It’s Friday, which means the Exhibit Hall of the 146th NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits opens today at 9:00 am! The big attraction will be the 800+ exhibitors in the Hall — including virtually all the big name firearms manufacturers, ammo/component makers, optics makers, and shooting accessory suppliers. Along with the exhibitors, there are seminars, workshops, special events, and celebrity meet and greets now through Sunday the 30th. Here’s a quick glimpse of what’s happening today:
Regular Daily Events
NRA Booth, Booth #1912 National Firearms Museum, Booth #457 Pyramid Air – Air Gun Range, Room B309 Wall of Guns, Second Floor Hallway
Special Events
NRA-ILA Leadership Forum (ticket required) Georgia World Congress Center, Hall A Doors open at 11:00am Event starts at 12:30 pm.
Click here for a complete list of seminars, workshops, and special presentations.
To see the full schedule, visit www.nraam.org. For more information on events, exhibitors, and exhibit hall hours, visit www.nraam.org or download the Mobile App.
The big NRA Convention in Atlanta is just two days away. The 146th National Rifle Association (NRA) Annual Meetings and Exhibits will be held at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia from April 27-30, 2017. 80,000+ people are expected to attend this 4-day event which will feature dozens of seminars, workshops, and special events. There are still tickets available for many of the most important events at the 2017 NRA Annual Meetings. See links below:
GET EVENT TICKETS
Thursday April 27th
National NRA Foundation Banquet
Sponsored by Henry Repeating Arms, Century Arms and Kimber
Georgia World Congress Center Building B – 5 p.m.
Tickets start at $100 – Click here to purchase.
Friday, April 28th
20th Annual Firearms Law Seminar
Georgia World Congress Center – 8 a.m.
Tickets start at $50 – Click here to purchase.
NRA-ILA Leadership Forum
Sponsored by TownHall Media and Bearing Arms
Georgia World Congress Center Hall A3 – 12:30 p.m.
Tickets start at $10 – Click here to purchase.
When President Trump speaks at the NRA-ILA Leadership Forum on April 28th, it will be the first time a sitting president visits the NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits since Ronald Reagan.
Sunday, April 30th
2017 National Prayer Breakfast
Brought to you by Fathers in the Field and sponsored by Trijicon and Universal Coin & Bullion.
Omni Atlanta Hotel at CNN Center Grand Ballroom – 7 a.m.
Tickets start at $40 – Click here to purchase.
4th Annual NRA Women’s New Energy Breakfast
Georgia World Congress Center Room B405 – 9:30 a.m.
Tickets start at $15 – Click here to purchase
NAVIGATE THE CONVENTION HALL
In and around the Convention Hall there will be 15 acres of firearms, shooting and hunting gear, and other exhibits. There will also be an on-site airgun range. For more information about the 2017 NRA Annual Meetings and Exhibits, including deals on hotels and airfare, show hours, exhibitors, maps, and much more, visit www.NRAAM.org.
The 146th National Rifle Association (NRA) Annual Meetings and Exhibits will be held at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia from April 27-30, 2017. This four-day event will be attended by over 80,000 patriots, feature 800+ exhibitors, and include a jam-packed schedule of seminars, workshops, special events and celebrity meet and greets. In and around the convention hall there will be 15 acres of firearms, shooting and hunting gear, and other exhibits. There will also be an on-site airgun range. For more information, including event tickets, visit www.nraam.org.
If you haven’t attended the NRA Convention before, this 2016 video offers a preview:
There will be nearly 700 Exhibitors displays products at the 2017 NRA Annual Meetings and Exhibits. You can see products from big name companies such as Berger Bullets, Leupold, Nightforce, Nosler, Redding, Remington, Ruger, Savage, Smith & Wesson, and Winchester. You can also meet with top hunting guides and outfitters.
The National NRA Foundation Banquet will be held April 27th in the Thomas Murphy Ballroom, Georgia World Congress Center Building ‘B’. The NRA-ILA Leadership Forum is slated for April 28th in Hall A3, Georgia World Congress Center. With the recent changes in the American national leadership, the ILA Forum should be popular this year.
Hank Williams Concert
Lifetime NRA member and multi-Platinum hit-maker and outdoor enthusiast Hank Williams Jr. will take the stage at the 2017 NRA Annual Meetings and Exhibits Saturday, April 29th! This is always a sell out event, so don’t wait to buy your tickets.
Location of NRA Annual Meetings in Atlanta:
Firearms Policy for the 2017 NRA Annual Meetings
During the 2017 NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits, lawfully carried firearms will be permitted in the Georgia World Congress Center and the Omni Atlanta Hotel at CNN Center in accordance with Georgia law. However, firearms are not allowed in the remainder of the CNN Center, including the food court and shops. When carrying your firearm, remember to follow all federal, state and local laws.
There has been a hue and cry on some internet sites about changes in smokeless powder classifications by the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Writers have been concerned that recent interpretations by the ATF would make it much more difficult to store and transport reloading powders, which in turn could lead to price increases and/or powder shortages. Concern arose over the potential re-classification of “wetted” Nitrocellulose as a “high explosive”. Since “high explosives” are subject to more stringent rules, such re-classification would alter the way common smokeless propellants could be lawfully stored and transported.
Thankfully, there is good news. On August 31st the ATF issued an Addendum to its June 16 ATF Explosives Industry Newsletter saying that its policies regarding smokeless powders containing Nitrocellulose will not change… at least for now:
Based on this “Addendum”, it seems the ATF has tabled its proposal to classify Nitrocellulose-based smokeless powders as “high explosives”.
The NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA ILA) confirms that the ATF has backed off, so that current practices for powder storage and transport can continue unchanged. Thus hand-loaders should NOT face an impending powder shortage and/or price hikes. Here is the NRA ILA’s report:
ATF Delays Any Changes to Nitrocellulose Regulation
Earlier this summer, ATF released an Explosives Industry Newsletter that changed the agency’s treatment of nitrocellulose, the primary component in smokeless powders used in modern ammunition. This change had the potential to seriously disrupt ammunition supply in the United States because it changed a long-standing ATF policy that exempted properly “wetted” nitrocellulose from treatment as an explosive under federal law.
NRA and [shooting industry representatives] raised these concerns to ATF and any change in ATF’s treatment of nitrocellulose is now officially delayed. In an addendum to the earlier newsletter, ATF announced that it “will conduct further industry outreach concerning wetted Nitrocellulose. In the interim, previously authorized industry practices concerning wetted Nitrocellulose will NOT be affected.”
While the addendum doesn’t indicate that ATF has permanently abandoned this change to nitrocellulose regulation, smokeless powder manufacturers will be permitted to continue normal operation, at least for the time being. NRA will continue to work to ensure that any future change to nitrocellulose regulation will not affect ammunition supply.
ATF Industry Newsletter Caused Concern
The cause for firearms industry concern was the ATF’s statement about Nitrocellulose published in the June 2016 ATF Explosives Industry Newsletter. The key language is shown in the right column below. According to the NRA ILA, the ATF has, at least for the time being, decided NOT to change its policies regarding the storage and transport of “wetted” Nitrocellulose. Accordingly, “smokeless powder manufacturers will be permitted to continue normal operation”.
If you are a gunsmith or work on firearms, you need to read this carefully. The Federal Government, acting through the Department of State Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC), has imposed significant new burdens on gunsmiths by expanding the definition of “manufacturing”. This is a big deal, as the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) and its implementing rules, the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), require firearms “manufacturers” to register with DDTC and to pay a registration fee that (for new applicants) is currently $2,250 per year.
Previously, most small gunsmithing operations that did not export firearms were NOT subject to AECA/ITAR registration requirements. Now, by virtue of a DDTC “Guidance” ruling issued 7/22/2016, ordinary gunsmiths might be required to register as a manufacturer simply because they thread a muzzle or cut a chamber.
The NRA-ILA states: “DDTC is labeling commercial gunsmiths as ‘manufacturers’ for performing relatively simple work such as threading a barrel or fabricating a small custom part for an older firearm. Under the AECA, ‘manufacturers’ are required to register with DDTC at significant expense or risk onerous criminal penalties.” Read NRA-ILA Full Report.
Here is the key language in the DDTC’s “ITAR Registration Requirements – Consolidated Guidance” Ruling of 7/22/2016:
2. Registration Required – Manufacturing: In response to questions from persons engaged in the business of gunsmithing, DDTC has found in specific cases that ITAR registration is required because the following activities meet the ordinary, contemporary, common meaning of “manufacturing” and, therefore, constitute “manufacturing” for ITAR purposes:
a) Use of any special tooling or equipment upgrading in order to improve the capability of assembled or repaired firearms;
b) Modifications to a firearm that change round capacity;
c) The production of firearm parts (including, but not limited to, barrels, stocks, cylinders, breech mechanisms, triggers, silencers, or suppressors);
d) The systemized production of ammunition, including the automated loading or reloading of ammunition;
e) The machining or cutting of firearms, e.g., threading of muzzles or muzzle brake installation requiring machining, that results in an enhanced capability;
f) Rechambering firearms through machining, cutting, or drilling;
g) Chambering, cutting, or threading barrel blanks; and
h) Blueprinting firearms by machining the barrel.
Editor’s Comment: Does this mean that any stock-maker or stock supplier is an ITAR “manufacturer” under part 2(c)? Would installing a scope or accessory rail fall under part 2(a) as “equipment upgrading”? Would fluting a barrel be considered “manufacturing” under part 2(h)?
Impact of New Registration Requirements
As the NRA-ILA (Institute for Legislative Action) reads this, gunsmithing shops (even one-man operations) will now be subject to ITAR regulation though they export nothing: “These requirements apply, even if the business does not, and does not intend to, export any defense article. Moreover, under ITAR, ‘only one occasion of manufacturing … a defense article’ is necessary for a commercial entity to be considered ‘engaged in the business’ and therefore subject to the regime’s requirements.”
As a consequence, these new regulations may drive smaller gunsmithing services out of business: “DDTC’s move appears aimed at expanding the regulatory sweep of the AECA/ITAR and culling many smaller commercial gunsmithing operations that do not have the means to pay the annual registration fee or the sophistication to negotiate DDTC’s confusing maze of bureaucracy. [This is] likely to have a significant chilling effect on activity that would not even be considered regulated.”
Statutory Authority for Registration
The AECA’s statutory requirement for firearms manufacturers to register with DDTC is implemented in Part 122 of the ITAR:
§122.1 Registration requirements.
(a) Any person who engages in the United States in the business of manufacturing or exporting or temporarily importing defense articles, or furnishing defense services, is required to register with the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls under §122.2. For the purpose of this subchapter, engaging in such a business requires only one occasion of manufacturing or exporting or temporarily importing a defense article or furnishing a defense service. A manufacturer who does not engage in exporting must nevertheless register.
Barrel chambering image from Primal Rights, dealer for Desert Tactical Arms.
Ruger has donated $4,000,000.00 to the NRA-ILA (Institute for Legislative Action), based on Ruger’s pledge to donate $2.00 for every new Ruger firearm sold between the 2015 and 2016 NRA Annual Meetings. Ruger called this the “2 Million Gun Challenge”.
Ruger met the challenge goal of selling two million new firearms, thereby generating a total donation of $4,000,000. Ruger CEO Mike Fifer and President Chris Killoy presented Chris Cox, NRA-ILA’s Executive Director, with a check for $4,000,000 at the 2016 NRA Annual Meetings in Louisville, Kentucky. Cox praised Ruger’s Challenge Program: “The funds raised from this program will help us in both our fight to protect America’s Second Amendment and our effort to educate voters and get them to the polls this crucial election year.”
During the challenge period, one of the largest distributors of Ruger firearms, Davidson’s / Gallery of Guns, also pledged to donate $1.00 for each new Ruger firearm sold through its distributorship. Davidson’s effort added more than $350,000 to the NRA-ILA cause.
Ruger 2 Million Gun Challenge Becomes 2.5 Million Gun Challenge
Both Ruger and Davidson’s have pledged to extend the challenge period through the end of October, to ensure continued support up until the election. Ruger hopes to sell another 500,000 new firearms (by the end of October 2016) with a $2.00 donation per gun. If Ruger meets its challenge, that would generate another $1 million in NRA-ILA donations, for a total of $5,000,000 for the 2015-2016 period.
For more information on the Ruger 2.5 Million Gun Challenge, visit Ruger.com/2Million.
Sturm, Ruger & Company, Inc. has pledged to donate $2.00 to the NRA for each new Ruger firearm sold between the 2015 and 2016 NRA Annual Meetings, with the goal of giving $4,000,000. Ruger’s donation will benefit the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA).
“We’re bringing back the One Million Gun Challenge with a twist,” said Ruger CEO Mike Fifer. “Our goal is to sell two million firearms in a 12-month period. With that, we pledge to donate not one, but two dollars to the NRA for every new firearm sold. We accomplished our goals to support the NRA in 2012, and … we believe we can do it again.”
Ruger ultimately sold 1.2 million guns in the first challenge, which took place from 2011-2012.
NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris Cox said, “Ruger’s 2 Million Gun Challenge is a model of good corporate citizenship in defense of American freedom. By supporting the NRA’s fight to defend the right to keep and bear arms, Ruger … advances the rights of American gun owners and hunters.”
For more details about the 2015-2016 “2 Million Gun Challenge” and to track its progress, visit Ruger.com/2Million. To learn more about Ruger firearms visit Ruger.com or Facebook.com/Ruger.
Story based on report by Lars Dalseide forNRABlog.com
I first met Anette Wachter four years ago at the NRA’s National Long Range High Power Rifle Championship in Camp Perry, Ohio. A statuesque brunette, Wachter easily stood out in the crowd. I just so happened to be a big fan of her twitter feed as well. After a quick exchange of pleasantries, we talked about shooting, life in Washington, and how she could get more involved.
Since then she has become very involved. Her 30 Cal Gal blog has become a favorite of male and female shooters alike. Due to her diligence, she was also about to earn a spot on the U.S. National Palma Travel Rifle Team. And recently, Wachter lent her voice and views to the battle for gun rights in the state of Washington.
by AccurateShooter.com
Anette Wachter, aka “30 Cal Gal”, Helps Lead Fight Against I-594
Below is a video Anette made opposing I-594, a Washington State initiative on the November ballot. This law could have drastic consequences for Washington state firearms owners. Visit www.VoteNo594.com for more information and to learn how you can help defeat this gun control initiative.
The provisions of I-594 are explained in detail on the NRA-ILA website. Here are the key reasons Washington gun owners should oppose this proposed legislation:
Twenty-two years ago Larry and Brenda Potterfield launched the NRA Round-Up, a special program designed to raise funds for the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA). To date, MidwayUSA Customers have contributed nearly $10 million dollars to the NRA-ILA National Endowment for the Protection of the 2nd Amendment.
“On January 2, 1992 we started asking our Customers at MidwayUSA if they would ‘Round-Up’ their order to the next higher dollar and let us donate that money to the NRA-ILA. Our Customers overwhelmingly said yes and to date they have donated nearly $10 Million,” said Larry Potterfield, Founder and CEO of MidwayUSA. “The actual donations have never been spent, but each year, NRA-ILA spends five percent of the interest to fight anti-gun legislation.”
At the 143rd NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits in Indianapolis last weekend, Larry and Brenda Potterfield presented a ceremonial check to NRA-ILA Executive Director Chris Cox for $9,892,195.82, the total amount of money that has been donated by MidwayUSA Customers since 1992.
Led by the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association (NYSRPA) and the NRA, a group of gun organizations filed suit on March 21, 2013, seeking to overturn the recently-passed New York SAFE Act. The pro-Second Amendment coalition filed suit in Federal court in Buffalo seeking to toss out New York’s new gun control law on a variety of constitutional grounds.
Specifically, the complaint states that the SAFE Act violates the Second Amendment as well the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The Buffalo News explains: “The lawsuit says the gun law… violates the U.S. Constitution’s commerce clause, which empowers the federal government to regulate interstate commerce, because the law restricts interstate commerce by requiring private gun owners to go through dealers if they want to sell guns to a private party in another state.” Read Full Article from BuffaloNews.com.
NYSRPA President Thomas King says the SAFE Act infringes New Yorkers’ Second Amendment rights: “The U.S. Supreme Court affirmed an individual right to keep and bear arms in the landmark 2008 case of Heller v. District of Columbia and incorporated that decision to the states in the 2010 case of McDonald v. Chicago. These decisions apply to all New Yorkers”. Chris Cox, Executive Director of the NRA’s Institute for Legislative Action, added: “Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature usurped the legislative and democratic process in passing these extreme anti-gun measures with no committee hearings and no public input“.
Along with the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, other plaintiffs in this action are the NRA, the Westchester County Firearms Owners Association, Sportsmen’s Association for Firearms Education, New York State Amateur Trapshooting Association, Bedell Custom, Beikirch Ammunition Corporation, Blueline Tactical & Police Supply, and three individual citizens.
Injunction Against SAFE Act Denied in State Action
In another related lawsuit, on March 12, N.Y. State Supreme Court Justice Thomas McNamara refused to enjoin implementation of the SAFE Act. That ruling applied to a lawsuit brought by Robert Schultz and hundreds of other private citizen plaintiffs. A motion had been filed asking the court to temporarily halt the SAFE Act on the grounds that the legislation had been rushed through, without proper consideration or the opportunity for citizen input. The judge denied the motion, holding that the Legislature was authorized by “messages of necessity” to enact the SAFE Act on a “fast track” schedule. Schultz stated that his group would appeal the ruling to the N.Y. State Court of Appeals: “We’re saying the language of the Message of Necessity has to match up with the legislation.”
Twenty-two years ago Larry and Brenda Potterfield launched the NRA Round-Up, a special program designed to raise funds for the NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA). To date, MidwayUSA Customers have contributed nearly $10 million dollars to the NRA-ILA National Endowment for the Protection of the 2nd Amendment.
Led by the 
