My Valentine
She is all mine….well, more like she owns me.
and in a few months we will be celebrating a quarter of a century together.
I am a lucky bastard.
This was not covered in Tacticool School!
Our totally deranged Course of Fire designer came out with some doozies for our last IDPA match. So what would happen if you were using crutches due to a small accident and you were in need to defend yourself? About 50 shooters yesterday found out yesterday and it was enlightening to say the least for yours truly.
Even though none of us was injured in the way required to use crutches, we found ourselves fumbling to find a way to even think how to approach this stage. Your arms are forced up, you cannot sweep your cover garment properly and all of the sudden your gun is way down there while the crutch is having a field day restricting your movements. Add to that the need to safely do all this or be sent home for sweeping yourself or your buddies and you have yourself an eye opener.
The good news was that once you managed to draw your gun, you had one seriously stable shooting stance. Them crutches were a solid base! I even managed to get all zero down which is consider a minor miracle in South Florida shooting.
There was another stage where we were supposed to shoot from a wheelchair, but apparently wheelchairs come in sizes and the one we had were for anorexic runaway models which precluded about half the club from even sitting, much less drawing the gun.
Nugget of Learning obtained: Life happens and you better adapt really quick.
Attention Floridians: Support for SB 234 is needed!
From Florida Carry, Inc
LEGISLATIVE ALERT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – February 12, 2011
SB 234 – FL Senate Committee on Criminal Justice
Hearing scheduled for 2/22/11
SB 234 is on the agenda of the FL Senate Committee on Criminal Justice on Tuesday, February 22nd at 9:00am. Florida Carry, Inc. urgently requests that you email via the members of the committee in support of Senate Bill 234.
This NRA authored bill comprises several separate initiatives. These include the option for CWFL holders to carry openly; a provision to authorize carry at career centers, colleges, and universities; the right to store a firearm in one’s vehicle wherever it may be lawfully parked; the authorization for the Department of Agriculture to take fingerprints; the repeal of Florida’s ban on long gun purchases in most other states. Quite simply put, this is the most comprehensive carry rights bill since shall-issue concealed carry was passed twenty-four years ago.
Florida is one of only seven states where open carry of firearms is generally forbidden, excepting under certain circumstances. Arguments against open carry generally consist of concerns regarding the fearful reactions of the general population. Some have suggested that an open carrier becomes an instant target, having his firearm snatched by a criminal in line at a convenience store. The facts simply do not support those allegations. In states where open carry is lawfully practiced, citizens have become accustomed to the understanding that a holstered weapon is a danger to no one. There have been no wholesale attacks on open carriers, nor have open carriers been shot with their own weapons. Police officers are not fearful of open carriers as they know that a 5-year FBI crime study has shown that criminals do not open carry, nor do they carry in holsters. Criminals shun attention, something that the open carrying of a firearm invariably draws to some extent. Not a single state that has legalized open carry in recent years has repealed the right.
In 1987, open carry was outlawed primarily because of the predictions of wild west shootouts, blood in the streets, gun battles over parking spaces, and normally law abiding people indiscriminately becoming homicidal maniacs. The main opponent of open carry was Janet Reno, then assistant state attorney. She was able to rally support from a vocal group of police administrators with the doom and gloom scenarios. Amazingly enough, the exact same arguments were heard against “shall-issue” concealed carry. Twenty-four years later, and none of the rampant bloodshed predictions about concealed carry have come true.
With regard to carry on colleges and universities, it is not coincidence that most of the mass shootings in the U.S. occur on the campuses of educational institutions. To believe that a potential assailant would be dissuaded from committing mass murder simply because there is a law forbidding him to bring a firearm on campus is pure folly. Rape, robbery, assault, and murder have all occurred on campuses across the country.
College and university administrators continue to deny the reality that by prohibiting students, faculty, staff, and visitors from defending themselves promotes an unsafe environment. Often ignored by opponents is the fact that only concealed weapons/firearms license holders would be permitted to carry on campus, and the minimum age requirement to have a license is 21. Those students under 21 would not be permitted to carry on campus. Once again, the potential criminals do not care about minimum age or having a license. After all, there are no barriers to access on most campuses. Florida Carry, Inc. supports SB 234, and encourages all gun owners/carriers to join us in contacting the senators on the Florida Senate Criminal Justice Committee. Please tell them 24 years is enough.
We urgently need you to email the committee members NOW!
Include “Support SB 234” in the Subject Line
For more information check out Florida Carry, Inc. And while you are there, please join.
If we were violent.
I always find funny the level of ignorance and self-absorption that can be found in the Anti-Gun side with special consideration at our alleged thirst for violence. According to their narrative of us, we are quick to solve all our problems by pulling the trigger and letting the corpses fall where they may. To us is obvious that they are quick to confuse self-reliance with blood thirstiness but I am guessing that if you are a scaredy cat living in fear of shadows and begging Big Daddy for help every time things go bump at the wee hours of the afternoon, I’d be like that too.
Wherever shooters gather, you will rarely see violence, impoliteness or uncouth behavior. If only males are together, well some language may get raw but that would be normal whether you are a gunner or play volleyball. I have failed to see anybody being disrespectful to women at our club matches and we nurture children into respecting their elders and to value life.
All of this is lot in the Anti Gunners. They minds are so set on this cartoon character image of us that it cannot be contradicted or else their political and emotional house of cards would collapse leaving them in a mental vacuum and the horrendous realization that they have wasted their life and might have caused unnecessary deaths. So they must cling to that fictional image of us with all their might but, as usually happens with fiction, it is not based on the reality that could be. And it is good thing because the anti-gunners would make a bee line for Mexico seeking safer grounds withe the Sonora Drug Cartel while leaving a long brown trail behind them.
For example: They complain that Loughner shot 32 rounds in 16 seconds with one long Glock magazine thus demonstrating the need of a high capacity magazine ban. Imagine what would be the Gun Grabber’s reaction to know that an average IDPA shooter can do the same in less time with 4 magazines loaded with 10 rounds each and that time includes changing the magazines and delivering accurate shots which Loughner thankfully did not do. An IPSC shooter would easily deliver 32 shots half of Loughner’s time. Then was the idiot congressman demanding a Gun Free Zone of 1,000 feet around every politician to keep them safe; we shouldn’t tell him about varmint hunters who regularly take shots of between 300 to 600 yards or more at targets the size of cats in almost any weather condition. Or how about Bench Rest shooters who can shoot targets at a thousand yards and place all the bullets within a 5 inch group? Bear in mind that the length of a human head is on average 21 to 22 centimeters (9.5″) and the width is 17 to 18 centimeters (8.5″). Shotguns you ask? You have the clays shooters that can hit targets flying up to 60 mph or the Cowboy Shooting aficionados that with double barrel shotguns shoot and reload faster than I can with my pump shotgun.
Take a look at this gentleman:
If I counted correctly, he shot 24 four rounds from three different old school weapons (and with limited capacity and not a single semi automatic among them) and under 20 seconds. He switched from single action revolver (which forces you to cock the hammer to shoot) to lever action rifle to shotgun (loading a shell at a time and he made a mistake) and back to single action revolver. He did not miss one shot, you hear the range officer announcing “clean” in the audio. If he was a bloodthirsty killer as the the Bradys and Japetes of the world would like you to think, there be corpses all over the place, yet the safest place you will ever be is at a shooting competition or around armed citizens.
If we were intolerant of other views or racist or anti government, do you think anybody would have a chance against millions of gun owners bent on destruction? The problem for the Antis is that as firmly as we believe in the Second Amendment, we also believe in the rest of the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. Whereas they do not mind lying and cheating to twist our Rights for their benefit, we stand by the supreme Law of the Land. Anti Gunners do not mind encasing people in Gun Free Zones where criminals can and do kill whomever they please. That tells us and anybody who listens and thinks for half a second that the Gun Control crowd will allow and celebrate with macabre glee mass murders because it gives them more ammunition (pun very much intended) for their cause.
As sure as God made little apples, they rather see us dead than triumphant and they will work hard to achieve it by disarming us. We are a threat to them not because of our guns but because of we are the constant reminder that they are wrong and their life’s work is based on a huge lie.
PS: Thanks to Lee for pointing out my metric system mishap 🙂
You can’t do that with an AR: Magazines.
I am one of those SOBs who love to taunt AR/M4 owners. The weapon system is a fantastic one and I wouldn’t mind owning half a dozen of them, but what makes the gun unreliable 99% of the time is not the mechanical but the owners. Just because it is called a platform it does not mean you are supposed to attach and launch any crap that is available in the market.
That last 1% mechanical happens to be the magazine… not quite. I understand that the original idea for the AR magazine was to be discarded immediately after use or maybe reloaded a couple of times. It was not supposed to last forever as it ended up being done and the problems that it brought. But luckily the new magazine designs have come along way and do a very nice job of balancing longevity and weight. The AK magazine however was designed pretty much like the weapon itself: Sturdy beyond what needed and can be used as strike weapon or hammer if necessary (don’t ask me how I know) and to last longer than roaches.
So, what do you do when even AK mags cease to be reliable as munition holders? You use them as pavers!
.
You can’t do that with an AR Magazine! 🙂
And the biggest gun dealer for the Mexican cartels is (dum roll please):
For supplying the weapons that apparently killed US Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry.
Kudos to Senator Grassley for turning the fan on and setting it on High. If we are lucky, this time next year all compliance checks will be done by a polite FBI agent.