Vice President Pence is scheduled to speak at the annual NRA gathering in Dallas on Friday. (Karel Navarro/AP) 
 
 The National Rifle Association has championed the idea of “a good guy with a gun,” but no firearms will be allowed when Vice President Pence speaks at its annual meeting — sparking criticism from Parkland, Fla., students, who say schools should be afforded the same protection. 
 
 And in a rare occurrence, even some NRA supporters have voiced opposition to the prohibition. 
 
 Pence is scheduled to speak at the annual NRA gathering in Dallas on Friday, and many attendees will be packing guns, knives and other weapons for the event — which includes “more than 20 acres” of firearms exhibits expected to draw 80,000 members. 
 
 But the NRA said the U.S. Secret Service will coordinate security for the Pence speech and will not allow weapons in the arena while he is present. 
 
 “As a result, firearms and firearm accessories, knives or weapons of any kind will be prohibited in the forum prior to and during his attendance,” the NRA said. A detailed list of prohibited items includes ammunition, drones, gun parts, firearm magazines, as well as signs and glass containers. 
 
 With the exception of the Pence event, lawfully carried firearms will be permitted at the convention center and the host hotel, the NRA said, advising members to comply with federal, state and local laws. 
 
 [After Parkland shooting, NRA posts biggest fundraising haul in nearly 20 years] 
 
 The NRA is complying with laws that prohibit firearms from being brought into areas where Secret Service protectees visit, agency spokesman Shawn L. Holtzclaw told The Washington Post in a statement Sunday. That includes events in open-carry states such as Texas, he said. 
 
 “Individuals determined to be carrying firearms will not be allowed past a predetermined outer perimeter checkpoint, regardless of whether they possess a ticket to the event,” Holtzclaw said. 
 
 Attendees were similarly restricted from carrying weapons during President Trump’s speech to the NRA in Atlanta last year. The president is expected to speak at the annual meeting on Friday, a White House official confirmed Monday. 
 
 The NRA, bolstered by Trump, has been a vocal proponent of allowing more guns in public places, including schools, but the exception for the convention has raised eyebrows and prompted skepticism among students and at least one parent who lost his child in the Feb. 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., in which 17 people were killed and others injured. 
 
 “On so many levels, this is enlightening. According to the NRA, we should want everyone to have weapons when we are in public,” Fred Guttenberg, father of slain Parkland student Jaime Guttenberg, said Sunday on Twitter. “But when they put on a convention, the weapons are a concern? I thought giving everyone a gun was to enhance safety. Am I missing something?” 
 
 On so many levels, this is enlightening. According to the NRA, we should want everyone to have weapons when we are in public. But when they put on a convention, the weapons are a concern? I thought giving everyone a gun was to enhance safety. Am I missing something? https://t.co/f4wgNhJ7RI — Fred Guttenberg (@fred_guttenberg) April 28, 2018 
 
 The NRA did not respond to a request for comment. 
 
 Matt Deitsch, who graduated from the Parkland school in 2016 and is the chief strategist for the March for Our Lives protest, expressed similar skepticism. 
 
 “You’re telling me to make the VP safe there aren’t any weapons around but when it comes to children they want guns everywhere? Can someone explain this to me?” Deitsch said Saturday on Twitter. “Because it sounds like the NRA wants to protect people who help them sell guns, not kids.” 
 
 March for Our Lives did not respond to a request for comment. 
 
 Parkland student Cameron Kasky said Saturday on Twitter: “The NRA has evolved into such a hilarious parody of itself.” David Hogg, a Parkland student, circulated a petition on Sunday calling on Pence to cancel his NRA appearance. 
 
 Some gun enthusiasts and apparent NRA members are displeased at the prohibition. At Texas CHL Forum, a message board for gun owners, commenters aired their frustrations. 
 
 “Obviously even republicans and so called leaders don’t trust the ‘good guys.’ I realize it’s the VP, but still makes our whole argument look foolish,” a commenter who self-identified as an NRA member said Thursday. 
 
 [A fake photo of Emma González went viral on the far right, where Parkland teens are villains] 
 
 “You may disagree … but in my opinion the very people that claim to protect the 2A should never host an event that requires disarming the good guys. Sad. No excuses for this … it makes us look stupid,” the commenter said. 
 
 Another self-identified NRA member agreed, saying Friday: “Me personally, I won’t be listening to him speak. I won’t be going anywhere that I cant carry my firearm. It’s essentially the nations largest get together for gun owners and they won’t let law abiding legal gun owners carry guns because someone who’s supposedly pro 2A thinks its too ‘dangerous’? thats liberal logic right there.” 
 
 Other users chimed in, saying the Secret Service is simply carrying out the law. 
 
 “Look at it this way, imagine what a prime opportunity it would be for some rabid gun hater to take a pot shot at the VP AT the NRA Annual Convention,” one commenter who self-identified as an NRA instructor said Saturday. “The campaign ads would write themselves.” 
 
 Kristine Phillips contributed to this report. 
 
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 An off-duty Arkansas officer was killed after a stray bullet struck his home, police say ||||| Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Student Cameron Kasky addresses the March for Our Lives rally on March 24, 2018 in Washington, D.C. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images 
 
 Guns will be banned from the premises when Vice President Mike Pence speaks at a National Rifle Association convention in Dallas on Friday. Before and during the speech, attendees are prohibited from bringing “firearms and firearm accessories, knives or weapons of any kind,” the NRA wrote as it announced Pence’s presence at the conference. 
 
 The NRA is blaming the Secret Service for the prohibition but that didn’t stop survivors of the Feb. 14 mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, who were quick to criticize the organization’s apparent hypocrisy in giving in to demands for a gun-free area. 
 
 “Wait wait wait wait wait wait you’re telling me to make the VP safe there aren’t any weapons around but when it comes to children they want guns everywhere?” asked Matt Deitsch, a Parkland student who helped organize the March for Our Lives rally. “Can someone explain this to me?” 
 
 Wait wait wait wait wait wait you’re telling me to make the VP safe there aren’t any weapons around but when it comes to children they want guns everywhere? Can someone explain this to me? Because it sounds like the NRA wants to protect people who help them sell guns, not kids. — Matt Deitsch (@MattxRed) April 28, 2018 
 
 He was hardly alone. Cameron Kasky, another Parkland survivor noted on Twitter that the “NRA has evolved into such a hilarious parody of itself.” 
 
 The NRA has evolved into such a hilarious parody of itself. pic.twitter.com/6Pw6NTQAe6 — Cameron Kasky (@cameron_kasky) April 28, 2018 
 
 Fred Guttenberg, the father of 14-year-old Jaime Guttenberg, who was killed in the attack, also highlighted the ban, noting that “on so many levels, this is enlightening.” The NRA says “we should want everyone to have weapons … but when they put on a convention, the weapons are a concern?” ||||| National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre listens to musician Lee Greenwood perform before the arrival of President Donald Trump to the National Rifle Association Leadership Conference,... (Associated Press) 
 
 National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre listens to musician Lee Greenwood perform before the arrival of President Donald Trump to the National Rifle Association Leadership Conference, Friday, April 28, 2017, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) (Associated Press) 
 
 ATLANTA (AP) — President Donald Trump reaffirmed his support for gun rights Friday, telling attendees of a National Rifle Association convention that "the eight-year assault on your Second Amendment freedoms has come to a crashing end." 
 
 Trump, the first sitting president to address the group's annual convention in more than 30 years, assured the audience that he would defend their right to bear arms in a campaign-like speech reminiscent of his election rallies. 
 
 "You have a true friend and champion in the White House," he said. 
 
 The president's trip to Atlanta also served as his first foray into a congressional race since taking office. After delivering his NRA remarks, the president headed to a private fundraiser for Republican congressional candidate Karen Handel, who is running in a special congressional race that has become a national referendum on his presidency. 
 
 During the speech, the president congratulated Handel and urged Republicans to support her. 
 
 "She's totally for the NRA, and she's totally for the Second Amendment, so get out and vote," he said. 
 
 Trump has been a champion of gun rights and supportive of NRA efforts to loosen restrictions on gun ownership. During the campaign, he promised to do away with President Barack Obama's efforts to strengthen background checks and to eliminate gun-free zones at schools and military bases. 
 
 The last president to address an NRA convention was Ronald Reagan, who spoke to the 1983 gathering, according to the powerful gun rights lobby. 
 
 Trump's appearance in Atlanta sparked protests from people advocating for stricter gun control measures. They included Steve Hagen, who called the NRA's push for federal legislation to make any state's concealed-carry permits valid nationwide "the dumbest thing I've ever heard." 
 
 "I guess the promoters are throwing states' rights out the window," Hagen, a 68-year-old from the Atlanta suburb of Tucker. "It's just crazy." 
 
 Opponents of the bill say the move would effectively turn the weakest gun standards in the nation into the law of the land. The GOP-led Congress already passed a resolution to block a rule that would have kept guns out of the hands of certain people with mental disorders, and Trump quickly signed it. 
 
 Trump, who also attended last year's NRA convention as a candidate, boasts of owning a pair of guns and mentioned again on Friday that his two adult sons are avid hunters. He stirred controversy during the campaign when he suggested that "Second Amendment people" could stop his opponent Hillary Clinton, which some interpreted to be a call for violence against the Democratic nominee. Trump disputed that charge. 
 
 White House press secretary Sean Spicer said on the plane trip from Washington that NRA members supported Trump during the election based on his strong commitment to gun rights. He also cited Trump's appointment of Judge Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. 
 
 "I know the NRA is glad to have a justice in that seat who is such a staunch defender of the Constitution," he said. 
 
 Kevin Michalowski, executive editor of a magazine published by the United States Concealed Carry Association, said seeing that a president will be addressing the annual meeting "gives the gun industry a feeling of he's on our side." 
 
 The political landscape has changed dramatically with a president now in the White House friendly to the gun industry and gun rights. But Michalowski said it's premature to get complacent with gun sales having tapered off since the election and "there's always a group out there that opposes the Second Amendment and what it stands for." 
 
 Trump attendance at the private fundraiser for Handel is his first such endeavor for a congressional hopeful since he took office and confirmation that the GOP sees Georgia's 6th Congressional District runoff as a barometer of the 2018 midterm elections. 
 
 The affluent, well-educated district has been in Republican hands since 1979 — when voters put the future House Speaker Newt Gingrich to the seat — and it still covers the usually conservative northern suburbs of Atlanta. But an upstart Democrat, 30-year-old Jon Ossoff, used an anti-Trump wave to raise more than $8 million ahead of an April 18, multiparty primary and nearly won the seat outright, finishing almost 30 points ahead of Handel, the top Republican vote-getter. 
 
 Handel largely avoided mentioning Trump during the primary campaign, a nod to his struggles in November, when he barely won a district that usually gives GOP presidential nominees more than 60 percent of the vote. 
 
 But Handel has openly embraced the president in the opening days of the runoff campaign. Trump called to congratulate her on qualifying for the runoff and praised her via his personal Twitter account. Both major parties and their aligned organizations have flooded the district with volunteers, paid staffers and promises of millions in additional television advertising ahead of the June 20 second round. 
 
 The winner will succeed Republican Tom Price, who resigned to joint Trump's Cabinet as health secretary. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Associated Press writers Bill Barrow, Lisa Marie Pane and Kathleen Foody in Atlanta contributed to this report. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Follow Lemire on Twitter at http://twitter.com/@JonLemire ||||| Anna Hurley, 15, of Washington, top, and other demonstrators participate in a "lie-in" during a protest in favor of gun control reform in front of the White House, Monday, Feb. 19, 2018, in Washington.... (Associated Press) 
 
 WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he has signed a memo directing the Justice Department to propose regulations to "ban all devices" like the rapid-fire bump stocks involved in last year's Las Vegas massacre. 
 
 Seeking to show action days after a deadly school shooting in Parkland, Florida, Trump spoke during a White House ceremony recognizing bravery by the nation's public safety officers. 
 
 "We must move past clichés and tired debates and focus on evidence based solutions and security measures that actually work," Trump said. 
 
 The announcement came days after the shooting deaths of 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The device Trump referred to was used in the October shooting deaths of 58 people in Las Vegas, and attached to a half-dozen of the long guns found in the shooter's hotel room. A legislative effort to ban the device fizzled out last year. 
 
 White House officials say the president will be meeting with students, teachers and state and local officials to discuss ways of providing more school safety and address gun violence. Pressure has been mounting for action after the Parkland shooting. 
 
 Trump has also indicated he is open to a limited strengthening of federal background checks on gun purchases. 
 
 Over the weekend, the White House said he had spoken Friday to Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, about a bipartisan bill designed to strengthen the FBI database of prohibited gun buyers. 
 
 Trump spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders qualified the support, stressing that talks continue and "revisions are being considered," but said "the president is supportive of efforts to improve the federal background check system." 
 
 The main action Trump has taken on guns has been to sign a resolution blocking an Obama-era rule designed to keep guns out of the hands of certain mentally disabled people. The president has voiced strong support for gun rights and the National Rifle Association. 
 
 The bipartisan background check legislation would be aimed at ensuring that federal agencies and states accurately report relevant criminal information to the FBI. It was introduced after the Air Force failed to report the criminal history of the gunman who slaughtered more than two dozen people at a Texas church. 
 
 The White House statement comes as shooting survivors and other young people press for more gun control in a rising chorus of grief and activism. Their "March for Our Lives" is planned March 24 in Washington. 
 
 Ella Fesler, 16-year-old high school student in Alexandria, Virginia, was among the students at the "lie-in" in front of the White House. She said it was time for change, adding: "Every day when I say 'bye' to my parents, I do acknowledge the fact that I could never see my parents again." 
 
 But previous gun tragedies have not led Congress to act. After the Las Vegas massacre in the fall, Republicans and Democrats in Congress talked about taking a rare step to tighten the nation's gun laws. Four months later, the only gun legislation that has moved through Congress eases restrictions for gun owners. 
 
 Kristin Brown, co-president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said the measure Trump discussed with Cornyn would help to enforce existing rules but would not close loopholes permitting loose private sales on the internet and at gun shows. She's pressing for a ban on assault-type weapons and for laws enabling family members, guardians or police to ask judges to strip gun rights temporarily from people who show warning signs of violence. 
 
 "We need a comprehensive system," Brown said. "One of these isn't enough." 
 
 Trump, who visited first responders and some victims Friday, had focused his comments on mental health, rather than guns. The White House says the president will host a "listening session" with students and teachers on Wednesday and will discuss school safety with state and local officials on Thursday. They have offered no further details on who will attend those sessions. 
 
 Trump spent most of the weekend at his private Palm Beach estate, Mar-a-Lago. White House aides advised against golfing too soon after the shooting. But on Presidents Day, the avid golfer headed to his nearby golf club. The White House did not answer questions about whether he was playing golf. 
 
 President Barack Obama took heavy criticism in 2014 when he went golfing during a vacation just minutes after denouncing the militants who had beheaded an American journalist. He later regretted playing golf so soon after the killing. 
 
 Trump watched cable television news during the weekend and groused to club members and advisers about the investigation of Russian election meddling. 
 
 In a marathon series of furious weekend tweets from Mar-a-Lago, Trump vented about Russia, raging at the FBI for what he perceived to be a fixation on the Russia investigation at the cost of failing to deter the Florida school attack. 
 
 ___ 
 
 Danilova reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Jonathan Lemire contributed to this report.
– National Rifle Association members have been told they won't be allowed to pack heat when Mike Pence speaks at its national convention this week—and the irony was not lost on Parkland school shooting survivors, among others. "You're telling me to make the VP safe there aren't any weapons around but when it comes to children they want guns everywhere? Can someone explain this to me?” tweeted former student Matt Deitsch, who helped organize the March for Our Lives rallies. The NRA says "firearms and firearm accessories, knives, or weapons of any kind will be prohibited in the forum" during the vice president's Friday appearance at the Dallas event because of Secret Service regulations, Slate reports. An NRA spokesman tells the Washington Post that even in open-carry states like Texas, it is against the law to bring firearms into areas being visited by Secret Service protectees. Parkland student David Hogg has circulated a petition that urges Pence to cancel the appearance, calling it a "slap in the face" to Americans hurting from gun violence. A similar gun ban was in place when President Trump spoke at the NRA's convention in Atlanta last year. The Hill reports that White House officials have confirmed that Trump also plans to speak at this year's convention, which is being held from Thursday to Sunday and will feature more than 20 acres of firearms exhibits, according to organizers. (In his 2016 speech to the convention, Trump promised to ban gun-free zones nationwide if elected.)