Record size meeting?

Update: Charlotte reporting 80,000 visitors


The NRA Blog shows how fast the tent comes down, and mentions 70,000 attendees, I'm sure an official number will be released later. We didn't attend on Sunday, but if it was anything like Saturday it may well have broken a record.

The NRA Meeting is more than Charlotte can handle, the Banquet was canceled as they could not find anyone that could handle the number of people that signed up.

By Sunday morning the local news outlets were reporting we had dropped about 25 million dollars into the local economy, which would be about $357 per person.

But even with the spending power we brought to the city, we didn't seem as welcome as we did in Phoenix or Louisville.

Checking into the Motel, the desk clerk told me she hoped I had left my "Six Shooters" at home, the Charlotte Observer mentioned in an editorial that they hoped we didn't shoot them, and the "No Gun" signs were displayed at the entrance to the convention center, and even my mini Swiss army knife had to be checked on Friday at the Time Warner arena.

Charlotte at least downtown is a lovely city, a nice mix of old and new, but not somewhere I'm likely to return.

I also understand the difficultly for the NRA to find places that can accommodate the sheer size of our meetings, but in the future I'll not attend unless the host city will welcome my right to carry, as well as my money