NRA Annual Meetings Seminar Preview: “Guns Of Pearl Harbor” and “Sniping In Vietnam”

At the 145th NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits in Louisville, Ky. (May 20-22, 2016), American Rifleman will host four special presentations, including one in honor of the 75th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor—”a day which will live in infamy”—Dec. 7, 1941. At “The Guns of Pearl Harbor,” historian Martin K.A. Morgan, who has written extensively about the fighting in the Pacific and has visited battlefields from Pearl Harbor to Iwo Jima, will be the featured speaker. Morgan, an author and American Rifleman TV field editor, will also conduct two other special presentations—“The Spirit of John Garand” will cover the rifle invented by John Cantius Garand, its import and its legacy; and ”Bad Reputation,” which will look at how awful ”bad” guns—including the Chauchat, the early M16 and the Boys anti-tank rifle—really were in context. 

Another American Rifleman special presentation, “Sniping in Vietnam,” will be conducted by Maj. John L. Plaster, U.S. Army, (Ret.). The author of The Ultimate Sniper and The History of Sniping & Sharpshooting, Maj. Plaster is one of the leading authorities and historians on sniping, as well as a frequent contributor to these pages. But before he became a sniper—and a sniping historian—he was a decorated and wounded U.S. Army Special Forces sergeant and a team leader in the Military Assistance Command Studies and Observations Group (SOG) in Vietnam. 

Major Plaster and Morgan are phenomenal speakers, and their sessions should have top billing on your calendar in Louisville. Times and room numbers had not been assigned at press time, so check this site and nraam.org as the dates approach for new information. The presentations are free to NRA members, and should last about two hours. You might want to get there early to get a good seat.