A Nevada woman defending her Second Amendment rights refused an invitation to sing the national anthem before a minor league baseball game.
Alishia Wolcott was supposed to sing the national anthem before a Reno Aces baseball game this summer but backed out when she found out the team had enacted a policy which would not allow her to bring her gun, The Associated Press reported.
“I will not sing our national anthem at a place that seeks to strip me of my Second Amendment rights,” Wolcott wrote in a letter to the Reno Aces. “Nor will I be attending any future events at Ace’s ballpark while these things take place.”
Wolcott received her concealed carry permit earlier this year and said, since she doesn’t feel safe walking at night in downtown Reno where the stadium is located, she planned to have her Glock 43 9 mm pistol with her for protection.
The Reno Aces had already banned guns at the stadium but recently began to require being checked at metal detectors at the gate before entering the ballpark. Arriving at the stadium last weekend, Wolcott and her husband decided to skip the game rather than return their weapons to their car once they saw the gate check.
“When I walked up to the game on Saturday and saw the way security was checking people, I realized the hand wand wasn’t going to stop someone who has ill intentions,” Wolcott said, according to the Reno Gazette Journal.
“We walked away angry and disappointed … Disappointed because it happened at a venue that hosts one of America’s favorite pastimes,” she wrote in her letter to the Aces, informing them of her decision.
Wolcott admitted she thought about using the chance to sing national anthem as a platform to advocate for gun rights. “But, I have too much respect for the national anthem and the time dedicated for it,” she said.
“By taking away our right to self-protection, all you have done is made them more vulnerable to attack,” Wolcott wrote. “You have fallen prey to the absurd idea that American citizens need only trust their government for protection. This is indeed a lie and a blatant disregard for our constitutional rights.”
Eric Edelstein, the president of the Reno Aces, responded in a statement to The Associated Press:
“We have joined every other major ticketed sports facility in Reno as well as every Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer venue in the United States in the use of metal detection,” Edelstein wrote. “The list of prohibited items at Greater Nevada Field has remained unchanged since our inception in 2009. We will always place fan safety as our top priority at our stadium.”
See Wolcott’s audition video to the Reno Aces below:
Via BizPAC
