Saturday, October 17, 2009

Convention Week at Home...

My week at home for the CLSA National Conference is coming to an end. Tomorrow I celebrate the 12:30 Mass at St. Martin's and then fly back to DC. A quick report on my activities...

The convention was an interesting experience. I made it to a few of the conferences. Mainly, my purpose there was to serve as the driver who shuttled many of the speakers and other dignitaries back and forth from the airport. I spent a LOT of time at the airport this week. So much so that the shoe-shine guy near the security check-point and I were on a first name basis. Interesting, but glad it is over. I used to associate airports with the excitement one experiences when leaving for / returning from a vacation. This week there was no such association, only tedious waiting for the delayed flights of those I was responsible for picking up. A little ink was spilled over some of my words in the diocesan paper this week "The Record." The poor reporter wandered out of one of the conferences with her head spinning. Before I knew it she was jotting down notes when I was talking with her. That's not usually a good thing when it happens with me... Oh well, check out the short article HERE.

Certainly, a highlight of the week was the machine gun shoot at Knob Creek... All I can say is "WOW!" The caucaphony of automatic gunfire that was unleashed by 75-80 individuals at once elicits a strange, almost giddy, sensation in the observer. While I am a staunch believer in the second ammendment of the Constitution, and enjoy hunting and shooting myself, I must say that it was at least mildly alarming that such weaponry is available. I was able to set aside any conflicted feelings, however, to simply take in the pageantry (yes, that is how I would describe it) of the event. Check out some of the damage inflicted:

A southern rock band belts out the tunes while the lead flies:

Yes, that's a CANNON:

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Yes, full auto is available for those who live in free states and that have the money. NFA (National Firearms Act)firearms are NOT cheap with M16's in the $20k range and UZI's in the $6k. In addition, you must have a complete background check with photo and finger prints. It can take 6 plus months to acquire such firearms.

A lot of the guys on the firing line have dealer samples and thus are NOT transferable to the public. May, 1986 was the cut off date for new manufacture of full auto that are transferable. In addition, you must file paper work to transport a NFA weapons across state lines. To say full auto is tightly regulated is an understatement.

For more info, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Firearms_Act