Trump campaign holds watch party at Georgia gun range days after school shooting

Less than a week after a shooting at a Georgia high school left four people dead, former President Donald Trump’s campaign is holding one of its larger debate watch parties at a suburban Atlanta firearms outlet that bills itself as “The World’s Largest Gun Store.”

The Republican’s campaign said the decision to hold the event at Adventure Outdoors was made in June, months before the mass shooting at Apalachee High School took place. Democrats and gun control advocates said it was callous and insensitive to keep the event at the gun shop after the killings.

“Holding a political debate party at a gun range is completely out of step with the vast majority of voters who are scared to send their kids to school and not have them come home,” said state Sen. Sally Harrell, one of the Democrats who have pressed for more restrictions on firearms in Georgia.

Authorities charged 14-year-old Colt Gray with four counts of felony murder in the Sept. 4 deaths of two teachers and two students at the Barrow County school. His father, Colin Gray, is charged with second-degree murder and other crimes. Warrants allege he gave the teenager access to the semiautomatic gun used in the shooting “with knowledge that he was a threat to himself and others.”

Adventure Outdoors has long been a popular venue for nonpolitical events, such as weddings and fundraisers. The giant Cobb County gun shop is also a favorite campaign stop for Republicans.

Country crooner Travis Tritt raffled off guns outside Adventure Outdoors to supporters of then-U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler in December 2020. Gov. Brian Kemp and failed U.S. Senate hopeful Herschel Walker picked the store for their sole joint event in 2022. And when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis visited Georgia shortly before he announced his presidential bid, he made a beeline for the sprawling suburban outpost.

“This narrative is intentionally misleading. The watch party was booked months ago in an incredibly popular community event space. It has hosted countless weddings, rallies and events over the years,” Georgia Team Trump spokesperson Morgan Ackley said.

Republicans say there’s a strategic reason for visiting a store that anchors a busy intersection in Cobb County, a suburb that was once an important GOP stronghold but is now a Democratic bastion. Democrat Joe Biden carried Cobb by 14 percentage points in 2020.

Democrats and gun control advocacy groups predict the decision to keep the event at the gun store will haunt Republicans in November. Moms Demand Action, one of the most prominent gun safety organizations in the nation, said it was “insensitive, gross and reprehensible.”

State Rep. Michelle Au, who during a news conference last week called for the Georgia General Assembly to pass a bill to help prevent children from accessing guns, noted that Georgia Democrats scrapped events shortly after the assassination attempt on Trump’s life in July.

“Sometimes that’s the price we pay to be appropriate in a time of a fresh tragedy,” she said.

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