Speaking of things I will not be able to attend this year, the Gun Blogger Rendezvous is this September 6th through 9th in Reno, Nevada, and you really should try to make it if you can:
Once a year Gun Bloggers and Gun Blog Readers from around the country gather in Reno at the Silver Legacy Hotel & Casino to visit, compare notes, discuss everything firearms related, and get in three range days covering everything from long range rifle, steel shooting, Cowboy Fast Draw, and more. At the Gun Blogger Rendezvous there is something going on from breakfast in the morning to well into the night! 2012 will be the Gun Blogger Rendezvous’ Seventh Anniversary.
The Rendezvous also raises money for Project Valour-IT, a division of Soldiers Angels, through a raffle of firearms and shooting sports items donated by our sponsors. Project Valour-IT buys voice actuated laptop computers for injured servicemen, who, due to the nature of their injuries, are unable to operate a computer using a conventional mouse and keyboard. This allows them to communicate with their family and friends, directly from their hospital beds, and has been shown to significantly increase their rate of recovery.
We also give out a large number of door prizes of promotional items to our attendees. Our sponsors, in return, get a lot of positive Internet exposure through the Gun Blogs and stories about the Rendezvous.
Some of our sponsors from last year include Para-USA, GunUp.com, Cabelas, MKS Supply/HiPoint, Crimson Trace, Springfield Armory, Dillon Precision, Brownells, National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), The NRA, GLOCK, and more.
Last year we raised over $7,000 for Project Valour-IT, and this year, we hope to meet our goal of $10,000 dollars. Every penny we can make from the Rendezvous goes to Project Valour-IT.
However, if you are going to attend, please get your registration in soon. I know the event is still fifty-odd days away, but Mr. C. is able to attract all of the awesome sponsors, guests, prizes, give-aways, and freebies only because he promises to expose those things to a certain number of people, and if he does not know what that number is, or only has a lower number, the stuff in question might not be as awesome as it otherwise could have been.
I had the pleasure of attending once before, and had a thoroughly enjoyable time, including the pleasure of shooting a Barrett .50 caliber rifle for the first time. And, trust me, the GBR offers one of the highest concentrations of “interesting guns to shoot for free” you are likely to find this side of Knob Creek. So what are you waiting for? Go forth, register, and take pictures, so we boring folks can live vicariously through you!
Sorry to miss you again (I missed last year)! You would be MOST welcome with that Saiga!
Just getting the Saiga out there would be an exercise in and of itself… one apparently has to ask permission of the BATFE to take NFA-regulated items across state boundaries, even if both states you are visiting have no problems with the hardware in question.
I do not have experience with that aspect of NFA devices yet, but given their absurd turnaround on my actual stamp, I wonder if I have enough time to file that paperwork as it is.
Long drive from NC, and it would be a drive. I refuse to subject myself to the TSA and the airlines on the same day unless it’s a life and death situation. Heck, I refuse to submit myself to either unless it’s a life and death situation.
*shrug* With parents on the West Coast, I have little to no choice.