by Danielle Sturgis
Left, NRA President Ronald Schmeits, Right, Governor Palin. Photo Courtesy of the National Rifle Association.
A star-studded banquet concluded the events of the NRA’s XVIII Gun Collectors Seminar in Anchorage, Alaska on Saturday night, August 1, 2009 (Sturgis, 2009, ¶1).
Luminaries such as NRA President Ronald Schmeits (pictured above with Sarah Palin) and Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre attended the four-day seminar in downtown Anchorage. The seminar was hosted by Gun Collectors Committee Chairman Wayne Anthony Ross and the members of the Alaska Gun Collectors Association (Sturgis, 2009, ¶2).
Seminar activities included sessions on World War II in Alaska as well as the life of the common soldier of the American revolution and culminated Saturday evening with a visit from former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin who gave a stirring speech on 2nd Amendment rights. Following the speech she was presented with Life Memberships in The Missouri Valley Arms Collectors Association, Ohio Gun Collectors Association and the Dallas Arms Collectors Association. The members of the Missouri Valley Arms Collectors Association also presented Gov. Palin with an NRA Benefactor Life Membership as well. She was also presented with the NRA’s Gold Medal Award of Merit for the Promotion of Gun Collecting. This is only the second time in 10 years the award has been presented on behalf of the NRA’s Gun Collectors Committee (Sturgis, 2009, ¶3).
A new Weatherby rifle was auctioned off during the banquet to benefit the NRA Foundation and brought $3,500 (Sturgis, 2009, ¶4).
The NRA Gun Collectors Department affiliates over 100 Gun Collector Clubs in the United States. Members of these clubs receive special news from NRA Gun Collectors Programs about activities in their area as well as news on NRA Gun Collector display awards and competition. For more information, call 703/267-1604 or visit us on the web at www.nationalfirearmsmuseum.org (Sturgis, 2009, ¶5).
Commentary
No elected official anywhere — in this nation or any other — is more deserving of the numerous awards Governor Palin received on August 1, 2009 at this NRA banquet. As this blog publisher has written numerous times, Governor Palin is the Second Amendment’s guardian angel. It is why her image and likeness stands guard over gun racks, closets and stores throughout our nation.
Governor Palin had already been a Life Member of the NRA (this author is an Easy Pay Life Member). The first award elevates her status to Benefactor…the highest ranking membership. It ordinarily costs $5,000 (Join NRA, n.d.) in addition to the the $1,000 standard life membership (Join NRA, n.d).
As noted by Sturgis (2009), Governor Palin received the NRA’s Gold Medal Award of Merit for the Promotion of Gun Collecting — the second one to be awarded in a decade.
The seminar host, Wayne Anthony Ross was Governor Palin’s first nominee for Alaska’s Attorney General and was renowned for his staunch defense of our Second Amendment rights — one of the core reasons she had picked him in the first instance.
Governor Palin is an accomplished moose, caribou, and ptarmigan hunter. She is proficient with high-powered rifles likely up to .375 H & H Magnum and 12-gauge shotguns. She is a disciplined shooter who never flinches, never misses and whose maximum effective range is minimally 300 yards — possibly very much more. She is also very familiar and comfortable with the M-16/M-4 with AimPoint sights.
In April, 2009, NRA Member Bob Reynolds, owner of Templar Consulting, LLC. www.templarconsultingllc.com custom-built two .50 Beowulf AR-15s in honor of Governor Palin for her staunch support of our Second Amendment rights. That story is documented in complete detail here:
Governor Palin was to have received one of the rifles, dubbed “Alaskan Hunter.” This blog publisher does not know if in fact it was presented to her yet. This award ceremony would have been the perfect venue.
Governor Palin’s Second Amendment defense accomplishments for 2009 are documented in:
Join the NRA. (n.d.). National Rifle Association. Retrieved August 2, 2009 from: https://membership.nrahq.org/forms/signup.asp
Sturgis, D. (2009, August 2). “Phil Schreier reports from Alaska.” National Rifle Association Blog. Retrieved August 2, 2009 from: http://nrablog.com/post/2009/08/02/Phil-Schreier-reports-from-Alaska.aspx
Follow Ron Devito on Twitter
Friend Ron Devito on Facebook
Comments on this entry are closed.