I've been waiting on this for a long time for the gun show to hit Houston a few weeks ago, and now, just like steam, it's come and gone.
You could stand at one end of the room and not see the other because of the curve of the earth, and that's just how we South westerner's like it. God, guns, and freedom, and not necessarily in that order.
There were three doors into the building and we were parked across the street entrance F on the very top of the parking garage, so we had plenty of walking to do once the fun was over that night.
When I finally got inside, we had to stop and register, show our NRA member cards and get special badges showing we were part of said group.
Next, I nearly fell into the Red Jacket table. You know Red Jacket, from the tv series "Sons of Guns?" I didn't recognize anyone there at first, but then Joe showed up. Remember Joe; 'lead engineer,' soft-spoken, and that red, weird goatee? Yeah, that Joe Meaux. Well he was in and out of that booth 15 seconds or less. By the time I looked from putting my phone into camera mode, he was gone and I never saw him again.
After that, it was merely a feat to get up and down all those aisles, distance wise. My dad said that the crowd had really thinned out since he had been there that morning.
The second aisle had guns, but I had not pulled my head down out of the clouds; and yes, the lights did seem brighter. My "Visions of Grandeur" were sudden and non-premeditated. I could have turned to God and said: "Howdy, neighbor!" It was so typical that what brought me back to earth again was, you guessed it, a stock car.Tony Stewart # 14 Bass Pro Shops Toyota to be exact, and other trucks I had only seen in books! That was only at the end of aisle two. I then went up as a balloon again, and didn't come down 'till halfway through the exhibits.
See, ever since last year in St. Louis, they've planned for Houston to host the annual NRA gun show in 2013. When I found out about it through the mail, the ad never left my walker, and when the April edition of American Rifleman showed up, well, you know why that was MIA from the collection.
Every company that makes guns and personal defenses were there, and still there were protesters, well, at least a few of them. At the gunstocks.com booth, Joe Nemechek's # 87 Nationwide Toyota of the same sponsor was there. I did what I had done to Smoke's Toyota, take a barrage of pictures of it. I also stopped at a few rifle and pistol booths of note, well at least to they were to me. I eventually found a rifle company that let me play with one of their samples. Rifles have not changed very much since the 19th century, so they still have the hand-levers. I believe that I had not shot such a rifle in my life. All I knew is what I learned from tv. The older the movie, the better the information.
We approached halfway through the aisle; going up, going down, down, and up again, seeing history's answer to the gun over the centuries, seeking perfection over the countless decades. My legs and feet were beginning to hurt. They had not walked this far in almost six months. My dad saw I was hanging back due to knee, leg, and foot pain, so he told me to take five while he got some water from the local built-in concession stand. This happened twice.
All in all, we finished our tour a little after five pm and got ready to see for a "discussion" or so I thought, with radio host, Glenn Beck. We spent near an hour over dinner we got from a concession stand and arrived at the "gathering" early. I thought it was a small group but boy was I surprised when there was a live band and over 1000 people there, give or take. They started off with a band from guess where--that's right, Tulsa. One or two were from Texas and my old stomping grounds. They played old '60's hits in a brand new way, electric guitar. The show was late in starting for a time, and an hours' worth of improv was required. And, when everything was finally already, the entire NRA staff showed up, one or two at a time, and we're not talking cookie crumbs here. This was the yearly staff meeting, which meant serious business. After the intro to the president, his wife and all the officers with their spouses, the keynote speakers showed up. One did a stand-up comedy routine with voices of U.S. political presidential figures, well, he might have had Bill's voice too good. Wonder where they were stashing Hillary?
And then who should show up but Glenn Beck. Yeah, you put together your speeches 20 minutes before curtain. A lot of it's improv, and very good at that! He started off with Heston's " You'll get my guns out of my cold, dead, hands," and finished by turning it around and saying something like: " Our cold, dead, hands won't win this... But rather a cause to use our hands..." and finally, "We cannot be the generation that loses mankind's freedom." OIBeck occasionally put on some special gloves, and showed off a rifle that had some mileage on it, say from the Revolutionary War?
That made my night. The guy whose books I was reading really did exist in the flesh. Yep, the whole day had been the perfect evening.
I saw this all live
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=XERjumXj1lM
