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The place to be in Detroit Monday night was The Upper Room Christian Entertainment Complex<\/a> on Grand River Avenue where the Legally Armed in Detroit<\/a> (LAID) 2nd Annual Open Carry Dinner was in full swing.<\/p>\n The dinner was organized by Detroit’s own Rick Ector<\/a>\u00a0who, in addition to being the owner of\u00a0Rick’s Firearm Academy of Detroit, is one of the most tireless advocates for gun rights it has ever been my privilege to know.<\/p>\n But despite what must have been an exhausting weekend, Rick was the life of the party Monday night as he welcomed everyone at the LAID Open Carry Dinner. \u00a0The dinner featured speeches by three nationwide gun rights figures. \u00a0I was honored to have been asked to speak about open carry and was absolutely thrilled to get to meet in person the many members of OpenCarry.org<\/a> who I have known online for so long.<\/p>\n Erich Pratt, director of communications\u00a0for\u00a0Gun Owners of America<\/a>\u00a0also spoke about the current status of the Second Amendment and their much-appreciated efforts on behalf of gun owners nationwide.<\/p>\n He even worked a little song into his speech which dovetailed nicely with the very talented band that provided the night’s musical entertainment.<\/p>\n Phillip Hofmeister, president of Michigan Open Carry<\/a>\u00a0(MOC) was also in attendance as were many of the officers and members. \u00a0He spoke about MOC’s goal to get rid of many of Michigan’s pistol free zones. \u00a0This idea was warmly received by those in attendance and I have no doubt that we will see this goal accomplished in the near future.<\/p>\n I want to thank everyone who came out. \u00a0It was such an honor and a privilege to meet so many of Michigan’s most dedicated gun rights advocates.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The place to be in Detroit Monday night was The Upper Room Christian Entertainment Complex on Grand River Avenue where the Legally Armed in Detroit (LAID) 2nd Annual Open Carry Dinner was in full swing. The dinner was organized by … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/monachuslex.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/Women_Aware.jpeg\" "\\"Women_Aware\\"")
<\/a>In addition to hosting the LAID Dinner Monday night, he spent the weekend advocating personal protection awareness for the citizens of Detroit. \u00a0On Saturday, he\u00a0conducted a day of free seminars for the local community on a variety of self-defense subjects and on Sunday, Rick, in conjunction with\u00a0Target Sports II Gun Range<\/a>, The Black Hills Ammunition Company<\/a>, Gun Owners of America<\/a>, and numerous personal donors, conducted a free women-only firearms training course.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/ws.assoc-amazon.com\/widgets\/q?_encoding=UTF8&ASIN=156167656X&Format=_SL160_&ID=AsinImage&MarketPlace=US&ServiceVersion=20070822&WS=1&tag=opencaorg09-20\")
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<\/a>Ed Levine from Virginia Open Carry<\/a> also made the long trek from Northern Virginia to Detroit to join the festivities. \u00a0He deserves special thanks for being the one who handed out the VCDL<\/a> Guns Save Lives stickers to the attendees.<\/p>\n