As noted on another post, Rod, with his lovely wife & I, along with my lovely wife will be attending the Sean Hannity Freedom Concert in Phoenix on 9 August. Rod will be driving to Phoenix on Saturday the 8th. We will be having dinner together that evening.

This will be The Gun Counter Open Carry Dinner. The location: Golden Corral Buffet & Grill, 7609 W. Thomas, Phoenix, AZ. The date/time is: 8 August, 2009 at 6 PM. The object: Public Open Display of legally owned and carried firearms. You are cordially invited to join us for dinner and to tastefully and legally display your "bar-b-que" rig.

I spoke with the manager, Mr Jeff Chapman, this morning and he is quite happy to provide the location for this dinner.

From I-10 and 75th Ave, travel North to Thomas, turn left on Thomas. Golden Corral will be on your left. The shopping center has seen much better days and is locally known as "The Hood Mall". That is not a complimentary nickname, it reflects the character. The character is not your friendly local neighborhood mall. Open Carry or Concealed Carry are both appropriate in this area. The Golden Corral is set apart from the mall and does not reflect the character of the mall.

Sounds like the PERFECT place to do this then. Let the "hoodies" know not all of us are victims. Good job Rumpshot, you get the no-prize for your work. I'll have it at the dinner. Rudy and I will be there, now which gun? Decisions, decisions....

Well, to be fair to the mall that you speak of, the whole area that the mall is located in is a dump...and has been for some time. I'm guessing this is just a little bit west of Maryvale...it's been some time since I've been over there...for obvious reasons. I'll be there for the meet, but I wouldn't go to that neighborhood unarmed ever!

I think the Merwin-Hulbert would be the obvious choice...

Chris and I will be there, plus the 2 kiddos.

Myrrh and I will be there.

Invitation has been dispatched to Mr. Alan Korwin to join us.

Food, friends, firearms and Phoenix?
Dang it!

Virginia and I will be in Oregon visiting relatives that week-end.
Oh, well, all the more reason to make Rumpshot's Revenge this year.

I have it scheduled--But as usual obstacles keep getting in the way--
Boss (Wifie) has Doctors appt. in Flagstaff that week , and she was called for Jury duty in Yuma for the same time. I am gonna try and sneak away for some shopping that weekend.Then this morning I get an E mail from one of our closest friends that his heart surgery has been cancelled due to other complications that he has, and now a new round of procedures and tests are scheduled to extend for the next several weeks---He has no family and I am named "next of kin" --- so I may be back and forth to San Diego for a few weeks. I guess the airplane may get a work-out.

Given the character of the mall and the fact that it's Arizona there can only be one answer: All Of Them!

Given the date and time I should be able to make it. See you all there.

Week and a half to go.

Vote at the top so I can get some idea how many will show up. I will call mid-afternoon to remind the Manager we are coming.

If ya got a NoR shirt, wear it. I would be nice to see how many of them are around.

Just posted a note on the Arizona Shooting site too.

I've decided, the Automag open carry, the Springfield 1911 stainless concealed carry. Trying to convince the wife to carry her Bersa, I think she's going to now.

I saw the open carry dinner on Page nine. Good idea. It will be nice to meet you all.

Dirty Mike

Dirty Mike. welcome to the Gun Counter. Welcome to the OC Dinner too. Hope you get to make lots of new friends. We are just like your old friends, only we are "different." We are special, in a disfunctional way.

ETA: Browse around the forum a bit. Introduce yourself and check us out.

Have to talk to the GF, see what see says. Would like to come up for the dinner.

I'll be there, Rumpshot.

That's a hell of a drive for me, so I won't be there other than in spirit.

Have a good time.

A couple of days to go. I think I can count about 2 dozen folks that will admit they plan to attend. I know a few others that i have invited. Should be a good turnout.

If I can find mine, I will be wearing my NoR Shirt. I have two houses to turn upside down and need to remember to do so at home on Friday night.



By the way, they are back in stock. You can find them at www.thoseshirts.com. I suspect that Kim will continue to recieve a small stipend from each shirt. If you don't have one, go hither and acquire at least one. Last year at RRIII, there were three versions of the shirt worn to dinner.

Mike, it doesn't look like thunderstorms are in the forecast for Saturday night. On the other hand it is supposed to be cooler. Only looking at about 103 for the high on Sat and Sun.

Looks like I have a +1 coming with me, Dana.

Got a minor hiccup going.

Wife's sister lost her only son last night/this morning in a car accident. Wife will be home from babysitting grandsons in Kalifornia this evening. Will go home, pack and she will fly off to N. Dakota tomorrow evening.

I will be in attendance at the OC Dinner. Solo. I also have 2 tickets to the Sean Hannity Freedom Tour Concert in Phoenix on Sunday. First dibs on the second ticket go to the Son-in-Law. Will know tomorrow evening if he will take advantage of it. (He will be attending the San Diego performance tonite.) Will make an announcement at the OC Dinner concerning same.

I just found out that I have to cover at work until 5pm for someone who lost a family member...weird coincidence. Anyway, I'll be there nevertheless...I'll just change clothes at work and I'll already be half-way there! Sorry, but no NOR shirt for me...remind self to order a couple...

Got home about an hour ago. My tummy hurts, I ate too much.

About 36-38 people showed up. The Gun Counter Forum was well represented, as was Arizona Shooting. There was a couple with their daughter that read neither forums, but learned of the gathering from Alan Korwin's posting. Some folks that I specifically invited by personal email too. Lots of interaction amongst all guests.

I had a great time and I think most everyone else did too.

I did get asked by a member of the staff if we were police officers. I told him no, we were exercising our rights as citizens to legally carry in public.

We need to do this more often.

Kevin of The Smallest Minority also has a blurb about the event.

saw the invite over on AZS and want to say thank you . my wife and i had a good time and met a few more good like minded people and had some good food ( too much, i'm still full ).

I enjoyed the dinner and the great company. It's always fun meeting new friends. Thanks for setting it up Rumpshot.

Agreed. It was nice to meet some of the fine folks who post here. And a special thank you goes to Rumpshot who ran point on this whole thing! Kudos!

The wife and I enjoyed the dinner last night. Had a good time.

Thank you for setting it up.

Enjoyed the people I met and listening to the ones I didn't meet.

Dirty Mike

Just curious, what was his (and the restaurant's) response after you told him why you were all there? Has anyone been back to see if they put up any signs because either customers or the staff were frightened?

It was an enjoyable visit --I am glad that I was able to attend !!

I had spoken with the manager a couple weeks ago to make sure it was okay. This restaurant has been the location for OC dinners before and is scheduled for another next Saturday.

The employee was more curious than anything. Some of the clientele on the other hand may have had some concerns, but they were not frightened. More likely they were guilty of some sort of legal infraction and concerned that they should have been somewhere else that night.

as was said on the smallest minority:

i don't want to step on any toes but..............................

there is another one this sat. the 15th at the same location ( 75th & thomas ) 7:30 pm. it's sponsored by another forum but everybody is welcome.

we need to support any 2A event we can, so come one come all. lets get together and show them our bill of rights still means something to us.

No toe stepping involved. We should all promote open carry as much as possible.

Alas, I won't be making this one. Kind of long drive from El Paso. Thanks again to the azs folks who showed up, thanks to the guncounter folks who showed up, and thanks to the folks who weren't part of either group who showed up. I really enjoyed myself.