Category: NRA Convention

Bitter decided to do a car interview on the way back from Kentucky, to get my thoughts on how our first Second Amendment Blog Bash went.  I talk about the genisis of the idea at least year’s Annual Meeting in St. Louis.  The idea that NRA should do something with blogs actually originated with Dave Kopel, and before we could reach out to NRA, they reached out to us.

By the way, Eyeblast.tv has an entire channel dedicated to the Second Amendment Blog Bash, so be sure to stop by an peruse the videos.

This truther would later be tackled by police and dragged away in handcuffs for getting a bit to aggressive with Oliver North, and getting all “the man is keeping me down” when asked to leave.

I should note, that despite the fact that the guy has a media pass, he was not registered with the Second Amendment Blog Bash. We don’t know who he was or how he got a media pass. That was one of the reason we asked people to pre-register, so that random cranks couldn’t just show up claiming to be bloggers and get passes.

I gave a talk at the NRA Annual Meeting.  It’s been posted on Eyeblast.tv here.  I gave the talk under my real name, so now you know.  Not that I’ve made great efforts to keep it a secret.  I mostly just don’t want the Google gods scaring HR people at potential employers because I do this.

By the way, you can see several piece of Second Amendment Blogger Bash Video on our channel on Eyeblast.tv

I see SayUncle has the big announcement from the Blogger Bash.

Bloggers who registered for & attended the Second Amendment Blog Bash are eligible to win a weekend in August training at the Blackwater USA facility with practical shooting champion Todd Jarrett.

ParaUSA deserves a lot of credit for jumping into blogger outreach with both feet.

First, Jim Shepherd from The Shooting Wire.  And also Michael Bane.  I would like to thank both these gentlemen for taking bloggers seriously, and for spending time with us.  I’d also like to thank Michael for the drinks with Todd Jarrett on Friday.  Bloggers are coming into the big time, and I’m very glad to know each and every one of the Blog Bash attendees.  They are among the finest group of people I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.

David pokes some fun at the McCain event held last Friday in Louisville.  Yeah, I disarmed for McCain.  Several people chose to watch from the NRA press office, where they had a feed, and you could be armed.  Before the McCain event, I was open carrying around the press office and the exhibit hall.  No one seemed to be too bothered, including the Louisville Police, the Secret Service, or the authorized journalists.  David opines in the comments:

Blaming it all on the SS rings hollow. I believe NRA had a choice of saying “No thanks–do it all via TV feed if that’s your position,” and McCain also had the option of telling the SS who the boss is–which I cede is extremely unlikely.

If McCain and NRA wanted to turn some of this around, he would show up for an impromptu photo op at their range next to armed members. Does anyone honestly believe randomly present members would pose a danger? Because if so, the gun controllers argument that none of us can be trusted must be true. And quite the opposite statement would be made about the trustworthiness of peaceable gun owners if he did–a real in-your-face to the gungrabbers who portray NRA members as violent lunatics.

McCain was pretty unlikely to call off the secret service, but David is correct that he could have done so if he really wanted to.  Given the speech he gave, it’s not too surprising he didn’t go out of his way to act like a true friend to gun owners.  NRA then had a choice of telling McCain to bugger off, pissing off a lot of ticket holders, or just dealing with the Secret Service security.  It’s one of those cases you’re not going to make everyone happy.

I also don’t think the security reflects too much on NRA members, because anyone could have gotten into that forum if they had a scalped ticket, or just outright forged credentials, which wouldn’t have been that hard for someone determined to get close enough to McCain to take a shot.  Secret Service security centers around controlling the forum, rather than being concerned about specific individuals, unless they have a reason to be.

Based on what I was told, Secret Service was worried about the blogger creds, since people were being issued press credentials who weren’t actually press, but that problem was ironed out by NRA before we started arriving.  There was definitely a lot of security theater going on, but in general, I thought the Secret Service was pretty accomodating of the fact that McCain was appearing in a location with thousands of armed people.

Bitter and I stayed around for the Board of Directors meeting on Monday to find out about how NRA did with the annual meeting attendance.  Looks like they made out pretty well.

Bitter and I just arrived back from Louisville.  Normal blogging will resume shortly.  Lots to talk about, including developments in the Philadelphia lawsuit, and lots of content from annual meeting.  Going to unpack the car tomorrow.  Too tired for now.  Way too tired.

I will be liveblogging the John McCain speech at the Celebration of American Values event at the NRA Annual Meeting.  Keep checking back.  This presumes that wireless holds up, and it’s been flakey.

3:00: Mitt Romney is speaking now.  Still waiting for McCain.

3:15: Now it’s Congressman Dan Boren, D-OK

4:15: Senator Mitch McConnell, R-KY

4:20: McCain comes in and starts his speech.  But we’re lined up for a photo op, up close.

4:30: McCain says he won’t support an assault weapons ban.  Says banning guns based on cosmetic features makes no sense.

4:35: McCain says he supports the banning private sales, and campaign finance reform

4:37: McCain says he doesn’t support regulating sales between people within the same family.

4:40: McCain says his support of regulating private sales doesn’t detract from his support of the second amendment.  Can’t say I agree with that one.

4:42: McCain reminds everyone that Obama wouldn’t sign onto the brief urging the Supreme Court to overturn the DC gun ban in Heller.

4:42: The theme seems to be “I suck a little, but my opponents suck more.”

4:43: McCain says that the framers knew exactly what they were doing when they drafted the constitution.

4:43: McCain stresses the importance of judges.  In my view, this is the main reason for voting for him.  He promises to nominate judges who will uphold the constitution, and not activist judges.

4:45: McCain is talking about differences between himself and Obama.  Interesting that he’s pretty much running against Obama.  At this point I think we just have to admit he’s the nominee.

4:46: McCain takes Obama to task for wanting to talk to our enemies instead of just kicking their asses.

4:48: McCain is going over the consequences of pulling out of Iraq.  Says “It would be a terrible defeat for our security interests and our values.”

4:49: McCain says Petraeus has a plan, and it’s working, and things in Iraq are getting better.

4:51: McCain says he wants to bring our soldiers home too, but that he won’t ruin the sacrifice they have already made for this cause.

4:52: “I will defend her, and all her freedoms, so help me God”

That’s all folks.  I suck at liveblogging.  Off to drink like a fish with Michael Bane.