On Sunday, February 28, 2010, HRA will hold its annual meeting. It will be at the Action Shooting Bay #1 in KHSC. I encourage all of you to mark your calendars and attend.  All HRA members are welcome, and memberships will be sold at the "door."

0700 Set up (everyone's invited)
0900 Firing line open (Combination of "open" range time and "instruction" time)
1130 - 1230 Lunch (Grillin' burgers)
1230 - 1330 Actual meeting
1330 - 1600 Range re-opens

Note that this is the meeting where members are elected to the Board of Directors.  Any member can run!  You said wanted to get involved; well, this is an opportunity!

The dust has settled, I've gotten home and out of my grubby range clothes. 

It was a good day.  Woke up too early to get out there by 7 for setup.  We had 60 ft of tent-covered shooting line, not including the tripod-mounted belt-fed machine guns (semi auto, sadly) off the right-hand side.  Shooting events and prizes all day.  An excellent hamburger lunch.

How many of you were there?  It's possible some were... I don't know who most of you are in real life. 

How many of you stepped up and volunteered to serve on the board?

Zero.  That's how many.

I feel a rant coming, which I know can serve no positive purpose.  So let me just say that I am disappointed before I go hit the shower.

I wasn't able to get out but I did really want to get out. But for me, real life is really, really busy. I should really stop making little mes. I know, just an excuse.

I too was out with Tom for the meeting...and like him, maybe I met some of you out there and just didn't realize it. I too am a little disappointed by the apparent lack of participation.

And, based on that lack of participation I have an overwhelming desire to share an interaction that occured yesterday. I had a gentleman come up to me (he said he was a member of one of the sport shooting clubs...) and ask what the HRA was going to do about the 10 round magazine limit. A little confused, I asked what he meant. He explained that he was tallking about the recent decision of one of the clubs to limit magazine limits to 10 rounds based on a recent interpretation by a Deputy AG. I told him that the law was a long standing one and that currently we did not have any plans to address the situation this year. He became a little upset and stated HRA shoud be get "more aggressive" in terms of advocating for a change in this law. I asked what he meant by "more aggressive" and he really could not elaborate.

So, I asked him a question: When was the last time he personally wrote his legislator, or submitted testimony, or sat in on a hearing and provided testimony? When was the last time he organized the members of his gun club to participate in the legislative process? Of course the answers were.....wait for it..........................never!

So, once again, I hear from the dissatisfied gun owners out there who think HRA (and for that matter, the NRA and any other gun advocacy group) should "do something" but cannot be bothered to contribute time and energy toward that something. As I explained, again, that HRA is only as powerful as its members make it...HRA cannot do all the good work it needs to do simply by your $20.00 membership. HRA needs its members to participate in its efforts...that includes participating in the process, be it the legislation efforts, the board, or community events that promote guns and gun owners in  positive light.

And, to close, let me say I understand being busy. Some of the most active members of HRA are extreamly busy yet still find time to participate in the activities that contribute to the ultimate goal of better gun laws in Hawaii...I know this week I put in over 90 hours at two different jobs, including all day Saturday in response to the tsunami issue....I didn't get a chance to try out a new gun at the range, nor go to a movie, or out to dinner with my significant other as we had planned, yet I was out at the annual meeting.

Now, how was your week?

Thank you for your candid response HiCarry. There is a lot of good information in there that we can all take to heart.

Wanted to make it too, but had to cover for someone.  I think I'm able to join on their site right? 

You can download the pdf application, fill it out, and send it in. Unfortunately there isn't an online form, but it is justifiable as it usually raises processing costs.