So, the Dragoncon app has dropped.
The Armory and its associated track are no more.
Stop. Fucking. Panicking.
I get it, I get it, I really do. There's been a lot of politicized bullshit in fandom over the last few years. Everything from Larry Correia's bullshit dis-invitation as a guest of honor at Origins to a bullshit attempt to kick John Ringo out of ConCarolinas. I can see how the sudden loss of a museum and track all about weapons can be seen as a sign that Dragoncon is bending to the political winds.
(I can especially see it in light of the Dragoncon after dark vanishing a few years back, but that's neither here nor there.)
But stop and think for a minute.
Has it ever occurred to you what a ginormous logistical pain in the ass the Armory must have been? Hiring uniformed, sworn officers as security 24/7 for a week ain't the kind of thing that's done on a shoestring budget, let alone transporting all of the exhibits from hither and yon into the depths of the Hyatt.
And holy shit, what exhibits they were! I was there the first year that Kevin Dockery was enjoying the bragging rights that came with bringing everything from a stone age flint knife to a suitcase nuke.
(Don't look at me like that. It wasn't loaded.)
I was able to show con friends some of the heavy weapons I used in the wars, like a Ma Deuce and a Mk19. I could show friends a Hitler's zipper and point out how some aftermarket motorcycle parts and a Steadicam rig made it the smart gun from ALIENS. Tens of thousands of fans could see a flamethrower or an Uzi or something pintle-mounted up close for the first time.
FFS, I saw a China Lake grenade launcher in there once. There's only a dozen of those still confirmed to exist in the world.
And they did it year after year, and that was awesome. But all good things do come to an end.
Remember a few years back, when a gun maker (that also did prop replicas) got their booth at Wizard World Chicago shut down within hours thanks to screeching complaints? They were one of the sponsors the Armory had to find every year in order to have the museum.
(I won't comment on the bright idea of having a booth in Chicago, of all fucking places.)
If you dropped by the Armory last year, you might have noticed there was only one museum room, and it was full of blades.
And the con has only gotten bigger. And competition for space has only gotten more fierce.
The Palmetto Knights are still around. And I'm sure there will be plenty of weaponry-heavy panels here and there every con for decades to come.
But calm the fuck down. The Armory wasn't driven out by some nebulous mob of social justice bullies that just hadn't noticed it's been there for almost a decade.
It slowly closed in the face of cold hard numbers.
So stop screaming that it's gone.
Revel in the fact that it was there.

And this is why I mostly stopped commenting on other people's FB walls years ago.
When you crush their argument, see it driven before you, and hear the lamentation of their talking points, and it still gets nothing done, you don't have much left in you to go on to the next one.
( EDIT: So, here's a recap. Identities redacted to protect the innocent and guilty alike.  )

FRIEND ON THEIR WALL: "Can we X?"

ME: "Nope. Here's why. (Cut and paste from old essay written to answer this the last dozen times I've been asked.)"

RANDO FRIEND OF FRIEND: "And how often does (specific circumstances) happen? Show five examples in the past five years."

ME: "Ma'am, I don't know you and I don't work on demands. Try saying please next time. Or pound sand, I don't really care."

FRIEND: "Interesting. But Q has happened. Is that a game changer?"

RFOF: "YOU'RE EVIL!!! AND YOUR PENIS IS TINY!!! REAL EXPERTS HAVE SOURCES! YOU DEVIL WITH TWO INCHES!!"

FRIEND: "Um, peanut gallery? I actually respect Jay's work here."

RFOF #2: "Oh shit! RFOF is gonna rip your ass in half!"

FRIEND: "Jay, here's the study. (cites) If we can save one life, isn't it worth it?"

ME: "Oh, the 'if we can save just one?' argument. The one that will never need to be proven, because it's impossible to prove a negative. Here's a laundry list of all the unintended consequences, several of which have happened. Don't see the risk justifying the rewards here, mate."

RFOF #3: (Insert bullshit misleading but fits on a tshirt phrase with no citation here)

ME: "Oh, and since it took me about five seconds of googling and two minutes of compiling, here's all the examples RFOF asked for. Within two years. And I didn't even need Fox news to do it." *buffs nails*

RFOF: *incoherent screech* YOU MICROPEENED ASSHOLE! THIS WILL NOT STAND, MS. BARBARIAN!"

ME: "Bodyshamed AND misgendered by a good woke liberal? The Harem's gonna find this one hilarious. You've got some fucking salty ones in your peanut gallery here, mate."

FRIEND: "Interesting points. Got data? I'm not finding anything immediate on Google."

RFOF: "Ok, so in how many of these cases did they NEED (weapon)?"

ME: "No.
Fuck you, Ms. (redacted), you blitheringly ignorant cumstain.
You don't get to backpedal now that I've called you out for the bodyshaming, misgendering, self-righteous lubedribble that you've behaved like thus far.
All I asked from you is manners, and all you've given me is trash.
And now that I've called you on your bullshit, you want to move the goalposts.
Sit on it and rotate."

RFOF 2: "OMFG!!!!" *faints*

ME: (Blocking RFOF as I speak) "The Bowne case is the current poster child for restrictive laws getting people needlessly killed. Everything else, I'll look in the usual suspects. But going back to 94? It's gonna be hard to find anyone that asked those questions back then, but I'll keep an eye out."

FRIEND: *surveys destruction* "That escalated quickly. Thanks for participating, folks, but I'm gonna close this thread now."

ATTACK HAREM GIRL IN ANOTHER COUNTRY: *falls over laughing*

RFOF 3-5: *Ignores Friends requests and continue blathering*

ME: *switches to DM* "Sorry about that one, mate. But I got boundaries, and, well..." *waves hand*

So, the latest round of ctrl-left constitutional scholars are lamenting the fact that the US isn't arresting various packs of Nazi wannabes; and using really piss-poor interpretations of First Amendment restrictions to try and prove it.
The short answer is that Nazi wannabes aren't in jail for their racist bullshit for the same reason a wide swath of the ctrl-left isn't in jail for various instances of eat the rich bullshit and guillotine nonsense.
Long story short, advocating violence in general is still protected speech. A lot of people like to quote "clear and present danger" while ignoring that it was replaced in the 60's by a test of "intent, imminence, and likelihood."
In other words, advocating violence against martians in general is still considered protected (and for good reason, as it covers a massive amount of ground a lot of people aren't considering). But a call to "kill that bunch of martians across the street right now!" would be a prosecutable offense.
And while some of the madam defarge wannabes are getting as disturbing as they are fucking annoying about it, I personally think it's a good tradeoff.