NRA Cancels Country Music Hall of Fame Auction Over Gun Policy
The NRA has pulled out of a scheduled auction that was slated to take place in April at the Country Music Hall of Fame in downtown Nashville, due to the Hall's firearms policy.
Nashville's Tennessean newspaper reports that the National Rifle Association was slated to hold a fundraising dinner at the Hall of Fame on April 17, where the organization planned an auction to raise money. According to advertisements, auction items were to include “engraved firearms, suppressors, knives, fine art, hunts, optics and trips from around the globe.” The $500-per-person dinner and auction was also supposed to feature “celebrities, industry executives and a host of Second Amendment supporters from around the country."
The Hall of Fame announced the event would not go forward at their venue after the Associated Press asked the Hall about its policy prohibiting firearms. The museum's communications director, Kelly McGlumphy, confirmed to the AP on Feb. 28 that the Hall of Fame's policy states there are no firearms allowed in the building, whether loaded or unloaded, concealed or visible. The museum had some discussions with the NRA, and Glumphey later stated, "following those discussions, the organization will not be holding their event at the museum."
The NRA's director of media relations, Amy Hunter, says the Hall of Fame asked the organization to change its firearms policy at the proposed auction.
"We respectfully declined and made alternate arrangements at a venue with additional capacity. We would like to thank the Country Music Hall of Fame for their consideration," she states.
The auction has been advertised as a keystone of the NRA's annual convention in Nashville.
The NRA has had a longstanding relationship with country music, but that relationship has become more strained in recent years since the mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in October of 2017, where a gunman opened fire during a Jason Aldean performance, killing at least 58 people and injuring hundreds more.
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