Virginia Buzz at Shot Show Industry Day at the Range

Image courtesy Dean Weingarten

U.S.A.-(Ammoland.com)- The day before the Shot Show held in Las Vegas, there is an Industry Day at the Range. Attendance in the morning is for the Media, by invitation only.

The Shot Show is an industry show and is not open to the general public.

I have had the pleasure of attending several Industry Days at the Range. The exhibits are always interesting. It is a place to get an early look at new products.

At this Industry Day at the Range, I was able to shoot the new Colt Python, the Glock 44 (.22 LR), and the Kel Tec P17.

Shooting new products and being able to talk to industry personnel and design engineers was not what caught my attention this year. It was the buzz about Lobby Day in Richmond Virginia.  Lobby Day is an event for citizens to interact with the Virginia General Assembly in the State Capitol.

The Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL) has been a major presence at Lobby Day since 2002. During the entire period, Virginia Citizens could carry personal firearms in the Capitol while interacting with their government representatives. There were never any problems. Second Amendment supporters built a reputation for factual, polite, lobbying.

In the 2019 elections, for the first time in decades, the Democrat party in Virginia was able to take control of the General Assembly and the Senate, with a Democrat Governor, a trifecta.

Suddenly, legally armed citizens were no longer welcome in the State Capitol.

Second Amendment supporters were not happy with the threats of numerous infringements on the exercise of Second Amendment rights conveyed by the incoming government.

VCDL organized a massive presence for Lobby Day, to show the new government its infringements were not welcome and would be opposed.

Second Amendment supporters were smeared as white supremacists and racists, with violent intent to overturn an election.

Numerous writers and strategists warned of the potential for agent provocateurs, false flags, and intentionally set up of confrontations. VCDL Board Member Philip Van Cleave warned Second Amendment supporters “Don’t Take The Bait“.

Within the gun culture, people prayed that Lobby Day would be as peaceful and polite as it has been for 20 years. Richmond, Virginia proved it is not Portland, Oregon.

One of the advantages of the Industry Day at the Range for the media is the bus ride to and from the range. You are thrown into proximity with many of your peers you may never have met. The conversation and contacts made are priceless.

This year, one common subject was what was about to happen, or already happening, in Richmond Virginia, at Lobby Day.

No one knew. Cell connections were poor. It was a common topic for speculation. People hoped for the best while fearing for the worst. No news was considered good news.

One of the first things people asked, on arriving back at their accommodations, was: What happened at Lobby Day in Richmond, Virginia?

I received word from my brother who had been monitoring events over the Internet.

Massive turnout, crowds of Second Amendment supporters from 50,000 to 80,000. A peaceful, polite presence. One arrest of a young woman who refused to remove a mask (bandana).

I attempted to convey the news to other members of the gun culture media…

Everyone I talked to already knew what had happened and what had not happened.

It was obvious a majority of media at the Industry Day at the Range had been waiting and watching, with considerable anticipation, for news of the events in Richmond.

The response was universal: pleasure that Second Amendment supporters had been successful in demonstrating their positive attributes; a belief that the Legacy Media would downplay their success, and admiration for the massive, peaceful response to the provocations of the Virginia government.

In retrospect, it is obvious that the gun industry media would be aware of Lobby Day, the situation in Virginia, and be intensely interested in what happened.

It shows gun culture in the United States has been able to create its own media and means of transmitting information, which is not constrained by the prejudices, politics, and bias of the Legacy Media.

The response in Virginia, and the awareness during Industry Day at the Range in Nevada, are both indicators that Second Amendment supporters are winning, not losing the fight to restore Second Amendment rights.


About Dean Weingarten:Dean Weingarten

Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of Constitutional Carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.

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grim reaper

I’m sure the media is throughly disappointed there was no mass shootings that they could report on for weeks on end. I seen a blurb about 5 seconds long on the nightly news about the rally. I seen longer and more in-depth stories about a cat stuck in a tree than was reported on 50,000 to 100,000 citizens standing up for their second amendment rights. These Americans in doing so are also standing up for all the Constitutional rights (outlined in the Bill of Rights) not only the second. I have to commend those who rallied and their great conduct… Read more »

Knute

They’re still in there pitching the same old tired fictions, though. https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2020/01/21/im-stunned-to-see-the-fake-news-liberal-media-eat-it-in-their-coverage-of-virginias-progun-rights-rally-n2559835 Their problem is; few are fooled by their stories any more, and the more ridiculous they get, the more they drive their 10-15 percent “base” off. There will come a point where the lamestream media is so irrelevant people will say: “CNN? TV? What are they?” And we are almost there now. I cannot find one single person in Montana who will support any of the alphabet network’s stories, and most here no refer to their gaming consoles or PCs as their “TV”. There have been a few… Read more »

joefoam

Too bad that the MSM will bury the story as quickly as possible to avoid publicizing the sentiment of gun owners and their responsible behavior. As for the arrest, was the woman asked to remove her bandana by one of the riot policemen wearing face masks that I saw in one photo?

Heed the Call-up

Yes, twice, and the arrest occurred *after* the event. It most likely was not a person that was pro-rights attending the rally, nor a firearm owner. If it was, we know the media would have jumped all over that. They still used it in a number of headlines about the rally, to impugn us, anyway.

Finnky

@Heed – Any idea how many people are typically arrested at events with this many people in attendance? My guess is that on average – concerts or protests with that many people, have multiple arrests. Particularly given such an emotional topic and so many police closely monitoring and looking for excuses to act, one arrest is quite impressive. If it is atypical – I’d argue that it is statistically irrelevant.

Baldwin

“… indicators that Second Amendment supporters are winning, not losing the fight to restore Second Amendment rights.”

Not according to the Virginia General Assembly. It hasn’t slowed them don one tiny little bit.

Superman

Correct. They could care less about the pro-firearm folks. Probably because they know they have a pizz poor percentage of voter turnout.

Superman

But the new laws are still laws, and won’t be ‘unconstitutional s*it’ until (and if) a court rules they are. Have you ever taken a civics class at the junior high school you attend?

Baldwin

If someone were to walk up to you out of nowhere, and punch you in the face…hard…are you gonna wait for a court to take your side?

Heed the Call-up

Supe, no, the SCOTUS had a long time ago stated that unconstitutional laws are void. An unconstitutional law is such, even without the SCOTUS ruling on it. The problem is that the law may be enforced, even though it is unconstitutional. That is where the courts get involved. Unfortunately, even the SCOTUS has gotten rulings wrong. One example is the Dred Scott decision. I don’t believe anyone believes it was correct. Then there are at least several decisions involving the RKBA, which depending on whether or not you believe in our Constitutionally protected, inalienable rights, one would state they got… Read more »

Finnky

@Heed – Unfortunately there are likely to be deaths before SCOTUS gets around to ruling on this. If any of those bodies were LEO (which I anticipate) – that is likely to color the public’s view and more importantly SCOTUS’s view.
Please Virginia, do not comply – but hide your noncompliance so that SCOTUS can rule in a less emotional environment.

Wild Bill

@"MCCLOUD!", No, if new acts of a legislature offend the Constitution, then they are not law, just acts of a legislature.

BowserB

Sorry, I moved my comment to top level, as I was so impressed with what I had to say. 😉

Wild Bill

@Bowser, Most humorous.

Heed the Call-up

Turning us into the criminals they have sought to do, and using the non-compliance to further malign us. I am not too concerned, reap what you sow.

Knute

They dropped 3/4 of their earlier DEMANDS! That is 75 percent! I’d call that “slowed” a lot more than a “tiny bit”. But then, as a gunsmith/machinist, I’m NOT among the mathematically challenged.

BowserB

What the socialists gain here is making felons out of thousands–maybe hundreds of thousands–of otherwise law abiding Virginia gun owners. They make it impossible to be seen in public with firearms they choose to make illegal. That means loss of ability to go to a public shooting range or even hunt in certain areas, not to mention no open carry of newly illegal firearms. And…risk of loss of all firearms thanks to new aggressive Red Flag laws. That’s what the socialists gain! And we lose. It takes time and money to challenge a law in court. Who’s going to pay… Read more »

Levelhead

I was there. I don’t need a bunch of people talking about socialists, or Democrats, or anything else. What I need is a bunch of people voting on the single issue of gun rights. Here in Virginia where I live some districts are so heavily Democrat that they run unopposed. We can’t let that happen. In each of those districts we need to show the flag by having a person run on the single issue of gun rights. In almost every district in VA there are more guns than voters. Almost every county in VA voted to be a 2A… Read more »

Wild Bill

@Level, No comment.

Finnky

@Level – I’ve always abhorred single issue voters. Yet somehow I’m migrating that way. Always abhorred straight ticket voters – yet in 2018 Robby O’Rourke convinced me to do so (straight R!). Always consider all issues, but their is weighting – including by importance of the issue and by how extreme positions are. On 2nd, demos have quite extreme positions – even here in TX where one would think it’s a no-brainer if they want to win. Don’t turn away other avenues of discussion. When talking to voters who are undecided on gun rights – explain but don’t push so… Read more »

Knute

finnky: A “straight ticket” voter is a very different thing than a “single issue” voter. The first doesn’t know, or car’e, about anything other than the letter behind a candidates name. The latter cares about the ISSUES, or at the very least, ONE of them. So, a much more informed voter than the one who doesn’t even care what an issue is. Personally, I’ve always been a one issue voter. And the issue is NOT firearms, at least not directly. My one issue is Liberty. I will support those who believe in individual liberties, and I will oppose any who… Read more »

Dave in Fairfax

Knute, Ding, freakin’, Ding. I’ve been voting a bit longer, but alwyas the same way. As an addendum, those who seek power should always be denied it.

Knute

Decades ago I was talking politics with a guy, and he said something I still remember. I had mentioned noticing that the higher a politician gets, the crookeder he always seems to be. He said: “Have you ever looked into a cesspool? Shit floats, and the biggest turds always float the highest!”
That made enough sense that I still remember it. And today it’s as obvious as the sun in the sky. One can’t miss it, if he has eyes. 🙂

Link

What you need are more pro gun Democrats. start getting people to register as Democrats and you get 2 chances to get rid of them.
first vote against the incumbent in the primary, sometimes it does not take many votes to unseat them, then vote for the Republican or pro gun person in the general election.

The only way to change the party is from the inside.

Gdubb

Unfortunately, until the pro gun folks outnumber the libtard voting bloc in ANY State, including VA, the communists will continue to have control. The only 2 ways to change this are to either change the minds of enough city-dwelling libtards or somehow force electorate college-style elections at a State level.

Wild Bill

@Gdubb, Perhaps the Wuhan Corona virus will take a hand. It will spread in the cities first, and most.

Safegunowner

Dean,
You think the Media are the “Gun Culture”?
I have news for you, you are the media, not the culture.

Drop the arrogance.

Knute

And just what do you know about safe gun handling, Mr Safegunowner? I’ll bet you don’t even know the six letter word for the dangerous end, do you???? Take your own advice, and stop with all the phony arrogance. IF (a rather large if, since I carefully choose this wording to bypass your brain, otherwise known as google. Google won’t find it. You’d have to know it already, as every gun owner does.) you can post the six letter word that EVERYONE ELSE here knows, you might be trustworthy. Otherwise you are just irrelevant. Adults are talking here. Go outside… Read more »

Wild Bill

@Safe, You don’t read much of Dean’s work or you would not have gotten this so wrong.

Knute

What more can one expect from a guy who picks “safegunowner” as his username, but doesn’t even know the six letter word for a firearms dangerous end? He must be a real hoot at the range, not to mention awfully bad at crossword puzzles. 🙂
‘safe’, ‘gun owner’ indeed! More like an unsafe SJW pretending to be sane, but failing badly since he likely doesn’t even know what “sane” is. If he’s a SJW in disguise, he thinks that sane is what you become if you watch enough TV. And if that doesn’t work… reeducation camps!

Dave in Fairfax

Will, SafeGunowner has been here about half a dozen years. Why he’s got this view is unexplained, unless he feels that anyone who writes routinely is the media. Given Dean’s CV and the fact that he’s doing this after retiring, that argument is a stretch.

Knute

What argument? I didn’t see any. Just some insults from a guy who claims to be a gun owner,but doesn’t know a 6 letter word for the dangerous end. That’s not rational thought, it’s baby jabber.

Dave in Fairfax

Knute, You misunderstood. The argument isn’t between any of the people here, it’s a question of, “Does writing articles automatically make you part of the Press?”

Knute

I see. Interesting viewpoint. Not at all what ‘safe’, ‘gun owner’ was suggesting, which I perceive as: simply being a writer makes one a part of the “gun culture”! That is too infantile to even rebut, not to mention being not at all what the words: “gun culture in the United States has been able to create its own media”, could possibly mean. So DOES simply writing for a living make one a media hack? I’d argue no, because IMO, “hack” writers are those who just write whatever they’re told to, regardless of the damage they cause, vilifies whoever, ridicules… Read more »