Report Card... For those who attended the Second or None event today

[Westwindmike]

I arrived at 11:15 and discovered I had missed most of RB's speech. All the speakers did a great job.

Due to the weather, the tent should have had sides on it. This would have kept the wind out and been much more comfortable.

The Outpost Restaurant was so slow that you couldn't get a cup of coffee without a big wait in line. A simple coffee line or table would have been nice. Or a vendor outside selling coffee and hot chocolate.

The JROTC that was supposed to be directing us to parking, just pointed in a general direction down the side street by McDonalds and said park "down there". They needed more people and maybe an adult to supervise them.

I enjoyed this event and hope the next one is even bigger.

[ngoeser59]

You gotta have a dream to have a dream come true.....Entertainment next year......Ted Nugent (Motor City Madman)!! That would be "in my husband's words" the Bomb!

[hipower]

A great first effort for the "Second or None" event! Many kudos to David and Ronnie for their efforts in getting this put together. I look forward to this being an annual meeting for Second Amendment supporters. Weather aside, the turnout was good, speakers were interesting, and the company was even better. Also thanks to Chris and the Outpost staff for their efforts.

My only negative comment for the event would be to second the request for tent sides. That would have been wonderful for those of us who had problems with the cold and rain. But that's the risk of an outside meeting.

Anyway, I brought my father-in-law and brother-in-law and both were impressed with the day.

Did anyone see the Fox 17 "report" on the event? What I saw on the late news was a joke. Their segment focused on the gun show sales story from the last few weeks and not the event's purpose. I will be expressing my dissatisfaction to the station.

Edited October 18, 2009 by hipower

[redstategunnut]

A schedule of events/speakers would have been helpful. I didn't know who was speaking when I got there at 11:15, did not know who was next, and therefore did not know whether I wanted to stay past 1:30 when I left.

A coffee klatch area would have been nice, set up for the weather.

It was crazy crowded in the store, I pity the fool who just drove over to Outpost for a box of ammo yesterday. There were a bunch of people talking shop indoors who probably would have migrated outside if it had been pretty.

The shuttle was a great plan regardless of the weather. I rode the shuttle from the Barrett facility and both going and coming I had people on the bus with me that wouldn't have been comfortable walking to and from the event.

If it hadn't been cold, I would have been OC, but my coat covered my rig. I'm 95% CC, but yesterday was, in my opinion, an OC friendly event by for and of the people of our kind.

All in all, pretty good. I'll come to the next one.

Thanks!

[ngoeser59]

Next year guys......we gotta get TED

YouTube - Ted Nugent Gun Control

[Guest AmericanWorkMule]

Maybe we can have our own GUNaroo that will out do that little Four-day, multi-stage camping festival further down the road....?

You gotta have a dream to have a dream come true.....Entertainment next year......Ted Nugent (Motor City Madman)!! That would be "in my husband's words" the Bomb!

[Guest UTVOL87]

I like the idea of a time for TGO members to gather. I wanted to hear the speakers so I was attentive to them and did not mingle until the break. And then I mostly talked with people I knew that I ran in to.

A schedule would be very helpful. I was expecting the speakers to get started at 11:30 from a previous post on TGO about the event. So when I arrived at 11:10 I missed the start of Ralph speaking. I know the ones that arrived after noon probably missed the majority of the speakers. I know some of the speakers had multiple events to attend and had to leave so were not around for the question and answer session after the break. So it might be good to allow a few questions at the end of their speeches if they cannot be there the whole time.

I also missed out on the drawing for the Henry Golden Boy .22 rifle. When I filled out the ticket it did not mention you had to be present to win nor did it say when the drawing would be held. I was outside talking when Ronnie came out of the Outpost and announced that the drawing was being held inside and you had to be present to win. So I ran inside immediately and found out they had already drawn maybe 5 or 6 names before getting a winner. Now, I do not want to know if my name was one of those 5 or 6.

I rode the shuttle after parking only because it arrived just as I parked. The bus did have a challenge in negotiating the road with cars parked on both sides and then meeting another vehicle. So limiting parking to only one side would help this and make walking on the road safer. When I left at 3:00 I walked back to my car. I don't think the walk is much of a problem since it was only a few minutes.

[clipslinger]

Me and the girls had a fine time, nice to talk with gun folks. Its even nicer to see who you talk to. The weather was hell but the speeches were great. Barrett did a fine job and the crowd was responsive, I even wonder if we shouldnt try to steer that gentleman into the political field. For the first one ever a B-. Need live music and more for the kiddies. I also feel that every gunstore, pawn shop, retail outlet in the state should have had a sign posted at entrance and exit. Thanks TGO for a great Sat. experience with my daughters.

[Guest jackdm3]

What a great thread to make my first post, huh? Post #2 will have to be in the introductions section...

As far as the event went, I thought it had a great turnout. I was slightly disappointed at the lack of open-carriers today. All in all, I counted less than 10 between 12:00 - 1:30 (the time I was there). It's not so much a "because you can" argument as much as it being a need to remind the public that firearms aren't some taboo subject that need to be hidden away from the public eye. People need to be accustomed, educated, and familiar with firearms and the rights they have as citizens to use them.

I know we'd all love to see the day where people don't call the police every time they see someone with a rifle, even if it's clearly unloaded - if we don't carry them at a 2nd Amendment celebration, where should we carry them?

:popcorn::popcorn:

[Guest monsterking138]

the weather and parking were the only negative things i could think of. everything else was good would like to see more booths of supporters also.

[TGO David]

As far as the event went, I thought it had a great turnout. I was slightly disappointed at the lack of open-carriers today. All in all, I counted less than 10 between 12:00 - 1:30 (the time I was there). It's not so much a "because you can" argument as much as it being a need to remind the public that firearms aren't some taboo subject that need to be hidden away from the public eye. People need to be accustomed, educated, and familiar with firearms and the rights they have as citizens to use them.

My feelings on open carry are pretty well documented here on TGO. I'm not going to resuscitate that horse, but I will say this:

When you are dealing with subjects where public opinion can mean the difference between votes FOR or AGAINST something that constantly teeters on the edge of un-popularity, discretion can truly be the better part of valor.

There are a lot of Americans who don't own guns. There are a lot of Americans who really don't care about guns or gun laws so long as you don't go waving either in their faces. Those people will neither vote for or against a subject unless you give them a reason to.

I'd rather give those swing-voters a reason to see me as not being some sort of self-imagined threat to them by appearing "normal" and keeping my means of self defense discretely tucked away. Like it or not, the voter with delicate sensibilities probably sees you carrying your firearm as an abnormality in their world, and chances are they are right even if only because the vast majority of other armed persons they encounter have theirs concealed.

Come to think of it... I've never seen a 6th Dan black belt walk into Kroger with their "belt" hanging off of their hip just to show people how effective they might be at handling any self-defense situation that might arise, either.

[Guest GimpyLeg]

Come to think of it... I've never seen a 6th Dan black belt walk into Kroger with their "belt" hanging off of their hip just to show people how effective they might be at handling any self-defense situation that might arise, either.

Guys, Loved the event! Weather and all, I believe it was a good turn out. Got to hear Nikki and the other speakers.

+1 on the TGO pre-meet. Perhaps at the Expo in December????

Shuttle bus was a great idea.

Perhaps we could get more media to cover an event like this (new stations and the local rags). Also, and I know $$ gets involved, but more signage around the event for both advertising and parking.

My hat is off to all who made this happen.

[Guest tedbo]

Well, I usually cc as I see that as a burglar alarm-it worked better when you don't know it is there.

For this as a first event, I give it at least a 9.

TGO David and his wife were there early setting up. I have an idea of the planning involved as I helped with the Friends of the NRA back in '02.

With that,I hope to be freed up with my time next year to be a better help in the setting up other than providing a hammer!

Weather-wise,it didn't bother me too much as the message was the important thing.

I dressed okay for the event. I would have maybe put on a pair of polypro britches. My feet were plenty warm.

Towards the end of the day the cold settled into my back(broke it 3years ago)and made it very uncomfortable,but I was there for a purpose and felt like there were more people way before me that suffered more than I just for one day.

Something Ronnie Barrett said about Valley Forge.

Puts things into perspective,don't it?

[Guest Gun Geek]

As far as the event went, I thought it had a great turnout. I was slightly disappointed at the lack of open-carriers today. All in all, I counted less than 10 between 12:00 - 1:30 (the time I was there). It's not so much a "because you can" argument as much as it being a need to remind the public that firearms aren't some taboo subject that need to be hidden away from the public eye. People need to be accustomed, educated, and familiar with firearms and the rights they have as citizens to use them.

Also consider that it was cold and most were wearing jackets. Hard to OC like that. I did see one guy who had a rifle on his back? I am not against OC per say, but I prefer to CC regardless of what kind of event I am at. That is just me though.

[Skyyr]

...

Edited June 26, 2022 by Skyyr

[Guest atmiller]

Good first event. The weather put a damper on things, but you can't control that. More activities for the kids. The speakers were great.

Need to avoid this being an all-Barrett event. Barrett's sponsorship was great, but for this to grow, everyone has to be welcome.

I was open-carrying, wearing dress pants and shirt, "church clothes". But you couldn't tell because I was bundled up against the cold.

[TGO David]

I do hope to see others become involved in this in the years ahead. Of course, the first time you do anything of this nature it's sometimes easier to get one or two sponsors on board than it is to get a bunch of sponsors. Especially if the sponsors are to be gun shops that might see each other as "competition" the other 364 days of the year.

[Guest Gun Geek]

I am game for next year with any help or promotional stuff that you may need. I know a few people at different places/manufacturers, maybe I can help to get you a few new sponsors. I am glad to help in anyway that I can though.

I do like the idea someone mentioned of a several day camp type thing. Make the first day a show, then second day events, speakers, then next some fun activities. Would be even better if there was a place to shoot but that is not likely.

[Guest PapaB]

I think that one way to get more vendors involved is to start with an overall plan. As an example, plan out booth spaces. How many do you want and what do you want in them. Let's say 10 new booths to start. We have Menphis, Nashville, Chattanooga and Knoxville as starting points. Try to get 1 vendor from Memphis and 3 from each of the other areas. Think about the different interests to be covered and how some of them don't compete with others. You could have training companies in each area represented. They don't compete because someone from one area will usually look for more local training.

Try to get one vendor to focus on curios & relics while another vendor from the same area focuses on handguns.

Just preliminary but hopefully you get the idea. Each year you can expand plans to add more vendors and there she grows.

[Guest Crunchman]

I could not come to the event as we were committed to NRA recruiting at the Dyersburg Gun Show. Tough decision, but I had promised Mr. Ford that we would be there. That said, I am going to put a young gentleman in touch with you, David. He is in advertising and public relations, owns his own company, and does advertising/catalogs for several big name firearm manufacturers. He has also set up and run several gun writer gatherings. Maybe together, you can come up with more sponsors and get the word out in some national magazines. I'll be contacting you by email with more info within the next week.

[TGO David]

I'd welcome the chance to talk to him.

[Mike]

The turnout was amazing. I have never seen the store so full. For a while it was almost impossible to get to the front registers.

Thanks to all who came out.

-Mike

[LagerHead]

I do hope to see others become involved in this in the years ahead. Of course, the first time you do anything of this nature it's sometimes easier to get one or two sponsors on board than it is to get a bunch of sponsors. Especially if the sponsors are to be gun shops that might see each other as "competition" the other 364 days of the year.

David, sign me up. I will be there next year without a doubt, and I will help out however I can. This was a great event.

[bvarnell]

Thought it was a great first time event (excluding the global cooling)

And had the added bonus of seeing David with singed pants and melted cell phone battery.

[ngoeser59]

HERE IS THE NEWS REPORT FROM GERMANY TV THAT WAS TAKEN FROM THE EVENT. ANYONE SPEAK GERMAN AND CARE TO INTERPRET?

USA: Bewaffnet in die Bar