I had the dreamiest weekend ever! I was surrounded by vocal Second Amendment advocates at the Second Amendment Foundation’s 31st annual Gun Rights Policy Conference. This year’s conference was held in Tampa, Florida. That meant I enjoyed the luxury of crashing with Tom and Lynn Givens, who now live in the Tampa area (free room and board with a pair of the world’s most awesome individuals always makes out-of-state travel more palatable).
This was my first time at the GRPC, and I must say, I feel silly for not attending sooner. There were lots of great speakers, lots of friendly faces, and lots of opportunities to finally shake hands with folks whose acquaintance I had only previously made via Zuckerberg’s book of faces. I met authors, activists, county sheriffs, army generals, and even a few people working on global small arms policy at the UN. And of course, I also had the pleasure of meeting Alan Gottlieb, the founder of SAF.
The speakers were numerous, as were the topics covered. Over the course of two days, many of the speakers were limited to 10 or 15 minutes, so that gives you an idea of just how many speakers there were. The agenda moved at a frenzied pace, as the moderators were relentless timekeepers. Even with the vast breadth of information, a few running themes quickly emerged. See if those themes reveal themselves in this grossly oversimplified list of my most vivid memories from the weekend:
- Gun policy info
- Gun policy litigation updates
- State X is confiscating guns.
- State Y is confiscating guns.
- We hate Hillary Clinton.
- We hate Barack Obama.
- We hate Black Lives Matter.
- OMG!!! I just shook hands with super-lawyer Alan Gura!!! (a fellow Georgetown alum, I might add)
- Gun policy info
- Speaker A has a book coming out. Go buy it immediately.
- Gun policy info
- We hate Democrats.
- Wow, there’s John Lott!
- Lott makes excellent point about gun control hurting black people and poor people in urban centers more than anyone else.
- We hate liberals.
- We hate vegans.
- Gun policy info
- Liberals suck.
- Crude Hillary Clinton impersonation.
- Donald Trump is the Second Coming.
- Okay maybe Trump isn’t Jesus, but Clinton is definitely Lucifer
- Gun policy info
- Speaker B has a book coming out too. Go buy it as well.
- Gun policy info
- We love open carry.
- I suppose we tolerate gay people now.
- Two members of Pink Pistols talk about how the Pulse shooting has united the gun community across political lines.
- But liberals are still the scum of the earth.
- Gottlieb’s son makes a plea for SAF to target more millennials.
- Gun people are not ignorant, toothless, racist, old, white, bearded, beer-bellied rednecks.
- Ad hominem Hillary-bashing, Barack-bashing, Bill-Clinton-bashing, Black-Lives-Matter-bashing, Chuck-Schumer-bashing, Andrew-Cuomo-bashing, Loretta-Lynch bashing, bashing bashing bashing bashing bashing bashing
- But we welcome everybody. Honestly.
- The media sucks.
- Unless it’s Breitbart.
- Oh my actual holy sh*t. It’s George Zimmerman. He’s ten feet away from me. Don’t punch him. Don’t punch him. He was justified. He was justified. Ask to interview him? Maybe? Hmm…
- We hate abortion.
- Open carry is awesome.
- What a shock! After a satisfying quickie of glad-handing and basking in celebrity, Zimmerman has vanished like an apparition. I guess he doesn’t need to stick around for any actual education on gun policy.
- Hillary is a syphilis-ridden, lice-infested, despicable, filthy leper.
- Information on guns and media (Which sucks. Unless it’s Breitbart.)
- A segment on urban outreach – oh boy! Oh wait, no, actually 90% of it was personal biography. Never mind.
- Gun policy info.
- Dang it, I missed the segment on 3D printing.
- Election strategy, get-out-the-vote strategy.
- Mas Ayoob could read the phone book and I would still be riveted.
- Detailed overview of Clinton’s documented historical policy stances on guns, objectively contrasted with Trump’s documented historical policy stances on guns.
- Just kidding. That last one didn’t actually happen. But Hillary is a disgusting, verminous, phlegm-spewing hack of a tit-post.
- We love guns.
- A few resolutions passed.
- See you next year!
For the most part, the gun policy stuff was very interesting, useful, enlightening, well-researched, well-presented, and practical. I took a lot of notes and made plans to check out several new websites and books. And speaking of books, boy, did we get lots of free ones! This will definitely make my luggage overweight for the trip home, but hey, it’s worth it!
And then there was the Q&A session. I had two burning questions I really wanted to ask, but didn’t. (1) Where are the black people? Out of possibly hundreds of attendees, I think I might have spied four or five black folks over the weekend, and two of those were speakers who left after their own spiels on stage. What is SAF doing — what are we all doing in our local circles — to make the broader pro-gun community less gray-haired, less testosterone-laced, and less uniformly Caucasoid? Anything? Is it our attitude that, hey, our doors are open, anyone who wants to come is free to come, and if they don’t, well, screw ’em? Or are we willing to take a more proactive role in attracting a more diverse crowd?
(2) I really, really, really wanted to ask the SAF’s position on this statement from Donald Trump, which he made in the wake of the recent North Carolina riots. He was explaining how the police should utilize New-York-style “Terry stops” in Chicago to combat inner-city shootings and black-on-black crime (in the video below, this starts at roughly the five-minute mark):
They’re proactive, and if they [the police] see a person possibly with a gun or they think may have a gun, they will see the person and they’ll look and they’ll take the gun away. They’ll stop, they’ll frisk, and they’ll take the gun away. And they won’t have anything to shoot with….”
https://youtu.be/aHEqvgHwcP4?t=299
Am I the only one who finds these comments disturbing? Don’t get me wrong. I am willing to grant that there might be some missing context given the limited airtime. Perhaps Trump meant that guns would be confiscated only temporarily, and only in the limited context of the stop, and only with reasonable suspicion of a crime, and only for the duration of the stop. Maybe he also meant that people’s lawfully-owned and lawfully-carried firearms would always be immediately returned if the Terry stop yielded no probable cause to arrest.
But that’s not what he said. He didn’t say any of that. Not a peep. And he hasn’t called for snatching people’s guns in soccer-mom suburbia. No. Only in Chicago, which he considers to be “worse than some of the places we’re hearing about like Afghanistan, you know, the war-torn nations, I mean, it’s, it’s more dangerous….”
Red State has called on the NRA to publicly condemn those comments. Otherwise, I haven’t really seen much in the media about this at all (at least not from what I would typically consider to be the Second Amendment community). And as I was researching news coverage of Trump’s statements, I came across this lovely diatribe in the comments of a related article on FoxNews.com:
This illustrates how my two questions were related. As long as this garbage is allowed to leech onto the gun debate even in the mainstream media (sorry to disappoint, but with its years-long uninterrupted streak of sky-high ratings, Fox News is about as mainstream as it gets), and as long as pro-gun advocates idly tolerate sloppy comments like this from candidates who already have fragile relationships with minority communities, the Gun Rights Policy Conference and other gatherings like it will remain as white as snow. And people like me who do work up the nerve to attend will just sit quietly in the audience and never feel comfortable speaking up to ask questions like these.
I realize those vile comments on the Fox article came from a handful of humanoids, and I realize it’s unfair to attribute them to the gun community at large. And to be clear, I don’t believe for one second that all or even most pro-gun folks agree with these sentiments. But I’m going to be 100% brutally honest here. As a relative newcomer to the gun scene, and as a politically and demographically atypical gun advocate, I very likely would have been afraid to go to a conference like the one this weekend if I hadn’t been flanked by Tom and Lynn. I’m not saying I would have feared anyone doing me physical harm, but I might have feared that someone in the room was looking at me and seeing an “emancipated primate” or a “looting monkey.” I’ve never been to an NRA convention, for a whole host of reasons. But truth be told, that same fear is probably a factor there as well, even if only subconsciously. I’ll admit that might be totally illogical and unfounded. And I’m not claiming to speak for all black gun owners. But I’m just being honest about myself.
If you think this stuff really shouldn’t matter — race shouldn’t matter, diversity is all hype, and we shouldn’t care what race the conference attendees are — well, theoretically I suppose you’re right. It should be utterly irrelevant. But that’s kind of like saying you don’t believe in email or social media. Technically you could exist without it. But that stuff is here to stay and growing fast; it’s palpably, measurably consequential; and it’s inescapable, whether you believe in it or not. Why? Because when we alienate people for the sake of our own egos, self-righteous streaks, convenient platitudes, or plain pigheadedness, those are not only forfeited members, hearts, and minds, but they very well might also be forfeited pro-gun votes.
That being said, let’s end on a hopeful note. I did meet a lot of inspiring people this weekend, and I made a lot of great connections. I really do look forward to attending future SAF conferences, and I’m sure that every year I’ll be less nervous and feel less like a fly in the milk. I’ll also do my best to recruit a few more drops of color to spruce up the room and broaden the wealth of ideas. I hope others will do the same. There’s so much great information to be shared. It’s such a shame to only bounce it back and forth in an echo chamber.
The Second Amendment is about self-preservation. That is not a political ideology. It is a sub-sentience, pre-Constitution, DNA-deep, automatic instinct of every living creature. I honestly do feel like we in the gun community would do well to divorce our Second Amendment stance from other, more divisive wedge issues, at least to the extent possible (obviously they’re not entirely separable). After all, there are plenty of liberal lefties out there who are either pro-gun or gun-agnostic (i.e. potentially persuadable), and we can’t afford to run them off (I can personally confirm that we did run off a few people this weekend). If you want to throw a Hillary-bashing party, that’s fabulous. Do it. But call it that, sell it as that, and let it be that. If you want to throw a Gun Rights Policy Conference, then do that, and welcome people of all political and demographic stripes to come and learn about real gun policy. Otherwise, they’ll get their talking points from bumper stickers and infotainment television, and we will have done precious little to discourage them from doing so.
Friendly Request: If anyone decides to reply in the comments, please refrain from gratuitous politician-bashing. I already got my fill of that this weekend. If you can help me understand Trump’s policy on taking people’s guns in Chicago (as opposed to the alternative candidate’s fitness for the electric chair), or if you have suggestions on ways to diversify the gun movement, I welcome those. Thanks!
Hilarious. Thanks for itemizing. I come away with many of the same observations from almost every organized gun event. No, “libtards and commies welcome” is not an effective recruitment slogan for the cause.
Very amused by the “Mas Ayoob could read the phone book and I would still be riveted.” reference. Anyone who took his 20 hour lecture (MAG-20) course would understand. 😉
It’s true! 🙂
If any of the readers here are not familiar with Maj Toure, founder of Black Guns Matter, I highly suggest you check out his work.
His objective is to educate people in urban areas, primarily minorities, about their gun rights. We first have to combat much of the bad information and poor education surrounding firearms in urban areas. Hopefully his work will help to spread the message that firearms are for everyone regardless of color. https://www.gofundme.com/blackgunsmatter
I know there is work to be done by those of us with lighter skin as well. We have to be proactive in bringing more minorities into the this community. If Mr. Toure can help reverse some of the misinformation and guns are evil programming that has been status quo in many urban areas, we may have an easier time getting people involved.
I think we should be mindful that change takes time, and I have great hopes that the younger generations of gun rights enthusiasts will be as inclusive as possible. Thanks for a poignant article, and thanks to Mas Ayoob of Backwoods Home for pointing me to it.
Thanks, Garrett! I’m a fan of Black Guns Matter. I plan on following Maj Toure even more closely now.
I’ve said since the beginning that Trump needs Bill Whittle to write his speeches. In fact any of the Right Angle team could fix his presentation.
Gun rights organizations do a poor job of outreach to all the minority communities, and that puzzles me. And anyone that believes Trump all good and Hillary all evil (or visa versa) is naïve.
I will say though, Terry Stops based on reasonable suspicion are entirely proper and a great law enforcement tactic. I wouldn’t want to put words in Trump’s mouth but I hope he was referring to people illegally carrying weapons.
As a long time lawman, I will say that officers working high crime areas can’t fall into the trap of acting like an army of occupation. They have to learn who the good guys and bad guys are. That takes time and patience.
Agreed, Mike. I suspect you’re probably right about Trump’s intentions, but I really wish he were more skilled at clearly articulating them. So much hangs in the balance.
Lord, do they ever!!! And he has the worst hoof in mouth disease of anyone I’ve ever seen running for elective office.
LOL!!!
Ms. Tiffany,
I recently met a man from Michigan that believed that a man of color with a gun was automatically bad. He is a consummate gentleman. I’m a pistol instructor and we have become friends. He now has two 1911’s and a new Tavor. He’s talking about a target bolt gun now.
We “the gun people” should be pro-active in getting the timid involved in our activities which will lead to political discussions and enlightenment. Perhaps a share your ethnicity shooting program. Perhaps Zo Rachel could be an ambassador. We laugh about my lack of rhythm and enjoy jazz and shooting.
Thanks for your work here. Don’t let anyone intimidate you. I can tell that Mas is there for you if you need support. I’m in Oregon but I’m with you in spirit.
Thanks-=- Jim Clark
Thanks so much, Jim. You have no idea how much I needed that little note, right this instant.
Wow, what a great write up. Thank you for your observations and perspective I truly enjoyed reading your article. I also wish that we had more diversity in the community and it will take some work to get there. I recall the saying be a friend, bring a friend. I have been and will certainly try to continue working at that.
As to the terrible comments that you posted above, at least in my world those are not normal to the vast majority of the community at large. But it only take 1-2 people to make an entire group look bad. That being said however and I may be wrong, but in today’s internet, “Trolls” are everywhere trying to cause trouble, trying to stigmatize and demonize. I would like to think that this is the case here.
Hi, Bruce! You’re definitely right about trolls. They are out and always up to no good. However, the excerpts that I included we’re just the internet smut du jour. Not at all uncommon. Unfortunately, I see stuff like that all the time (no exaggeration – it’s everywhere). I would like to think all of it comes from trolls, but I rather doubt it. The good news, as you rightly note, is that these idiots are a tiny minority. I do my best to ignore them to the extent that is humanly possible. Thank you for your feedback, and for the wonderful compliment!
Ms. Johnson,
Great write-up! Please keep up the good work.
Thanks! I’ll do my best! 😀
Fantastic article and comments. Couldn’t add more. So glad to see your input. Hope those in charge of the conferences take your input to heart and apply it. When I came over from Mas’s site I could stop reading until all of it was read. Wow, just great.
Thank you so much! You are too kind!
Great bullet points. You had me really chuckling. They wouldn’t be nearly so funny if they weren’t spot on.
My guess is that gun rights groups trend conservative because anti-gun rights people seem so fervently liberal, and the fervently liberal are so outspokenly anti-gun. I know a few duck hunters who are in favor of all sorts of restrictions on other people’s gun rights, and they are almost all East Coast Librul eLeet types who wish Sanders had gotten the nomination.
When African-Americans vote overwhelmingly for Dems, it doesn’t surprise me that others pigeon hole them as anti-gun liberals. How could it be otherwise?
We have been taught for decades that we must think collectively, put people into racial and ethnic categories, and them treat them as members of that collective. Recently we have even seen the institution of racially segregated college dorms ‘to provide minorities a safe place.’ I don’t think it is knuckle dragging conservatives doing that.
Our political leaders have explicitly defined us by race and ethnicity, and we are seeing the fruits of that: We follow their directives. Look at the personal ad hominem attacks on Herman Caine, Justice Clarence Thomas, and all the others who for whatever reasons have declined to follow the Democratic party line: they are not treated as individuals with whom the Left disagrees, they are treated as race traitors.
Is it really any wonder that Persons of Pallor get sucked into the Democratic Party’s racial Balkanizing? Or that the Republicans all too often do the same?
I’m not defending that. Putting people into racial and ethnic categories and then assuming they carry all the characteristics attributed to that group is a terrible thing. But then that is exactly what all too many leaders want us to do.
I’ve only been to one NRA National convention, several years ago in Indiana. IIRC there was one black vendor in 13 acres of displays, selling reactive targets, and all too few black members attending. The NRA hasn’t done a tremendously effective job of outreach, but if 90% of black Americans vote Democrat, and Democrats are fervently anti-gun AND denounce black Republicans as race traitors, that is sad but hardly surprising.
I’m not sure what the solution is, or even if there is a politically viable one. I worry that we are becoming two separate countries. I doubt that we will get to the point of civil war, but I won’t be surprised if we see non-trivial political violence. I won’t be surprised because we are already seeing it. Democrats and Republicans alike seem to have little respect for the Constitution, and they rally together when anyone who does threatens their hegemony. At some point that refusal to submit to the Constitution may well bring on violence.
I saw the beginnings of the Lebanese civil war in 1975- this is not something to wish for, but then I don’t call the shots.
Hi, Tom! Thanks for chiming in. All very valid points, and very disquieting. We all have work to do — all races and political persuasions. But we’ll just have to keep trying to tear down the walls one brick at a time! A bit naive, I know. I’m willing to give it a shot anyway. 😉
TJ–It was great reading your most intelligently written article–to see our gun world from an entirely different perspective–thanks for opening our eyes–especially your comparison to “a fly in the milk”!!! Deplorable DMD (an old jewish white guy lawyer and NRA lifer)
Hey there, DMD! Thanks for reading, and for your feedback. I’m working on stepping up my NRA membership to lifer status too. Hope to see you in Atlanta!
Here via the link on Massad Ayoob’s blog post on Backwoods Home. Thank you for this insightful and very necessary post, you hit the nail squarely on the head! I don’t know how many more people it will bring in to read this, but I’m tweeting a link.
Thanks, Y A! Glad to have you as a reader! I’m on Twitter too as @FSP221. Hit me up sometime!
Here also from Mas’ post on Backwoods Home.
It was difficult to not spew coffee while reading your “vivid memories” list. It pretty much sums up all thoughts expressed by the 2A supporters I know, from one end of the political spectrum to the other. I especially like how you cleverly hid some actual cogent thought amidst the silliness!
Nothing beats a respectable bout of coffee-spewing in the morning! Glad to be of service! LOL 😉
<Applauds>
This can be a really big deal, and it’s often much less obvious to straight white dudes than others. I am a pretty left leaning, as well as being an atheist and LGBT, and have pretty much no other political stances in common with conservatives other than RKBA….but in my case, it seems like more segments of the gun community welcome the Pink Pistols (I volunteer with them in my city) than the mainstream LGBT community welcomes the Pink Pistols.
I think especially as the demographics of this country shift, it’s going to become progressively more necessary to make the gun community much more inclusive if there is to be any meaningful RKBA to preserve for future generations.
Agree 100%. I might touch base with you to follow up on this. I think the Pink Pistols have made some great inroads that other minority groups could learn from.
Please do! I think this thing shows you my email address…and I’m pretty sure you have my contact info, too.
Thank you for this most excellent post – I read it through a link Mas left over at Backwoods Home. I hope you don’t mind me linking it elsewhere, as I hope others will read and consider your thoughts. cheers, erich
Thanks, Karl! Wow, I didn’t realize Mas had linked to it! I appreciate you reading and leaving feedback, you are more than welcome to share the link as much as you like, and I welcome any suggestions you may have for me. Thanks again.
Thank you very much. Should you ever find yourself out New Mexico way, the green chile chicken enchiladas are on me and my wife. -/secret lawyer handshake/-
Ha! That sounds perfect! 😀
Hey! It was nice to meet you in person last weekend!
Nice to meet you too! Thanks again for your urban outreach efforts, and I hope next year you get a longer time slot at the conference to talk about them in more detail.
Tiffany, thank you for the humor and clear-eyed reporting and admonitions. Keep up the great work.
Thanks, Dr. Z! Good to hear from you!
Thanks for your input Tiffany. I attended the conference a four years ago and recall it was pretty pro-GOP. I still hate that we (whoever “we” are) have to demonize those with contrary beliefs. I think you may have fallen into that trap yourself in some of those bullet points. I can sympathize, esp. if you fall into the Democratic camp on some issues, as I have no problem believing your summary is not far from the mark.
Anyway, I am very interested in hearing your thoughts on how pro-2A folks can be more inviting to women and minorities. I agree that open doors are not enough. I value your voice as a black female and want to hear more from you and others that aren’t white, middle class, males like me. If you have specific suggestions please share.
Hi Reed! Totally fair point about my bullet points. I hope it was clear that I was being hyperbolic. I probably should have included an asterisk to confirm that no one actually “said” the things in my bullet points (not exactly). I was just having a little fun. I’m sorry if I was over the top. 🙂 Thanks so much for your feedback, Reed. I do have a few ideas, though certainly not enough. I’m planning to post a few more thoughts soon. I’ve got suggestions not only for the folks who are regularly getting involved in pro-2A events, but also for folks who are not. I personally know a LOT of people whose negative views on guns are based on just a handful of misunderstandings. I think they have just as much obligation as the gun community to be proactive about obtaining the right information from the right sources.
Great meeting you in person. You confirmed what I thought the conference looked like in anothers’ eyes. Your site looks great btw. God bless you.
Thanks, Kenn! It was great to finally meet you and Rick too. I look forward to seeing you both at future conferences (and I hope I can work with you more on outreach)!
Great overview ! Keep up the good work… Kudos
Thanks for taking the journey…!!! Blessings
Your oversimplified list is too funny. Thank you so much for giving me a good (reality based) laugh on the night of the joint campaign appearance by Clinton and Trump.
I am a lifelong liberal who came to guns in my 40s. I find gun people to be very conscientious and good and fun people to be around. But there is a segment of them that is angry in ways that at a minimum turn me off, and at time scare me.
I wonder how many people that angry fragment turns off from guns? I’m with Kevin Creighton on this one (http://misfiresandlightstrikes.com/2016/09/26/gun-rights-policy-conference-year/).
Just this morning I heard an NPR interview of a Jimmy Arno from Georgia. Here is part of the transcript:
INSKEEP: Now, this is a much debated point, with many studies finding people in the country illegally do not tend to take native workers’ jobs. But for Jimmy Arno, the concern about immigration matches his broader concerns about the direction of the country. He’s worried enough that on the day we met, he was thinking about whether or not to join a local group.
J. ARNO: It’s a militia group and should martial law, civil war, whatever, break out in this country, they will uphold the Constitution and rebuild our laws.
INSKEEP: What war do you mean?
J. ARNO: The war that’s going to take place when Hillary Clinton’s elected – if that happens.
INSKEEP: What sort of a war would that be?
D. ARNO: Your patriots…
J. ARNO: Your patriots are going to overthrow the government.
http://www.npr.org/2016/09/26/495435828/divided-states-of-america-georgia-auto-mechanic
Not that it’s going to happen, but this guy is thinking about joining a militia group because of a war if Hilary Clinton is elected president? Damn.
Thanks for the Creighton link, David. I’m going to check him out more often. Glad I’m not alone on this one. I suppose I knew that on some levels, but I certainly do appreciate the public reminders. 🙂
Tiffany,
As the founder of a nationwide firearms right organization I understand your position completely and we have been asking the same question since we first founded in 2013. Yeah we aren’t the NRA or GOA but those groups started somewhere and we are in those early ‘growing phases’.
We started our organization for some of the very reasons you have mentioned but on an even larger scale. You see I am the ultimate Libertarian, my personal philosophy is leave everyone alone to do what they want. I don’t give two s***s whether they are male, female, black, white, Asian, Hispanic, gay, straight, transgender, Christian, Jewish, Muslim or atheist etc etc. It’s none of my damn business. And that’s what we wanted to portray to gun owners of all kinds but it’s a painful process to break through the stereotypes.
There are those in the gun community that for a lack of better words are ‘knuckle dragging bigoted idiots’ and it often paints the entire community in a bad light. The press likes to use those types to try and show the world that gun people are ‘bad’. But that’s an entirely different discussion.
The problem is it’s one person at a time. Anyone can get up and give a speech about how they ‘love everyone’ but talking and doing are two different things and most people just don’t believe the talk any more (not that I blame them). So it’s showing one person at a time that all gun owners are not what the general public thinks. That they are just normal decent hardworking people (I’m excluding the above-mentioned BTW) and most of all that they are not all ‘old fat bald white men’.
Several groups are out there though, and bringing them together has been one of our foremost goals. Groups like the Pink Pistols, Black Guns Matter come to mind. They are doing good work but again even they are having to work person by person to bring them into the fold.
So anyway, not wanting to write a book here, the issue is twofold, building trust and getting people to listen. Even if it’s one person at a time it’s the right thing to do and moves us (gun owners) in the right direction.
So yes, I hear you loud an clear and I couldn’t agree with your points any more. It’s been my personal struggle, as well as our organizations struggle, for many years.
Thanks so much for the input! I’ve been really interested in Black Guns Matter, and now I’m definitely going to check out AMGOA too!
Trust me Tiffany you will not find a more unbiased organization than ours and if you find bias let me know because I will not stand for it!
You are always welcome with us , no ifs ands or buts
Tiffany,
That’s the best piece of 2A prose I can remember reading in a very long time. Eloquent candor and wit on important topics that way too few talk about. Glad you surmounted nervousness to post this. Our body of knowledge and discussion are richer for it, and it’s a call to action for those who cherish our constitutionally guaranteed rights regardless of race, color, gender, national origin, religion, and sexual orientation.
THANK YOU!
Oh, wow! What a wonderful compliment! Thank you so much, Josh!
I also went to the 2015 GRPC in Phoenix, and while I’m a horse of a different color, I can certainly relate to the experience of being a token amidst a sea of older white male faces.
However, last year I was very pleased to see Rashad Gray, the leader of the National African-American Gun Association’s Ohio chapter, address the Conference from the main podium on reaching out to black gun owners and prospective gun owners in his talk on “The Urban Initiative.” I was also very impressed with his articulate passion on the subject when I met him at one of the after-hours mixers at the conference venue.
I’d certainly encourage you to go back to GRPC again, and hopefully you’ll be able to see and hear from more different and diverse speakers and attendees next time!
Excellent! I hate I missed that! I definitely plan on continuing to attend. Hope to see you there next year, Phil!
FYI, Rashad Gray’s remarks can be seen here:
https://youtu.be/v0vljo27yLE?t=1h19m31s
Thanks – I’ll dedinitely check it out.
Thanks for attending and this write up! This is an issue that we HAVE to resolve in the gun culture.
Thanks so much, Erik! I really appreciate the feedback!
I try my best to invite any and all people to the gun range whenever possible. I introduce hundreds of people to the gun sports every year, young and old and all colors. What would you like me to do, drive into north Minneapolis and try to recruit gun club members?
You have to admit that all gun people should be worried about the stance of Hillary on guns.
Hi, Stewart! Thanks for what you’re doing. Please keep it up. I wouldn’t ask you to do more. I look forward to seeing more folks do what you do, that’s all.
I went last year in Phoenix and got pretty much the same takeaway you did.
I’m thrilled you attended. I really want you to come back next year and say all those things you were thinking out loud to Gottlieb and all the rest. They need to hear it and incorporate it.
Thanks so much, Ben! I was nervous about posting this. Your feedback means a lot to me.