Western Shooting Journal stops by the NRA annual convention in Houston

We had a great time at the NRA's annual convention last weekend, met lots of new people and reconnected with many in the industry. Saw so many new products and organizations I couldn't possibly remember them all, but here are a few photos of some of them below. The city of Houston was very accommodating and friendly, and the conference went smoothly. The speakers were more on the political side, whereas the exhibits were more the nuts and bolts side of guns. An Alabama lawyer named James “Jim” W. Porter II replaced David Keene as NRA president (bet you thought Wayne LaPierre was the president! He's the executive vice president and CEO) Porter's father was a prior president of the NRA and Porter has served as first vice president and second vice president. The Daily Mail has a list of the 10 most interesting guns that were at the convention.

We were thrilled to see Willie Robertson from Duck Dynasty hanging out with our friend Linda Powell from Mossberg at the Mossberg booth.

The NRA logo on the outside of the George R. Brown convention center was stunning. (photo courtesy of Trijicon)
 
My favorite gun at the entire convention was this beautiful gold-plated 1911, which American Legacy Firearms custom-made for the Second Amendment Foundation. $1700 if you bought it at the convention.
We got to meet top archery shooter and hunter Whitney Isenhart, representing Franchi. She was very gracious. Hope to feature her in the magazine soon! http://whitneyisenhart.com/
Magpul, the gun manufacturer that is leaving Colorado over its new gun control laws, was in-your-face with perhaps the largest and most spectacular gun spectacle at the conference, a Dillon Aerospace 7.62 M134 minigun, mounted on a vintage VW microbus. Their booth was one of the busiest at the convention.
We've never seen so many cool gun and knife-related gadgets.
Western Shooting Journal's Associate Publisher Dick Openshaw with Amy Prevear from Sig Sauer.
Remington was celebrating the Model 1100's 50th anniversary.

All work and no play? No way! We could not resist photo ops like these.
Zombies were everywhere at the convention....Hornady sells zombie ammunition.

Pink is always the easiest way to distinguish women's gear from men's!
The NRA store was HUGE, and keeps expanding every year.

10 to 20 foot tall posters like this were everywhere.
Bet you didn't know Karl Malone was on the NRA board of directors!
Northwest Territorial Mint makes the most beautiful genuine silver mock rounds, in 50 cal and 20 mm.
Beautiful commemorative NRA knives from Northwest Territorial Mint.
We like how one commenter describes Krieghoff shotguns: Krieghoff is to shotguns as Lamborgini is to automobile.

I got to check out a Trijicon scope mounted on a John Browning-designed .50-caliber military machine gun. The gun and scope were so popular at the Trijicon booth that you had to wait your turn to try it out.
High-end rifles made by Franchi.

Western Shooting Journal's Associate Publisher, Dick Openshaw (center), with the Second Amendment Foundation's Dave Workman and Rosemary Silano from American Legacy Firearms.
We never saw more than 3-4 protesters across the street the entire time we were at the convention, although we heard there were as many as 12.