The NRA: They May Not be Who You Think They Are

I attended the 2018 NRA Convention in Dallas.  I was invited to attend by Bill Rogers to come as a member of the press.  As the owner of American Outdoorsman that appears on TV, he had access to the convention on a day that had limited numbers of people on the exhibition floor.  Still, there were thousands of people milling around looking at firearms and firearms related products. 

I have never seen so many dealers of firearms, ammunition, optics, clothing, footwear, training materials and props, and firearms safety devices in my life.  I have attended a few gun shows in my time, but this show was bigger than all of them combined.  The exhibition floor was easily longer and wider than a football field and filled beyond capacity.  There were exhibits outside the floor in hallways.  Suggesting that it was huge is an understatement.

All the big names were there like Smith and Wesson, Remington, Springfield, Colt, Glock, H&K, Bass Pro Shop and Cabela’s, Olin, Beretta, Aim Point, and so on, but the hundreds of entrepreneurs were there as well.  These were businesses you most likely have never heard of like American Tactical, Propper International, Vault Pro, Viktos, Shiloh Rifle, or Cool Fire.  There were hundreds of small businesses that recognized the need to fill a small niche and came up with a product to fill that niche.

There was one thing missing from the convention floor.  There were no loudmouth, obnoxious zealots.  There were no chest pounding, finger pointing radicals anywhere to be seen or heard.  Everywhere I went I ran into quiet, humble, rational men and women proud of who they are and what they do.  If you were to exchange the guns and ammo on the floor for blenders and toasters, you would mistake the vendors and shoppers for pacifists. 

And there were patriots present.  An interesting thing happened on Saturday at the convention.  A performer was singing the National Anthem and as she sang, the sound system went out.  Without missing a cue, 20,000 members of the NRA spontaneously began singing the National Anthem.  Chills ran up and down my spine.

The most radical vendor I saw at the convention was a business named 1791 Gun Leather (1791 is the year of the ratification of the Bill of Rights, including Amendment II).  The most radical article of clothing I saw was a T-shirt that had the letters FBINA - FBI National Academy.  We stopped and visited with each other for several minutes.  He was a member of the 176th Session of the Academy; I was a member of the 136th Session.

I have avoided joining the NRA for several years, but that changed recently.  I confess.  I joined the NRA because of David Hogg.  It turns out that I was not the only one.  The NRA experienced one of its largest membership surges in history following the denouncement of the NRA by Mr. Hogg and others.  Mr. Hogg was good for the business of the NRA.

The point is that this exhibition was filled with people just like you and me.  If it wasn’t for the fact that they were attending the NRA Convention, you would never have known they were remotely associated with the NRA.  These are not the cold-blooded murderers and their accomplices that gun control advocates believe them to be.  These are hard-working Americans.  You can call the vendors people making a living off of fear of others all you want.  That isn’t what I saw.  What I saw were people interested in safety, security, and filling a niche.  I have seen some of the liberal press coverage of the NRA Convention and what I saw was nothing like what they portrayed it to be.

No doubt that the crowds were worked into a frenzy at the conference sessions, but I know what walked out of those sessions.  They are the same people who walked in.  They are the same calm, rational men and women they have always been.  They are the same people they were prior to the conference - men and women who are interested in safety, security, protection of the Second Amendment, protection of their families and their own lives, and the right to hunt or engage in target shooting and anything else you can think of other than killing people.  And yes, they are the people who want to protect and preserve not just the Second Amendment, but ALL amendments to the Constitution and the very fiber of the Constitution itself.

I’m glad I went to the convention and I’m glad I joined the NRA.