Georgia Right to Bear Arms Convention a Success

August 3, 9:03 AMAtlanta Gun Rights ExaminerEd Stone

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A view from Friday night's poker table, courtesy of Adam Roberts

Guns, gambling, and alcohol were all present when the state right-to-bear-arms group GeorgiaCarry.Org held its first annual convention this weekend at the posh Renaissance Waverly hotel in Cobb County.  Politicians and hundreds of armed Georgians showed up for the two day event, including gubernatorial candidates from the Democrat, Libertarian, and Republican parties and the state's Attorney General.

The group hosted a social mixer on Friday night with dinner, followed by a poker tournament (for fun) that lasted several hours.  This is probably the first time in more than a century that any location has hosted so many people paying cards while carrying pistols openly.

Saturday was full of workshops on such diverse items as a two hour "grassroots lobbying" seminar taught by two real, professional lobbyists, a women's self defense seminar, and a class on assemblying your own AR-15 semiautomatic rifle from parts.  During the day, attendees could browse a vendor forum in which merchants were selling everything from laser grips to .50 BMG rifles.  In the afternoon, a panel including four candidates for Governor and several members of Georgia's General Assembly debated gun laws in Georgia and candidly answered specific questions from audience members, who approached the microphone wearing holstered pistols in the open.

In the evening, Atlanta radio personality Moby was the master of ceremonies for a formal dinner and a keynote speech by Libertarian Presidential candidate and former congressman Bob Barr, who spoke about gun control efforts in the United Nations while standing between two 20 foot high resolution screens.  There was professional lighting, audio, and video imaging being used throughout the two day event.

GeorgiaCarry.Org's Convention was a fun event for all who attended, and it had a serious note, as the organization closed the event with a reminder to its members to push aggressively for a repeal of Georgia's infamous public gathering law (there are two bills pending right now to do just that).  Many members complained two days was not enough time to attend all of the scheduled events and meet so many other members of the organization.  For those who missed it, GeorgiaCarry.Org's future events are something you might want to place on your calendar and make plans to attend.  There are not many other places where you can meet and talk with seven candidates for Governor or have a pleasant dinner while sitting next to a State Representative, Senator, or the state's Attorney General, all while carrying a pistol openly.  As GCO Life Member Tim Parker put it,

This was the most memorable element of the convention. I sat at the same table as Commissioner John Oxendine for dinner Saturday night, armed to the teeth - and he knew it. I shook Bob Barr's hand while openly carrying a 1911 - and he didn't care. I stood around and watched dozens and dozens of members of GeorgiaCarry.org conversing with a gaggle of gubernatorial candidates and none of them cared that we were armed. I'll never forget it.