Report from the 2010 NRA Annual Meeting

Today was a very good day. My wife and I attended the 2010 NRA Annual Meeting in Charlotte, NC. We had a LOT of fun and met some amazing people. There were a few negatives so I'll get them out of the way first so I can focus on the good stuff...

First, the line management entering the hall was horrible. We were queued up in a line to enter, but people were allowed to just stream past the line and break to the front with no one challenging them. It's a small thing, but it bothered me. Also, I really wanted to go to the Chuck Norris book signing, but the line was far too long. That part isn't a complaint. It's good for him that he has so many fans and my loss that I didn't get in the line earlier. My complaint is the sign at the entrance to the line saying he would not allow anyone to photograph him and would not sign anything except his book. That just seemed rather crappy to me. If people are going to stand in a 2 - 3 hour line (and that is probably on the low side) you ought to sign anything they want and I can't see the harm of a quick snapshot with them when you are done. I still think the world of him, but I didn't like that at all. The last thing was at the very end. As we left, we saw a group of 8 - 10 protesters standing outside with lame handwritten signs that said things like "Lax gun laws kill" and "Close the gun show loophole". Inside, there was around 60,000 NRA members and this handful of losers were where the focus of the news crews were. I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but it is amazing to me that they can justify focusing on a TINY group while ignoring the HUGE group inside.

Okay, enough of the bitching. Let's talk about all the cool stuff...

First thing when we got onto the convention room floor, we headed straight to the Glock booth to try to get to meet R. Lee Ermey a.k.a. "Gunny". He wasn't there yet, but the line was already forming so we took our place and waited. He showed up about 9:30 and the line started moving really slow. I figured out why when we got to the front. He is just an amazingly nice guy and wanted to take the time to actually talk to each person instead of just signing a picture and sending them on their way. It was well worth it. I brought my copy of Full Metal Jacket on bluray and he signed the cover for me as well as one of the stock pictures. He also signed my wife's Glock hat she had just bought in the booth and a pic for her too. Then, he took the time to pose for a picture with me, then my wife, and then both of us. It was an amazing experience to get to meet and talk to him. He really is one of my heroes.

After that, we started walking the show floor and checking out all the cool merchandise. We saw a really cool circular gun safe from a company called Pendelton that was lit on the inside and had a rotating display case inside. We fondled the Springfield XDm in .45ACP and liked it. We handled the Bushmaster ACR and liked it, but not for the price. We handled the FN SKAR and liked it too, but also didn't think it was worth the price. I handled the Dan Wesson Valor in Stainless and liked it. I handled the new Remington 1911R1 and was surprisingly impressed. I saw the Kimber Custom Shop Super Carry Pro (Series 1!) and absolutely LOVED it! I also got to handle the new Ruger LCR in .357 Magnum and liked it a lot too. I also got to handle the Sig P238 and liked it but realized it was bigger than I had imagined so I'll stick with my LCP. I got to handle one of the new Sig P226 E2's and my wife and I both agreed the new grip is amazing! We also both really loved the grip on the HK P30 we got to handle. We got swag (a.k.a. free stuff) everywhere! We got pins and pens and playing cards and bottle openers and bags and catalogs and... well, a ton of stuff.

Now for more celebrity sitings... The first one I spotted (actually as we headed into the show) was Steve Lee. Later, we found him at a booth and got to speak to him and get his autograph. If you aren't familiar with him, he is the musician that wrote the song "I Like Guns". You can watch the video here...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TC2xTCb_GU

Next was of course the Gunny and that was great. I got to see Ronnie Barrett but he was doing an on camera interview so I didn't have the chance to speak with him. After seeing all the cool stuff, we headed over to The Outdoor Channel booth and I got to have a nice 5 minute conversation with Michael Bane. He is a very cool, funny and nice guy and you'd never know he was a pseudo-celebrity from meeting him. We swung by the Smith & Wesson booth on the way out and found Jerry Miculek so I got his autograph. By that point I was pretty tired and not real talkative myself, but he seemed like a very nice guy as well.

There were also a large selection of MMA fighters at different booths but since I don't follow the sport I didn't know who they were and didn't ask for autographs. I had hoped to get a chance to meet Ted Nugent, but his signing session was just starting and we were running out of steam. My wife had worked 6pm - 6am the night before and then stayed up to go the show with me so I didn't want to push my luck by asking her to stay longer for one more autograph.

Overall, it was an amazing day. It was great to see all the nice people and the great products.

Oh... one more story that my wife witnessed and told me about later. About 1:30 we were getting hungry and made our way over to the concession stand. The line was long and the tables were full which was expected. My wife and I saw an elderly man behind us in line and when a seat opened up at the table next to the line we heard the people he was standing beside tell him to go ahead and sit down and they'd bring him his food. A minute later two more seats opened up at the table so my wife went to save those while I stayed in line to buy lunch. She said that the people brought the older man his food and he gave them the money. The younger guy went to get some ketchup for the older man and when he came back and handed him the fries with ketchup, he gave him the money back and said lunch was on him. Before the older guy could argue, they younger couple slipped away through the crowd. It turned out they didn't even know him. They just saw an older man standing in line and looking exhausted so they came over, helped him out then bought his lunch. THOSE are the people I'll remember from my experience today. Not the line breakers or the protesters but the genuinely good people that walked that convention hall floor today and did a good deed just because it was good.

I am truly blessed to live in this country and I am doubly blessed to have a wife who dealt with the crowds all day after working all night just because she knew it meant a lot to me. Thank you honey. I love you!

To the rest of you... stay safe out there and watch your six.