My brother-in-law Scott saw this sign when he boarded the MetroLink on his way to work this morning. He is a regular rider and says this is the first time he’s ever seen the sign. As he said on Facebook, “Coincidence??”. I think we all know the answer to that.
Rep. Ed Schieffer’s bill, HB 1483, would get rid of signs like this…permanently.
Fox2 Now St. Louis reports that it will be a busy weekend in downtown St. Louis over the weekend.
It’s going to be a busy week downtown. The National Rifle Association Convention starts Wednesday. The Blues also host playoff games Thursday and Saturday. And the Cards home opener is Friday against the Cubs.
In the report by Charles Jaco (who you may remember from CNN), the Mayor’s Office claims that the biggest security concern will be the NRA members and their guns.
I have a very simple suggestion for Jeff Rainford, the Chief of Staff to Mayor Francis Slay, and that is to allow NRA members to conceal carry in America’s Center and the Edward Jones Dome. If people are allowed to carry, most won’t have to leave their firearms in their cars. Mayor Slay, if you haven’t guessed it by now, is a member of Mayor Bloomberg’s Illegal Mayors.
If you find Mr. Rainford’s suggestion that we who are bringing millions of dollars to his fair city offensive – and I do – then you can send him a polite little note. It is actually very simple. Go here and use Mr. Rainford’s handy email tool to send him a message directly.
UPDATE: I received a response from Mr. Rainford which I am printing below in its entirety. It paints a little different tune than that shown on the TV interview.
It will make you feel better to know that not only did I not say NRA members posed the greatest security risk, I did not say NRA members posed any security risk.
I did say the following:
1. We would hope that if NRA members leave their guns in their cars, they secure them.
2. We expect traffic will be tight.
3. We are taking steps to require parking lot operators to have attendants in place to be the eyes and ears for the police.
Hope this helps.
Thanks,
Jeff
KVTI Fox News 2 does seem to be trying to create more controversy than any other media outlet about the NRA Annual Meeting as evidenced by a later report which I posted a few minutes ago.
If you read my post on the planned demonstration outside the NRA Annual Meeting by certain attention seeking St. Louis politicians and the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (sic), you know it is scheduled for Saturday at 1pm. This time in the afternoon was chosen, I presume, to make the news cycle for the 5pm local news broadcasts.
As I said in the title, timing matters.
Whoever scheduled this event forgot about another major event happening in downtown St. Louis at the same time. The 2011 World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals will receive their Championship Rings in a special ceremony at Busch Stadium prior to the 1:05pm game. They will wearing special gold trimmed uniforms to commemorate their World Championship. Not only is this the middle game of their first homestand of the season but they are playing the Chicago Cubs. This is a baseball rivalry on par with that of the Yankees and Red Sox in the American League.
Every fan attending the game with a paid ticket is getting a replica Championship Ring courtesy of St. Louis-based stock brokerage Edward Jones.
Now where do you think the local media is going to be – outside America’s Center with a bunch of protesters or inside Busch Stadium with the home town heroes? Even if they do cover the protest, it will be bumped off lead story status.
CSGV might be excused for not knowing about this event but what does it say about local politicians such as Rep. Jamilah Nasheed, Rep. Tishaura Jones, and Board of Alderman President Lewis Reed? Do they really think they will get more media attention – good, solid vote getting attention – by dissing the hometown team in favor of solidarity with the anti-gunners? Even Al Sharpton decided it was better not to be in Sanford, FL over the Easter Weekend despite his earlier promise to “occupy Sanford.”
H/T “Dirk Diggler”
Some community activists in St. Louis are saying that the billboards advertising the NRA Annual Meeting are sending the “wrong message.” Rev. B. T. Rice is the head of the St. Louis branch of the NAACP and he objects to the billboards.
The leader of St. Louis’ NAACP is calling out the National Rifle Association, saying the group is delivering the wrong message at the wrong time as it prepares for its national convention in St. Louis next week. The Reverend B.T. Rice was discussing the county police shooting of fifteen year old Lavon Peete when he was asked about the NRA billboards that have flooded the city.
“The advertisement says we’ll have acres and acres of guns,” Rice observed. “A clear dichotomy between the NRA and those of us who deal with these sort of situations on a day to day basis.”
Rice and some other community leaders are calling for a gun violence (sic) summit in St. Louis. Rev. Rice would like to hold it concurrently with the NRA Annual Meeting.
Lavon Peete, mentioned above, was shot and killed by St. Louis County Police after he refused to drop a “sawed off rifle” he was point at them. While his family denies he was armed, others who were with him at the time confirm he was armed. As to what a “sawed off rifle” is, it is never specified in any of the stories.
Steven King, owner of Metro Shooting Supply in the St. Louis suburb of Bridgeton, says he thinks an anti-violence summit would be a good idea. That is, he says if “they look at the true causes of the violence and not the tools people are using to commit violence.”
As to whether the billboards are sending the wrong message, I most certainly don’t think they are sending the wrong message.
My sister-in-law saw this flyer posted just inside the doorway of Crown Candy in St. Louis yesterday. Cindy, who will be a special correspondent for the blog at the upcoming NRA Annual Meeting, knew I’d be interested. She also said she saw her first billboard for the Annual Meeting.
If you have ever watched that quintessentially American show, Man Versus Food, then you may have heard of Crown Candy. In their Five Milkshake Challenge, you have 30 minutes to drink all five milkshakes. On this challenge, Adam failed.
I take it as great sign that you see flyers like this in a place like Crown Candy which usually has a line outside waiting to get in.
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