Pics here and here.

For the gunny who has everything.

I see famous people.

Update: more pics here

Ya know, I write a lot of stuff here. I wonder why the LA Times would quote reader chris Well, I know the reason.

They quoted Squeaky too. And why can’t reporters figure out hyperlinks?

For a Beretta.

At Kevin’s.

Heh: The theme seems to be “I suck a little, but my opponents suck more.”

If you’re here and I haven’t met you yet then you’re just not doing your part. I kid.

But remember we’ll be doing happy hour with Michael Bane at the Bass Pro Shops in Clarksville, Indiana tonight 5:30. Directions are here.

I have gun porn for weeks.

Just got in from the main convention center. There were guns everywhere. Spent two hours there and only made it through about half of it. So, here’s some goodies.

AR15s from Rock River Arms. Nice group of folks who I chatted with briefly:

Up next, some AKs:

Just wrapped up the ILA Grassroots workshop. More to come on that.

About to head into the convention center where I will get enough gun porn material for weeks.

McCain’s about to speak and I’m going to miss it because I didn’t drop my weapon off at the room. But the convention hall will probably be less crowded now.

Update:Oh and some mainstream media folks are behind me. I’m going to try to have some fun with them.

NYT:

Mayors Against Illegal Guns, a coalition founded by Mayors Michael R. Bloomberg of New York and Thomas M. Menino of Boston, announced today that it was placing a television advertisement in Kentucky, which is holding Democratic and Republican presidential primaries on May 20. But anyone who expected the nonpartisan group to take a stand that could affect the fortunes of Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama or John McCain is likely to be disappointed.

Really? Haven’t seen it.

Last night was fun. Got to meet a lot of people, including David Kopel and Ronnie Barrett. Off to the convention center. This time, I’ll take a camera.

More as it happens.

I’m here in Kentucky at the NRA convention. Just ran into David E. Young. Nice guy. Got a sneak peak at the floor too and ogled some goodies. Sadly, I left my camera in the hotel room.

Just got some media credentials. When we went, we were all packing despite what has been reported at Braisted’s joint.

Secret service apparently got scared and, to my knowledge, only the McCain event prohibits carrying of arms.

This is the first convention where carry has been allowed. The restrictions in the past have been a function of local ordinances and not NRA policy.

And we’ll be meeting here tonight at 6:30.

So, last night the kids were in the tub. I was in the bathroom with them trimming up my beard. I took the guard off the trimmer so that I could trim around my upper lip. About that time, the kids got into a fight over who got what particular bath toy and I had to intervene. I got back to the sink, took said trimmer and ran it right up the center of my beard. With the guard off because I forgot to put it back on. So, I had a nice big gap in the center of the beard. As a result, I had to shave off my beard.

Did you know Bob Barr is running for president on the Libertarian party ticket? Yes, Bob Barr of war on drugs, ban gay marriage, etc. fame. Those aren’t very libertarian positions. And the guy was in office for a while, he coulda gotten his libertarian on then, ya know. Instead of now, when he’s a political nobody. Just saying.

Christian Grantham tracks the nastiness.

In other news, John Edwards has asked his supporter to vote for Barack ɐɯɐqo ʞɔɐɹɐq Obama.

In comments here, there’s a bit of a back and forth because I called Barack Men At Work Obama a socialist. I’m not exactly the first to voice that concern. But this ain’t a post about that, it’s a post about the comments. See, in that thread, frequent commenter and fellow gun nut Nomen is taking me to task. Unsurprisingly, most readers agree with me. But the comments directed at him are uncalled for. Telling him to get out of the country because you disagree is silly. And it can drive him away from our cause: gun rights. It’s not helpful. Our side needs to 1) recruit and 2) not drive people who agree away. So, stop that.

There are more and more people of the lefty persuasion who are embracing their inner gun nut. So, quit scaring them off. If you disagree with them on other things, fine. Have at it. But do not make them feel unwelcome.

It’s sorta like how a bunch of folks aren’t fans of the Pink Pistols. You may not like their lifestyle and, get this, you don’t have to. But on guns, they’re on your side.

Light blogging for the next bit as I prepare for the NRA Convention. So, I’m going there and Bubba is going to DemCon. I think it’d be more entertaining if we switched.

I kid.

The tale of an FiveseveN exploding. Warning: graphic pics.

Have to ask those FN guys about that.

I cannot stop laughing.

Ya know, trying to cheer Kevin up is an almost impossible task. Then you realize it’s made even worse because they really are out to get him.

And congrats on the anniversary, I think.

To R. Neal who will be covering the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

down your spine.

Your government at work:

The Senate held a voice vote on whether to turn down the air conditioning after Sen. John Wilder, a Mason Democrat who has served in the upper chamber for more than four decades, said that the room was too cold.

It wasn’t clear which side prevailed on the vote but Speaker Ron Ramsey, a Blountville Republican, brokered a compromise by instructing the clerk to turn the thermostat up by 3 degrees.

In Georgia, concealed carry laws have been greatly expanded. In TN, they would be too if Naifeh wasn’t speaker.

Gun crime up in Britain.

Our local newspaper has some blogs now. I’ve read this sentence now like four times:

Today I spent an extra free thought time to consider knowing as I prepared to lead a discussion on ideas tonight.

They speak English in what?

They don’t give a shit.

An essay on a recurring theme here at SayUncle: Why won’t those dumb, cousin-humping rednecks vote for Obama?

Is it the racism? The elitism. Who knows, really?

Personally, I think the answer is much simpler than all the pixel-waxing done these days over such a question: we don’t like him.

In Nashville.

David is pretty upset over the McCain thing. And David tells us that McCain is not exactly a great ally to gun owners. True. He’s not what I’d call a stellar gun rights supporter. However, he is not openly hostile to gun owners like Hillary and Barack Obama. And the significance of his attendance at the NRA meeting shows that, if nothing else. After all, who is lining up to speak at Brady Campaign events? And who had to go through all the trouble of creating a fake grassroots group that appears pro-gun to endorse Democrats?

McCain is far from perfect. Hell, guns aside, conservatives are not happy:

We should probably consider ourselves lucky, because McCain is giving us a taste of what’s going to happen when he gets to the White House. This, in other words, is what is in store for us conservatives: daily disappointments, frequent betrayals, and constant regret for having voted for him.

Well, that’s what we’ve been getting for the last eight years anyway. So, I don’t exactly understand why I should be that much more pissed about it now.

Meanwhile, Robb notes the Democrats are having similar issues:

Over the past few weeks, I’ve gotten quite an earful on the upcoming elections and it pains me to say even the Democrats don’t appear to be happy with their choices. Many of them are talking about voting McCain since Hillary! and Barrack Whatchootalkinaboutwillis Obama do not represent their views. There’s the typical “If my candidate doesn’t get the nod I’m voting McCain” shtick, but there’s a lot of general unhappiness with both of them overall.

Could be. But conservatives are doing it too. This morning’s local talk radio host asked for a McCain supporter to call. The host stipulated he wanted a real supporter and not just someone who was going to hold their nose and vote; nor did he want someone who was voting against the Democrats. He wanted and honest to God McCain supporter.

For the 35 minutes I listened, one guy called in and he wasn’t convincing. He talked entirely about McCain’s military record and said not one word about his policy positions.

Facts are that our current political system just generates shitty candidates. And we have to deal with that.

So, lost in all the outrage over being called bitter by Barack Rock to the Planet Rock Don’t Stop Obama, we missed out on the fact he supposedly gave us gun owners props just hours before:

“We need sensible gun laws,” said the Senator. “I just got back from Montana where just about everyone has guns. In that culture, fathers and sons bond over hunting. You can’t take that away from rural America. But the inner city is different, and we should tighten the laws on gun purchases and close the loopholes in gun show sales to unscrupulous buyers. The gun control people and the right to bear arms people are talking past each other about disconnected topics.”

I was unaware that there was an inner city exemption to the right to bear arms. Who knew? And isn’t that kinda, you know, racist?

Knoxpatch is back!

Really.

Denise has more on exploding civil war cannonballs and other things.

Jeff has a gunny bleg.

Stephen Colbert to Paul Helmke: Name a situation where you don’t need a gun.

That’s how many members The American Hunters and Shooters Association is claiming in this article where NRA members are called terrorists.

I dunno if terrorist is a step up from whacko and extremist.

So tell me Paul, which presidential candidates are lining up to speak at your events?

Received via email in answer to prior questions about whether you could carry while McCain was there:

This came down from the Secret Service–it was not our call (nor McCain’s).

NOTICE: By mandate of the U. S. Secret Service, no firearms will be allowed in Hall A of the Kentucky Exposition Center, the location of the Celebration of American Values Leadership Forum, on Friday, May 16. Please be prepared to go through security screening to enter the venue. We look forward to seeing you at this outstanding event!

If you can post at all, we’re trying to alert everyone so people aren’t caught off-guard.

David Levdansky:

NRA’s opposition is misguided

Requiring the reporting of lost guns would hurt only criminals.

You see, your bill is just stupid. It puts a burden on a gun owner where one did not exist before. Your bill merely has potential to turn the law-abiding into criminals and nothing more. Try a bill that targets those who break the law not those who abide by it.

And your bill won’t accomplish anything.

Fusil MAS-49/56

Seems like everyone is making a 50 these days!