Tag: NRA

It’s Good to Know How Valuable We Are

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It’s Good to Know How Valuable We Are

When we signed up for the 2A Blog Bash, we were told that if we were attending the annual banquet, they’d make sure to seat us all together at a “good” table. Last year in Louisville, we were towards the back, but right on the center aisle with a good view of the podium and the speakers.

This year? Well, as Denise said “We weren’t at the worst table, but . . .” The “but” being we were at the table right next to it. I don’t know what those people did to anger the NRA, but I’m pretty sure I don’t want to know! Granted, something on the order of 6,300 people were served at one time, but still.

Having said that, the food was actually pretty good (the main course, anyway), and the two speakers were excellent. John Stossel kicked ass, and while I’m not a fan of Ollie North, he gave a damned good speech.

Stossel is trying his best to get his 20/20 pieces distributed to as many schools as he can on DVD to help teach “critical thinking” to students, which I think is a fine idea. He showed some short clips from a couple of those DVDs, and noted that most of his stuff is available on YouTube. In my copious (*COUGH!*) spare time, I’m going to have to go peruse those.

A Good Cause

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A Good Cause

This morning’s seminar was put on by Crimson Trace. The CT guys have been very supportive of the gunblogger movement. Last year, all of the Para pistols we shot at Blackwater were equipped with Lasergrips. Very cool. Crimson Trace is one of those triumphs of free-market capitalism. A guy with a good idea builds a product in his garage, and turns it – through hard work and sacrifice – into a company with 125 employees and several dozen products doing multi-million dollar sales annually.

And now they spend some of that income giving back.

If you’ve not heard of it before, let me point you at Honored American Veterans Afield. In association with Smith & Wesson, Leupold, Surefire, Yamaha, Hornady and FMG Publications HAVA is dedicated to “raise awareness and assist disabled veterans with the healing process through active participation in outdoor sports.”

The purpose of HAVA:

HAVA was conceived and organized in 2007 by a Committee of shooting sports industry executives to help the healing and re-integration of disabled combat veterans back into normal American life through participation in outdoor events. Seven companies have committed funds and personnel to organize and sponsor initial HAVA sanctioned activities, and will serve on the oversite Committee for a period of three years to insure that the organization is launched in the proper manner.

The HAVA vision is the creation of a small organization of volunteers from the shooting sports industry to facilitate a series of hunting and shooting activities for small groups of disabled veterans wherein personal attention of the sponsors and facility operators contributes to the veteran’s sense of joy and accomplishment, and a permanent awareness that marvelous things are possible despite disabling injuries. These veterans have given their full measure of commitment to the preservation of their country’s values, and deserve America’s contribution to their healing process to whatever degree necessary to accomplish physical, mental and cultural rehabilitation. The shooting sports industry, through the efforts of the Committee and other contributors, can become an inspiration to both the veteran and to a grateful nation whose best instincts are to support the veteran who has served its cause so well.

Travis Noteboom, Crimson Trace’s Director of Public Relations is the point man for CT’s involvement in HAVA, and is very enthusiastic about it, but he wants to get the message out as far and wide as possible.

I was reminded of Project Valour IT, which was created by Maj. Chuck Zeigenfuss and Soldier’s Angels after the Major came back from Iraq the victim of a buried 80mm mortar IED. His intent was to get recovering vets connected to the internet again, and interacting with the world through that means. HAVA’s intent is to do the same by reconnecting recovering vets to the outdoor sports world again.

If you know such a vet or their family, please look into HAVA. At this time they have about 150 guided hunts available, and can set up many other types of outings and events. Guns, ammo, guides and coaches are provided by HAVA.

OK, Why Didn’t I Know This Before?

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OK, Why Didn’t I Know This Before?

One of the seminars yesterday was about “State associations.” One of the attendees, David Pehrson, started the Pennsylvania Firearms Owner’s Association, essentially a huge gunboard, and possibly the opening shot in how activism will be done in the future. The other attendees were from the California Rifle and Pistol Association, and the Arizona State Rifle and Pistol Association. The CRPA has associated with Calguns.net to take advantage of their web-savvy. California, of course, has a lot of bad legislation that they have to deal with, and thus the CRPA has a full-time lobbyist on staff.

In Arizona, things are a bit different. This is a very gun-friendly state, overall, and even our Democrats are generally gunnies. This is changing, however, as more and more people flee California. But why didn’t I know that the ASRPA existed?

Well, for one thing it only has about 1,700 members, and they tend toward the geriatric end of the scale. We don’t have a lot of anti-gun bills to fight here in Arizona, but I can see it coming. The concentration of the ASRPA is and has been toward competition shooting, but it’s becoming obvious that what we’re going to have to do, and soon, is work on new shooter recruitment and retention. So today I joined the ASRPA, and there’s a new banner on the left sidebar over there with a link to their web page. If you’re an Arizona resident and interested at all in hunting, shooting, and the right to arms, I strongly recommend that you join the ASRPA.

Arizona is a very gun-friendly state. As Sebastian (a resident of a suburb of Philadelphia) said this morning, “I’ve never seen so many people open-carry, and nobody cares!” We want to keep it that way.

Once You’ve Been Quoted in the CSM . . .

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Once You’ve Been Quoted in the CSM . . .

. . . I guess you’ve made it.

Last night at the meet-‘n-greet at Majerle’s I spoke at some length to Patrik Jonsson of the Christian Science Monitor. He was interviewing bloggers left and right for an upcoming piece. I guess now that the CSM has gone online-only there’s no six-week delay between deadline and the piece hitting the streets. His article went up today, apparently: A rifle in one hand, a laptop in the other. Behind the scene with pro-gun bloggers. I was even quoted accurately. Cool!

NRA Convention Update

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NRA Convention Update

The WiFi service in the media room is really excellent. Strong signal, 54Mbps. I just cannot connect to the intartubes with it, which kinda defeats the purpose. Oh well. I’m posting this from my brother’s computer before I head out for the second full day. Here’s a picture of a bunch of us schmoozing around and socializing:


Breda’s the delicate little thing back there in the white T-shirt. Or not so delicate:


She decided that with the unfamiliar heat, she’d just open carry. Apparently construction workers are dumbstruck by petite women toting pistols. Who knew?

I haven’t run across too many famous faces yet. Haven’t seen R. Lee Ermey, or Todd Jarrett, or Tom Knapp, or Jim Scoutten, but you might recognize this gentleman:


That’s Maj. John Plaster. I think he and Joe Huffman would have a very interesting conversation!

As it was last year, pink is very heavily represented by manufacturers again. A sampling:

While definitely not pink, I think I’ve found David of Random Nuclear Strikes his next 700-yard Boomershoot pistol. It’s a bit different from the single-shot break-open and bolt-action pistols he’s been using, but it will really make hitting those 3″ 700-yard swingers a challenge!


Yes, that’s a .45-70 revolver. Brass frame, reasonable barrel length, outstanding single-action trigger. Just the thing! Easily the most interesting item I’ve seen at the show so far, but I’ve only gotten through about half of it.

Ah well, more later if I can get connectivity at the site. If not, well, you’ll just have to wait!

At the Convention

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At the Convention!

It took me over an hour to A) find the parking garage, and B) get in and find a slot. It’s nuts. Now in the press room with:

Breda, LabRat and Stingray, Alan, Cowboy Blob, Denise and Yosemite Sam, & Thirdpower. We’re waiting for TD who just landed at Sky Harbor.

UPDATE: US Citizen just showed up.

The crowd waiting to get into the convention center is HUGE. I was struck by the thought that I’d never seen so many overweight white men in my life! As Alan said in response to that observation, “MY PEOPLE!”

I resemble that remark.