NRA convention begins in Atlanta with lack of political firepower

The largest gathering of National Rifle Association members of the year is coming to Atlanta for an annual convention that starts today. But it’s not quite the political moment it once was.

Sure, there will still be the famed “Wall of Guns” showcasing the latest in lethal gadgetry. Lawyers will lead seminars on firearms laws. And there’s a brunch touted as an “unforgettable gathering of like-minded women."

But the four-day conference at the Georgia World Congress Center is lacking some high-caliber punch. The speaker list is devoid of many prominent state and national politicians.

Most notably, President Donald Trump is skipping this year’s shindig. The Reload, an outlet that covers the nuances of firearms policy, reports that it’s the first time since 2015 that Trump is missing the annual meeting.

“Though President Trump is unable to attend the NRA’s 2025 Annual Meeting, he is always welcome on our stage to address our members and has done so on nine occasions over the last decade,” the NRA told the outlet.

Recall that back in October, Trump scrapped a planned NRA rally in Savannah, citing a scheduling conflict.

That’s not to suggest Trump is recalibrating his support for gun rights. After another school shooting this week, Trump again rejected calls for stricter firearms limits — a familiar trend in state and national GOP politics.

The convention brings to mind the NRA’s loaded history in Georgia. In 2018, the pro-gun group endorsed then-Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle in the race for governor over Brian Kemp, his bitter rival for the GOP nomination. It was a major moment.

NRA leaders made amends for the snub four years later, endorsing Kemp’s reelection bid shortly after he signed a law that allows Georgians to carry concealed firearms without a permit.

Atlanta was also the site of the NRA convention in 2017, when Trump became the first sitting president since Ronald Reagan to address the group. He used his speech to an adoring crowd to declare that the threat to “Second Amendment freedoms has come to a crashing end” with his White House victory.

Things to know

Credit: Ben Hendren for the AJC

Credit: Ben Hendren for the AJC

Good morning! Gov. Brian Kemp has 20 days left to either sign or veto bills passed by the state Legislature this year. He’s signed 10 bills into law so far and hasn’t vetoed anything yet. Follow along at the AJC’s Legislative Navigator.

Here are three things to know for today:

Short list gone long

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

The Judicial Nominating Commission received nearly two dozen applications for the seat left open by former Georgia Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Boggs. Gov. Brian Kemp will have some familiar faces to consider.

Appeals Court Judges Ben Land and Trea Pipkin are on the list. So is Charlene McGowan, an election law expert who now serves as the general counsel to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger’s office.

Then there’s Cobb Superior Court Judge Vic Reynolds, whom Kemp tapped to lead the Georgia Bureau of Investigation in 2019 before appointing him to the bench.

We counted seven other superior court judges, one federal magistrate judge, three prosecutors, a public defender and a law professor.

If Land’s name looks especially familiar, he wrote the blistering dissent in the 2-1 decision in December that disqualified Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the election interference case against Donald Trump and his allies.

Drug dealing

Credit: Nathan Posner for The AJC

Credit: Nathan Posner for The AJC

Lawmakers at all levels have been pushing to rein in pharmacy benefit managers, often described as the middlemen of the U.S. health care industry and blamed for driving up costs of prescription drugs.

Lawmakers’ goal is to prevent these companies from owning pharmacies, which critics say makes it easier for them to run independent pharmacists out of business. Last week, Arkansas became the first state to do this under a law signed by Republican Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders. And U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter, a Republican from St Simons Island and a potential 2026 U.S. Senate candidate, has backed federal legislation to do the same thing.

Georgia isn’t going that far. But a bill sitting on Gov. Brian Kemp’s desk would regulate how much these pharmacy benefit managers pay for drugs administered through the State Health Benefit Plan. The goal is to make sure they’re paying independent pharmacies at about the same level as their own pharmacies.

It’s unclear whether Kemp will sign it into law. He vetoed similar legislation last year because he said it would have cost the state up to $45 million — money the Legislature had not budgeted.

This year’s bill is different because it ties the price to the national average drug acquisition cost, plus a dispensing fee. It’s estimated to cost the state $1.2 million, although state officials say there could be some savings.

Open waters

Business and agricultural interests have been trying to limit the federal government’s power to regulate wetlands, a conflict that has played out in courtrooms across the country against left-leaning environmental groups.

Today, that fight comes to an Atlanta federal courtroom as some Georgia groups continue their long-running quest to punish developers for filling in wetlands next to a hotel in Glynn County.

The lawsuit is their attempt to enforce the federal Clean Water Act. But a 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision significantly narrowed that law’s scope. Sea Island Company, the owners of the wetland, now say that law doesn’t apply to them. Last year, a federal judge agreed.

Environmental groups appealed, and today a panel of judges on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals is scheduled to hear oral arguments in the case.

“The health of our environment is directly threatened by attempts to dodge regulatory protections for wetlands and waterways,” said David Kyler, co-founder and director of the Center for a Sustainable Coast, one of the parties of the lawsuit.

Critics, including the Pacific Legal Foundation, have argued the federal government under the Biden administration of trying to water down the Supreme Court’s ruling and accused environmental groups of seeking to “pick up where the government left off.”

“This Court should not let private citizens aid and abet administrative overreach,” the group wrote in a brief before the court.

Gun sniffing dogs

Credit: AJC file photo

Credit: AJC file photo

The Cobb County Board of Education is scheduled to vote tonight on whether to purchase some specially trained dogs that can sniff out guns and explosives — in some cases up to 10 minutes after the materials have passed through an area.

The district already has two of these dogs, which are trained using the Vapor Wake technique developed by researchers at Auburn University. The board will vote tonight on whether to purchase more “on an as-needed basis.”

The vote shows how elected officials across Georgia are reacting to the deadly shooting at Apalachee High School in Barrow County last year. The state Legislature OK’d a few school safety bills, including one expanding the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s subpoena power to investigate threats.

The most obvious reaction for local school boards has been to install specialized metal detectors. That’s what the Barrow County Board of Education decided to do in January, after a second student was caught bringing a gun to school (no one was injured in that incident).

Gun-sniffing dogs offer an alternative to metal detectors, which some critics say can create a prison-like atmosphere at school. But they’re not cheap. The total estimated cost for the Cobb County School District is $450,000.

Deportation debate

Credit: Mark Schiefelbein/AP

Credit: Mark Schiefelbein/AP

White House border czar Tom Homan evoked the memory of Laken Riley when he defended the Trump administration’s deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

“I think he got plenty of due process. He got more due process than Laken Riley got,” Homan said, referring to the young woman who was killed on the University of Georgia campus by a man who was living in the country without legal permission.

Abrego Garcia was deported despite a court order that allowed him to remain in the U.S. Homan, speaking to reporters on Wednesday, referred to him as an “MS-13 gang member.” His lawyers say there is no evidence he is a member of any gang.

Homan also argued Americans are safer with Abrego Garcia out of the country, pointing to a 2021 protective order filed by his wife alleging he punched her during an argument. She later said the couple had worked things out privately and has campaigned for his release.

Listen up

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

Today on “Politically Georgia,” AJC City Hall reporter Riley Bunch joins the show to break down Atlanta’s $20 million budget shortfall. Then, on the 100th anniversary of Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, business reporter Emma Hurt explains the history of state efforts to take over the airport.

Have a question or comment for the show? Email us at politicallygeorgia@ajc.com or give us a call at 770-810-5297 and you could be featured on a future episode.

You can listen and subscribe to the show for free at Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

Trump today

President Donald Trump will meet at the White House with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre of Norway and then attend a fundraising dinner for his MAGA Inc. super PAC.

Shoutouts

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

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Before you go

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

Several Republican lawmakers shared their listening habits with the Young Republicans of Georgia, but the choices of state Sen. Drew Echols stood out. The Gainesville Republican favors “a mix of Tupac, country and Christian music.”

That’ll do it for us today. As always, you can send your best scoops, gossip and insider info to greg.bluestein@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com and adam.beam@ajc.com.