OK, the NFOA Board of Directors would like to get everyone's thoughts about possibly planning some sort of NFOA event for later this year. I think we are large enough now that we could organize an event and have a big enough turn out to make it worthwhile, and at the same time, the event itself would be a tool to get our name out there and to recruit new members.
Before we go too far with this, though, we would like to get some sort of gauge of your interest in participating in something like this as members. This is not an official vote with the winning vote mandating what, if anything, we would do, but just an informal poll to use as a barometer for interest level, and a way to get people talking about it, and maybe with a little luck volunteering to help.
There are a couple of ways to go here. First off, there is the possibility of doing some sort of community project, like maybe an open carry clean up somewhere, or maybe volunteer for a habitat for humanity build, or really just about anything along those types of lines. This would serve two purposes: 1) It would help remind Joe Schmoe that the shootings they see every night on tv are done by criminals, not gun owners. The number of law abiding, good deed doing, upstanding citizens that lawfully own firearms dwarfs the number of street thug criminals they see on tv, but they never hear from us. 2) We could get some media coverage, which is always a good thing. It would get our name out there, and give us some recognition. This would help us gain members, as well as giving us some familiarity for down the road to the antis when we speak up on a subject. Actually a third benefit of this is just the mere fact that it would give us a chance to do something good, and that is always a good feeling, with or without any recognition.
Another possibility is just putting together a social event for NFOA members, be it a banquet or a picnic, or a fun shoot, or whatever. The purpose of this would be to build some relationships and some unity within our membership to help get people involved in the organization, and to keep them interested. How much more fun is it to post on a forum board when you know some of the other posters? Also, it would keep people buzzing and get them to talk to their friends, co workers, etc, which would boost our membership. Lastly, it would be a good way to maybe raise some donations.
So what say you? Is there any genuine interest in any of this, or would putting together an event of some kind require more time and effort than it would be worth?
