NRA official, gun rights activist duped into fake graduation ceremony – By Rory Appleton (Las Vegas Review-Journal) / June 24 2021
An organization headed by the parents of a child killed during the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, tricked two prominent gun rights advocates into speaking at a fake high school commencement rehearsal held this month at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds.
The two speakers addressed a field of 3,044 empty white chairs secretly meant to signify the number of students in the 2021 nationwide graduating class whose lives were cut short by gun violence.
Change the Ref, led by Manuel and Patricia Oliver, posted clips on Wednesday of the speeches given by former National Rifle Association President David Keene and economist and former Department of Justice adviser John Lott as part of a three-video documentary filmed on June 4. The videos also include interviews with Manuel and Patricia, whose 17-year-old son, Joaquin, was killed in 2018, and clips from 911 calls and other school shooting-related media.
“We want to tell everyone that this could happen to you at any moment,” Manuel Oliver told the Review-Journal in an interview Thursday. “You’re not safe or an exception when it comes to being a victim of gun violence. This is not a school problem — not a Parkland, Las Vegas, New York, Los Angeles problem. This is a national epidemic that America seems not to be able to solve.”
