Second Amendment Blog Bash

Take advantage of another great opportunity to mix and mingle with the real people who make up the gun blogosphere at the NRA Annual Banquet on Saturday, May 17. While enjoying a great entertainment lineup, including keynote speaker Glenn Beck, you can enjoy the company of other bloggers and readers for dinner with reserved seating at the banquet.

To purchase tickets for $65, just click here and register. *Do not forget to add your NRA member number if you’re an NRA member.* Follow the order instructions for the Celebration of American Values Banquet before entering Blog into the seating request form at the bottom of the order form. (Special Note for Life Members and Up: In order to be seated with the Blog Bash crowd, you’ll need to order the $65 tickets.)

Finally, email me at organizer -at- 2ABlogBash -dot- com with your name and number of tickets ordered. This will provide us with a cross-reference list to ensure that everyone who purchases a ticket will be seated together. (Bear with us, this is the first time we’ve organized with the NRA, so this is just a measure to double check that we don’t get lost in the many thousands who are registering!)

If you are not an NRA member and would like to attend the banquet, please email me for instructions.

Credentialed bloggers are not required to purchase tickets in order to cover the speakers; however, tickets are required in order to be seated for dinner.

For those who would like to take advantage of NRA discounted rates in finding a hotel room, your deadline is approaching. You need to make any reservations through the website by April 11.

There are hotels that are not working through the conference coordination website, and certainly many of which are cheaper and more expensive. Feel free to check the standard travel websites for deals. Just a word of warning that as folks in the area decide to attend, rooms might get harder to book.

Here are highlights of a few special sessions offered during the NRA Annual Meeting:

• Methods of Concealed Carry - An illustrated lecture and demonstration, the program is directed to both officers and civilians who carry handguns concealed during the course of their daily activities. This program will deal with overall concepts as well as the building block-like components that must be considered in order to successfully carry and produce a firearm from a concealed location on and (in some cases) off the body.In the past, it was often assumed that proficiency on the range transfers to the ability to successfully carry, conceal, and ultimately produce a firearm under the stress of a life-threatening situation. From gun and holster selection to carrying environments and activities; from clothing to physical shape and conditioning; from women’s issues to accessories; we will look at this subject from these perspectives and more, in order to come up with basic guidelines to serve the audience in both studying and selecting equipment and employment methods with a more critical (and informed) eye in the future.
• Refuse to be a Victim Seminars & Instructor Development - How does the criminal mind work? Would criminals consider you an easy target? What can you do to protect yourself, your family, friends or employees from becoming victimized? Answers to these questions (and more) are covered during this 3-hour personal safety seminar. Come early! Classroom seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.Individuals attending any one of the Refuse To Be A Victim seminars on Friday or Saturday will be eligible to attend this Refuse To Be A Victim Instructor Development Workshop (IDW) from 1-5 pm, in Room C101 at the Exposition Center. Successfully completing this IDW gives attending individuals the NRA Certified Instructor credentials necessary to teach seminars in their communities. There is an $80 material fee for the IDW and an $11 or $21 certification fee for NRA members or non-members respectively. Pre-registration is required. Call 800-861-1166 to register.
• United We Stand - Join Ted Nugent as he celebrates the Second Amendment and the urgent need — now more than ever — for freedom lovers everywhere to actively promote a united stand for lawful gun ownership and all legal gun owners. This American Legend will be signing books and autographing merchandise following his United We Stand session in the South Wing Ballroom on Sunday, May 18.
• Guaranteed Whitetail Tactics - Big-buck expert Bill Winke shares his secrets for “How to Kill a Big Buck in Your Backyard.” Winke will show how to scout and set the ultimate stands to kill big whitetails. He’ll use aerial photos and topographical maps to explain what terrain features point the way to mature deer. Then Winke will explain how to read and hunt rubs and scrapes and how to adjust your stand-location strategy as the season and rut progress. He’ll use personal examples of mature bucks killed and will highlight other successful hunters by showing their photos and explaining what they did right and wrong. American Hunter editors Scott Olmsted and Frank Miniter are co-moderators for this special session targeted to one of the nation’s hottest deer-hunting areas.

10. Do you really want to be the one that everyone talks about?
“I can’t believe John didn’t come. Did you see that crazy ass new layout he put up? Ugh.”
“Oh, and that new gun - totally trying to play tacticool.”
“And don’t even get me started on Adam’s latest survey of the libertarian political landscape. So off base…”

9. Boozin’ with Bane. (If the coolness of Michael isn’t enough for you, we may have other top folks in the industry joining us.)

8. Bloggers are crashin’ the grassroots activist forum.

7. Glenn Beck is teh funny.

6. Bourbon!

5. Unless you’re Glenn Reynolds who has singlehandedly proven that everybody visits Knoxville at some point, you’ll probably quadruple the number of bloggers you’ve met.

4. Your dollar will go farther in Louisville than London, and it’s cheap to get there & stay.

3. Your wife/daughter/sister/cousin/mother/grandmother/husband has a crush on John Michael Montgomery.

2. Have an IPA with ILA.

1. Media passes to an event with 60,000 people preparing for a political fight like none before.

Here are details about special sessions scheduled for the Annual Meeting:

• The African Hunting Experience - If you’ve ever wanted to hunt the Dark Continent, don’t miss this session with Craig Boddington.
• Guns of D-Day - History buffs and firearm enthusiasts won’t want to miss this session where Martin K.A. Morgan, historian-in-residence of the National World War II Museum in New Orleans, and American Rifleman Editor-In-Chief Mark A. Keefe IV, will cover the guns used by American, German, British and Canadian forces on the first day of “The Great Crusade.”
• Handloading Today - Shooting Illustrated Associate Editor Aaron Carter and former Editor-In-Chief Dave Campbell will detail the cost savings and methods of cooking up your own loads in this special session.
• NRA and the Media: It’s Not the Critic Who Counts - Learn why the media never seems to get the facts straight with former NRA President Sandra Froman, NRA Second Vice President David Keene, NRA Board member Cleta Mitchell and political analyst Ralph Hallow. They will address the issue of how to effectively get the real message across to editors and reporters.

In addition to enjoying Glenn Beck’s surely entertaining speech during the Annual Banquet, you are invited to join other bloggers and readers for dinner with reserved seating.

Those who want to enjoy the full scope of the Annual Banquet can join their favorite fellow bloggers and readers for dinner. Though tickets may now be purchased through the NRA Annual Meeting website, if you’d like to join the Blog Bash attendees, please wait a short time. We’re currently working with the NRA to accommodate the reserved seating request. As soon as we have details, we will let you know.

Dinner tickets will be available for $65. Blog Bash bloggers who would just like to cover the speaker without being seated for dinner may do so with their media credentials.

Bloggers are invited to come out and join the NRA-ILA Public Affairs staff for a kick-off meet and greet on Thursday evening, May 15. This will be a great ice breaker for those who arrive in town early, giving you a chance to meet other bloggers and get to know the staff who will share the media room with us over the next three days.

More details will be announced later.

On Friday, May 16, Annual Meeting attendees are invited to a free concert featuring Grammy award-winning artist John Michael Montgomery. This is the first event of its kind at the Annual Meeting at Louisville’s Fourth Street Live.

I just thought I would note that we have 34 blogs confirmed at the Second Amendment Blog Bash. I think this puts on track for a great time, interesting conversations, unique experiences, and an enjoyable weekend getting the inside scoop on the latest news about shooting sports and second amendment issues for 2008.

There are 10 more bloggers sitting on the fence, but hopefully we can convince them to join us. And, of course, we’re always happy to invite bloggers who are just learning about this great new event. I mean who wants to miss out on more than 400 exhibitors spread out in a 296,100 square foot hall? And with the NRA not only offering to register Blog Bash attendees with media credentials, but also to have a blogger featured on a major grassroots panel, there’s much to get folks interested.

Bloggers and commenters are invited to join Michael Bane at the Bass Pro Shops in Clarksville, Indiana for happy hour on Friday, May 16. Bane is a host and producer for the Outdoor Channel and, on the Internet, Down Range Television. He has been blogging on the Michael Bane Blog — Warning! I Fling Poo! — since 2004 and began a weekly podcast last year.

Following happy hour with Michael Bane, feel free to stick around for dinner at the Islamorada Fish Company on Friday evening. Bloggers and readers will gather to enjoy a casual dinner at the second largest Bass Pro Shops in the country.

The NRA-ILA Grassroots Division will offer “In Their Own Words,” a special session that highlights real gun rights activists and their personal grassroots experiences on Saturday, May 17. Second Amendment Blog Bash attendee Sebastian from Snowflakes in Hell will present on the topic of navigating the gun blogosphere.

With the 2008 election season underway, NRA members must redouble efforts to elect pro-Second Amendment lawmakers to office at all levels of government. They will discuss how gun owners can take on a more active role in their community with grassroots campaigns and legislative efforts. NRA will provide the materials and strategies needed to educate and empower fellow gun owners.

The workshop will feature several guest speakers, including NRA officers and NRA-ILA staff. If you would like to attend, you must preregister for the NRA Grassroots Workshop.

Those attending the Second Amendment Blog Bash in Louisville will have the chance to hear Glenn Beck address the Annual Banquet.

Didn’t know that Glenn Beck was a big gun guy? Well, he wasn’t so much of one that he felt he needed to be active on it until this year, according to his public admission on television that he just joined NRA, and he’s confident that there are still big forces at work to go after our guns.

Here’s his coverage of Shirley Katz’s case where he notes that the right to own the tools to defend your life are bigger than the constitution, they are inherent rights.

It should make for an entertaining and interesting speech, especially since we should know who the nominees will be by that point.

Now, if we can just get NRA to get the Red State Update guys for the entertainment…

Bloggers registered with the Blog Bash will be able to cover the speaker with their media credentials for free.  Those who would like to be seated for dinner will need to purchase a ticket when the online banquet registration goes live.

If there’s not enough at the NRA Annual Meetings to keep you entertained, or you have guests with you who may be looking to see the area more, check out a few highlights from the area on our Louisville Links page.

Bourbon Heritage Center

Buffalo Trace Distillery

Jim Beam Distillery

Wild Turkey Distillery

Maker’s Mark Distillery

Caesars Indiana

Churchill Downs

Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory

General George Patton Museum

Kentucky Derby Museum

Thomas Edison House

Frazier International History Museum

Muhammad Ali Center

NRA Offers Discounted Travel Services

MacNair Travel Management has been selected to serve as the air travel coordinators for the Annual Meetings to be held in Louisville, Kentucky. They will guarantee the lowest published airfare from your home city to Louisville.

To reserve your flight to Louisville, please call, fax, or email your travel requests to MacNair Travel Management. Tell the convention specialist that you are attending the NRA Annual Meetings and Exhibits.

MacNair Travel Management’s contact information is as follows:

• Email: mj@macnairtravel.com
• Phone: 866-823-6429
• Fax: 703-836-2078

For those looking to learn more about the voting process for the NRA Board of Directors, NRA has recently posted information about the process and how it relates to the Annual Meeting.