Back From the Land of Banjo's and Squalor

The NRA convention was about half the size of last year's event, but even so, I was able to talk to some really cool people. The designer at LWRCI helped me iron out some issues on my rifle and the guys at LeHigh defense dropped some knowledge about their new bullets and the upcoming arrivals.

It was a good time all around. I was present for 2 great seminars on Saturday. One was about Sniping in WW1 with John Plaster of "Ultimate Sniper" fame. The second was Kyle Lamb of Vtac and his Mindset Seminar. I'm going to talk to the lead guy and see if we can incorporate a few items from it into our mindset class. The highlight of my day was chatting with IV8888 about the Barrett M107 I'm lusting after. He's a really cool guy. I'd go blow stuff up with him any time.

The show was a bit tawdry with all the models and the bare flesh. I realize it's a huge sausage fest, but to cheapen it with meth'd out models and oddly cast equipment hookers was offensive. The gals knew little to nothing about the product, and they would scoff when you didn't fawn over them. I was looking for porn of a firearm variety, not the more seedy style. 

I spent a full afternoon talking with some very interesting people within the fringe media about the new M855/NFA DD/Sporting purposes agreement that's been blown up with it's seeing the light of day. We spent a good 4 hours considering implications and current cases that could gut the ATF very soon. We also spent a time talking about logistics and militia concerns with regard to infiltration by agent provocateurs. One gent discussed openly about one of his best friends getting in trouble and being owned by the feds to the point that he no longer had contact with him and the friend is now supporting extremist agents of the militia fringe.

It makes me wonder how many times the Feds have taken an interest in an old useless guy like me. I have contacts in that world, but I'm not privy to any information that would be considered valuable by anyone. I'm sure if my life or freedom was suddenly called into question, I'd rethink my associations in order to walk among the rest of society.

Lastly, I'd like to talk about the city of Nashville. The downtown area is pretty nice, but difficult to navigate due to terrain. Once you leave downtown, the outlying area is full of squalor. My hotel was near Brick Church Pike, and I had to drive around a while to find decent food in the area. A biker gang had a road closed and was parking bikes in the street. Not many police in those areas as well, but you didn't have to look hard to find a closed business or boarded up housing. I was a little shocked at how dilapidated the surrounding area is. The women out there were VERY friendly, and I will say that they honked and shouted at me more than a few times. 

Next Year it's in Louisville, and I'm hoping to make it for a larger show.