GOAL’s “Freedom Will Prevail” 2010 Summer Banquet.

Saturday June 19^th was a typical hot, humid, and sunny late Spring New England day, and as the daylight drew to an end, the banquet room at the Boxborough Holiday Inn started filling.  Guests arrived from as far away as Hawaii, and were thrilled to see all of the great GOAL Gear, raffle prizes, and auction items up for grabs.  They came for many reasons, some for the camaraderie, some for the chance to bid on a great firearm like a CMP Rack Grade M1 Garand, and some came to hear the oration of our distinguished list of speakers which included GOAL’s own Executive Director Jim Wallace, MA. State Senator Richard Moore, MA Representative and candidate for U.S. Congress in the 10^th District Jeff Perry, Sr. VP and General Counsel of the NSSF Larry Keane, SAF’s Executive VP Alan Gottlieb, New England Patriot Matt Light, and last but certainly not least NRA Past President (2005-2007) Sandra Froman. 

It was great seeing old friendships renewed and new ones made, as people mingled, checked out the prize items, and snacked on hors d’ oeuvres.  Soon dinner arrived and everyone settled down to a good meal, followed quickly by a stirring tribute to our Veterans, and our guest speakers. 

Jim Wallace began the evening discussing freedom, and juxtaposing current issues with Lincoln’s famous Gettysburg address and continuing on to discuss Deval Patrick’s “One Gun a Month” Bill, “The Governor’s solution to inner city crime is putting us in jail for legally buying more than 1 gun in a 30 day period, and so far we’ve stopped that”.   

Matt Light of the New England Patriots followed Jim and gave a brief, eloquent, and passionate speech about his own “The Light Foundation” which strives to work with kids and teach basic values like personal responsibility, accountability, and hard work, all provided in an outdoor environment.  Matt was also presented with a lifetime GOAL Membership as a thank you for all of his hard work with and for our youth. 

GOAL A+ rated Worcester and Norfolk County State Senator Richard Moore spoke next, discussing his long history with GOAL and Mike Yacino.  Senator Moore went on to call Deval Patrick’s “One Gun a Month” bill “outrageous, and not something that should be before the legislature”.  He continued on asking that all GOAL members help him defeat the bill by writing their Senators and Representatives in opposition to the bill. 

GOAL A+ rated MA Representative and Candidate for 10^th District U.S. Congress, Jeff Perry followed giving a stirring talk about H.4102, Second Amendment issues, and fixing a “broken government”.  He immediately stirred the crowd discussing the behind the scenes events occurring with the committee vote on H.4102 and the way the vote was “fixed” calling it a “dishonest political process”, and continued to ask GOAL members to continue support for GOAL, and for Jim’s great work at the State House, often alone and outnumbered, but never wavering and always on the right side of the issue. 

The NSSF’s Larry Keane followed discussing the national disbelief and outrage about our current proposed legislation, and promising to be in the trenches, helping us prevent H.4102 from becoming law.  He was closely followed by Second Amendment Foundation’s Alan Gottlieb, who discussed the U.N. Arms treaty discussions that he had just attended, and many national Second Amendment topics including the pending McDonald v. Chicago Supreme Court case, and how it will lay a foundation for legal battles to come. 

Our keynote speaker concluded the evenings oration, NRA Past President Sandra Froman discussed her personal journey from growing up in the suburbs of San Francisco, to the President of the NRA.  Sandra discussed many topics including the strength of our organization and the recognition that we have nationally, calling our members the “back bone of what happens in the Second Amendment rights movement”.  She continued, discussing how disarming law abiding Americans would be a disaster,  drawing parallels from the Western Movies of the 50s and 60s, saying “could you imagine what would have happened in one of those little western towns if all of the good guys would have been forced to turn in their guns”?   She continued asking us to “hold the line” on the restrictions of our freedoms, charging us with the responsibility of ensuring that those freedoms continue to be protected for generations to come.  After her talk Jim presented Sandy with a beautiful American Flag embroidered GOAL jacket as a thank you, she immediately tried it on, and showed her Arizona resident roots, as she left in on, claiming to be cold from the air conditioning! 

All in all a great evening was had by all.  GOAL would like to thank all of our members, guests, speakers, and volunteers, especially Russ Doucette and his Junior Team.  We are looking forward to next year!

Check out our GOALVideo Page for video of the speeches and more!

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