The 2018 Gun Rights Policy Conference is being held at the Chicago O’Hare airport Hyatt Regency this year. I arrived after driving up from Dallas. The hotel had something new this year. A small “no guns” sign in red on the entrance doors. We were told the hotel coffee for the conference costs the Second Amendment Foundation $145 per gallon so we’re drinking as much as we can.
The conference features dozens of speakers on politics, policy, culture, and trends in pro-Second Amendment advocacy.
One speaker mentioned that he had interacted with an attendee of a doctor’s conference that’s also being held here at the same hotel. The conference organizers had warned the doctors that the GRPC conference would also be here and apologized for putting them, unknowingly, in such close proximity to “gun people.”
Chicago Guns Matter has a table set up outside the conference room, along with several others, including Knife Rights, The Illinois State Rifle Association among many more.
There are several hundred attendees at this year’s GRPC. Attendance seems a little down from the last time we were in Chicago. There’s been some buzz about the Cody Wilson situation and surprise that the U.S. government had been able to have him arrested in Taiwan, so quickly. Wilson made many powerful enemies with his support for the right to be armed, Defense Distributed, and the 3D printing of guns and gun parts.
Matthew Goldstein gave an informative presentation on the state of ITAR regulations and the settlement in the Defense Distributed case.
If you have time, I highly recommend attending a GRPC. The Second Amendment Foundation does an excellent job putting on the annual event. They are informative, the speakers are informative and approachable, and you will be able to rub elbows with many well-known names in the gun culture.
One speaker from Detroit, Marcus Allen Weldon, the author of The Santa Shooter: Guilty Until Proven Innocent, suggested the GRPC be held in Detroit one year. I thought it a fair request as the Motor City is a far more gun friendly venue than Chicago.
Next year the GRPC will be in Phoenix.
©2018 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.