Templar223
Member
- Joined
- Dec 5, 2005
- Messages
- 309
I spent much of the weekend at the Gun Rights Policy Conference in Ft. Mitchell, KY this weekend.
Sponsored by the Second Amendment Foundation and the Citizens Committee to Keep and Bear Arms, among others, this event brought together leaders from scores of grassroots organizations throughout the nation to hear a Who's Who of distinguished speakers.
The accommodations were very good. The convention center that hosted the event was huge, with wonderful pools, both indoors and outdoors. It even had a bit of "Hogwarts" flavor in both the decor and the numbering system (or lack thereof) for numbering rooms.
Here are some photos...
Photo #1. Alan Gottleib presents Miss America 1944, Venus Ramey, 82, with an award recognizing her contribution to the cause for using her gun to thwart a criminal act.
Photo #2. Registration was busy throughout the weekend as approximately 800 pre-registered attendees signed in. An additional 800+ walk-ins also came over the course of the weekend (many of those were Saturday afternoon for Ron Paul).
Photo #3. Congressman Jean Schmidt (R-OH) receives an award from Alan Gottlieb. She was a VERY impressive speaker.
Photos #4, 5, 6, 7. Presidential Candidate Ron Paul made an appearance for about a half hour or so.
And he received an award from Mr. Gottlieb:
And he gave a nice ten-minute speech which was well received by GRPC attendees, wildly approved by his die-hard supporters, and omitted any reference or re-statement of any of his recent observations like 9-11 was America's fault.
Mr. Paul's supporters were bordering on obnoxious to GRPC staff, demanding their place in a room to see Mr. Paul, even though they weren't GRPC participants. My friend Tom suggested that we just ask everyone to show their carry piece and those who are armed can see Dr. Paul, and those who aren't can wait outside the conference area.
Instead, GRPC people broke down part of the main room to allow additional room for the Paul supporters so nobody had to get hurt.
To their credit, some of the Paul people stuck around after Ron left to re-assemble the broken down tables.
Good size crowd (this was less than a third of the seated audience.
Last observation:
I was pleasantly surprised that Mr. Paul showed absolutely no reservations about wading directly into an audience chock full of people like me packing heat. Heck, many of the GRPC attendees were open-carrying.
I was taking photos and was within literally a half an arm's reach of Mr. Paul for probably five minutes each in front of him and behind him. The time I spent taking photos over his shoulder and generally following him around, I was right there with nobody between me and him.
Bet you wouldn't find Barack or Hillary doing the same.
Hope you enjoyed.
John
Sponsored by the Second Amendment Foundation and the Citizens Committee to Keep and Bear Arms, among others, this event brought together leaders from scores of grassroots organizations throughout the nation to hear a Who's Who of distinguished speakers.
The accommodations were very good. The convention center that hosted the event was huge, with wonderful pools, both indoors and outdoors. It even had a bit of "Hogwarts" flavor in both the decor and the numbering system (or lack thereof) for numbering rooms.
Here are some photos...
Photo #1. Alan Gottleib presents Miss America 1944, Venus Ramey, 82, with an award recognizing her contribution to the cause for using her gun to thwart a criminal act.
Photo #2. Registration was busy throughout the weekend as approximately 800 pre-registered attendees signed in. An additional 800+ walk-ins also came over the course of the weekend (many of those were Saturday afternoon for Ron Paul).
Photo #3. Congressman Jean Schmidt (R-OH) receives an award from Alan Gottlieb. She was a VERY impressive speaker.
Photos #4, 5, 6, 7. Presidential Candidate Ron Paul made an appearance for about a half hour or so.
And he received an award from Mr. Gottlieb:
And he gave a nice ten-minute speech which was well received by GRPC attendees, wildly approved by his die-hard supporters, and omitted any reference or re-statement of any of his recent observations like 9-11 was America's fault.
Mr. Paul's supporters were bordering on obnoxious to GRPC staff, demanding their place in a room to see Mr. Paul, even though they weren't GRPC participants. My friend Tom suggested that we just ask everyone to show their carry piece and those who are armed can see Dr. Paul, and those who aren't can wait outside the conference area.
Instead, GRPC people broke down part of the main room to allow additional room for the Paul supporters so nobody had to get hurt.
To their credit, some of the Paul people stuck around after Ron left to re-assemble the broken down tables.
Good size crowd (this was less than a third of the seated audience.
Last observation:
I was pleasantly surprised that Mr. Paul showed absolutely no reservations about wading directly into an audience chock full of people like me packing heat. Heck, many of the GRPC attendees were open-carrying.
I was taking photos and was within literally a half an arm's reach of Mr. Paul for probably five minutes each in front of him and behind him. The time I spent taking photos over his shoulder and generally following him around, I was right there with nobody between me and him.
Bet you wouldn't find Barack or Hillary doing the same.
Hope you enjoyed.
John
Last edited:
