Great Satan, Inc.

This is the peak of the Anti-NRA protest on Saturday Afternoon during the 2013 NRA Annual Meeting and Convention in Houston, Texas. The mainstream media were reporting 35-40 protestors, but when you looked closely, you could tell that there were several pro-rights people engaging the antis, most likely leading to an overinflation of the count.

As I was taking this picture, a gentleman walked up to us and said, “Where are the protesters? I was looking forward to a good argument!”

Heh.

On Sunday at 10am, there were no protestors to be found.

 

By the middle of the day on Sunday, less than a handful of protestors decided to show up.  They looked pretty lost and dejected, and just paced around in small circles for a few hours.

And for some big picture perspective:

Here I am on Friday afternoon with Larry Houck at the FNH booth.  (Many thanks to Larry and the other awesome Team FNH shooters for taking the time to give me an amazing detailed lesson on 3-gun shotgun reloading).

The important thing to note here is that There are more people in the background of this picture than there were anti-gun protestors at the NRA Convention.  

Kevin From The Smallest Minority had a very similar observation, and he’s got some great pictures of the attendance disparity here.

 

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Robb Allen has a great post about citizen engagement in legislation and how you need to be involved to get good laws, specifically good gun laws.  He notes that legislators aren’t experts on the issues they legislate.  That’s where you, the engaged and informed citizen, have a duty to write, call, or visit your elected officials.  Deeply flawed bills can be derailed by investing a little of your time in the process.  Stopping bad bills from becoming law is cheaper, easier, and safer than trying to overturn a bad law in our court system.

For instance, a politician trying to “do something” might be extremely uninformed about the standard magazine capacity for a firearm.  For the ambitious legislator, limiting magazine capacity might sound like a great way to “do something” about crime.  Making it a felony to possess a magazine that can hold more than ten rounds will prove that the politician is really serious when he/she/it is trying to do something about crime.  A courteous meeting with your politicritters could educate them about the range of standard capacities available, how the law will unjustly criminalize their voting base, negatively impact the poor, minorities, and women.

The alternative is; bad laws, a loss of rights, and hours wasted on internet forums complaining about how NRA let you down because they didn’t airdrop a team of lawyers and lobbyists in to rescue you from the city council/legislature/Governor your fellow citizens elected.  At the local and state level, it’s your job to engage your representatives!

Even if NRA has a lobbyist in your state, that lobbyist doesn’t have as much influence as large numbers of constituents calling a state senator, flooding a representative’s inbox with email, or overloading the governor’s phone system.

The NRA is the 800 pound gorilla for Federal gun legislation and elections.  At the state level in Arizona, the Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL) and the Arizona State Rifle and Pistol Association (ASRPA) are our 800 pound gorillas when it comes to gun rights.  If your state has an NRA affiliate like ASRPA, or a comparable Citizens Defense League, you should join immediately.  In California there is CalGuns and Florida has Florida Carry.  Just about every state has a group fighting for their resident’s rights.

After you’ve joined a group that protects your rights, you need to participate as well.  These groups get a reputation as 800 pound gorillas because their members demonstrate that they are watching, voting, and dethroning bad politicians.

If you don’t interact in the process, you are dependent on a few dedicated volunteers and a generous individual or two to protect your rights and interests.  If you aren’t gaining ground in your state, it’s probably time for you to get involved.

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My muse told me to get off my lazy butt, so it’s time to share my 1911 project gun.

My project is a .45 ACP 1911 with a chrome Colt Series 80 slide, a Caspian frame, a 1990s vintage Aimpoint, Colt grips, and a 20 plus pound recoil spring.  The recoil and main springs are so stiff that the former owner converted remnants of a Chevy gas pedal into a slide racker, just to be able to chamber a round.  Each time I refer to this little beast as a Frankengun, I could swear it snipes back at me, “it’s pronounced Fron-kon-gunn.”

 

After SHOT Show 2011, Mz. VRWC decided she absolutely needed a 9mm Rock Island Armory 1911 Tactical so she could continue shooting USPSA matches while her Production class gun went in for a doctor visit.  Suddenly, I feared that I would need to learn a lot more about working on guns derived from John Moses Browning’s most famous design.

A nearby gun store in Mesa just happened to have a 9mm RIA in stock, as well as a rough, vintage looking, 1911 race gun.  I don’t think I actually said, “hold my beer and watch this” out loud, but somewhere inside, a voice did say, “you can learn all about making a 1911 run with that one”.  The Frankengun just kept staring at me with that sad mournful look that usually haunts people in pet stores and animal shelters.

After trading the store (that I borrowed the photo from) a few dollars and the Taurus Judge previously won at a Friends of NRA dinner, Mz. VRWC had a budget 1911 for Single Stack competition and I had a “new” used gun.  More precisely, I had a new project.

When this project is finished, I should have a fun .45 for shooting steel, or a pile of scrap metal.   Follow along as I go through the gun in the coming weeks and see what’s inside Frankengun.

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From the Friends of NRA website:

Former MLB baseball player and current television personality of the wildly-popular Buck Commander series, Matt Duff, teams up with world-class shooter and all-American girl, Jessie Abbate, for a brand new series unlike any other on the air waves. Traveling coast to coast, Duff and Abbate unveil one of NRA’s best kept secrets— the multi-million dollar, grassroots fundraising movement making up the heart of the shooting world— Friends of NRA.

The show will air at 10:30 pm EST, and you can find more information about the show on the Outdoor Channel website.

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The Melon Head gang needs to find a new line of work. We’ve got a new Judge that abhors melon heads.

Click the images to enlarge

Taurus Judge Public Defender won at Central Arizona Friends of NRA dinner.

I’m very happy to report that my first Friends of NRA dinner was quite enjoyable and was even better when I found out I was going home with a Judge. It only took a $20 raffle ticket at the Central Arizona Friends of NRA dinner last night to win a new stainless Taurus Judge “Public Defender”.

Taurus Judge Cylinder

Barrel Burr on Taurus Judge

It’s always nice to have a Judge on your side, especially when the Judge shoots .45 Long Colt and .410 shotgun rounds. 🙂

If you’d like to support gun safety education, marksmanship training, and shooting range improvements, go to a Friends of NRA dinner. You’ll have a great dinner, meet people with similar interests, support good causes, bid on auction items, and have chances to win some great prizes. Did I mention anything about tax deductions? You just might end up with new friends too.

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Day 2 of the 2010 NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits in Charlotte proved to be a packed day, just like the first day of the NRA convention. Staying in the center of town made for a short walk to Charlotte Convention Center and the few panhandlers I saw didn’t pester me. I should note that Charlotte’s panhandlers did have the newest and cleanest clothes I’ve seen on beggars anywhere, the Charlotte Observer should be proud.

Honored American Veterans Afield, also known as HAVA, has a booth in the main lobby area. We’ve written about the great work HAVA does, backed by the outdoor industry, to help injured and disabled soldiers transition back to civilian life. I participated in their fund raising raffle and happily departed with a few HAVA branded Smith & Wesson lockback knives. We hope you’ll support their efforts too. Despite the large attendance at the show, I was able to get a photo of the HAVA booth in main lobby area.

(Click on the pics for a larger version)

Honored American Veterans Afield

Even though the lobby was fairly easy to navigate, the show floor was very active and crowded around the popular booths.

NRA Meeting & Exhibits floor on Saturday.

Lauer Weaponry, maker of Duracote gun paints, had a display of custom painted firearms. I looked at the graffiti laden Manhattan paint scheme momentarily before this brightly painted AR-15 with a rail mounted .45 caught my eye, then apparently blinded me.

Lauer Weaponry displayed their Bloomberg edition gun paints, along with a Manhattan themed rifle, complete with graffiti.

But wait, there’s more, click here to see

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The NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits for 2010 was held in Charlotte, NC last weekend (5/14-5/16/2010). I took the trip out from 2nd Amendment friendly Arizona for this year’s NRA convention to see the festivities, attend the 2A Blog Bash, and experience the educational seminars.

The Charlotte Observer greeted attendees with an extremely offensive piece, begging attendees not to shoot the place up, calling NRA members “a highly partisan lobbying group” for extreme right-wing Republicans. Fortunately, the Observer is extremely out of touch with the good people of Charlotte who warmly welcomed me to their city, asked me about the annual meeting, life in Phoenix, and generously offered me help at every turn. Welcome signs for NRA members were posted throughout the city.

(Click the thumbnails for larger photos*)

Official Welcome Sign, a pin version was worn by hotel staff too.

Organic welcome sign at Matt’s Chicago Dog

NRA welcome sign at Ratcliffe on the Green in Charlotte, NC. Check out Zach Goodyear’s tasty game meat menu for the NRA Annual Meeting.

The NRA learned from last year’s Annual Meeting in Phoenix, implementing those lessons by opening event registration the day before the show, increasing the efficiency and quantity of registration lines to smoothly handle the significantly higher attendance of over 72,000 people.

Short registration lines were a great improvement over 2009.

But wait, there’s more! Click here to see the rest.

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