Category: NRA Convention

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.

Looks like Sarah Palin isn’t going to be presented that AR-15 afterall, because she’s not going to be at the Annual Meeting:

The National Rifle Association Foundation will not present an assault weapon to Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin at an upcoming banquet despite media reports about the event, including one from its own magazine.

“The event is not happening,” NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam said. “Sarah Palin will not be attending. She was invited, but declined due to a family commitment. This happened weeks ago.”

Several newspapers picked up a story published in the May issue of the NRA’s American Rifleman magazine that said the governor would be given a custom AR-15 at the foundation’s May 16 banquet.

That’s for letting the rest of us know guys!  I know last year a lot of folks wondered why NRA never presents black rifles, instead of a well appointed flintlock rifle.  This is a reason why.  Let’s hope that “family commitment” didn’t have anything to do with not wanting to endure yet another media feeding frenzy pointing out “Look at the backwards hick from Alaska getting herself a machine gun!”   We know it’s not true, but a lot of people don’t know any better, and politicians hate that kind of controversy.

I believe it was former NRA Executive Vice President, J. Warren Cassidy who said, “You would get a far better understanding if you approached us as if you were approaching one of the great religions of the world.”  The more you get to know the issue, the more you think the metaphor actually fits.  One aspect of NRA that takes on an almost religious nature is the Annual Meeting, which is in Phoenix this year.  We’re expecting 50,000 faithful to make the pilgrimage, something at every NRA member should do at least once their life.

This year, like last year, we have a bunch of bloggers who will be flying in from far away places.  Some of them wish to travel with guns.  I’ve done the TSA dance four times with firearms.  Once in Reno, once in St. Louis, and twice in Philadelphia, and not once have had an issue.

You’ll want to keep the pistol in a secured, hard sideed container, with ammunition kept in the original manufacturers packaging.  Different airlines have different rules, so check the rules for your airline ahead of time.  But most will accept ammunition in the same container as the pistol, provided it’s in the manufacturers packaging.

Since you’re likely to be traveling to the NRA Annual Meeting with a pistol rather than a rifle, it makes it easier.  Get a small, pistol sized hard gun case, that doesn’t advertise “GUN!” on the outside.  In fact, I would highly recommend Cabela’s “Bullet Proof” line of pistol cases.  They are expensive, but worth every penny.  You should use a non-TSA approved lock.  I use a combination lock so there’s no key to lose.  Make sure it has at least four wheels, or a dial combination, because three wheeled locks are easy to brute force.

Once you go up and declare a firearm, if you have a ticket agent who knows what they are doing, she’ll give you a card where you will declare to the airline that you do not have a loaded gun by signing the card.  The card goes in the pistol case.  This is your proof that you declared the firearm, so any subsequent law enforcement that comes upon your gun knows that you declared it legally.  Once that’s done, stuff it inside your regular luggage, and take it to the TSA counter (the ticket agent will tell you where, if they are any good) and have them run it through the x-ray machine.  They can inspect the chamber and magazine on the x-ray.  Carry a copy of this with you, and also the airline policy on travel with guns.

If you follow these guidelines, you shouldn’t have any trouble.  Flying with guns is easy, and I’ve never had a ticket agent that didn’t know what to do.  According to NRA, we’re good to carry at the convention center in Phoenix, with the exception venues for events which will be serving alcohol, where guns will not be permitted.  In fact, it’s illegal to carry firearms onto premises that serve alcohol in Arizona.

So let me share in my excitement. Even in a down economy, we have officially surpassed the number of bloggers who registered for the Second Amendment Blog Bash last year. Whether we wind up with more last minute no shows determines if we actually managed to grow the event. Nobody thought that would happen this year. We all assumed it would see depressed turn out. I’m happy to see that we provide an interesting enough product that folks want to come out for it anyway.

In planning for the Bash, I’ve been analyzing random stats about the publishers registered so far. For example, bloggers traveled from 18 states to attend the Blog Bash in Louisville.

In 2009, we’ve got a more notable density of publishers coming from the host state.  Even though we can brag about more registrations (and hopefully higher actual attendance), we only represent 16 states this year.

I assume this will change.  In 2008, fully one-half of the local bloggers in Louisville decided they just weren’t that interested.  I don’t expect that many to drop off this year, but I wouldn’t be shocked if a third of the Arizona publishers didn’t show.  The upside to bringing in more people from around the country is that they are more likely to show up once they commit.  They have to secure hotel rooms and plane tickets in advance, so skipping out is far more costly.  For local folks, it’s no loss.

Of course, I also have not closed registration for the Bash yet.  We may well end up with more folks registered by the time I shut it down on May 1.  I have 24 21 people left on my “thinking about it” email list this year.  (Those who have said they aren’t coming were already bumped to the 2010 recruiting list.)  I also plan to do one more round of invites out to regional political bloggers.

Last night, I commented to Sebastian that this is the sort of thing that should really scare the Brady Campaign.  We have literally hundreds of people who are passionate enough about the Second Amendment to write or talk about it online regularly and recruit more people into our movement.  And every single year the NRA draws 50-66,000 people to their Annual Meeting for a celebration of our rights.  In the new media realm, we’re able to draw dozens of those folks out consistently to join in the NRA celebration and cover it as grassroots reporters.  Their friends and family will read about it, their gun range buddies might follow it from home, and their readers who range from a few hundred a week to tens of thousands per day will look forward to learning more about the issue and the industry.  That’s pretty impressive.  That’s dedication they will never know.

Here are ten reasons you should consider going to Phoenix to the NRA Annual Meeting and hang out with some of us bloggers.

Though NRA has still chosen to not update their Annual Meeting website with information that’s been out for days or weeks by mail and email (hint, hint NRA tech team), I received an email from Bitchy Mom with the NRA official session schedule in it.

This year, the highlight may well be the Advanced Sausage Processing Techniques session.

Yes, you can learn how to make sausage with the best of them – whoever the best of them are… And in the Grassroots Seminar, you’ll get an in-depth session on politics and lawmaking.

Hmmm…I guess since these are two things you typically don’t want to see, it’s probably not going to convince you other blogger to come to Blog Bash.

Looks like we’ll have quite a crowd at the blog bash at the NRA Annual Meeting in Phoenix next year.  I just have to say, it would be really really cool if NRA could get Governor Palin to speak at the meeting next year.  I know NRA people read.  So yeah, take that as a suggestion from me.  Well, probably from all of us.

Bitter has revised the home page for 2009.  We hope to see you there.