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.
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.
In addition to honoring our fallen soldiers on this Memorial Day, we would also like to say thank you to every member of the US military for bravely and selflessly defending us and our great nation.
Capitalist pig and I did not serve in the military, so we feel that it is our duty to find alternative ways that we can serve our country and assist veterans in any way possible. When we were at the NRA Meeting/Convention in Phoenix last week, we discovered a wonderful organization that we will be doing as much as possible to support, and we encourage you to do the same.
Honored American Veterans Afield or HAVA, was put together by some of the top names in the firearms industry, and they are dedicated to raising awareness and assisting disabled veterans with the healing process through active participation in outdoor sports. Their goal is to increase injured veteran’s confidence and hope for the future by reconnecting with their love of the outdoors and the American traditions of hunting and firearms.
We agree with HAVA in that “every veteran is a national hero that has earned our respect and support through valorous service in defense of our way of life.”
HAVA has already touched the lives of several injured veterans when they hosted a shooting event earlier this year for the Ft. Gordon Warrior Transition Battalion in Augusta, Georgia. The shooting event featured two-man teams consisting of a wounded warrior and a shooting sponsor in a three-gun competition with awards provided to the top three teams.
We would like to say THANK YOU to Travis Noteboom from Crimson Trace and Tom Taylor from Remington for not only putting this great organization together but also for taking the time out of their busy schedule at the NRA show to discuss HAVA with us.
The number is in, and it’s big. While not an all-time record for an NRA Annual Meeting, the total attendance for the Phoenix NRA Meeting was 64,324.
Phoenix may have fallen just short of the annual NRA Meeting attendance record which was set last year, but there was no shortage of records set this past weekend. The following records have already been recorded for the 2009 NRA Annual Meeting and Exhibits:
The biggest convention in Phoenix EVER
The largest dinner ever held in the state of Arizona – Over 6,000 paid attendees for the Banquet held on Saturday featuring speakers Oliver North and John Stossel (both were incredible).
The largest attendance for the NRA-ILA Grassroots Workshop – 375 attendees.
We’re sure this list will continue to grow as the numbers come in. Tune in later, as we’ll be posting some more records and interesting statistics that we are working on confirming now.
UPDATE: We’ve found the video of Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North’s speech at NRA Annual Meeting in Phoenix, AZ on Armed Forces Day, May 16, 2009. Please enjoy Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North’s tribute to our troops.
The 2009 NRA Annual Meeting and Exhibits kicked off on Friday Phoenix. The theme of the NRA convention is a “Celebration of American Values“ and the concept really shines through. The crowds were huge, but polite, and included people from all walks of life. The lines to get into the hall were long, with turnout appearing to be much higher than expected. If you plan on going, be prepared to wait in line, I can assure you its worth it. Although grumbling about waiting in line could be heard from some in the crowd, my fellow gun owners were polite and courteous to each other. I’m sure that anyone who hasn’t been around gun culture would be shocked to find out that law abiding gun owners treat each other with a great deal of respect, far more than you get walking through a mall, stadium, or airport.
Once inside the exhibit hall, the massive scale of the convention becomes apparent. The vendor exhibits and various shooting association displays covered a full six acres of floor space. The guns on display ranged from antique muzzle loading flintlocks to the latest in tactical firearms. The NRA Store features an extensive range of NRA merchandise that is far too long to list here. DPMS brought a semi-trailer inside the convention center, the walls covered with various calibers and configurations of AR-15 based rifles. If fact, virtually all AR-15 manufacturers were represented at the show. Ruger officially joined the AR-15 market with their introduction a piston driven AR, the Ruger SR-556. Checkout NUGUNS site for photos, videos, and additional information about the Ruger SR-556.
My time walking around the exhibit hall was cut short by the need to get to the Celebration of American Values Leadership Forum at U.S. Airways Arena. The Leadership Forum will be covered in greater detail in another post, until then, check out the Snowflakes in Hell live blogging of the NRA Leadership Forum to get a feel for what the speakers had to say.
The day was capped off by mixer at Majerley’s in downtown Phoenix with The Outdoor Channel’s star of the popular show the Shooting Gallery, Mr. Michael Bane (he is a hoot to hang out with). A big thank you to Tactical Solutions and Insight Tech Gear for providing attendees with some great swag.
Photo courtesy City of Phoenix Convention Center website
There is still plenty of time to attend the 2009 Convention/NRA Meetings and Exhibits in Phoenix this weekend (May 16th and 17th). Here’s some information to help you enjoy the event:
Admission is $10 for non-NRA members, and the price includes a one year NRA associate membership.
Admission is free for NRA members and their families, military and law enforcement personnel, and organized youth groups.
To enter and register for the event, go to the Phoenix Convention Center North building, hop on the escalator, and take it down to the exhibit hall level.
The easiest way to find the escalator is to enter the Convention Center through the main doors, which are on the West side of the building. Hang a left when you hit the area that splits into four directions, and the escalators will be almost immediately on your left. If you hit the food court, you’ve gone too far.
There are several public parking garages downtown, and most are running a flat $12.00 per day. There are a few metered spaces here and there, but you are not likely to find an available meter this weekend.
The Metro light rail runs a short block from the Convention Center, and at $2.50 for an all-day pass, it could be your best bet for getting down there on the cheap. There are several park and ride facilities on the rail line, if you want to get most of the way there and use the rail as a shuttle in to the downtown area
The first event of the 2009 NRA Annual Meeting and Exhibits, held in Phoenix, Arizona, was the Grassroots Workshop put on by the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (ILA) at the Sheraton. The grassroots activists were seated by state, so that they could begin networking with other politically active members.
The workshop started with a rousing speech by Dick Heller of the Heller vs. D.C. Supreme Court case. Mr. Heller made history recently when he won his case and the Supreme Court, for the first time ever, affirmed that the 2nd Amendment protects an individual’s right to keep and bear arms. Mr. Heller continues to fight for gun rights and encouraged attendees to fight for their rights by recruiting new NRA members and actively supporting political candidates who support gun rights.
The Powerful Gun Lobby (Voters)
The grassroots attendees are what the media and anti-gun activists refer to as “the powerful gun lobby.” Looking around the room, it was obvious that the media’s bogeyman was a room filled with 375 average, politically conscious, neighborhood housewives, fathers, sons and daughters – all ordinary Americans.
Various NRA staff gave moving speeches and highlighted current legislative initiatives that either help protect the rights of gun owners, or threaten those rights. President Obama was praised several times for his stimulus of the gun industry and bolstering the NRA’s membership roster.
I'm a bitter gun owner and I vote.
Attendees at the workshop were encouraged to write, or call, their congressmen in opposition or support of gun related legislation. The get-out-the-vote message was also very clear. The message – encourage other gun owners to register to vote, vote in all available elections, and to join the NRA. Attendees were encouraged to exercise their rights to speak out, to peacefully assemble, to petition our government, to vote, and to keep and bear arms. American exceptionalism at its finest! We live in the only country in the world where these rights are enshrined. The NRA wants people to exercise all of their rights in order to protect their freedoms and insure liberty for all.
For additional information on legislative issues, or how you can become involved, please go to the NRA-ILA webpage.
