Sunday, May 1, 2011

NRA Annual Meeting - Day Two

I spent Day 2 revisiting booths that caught my eye on Day 1.  

Impressions - 

  • Trijicon has come up with a really sweet set of tritium sights for pistols that include a large fluorescent front sight.  Basically, the rear two sights are yellow tritium dots with a wide, deep squared off notch between them.  The front sight combines a small tritium dot with a large fluorescent circle.  The circle can recharge from ambient light, but you can also use a short burst from a flashlight to give it a charge before going into a dark room.  What that would do to your night vision was another discussion, but it's a neat idea.  The large circle would definitely draw your eye to the front sight.
  • Trijicon had a few things bow hunters as well.  One was a bow mounted range finder.  It's bolted to one of the arms so that the readout sits at eye level when you draw.   Range is found by sighting over the device at the target and pushing a button that's attached to the main grip.  Also, Trijicon has come up with a vertical tritium-lit vertical post for compound bows.  The tip glows VERY brightly against a dark background.  That would definitely come in handy in tricky light.
  • Galco GunLeather bought a license to print money when they decided to sell holsters at the show.  The line was always deep and moving quickly.  Yes, I got a new holster, why do you ask?
  • There was the obligatory protest at the conference center.  Between 50 and 60 people holding signs and shouting along with a bullhorn spent between 10 and 20 minutes speaking their minds before they blocked the sidewalks and impeded traffic enough for the police to ask them to move along.  This protest wasn't against guns or the NRA as such.  Most of the participants seemed to be from a local group that is trying to deal with street violence.  Many of them held up names or pictures of family members who had been killed.  While I agree with their goal of lowering murder rates and cleaning up the streets, if they think getting guns out of the hands of honest people will do that, they're wrong.  
  • The Second Amendment Foundation get together, AKA The Gunnie Prom, was a great way to end the day.  Alan Gottlieb and the ever wonderful Breda put together a very nice get together at one of the local hotels where we were treated to a discussion of crime and murder rate drops in Washington DC since the Heller decision.   We were also given a briefing on the progress of Second Amendment cases in New York and New Jersey.   I'm excited about those cases.  If rights can make progress in these states, then progress in all of the other states will follow.
  • The After Party, hosted by OldNFO, was a great way to spend time with all of the assembled gunbloggers.   I got to finally meet the Amazon of the mid-Atlantic, Nancy R., along with her family.  That alone was a treat.  It was great to just relax and talk with everyone.  I definitely need to get to more of these get togethers.
Day 3 will be spent making one more round through the floor, then saying my goodbyes and heading home.  Something tells me that this won't be my last NRA event.  Final thoughts and pictures will follow!

3 comments:

Old NFO said...

Glad you got home in one piece! I wasn't sure I was going to with the idjits on I-70 today...

Nancy R. said...

"The Amazon of the Mid Atlantic" I am *so* quoting you on that. It was great meeting you!

Geodkyt said...

Seriously, she did a half howling LOL when she read that.

(Must find Xena costume for her now. . . )

Shorter Half, AKA Geodkyt

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