President Trump Visits Atlanta Friday For NRA Convention

ATLANTA, GA — President Donald Trump is coming to Atlanta this week to speak at the National Rifle Association's annual convention. The three-day event is expected to draw more than 80,000 people to the Georgia World Congress Center.

Trump will speak at the NRA-ILA Leadership Forum on the convention's opening day Friday, which happens to be the deadline for a governmental shutdown in Washington. In his Atlanta visit, Trump will be the first president since Ronald Reagan to speak at an NRA annual convention.

Watch Replay: President Trump To Speak At NRA Convention In Atlanta

“The NRA is honored to have the president address our annual meeting at the leadership forum,” said NRA spokeswoman Jennifer Baker. “We’re excited to once again have a president who respects the Second Amendment.”

In his presidential run last year, Trump promised to champion gun rights, saying on the campaign trail that mass shootings would end on his watch and that Hillary Clinton “wants to take your guns away.” He was rewarded with the endorsement of the NRA and met with the group last year in Kentucky.

Georgia has been on the mind of the president in recent days: Two weeks ago he hosted 15 first responders at the Oval Office for their response to the I-85 collapse, in which no lives were lost. Last week, Trump weighed in on Georgia's 6th District House of Representatives race. Using his favorite medium, Trump blasted Democrat and top vote-getter Jon Ossoff and commended Republican Karen Handel for staving off the 30-year-old first-time candidate's attempt to turn the district from red to blue.

Read more: President Trump To Attend Karen Handel Fundraiser Friday

Trump is scheduled to speak at 12:30 p.m. in Hall A3 of the Congress Center in downtown Atlanta, part of an area that he called "falling apart" and "crime infested" earlier this year in a Twitter rant against Rep. John Lewis, who represents it as part of Atlanta's 5th Congressional District.

Former Super Bowl champion kicker Adam Vinatieri will also be on site, signing autographs beginning Friday in Booth 2429.

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