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GRPC 2025 – First Impressions

October 2, 2025 by

The 2025 Gun Rights Policy Conference was held in Salt Lake City, Utah this past weekend. Preceding the actual conference was AMM-Con which is an event for bloggers, writers, podcasters, YouTubers, and other firearms related social or alternative media. I have attended both events for some years. I will go into detail on both later as I took extensive notes but these are my first impressions.

The first AMM-Con as I remember it was in Dallas in 2017. There were discussions on how to monetize our work using Patreon, how to use a iPhone to record a YouTube video, and how a gimbel could be used to stabilize your video. It was very hands on and very oriented to everyone helping everyone else get going. This year it was less about the tools than about how to market your product, build a fan base. how to work with editors, rebranding, and on the pluses and minuses of AI or artificial intelligence. My impression was that alternative mass media had matured and now it was time to be more professional about it.

Moving on to the actual Gun Rights Policy Conference, the format has changed. It still starts with a reception on Friday night, speakers all day on Saturday, another reception, and then a half day on Sunday. However, the format has changed from groups of 4-5 speakers on a topic spread out over 20-25 minutes to a minimum of 15 minutes dedicated to one topic with one speaker. Having attended a number of GRPCs since 2010 and spoken at quite a few, I love the new format. Rather than a presenter being cramped for time and having to compress their topic into essentially bullet points, one can now go into more detail. This allows the presenter to flesh out their topic and the listener has a better understanding.

Another change was the addition of two fireside chats. One featured the Attorney General of Montana Austin Knudsen, Speaker of the Arizona House Steve Montenegro, and Utah State Representative Karianne Lisonbee. The other was with Sara Weaver, daughter of Randy Weaver, who lost her brother and mother at during the Federal siege in Ruby Ridge. Both were great for different reasons. The former showed what state officials could do to advance the Second Amendment and the latter the long-term consequences of deadly Federal mistakes.

I was impressed by the number of state representatives that attended the conference. In addition to those above, there were Rep. Quang Nguyen (R-AZ) aka “The Shredder”, Rep. Bobby Cox (R-SC), Rep.-select Ava Flanell (R-CO), and longtime attendee Rep. Rebecca Schmoe (R-KS). Having legislators participate as both speakers and as participants was useful for the ideas generated and connections made. For example, Rep. Bobby Cox was the primary sponsor of South Carolina’s successful permitless carry bill. He has agreed to help make calls regarding the override of SB50 – Freedom to Carry NC. Likewise, the Arizona legislature has joined a number of pro-gun amicus briefs arranged by Attorney General Knudsen as their own AG is anti-gun. Given that North Carolina’s AG Jeff Jackson (D-NC) has been joining anti-gun amicus briefs along with the usual suspects from California, NY, Massachusetts, etc., it is time for the NC General Assembly to emulate Arizona and join pro-gun briefs.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that NRA EVP/CEO Doug Hamlin gave a very well received speech. He went out of his way to recognize people like Alan Gottlieb of SAF and former NRA-ILA Director Chris Cox. More importantly, he said that the NRA was working together with other 2A organizations on multiple court cases as well as the elimination of the NFA. Doug gave a speech that AckMac would never have allowed Wayne to give which I think is an indication that things have changed at the NRA.

I’m glad I went. I had a great roommate in Charlie Cook (Riding Shotgun with Charlie). Met up with a lot of old friends and former colleagues. I also made some new friends and am coming home with a lot of ideas on how to advance the 2A here in NC. Saw some “interesting” people in the hotel who were attending the comic-con across the street from the hotel. All in all, it was a great long weekend.

PS: I don’t know where the 2026 GRPC will be held. Rumor is it might be heading to the East Coast after two years in the West.

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The Skelton Collection

September 26, 2025 by 1 Comment

Rock Island Auction’s October auction will feature a collection of firearms from Skeeter and Bart Skelton. Both were well known lawmen and gun writers. In addition, Bart had been a long time member of the NRA Board of Directors until he ran afoul of the then powers that be. He did that by joining Judge Phil Journey in the call for an examiner in the NRA’s abortive bankruptcy case.

As seen in the video below, there are some interesting firearms up for auction.

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Barnett V. Raoul – Oral Arguments And Analysis

September 25, 2025 by 2 Comments

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in the case of Barnett v. Raoul on Tuesday. The case involves the ban by the State of Illinois on certain semi-automatic firearms as well as standard capacity magazines. The US District Court for the Southern District of Illinois had issued a permanent injunction against the enforcement of this ban and the state appealed against this judgment. Barnett is the lead case and is the amalgam of four different challenges to the state’s Protect Illinois Communities Act.

What makes this case even more interesting than a usual AWB and mag ban case is that the US Department of Justice filed an amicus brief in support of the plaintiffs and was given time in the oral arguments. Harmeet Dhillon, Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, argued on behalf of the DOJ.

The full oral arguments can be found here. The three judge panel consisted of Judges Frank Easterbrook, Michael Brennan, and Amy St. Eve.

Involved in the case(s) since the beginning has been my good friend Todd Vandermyde. He and I had a long conversation about the case and the oral arguments earlier this week as he was in the courtroom. He has since put up an analysis of the case on his Freedom’s Steel YouTube channel. Most interesting was Todd’s analysis of what happens next depending on the opinion in the case. It could a win, it could be a win and the state appeals for an en banc hearing, it could be a split decision, or it could be a loss. All have ramifications for what direction things take from there.

Todd also did an interview with William Kirk of Washington Gun Law regarding the case. That interview is on YouTube and can be found here.

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GRPC Live Streaming

September 23, 2025 by 4 Comments

The Gun Rights Policy Conference starts this coming Friday evening in Salt Lake City with a reception. Co-hosted by the Second Amendment Foundation and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, the conference itself kicks off on Saturday morning.

Here is the final agenda for GRPC: https://saf.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/GRPC-2025-Agenda-FINAL.pdf

Reading over the agenda there are a lot of great speakers. I must say as a member of the NRA Board of Directors I am quite pleased to see that the NRA-ILA’s Director of Litigation Joe Greenlee and NRA EVP/CEO Doug Hamlin are on the agenda to speak. For too many years the 2A community was split into their own little camps and competition rather than cooperation was the rule. Over the last couple of years things have changed and cooperation is now the rule. This is as it should be.

When I went to my first Gun Rights Policy Conference in 2010, live streaming was non-existent. We did have Charles Heller of Liberty Watch Radio recording the conference and making audio available on thumb drives for later listening. Then the next year Mark Vanderberg and Doc Wesson of the old Gun Rights Radio Network provided a live feed using a webcam (if I remember correctly). It progressed from there to Paul Lathrop of the Polite Society Podcast doing the live stream for a few years.

According to this release from SAF, both days will be live streamed through the links below and on their social media channels.

For those who can’t make the event in-person, the Saturday and Sunday GRPC 2025 sessions will be livestreamed beginning at 8 a.m. (MST) on Saturday and 9 a.m. (MST) on Sunday. The links will also be sent via SAF’s email newsletter and posted to the organization’s social media channels.

This will be the 40th annual Gun Rights Policy Conference. I have both attended and spoken at a number of them. One change that I think is welcome is that they have reduced the number of speakers but have given them more time to speak. So instead of having 4-5 minutes for each speaker with only a chance at hitting the bullet points in that time, the scheduled speakers will be able to give a more fuller and richer presentation.

As you can tell, I am looking forward to this weekend. I hope to see many old friends there and make some new ones.

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The Old Guard Is Not Fading Away

September 23, 2025 by 5 Comments

Those who thought that with the reformers ascendant in the NRA that the Old Guard would, to paraphrase Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, go quietly into the night would be mistaken. With the Nominating Committee chaired by Buz Mills and filled with reformers, many in the Old Guard whose terms are expiring are, by necessity, going the petition route.

Some like former NRA President Charles Cotton seem to have taken a stealth approach. From what I understand, he worked his connections in Texas to gather enough signatures to be on the ballot for 2026. I should note that he was not in attendance at the recent Fall Meeting of the NRA Board.

Others were working to gather signatures at the Board meeting and I did sign a number of petitions. I did this because I did see many of the Old Guard working cooperatively with the reformers to rebuild and rejuvenate the NRA. At the end of our semi-marathon Board meeting, many on both sides stood to say it was good to see everyone working together for the good of the NRA and gun rights.

A friend tipped me off to a website linking to the petitions of many of the Old Guard or newbies associated with them. It is called votersaware.com. There are petitions for existing directors such as Curtis Jenkins, Barbara Rumpel, and Eb Wilkinson among others. In addition you have potential candidates like Jeff Fleetham and Lane Ruhland who ran unsuccessfully in 2025 plus two or three other new candidates.

I don’t know who established this website but the Wayback Machine shows it having posts going back to 2016. Back then it was affiliated with an independent expenditure PAC. It seemed to have an anti-Hillary Clinton focus along with conservative leanings. Examining the page source of the page now, I did come across a reference to https://www.armsandammunitionnews.com. Using the Wayback Machine again, that led to an endorsement by Bob Barr of the list of candidates affiliated with the StrongNRA (Old Guard) team in the 2025 board election. If I had to make a guess, and it is only a guess, the website is somehow affiliated with him.

I am not saying to sign or not sign these petitions. Use your own good judgment.

I would, however, say re-electing Charles Cotton to the Board of Directors would be a travesty.

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AMM-Con Schedule Of Events

September 22, 2025 by

If you plan on attending the Gun Rights Policy Conference in Salt Lake City and you are involved in new media, you should arrive early so you can take in the AMM-Con Second Amendment Media Conference. While I have missed a couple of recent AMM-Con conferences, I was there when it began. It has grown over the years from essentially bloggers and podcasters doing “show and tell” to what you see below.

The Schedule for the day!

9:00-9:05 Welcome

Charlie Cook, Riding Shotgun With Charlie, News2A, Armed Lifestyle Magazine

9:05-10:00 Pitch Sheet & Earned Media

Amanda Suffecool, Eye On The Target Radio, Women for Gun Rights, NRA Board of Directors

10:00-10:45 Actions Speak Louder Than Words

Michelle Cerino, Women’s Outdoor News, Shooting News

10:45-11:00 Break

11:00-12:00 Turning Strangers Into Raving Fans

Jarrad Markel, Student of the Gun

12:00-1:00 Lunch

1:00-1:45 Rebranding an Organization

Tanner Lineberry, Digital Media Manager, SAF

1:45-2:45 How to Report on 2A Supreme Court and Other Cases

Mark Smith, Host of Four Boxes Diner, Constitutional Lawyer

2:45-3:00 Break

3:00-4:00 AI Debate, Good or Bad?

Cheryl Todd & Amanda Suffecool vs Lee Williams & Mark Walters 

4:00-4:45 Speak Softly and Carry a Big Podcast

Michael Schwartz, Keynote Speaker, San Diego County Gun Owners, Gun Owners Radio

If you haven’t registered to attend, use this link.

If you have registered and are not going to be able to attend, please contact Charlie Cook at RidingShotgunWithCharlie@gmail.com so that he can adjust the number of lunches that need to be ordered.

As a reminder, AMM-Con like GRPC is free to attend.

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Let’s Put Huey Over The Top

September 21, 2025 by 2 Comments

Huey Laugesen needs your help to get on the NRA ballot for 2026 by petition. He is close to having the required number of signatures but needs about 100 more to get over the top.

He is the executive director of the Colorado Shooting Sports Association and serves with me on the NRA Board’s Membership Committee. I have endorsed him in the past and continue that endorsement as I believe he has good ideas on how to increase membership in the NRA.

Just as importantly, he understands how tenuous our hold on gun rights can be. He is from Colorado which has transitioned from a good state on gun rights to one of the worst. Earlier this month, his organization with the assistance of the Mountain States Legal Foundation filed suit against the State of Colorado over its new permit to purchase law for certain semi-automatic firearms.

If you are a NRA Life Member (of any level) or an Annual Member with five or more years of continuous, unbroken membership you are eligible to sign Huey’s petition. As I and others have said, Huey is just the sort of younger member we need on the Board. Please sign his petition below if you have not already done so. Just as importantly, forward his petition link to fellow NRA members for them to sign.

https://nra.directnominations.net/Petitions/Sign/c1cb1f95-9d72-4df2-9be4-935a07d2e6e6?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

All signatures must be submitted by October 7th. Signatures done online are submitted immediately so I am urging you to go use the link above and not procrastinate on signing.

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For My Friends In Virginia

September 17, 2025 by

The grassroots efforts by NRA-ILA in the Commonwealth of Virginia needs your help. If you live in Virginia and have some time to devote, this online meeting is for you.

Subject:Attend the NRA Virtual Election Meeting on Tuesday September 23rd!

view the web version of this email

NRA-ILA: Institute for Legislative ActionAttend the NRA Virtual Election Meeting on Tuesday September 23rd!With the upcoming elections quickly approaching here in the Commonwealth, we’re inviting you to join us for our virtual “Virginia Election Kick-Off Meeting” on Tuesday, September 23rd, at 7:00 p.m.

This important virtual meeting will cover:

Volunteer Opportunities – Learn how you can get involved and make a difference in our election efforts right here in Virginia.

Our Candidate Endorsement Process – Understand how the NRA evaluates and supports candidates who stand strong for our Second Amendment rights.Your voice and your time can make a real impact this election season. Whether you’re a seasoned volunteer or just looking to get started, this meeting is the perfect place to learn how you can be involved in this very important election!

Please click the RSVP button below to register for this special webinar:
When:
Tuesday, September 23rd, 7:00 p.m. EST
Where:
NRA-ILA Grassroots Virtual Microsoft Teams Classroom

Even though I live in North Carolina, I will be helping out the grassroots campaign by using their i360 texting platform. I certainly don’t want a Gov. Abigail Spanberger who is BFF with Everytown in an adjoining state.

Lexy Higgins who manages the grassroots program told me that they are really seeking local volunteers who can do door-to-door campaigning. You know for sure that Everytown and the Demanding Moms will be out in force and our side needs to be there as well.

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Big Bore Rifle Shoot In NC

September 17, 2025 by

Do you have a big bore rifle sitting in the back of your gun safe? Is it feeling lonely and unused?

I have a solution for you!

The DSC Carolinas Foundation is hosting a big bore rifle shoot on October 18th at the Hyatt Farms Shooting Complex in Polkton, NC. This is only a 1-2 hour drive from most locations in the Piedmont of North Carolina and the Upstate of South Carolina.

The minimum caliber is that old European safari favorite of 9.3×62. You can go up from there and you will only need about a box of ammo to shoot all three stages including a moving buffalo target.

Pre-registration is required for both shooters and observers. The cost of the event is $75 for shooters and $35 for observers. This includes lunch.

There will also be a number of vendors there.

You don’t get many chances to shoot your big bore rifle like this so take advantage of it and help support the chapter’s conservation efforts.