Woman refuses to sing national anthem at baseball game after team bans guns

Alishia Wolcott was supposed to sing the national anthem before a minor league baseball game in Nevada this summer. But when the team enacted a policy that prevented her from bringing her gun, she bowed out, The Associated Press reported.

"I will not sing our national anthem at a place that seeks to strip me of my Second Amendment rights," Wolcott wrote in a letter to the team, the Reno Aces.

What's the story?

Wolcott earned her concealed carry permit earlier this year, and carries a Glock 43 9 mm pistol with her for protection. She keeps it with her because she doesn't feel safe walking around at night, she said.

While the Reno Aces always banned guns at the stadium by rule, the team recently began requiring metal detector checks at the gate. Wolcott and her husband, when they first saw the metal detectors when walking up to the stadium last weekend, decided to go home rather than put their guns back in the car.

"When I walked up to the game on Saturday and saw the way security was checking people, I realized the hand wand wasn't going to stop someone who has ill intentions," Wolcott said, according to the Reno Gazette Journal.

Wolcott was set to sing the national anthem before a future game, but declined the invitation after realizing she wouldn't be allowed to carry it for protection when attending the game, and walking back to her car through downtown Reno at night.

"By taking away our right to self-protection, all you have done is made them more vulnerable to attack," Wolcott wrote to the team. "You have fallen prey to the absurd idea that American citizens need only trust their government for protection. This is indeed a lie and a blatant disregard for our constitutional rights."

Wolcott said she considered using the national anthem opportunity as a platform to advocate for gun rights, but she has "too much respect for the national anthem" to do that.

How did the team respond?

The president of the Reno Aces, Eric Edelstein, issued a statement to The Associated Press:

"We have joined every other major ticketed sports facility in Reno as well as every Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer venue in the United States in the use of metal detection," Edelstein wrote. "The list of prohibited items at Greater Nevada Field has remained unchanged since our inception in 2009. We will always place fan safety as our top priority at our stadium."