Good Friends, Lots of 'Politicking' at Central Ohio Gun Show

Spent some time at the PRO Gun Show in Columbus today. Great crowd on a perfect day. A couple thousand people, at least, came through the doors. Representatives of two presidential candidates, Duncan Hunter and Ron Paul, were near the front doors handing out campaign literature.

My cousin's son, Joe, stopped by the show in the afternoon with a friend in tow. They are both students at Ohio Wesleyan University. Joe had an old double-barrel shotgun he wanted someone to take a look at. It belonged to one of my grandfathers (his great-grandfather). We decided it does not have much monetary value, but as a sentimental piece it is priceless. The .32 wheelgun he had, however, has some value. Plus, it belonged to Joe's grandfather (my uncle).

PRO-Training ran an Ohio Hunter Education program at the show, attended by some 20 young people with some dads and moms in attendance. Ran into Jude Cuddy, who occasionally contributes to this blog, and his son, both of whom were doing a little Christmas shopping at the show. along with NRA Training Counselors Ron Herman and Roland Millar (Roland, BTW, runs the Hunter Ed program for PRO-Training). Roland, Pete Stryjewski and a Hunter Ed instructor from Pickaway County Sportsmen ran the HE class at the show. NRA firearms instructors Jon Creal and Vince Zeno were also running around and stopped by to say hello. Vince and I got into a great discussion about older military firearms, particularly M1 carbines. Plus, Matthew (sorry, I can't remember the last name), a former Personal Protection In The Home firearms class student of mine from a few years ago stopped by and told me he had taken the NRA Instructors course earlier this month from PRO-Training. Welcome to the brotherhood of instructors, Matthew!

Most of the buzz at the show from people who wanted to talk politics was about the Heller/Parker/District of Columbia case being reviewed by the Supreme Court. Cautious optimism is the mood of most.

I worked a few hours at the Peoples Rights Organization membership table, where I stayed busy the entire time helping members renew for 2008. Hats off to show manager Mike Duve for another great event. The show runs through 4 pm on Sunday, but I cannot attend. Have to finish inventory and packing gear for next week's deer season. Unfortunately, due to competing priorities with my work, I'm only out in the field a couple of days. Too many appointments later in the week. But hope to get out next weekend also. We'll see . . .