Parkland survivors are calling the NRA out over gun ban during Pence speech
![Mike Pence at a previous NRA Leadership Conference.](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ZhWhshFqdB6HX3C3kbTVYD-415-80.jpg)
Survivors of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School say it's hypocritical of the National Rifle Association to ban guns during its upcoming NRA Leadership Conference in Dallas.
The NRA says it has to prohibit all firearms and weapons from the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center on Friday because Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to speak. The Secret Service will be in charge of security because of Pence's appearance, and the NRA says Pence's security detail ordered the ban. This doesn't sit right with Matt Deitsch, a survivor of the February shooting in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 people dead. "Wait wait wait wait wait wait you're telling me to make the VP safe there aren't any weapons around but when it comes to children they want guns everywhere?" he tweeted. "Can someone explain this to me? Because it sounds like the NRA wants to protect people who help them sell guns, not kids."
His classmate, Cameron Kasky, tweeted that "the NRA has evolved into such a hilarious parody of itself," and Fred Guttenberg, whose 14-year-old daughter Jaime Guttenberg was killed in the attack, also weighed in, calling the ban "enlightening. According to the NRA, we should want everyone to have weapons when we are in public. But when they put on a convention, the weapons are a concern? I thought giving everyone a gun was to enhance safety. Am I missing something?"
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Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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