The National Rifle Association is coming back to Dallas to host its annual convention.
How much is the controversial group paying for space in the city-owned Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center? What kind of security will the Dallas Police Department have to provide?
City and convention center officials aren’t saying.
KERA requested a copy of the contract between the NRA and the convention center — which is managed by asset firm OVG360. The city declined to provide a copy and sought a ruling from the Texas Attorney General on whether some of the information it contained could be released.
KERA then requested that the city release the portions of the contract that weren’t being contested. In response, the city sent a copy of the contract that had all of the dollar amounts redacted.
The Dallas Police Department — which is facing recruiting and retention issues to meet staffing needs — will provide security for the event, according to a department spokesperson. But the details on how large of a law enforcement presence will be needed for the event remains unclear.
“We will not get into specifics on security plans for safety…reasons,” the spokesperson told KERA.
The NRA also may get financial incentives for bringing its convention to Dallas. But Dallas officials said they wouldn’t know the amount until after the convention. The incentive amount is based in part on how much money attendees spend for hotels.
District 9 Council Member Paula Blackmon told KERA any large event usually has a large security plan — and the goal is to convene safely.
“But this one…is probably more polarizing,” Blackmon said. “Given what we’ve seen happen in Texas…I think there will be a lot of opinions about this so I do hope people are safe.”
The association’s website says the convention will boast “over 14 acres of the latest guns and gear” from the biggest manufactures in the world. It’s free to NRA members — and their families.
“From entertainment to special events, it’s all happening in Dallas!” the event website says. “Make plans now to join fellow Second Amendment patriots for a freedom-filled weekend for the entire family!”
But not everyone believes the weekend should be family oriented — and some say the association is pushing its message on a vulnerable population.
“They are actually marketing to children because they are encouraging their attendees to bring their…entire family,” gun violence prevention advocate Miriam Sharma told KERA. “Its not even hiding it.”
Sharma is a registered nurse — with three small children — and the co-lead for the Dallas Chapter of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America. The group advocates for limiting firearms inside homes — and especially around kids.
Sharma said weapon manufacturers that come out for trade shows like the NRA’s annual meeting are promoting versions of extremely powerful firearms that repeatedly have been used in mass shootings.
The NRA’s website lists hundreds of companies that will be at its convention this year. Among them is a company whose lineup of weapons includes the semiautomatic AR-15 rifles.
“Those aren’t the type of guns that people are going to use for hunting,” Sharma said. “So they are actively marketing very, very destructive weapons.”
And there are companies selling accessories — another vendor touts its high-performance silencers.
Past controversies
The city has hosted controversial events in the past.
That includes the NRA’s 2018 convention — also at the convention center. One council member warned there would be demonstrations if the pro-gun group brought its event to Dallas.
Sharma says this year more people should know about the event and the organization that is hosting it.
“We won’t stand for this, we won’t stand for them coming to our city to market to children,” Sharma said. “We have to know the gun industry, with the NRA acting as a shield, plays a major role in gun violence in America.”
A 2015 pornography expo also faced opposition from community members — and some Dallas elected officials.
The next year, the city council voted to ban the company that hosts the event from using city-owned property. Then-Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said allowing the event would send the wrong message.
“We could say the same thing here,” Sharma said. “[The NRA is] marketing weapons of war, pure and simple.”
The early NRA’s 2018 convention brought tens of thousands of people. According to a Dallas Police Department memo at that time, officials expected “numerous protests” during the event. And the city’s Office of Emergency Management (OEM) was also activated “in response to security concerns.”
“We worked with local, state, and federal partners to monitor…security not only for the attendees, but the planned and potentially unplanned protests that were scheduled around this event,” an annual OEM report said.
Then-Dallas Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway stood outside of City Hall in 2018 and warned the NRA’s leadership their scheduled convention would be met with “marches and demonstrations” if it was held in the city. He said the association had a responsibility to establish gun laws that prevent mass shootings.
The convention happened anyway.
“No politician anywhere can tell the NRA not to come to their city,” then-NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said in a statement shared on social media. “We are already there.”
About that time The Dallas Morning News columnist Robert Wilonsky reported that VisitDallas, the city's tourism arm, also paid out hundreds of thousands of dollars in subsidies to cover some of the cost of the venue rental at the time the contract was signed in 2012.
The funds used to complete the deal came from the Dallas Tourism Public Improvement District (DTPID). Hotels pay into the district — and in return some of that money is earmarked to pay for incentives to encourage groups to book large events in Dallas.
The DTPID was formed just months prior to the NRA contract, according to The News.
KERA reached out to the city to see if the same deal had been made for this year's NRA conference.
"DTPID did provide an incentive to the National Rifle Association based off their actual guest room pick-up, which will be known following the conclusion of the event," Visit Dallas Senior Vice President Jennifer Walker told KERA in a statement.
The city council approves the convention center’s asset management firm but it does not book the events that happen at the venue. But Sharma says elected officials do have the power — and have exercised it before — to have a say in what happens at city-owned facilities.
“Having it…on city owned property means they are condoning, or accepting the fact, that this group is allowing gun manufacturers to market to children,” Sharma said. “I think that should be unacceptable.”
‘Good guys with guns’
In tax filings the NRA describes its mission as protecting the U.S. Constitution, promoting “law and order, and national defense” and training law enforcement and civilians “in marksmanship.”
It’s been around for a long time. According to its website the group was formed in 1871 after two Civil War veterans were concerned “by the lack of marksmanship shown by their troops.”
Throughout its history, the NRA has faced its fair share of public scrutiny.
A week after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, where a lone gunman killed 20 children and six adults, former NRA executive Wayne LaPierre suggested putting armed police officers in schools across the U.S.
And LaPierre had another message about guns in America.
“The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun,” LaPierre reportedly said during a media event in 2012.
In late February, LaPierre and another NRA executive were found to have used millions of the non-profit's funds on private travel and approved millions in contracts in exchange for gifts, according to reporting by NPR.
In May 2022, a shooter entered Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas and proceeded to kill 19 children and two adults. The event marked the deadliest school shooting in Texas’ history, according to a Texas Tribune article.
Sharma said she believes the NRA’s rhetoric is harmful — and in her mind, is not fact-based.
“We know at the Uvalde…mass shooting, there were lots and lots of good guys there with a gun,” Sharma said. “But still 21 people died.”
Blackmon said that while she doesn’t necessarily agree with the NRA’s platform, freedom to convene and freedom of speech are important.
“Now I just see it as an opportunity to really educate folks on what gun ownership means, what gun violence can mean to a community,” Blackmon told KERA.
The event is scheduled for May 16 through 19 at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.
Got a tip? Email Nathan Collins at ncollins@kera.org. You can follow Nathan on Twitter @nathannotforyou.
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