2020 Gun Rights Policy Conference

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The 2020 Gun Rights Policy Conference In Four Parts

September 21, 2020 by

The 2020 Gun Rights Policy Conference is now history. Unlike the previous 34 years, this year’s conference was put on virtually as a result of the pandemic. The hotel in Orlando just couldn’t handle the number of visitors that GRPC attracts.

The conference usually opens with a reception on Friday night. This year that “reception” became a cocktail party hosted over Zoom. It was repeated on Saturday night, too.

Each day was divided into two videos. You can see the full agenda here.

Saturday started with an invocation delivered by my good friend Pastor Kenn Blanchard, “The Black Man with a Gun”.

The Sunday sessions started with a discussion on suicide and suicide awareness. Dr. Jennifer Stuber, founder and director of Forefront Suicide Prevention, kicked it off. I met Dr. Stuber for the first time at the GRPC held in Dallas when she spoke on this topic. There, she related how she lost her husband to suicide.

The conference concluded with a memorial to the late Joe Tartaro. He will be missed.

There is a ton of information here. If you didn’t have a chance to listen live, you can go through the whole conference in these four videos. Share these with friends but most importantly gain from the knowledge presented to advance our fight for freedom.

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Record Pre-Registration For Gun Rights Policy Conference

September 17, 2020 by

The Second Amendment Foundation and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms sent out an announcement regarding the record number of pre-registrations. Included in the release was mention of some of the “mystery” guests which include my own Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Kim Rhode.

Joe Bartozzi of NSSF and Jason Ouimet of the NRA-ILA will also be speakers. It is good to see these organizations participating. GOA and Knife Rights have been participants for years.

From SAF and CCRKBA:

BELLEVUE, WA – The largest-ever number of Second Amendment activists has pre-registered for this coming weekend’s 35th annual Gun Rights Policy Conference, which will be held entirely online Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 19-20, with more than 120 speakers, including several VIP guests.

Co-hosted by the Second Amendment Foundation and Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, this is the first time in history the event will be entirely online. According to SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb, there is an “energy” for this year’s conference unlike anything he’s seen before. To register, go to www.saf.org/grpc/.

While the conference will be streamed on several platforms including YouTube and Facebook Live, you must pre-register in order to receive the Free Digital Second Amendment Library, Gottlieb noted. So far, more than 2,200 people have pre-registered.

“It takes more than a virus to dampen the spirits of grassroots gun rights activists,” Gottlieb stated. “We expect the event to be viewed by several hundred thousand people. It’s the biggest agenda we’ve ever had, with guest presentations from Louisiana Congressman Steve Scalise, Alaska Congressman Don Young, U.S. Senators Steve Daines (R-MT) and Thom Tillis (R-NC), and Olympic Gold Medalist Kim Rhode.”

The agenda includes a federal affairs briefing, two state legislative panels, updates on legal actions and court victories, a discussion on outreach to an estimated 5 million new gun owners, and the importance of this year’s presidential and congressional elections to advance the gun rights cause.

In addition to Gottlieb, this year’s speakers include National Shooting Sports Foundation President Joe Bartozzi; Jason Ouimet, executive director of the NRA Institute for Legislative Action; Erich Pratt, Gun Owners of America; Tom Gresham, host of Gun Talk radio; Mark Walters, host of Armed American radio; Charlie Cook, host of Riding Shotgun with Charlie; and Jim Shepherd, editor at The Outdoor Wire.

“We’ll also be hosting live events on Zoom both Friday and Saturday evening,” Gottlieb said. “We’re determined to make this year’s conference the best ever, despite the pandemic, and we are truly looking forward to what may become the most important weekend of the campaign season.

“We’re expecting gun owners from coast-to-coast to attend this virtual event,” he added. “Last year’s conference in Phoenix was live-streamed to more than 100,000 people and we hope to exceed that number. It’s going to be an event no gun owner will want to miss.”

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The Agenda For Gun Rights Policy Conference

September 16, 2020 by

The Second Amendment Foundation has released the agenda for the virtual 2020 Gun Rights Policy Conference. My group will start at 5:47pm on Sunday afternoon. It may be late in the afternoon but it is probably better than watching a game between two sets of millionaire SJWs.

Grpc Agenda Final for Web by jpr9954 on Scribd

Register at this link so you don’t miss out on an amazing lineup of speakers.

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No In-Person GRPC But You Can Still Suport The Second Amendment Foundation

July 21, 2020 by 3 Comments

As I posted last week, the Gun Rights Policy Conference is going virtual. With the restrictions due to the pandemic, it is was just impossible to hold the conference like normal. Alan Gottlieb said on the Polite Society Podcast that the hotel would have had to limit attendance in the ballroom to 125. Given that last year in Phoenix on Saturday they had more than 1,000 attendees, this just was not workable. When you add in congregating in the hallways during breaks in the session, it would have been a nightmare.

If you are on any of the email lists for the gun prohibitionist organizations like Brady United or the Cult of Personality Known as Giffords, you know that you get requests for donations on an almost daily basis. They are almost as bad as the politicians and that is saying something. People will often complain about the NRA but their pleas for money are not nearly as frequent as any of the anti-gun folks.

So why am I bringing this up?

A friend who I have met at multiple Gun Rights Policy Conferences sent me a suggestion on Sunday. Brent said that wouldn’t it be cool if people donated some of the money saved not traveling to Orlando to the Second Amendment Foundation.

What a great idea!

Say you were driving from Atlanta to Orlando. That is about 450 miles one-way or at least two tanks of gasoline. Let’s say you have a 15 gallon tank and gas is $2 a gallon. That’s $30 each way plus two nights in a hotel. I would conservatively estimate you would have had to spend $300 not including food. While donating $300 to SAF would be fantastic as would even half of that, I think a donation of the equivalent of a tankful of gas at $30 would certainly be helpful in their fight to win back gun rights one lawsuit at a time.

The Gun Rights Policy Conference is a money-spender and not a money-maker for SAF. It costs them a bunch to put the event on. Attendance is free, the box lunches are free, the coffee and treats during the breaks are free, the receptions are free, and the pile of books you get are free. Even with sponsors it still costs a lot of their own money to put on. And it will still cost money to do it virtually.

So if you were planning to attend GRPC – or even if you were not – think about making a donation to help the fight go on. Your future gun rights may depend on it.

SAF’s donation page is here. Please donate generously!

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Gun Rights Policy Conference Goes Virtual

July 15, 2020 by

The ‘Rona has struck again. The 2020 Gun Rights Policy Conference scheduled for September 18-20 in Orlando, Florida is going virtual. I got notified about it this afternoon.

I was scheduled to speak in Orlando so will be doing it virtually. Fortunately, I’ve been working virtually since March including doing live WebEx presentations. Thus, I have a bit of experience with it.

The Second Amendment Foundation sent out the following notice.

BELLEVUE, WA – For the first time in its 35-year-history, the annual Gun Rights Policy Conference hosted by the Second Amendment Foundation and Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms will be a virtual online event, due to the current COVID-19 situation.

“We will definitely miss the face-to-face personal contact with so many friends and activists,” SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan Gottlieb acknowledged. “By switching to an online virtual event for the 2020 conference, we will reach a far broader audience. Between the actual event, and future visits, we hope to reach at least 300,000 gun owners and rights activists, which will be important in this critical election year.

“Having to go virtual for this year’s event may be a blessing in disguise,” he stated.

Since the first GRPC was held in Seattle in 1986, the event has evolved from 20 speakers and 70 attendees to more than 90 speakers and 1,100 attendees in 2019. The GRPC has become a “must attend” event for gun rights advocates and grassroots activists across the country. This year we anticipate having nearly 100 gun rights speakers.

“This year’s theme remains the same,” Gottlieb said. “We’re calling this year’s event ‘Elect Freedom,’ and we will provide updates on confirmed speakers and the multi-media platforms where activists can join us Sept. 19 and 20.

“GRPC is older than two of my children,” said SAF Director of Operations Julianne Versnel. “I will miss seeing everyone and moderating the event. However, just because it’s virtual doesn’t mean it won’t stay on schedule.”

“We are living in extraordinary times,” Gottlieb observed. “This decision was made after carefully analyzing and considering all of the circumstances. Given the current COVID-19 environment and constraints on travel, as well as the inability of our reserved hotel to accommodate us, we will make this year’s ‘virtual’ GRPC the important and memorable event of 2020. Together we will all make the Second Amendment great again.”

It is also my understanding from Paul Lathrop that AMM-Con media conference will also be held virtually. I have participated in all three AMM-Cons and highly recommend them to all bloggers, podcaster, YouTubers, and anyone using new media to get the 2A message out.