Meeting Friends

One of the great things about the NRA Annual Meeting is the chance to catch up with friends who you haven't seen in a while. So it was with Kurt Hofmann, the St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner, and me.

While Kurt wasn't able to actually get to the America's Center, we were able to meet at his "local" yesterday. Talk about having tons of great beers on tap! Global Brew has more micro-brews on tap than I've ever seen. I had the Hacker-Pschorr Maibach and it was really good.

As I said, it was great meeting an old friend again. Kurt does great work as the St. Louis Gun Rights Examiner and we discussed a lot of stuff.

All good things must come to an end and so it is with our trip to St. Louis. We're hitting the road in a few minutes to return to North Carolina. We had a great time and will have many posts about the NRA Annual Meeting and what we learned in the days to come.

A Couple Of Numbers From The NRA Annual Meeting

The attendance for the NRA Annual Meeting was just announced. The final number is 73,740 which is an all time record. If I remember correctly, the last meeting in St. Louis set a record.

The other significant number coming out of the NRA Annual Meeting was the number of firearms sold by Ruger over the past four quarters - 1,253,700. This is an all-time number for firearms manufactured and sold within one year by any one manufacturer. This also resulted in a check for $1,254,000 to the NRA as a result of the Ruger Million Dollar Challenge. They presented the check to the NRA at Friday's Leadership Forum.

Wayne's Speech At The NRA Members Meeting

As I reported yesterday, Mitt Romney's speech at the Leadership Forum was received with a polite, if not enthusiastic, response. By contrast, the speech by Wayne LaPierre at the Members Meeting received a much more enthusiastic response. I'm not sure of how many people attended each event.

Both spoke of freedom and the Second Amendment but Wayne's speech was much more pointed, more aggressive, and provided more "red meat" to his audience. As a result, Wayne got more standing ovations from the crowd. He also had better lines.

Some of them include:

"We are less free today than we were a decade ago"

"The UN doesn't have a right to mess with our freedom. No way, no how!"

"We will never surrender our guns!"

"national news media is a national disgrace"

(In response to report's of the NRA's demise) "We're still here and aren't going anywhere but the polls on election day."

The full speech can be seen below:





Bitter of Shall Not Be Questioned has more on Members Meeting here and here.

Some Thoughts On Romney At The Annual Meeting

Mitt Romney spoke before the NRA Annual Meeting Leadership Forum yesterday. It wasn't a great speech; it wasn't a bad speech. It seemed like it was a variation on his basic stump speech with maybe a few additions for the NRA audience. I would say the overall reception was polite if not enthusiastic.

The theme of Romney's speech was freedom which seems to be what we've heard before in his speeches. He spoke about freedom in terms of religion, economics, and limited government. With regard to the NRA, he noted that they were a single issue group. He that they should get "high praise (for being a single interest group) when the issue is freedom." He used this line as the intro into the rest of his speech on freedom.

In what I consider the variations tailored towards the NRA, he acknowledged the role that Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) in pursuing Operation Fast and Furious. He then acknowledged the NRA for saying that Attorney General Eric Holder should be fired. Both statements brought good applause. He then said "I will protect the Second Amendment rights of the American people" which brought a lot of applause.

In general, I'd say Romney did OK but could have had a speech more tailored to his audience with more memorable nuggets. Overall, it was what it was. The speech won't come back to haunt him with the Obama campaign using snippets of it in its ads. However, the speech can't be accused of being a rousing stump speech to rally the masses either.

Thirdpower at Days of our Trailers blog did capture some of the misleading tweets from the Brady Campaign and CSGV during the Leadership Forum. You can read them here.

You can see the speech for yourself below:

Some Pocket Pistols Seen At The NRA Annual Meeting

I looked at a number of the sub-compact pistols today at the Annual Meeting. Patrick, a reader of this blog, was interested in a comparison of the Sig P938 and the Sig P238 in terms of the difficulty of pulling the slide. His mother is disabled, wants a pistol - not a revolver - and has difficulty pulling the slide on many smaller pistols.

To make the test somewhat objective, I had the Complementary Spouse do the testing of the slides. She is a health care professional and has some understanding of the challenges that those with weaker hand and arm strength might face.

First, we tested the Sig P938 which is their sub-compact single stack 9mm pistol. She didn't find it hard at all to rack the slide on the P938. It fit her hand well, had rear sights that allow the racking of the slide against a pocket, and decent 3-dot sights.

Next up was the Sig P238 Scorpion. It was easier than the P938 and was the easiest to rack the slide of all the guns tested today.  It is a single-stack, single action pistol in .380 ACP. The single action trigger pull of both pistols seemed about the same though I didn't test it on a trigger scale.

You can see a size comparison of the P238 and the P938 below. They seem to be relatively the same size.

The third pistol tested was the Colt Mustang in .380 ACP. Many have said that the Sig P238 is merely a clone of the Mustang so it was an obvious choice for comparison. It seems to have a heavier spring than the P238 and is about equivalent to the P938. The sights are similar to a GI model 1911. To me, these sights were less user-friendly than those of the Sig P238 Scorpion.

Finally, given all the buzz about the Smith and Wesson M&P Shield, we thought we should add this to the mix. It is the single-stack sub-compact 9mm (and .40 S&W) version of the M&P. The Complementary Spouse found this the hardest to rack of all the pistols we tested and wouldn't recommend it to Patrick's mother. She had some difficulty racking slide. It fit my hand well but I did find the trigger pull to be mushy and not crisp.

Obligatory Booth Babe Picture

I like attractive women as much as the next guy but sometimes booth babes just are a bit over the top. There were a number scattered around the various exhibits of the NRA Annual Meeting.

Below is a picture of the young lady sitting at the ATI - American Tactical Imports - booth. I don't know who she is or why it was important to feature her at their booth but she seemed a bit more over the top than some of the other booth babes. I'm sure she is a nice person (or at least I hope so) but the ultra low-cut top and funky stockings just don't make it for me.

I wish companies would realize that as more women come into the gun community that stuff like this turn will them off. They don't mind seeing attractive women. They just want them to be like a Julie Golob or a Jessie Harrison-Duff - attractive and accomplished shooters. It isn't too much to ask.

Opening Day

We're getting ready to head to downtown St. Louis for the opening day of the 2012 NRA Annual Meeting.

Just coincidentally, it is opening day for the St. Louis Cardinals who are just blocks away at Busch Stadium. The Weather Channel is calling for 60% chance of showers so I hope the Cards get their game in against the Cubs.

Ran into Sebastian and Bitter, Jim Shepherd, Dave Kopel, Jason, and the odious Charles Jaco of the local Fox affiliate when we were getting our media credentials yesterday.

I met a lot of bloggers at JayG's get-together at the Millennium last night including Ambulance Driver, DaddyBear, Jim Fleming of the Reloading Podcast, Frank James, Old NFO, and a whole bunch of others. I think JayG will be posting some pictures. And yes, in a repeat of Iain Harrison from last year, someone did lick his head. I think it was Ambulance Driver if I remember correctly.

And now off to Opening Day to see Mitt, Rick, Rick, and Newt among many others. I will have to leave the knives at home as the Secret Service would be upset and not let me in the Edward Jones Dome for the Leadership Forum.

I Know That Guy

Just got to the America's Center and was greeted by this poster.






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

What Controversy? Which Businesses?

I'm not sure what is the problem with the Fox affiliate in St. Louis, KVTI Fox News 2, but they seem intent on finding controversy where there seems to be none. Case in point is a story by KVTI's Kim Hudson that aired today saying that some businesses will be protesting the NRA Annual Meeting.





She does not name the businesses but it sure doesn't square with the story in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch which quotes many local businesses and service industry workers such as bartenders and cabbies as happy to have the business generated by the NRA Annual Meeting.

Go figure.

New Sign Seen On The St. Louis MetroLink

My brother-in-law Scott saw this sign when he boarded the MetroLink on his way to work this morning. He is a regular rider and says this is the first time he's ever seen the sign. As he said on Facebook, "Coincidence??". I think we all know the answer to that.

Rep. Ed Schieffer's bill, HB 1483, would get rid of signs like this...permanently.

Quick Thoughts On Santorum And Romney

Soon after the Santorum announcement that he was suspending his campaign for President yesterday, I happened to be listening to Rush Limbaugh on the radio. I'm not usually in a location where I can listen to Rush and this was rather rare for me.

Rush commented that with Santorum out of the race Romney could now start tacking towards the center. He said to listen to Romney's speeches starting now to see these indications. Rush's comment made a lot of sense and I checked Romney's campaign schedule for major appearances in the next few days. His next major appearance will be at - you guessed it - the NRA Annual Meeting and its "Celebration of American Values Leadership Forum".

I will be attending the Leadership Forum and will be looking for signs of this. I definitely plan to report on it for the blog. The old political scientist in me is actually chomping at the bit over it even though these events usually bore me to tears.

Little or no blogging for the rest of the day as we are about to hit the road for St. Louis.

If there is any special gun you want me to check out or booth to visit, just let me know in the comments. I do have an interview scheduled with Paul Barrett who is the author of Glock: The Rise of America's Gun. If you think of any questions you want asked, just let me know.

Busy Weekend For St. Louis

Fox2 Now St. Louis reports that it will be a busy weekend in downtown St. Louis over the weekend.

It’s going to be a busy week downtown. The National Rifle Association Convention starts Wednesday. The Blues also host playoff games Thursday and Saturday. And the Cards home opener is Friday against the Cubs.

In the report by Charles Jaco (who you may remember from CNN), the Mayor's Office claims that the biggest security concern will be the NRA members and their guns.



I have a very simple suggestion for Jeff Rainford, the Chief of Staff to Mayor Francis Slay, and that is to allow NRA members to conceal carry in America's Center and the Edward Jones Dome. If people are allowed to carry, most won't have to leave their firearms in their cars. Mayor Slay, if you haven't guessed it by now, is a member of Mayor Bloomberg's Illegal Mayors.

If you find Mr. Rainford's suggestion that we who are bringing millions of dollars to his fair city offensive - and I do - then you can send him a polite little note. It is actually very simple. Go here and use Mr. Rainford's handy email tool to send him a message directly.

UPDATE: I received a response from Mr. Rainford which I am printing below in its entirety. It paints a little different tune than that shown on the TV interview.

It will make you feel better to know that not only did I not say NRA members posed the greatest security risk, I did not say NRA members posed any security risk.

I did say the following:

1. We would hope that if NRA members leave their guns in their cars, they secure them.

2. We expect traffic will be tight.

3. We are taking steps to require parking lot operators to have attendants in place to be the eyes and ears for the police.

Hope this helps.

Thanks,

Jeff

KVTI Fox News 2 does seem to be trying to create more controversy than any other media outlet about the NRA Annual Meeting as evidenced by a later report which I posted a few minutes ago.

Timing Matters

If you read my post on the planned demonstration outside the NRA Annual Meeting by certain attention seeking St. Louis politicians and the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (sic), you know it is scheduled for Saturday at 1pm. This time in the afternoon was chosen, I presume, to make the news cycle for the 5pm local news broadcasts.

As I said in the title, timing matters.

Whoever scheduled this event forgot about another major event happening in downtown St. Louis at the same time. The 2011 World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals will receive their Championship Rings in a special ceremony at Busch Stadium prior to the 1:05pm game. They will wearing special gold trimmed uniforms to commemorate their World Championship. Not only is this the middle game of their first homestand of the season but they are playing the Chicago Cubs. This is a baseball rivalry on par with that of the Yankees and Red Sox in the American League.

Every fan attending the game with a paid ticket is getting a replica Championship Ring courtesy of St. Louis-based stock brokerage Edward Jones.

Now where do you think the local media is going to be - outside America's Center with a bunch of protesters or inside Busch Stadium with the home town heroes? Even if they do cover the protest, it will be bumped off lead story status.

CSGV might be excused for not knowing about this event but what does it say about local politicians such as Rep. Jamilah Nasheed, Rep. Tishaura Jones, and Board of Alderman President Lewis Reed? Do they really think they will get more media attention - good, solid vote getting attention - by dissing the hometown team in favor of solidarity with the anti-gunners? Even Al Sharpton decided it was better not to be in Sanford, FL over the Easter Weekend despite his earlier promise to "occupy Sanford."


H/T "Dirk Diggler"

Sending The Wrong Message? I Don't Think So

Some community activists in St. Louis are saying that the billboards advertising the NRA Annual Meeting are sending the "wrong message." Rev. B. T. Rice is the head of the St. Louis branch of the NAACP and he objects to the billboards.

The leader of St. Louis’ NAACP is calling out the National Rifle Association, saying the group is delivering the wrong message at the wrong time as it prepares for its national convention in St. Louis next week. The Reverend B.T. Rice was discussing the county police shooting of fifteen year old Lavon Peete when he was asked about the NRA billboards that have flooded the city.

“The advertisement says we’ll have acres and acres of guns,” Rice observed. “A clear dichotomy between the NRA and those of us who deal with these sort of situations on a day to day basis.”

Rice and some other community leaders are calling for a gun violence (sic) summit in St. Louis. Rev. Rice would like to hold it concurrently with the NRA Annual Meeting.

Lavon Peete, mentioned above, was shot and killed by St. Louis County Police after he refused to drop a "sawed off rifle" he was point at them. While his family denies he was armed, others who were with him at the time confirm he was armed. As to what a "sawed off rifle" is, it is never specified in any of the stories.

Steven King, owner of Metro Shooting Supply in the St. Louis suburb of Bridgeton, says he thinks an anti-violence summit would be a good idea. That is, he says if "they look at the true causes of the violence and not the tools people are using to commit violence.”

As to whether the billboards are sending the wrong message, I most certainly don't think they are sending the wrong message.

Unscheduled Events At The Annual Meeting

Thanks to Twitter, I found this unofficial, previously unscheduled event that is planned for the NRA Annual Meeting in St. Louis. It will feature some local politicians as well as possibly some out-of-town visitors. The flyer for the event is below.

Since the Tweet featuring this flyer linked to the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (sic) website, I'm assuming that they are the organizers of this soiree. As Sebastian so accurately observed today on Twitter, they are professional agitators. I don't think they should be confronted, heckled, or otherwise given more attention than they deserve.

That said, I'd love to get a picture of myself with Ladd Everitt or Josh Horwitz much as Mike Vanderboegh has one of himself with Paul Helmke at the Restore the Constitution Rally. It would make a great keepsake - and a great reminder of our opposition.

Concealed Carry At The NRA Annual Meeting In St. Louis

Concealed carry has been a bone of contention over the years at the venues for the NRA Annual Meeting. Last year in Pittsburgh, there were no restrictions in the David Lawrence Convention Center and it was not unusual to see some people open carrying as well as concealed.

St. Louis will not be so accommodating to concealed carry and definitely not accommodating at all to open carry. The NRA posted this notice on the front page of their 2012 Annual Meeting website:

Note: The city of St. Louis prohibits the carrying of firearms at the America's Center Convention Complex.

I don't think I have to remind people that the State of Illinois - just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis - has no form of carry whatsoever  so don't even think about it there.

I've had a couple of readers contact me about the rules for carry in Missouri and any peculiarities for St. Louis itself.

First from Michael with links to the relevant Missouri law. I've consolidated his emails but here is the info he sent:

BTW, here's the Missouri weapons laws http://www.moga.mo.gov/STATUTES/C571.HTM

http://ago.mo.gov/Concealed-Weapons/

It appears the statutes don't speak of facilities, in general, that seat over 5K but is limited to "Sports Arenas or stadiums..." (see the second highlighted section below). I'm not a sports fan so I had to look up Edward Jones Dome and it's unfortunately where the Rams football team plays. Ugghhh. America's Center appears to be complex surrounding or attached to the dome. I would hope the NRA would choose a location where law wouldn't prohibit exercise of our rights. I am going to contact the America's Center and find out for sure. I'll let you know what I find out.

Regarding the question on restaurants that serve alcohol, see the first highlighted section below. I'm not sure how the "average Joe" would know if a restaurant makes 51% of it's sales from food, but I would assume you would be okay if you chose a restaurant that also serves alcohol. I would assume bars & grills and pubs would not be allowed, or questionable at best, if you wish to carry. Based upon the information it would appear that you could enjoy a spirited beverages as long as you are not intoxicated. I would assume "intoxicated" would equate to the same standard as driving .08%, but it is not defined here.

The relevant sections that Michael highlighted are below:

On carry in establishments serving alcohol:

Section 571.107 (7) Any establishment licensed to dispense intoxicating liquor for consumption on the premises, which portion is primarily devoted to that purpose, without the consent of the owner or manager. The provisions of this subdivision shall not apply to the licensee of said establishment. The provisions of this subdivision shall not apply to any bona fide restaurant open to the general public having dining facilities for not less than fifty persons and that receives at least fifty-one percent of its gross annual income from the dining facilities by the sale of food. This subdivision does not prohibit the possession of a firearm in a vehicle on the premises of the establishment and shall not be a criminal offense so long as the firearm is not removed from the vehicle or brandished while the vehicle is on the premises. Nothing in this subdivision authorizes any individual who has been issued a concealed carry endorsement to possess any firearm while intoxicated;

On carry in sports arenas:

Section 571.107 (16) Any sports arena or stadium with a seating capacity of five thousand or more. Possession of a firearm in a vehicle on the premises shall not be a criminal offense so long as the firearm is not removed from the vehicle or brandished while the vehicle is on the premises;

Now from "Dirk Diggler" who is an attorney located in St. Louis County. I had wondered if carry was legal in the Jones Dome and America's Center as well as any prohibitions on carry in establishments which served alcohol.

I am a lawyer, so let me help you out. In regards to your questions, it is not so much that places are "banned", it is just your permit does not authorize you or "it is not illegal to carry". In other words, you can carry anywhere in MO, but if they search you, they can make you leave. Yes, this even applies to jails.

Therefore, "it is not illegal" so you can go into bars and restaurants in MO and even drink. You cannot be intoxicated (not defined) but everyone assumes it means DUI levels (0.08).

It is not "illegal" to carry into sporting events and arenas, but if they wand you or use a metal detector, they can make you leave. I have gone into many events w my glock. I just hold the door for the ladies and observe if they screen or not and then go back to my car.

The Missouri statutes are located at 571.101 et seq (the "not illegal to carry") sections are located at 571.107.

David goes on to say that Missouri has state preemption on most firearms laws including concealed carry. However, they do currently let municipalities regulate open carry and the City of St. Louis does ban open carry.

The State of Missouri does recognize all concealed carry permits from other states so you would be good to go with your out-of-state permit in Missouri.

That said, whether you choose to try and carry at the Annual Meeting location is up to you. You may be refused entrance to the America's Center and have to return to your car or hotel room to leave your firearm which would be a hassle.

UPDATE: Sebastian at Shall Not Be Questioned has a good post up on the constraints that the NRA has in choosing venues for their Annual Meeting. While we may want to have a CCW friendly location each and every time, it just isn't always possible if they are to meet some of their other requirements.

What Do You Want Covered From The NRA Annual Meeting?

I am making my plans on what to see and what to cover for the NRA Annual Meeting in St. Louis. I would like to know what you would like to see me cover. I am open to suggestions.

On my own list so far are the Leadership Forum on Friday and the Members Meeting on Saturday. I also hope to attend Maj. John Plaster's session on the sniper war in Afghanistan.

You can go the Annual Meeting site to see the list of exhibitors and the sessions.

I look forward to hearing your suggestions.

The NRA Annual Meeting App

The NRA has released a free mobile app for the 2012 Annual Meeting. It is available for the iPhone, Androids, and Blackberrys. I have been playing with it for the last week and I like it.

Access exhibitor information and floor plan (including products & specials)

• Quickly Navigate the Show Floor via Interactive Maps
• Read Exhibitor Descriptions
• Save your Favorite Exhibitors to an Expo Plan
• Search for Seminars, Workshops and Special Presentations that Interest You
• Save your Favorite Seminars, Workshops and Special Presentations to your Personal Itinerary
• Receive Updates and Schedule Changes on our "Buzz" Channel
• Email Exhibitors Directly and Access Their Website
• Search Exhibitors Using Keywords
• View Ticketed Events

 The opening screen is shown below and is the gateway to the rest of the features.

The items that I find most useful center around the exhibits and the scheduled events. First, the exhibits. Every exhibitor is listed with their booth number, website info, contact info, and a thumbnail description of what they offer. You can add them to your planner as a vendor you want to visit. It also allows you to find them on a map of the exhibition floor.

The exhibitor listing has the companies listed alphabetically as well as by category. For example, in the screenshot below, you can see 32 ammunition companies listed. These include everything from ammo makers to reloading equipment manufacturers.

 

The scheduled events on the app include all the ticketed events such as the Leadership Forum, all the book signings and appearances, and all the seminars. They are listed by day and time. If you look at the screenshot below, you will see green plus signs and red minus signs. These are to add or delete an event from your planner.

In My Planner, every session and every exhibitor that you've clicked on will be added to your schedule or personal exhibitor list.

You will need to register on the app if you want to be able to save your selections. It will also let you sync the app and the changes will show up across your various devices such as an iPad and an iPhone. The one warning I'd add here is to make sure you remember your password. The app has no function for reminding you of a forgotten password and you'll have to re-register.

If you are going to the Annual Meeting and have a smart phone, I'd download this app. It will cut down on paper and will keep you current on what is going on. If you aren't able to go to the meeting, I'd still download it for the exhibitor information. Even if there was a nominal charge for this app, I think it would be a good buy. And since it is free, it becomes a great buy.

Sign Of The Times

My sister-in-law saw this flyer posted just inside the doorway of Crown Candy in St. Louis yesterday. Cindy, who will be a special correspondent for the blog at the upcoming NRA Annual Meeting, knew I'd be interested. She also said she saw her first billboard for the Annual Meeting.

If you have ever watched that quintessentially American show, Man Versus Food, then you may have heard of Crown Candy. In their Five Milkshake Challenge, you have 30 minutes to drink all five milkshakes. On this challenge, Adam failed.

I take it as great sign that you see flyers like this in a place like Crown Candy which usually has a line outside waiting to get in.

NRA Annual Meeting - Who's Going?

The NRA Annual Meeting will be in St. Louis this year which brings joy to my heart - and wallet. The Complementary Spouse's Mom, sister, and older daughter all live in the area so housing is not a problem. We plan to make it a family occasion with her brother coming in for the meeting to join the rest of us.

The one downside will be no concealed carry on the Illinois side of the Mississippi. It is always the one negative about going to southern Illinois which, other than that, is a nice place to visit.

I don't know what blogger events have been planned yet but I'm sure there will be some.

If you are going to the meeting, let me know by email (jpr9954 at gmail dot com) or in the comments below. We may have a chance to meet up.

For those not going, is there anything in particular you want me to cover from the Annual Meeting. I'm thinking of attending the Leadership Forum where all the politicians will be going on about how they support the Second Amendment and how they used to shoot varmints growing up. In other words, sucking up to the NRA in hopes of getting the "clinger" votes. Beyond that, I'm open for suggestions.

I do have a question for the Missouri readers - is concealed carry allowed in the Edward Jones Dome and/or America's Center? I had read in handgunlaws.us that concealed carry was prohibited in facilities that seat more than 5,000 people. What about restaurants that serve alcohol? Are they considered the same as bars or are they treated differently?

It is hard to believe that it is less than month until the Annual Meeting. Where has the time gone?