Looks like Ry Jones made quite a fireball at this year’s Boomershoot. One of these days I need to make it out there.
Author: Sebastian
Apparently I’m Big in Pittsburgh
One thing about being at Annual Meeting is that I’m mostly cut off from what’s going in the world. Apparently we made the news in Pittsburgh over Sandwichgate. I was also told by other bloggers the hot dog people were thrilled with the increase in business, and Primanti Bros. apparently wasn’t looking too busy.
I doubt very much the media was interested in helping me spread the word, I’d be willing to bet their angle was NRA attacking local icons, but all they effectively did was let the Pittsburgh media market know about the controversy. Being seen as anti-gun in Western PA isn’t a very good business model.
Some Announcements
Many thanks to Bitter for filling in this afternoon. I did not want to announce this before Annual Meeting, but here goes:
- My company is liquidating. Everyone’s last day is Thursday, except me and a few other key people. I will be retained to handle the liquidation until the end up June, and then I get a generous severance package. But that’s conditional on me staying until the end of June. I have planned very well for this, so I will be fine. But it turns out liquidation is actually a lot of work, at least for now. I’m not quite ready to begin a job search yet, but will once my termination date is within a month (can’t leave before termination and keep the severance, and don’t want to tell someone I’m not available until July.)
- I’ve been thinking and now am leaning quite heavily toward a rebranding of the blog. This won’t mean much to regular readers. Same old crap, just with a different name and theme. Links will still work, and all that. Same archives. Same URL will still work, though there will be a new one registered for the new name. I will begin to take ads. Reason I’m seriously considering this is because I do need another source of income to help defray the costs associated with keeping the blog running, and because I’m really tired of explaining the name of the blog to people, and having people look at me funny when I tell them my blog’s name.
Other than that, don’t expect much to change. I’m not begging for money or jobs yet. This company has been rocky for a while, and as SayUncle will tell you, I’ve been worried about my job for as long as I’ve known him, which is going on four years now. I’ve planned well. Things will work out.
Finally Home
Back from Annual Meeting, and I’m exhausted. We will return to our normally scheduled blogging tomorrow. Not much else to report on the Board meeting. We decided to leave when they broke for lunch. Most of what goes on after lunch will put you to sleep if you’ve been sleeping well, let alone if you’re really tired.
NRA Board Meeting
Sitting in the peanut gallery for the NRA Board Meeting. NRA people are among the best people to be around celebrating something like Osama Bin Laden meeting an untimely demise at the business end of an American rifle. I was in the hotel bar when it happened.
Watching R. Lee Ermy be sworn in as a new Board Member as I’m typing this. I’m not against celebrity board members who can bring something to the table, and who at least try to show up for board meetings. The fact that Ermey is here is a good sign.
I’m told there will be an interesting speaker at this meeting. Stay tuned for updates.
UPDATE: George Morris lost his wife in the Tucson mass shooting, and is addressing the NRA Board.
“I will be your spokesman, as my wife would wish, to be your spokesman, to tell everyone that it wasn’t a gun that killed my wife.”
“I will be your spokesperson in protecting the Second Amendment going forward.”
UPDATE: Major Land is giving his report. The store set a new record $449,947 of merchandise. That’s 8% more than last year. Membership sold $558,711 worth of memberships or upgrades. We did not set a record this year, but came close. This year 71,139 members attended Annual Meeting. That’s only 989 people short of the record in Charlotte.
Remember folks, NRA are just shills for the gun industry.
UPDATE: David Keene is now NRA president. James Porter is now First Vice President.
UPDATE: Removed previous update. There was a misunderstanding on my part.
Osama is Dead
Still trying to work out the news reports here on Osama Bin Laden’s death. But I think President Obama deserves just credit for this moment. He did not pull out. He did not surrender. The firefight seems to have been deep into Pakistan, which I think is not to be dismissed.
The lesson here is that if you fuck with us, we will hunt you down, and it doesn’t matter how long it takes. This is a great day for all Americans.
Where I’ve Been
Sorry for the lack of updates on the NRA Annual Meeting. This has been one of the busier meetings for us, and I’ve probably spent a grand total of five minutes wandering around the exhibit hall until this afternoon. I’ve been going around with Dan Pehrson of PAFOA doing some relationship building.
Yesterday Dan and I were lucky enough to score an invite to a reception that had a high likelihood of featuring a number of lawmakers. We were pleased to be able to spend some time talking to PA Senator Richard Alloway about Castle Doctrine, along with NRA’s Pennsylvania Liaison John Hohenwarter. I think we should have Castle Doctrine soon, and Alloway has been a real leader on this issue for us in the Senate.
Spent a good deal of time talking to NRA’s Illinois lobbyist Todd Vandermyde. For those of you who haven’t ever met Todd, he’s a fun guy to talk to, and has a through knowledge of how to play this game. Illinois gun owners are lucky to have him. I told Todd I keep expecting to wake up, and talk bout the crazy dream I had where we were actually getting close to passing concealed carry in Illinois. This is something I would have said had a snowflake’s chance in hell a few years ago.
This morning we had nice breakfast session with Tom King, President of the NY State Rifle and Pistol association, and David Keene, who tomorrow will become the next NRA President. Jim Porter, who also stopped by briefly, will become First Vice President, next in line for President. Keene was also ACU Chairman, and took a lot of heat from conservative groups for including GOProud at CPAC. I think that was a smart move, and given that Keene is keen on using his term as President to recruit younger members, and women members, into NRA, I think he brings a lot to the table in that regard.
Primanti Brothers Makes Things Right
Thanks to Cam Edwards and the crew at NRA News for heading over to Primanti Brothers and making things right with the late situation in regards to appearing to endorse Mayor’s Against Illegal Guns. I still think they handled this poorly, but I’m willing to forgive and put this behind us.
In Annual Meeting
The actual Annual Meeting has started. This event is the reason this whole dog and pony show. For those of you who are here, the person the powers that be are pushing for 76th board member is Joel Friedman. I agree with this choice. Joel brings a lot of skills to the board, and is on several important committees. We lost a lot of good people this round because of the number of celebrity board members on the ballot. If you’re here, Joel could use your support. You can vote until 4PM.
NRA Law Seminar
I’m at the NRA law seminar, waiting for it to get started. Too early for me, and I’m mildly hung over. Unfortunately missed SayUncle last night. One bad thing about Pittsburgh is none of the hotels are close to each other, and Uncle’s is four and a half miles from mine.
Speakers today you may know are Dave Hardy, Stephen Halbrook, Glenn Reynolds, Dave Kopel, Stefan Tahmasseibi, and PA Supreme Court Justice Seamus P. McCaffery.
I’ll be tweeting updates during the day. My twitter feed is here