Thoughts from my first wander of the floor:
The average age of the attendees is younger than in the past conventions, and fitter. While I’m still navigating around wheezing late-middle-aged gentlemen, there are a lot more fit, squared-away folks.
Is the NRA sponsoring a Crossfit club, or something?
Also, there are more un-accompanied women. At the other NRAAMs I’ve been to, the majority of the lady attendees are obviously there with the Boyfriend /Husband /Spouse-Like Love Unit. While most of them still are, there are a lot more moving around the floor by themselves — including at least two ladies standing in line at booths with strollers in tow.
Speaking of which, I spoke briefly with a young mother at the Glock booth who is mildly annoyed that she had to pay someone to take the finger grooves off her Gen4 Glock 19 just before Glock came out with the Gen5. She was intelligent, articulate, and had more gun sense than most folks I’ve run into at gun counters. If she, and others like her, are the future of the NRA … we’re in good hands.
I am happy to see fewer gun-bro t-shirts on my first swing-through. Chesty “Cold Dead Snek” t-shirts may be satisfying to wear, but might not convey an image to attract more middle-of-the-road folks.
Ah, well.
I’m off to chase down Tiny Purple Demon and give her some books.
LawDog
Good to hear more younger folks, and women, in attendance. Now if the President had just said sumthin' about hearing protection, or resiprosity…
I went to a local range that I hadn't been to in several years. It was a couple weeks ago, but what struck me was that now the people there were many couples shooting together. And not men trying to teach their clueless wives how to shoot a gun "Just in case". The women there, in the hour and a half I was there all seemed to be quite knowledgeable about guns and range safety. They were decent shots, and did not have to defer to anyone about guns, or it seemed anything else. Yet they were also feminine, and had manners, as did their significant others. It also gave me hope for our future gun rights.
I remember thinking that it would be a very neat idea for a man to take a willing woman on a first date to the gun range. She would get to know just what kind of man he is, and hopefully, if she had never been shooting before, he could help her to over come any bias against the gun community. Like it or not, we have to continue to reach out to people and bring them into the fold, or we will see our gun rights erode. So we also need to put our best foot forward, and not act like idiots, as I have seen some guys do in the past. It is simply not funny to hand a woman a gun that she can't handle, then film it and put the resulting disaster on youtube or face book to let people laugh at her expense.
"It also has the most police presence I've seen."
Interesting, I was there on Friday and spent the whole day in the exhibit halls, and I thought there were very few DPD officers, at least on the inside. (I heard from friends that there were more outside, outnumbering the few dismal protestors being rained on.) I was perplexed that I kept seeing some Border Patrol officers there…and they were mostly visiting the booths… until I realized the BP had a booth also, out in the lobby area.
I did note that the convention staff had their people covering every door, even those not in use. And they were all very polite and gracious to me.
By the way, this NRAAM set an attendance record, besting previous record holder Houston.
Hey Lawdog;
I did enjoy meeting you at NRAAM, Do you know how many times I have used your "Cake" meme to discuss the latest "sensible gun control proposal" by some unwitting tool? I also noticed that the swag was less, although I and my son did get a shirt from "Rock River Arms" like last year and I did buy a couple of things but there was more eclectic selection than last year and I am looking forward to seeing everyone at Indianapolis in 2019.
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