From: [j--t--e] at [mcs.com] (Michael Justice)
Newsgroups: rec.guns
Subject: [LONG] NRA Convention Report -- Friday May 20
Date: 25 May 1994 09:04:08 -0400

{Posted a few days later due to my copious free time not being copious}

I made it back from the NRA Convention this afternoon;  unfortunately, my
company's president called a Saturday-at-2pm meeting, so I was only able
to spend part of Friday at the convention.  However, I did manage to do
nearly everything that I had planned.

I arrived at the convention at 2pm Friday.  The floor was busy, and all
whom I saw were having an enjoyable time, especially considering the
political circumstances.  Springfield Inc. and DPMS were both deluged
with people asking about the ban;  both groups simply responded that the
law was vague and that without clarification no definite answers could
be given about what was banned and what wasn't.  Chillingly, the S.Inc.
rep said, pointing to the standard hunting-rifle type stock on the M1A,
"Technically, that's a pistol grip.  And the fore-end partially encircles
the barrel, allowing the rifle to be held without the shooter being burned."
Just like on a Remington 700, people.

At the DPMS booth, I was present when a California Dude walked up, asked
how the backorder status was, and casually said that he still thought the
ban wouldn't pass.  I attempted to enlighten him on the situation, but it
appears that there really are people out there who lack the intelligence
God gave the dung beetle.  "Politicians prefer unarmed peasants. . . ."

The Winchester representative said that he needed to tape his response
to my question:  when was the primer shortage going to be over?  His
belief was that by winter of this year, things would settle down again.

Vihtavuori Oy, the powder folks, were there, and had brought along Lisa.
I never managed to read her last name off her tag.  If you see the posters
she was signing, you will understand why.  She was . . . "oy". :-)  I got
three of them.  (Sorry, no, I'm not selling any.)  One question I managed
to ask the (rather less busy -- that poor girl, her hand was cramping
from signing so many posters) company representatives was why they had not
imported a shipload of primers;  it turns out that, due to paperwork and
shipping delays, they would not be able to get primers into the U.S. until
after the crunch is expected to be over, and moreover, the cost, after
shipping, would be two or three dollars more than retail for our own
brands -- around $18 or so per thousand.  So, there will be no relief
shipments from the other side of the Atlantic.

David Young, editor of _The_Origins_of_the_Second_Amendment_, was on hand,
and signed my copy.  He correctly points out that he is not the author;
he "merely" collected the information, added a foreword, and shipped it
off to the printer.  By the same logic, I merely put some pre-existing
characters together to write this.  His efforts should not be trivialized;
his work is a must-read for anyone who wishes to understand why the founders
of the United States insisted upon AFFIRMING OUR PRE-EXISTING RIGHT -- NOT
granting us a NEW right -- to keep and bear arms.  The book is a collection
of editorials, articles, letters, and speeches from Revolutionary days,
when the Constitution and the Bill of Rights were being created.

Mr. Knight from Modern Muzzleloaders talked with me about the design of
his rifle-primer-capped muzzleloader -- an extremely interesting system.
He pointed out problems with my own ideas on the subject.  We also talked
politics for a while;  he is a STRONG supporter of our gun rights.  I
wish Bill Ruger would get in touch with him -- Mr. Knight makes black-
powder rifles, currently unregulated by our dear government, but he still
supports our right to own militia rifles, unlike a certain manufacturer
I could name (and just did).

The one low point for me was my conversation with a Colt representative.
She coldly told me that "any manufacturer could have done the same" as
Colt had -- lobbying their warranty-registered purchasers to beg for an
exemption from the Crime Bill.  Yes, dear lady, but nobody else had the
sheer gall to behave that selfishly.  I promised her that I'd write my
Congressman to ask that the Colt Sporter specifically be BANNED by name.
{Will I follow through?  Hmmm.  I'll take POLITE comments by email. . . .}

The highest point came from someone whom I'd expected to argue with:  Joe
Wright, the president of The Thompson/Center Association.  I wish we had
more like him.  Hillary Wright, too, was an extremely pleasant lady to
talk to.  The two of them had a beautiful display at the convention, and
I wish I could have stayed to help;  time was short, though. . . .  In any
event:  Mr. Wright had stated that he has some differences with the NRA,
and I wanted to find out what they were.  Contrary to my expectations,
his reservations centered around the NRA not doing enough to lobby for
our rights.  He had a number of well-considered suggestions, my favorite
of which was that the NRA should hold a summit of all gun organizations:
manufacturers' groups, dealers' groups, collectors' clubs, gun-rights
advocacy organizations, pro-gun law-enforcement groups such as LEAA, and
so on.  I found myself agreeing completely with nearly everything he said;
I wish the NRA would call him up to discuss his ideas, AND ACT ON THEM.
The gentleman I was afraid would turn out to be another of what I call
the "shotgun bigots" (the symptoms always seem to include a feeling that
their trap/skeet/defense shotguns are "more sporting" than my handgun or
rifle) turns out to be even more pro-rights than I am, if such a thing is
possible.  I am now triply happy to be a TCA member.

Beyond the above, I am now an Endowment Member of the NRA.  As soon as the
paperwork gets through the bureaucracy, IFF I can do time-payment Patron
membership for the current rate, I intend to finance the ILA for that.  I
was surprised and pleased when another gentleman walked up to the membership
counter while I was there, and donated $1500 on the spot to upgrade to
Benefactor membership;  some day. . . .  (Not that the levels mean anything,
really, I'm just a snob.  But I figure that if I'm pouring in a few hundred
per year to the ILA and PVF, I may as well get something to hang on my wall.)

For anyone who has not been to one of the conventions, I can only say:  GO!
This one was very enjoyable -- especially VihtaVuori's display -- and quite
uplifting (especially . . . oh, never mind :-).  If you have a chance to
attend next year -- even if you do have to drive sixteen hours like I did,
dodging cops with laser and radar guns -- do so, it is well worth the trip.
If I can make it, I'll see you there.

                        -- Michael.
-- 
Michael A. Justice    \ "Sosialististen Neuvostotasavaltojen Liito voitti
[j--t--e] at [genesis.mcs.com]) hyvaenae kakkosena tuli maaliin pieni sisukas Suomi."
NRA Life / ILA / TCA  /  I just felt it was relevant.  Think about it. . . .
Libertarian Party    / PGP PUBLIC KEY:  finger -l [j--t--e] at [genesis.mcs.com]