The 128th Annual Meetings were like no other in NRA history. The Littleton, Colorado tragedies, occurring days before the event was to begin, produced a grief-stricken Denver community in need of support. NRA responded by issuing a Colorado-wide notice, announcing the cancellation of all but that legally required under corporate law.

In the days preceding the Annual Meeting, days normally filled with activity, a noticible tension hung in the air. A large anti-gun demonstration had been scheduled at the start of the Saturday meeting, organized by the Mayor. Denver police insured NRA member safety, as NRA leaders learned of an assault on an NRA staff member near our Fairfax, VA Headquaters. Apparently, the staff member's shirt, sporting an NRA logo, identified her as a target for a cup of hot coffee in a local restaurant. (The coffee thrower was arrested).

Voting for 76th Board Member

On Thursday and Friday, Finance and Nominating Committee meetings were held, as members registered, aquired their voting credentials as voting for the 76th Board Member began, to be closed at the end of the meeting. Media was already everywhere, trying to elicit comments from NRA officials and even members. NRA personnel were mum, however, as no official comment was to be made until Charlton Heston and Wayne LaPierre spoke to the members on Saturday.

NRA's decision to refuse to politicize the Littleton tragedy seemed to bear fruit quickly: Normally NRA-negative media outlets like the LA Times editorially praised NRA for the meeting cutback. Blatent attempts by the Clinton administration and Sarah Brady to capitalize on the event were becoming more obvious by contrast. NRA's sensitivity to the victim's families and the Colorado area was being noticed. Yet, CNN continued to report that NRA had not explained why it was CONTINUING with it's meeting.

NRA Members in attendence were privileged to hear commentary by NRA leaders. Former NRA President Robert Corbin was flabberghasted by an NBC report by Tom Brokaw that he had just viewed in his hotel room. It seems NBC had given John Lott a platform to make his case for liberalized CCW, even including bulleted display charts! This was followed by video of a family at a local range, engaged in safe shooting, discussing gun safety, etc. It appeared this former NRA President was amazed to see NBC giving NRA a fair shake!

NRA Board Member and former Congressman Bill Brewster added that he had viewed Gerry Spence (a prominent lawyer who normally argues "liberal" points of view) on Larry King stating emphatically that the Littleton tragedy was not a gun issue.

Obviously, the cancellation of the meeting activities inconvenienced many members, but one should experience the charged atmosphere of Denver, the newspapers and news programs, see Denver residents and visiting NRA members alike wearing blue and white (Columbine's color's) ribbons, the predominance of media vying for "newsworthy" content... one should consider all of this to appreciate the appropriateness of NRA's decision.

One worry voiced by several NRA leaders was low attendance. Without activities, the exhibits, seminars and the rest, would NRA members travel to Denver to show support for their association for a one day event?

Once again, NRA members came through, and in amazing numbers! The annual meeting can only be described with one phrase: unqualified success.

Not only did NRA Members from Colorado and elsewhere show up by the thousands they provided enthusiastic support for our association. This was evidenced by a minimum of divisive politics and maximum of applause and ovation.

The first positive indication was that the meeting had to be delayed to accomodate the large member turnout, ultimately filling to capacity the ballroom, and overflowing 600-700 attendees to the lobby, served by a makeshift remote audio-visual system. At about 10:20 AM, Charlton Heston walked onstage, was immediately greeted by a standing ovation and the meeting was off and running!

Only one brief incident of a divisive nature occurred... Shortly after the meeting convened, one digruntled member improperly raised a confusing point of order against acceptance of the agenda, interrupting the beginning of Wayne LaPierre's speech (Wayne had already been introduced, taken the microphone and uttered "hello"). The membership voted to accept the agenda, but this didn't stop the member, who subsequently was ruled out of order by President Heston to the applause of the membership. This represented the only incident which could be perceived as negative during the meeting.

The first speaker was a real surprise. As excellent as the NRA leaders speeches would be, the show was stolen by the Colorado Secretary of State, Vicky Buckley, who put many members in tears with heartwrenching examples of the effects of hatred and moral decay. Clearly linking these root causes to the Littleton tradgedies, she presented a theme of "The hate must stop". It did not escape the membership that the hate she referred to included that directed toward law-abiding NRA members.

Wayne presented a stirring speech highlighting NRA's principled stand against the criminal misuse of guns, as well as the Clinton administration's refusal to prosecute violent criminals - juvenile and otherwise - for a wide range of offenses. This led naturally into explaining Project Exile to the media.

Heston's speech concentrated on the inappropriateness of the Denver mayor's personal communication to him of "Don't come", stressing the extreme irony that NRA members, ever vigilant against restriction of individual rights, should not be afforded the right to travel about our USA as desired.

While the mayor of Denver stated TENS of thousands of protesters would demonstrate, Bruce Johnson learned that this was not exactly so (does he have a knack for understatement, or what?). While the gun prohibitionists did assemble a large crowd at the Capitol, a much smaller number actually marched to the hotel, walked around the building briefly, and then went home, leaving less than 65 people with ridiculous messages such as "SMALL PECKERS CARRY BIG GUNS" (as seen on CNN). Many thanks to the excellent work by the Denver Police, Sheriff's Department, private security, our awesome NRA Members, and yes ... even the protesters, for ensuring that this event was completely non-confrontational.