NRA Convention in Indianapolis

The 143rd annual NRA convention was held in Indianapolis this year - so Dad and I went.  It's been held here in town one other time and Dad said he kicked himself for not attending.  So maybe this is a twice in a lifetime event that it will be so close?

The event ran from Friday through Sunday, April 25, 26, and 27.  We went on Friday and fought traffic.  We ended up parking at Lilly and walking to the convention center.

We were mainly there for the exhibits - and spent no time in meetings or the rally, headlined by Sarah Palin.

If you can think of a gun manufacturer - they were there - along with thousands of people.  Expected attendance was north of 90,000; but I have no idea how many were there on Friday.

We did speak with one guy who drove over from St. Louis to attend.

Getting in was easy.  All you had to do was show your NRA membership card - or sign up on the spot.  We are both members, so got right through.

We walked the convention center for 3 - 3.5 hours, stopping when something caught our eye.

Dad bought a gunsmith multi-tool and some earrings for Mom.  I stopped and chatted up the boys at Daniel Defense, a couple of African outfitters, and one Canadian elk outfitter.

Beretta had this booth where you could hold a gun and get your picture taken on a green background - which they would superimpose onto a movie poster of your choice.  I picked Sky Plunge - a spoof on the 007 Sky Fall.



Yes, I know it was a ploy to get my email address and build their database of gun owners.  So what?  We laughed.  And so here you go world, my movie poster.

We could have waited in line to get The Gunny's autograph (R. Lee Ermey) but didn't know what we'd do with it, so passed.  We also saw Dietz's mother who was there signing books.  If you do not know who Danny Dietz is, then you need to do a web search and then read the book Lone Survivor.

We stopped by The Ram brewery for lunch and made it home by 3:30.  Good day.

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