John McCain's Missed Opportunity

I am disappointed, but not surprised, by the recent announcement that firearms would not be allowed into the NRA Celebration of American Values Leadership Forum. John McCain will be there, his Secret Service detail will be there, so my legally carried sidearm will not be there. That is to bad. John McCain could have made quite the RKBA statement by allowing law abiding citizens, following the laws of Kentucky, to carry at this event. The publicity value alone should have made it worth its while. But nope, not this time.

The blame is being laid at the feet of the Secret Service -

I know there's very, very little time, but i just received confirmation about guns in the forum.

This came down from the Secret Service--it was not our call, nor Sen. McCain's.

NOTICE: By mandate of the U. S. Secret Service, no firearms will be allowed in Hall A of the Kentucky Exposition Center, the location of the Celebration of American Values Leadership Forum, on Friday, May 16. Please be prepared to go through security screening to enter the venue.

As I mentioned, I am not really surprised, just a bit disappointed.

There is one interesting side note to this story. Way back in February, Barack NMN Obama held a political rally here in Dallas at the Reunion Arena. At this rally, the Secret Service had a different idea.

From the Star Telegram archives:

By Jack Douglas

Police concerned about order to stop screening

DALLAS — Security details at Barack Obama's rally Wednesday stopped screening people for weapons at the front gates more than an hour before the Democratic presidential candidate took the stage at Reunion Arena. The order to put down the metal detectors and stop checking purses and laptop bags came as a surprise to several Dallas police officers who said they believed it was a lapse in security.

Dallas Deputy Police Chief T.W. Lawrence, head of the Police Department's homeland security and special operations divisions, said the order — apparently made by the U.S. Secret Service — was meant to speed up the long lines outside and fill the arena's vacant seats before Obama came on.

So a Democrat Rally in Dallas is less of a threat than an NRA forum in Kentucky?