Bearing Arms, Braving Insults

Paul Wilder avidly defends the right to bear arms, and he’s heard all the insults. Crazy, trigger-happy, gun nut -- to name a few.

Standing outside a hotel ball room near LAX on Saturday where 400 gun rights advocates from around the country gathered for the 20th annual Gun Rights Policy Conference, Wilder tried to explain the stigma that he and his fellow devotees of the 2nd Amendment were up against.

“There’s this perception out that we’re all rednecks who want a shootout in the OK Corral, but I’m a schoolteacher, and there are attorneys and doctors and people of all walks of life here,” said Wilder, 44, who also edits books. “We’re just average citizens who want our views heard.”

Attendees at the two-day conference, which is held in a different city in the country each year, ranged from Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Assn., to individual gun owners such as Wilder who were interested in learning about issues for gun owners.

For many of California’s grass-roots firearms activists, the two-day event was a rare chance to hear from leaders of the national movement.

“It’s definitely invigorating,” Wilder said. “It’s tough; we’re kind of fighting in the trenches.”

Apart from trade shows, Wilder said he had never seen so many gun rights people in the same room.

It was a day of lectures, briefings and awards for local gun clubs.

There were tables filled with gun books, pins, mugs, belt buckles and lighters.

Mike Varner, 41, of San Jose summed up the prevailing view: “They say guns are bad; we say guns are tools. With proper training, [a gun] is no different from a knife. It’s a way to protect yourself.”

And though event organizers acknowledged that California seems an odd place for a gun rally given its relatively strict ownership and registration laws, they said their mission includes bringing their message to places where it’s not always welcome.

“It’s important to come to the belly of the beast every once in a while,” said Peggy Tartaro, a board member for the national Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, which co-sponsored the event.