Attending the AzCDL's 13th annual meeting

[Yung]

https://www.azcdl.org/html/annual_meeting.html

Last Saturday I went to the AzCDL's 13th annual meeting, which was held this year at a Sheraton in Phoenix. From talking to some of my tablemates, most of them all seem to be from Tuscon and the next meeting will be in Tucson as well. I'm surprised it was a full house (about 500? seats), since the rain we had that day was particularly heavy and that affected traffic on the way over.

The AzCDL is our local 2A organization, which I believe drew its structure and maybe some of its founding members from the Virginia CDL. I'd heard of the VCDL sometime around the midterms in 2014 and again around the campaign season in 2016, mostly about Terry McAuliffe and Mark Herring trying to push some legislation and a gun store in NoVA facing opposition from the neighborhood before even opening. I used to see the AzCDL in passing several times when I would go to a Crossroads of the West show every so often to pick up some MiWall reloads back when I owned a P229 in .357 Sig and I didn't know any better about buying bulk reloads. While I greatly appreciated their bill tracker and news updates every year when I decided to start contacting legislators and paying more attention in 2013, it wasn't until the beginning of this month where I actually joined their membership, which was a requirement in order to buy a ticket to attend this event. 20 dollars for an open carry steak lunch to listen to guest speakers I heard of from the internet, along with entry into raffles for ammo and a Bushmaster and the opportunity to bid in a silent and a live auction? Good deal.

Buying a ticket online required a membership ID number. Normally membership takes about a month to process according to the site. Given that membership is in the thousands and there's only a handful of officers and volunteers, I was impressed when the treasurer personally returned my phone call to make sure I was able to buy a ticket and called me again days later when I hadn't confirmed my RSVP.

Some things that stuck out to me:

Front Sight FTI seems to be more of a familiar name than Gunsite. After getting my name badge and raffle tickets, I was a little disoriented and had to ask someone about the seating arrangements since I didn't reserve a full table with when buying tickets. That person gave me a business card for his Meetup shooting group and encouraged me to join up, mentioning that they carpooled to Front Sight twice a year for a handgun course at discounted rate, and were about to arrange another trip soon. When I skimmed over the silent auction items on my phone, I noticed there were a couple Front Sight lifetime memberships on the list. Someone at my table mentioned they were a lifetime member and that door prizes for class certificates had been a thing at previous meetings.

I appreciate there was some level of traditional decorum. Special guests were recognized. The meeting was officially called to order and closed, even if the gavel was an e-tool donated (and later auctioned off -- twice!) by one of the sponsors. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited, and prior to serving the meal, a brief prayer was held, along with an observance of the missing man table setting.

That said, there was plenty of political incorrectness, albiet nothing way out of line. A women's discussion panel was an important part of the agenda, and I was under the impression that a lot of the women attending had come to see them. This didn't keep Alan Korwin from mentioning the Kavanaugh hearings one minute and then the next minute launching into a routine with the old chestnuts about women along the lines of marriage, divorce, what you say to one with two black eyes, who's got the balls and who's the pussy, an off-color twist on Lenny Bruce's 'halls of justice' bit, etc. etc. Quite a first impression in the flesh from one of the three cornerstones that started my journey in concealed carry as soon as I was of eligible age (the other two being Massad Ayoob and Kathy Jackson). Granted, he was making a point about he 1st Amendment, and that the legal system was under attack by progressive interests, an 'enemy you can't shoot'. Red flag laws were brought up as an example. I think his best takeaway was proposing laws to apprehend/punish agents of infringement, because I was reminded of Tuscon's attempt in the last few years to disregard then-recently established prohibitions on firearms destruction and the ensuing litigation that left no one bearing the consequences except the taxpayers. Maj Toure gave warning that his goal was to offend those attending, and did not hesitate to point out the majority and minority demographics sitting before him in the of the banquet hall, though I'm pretty sure everyone was self aware. As someone from PA, specifically Philly, he said we as Arizonans did not realize what we have here, yet none of us know true freedom i.e. some still remember the days of Sears catalogs, that mainstream ignorance of the inclusivity of the 2A community was our responsibility, and that unless every person in this 'safe space' sought out three black or Hispanic people each, we will lose.

Alan Gottlieb showed up to (re-)present an award to the AzCDL leadership for grassroots organization of the year, for the third time since 2006. The next Gun Rights Policy Conference will also be held in Phoenix, which I look forward to. Two anecdotes brought up from those who went to this year's GRPC in Chicago: an empowering 'You are somebody' exchange between Rick Ector of LAID and 'Black Man with a Gun' author Kenn Blanchard I didn't catch the details of since I was coming in from the restroom, and that a doctor's conference was held adjacent to the GRPC in the same venue. Apparently that event had signage displayed, but Mr. Gottlieb and Armed American Radio host Mark Walters both observed they couldn't find any signage for their own event, and furthermore were told by someone attending the doctor's conference that they'd been sent an email in advance apologizing for the presence of the GRPC. I'd love to see a copy of that email.

Oh, and also Antonia Okafor won the Bushmaster. That's some bullshit, lol.