If you take all of the guns and gun events out of California, you give our antis exactly want they want. We need to consistently rub guns and gun owners in their faces, so they see us as something that won't disappear. Events like this reinforce the idea that gunnys are just people and not dangerous. It also is a fantastic opportunity to recruit new shooters and with rimfire, we can especially work on new women shooters. Once we get enough women to shoot, the antis will have a smaller audience.
We have a couple of big Sheriff's races coming up in next year's elections - at least in southern California. They could be huge for the pro-gun movement and will take a huge chunk of wind out of the anti sails.
For the time being, we need to convince the general public in our State that gun owners are positive members of society.