The National Rifle Association (NRA) was founded in 1871 to promote rifle marksmanship. In 1934, the NRA began informing its members of gun-related legislation. In 1975, the Institute for Legislative Action (ILA), which is the lobbying arm of the NRA, was formed. That is when the NRA officially turned into what it is today.

The NRA is an organization that believes it is your right as an American citizen to own whatever type of guns you want in whatever quantities you like. According to the Guardian, the number of guns in this country is roughly the same as the number of people who live in this country. However, just three percent of the adult population collectively owns 133 million firearms.

The NRA advocates for deregulation when it comes to guns. They constantly advocate for making it easier to obtain a gun license. They constantly make political donations to candidates whom they know will vote against common sense gun regulations.

The NRA constantly pushes the blatantly false narrative that the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. They advocate for the deregulation of guns on the basis that we need guns to protect ourselves, even though several other countries have banned guns and seen a sharp decline in the number of mass shootings.

Recently the NRA announced that vice president Mike Pence was going to speak at one of their events. Citing safety concerns, they also announced that there would not be any weapons of any kind allowed into the event. How can an organization which touts the belief that we need guns to protect us not allow guns into their event?

The NRA says it was ordered by the secret service to ban guns from their event. If Mike Pence is speaking at the NRA's event, his beliefs clearly align with theirs. In which case, he can and should override the order from the secret service to allow guns at the NRA's event.

It baffles me that an organization which advocates for arming teachers and allowing guns into public places under the pretext of safety has the audacity to ban guns from their own event. This is perhaps the most hypocritical move I have ever seen by an organization, as it is a move which directly goes against everything which they stand for.

The NRA needs to give Mike Pence and ultimatum if they do not want to be a hypocritical organization. He should either override the secret service in allowing guns at the event, or the NRA should not allow him to speak at the event since doing so clearly compromises their values (regardless of whether or not you agree with the NRA's values or whether or not you like the NRA or Mike Pence at all).