@mojo

We staying in Capitol H.I. too.  Maybe we can all hook up.

And bump.

Probably already mentioned, but why not ask Brownells to promote this through their email marketing lists?

Midway USA?

Other firearms distributors?

If you are not wanting to rent a car (recommended), you definitely want to fly into Reagan. There is a metro stop right there at the airport.

Dulles and BWI are ~an hour drive away.

...

My truck will be 10 years old in January... I have less than 34K miles on it. My point being, it is very easy to get around, see the sites, find places to eat, etc. without having to figure out parking and driving in DC.

I can't check into my hotel till 3 p.m. so I'll be driving in at some point on Friday.

Is there a preferred time or route to minimize my urge to purge?

Holiday Inn Capitol.

Which direction are you driving in from? Unfortunately, they will pretty much all suck.

Google maps shows this...

Take I-71 N, I-70 E, I-79 S, I-68 E, ... and I-270 S to D St SW in Washington. Take the 12th St exit from I-395 N

All things considered, I-270 is often better than coming in on 66 traffic wise. So that's a good thing.

Once you're actually in the city, driving is a pain no matter what. There's no avoiding that. When you get to the hotel, I'd definitely use their parking garage, even if it is pricey, street parking sucks.

Alternately, you could avoid driving in DC altogether, take 270 to the beltway and then 66 into Arlington and park somewhere in a public garage in Ballston - Rosslyn and then just metro to your hotel and get your car when you are ready to leave. (Many of them have multi-day parking pass options).

I will definitely use the hotel parking. Already figured on that.

I never like to be too far from my own wheels if at all possible. Old habits and all.  

I was kinda hoping that if I come in around 2:30 or so, most traffic will be trying to gtfo so maybe it won't be so bad going my way.

Outstanding! Really looking forward to hearing Jeff Knox.

His Dad is my Avatar.

Definitely doable if I can avoid the worst of the traffic by doing so.

When I was in town back in 2008, the shuttle from BWI (Super Shuttle, iirc) was like $30-$40, and the ride took an hour.

I'm not sure if Uber and the like have had any effect on the price in the intervening years.

Thanks, Mojo!

Morning crew bump!

Make sure you come out and join us!

anybody have a connection to

Gun Talk radio

Armed American Radio....

Gun celebs with big followings

You need to hit media distribution sources if you really want to get the word out.

I just had my first kid so no way I'll be allowed to go this time around unfortunately. Any other way we can support?

What are the plans for dealing with Antifa types who will surely attempt to derail the rally and shut it down?

No need to give details in public, just someone say there's a plan.

psssst.

I'll let you in on a little secret.

for many of these folks, if the NRA doesn't give it their blessing, they aren't interested.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled program.

What the most important things to know about knife laws in DC?

Taking the train in from Boston Friday night for a 6:30 arrival Saturday, heading back that night.

Have you been to DC before? I have not but am also taking a train and arriving at 7am. Trying to decide what to do that morning before the rally starts. I’m leaning towards a visit to Arlington National Cemetery.

The Air and Space Museum, Natural History Museum, and The Archives, I highly recommend as well,  and they are all within walking distance of the rally location.

Short version: no auto-knives.

And keep the blade shorter than 3 inches.

Thank you.

Booked my flight. I’m flying to Charlotte, NC Friday, grabbing a hotel, my best friend is driving from Columbia to meet up. We’ll drive up to Virginia in the morning and catch the metro into town.

I've been a little busy with other things, but took a few minutes to scroll through this thread tonight.  Really pumped to see the enthusiasm.
A few things.
DC gun laws suck, and the cops are unforgiving. Please don't be a martyr.
Safety: I've been to many rallies and events at the Capitol and on the Mall.  I've never seen anything that made me feel unsafe.  They do have scanners and bag inspections at the museums.
I don't expect any serious counter-protest, but we do have capable people in place to help facilitate the Capitol Police doing their job.  Please Do Not Engage with anyone name-calling or trying to disrupt. Let the Capitol Police handle it. We're there for our rally, not theirs.
Suggestions about getting this person or that group involved: We've been doing a lot of outreach and we have a lot of folks on-board.  Tom Gresham has talked about the rally several times, as has Mark Walters, Hickock45 and his son are planning to be there, along with Eric - IV8888, and a bunch of others, but Don't leave this up to us.  A theme of this rally is "You are the Gun Lobby," and this is Your Rally.  Take ownership.  No, you can't pick the speaker list, but you can contact ANYONE that you think should be there or supporting the rally, and encourage them to get involved.  Our speaker roster is full, but we'll acknowledge prominent folks and supportive politicians.  If we've missed any of these folks, it's just because we're overloaded, but they all know how to reach me or Rob Pincus, and we'd be happy to talk with them.
I guess I don't get around here often enough, so this will have to be continued in a second post.
Jeff

Continued from previous...

Transportation and hotels: DC traffic Sucks, but the Metro is your friend.  I encourage folks to get a hotel in Virginia and take the Metro into DC.  There are also campgrounds nearby.  Bull Run Park has camping and a trap and skeet range, and is just a couple of miles from a Metro station.

We've just made a deal with a hotel near Dulles Airport: $89 a night, breakfast included, and free shuttles to and from Dulles and a nearby Metro station. Details on that are going to be emailed out to the people who are registered at 2ndAmendmentRally.com first, so if you're interested, get registered there right away. (Make reservations elsewhere and change them if you get in on this deal.)

Please continue posting, tweeting, and Instagramming (?) about the rally.  The critics and naysayers are starting to work overtime trying to undermine this event.  Having posts and comments from strong Second Amendment supporters who are committed to this rally, is a huge help.  I have a column that addresses some of the issues posted at FirearmsCoalition.org

I want to thank GoatBoy for his hard work, and I seriously want to shake the hand of every single one of you in DC on the 2nd.  You are the Gun Lobby, and you make me proud to work for you.


Jeff

Morning bump for others to read Jeff's posts

Let’s keep it up there !

Just bumping and throwing out the reminder, if anyone wants basic local advice, tips on transportation, questions about where to eat, etc. Please feel free to shoot me an email or IM.

I am very happy to provide any info I can on the DC area in general!

Driving in from the West (Hwy 66 from Roanoke area) Saturday morning, parking garage at 1730 Pennsylvania ave for the Rally then driving out East (to Atlantic City) after the Rally.

Any route suggestions other than the obvious big roads/loops? Any idea of the driving times through the various routes in DC on Saturdays?
@beitodesstrafe

-Coming from Roanoke... your best bet is going to be the whole way on I-81 to I-66. It sucks (especially 81 north of Staunton and 66 when you get near Chantilly), but it is still your best bet. (That's the route I take coming home whenever I go to see my parents.)

You CAN get on 64 at Staunton and take US29 up and avoid most of 81 and 66... but you'll have stop lights through the towns and it generally isn't worth it.

***

-As for your parking plans: If it were me, I'd actually recommend parking somewhere in Virginia and metro-ing in to the city proper. That will save you from dealing with the DC local traffic, and it'll likely be cheaper (parking in VA is generally cheaper than DC... not always but generally).

If you are coming in on 66, you can park at the Dunn-Loring metro stop (it sits right where 66 and the beltway cross). That way, you can metro to and from DC... and when you get back to your car, you can hope right on the Beltway going North to get to Atlantic City. (Alternately, parking near Falls Church /Arlington metro stops would work too).

Your plan will work just fine. I personally just really don't like driving in DC.

***

-Getting to Atlantic City:

Your fastest route, unfortunately, will be I-95 around Baltimore and up towards Wilmington.

If you want a little more scenic route (and one that isn't I-95). Taking 50 from DC up through Annapolis and over Kent Island is an option and driving over the Bay Bridge is always... interesting.

Either way... if you don't have an EZpass in your car, make sure you have cash for tolls.

Regardless of which of those routes you take, you'll end up in Wilmington... from there I-295 to Philly and route 73 to Atlantic city will be your fastest route. BUT, you can take route 40 instead if you are tired of interstates. It'll be a slightly slower, but quieter drive.

***

Hope this helps!

Thank you.
The parking garage is $10

We will probably take your advice on the scenic route to Atlantic City.

Again, thank you for the help!

Traffic is hardly ever good.

But the worst traffic is M-F 6-9 am (heading towards the city) and 4-6 pm (away from the city).

Weekends are generally better than weekdays (unless it is a holiday or something). Later at night generally isn't bad.

@mojo

where is your hotel?

As far as what I would consider walking distance from the rally, there are a lot of restaurants located between 6th street and 10th street, North of the mall.

...

Here's a few random guides, lol:

I'm going to put a list of my favorite / Coolest restaurants here... I'll add to it as I think of places:

***

14th street / Logan Circle Area: <- in my opinion, the best range of selection at decent prices

Le Diplomate - French (get the Pâté!)
Black Whiskey - Whiskey Bar
ChurchKey - Great for late night snacking
Slipstream - good cafe
B Too - If you like Mussels
The Pig - Pork based restaurant.

P/9th Street Area:

Chaplin's - Quirky, great dumplings, great cocktails
Zeppelin - Same owners as Chaplin's, also good for late night food and cocktails

Dupont Area:

Sushi Taro - Michelin Star Level Japanese

Gallery Place / Metro Center Area: <- this is the "walkable" area from the rally... it's a bit more touristy, but still very good!

Clydes - Heartier American Food... they also do oyster happy hour after 10pm. (Awesome)
Del Frisco's - Steak!
Momofuku / Milk Bar - Modern Asian and stupid good desserts
Oyamel - High end Mexican
Penn Social - Fun bar

Wharf Area <- this area was just redone, so the places here are just about the newest in the city

Whiskey Charlie - beautiful roof top
Del Mar de Fabio Trabocchi - amzing seafood and paella - but $$$$ (I had a light dinner with there with my best friend last week and spent $250 bucks... sooo... but it is good).
Kaliwa - weird take on Asian fusion
(really everything on the wharf is good)

Georgetown <- everything here is expensive

Fiola Mare - Another highend seafood place
Filomena - OLDSCHOOL DC Italian place

White House Area

Old Ebbitt - Another classic DC place. Also does oyster specials some nights
POV - Rooftop bar on top of the W... the absolutely best view in DC hands down

If there are people staying in Arlington, let me know and I can put together another list.

Cool, you've got a straight shot on the metro too from L'enfant to Gallery Place. Definitely take advantage of that.

This is an oversimplification... overall DC is very safe.

But if you want to know, generally the areas to avoid... here you go: (Notice these areas aren't really near anything important. )

I am

@Godzilla705

What hotel? I can give you more specific advice that way. But I'll go ahead and start working on a general list for everybody.

For those staying on the Arlington Orange line (near metro stops: Ballston, VA Square, Clarendon, Court House, Rosslyn):

Firstly, congrats and welcome to the best neighborhood in the world!

(I'm not listing big chains here, Buffalo Wild Wings, Cheesecake factory etc. Don't go to those palces. )

Ballston - More of "Neighborhood" feel

First Down - My favorite dive bar, cheapest drinks in the area, spectacular wings and burgers

Hunan Gate - best Chinese food in the area, make sure you get the CHinese Menu though, NOT the generic American menu

Ballston Quarter - a "mall food court", but not really... "Hot Lola's" makes incredible spicy (for real) chicken sandwhiches, the pizza is good too!

Ruz Uz - Uzbekistani food. Not something you often see... they also have house made infused vodkas [yum]

Uncle Julios - Commercial Tex-Mex... but a great resturuant if you want big portions or have kids.

The Bronson - Bierhall and German Food.

Ted's Bulletin - "diner style" food and milkshakes with booze in them!

Mala Tang - Hot Pot!
...

VA Square

BurgerIM - Funky new sliders place

Thai Treasure - Get the pork belly
...


Clarendon - "the party strip" (places tend to stay open later and get a bit more rowdy than the other areas)

Gyu-Kaku - yakiniku style bbq, I highly recommend it

Bar Bao - fun Tapas, also a great brunch place

Spider Kelly's - Classic Arlington location... decent food, good place for groups and the have games

Clarendon Ballroom - Another oldschool location, they have dancing on saturday night and a nice roof top

Don Tito - kind of a "bro/thot" hang out... but who knows, that might be your thing

Pamplona - good brunch

Lyon Hall - Good late night food location

Board Room - Rent board games! Play board games! Get Drunk!

Wilson Hardware - another great bar and brunch place

Ambar - Spectacular Balkan food

Whitlow's - possibly the oldest bar in the world (not really, but it's been around forever)
...

Courthouse - there isn't much here, lol
...


Rosslyn - this is a good place to stay, easy to walk into DC (Georgetown) or quickly metro to the mall, not much of a "night life" but there's a couple decent places. It just gets quiet here at night though, most everyone her goes to Clarendon or into DC.

Distrit Taco - simple local taco chain

Barely Mac - American food

***

Other places of note, but you gotta drive there! WTF

7-Corners, Specifically Eden Center... a concentration of Vietnamese Shops and Restaurants, if you like Banh Mi's, this is the place to go

Other places near by that are great:

Ba Le - another good Banh Mi and Pho place

New Orleans Cajun Seafood... it doesn't look like much, but if you want crab, crawfish (not really the season right now), shellfish, etc. it's the place to go.

XO Taste Cantonese (Hong Kong) style dishes

Mark's Duck house - another very good Cantonese place

Annandale... essentially our "Korea Town", Honey Pig, Kogiya, Oegadgib, Annangol are the highlight resturuants