Snowflakes in Hell

Sailorcurt is not alone in his disappointment that NRA has picked an off limits venue for the Annual Meeting. I would obviously rather be at a venue that allows carry as well, and this has been a constant complaint I’ve heard from members. It was nice in Kentucky and Phoenix because it was allowed. But NRA has competing interests to deal with in this regard.

NRA moves its Annual Meeting every year so that every once in a while, if you’re an NRA member, one will be coming to your neighborhood and you’ll have an opportunity to attend. They try to have it in places where as many NRA members as possible are within the radius of a day’s drive. Because the NRA Annual Meeting draws approximately 60,000 to 70,000 people, prominent political figures, a fair amount of media, and has some very significant space requirements, the number of venues that are capable of handling it is very limited, and it’s getting more limited as the meeting gets larger. For instance, Phoenix’s convention center is brand new and was built large enough to handle a convention of our size, and that opened that city up as a possibility which NRA took advantage of last year. We set a record for the largest single meal ever served in the history of Arizona. The Annual Members Banquet drew, if I recall, something like 6000 people.

The fact is there just aren’t that many venues scattered around the country that can handle a convention that large, with NRA’s room and space requirements, that also don’t have issues with carry. NRA’s alternative would be to always have the convention in Pittsburgh, Louisville, Houston and Phoenix. That would be great for people who carry, but would kind of suck for people who would never get to go because there was never any venue that was good enough.

I would also consider that the amount of money NRA brings to an area is not an inconsiderable incentive to improve laws in an area. Governor Jan Brewer, at the Phoenix Convention, announced support for cleaning up the restaurant carry situation while we were in Phoenix, and it wasn’t that long after we left that we had a fix. If we go back to Phoenix, that’s going to be nice not to have to deal with having to run back to the hotel to dump off a gun because you go to a place for lunch that serves alcohol, even if you don’t plan on drinking. I’m not saying we’ll be able to repeat that performance with North Carolina, but it’s not outside the realm of possibility. If politicians are impressed enough with the amount of money we bring into the region, and the positive publicity we get for their convention center (a favorite pork project of state level pols everywhere), they just might come asking what they have to do to get us to come back.

Just some things to keep in mind before getting angry about the situation. Nobody really likes it, but choices are limited, and someone is going to end up getting stiffed one way or another, no matter which direction you go.

I should direct your attention to Eric Shelton’s Handgun Podcast.  He was one of the attendees at the 2A Blog Bash last weekend, and has some coverage of the NRA Annual Meeting here and here.  Go have a listen.  His podcast has around 3000 downloads in the week, and it’s of very high quality.

Thirdpower offers his perspective on the NRA Annual Meeting / Blog Bash of 2009.  He was also one of the Bash sponsors, since he donated a bunch of the stickers and patches he’s been hawking.

Dave Adams has a video of some of the local news coverage of NRA’s event in Phoenix.  Local coverage, I’m told, was almost universally positive.  Phoenix has been particularly hard hit by the economic downturn, and I think they are happy just to have the money.

I think Captain Bob and the Damsel were two folks I didn’t get a chance to meet, but I’m glad it looks like they found plenty to write about on the exhibit hall floor:

One stop we had to make was at the Para booth. We wanted to personally meet Todd Jarett and Kerby Smith, both of whom helped get Damsel on the right track shooting her Warthog. It was Michael Bane who introduced us to the Para team in the first place and they took it from there. Damsel spoke briefly to Todd, who virtually gave her instruction on short barrel large caliber firearms training for women via a video that Kerby sent her. We wanted to thank them both for the training and for the extraordinary Para customer service.

Glad to hear it.  Todd is the master, but Kerby is no slouch either when it comes to shooting.  Hopefully I’ll find time this year to review some of their 1911s.

This one from JD, who attended the Annual Meeting and Blog Bash from California.  Seems someone at Charter Arms doesn’t realize that a joke you’d make over beers with your buddies isn’t necessarily the kind of thing you say to someone with a media badge.  What if it had been Reuters, CNN, or the New York Times?

US Citizen of Traction Control, who is a super nice guy for those of you who’ve never met him in real life, goes up to this guy at the NRA Banquet reception, who turns out is an NRA board member, and just starts talking to him.  It was Jim Gilmore, former Governor of Virginia.  Before you know it, they were golfing buddies.

Para has pretty much completed their move to North Carolina by this point, so I wanted to stop by, and talk to Kerby Smith, who arranged the whole thing with Todd Jarrett at Blackwater for us last year, and see which of their products they were excited about this year.  This year they are touting their PXT 1911 Gun Rights Edition:

The production version will come with an NRA inscription on the token on the grip instead of the standard token showing here, and they donate a portion of the sale to NRA-ILA.   They also make a high capacity version of this 1911:

That’s Kerby holding the gun. He might have a career in hand modeling if he gets bored with this whole public relations thing. Finally, they are offering a plain government model 1911 called the GI Expert:

Para touts this as an entry level 1911.  This model is pretty much a vanilla 1911, without the Para Power Extractor, and with a GI guide rod.  Kerby offered to send me some of these guns to try out, and write about them, and I might take him up on it at some point.  I just have to figure out whether I know enough about 1911s to be able to say anything intelligent in regards to how it performs compared to other 1911s.

I just posted some very random facts about the NRA Annual Meeting and Second Amendment Blog Bash^TM over at my blog. If you’re curious about exactly how many people attended, how much was raised, how many publishers participated, and more, then check it out.

I will follow up here with an in-depth report on how the NRA Board of Directors results came out. It was all very interesting, and I know that the endorsed candidates who did interviews here were very appreciative of the support and very excited to see the interest from Sebastian’s readers through the questions submitted.

The Ruger rep in the booth seemed to be pretty interested in telling me about their patented gas system.  Here are some pictures showing here:

They described this as a two stage gas piston, meaning the first little nub there gets the gas piston starting to move back, but with less impulse than a normal gas piston AR.  They claim this reduces felt recoil, since the gas rod accelerates more slowly rearward.

The Ruger rep was anxious to show me their gas regulator.  It ships on setting two, which is good enough for most commercial ammunition.  He said you could turn up the gas for lighter loads, or turn it down for higher loads.  You could also turn it completely off for suppressor use.

Now ends the Second Amendment Blog Bash for 2009, and with it the NRA Annual Meetings and Exhibits. Now it’s onward to Charlotte, North Carolina in 2010. Blogging will be a bit light today as I fly out, but I do still have a few more posts in the pipe about Annual Meeting.

I’d like to thank everyone who came, especially our Arizona contingent, Kevin, Exurban Kevin, Eric, Arizona Rifleman, Found One Troll, The Byrnes, Cowboy Blob, Dustin, Great Satan Inc, Primeval Papa, Danno, Desert Rat and finally, Dave Hardy. The Arizona bloggers and podcasters could not have been more gracious and welcoming hosts, and we thank them. They were awesome people, and we hope to see some of them in Charlotte next year.

We’re off to attend a portion of the NRA Board of Directors Meeting, then headed out to the airport to fly home.

I took some of your questions to the Ruger Rep, so I will go over them.  These aren’t his exact words, they are mine, but I jotted down the gist of the answers:

The MSRP seems a little high, doesn’t it?

I didn’t actually ask this, because you and I both know they will sell them at the price they are asking.  They are already backordered.

Do you have any plans to sell just the upper?

There aren’t any plans for that as of yet.  They will sell the complete rifle.

Are there any plans to offer this in other calibers?

Not at this time, no.

Do you manufacture your own lowers?

No.  They buy the receiver.  They do make their own chrome lined forged barrel.  They said making a quality lower was a skill they don’t have in house, so they ordered out.  But they did say they would not ruling out making lowers if it make sense for them in the future.

How does the rifle compare to the H&K 416/MR556?

It’s lighter, cheaper, and available to civilians now.  I’d also say that Ruger probably doesn’t think you suck, and hate you.

Will you offer rifles with Magpul MOE equipment?

There will be a variety of accessories available.

Will there be a neutered version for people who live in states with assault weapons bans?

Yes, there are plans for that.  But Ruger wouldn’t suggest when it might be available.

Kevin Baker has some pretty good coverage of our event.  He met a few famous people, saw some interesting hardware, has some pretty good coverage of our state association session, and talks about a good cause that Crimson Trace is supporting.

I stopped by the Crossman booth to see if they had any of their new air guns on display, so I could take a look at one, as I’m looking to do air gun rifle, since I figure if shooting air gun can do for my rifle shooting what it’s done for my pistol shooting, we’ll be in good shape:

Sadly, they didn’t have any of the new rifles, but I took a look at some of their other models, got some swag, and got some tips on my 2300S that I shoot air pistol silhouette with.

First time I’ve gotten to see a fourth generation Glock in person:

A lot of people don’t like the fish gills.  I don’t have any problem with them.  To me it’s an improvement, as it gives you a better grip on the slide.  The sandpaper like grips I think also work from the point of view that it feels good in your hands, but I’m skeptical about it from a concealment point of view, in that I am concerned that a sandpaper like grip rubbing against my clothes during concealment will destroy my clothes.  I’ve lost more than a few shirts to guns, and while the Glock is easier on clothing than a lot of other pistols, I hope it stays that way with the 4th generation models.

Attendance here is phenomenal. I heard 47,000 people Friday. That on track for a record. I don’t think NRA was expecting that.

We’re about to go to the banquet, which will be the largest single meal served in the history of Arizona. If the Brady Campaign wants to know why they aren’t getting any traction, they should come to Phoenix.

“If you compare the pro-gun activity in the blogosphere versus the pro-gun-control activity, the scales have just tipped tremendously in their favor,” says Josh Sugarmann, founder of the Violence Policy Center in Washington, which advocates for more gun control in the US.

I’ll take that, Josh.  Thanks for the recognition, it’s great to know we’re appreciated.

I will do my best here to live blog the event, which should begin shortly.  NRA puts on a good piece of political theater, which is what this forum is, pretty much.

12:17: Wayne has arrived to applause, and is walking the aisles greeting members.

12:26: Program starts with a video by Wayne LaPierre.  It’s a big about the War of 1812, and the role of militiamen.   Now we’re getting to the siege of Fort McHenry and the creation of the Star Spangled Banner.  “Without the right to keep and bear arms, our country would be a very different place today.”

12:30: Lawrence Brown sings the national anthem.

12:33: John Sigler leads the Pledge of Allegiance, and begins his speech.

12:36: Sigler introduces Wayne to a thunderous standing ovation.

12:38: Wayne asks military and police members “Anyone who carries a gun in the defense of justice” and asks the crowd to applaud.

12:39: “Everyone in this room is on the same page, when we consider what honor means to all of us.”

12:40: “Americans offers more freedom than any other place on the planet.”  Sadly, he’s right about this, and I think that’s a sad statement.

12:41: Wayne is speaking of the challenge of preserving the constitution, and passing the values onto the next generation.

12:43: “Some people work hard to give away the very freedoms that make us special.  And they do so without remorse.”

12:45: Now Wayne is bashing the media, as I sit here in the media booth.  That’s kind of funny, if you ask me.

12:48: Wayne speaks of the internationalist gun control movement.  “All is not lost.  The American People get it.”

12:50: “A disarmed people will not remain a free people.”

12:51: “If it weren’t for America, there would be no freedom in the world.  If it weren’t for the Second Amendment, there would be no America.  And if it weren’t for the Members of the National Rifle Association, there would be no Second Amendment.”

12:50: Chris Cox is up.  He gets polite applause.

12:51: Jokes about having to follow Wayne every year.

12:52: He’s going down the list of legislation we’ve been facing.

12:53: “HR 45 is DOA.”  “We got the Defense Department to change it’s policies on the brass.”

12:54: “Obama deserves credit where credit is due, for the only part of the economy that’s going strong — Gun sales.”

12:55: Chris Cox introduces Governor Jan Brewer, who welcomes us all to Arizona.

12:55: “We’re so excited that you’re here.”   Their economy is hurting, so that’s probably pretty correct.

12:56: Governor Brewer gives a shout out to Sandy Froman, Todd Rathner, and Landis Aden.

12:56: “It happens to be the ARPA’s 100th anniversary.”

12:57: She reads Arizona’s RKBA’s provision, they stole it from Pennsylvania, but changed “questioned” to “impaired”   I guess here you can question it, but you better not impair it, or Governor Brewer will shoot you with a coach gun.

12:58: The Governor congratulates the newly elected NRA board members.  Arizona has six board members from Arizona.

12:59: “Now is not the time to rest on our laurels.”

01:00: “I’m not having any of that.” in reference to restricting our right to deal with Mexico’s problems.  “We should not cloud the issue or border security.  New gun laws are not the answer to the problem of increasing violence in Mexico.   Secure the border, and leave the freedoms of the United States Citizens alone!”

01:01: “Go out and see our beautiful state, and go out and spend lots of money!”  I guess they really do need it.

01:02: It’s time for video messages.  Dan Boren had to phone it in this time it seems.  Boren is probably the most pro-gun Democrat in the House.

01:03: “I vow to you that all the members of Congress that support the Second Amendment is not eroded by the political problems here in Washington.”

01:04: Chris introduces Michael Steele and actually gets a sanding ovation.  I guess they don’t know he’s not all that pro-gun.   I certainly didn’t expect that.

01:05: “I’ve learned in this job, you can’t please everyone, but you can tick them off all at the same time, and as the only Catholic African-American chair of the GOP, I’ve managed to tick off just about everyone.”

01:06: Says his job is to build a coalition to stop the excesses and the Democrats and Obama.

01:07: Steele also credits Obama with the surge in gun sales.

01:10: Steele is actually giving a pretty good speech, joking with the crowd and being engaging.

01:12: Michael Steele is getting all SNBI on us, suggesting that the Second Amendment means “Shall not be infringed” and that it’s pretty clear to him.

01:13: Steele takes a low shot at Pelosi that the crowd loves, on the issue of her being briefed on torture.

01:15: Steele is bringing up the Mexican gun canard, and asks whether anyone here thinks that makes any sense, “To restrict guns in America, in order to prevent crime in Mexico.”

01:17: I have to admit, I was skeptical about Steele being here, but he’s giving a really great speech.

01:18: Steele is speaking of the importance of the Supreme Court appointments “Instead of Justice Roberts, it sounds like he wants to put Dr. Phil on the Supreme Court.”

01:20: Steele says he doesn’t want a justice who will empathize with the people, but one who empathizes with the Constitution.  Here here.

01:22: “The last thing we need on The Court is a justice with an ideological agenda.”

01:26: Steele is done, and the crowd erupts in thunderous applause.   Make that a standing ovation.  He deserves it.  It was a good speech.  I was skeptical.  I even argued with ILA over the choice privately, someone there told me “He’ll get it right.  Trust me on this.”   I will admit, I was wrong :)

01:27: Saxby Chamblis is up, but he’s phoning it in.

01:29: Chris Cox is introducing John McCain.

01:30: John McCain gets pretty good applause, but not as good as Steele.  McCain is happy that the biggest dinner in the State of Arizona will be served at our banquet.

01:31: McCain thanks the NRA for their endorsement.

01:32: McCain thanks his individual supporters who pull out all the stops against the odds.

01:33: “Gun ownership is one of those liberties that deserve a passionate defense.”

01:34: McCain is praising the Heller decision.  Says he was proud to sign the amicus brief on behalf of Heller.

01:35: “As a realist, you know and I know that a 5-4 decision isn’t going to prevent the other side from looking for more restrictions.”

01:36: He keeps stressing that it was a 5-4 decision, and that we need to remain vigilant.

01:39: McCain is bringing up a new AWB. “Semi-automatic firearms are used by millions of law abiding gun owners and sportsmen.”  McCain has always understood this issue.

01:40: McCain is touting his vote on the National Park Bill, and thanks Tom Coburn.

01:41: The Mexican Gun canard again.  You’d think that NRA members were concerned about this or something.  McCain wants to assist Mexico, but does not want to use the issue as an excuse “to advance a second agenda aimed at restricting the rights of Americans.”   Debunks the 90% bullshit.

01:47: McCain wraps it up.  Crowd offers polite applause.

01:48: Chris Cox introduces Larry Potterfield, president of MidwayUSA, who sponsor this event.

01:50: Potterfield’s daughter just gave Chris Cox a giant check for 4.5 million dollars.

01:51: Potterfield is describing the NRA Round up program.  The check is the money that’s been raised through the roundup program.

01:53: Baucus is phoning it in too.   Is promising to stop a new assault weapons ban.

01:55: Chris Cox introduces Dick Heller, who gets a pretty good standing-o.

01:56: Heller is describing how DC City Government rolls when it comes to the constitution, particularly the Second Amendment.

01:57: Dick Heller talks about how long this fight took, and how long they worked preparing this case.  Advises patience among activists, saying we younger folks have a head start on the fight.

02:02: Dick Heller tells everyone to go out and recruit NRA members.  Stand up thing to say considering they didn’t initially want his case to go forward.   Now he’s saying we’re all on the same team, and have the same enemy.

02:04: “The little guy can fight city hall and win.”

02:05: Michael Reagan is up.  Man, he kind of looks like Ed Rendell.  That’s scary.

02:06: Says he was adopted, and “I thank God every day that Jimmy Carter wasn’t looking for a son.”

02:09: “If the Brady Campaign had been around when Cain killed Abel, they would have called for a fifteen day waiting period on rocks.”

02:13: “We were so lucky to have my father the President of the United States of America” which gets quite an applause.  Reagan closes with that.

02:14: Larry Potterfield introduces Ken Blackwell.

02:15: Blackwell’s speech focuses on engagement.

02:18: Blackwell asks Freedom lovers to stand up right now… but socialists to stay in their seats.  I have to sit to report this to you, which is kind of awkward :)

02:20: “Our rights are not grants form government, they are gifts from God!  Self evident truths granted to us by our creator.”

02:23: “We are now witnessing the most significant power grab in this country’s history.”

02:27: “Obama will have the opportunity to pack the federal courts.” and says we have to make our legislators aware of what we expect from Obama in terms of The Court appointment he’s about to make.

02:32: Blackwell wraps up, Chris Cox introduces Mike Ross of Arkansas, who is phoning it in.

02:36: Cong. Frank Kratovil, from the Eastern Shore of Maryland.  He’s a former prosecutor from Queen Anne County.  Lots of pro-gun people in that area of Maryland.

02:38: Now it’s Congressman Jason Altmire, who those of us in Pennsylvania know is quite pro-gun, and looks a bit like Mike Meyers.

02:40: Cox is introducing John Bolton, also known as “The Stache”

02:43: “President Obama is not a believer in American exceptionalism.”

02:46: Bolton is speaking of the hazards of international law creeping its way into American law, and the role of NGOs world wide in shaping American policy.   Left groups that have little success in the United States domestic policy often take their cause internationally and bring it back to the US in the form of a Treaty.

02:49: Just finished charing a Reuters reporter’s iPhone, which was running out, and she forgot to bring a charger.  I had one.  All I can say is she better write a good article on the forum :)

02:50: Bolton is bringing up CIFTA “This treaty is ambiguous” and “represents the camel’s nose in the tent.”  “It will be used as a precedent for domestic gun control.”

02:56: Governor Haley Barbour or Mississippi is up now.

02:57: The Governor tells a story about a guy he knew growing up that bought an M14, and someone asked him “What do you need an M14 for?” his response was “I don’t want anyone showing up on that side of the door that doesn’t have something I don’t have on this side of the door.”   How often to you hear a governor alluding to machine gun rights?

02:59: He’s talking about Katrina now, and speaks about the contrast between New Orleans confiscating people’s guns, and his orders that Missisippi would not be doing that.

03:09: Barbour is spending a lot of time talking about cap and trade.  Granted, I hate cap and trade, but this isn’t an energy policy crowd.

03:12: John Kyl phones it in?  Really?  This is your home state.  He speaking of the Great Mexican Gun Canard.

03:13: I agree.

03:15: NRA really needs to get these things down to like two hours.

03:16: Dick Morris is up now.

03:24: Again, wandering far afield on non-2a related matters.

03:30: Still going.

03:34: He’s done.

03:35: Oh boy, here comes Mitt the Shit.  Chris Cox incorrectly says “He was the first Republican Governor in a long time.”   Umm…. and Bill Weld and Jane Swift were Democrats?

03:36: I still think he made a deal with Satan.

03:37: “The Boston Chapter [of the NRA] is a little on the small side these days.”   I’m sure that’ll make Jim Wallace feel good.

03:38: Mitt says we’re here today to defend our constitution, and pass onto our children a legacy of liberty.

03:44: “The supreme voice in this country is not the government, it is the people.”

03:45: I don’t recall Romney ever being this conservative when he was Governor of Massachusetts.  But I’m sorry to admit I’d rather have him in the White House than the Big-O.

03:45: He just took a swipe at Harry Reid.   Unless we can turn the Senate around, which I don’t think we can do, for the gun issue we need to keep Harry Reid in office.  Harry Reid has been pretty pro-gun, and will keep bad bills from hitting the floor of the Senate.

03:50: Mitt is going far afield too.

03:51: Mitt just oozes.  I just don’t trust him.

03:55: Mitt keeps telling me things he thinks I want to hear.  It’s what he’s best at.

03:57: Mitt stands up loud and proud for torture.  I’m waiting for McCain to come out from the back and strangle him.

04:00: Mitt says we have a lot of work to do together, which I’m going to suspect involves helping him get elected for President in 2012.   We shall see.

4:00:  Wayne wraps it up.

What a crowd for a Friday.  This doesn’t even do it justice.

They had to ration escalater use in order not to exceed capacity and create a hazard.  People couldn’t get down to the exhibit floor fast enough, and the crowd was backing up all the way upstairs.  Registration was flooded:

Bitter is down covering the ribbon cutting ceremony.  NRA is this convention center’s first big convention.  In half an hour, Ruger will be making the announcement about its new product.  I’ll be getting pictures online as soon as I can.   I should probably head to the show floor shortly.

NRA-ILA brought along a special guest to the NRA-ILA Mix N’ Mingle:

The gentleman under the light in the suit is none other than Dick Heller.  Yeah, that Heller.  Really down to earth guy for someone involved in matters of such great importance.

Bitter recorded a brief interview with NRA News, talking about the blogger bash.  Should be going on the air sometime on tonight’s show, which begins at 6PM our time here, and 9PM Eastern Time.   Tune in if you like, either on the web or on Sirius Satellite Radio 144.

There always seems to be some kind of pro-gun activity going on in the state the NRA Annual Meeting happens in around the time it’s going on.  The House in Arizona has passed a Parking Lot Bill.  Sadly they had to pick a bill to support NRA on that I don’t agree with.

Sorry about the lack of blogging folks, but I spent from 5:30AM until now on a plane.  But we are on the ground in Phoenix, and trying to get the Blog Bash started.  Unfortunately, I had to miss an invite from Michael Bane to shoot Ruger’s new product.  No word yet for sure on what it actually is, but we’ll find out on Friday.  I guess I could have found out today, but wouldn’t be able to say anything until Friday.  Oh well though.   Tonight is the NRA-ILA happy hour.

This little teaser from Jim Shepherd indicates there will be new guns and gear debuted at the NRA Convention.  It would be interesting to see if the industry started rolling out more products at the biggest consumer show rather than SHOT Show.

And then it’s down to Phoenix for the NRA’s 2009Annual meeting. This year, there will be plenty of mid-year product rollouts, and we’ll keep you up-to-date as they’re announced. We know at least one established company will be introducing another entry into the “modern rifle” category, and there are a host of new optics and accessories to keep the thirty thousand or so NRA members in attendance amused.