Northeast Blogger Shoot AAR

Wow. How can I put into words the awesomeness that was the Second* Annual Northeast Blogger Shoot? It's difficult, but I'm going to try.

• It's so awesome that folks drove from three states away.


• It's so awesome that shooters bought ammo in calibers for which they don't own a firearm.


• It's so awesome that some people spent all day Saturday driving around to find ammo.


• It's so awesome that folks braved the BATFE to bring their special "toys".


• It's so awesome that five states were represented.


• It's so awesome that gunnies delved deep into their ammo reserves.

In short, it was so full of awesome that a suggestion was made to change the name of the day itself from Sunday to Winday...

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Let's start with the list of attendees:

Bruce from No Looking Backwards
Doubletrouble from Rattail Bastard and Mrs. doubletrouble
Weer'd Beard from Weer'd World Arrrr
Lissa from Looking for Lissa
Borepatch from Bore Patch and #2 son
David from Fighting for Liberty
JD from Tekmage's Blog
Marko from The Munchkin Wrangler
TOTWTYTR from Too Old To Work, Too Young To Retire
zeeke42 from Young and Crotchety (update, dude)
Commenter Wally
Mopar and Mrs. Mopar (note to self: blogroll add!)
Scotaku from Scotaku in America
Paul from State Line Guns
Commenter Andrew, his mother Barbara, and his son Matthew (the youngest shooter!)
Meataxe from Men are not Potatoes (note to self, add to "bloggers I've met")
Commenter stickman
Commenter Libertyman
Zercool from Panum et Circenses... et Plumbum (note to self, add to "bloggers I've met")

Wow. Did we really have that many people there???

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When I saw that five states were represented, I mean it. We had two different groups drive up from Connecticut. We had someone trek in from New York. People drove for well over three hours to attend this shoot. That's humbling. I'm still reeling from the sheer size of the group and the fact that we managed to pull off a shoot...

And that's the other thing. There were legal fully automatic weapons at this shoot. Shotguns. Black powder rifles. Handguns. Concealed handguns. Openly carried handguns. Openly slung rifles. In fact, at one point someone (Lissa?) lamented not having a gun to put down when the cease-fire was called - and she was given one!

And yet, no one got shot. No blood flowed in the streets over parking spaces. There were no duels, no pistols at 10 paces, no shots fired in anger. Every single person there handled themselves with the utmost respect for their fellow shooters, paying strict attention to the four rules and basic etiquette. And we all had a lot of fun!

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Once again, a HUGE thanks to our humble host doubletrouble and Mrs. doubletrouble for putting up with us, err, putting us up. Without their hospitality, this event simply could not be - even if we could find a club willing/capable of hosting a group this size, there's just no way that the variety of shootie goodness would be permitted at a "formal" range. Like, say, shooting a Pokemon character into an unrecognizable grey mass, then attacking it with bayonets... Or opening the festivities - twice! - with a cannon.

Thank you both so very much for your most generous hospitality!

Another shout-out to Bruce for bringing some tasty Gadsden and Culpepper schwag and hilarious NLB merchandise. I haz a new shirt for future bloggershoots; doubletrouble has a new flag to fly over the range. The Ram from hell sports a new Gadsden flag in the back window, and many other vehicles are now sporting stickers not in support of socialism but of freedom. If that isn't patriotic dissent, then nothing is. Thanks again, Bruce.

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The array of hardware was nothing short of incredible. There were five different select-fire weapons: four subguns (Uzi, MP5, Walther MPL, and 9mm AR-15) and a gen-yoo-ine assault rifle (AR-15 in .223). There was a short-barreled shotgun (Mossberg 590 with 14" barrel). There were suppressed handguns (Glock 34), suppressed rifles, blackpowder rifles, military surplus rifles spanning all of Europe, Asia, and North America. Handguns were well-represented as well, from a diminutive North American Arms .22LR to a Ruger Super Alaskan in .454 Casull. Damn.

And the company... Well, what can I say? How about this - my only regret from yesterday is that I didn't have 3X as much time to talk with everyone. One of the drawbacks of being the "Community Organizer" (heh, thanks Bruce) was that I was constantly in motion, serving as rangemaster (hey, having Mr. Whistle is a big responsibility), emcee, concierge, and social director at various points in the day. Hey, I even remembered to bring name tags for people - which prompted someone to joke that I'd better put one on, as no one would remember who I was...

The conversation varied as much as the hardware, as will happen whenever you get a couple dozen folks from varying backgrounds together. As you may imagine, most of the folks at the shoot were of a conservative/libertarian bent, with little love lost for our current President and his socialist leanings. We discussed, naturally, the Gates case, the recent supreme court pick of Sotomayor, and the socio-political ramifications of China's unchecked aggression. Well, that and booger jokes (that was me).

Someone commented about how, in a group of bloggers, the feeling was that you needed to be extra-smart, extra-witty, extra funny. I've noticed it myself - most pointedly at the March bloggershoot where we hosted Ambulance Driver - I find myself driven to be "on" and cranked past 11 to 12. Hence the comments like "bouncing off the walls like Gonzo on crystal meth". I feel a compulsion to bring my "A" game and then some, whether through self-doubt about being good enough for the crowd or some innate need for attention I can't say.

In any case, we managed to lay wasted to the rampaging hordes of plastic bottles, children's toys, assorted paper targets, orange clays, and pretty much anything else that wandered onto the range (just kidding, no chipmunks were harmed in the making of this bloggershoot). A whole bunch of gun enthusiasts got together with completely legal weaponry to share cameraderie, hardware, and witticisms over cordite and sandwiches.

Damn straight it was a good day.

That is all.

*Yes, Bruce considers it the third annual Bloggershoot since we had one back in 2005, but I consider it the second since the "annual" is part of it, too...