and Louisville), attendees were invited by the NRA to carry their firearms in accordance with all applicable laws.

This year in Atlanta will be no different.

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.

The NRA asks its members to to follow the law as they lawfully carry their guns at the NRA Annual Meetings and Exhibits. What a novel concept! 

It’s so simple that you would think that the Huffington Post, NY Daily News, and local media outlets would be able to easily report the truth… but the reality of the matter is that they often simply don’t want to report the truth.

It’s much more fun for them to lie and falsely accuse the NRA of hypocrisy than it is to tell the truth. That reality is that you can expect somewhere north of 20,000 people lawfully carrying firearms at the Annual Meetings every single year.

There are restrictions on certain areas (as noted above), but those are the result of local and state laws, not NRA policy.

There is one other exception, again, not of the NRA’s doing.

On Friday, April 28, President Donald Trump will be addressing the crowd at the NRA-ILA Leadership Forum. Because the President is speaking, the United States Secret Service will have tight security around Hall A3 of the Georgia World Congress Center, and attendees will be barred from bringing any weapons, including knives or firearms, into the venue. This is standard procedure, and again, has nothing at all to do with the NRA. This is a Secret Service policy, as it was last year when then-candidate Trump attended last year in Louisville and accepted the NRA’s enthusiastic endorsement.

I’ll make it a point to get pictures this year of at least some of the guns carried in the press room, as I have in the past.

.@RealLucasNeff Son, try Snopes. When you're done, here are three pictures of armed JOURNALISTS in the press room at the NRA Annual Meeting. pic.twitter.com/c6YtBPaRNJ

— Bob Owens (@bob_owens) November 28, 2016