Trip Report: Passing out NRA-Obama pamphlets at a gun show

[wacki]

Well I just went the Indy 1500 gun show wearing this sign on my back:

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=307626



and passing out these fliers:

http://www.nraila.org/obama/

I was there for 3 hours and I must call the event a success. I'm going back tomorrow.

I arrived at the gun show at 5PM and used safety pins to pin the 8.5”x11” sign on my back. I felt silly wearing it but forced myself to follow through. For a good 5-7 minutes nobody talked to me and I kept on thinking "this is dumb, I'm preaching to the choir". Then somebody came up to me and asked "are you passing something out?" I of course was and handed him a NRA-flier. I then started telling him about Kennedy’s .30-30 ban and the 5-4 decision split on Heller. He was amazed. He didn’t like Obama but at the same time he didn’t care for McCain. When he left he told me he’ll be sure to vote and will be voting against Obama. At that point I said to myself “I think I just gained one anti-Obama voter.” For most of my visit at the gunshow I didn’t approach too many people. I probably instigated 4 conversations about Obama over a three hour period. So there was lots of dead time but I kept myself busy looking at peoples guns at the show. There were a few people that said “Boy, I thought that was a pro-Obama sign. You are lucky you didn’t get shot”. At the same time there were quite a few “grand pappy would approve” gun shop owners that were absolutely clueless and didn’t realize how bad Obama was. There was another shop called Fort Liberty Firearms:

http://fortlibertyfirearms.com/

Who asked me for a stack of the fliers as they wanted to place some by their cash register. I handed them a bunch and said if they need more they can just call the NRA. They were quite enthusiastic and repeatedly thanked me for my efforts. That felt good. When people started asking questions it seemed to come in spurts. In a three hour period I had 3 groups of 7-8 people talking to me and asking questions. The biggest shocker of the night was some woman was sneaking behind me and reading the sign on my back. She did performed the sneak three times and then finally said to her boyfriend “have you seen the back of that guys shirt?” I looked at her and said “would you like a pamphlet on Obama?” She grabbed it and quickly glanced over it. She asked me a few questions about the ammo ban and became quite furious that a bullet could make you a felon (if the bill was passed). She then started to loudly tell everyone how misguided her boyfriend was for wanting to vote for Obama. Her boyfriend went silent and I was desperately trying not to laugh.

In the end I’m glad I didn’t let the ‘slow’ periods get to me. I talked to quite a few people and many of them were shocked. I’m going back tomorrow. This time I’m putting a sign on my chest as well as my back. I'll be going with much more confidence as well.

Oh, I also met Owen over at TheHighRoad. :-D

[wacki]

Update: Day 2 & 3 were a resounding success. Simply putting a sign on my chest made a dramatic increase in the number of people that wanted to talk to me. Today and yesterday were very busy days for me at the gun show. All out of NRA pamphlets!

[TheBluesMan]

Good work, wacki.

Thanks for the after-action report.

[jrfoxx]

Awesome idea, and awesome work. Good job.

[wacki]

A slightly longer report on day 2 & 3. I cannot stress how much important it is to strap a sign to your chest as well as your back. Having a sign on my chest as well as my back made for a very lively experience at the gun show. Also, I was shocked at how many people there were that weren't going to vote because they didn't care about politics or weren't into McCain. I lost track of how many people that said "well I guess I'm going to have to hold my nose while pulling that lever for McCain". They then shook my hand and thanked me. A bunch of gun vendors were begging me for more pamphlets. I gave some bundles to a couple of vendors and they burned through them like hot cakes. One vendor even laid the pamphlet across a gun being purchased by a man wearing an Obama t-shirt. Some of the stories made me wonder when I was going to get kicked out of the gun show. Day 2 & 3 at the gun show were very very lively. I met a ton of people that were very appreciative of my efforts. The beauty of day 2 & 3 is that I really didn't approach too many people. I approached maybe 5 people that were staring at me and didn't say anything and a maximum of 3 people simply because they were vendors. Everyone else asked me about my sign. I hate intruding on people's space so this tactic was a perfect for my personality. It let them come to me. I probably passed out 400 pamphlets in total which is quite the feat considering how passive I was.


Some quick tips for those thinking about doing this:

I printed out the introduction to Senate bill S1634 (see attached pdf) and highlighted the following with a green highlighter:

• .30-30
• 7.62
• .222
• "It is outrageous and unconscionable that such ammunition continues to be sold in the United States of America."

That drove people nuts.

I also printed out some of the maps for the 5 mile exclusion zone seen here:
http://www.sportsmenforobama.org/content/view/53/35/

Both of these were a real shocker to just about everyone. When I handed people the NRA pamphlet I also said "The biggest danger in my mind is the Supreme Court, something that I don't think the NRA does a very good job of explaining." I then handed them a small strip of paper which said the following:

Obama voted against the appointment of EVERY pro-2A justice he could^1, ridiculed almost every pro-2A justices judgment^2 and named three of the four anti-individual rights justices as "sensible"^3. Heller vs. DC, the first Supreme Court case in history to examine the second amendment, was won on a razor thin margin of 5-4. Police Officer Heller still can't register his WWII era pistol in Washington DC and lawsuits are springing up around the country. We can't afford to let Obama influence the Supreme Court and destroy it's delicate balance.
1)voted against the appointment of Roberts & Alito, rest were appointed before Obamas time
2) Google for planned parenthood rally and Saddleback church debate
3) Justices Breyer, Ginsburg and David Souter were the dissent in Heller vs. DC, Obama called them "sensible" Next president will have major impact on direction of Supreme Court, www.wsls.com, Saturday, August 23, 2008

I had printed 5 of these per each sheet of paper and then used a cutting board to cut them up. It's an easy way to produce 200 sheets in a matter of seconds.

Remember, safety pin / tape a sign on your front and back. I can't stress that enough.