NRA Show, Houston Texas. Going?

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Why all the Houston bashing? I can't think of a better place for the convention. Attended yesterday & it was great!
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If it is fellow Texas doing the bashing you shouldn't be surprised as there is a lot of instate rivalry between the major cities, especially Dallas and Houston! It's generally pretty good natured.

Let's face it though, Houston is not a good tourist destination. Not a lot of interesting history here, the weather can get quite severe, no amusement parks, the local beaches are crappy and we're not close to other good tourist destinations (San Anronio being the lone exception but it's still over 200 miles away).

It is however a great place to live and to raise a family. The cost of living is low, jobs are plentiful, great restaurants, friendly people. I've lived in Southern California, Oklahoma, Kansas, Connecticut, Dallas, Singapore and Germany. Houston beats them all, hands-down.
 
We are just laid back here in Houston. Low cost of living and just have to deal with five month of extreme heat starting May to Sept. I reason why i changed my AC unit to three ton top of the line Carrier to match my house. Electric bills is expected to hit double by these months.
 
How many protestors actually showed up for the event? I'm curious to compare the media's imagination to what is reality.
 
There were a bunch of media trucks lined up out front. It reminded me a sharks circling a kill.

No protesters that I saw. Local news had them interviewing some parents who had lost their kids and the national news focused on the nasty guns and tried to create a story out of the Houston IAH incident but that was about it. There were a lot of stories about the ammo shortages also.

The thing I noticed is that folks were friendly but many, many folks had sour looks on their faces. My shooting buddy and I were having a grand time just BS-ing and walking around looking at everything. It was like being in a candy shop. I would have thought others would be more happy.
 
I may have to see it on Sunday. Just too many people right now . I could just imagine the parking lots are full to the brim.
 
Johnny Dollar said:
Thank you very much,chicharrones for all the detailed information. I could not make it to the show. But if I had, I would have felt quite confident from your info, on entering the premises with my Florida CCW, carrying my Glock 36 .45, that all would be well.

Great work! :cool: You are a fine Ambassador for Houston. ;)
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You are way too kind! I think being from Florida, you would be accustomed to the humidity here. Except due to strange weather events, there is no humidity here this weekend. That is lucky indeed for all that come to the NRA Convention. :cool:
 
MaterDei said:
If it is fellow Texas doing the bashing you shouldn't be surprised as there is a lot of instate rivalry between the major cities, especially Dallas and Houston! It's generally pretty good natured.

Let's face it though, Houston is not a good tourist destination. Not a lot of interesting history here, the weather can get quite severe, no amusement parks, the local beaches are crappy and we're not close to other good tourist destinations (San Antonio being the lone exception but it's still over 200 miles away).
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Too true. Houston is not a tourist town. Astroworld* got razed years ago, the best historical site (San Jacinto battleground) is buried in the industrial side of the Houston area, plus the humidity and mosquitoes are a pain to deal with. Thunderstorms and floods at least cool off the place.

Yet, for some reason there are millions of people that make the area their home. Like me. ;)



*Kemah is nice, but tiny in comparison.
 
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Peter M. Eick said:
The thing I noticed is that folks were friendly but many, many folks had sour looks on their faces. My shooting buddy and I were having a grand time just BS-ing and walking around looking at everything. It was like being in a candy shop. I would have thought others would be more happy.
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It must have been from the shock of the crowd size. In the early morning on Friday the crowd wasn't quite there yet until maybe 11am. The time from 9am to 11am was quite comfy milling about the booths and freely handling the guns on display as long as you wished.

After that, it could be tough just to pick up a gun for a few seconds depending on the booth you were at. I wonder if the crowd on the floor thinned a bit while people went to the assembly areas upstairs in the afternoon?
 
I hear they just exhibit stuff, they don't sell it ? Is that true? Because if it is I wouldn't go - I have the Internet to look at stuff already.
 
roadcoder said:
I hear they just exhibit stuff, they don't sell it ? Is that true? Because if it is I wouldn't go - I have the Internet to look at stuff already.
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It's not a gun show as much as a trade show. You can't buy gunsand I don't recall seeing ammo for sale, but I saw stocks, grips, accessories, clothing, etc, etc. for sale.

Many of the guns I saw didn't even have firing pins. What was nice was on most guns you can walk right up, put it in your hand, work the action, try out the trigger, etc. No trigger locks, and no permission needed for the display guns. :cool:
 
I hear they just exhibit stuff, they don't sell it ? Is that true? Because if it is I wouldn't go - I have the Internet to look at stuff already.
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This is true, but I enjoyed getting to actually handle the new RRA 7.62x39 AR that uses AK mags, the new S&W CORE M&P pistol models and plenty of other neat stuff. RIA showed a lot of nice 1911 variations.

The worst job of the day had to be the guys manning the Federal booth with about every third person coming up asking "why aren't you making more ammo?"

Lots of nice promo freebees.

Loved the Magpul VW bus with the mini-gun, lots of folks giving them the pitch they should relocate to Texas. :)


Crowds were large but not to the point of not being worthwhile to go. Its free to NRA members and the check in was extremely efficient.

Didn't see any protesters either, I suspect they were only where the news crews were trying to give the illusion of being "large".
 
Who were the celebrities around?
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There was a pretty long line of folks waiting for autographs from the Duck Dynasty guy, I couldn't pick him out of a crowd, only know because my buddy wanted to see what people were standing in line for, as all the other freebees were just being given out as fast as people could walk up, so he was figuring it was something really special :)
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by KTXdm9 View Post
How many protestors actually showed up for the event? I'm curious to compare the media's imagination to what is reality.
I didn't see any protestors either. There was a couple dozen on the news I saw that night, but they must have been far away from where I walked through.
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I saw about 15 protestors today at 10am, and that is where the media was. They'll probably do a close-up and say hundreds were there. I was outside waiting for some friends for about 20 minutes and hundreds of people walked by headed into the exhibition hall.
 
I went with the family today. It was a blast. Plenty of parking in the Toyota Center parking lot, which was a couple blocks away. It was very busy. No protestors to been seen. Great weather.

Most importantly, I got to handle of bunch of pistols I'm considering for carry duty. I was really impressed with the Bersa BPCC.
 
Federal might not have any ammo, but Freedom Munitions does. They are sitting on about half a million rounds of 9mm in their retail store in Houston with more coming in fairly regularly.
 
Springmom and I were there for the members meeting and exhibits today. Great time, even if we did have to park on the far side of the baseball stadium.

The meeting was great, and I was proud to vote in the elections. I even got to make a small speech suggesting an amendment to one of the resolutions offered.

After that and lunch, we headed down to the exhibits, but the crowds were unbelievable by then. Jan's in a wheelchair these days and it was just too hard getting around in the mob. We saw a little and liked what we saw (I drooled over a Hornady re-loading rig) , but it just got to be too much.

Saw about two dozen protesters across the street (AP counted 20), but hey, the BoR is for them, too, right?

A good day, great to be among so many gunnies. Here's a pic of me and Jan taking a break...
ImageUploadedByTapatalk1367716179.063495.jpg
 
I concur as to wheelchair navigating, way too crowded, however my son toughed it out for 5 hours or so. It was just way too fun. We also saw only a few protesters. When we arrived about 11:00 we parked in the underground lot across the street. even though the sign said lot full we immediately found a handicapped spot and saw numerous other spots available. There is pizza, BBQ and Chick-Fil-A available in the convention center. As noted no Texas 30-06 signs, probably lots of CHL holders and nobody died, go figure.

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Wow, great show. I met a pile of folks who are on this and my forum. Thanks for stopping in!

Andy
 
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