Nelson Commons will be hosting a Friends of NRA banquet and auction tomorrow with firearms and memorabilia on display.
The event was moved to Nelson after outgrowing The Inn at Hocking College about 10 years ago, said Pete Couladis, Athens County Republican Party chairman and a member of the organizing committee.
Couladis said the shotguns and pistols will be unloaded and cannot be taken from the event. Attendees purchase tickets that will be redeemed at a gun shop, he said.
The people who want to ban fire arms certainly don't care for this (event)
but they're a very small and noisy minority he said.
Both Baker University Center and Athens Police Department signed off on the event, Couladis said.
Acceptable uses of firearms on campus include museum displays and military science training, according to Ohio University policy and procedure. It reads, Weapons in possession of non-university groups conducting legitimate business on campus and under the approval and supervision of the Office of Campus Safety.
University Police Chief Andrew Powers said firearms may seem out of place on a college campus, but they are a part of this area's culture.
My sense is from talking to people who have been here in the past and have knowledge on this
it's a well-controlled event
Powers said.
More than 300 people attended the event last year, and about 200 have signed up so far for this year's banquet.
Tickets cost $50 each, with half the proceeds going to the NRA foundation and the remainder returning to the state for distribution to groups promoting gun safety.
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