ISRA Annual Meeting

After being delayed at the restaurant because their machine broke down (they eventually decided to not charge me at all) I made it back to the meeting halls for the Personal Protection Workshop. The instructor, Kent Peacock, gave the presentation and turns out to be an occasional DOOT reader.




Raffle Items:.300 AR030 and M1 Garand



Exec Dir Richard Pearson introduced Todd V. for the IL Legislative update:


He mentions that the atmosphere has changed in Springfield. Legislators have gone from being hostile or avoiding ISRA/NRA lobbyists to coming up for chats, asking questions on FOID's and even buying their own firearms. We are also in active negotiations w/ various police agencies over the future of CCW in this state. Just more examples of the fact that the PuSH'ers have lost the legal, legislative and cultural battle over guns.

Sitting w/ Don Gwinn. He's concurrently typing but hasn't hit send yet. He's finally updated his blog w/ his views.


President Don Moran discussing the current court cases the ISRA is fighting and the effects Mcdonald is having in the state.

Richard Pearson and Don Moran discuss the expansion of the ISRA in support of members who have run afoul of nonsense decisions and laws by the courts and police.
An example was a woman in labor who was temporarily put in the mental wing of a hospital because of overcrowding in the maternity ward. This was reported to the ISP and she had her FOID card revoked. To date they have supported over 300 cases.

ISRA-PVF (state level) and the Fed-PAC (nat'l) voters guides expected w/i the next week.

Pearson referred to legislators as 'Congress-critters'. Gun bloggers have had their impact on terminology.

Member's meeting: Membership continues to increase with an average of 10%/year, much through the drives at gun shows and distributed press releases.

36K people trained in the use and safe handling of firearms last year including civilians, police and military.

Mike Weisman; grassroots roundup:




IGOLD growing every year. Strong partnership w/ IllinoisCarry.com. 2nd Amend. Freedom Rally in Chicago. Townhall meetings are being attended across the state. Black Women's Expo booth. African Arts Festival support. Range software upgrades.

Finally got a chance to talk to Otis McDonald for a few minutes and get a photo with him.


MeetnGreet

Banquet