Maryland Arms Collectors Association (Suggestion Box)

Dan (MilSurpDan) posted a thread on here about how MACA was trying to recruit (specifically younger collectors) to their Organization. See their link just in case you're not familiar.

http://www.baltimoreshow.com/about-the-show/about-maryland-arms-collectors/

Original Thread by Dan

https://www.mdshooters.com/showthread.php?t=223066

We both got invited to their Board meeting next weekend to discuss just this issue.

Dan and I talked about this in length last night. As an example: one common issue that keeps coming up is the meeting requirement for membership. Physical presence at their monthly meetings. Younger crowds are not going to want to navigate rush hour traffic on I-70 and I-695 on a Friday night to attend a meeting. Or maybe you have family commitments on Friday evenings. The variables go on.

The meeting requirement also alienates Western Marylanders and Southern Marylanders that could benefit the organization, it is just too far too travel.

Considering the new tech wave that has hit the internet for collectors, in the form of YouTube Videos (Forgotten Weapons and C&Rsenal videos to name a couple). They may want to offer other options for staying involved such as offering a streaming Facebook Live or YouTube Videos as options.


But all in all this really comes down to one thing. It's an organization that is in existence for promoting collecting of firearms in the region.

What would an Collector's Organization need to do to pique your interest as a collector?

Dan and I will read any of your suggestions (if anyone has any) at the meeting. Dan and I both think the organization needs to be modernized if they want an increase in membership (especially the younger crowd). Any concerns, comments or suggestions will be brought up.

This is an excellent opportunity to bring suggestions directly from the Maryland collecting community to their Organization's leadership. So if there's something you think should be changed, included or discarded. Voice your concerns.


Dan will be without internet all week. So If there are any suggestions I'll print them off and bring them in on Friday.


What would attract you as a collector in the DC Metro Area to MACA?

Thanks to Dan, I'm in the process of becoming a member anyways but my biggest suggestion is that they expand their scope to include military firearms in general, including newer and even current ones.
Another suggestion echos one of Dan's. Have regional meetings. Driving all that way after work for a very long meeting really taxes the individual. In my case, I actually have to burn some of my vacation time and leave work early in order to make it to the meeting on time.

The meeting attendance requirement is a deal breaker for me. Do away with that requirement and my interest level goes way up. To wit, from the referenced link:

...it is best that you live within a convenient driving distance from Baltimore.

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Combloc said:

Thanks to Dan, I'm in the process of becoming a member anyways but my biggest suggestion is that they expand their scope to include military firearms in general, including newer and even current ones.
Another suggestion echos one of Dan's. Have regional meetings. Driving all that way after work for a very long meeting really taxes the individual. In my case, I actually have to burn some of my vacation time and leave work early in order to make it to the meeting on time.

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Great suggestion.

Instead of physical meetings monthly. How would you feel about quarterly or even bi-annually?

If you could view meetings via Facebook live or YouTube to stay up to date would that be be a better option since that is a growing trend?

I attended the latest meeting as a guest of Dan, ho was a no-show. I still managed to get in with the assistance of their Sgt-at-Arms. I found the trip from Takoma Park to be reasonable, but then I'm used to commuting to Annapolis & Crownsville for PP/HPRB sessions.

I thought membership requirements were a bit stringent, but their club, their rules. New members have to be in for a year before they can sponsor another member, which will slow any cascade of more new members brought in by the newly-enrolled.

I will say that parking was a bit tight. If membership expands significantly they may need a new venue.

The main presenter for the meeting did not attend - damaged ankle an hour before the meeting. So those who brought stuff for show&tell/sale were asked to give brief presentations on what they brought. All were interesting, and showed a broad range of collecting.

Being as interested in old ethnographic edged weapons as I am in C&R, I was pleased to note that there was support for this area of collecting. (I was pretty sure this would be the case, as there is a lot of that sort of thing at the March Timonium show).

I'm looking forward to becoming a member. Since I'm not one of the younger crowd, I'm not sure how to motivate them. I'd certainly recommend a serious recruiting/membership blitz at the big March show. Moving the meeting venues around a bit might be useful for the southern MD group, but it might undercut and annoy the current membership, which wold be a shame, as they retain a huge amount of information in their old grey heads, not to mention possessing many world-class collections of various arms.

Possibly having two meetings per month, in widely separated venues to draw in those who are geographically challenged, could be considered, or some similar modification. I'd hate to lose any of the old regulars over this, as they are repositories of otherwise unobtainable information. To my mind, being able to draw on their experience is a major reason for becoming a member. They and their knowledge will not be around forever.

I'd encourage anyone with an interest in history to give serious consideration to joining up.

Quarterly is fine but I wouldn't do it less frequently than that. I think every two months would be better. If it is too infrequent, it easily slips the mind. Personally, I would have zero interest in viewing online. I enjoy the opportunity to meet people face to face and the swap meet aspect is very appealing. I took my FG42 and M1D to the crab feed and really enjoyed the kind of feedback you just can't get online. Plus, I'm not on facebook and generally dislike technology. I don't even like participating in forums but it's become pretty much impossible to keep up on the hobby without doing so. I'm sure there are many others out there the same.

Thanks for starting the thread Andrew, and to everyone who’s commented so far for their thoughts.

I’d really like to hear a lot of suggestions or other thoughts about what people think would help. Hopefully we can do a good job and help the future of the club. It’s a really great group and I wish there was a way to get more people on MDShooters interested in it, as well as more people in the entire state.

This is going to sound silly but i honestly just feel like i have zippy to offer and that’s my issue with joining. I’m that younger demographic you’re targeting. The meeting requirements are tough for a new father who’s about to have ANOTHER kid too. My love of MPD equipment and 70s revolvers doesn’t quite fit antiques IMO.

I’m kinda with Combloc though youtube kills the face to face.

mpdc4511 said:

This is going to sound silly but i honestly just feel like i have zippy to offer and that’s my issue with joining. I’m that younger demographic you’re targeting. The meeting requirements are tough for a new father who’s about to have ANOTHER kid too. My love of MPD equipment and 70s revolvers doesn’t quite fit antiques IMO.

I’m kinda with Combloc though youtube kills the face to face.

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Actually your reservations are issues Dan and I were discussing last night and would like to change. Younger guys typically start families as well and their time becomes even more limited (espectially with young kids).

The next being that the imagine they are only interested in antiques which are usually priced out of the younger collectors budget but there are collectible firearms from the 70s and 80s which have a following and shouldn't be neglected.

And it's not about recruiting subject matter experts, more or less trying to get people who love the hobby together to share a common interest.

mpdc4511 said:

This is going to sound silly but i honestly just feel like i have zippy to offer and that’s my issue with joining. I’m that younger demographic you’re targeting. The meeting requirements are tough for a new father who’s about to have ANOTHER kid too. My love of MPD equipment and 70s revolvers doesn’t quite fit antiques IMO.

I’m kinda with Combloc though youtube kills the face to face.

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I'll bet your collection of police gear from out of the past would be of interest to a lot of folks.

Instead of pushing "membership" it might be worthwhile to have outside guests bring in items of interest for discussion. Once they've experienced the milieu they might be more interested in becoming a member. Also perhaps contingent membership for folks who cannot regularly attend would serve to maintain interest in the organisation, and may eventually lead to full membership.

Make it simpler. Make it more open, and inclusive of varied areas of interest.

Like many, I detest social media. If MDS wasn't so antisocial I wouldn't hang out here. (I'm not terribly social anyway, but the MACA folks have a lot to offer, so I appreciate face-to-face.)

Being 28 I imagine I'd help the average age but I have a 8 month old so it's not possible to commit to monthly meetings. I'd love to join but I feel like I don't have anything to really offer. I'd literally be going to listen and learn as much as I can from anyone that would be willing to teach me. Also I don't have a lot of spare cash for gun money.

fd0816 said:

Being 28 I imagine I'd help the average age but I have a 8 month old so it's not possible to commit to monthly meetings. I'd love to join but I feel like I don't have anything to really offer. I'd literally be going to listen and learn as much as I can from anyone that would be willing to teach me. Also I don't have a lot of spare cash for gun money.

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I wouldn’t feel bad about not having anything to offer. One of the big parts about the club is the desire to educate people about history. There are a wide range of members who are experts on different topics who love to teach those who know nothing about the stuff. You don’t need to have a ton of old uniforms, flags or guns from a certain era to be a member.

They would love to have you come along and listen to what they have to show or talk about.

MilsurpDan said:

I wouldn’t feel bad about not having anything to offer. One of the big parts about the club is the desire to educate people about history. There are a wide range of members who are experts on different topics who love to teach those who know nothing about the stuff. You don’t need to have a ton of old uniforms, flags or guns from a certain era to be a member.

They would love to have you come along and listen to what they have to show or talk about.

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Dan do you have a link/calender to meeting dates/times? Tuesday i do pick up a piece of history but it’s way more modern

I am right there with FD0816 and MPDC. The 1 and 3 year olds along with a rotating shift work schedule would make mandatory meetings impossible. I am also in SOMD so the ride would be a no go for slipping out for a few hours to a group meeting.
I do love watching forgotten weapons and I would definitely finds time here and there to watch some videos of presentations if your club posted them.

Maybe 2 levels of membership. 1 level that requires meeting attendance and maybe a limited membership where people could attend and participate when they could.

SmokeEaterPilot said:

Actually your reservations are issues Dan and I were discussing last night and would like to change. Younger guys typically start families as well and their time becomes even more limited (espectially with young kids).

The next being that the imagine they are only interested in antiques which are usually priced out of the younger collectors budget but there are collectible firearms from the 70s and 80s which have a following and shouldn't be neglected.

And it's not about recruiting subject matter experts, more or less trying to get people who love the hobby together to share a common interest.

Click to expand...

mpdc4511 said:

Dan do you have a link/calender to meeting dates/times? Tuesday i do pick up a piece of history but it’s way more modern

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I think its all about content. I'm 42 and don't have much interest in pre 1898 firearms, but if Matt was going to show off some MPD firearms from the 70's and 80's, I'd show up to check them out. To me thats an antique.

I think with most clubs they need to change with the times. Simply changing the date range of the arms allowed to be part of this club may help. I could sit and listen to someone for an hour talking about M1 Garands, but the way I read the web site they were produced about 35 years to late.

mpdc4511 said:

Dan do you have a link/calender to meeting dates/times? Tuesday i do pick up a piece of history but it’s way more modern

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I don’t necessarily have a calendar for meeting dates right now, but the meetings take place on the second Friday of every month at 8:00 at the Knights of Columbus hall in Catonsville. Most members show up at 7:00 and talk and show stuff off.

One of the things that I’d like the club to change is the start of the meetings to an earlier time. 8:00 is too late for young people like me to sit around on a Friday evening.

Yeah a little earlier in the evening would be nice but then you run into rush hour. On a personal note I would like my collection to be more gear towards the C&R realm because I love the history. However, with todays political climate I feel like I should be buying more modern firearms incase one day they are banned.

fd0816 said:

Being 28 I imagine I'd help the average age but I have a 8 month old so it's not possible to commit to monthly meetings. I'd love to join but I feel like I don't have anything to really offer. I'd literally be going to listen and learn as much as I can from anyone that would be willing to teach me. Also I don't have a lot of spare cash for gun money.

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If it helps any, I am 35 and have a 10, 8 and 6yr old and no way I’d have the time for monthly meetings. I could probably commit to make 3-4 meetings a year if they were held monthly. But my schedule is always so chaotic I can’t necessarily set aside any particular time slot on any particular day. Friday’s are also generally the worst for me.

My personally interest is C&R in general. Old-ish, curio or relic is what interest me. Sure, I love some modern firearms too, but I changed over my collecting a little while ago. As someone mentioned I felt a bit more compelled to grab more modern firearms before I might not be able to. But my older guns have way more character and interest.

Their Club, their Rules, their Institutional Culture .

A tight focus is cool ( as I read it , handguns must be pre-1898 , but rifles and sporting shotguns merely "collectable" , is that right ? ) .

It's cool to maintain traditions of small tightly knit , Baltimore area collectors, with the rules established to slow down an influx of newcomers/ outsiders .

But if they actually want to expand , at minimum the second part needs to change .

Rseymorejr hit on a big one - Multiple classes of membership . Make the current requirements Regular Members . New class for Assocate Members . Able to attend meetings and events, but not mandatory . No voting rights or holding office . Open for debate if/ when Associate could sponsor new members .


Just the above would get them a significant boost in membership . Additionally , rotating venues would attract more members . Keep most of the regular meetings and executive meetings in Balt , but one a year each in SoMd, Western Md, and Eastern Shore .

As for the other Elephant in the room , I totally get that they want to set themselves as distinct from run of the mill gun shows/ gun clubs . But let's look at their founding in context .

In 1947 , a cutoff date of 1898 was only 47 years back . I can see a rolling date of 50yrs ( aka C&R ) would be a huge change from the current parameters , but a strong argument could be made for a 1945 cutoff .