I am going to post some pics soon..... but first, a few things....
Something was better than nothing. The attendance was low, but let's not forget how it would have looked if everyone said "Well, I'm getting a bad feeling, let's not go." If everyone turtled up, it would have been way lower. IMHO everyone here that decided to go deserves a big round of applause, and I'll even extend that to the people that had wanted to go but life ended up screwing them. I think part of the reason attendance was bad was because it happened on a Monday and the economy is beyond crappy. Right now a lot of gun owning Americans are scrambling around to find work, or are working in crappy jobs where they don't have any vacation time or flexibility, just to get by. Remember that a huge portion of the gun owners that care are responsible citizen middle america sorts of people who won't go on the dole for anything- that certainly has an impact . A lot had changed economically in the US since the time this was first announced and when it happened.
Another possible reason is that I think some gun owners are getting complacent. We've had a fair amount of forward progress in the past decade, and I think that is causing some people to relax. It's great that progress has been made, but it is also important to remember that there are still battles going on everywhere, even ones that don't affect us directly. A dumb law here, a dumb law there, at the state levels. Even if Obama is not going to attempt to ban guns tomorrow, or even if he's politically incapable of doing it, it's important to realize that we have to keep pouring coal on the fire, even if it is only a few shovelsful here and there. We still have to make new gun owners and make the existing ones a hell of a lot more vigilant... otherwise accumulated complacency could come up and bite us in the ass later on when it REALLY matters- It's like a military readiness sort of thing- you still have to keep the tires, oil, and gas fresh on the vehicles otherwise when you need to use them they will falter.
There was also the Ted Nugent issue.... IMHO they would have been better off telling him to go screw up front, but hindsight is 20/20. The problem is that many had gotten all amped up saying "wow, even he's going to show up!" and then cast aspersions on the whole thing when they realized he wasn't going to show, thinking "well, if hes not going, then it must be falling apart" and this ended up being a net tarnishment of the event. In a way it worked out for the batter, anyways, as I doubt anyone will try to bring him in in the future... while he is strong in his beliefs, I don't think that is someone we would really want representing us. His supposed draft-dodging didn't help very much either. (There are still a lot of gun owning vietnam vets that are really pissed at him) I think they would have been better off trying to get some more industry people in on the event, it would have been cool for someone like Ronnie Barret to speak, as well as others, maybe get some more LE community folks there, as well.
There is an unstated value as well in events like this- and that is, that there are at least some Americans that still give a s**t- and I think that kind of cheerleading is somewhat infectious in the sense that it motivates people to do more things related to freedom/RKBA activism. I was pumped- and by the time I got to Ludlow, I was going... even if the bus didn't show up... Thankfully for Kiver's sake that was not an issue.
![Grin [grin] [grin]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/041.gif)
Anyways, I think my point here really is, that having an event like this once in awhile really can motivate people to do more.
I got to shake hands and talk to Dick Heller, what a real patriot. He is very humble and laid back, and I'll never forget what he told me... "If even security guard like me can do this, anyone can." (Not his exact words, but pretty close. ) I gotta give the guy some credit- he was part of fighting this huge machine in probably the most oppressive anti gun locality in the country... and he still did it even though it would have simply been easier to give up. I believe that if even 20% of us, as in "gun owners" thought this way, things would be different.
I also got to talk to Philip Van Cleeve, from VCDL. IMHO VCDL is an example of what every grass-roots state org should be. Part of what made him and VCDL successful in much of what they sought to do was that they were relentless. I remember watching some of the stuff from years ago, and he was at every little tin pot dictator run town meeting, to legislative hearings, etc, etc, etc... It's this kind of tenacity that moves things forward, even if it's only a little bit at a time.
One thing that REALLY pissed me off was that the NRA couldn't even send a lackey up to speak, unless I somehow or another missed that for the short time I was away from the rally getting lunch. If they are wondering why many of us are distrustful of them, this is why. There is no "Do something, bring us ideas, we have your back!" coming from there. All I saw as that they had a booth to collect memberships... whee. You would think the largest RKBA machine in the country could do a little more than that- or at least tell people about all the things their membership fees and the like are going to. If I'm all washed up on this and they DID have someone speak, I'll gladly eat shoe leather.
I can partially agree with Derek's viewpoint in the other thread that on the whole, we should be way past protesting- but this at least felt
way better than doing nothing. If they ever run it again, I'll definitely be going. I had a blast, and I'm sure others did, too. IMHO using the "process" in place to the nth degree is still important... at a minimum it keeps people aware, and it keeps those in power on alert that "yes, we haven't forgotten your corruption, and we'll let everyone know about it too, as long as we are alive. "
-Mike