About once a year, an IDPA club member comes to his fellow shooters trying to inquire what is the best way for somebody in a wheelchair to carry a gun. We try to come up with some jury rigged ideas, but they really do not make much sense or fall short of effectiveness, but somebody who is a shooter may have come up with an answer.

On a past post about shooting on crutches, a gentleman named Scot Shearer left a comment and a link to his site. To my surprise I discovered that Scot is wheelchair bound (or whatever politically correct terminology is used nowadays) but he was far from defenseless.

So I did not like Scot because he shoots El Presidente better than me 🙂 but I emailed him and asked if he could share a bit about himself and he was kind enough to reply:

I was thrown into this journey by a catastrophic car wreck 10 years ago,
Before the wreck I was avid, Hunter, Martial arts instructor, Rock climber, wake Boarder,ETC. After regrouping and trying to get back into life, I came to the realization that My favorite Rifle and Shotgun were no longer practical to use from the chair (ever seen a dog trying to carry a stick through a Narrow doorway!) It was at that time I started looking for a holster made for a chair situation and found…. none! (The Hell You Say) Several years and 4 designs later we have our Holster Adapter, and as you can see It works Very well. Now I am diligently working to share the Tactics I have had to develop for clearing courses with others. If you have any more Questions, feel free to ask ( Massad Ayoob is considering an article on this!) Best Regards: Scot

Brother Scot, you humble us with your determination. And rest assured I will abuse your knowledge whenever a fellow shooter needs your tactics and products. If you are ever around sunny Miami, you have an open invitation to shoot with us!

Everybody, check his website: ScotWorks.com

PS: Message to Gail. This is a podcast you should be doing. Not that I would dare to influence your production ever… I am not that brave. Did I just commit suicide by delayed remote control?

The vassals that work for Arianna Huffington apparently got a wee bit mad that she sold her Huffington Post for a nice amount of cash and monthly moola. You see, all the articles at the HP were done out of the goodness of their political hearts while Arianna raked in the profits.

So, since apparently they figured that they deserve some sort of compensation after all, HP contributors are no longer “contributing” till they see some money coming their way. It is nice to know there is no honor among criminals after all.

Now, I wonder if Ms. Huffington is willing to accept the free humble contributions from assorted Gun Bloggers. We are willing to take over the place with our right wing rantings so the place does not close down…. <evil laugh>

Oh God, what an ironic twist of faith would that be!

Back when we lived South of the Caribbean, most of the time you could smell when something was about to happen. There was this sense of impending change-not-for-the-better in the air that made you buy that extra can of tuna or one more roll of toilet paper every time you went grocery shopping. You tapped you “connected” friends so they could get you one box of ammo from the government stores and started to hoard gasoline for your generator.

It was a tiresome existence to say the least. Most of the time the gloom & doom faded away but sometimes shit did hit the turbine with the usual mayhem, looting and killing by all parties. You went into lockdown, armed up with whatever crummy gun and few rounds of ammo you managed to scrounge, prepared incendiary devices and pray that somebody else but you caught trouble. Yes, not a very christian thing but when you have seen totally deranged mobs doing their thing, you become less nice about life and the goodnes of human nature.

The thing is I am feeling a bit of that old black cloud hanging on top of us. Maybe it is just the overdose of information with the 24 hour news cycle augmenting everything, but maybe it is not. I feel we are coming at a crossroads on how our country is going to run for the remaining of the century. There is a severe split between the People and the government which has been insulated in its own layer of self-importance. I am seeing more self-determination in individuals and this is not setting well with the Powers That be, not one bit.

The Congressional elections was the first call, the shift of power was tectonic and we haven’t seen the beginning of change yet. Wisconsin was loud trumpet call against the entrenched power of those favored by the Goverment and they got seriously mad. The recall of Miami Dade Mayor Alvarez was a direct slap on the face to elected officials.  Nobody thought that a movement against a latino figure by a caucasian billionaire who does not speak Spanish in a 65% latino county had a snowflake chance in hell to come about.

The White House seems to be fumbling with their genitalia and even more disconnected from the People that any other government before. They see something happening, but I don’t think they know what to do since not one of the pre-programmed formulas appear to be working. At any other time, the Arizona Shooting would have produced an avalanche of anti-gun legislation sure to pass with great congressional support, yet not only it did not happen, but the People came out strong against any restrictions on Freedom and placing the blame where it laid: The Crazy Shooter. The level of disdain against political opportunists is so great that they are literally losing it. Chicago’s Mayor Daley offered to shove a rifle up to a journalist’s butt and NYC Mayor Bloomberg accused the American people of not caring about imposing more gun control.

Although we should be celebrating these baby steps against the self proclaimed political royalty, we must remember that they will not relinquish it quietly or even peacefully. They will do whatever is necessary to maintain it and although I doubt they will have the balls to go Mubarak or Gaddaffi, I expect them to reach deep inside their bags of dirty tricks and, if some deaths happen they will not care as long as the end result is their consolidation in power. We better be ready.

So, stock up your pantry, load up your magazines and keep your computer malaware free. We are in the middle of interesting times and have a front row seat.

“This is just no courage on the part of Americans to stand up and say ‘Enough,'” Bloomberg said while joining members of Congress who support closing loopholes that allow criminals, drug abusers and the mentally ill to buy guns.

Why is it that Liberal/Progressive Leaders are not only filthy rich but hate Americans more than the Taliban? Is there a section in the US Constitution that says we should prostrate in awe and heed to whatever His Highness Bloomer The First royally dictates?

Somebody must remind the Mayor he was elected to reign over the subjects of New York City, not to try to conquer the rest of the US of A. We do not take kindly to petty dictators.

Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Alvarez faced a recall vote and got sent home. Not only he lost but he got such a beating (average of 9 votes for recall vs 1 for stay) that you cold almost call Social Services and lodge a complaint for abuse.

Mayor Alvarez got elected under a platform of reform and austerity. Instead he forced a baseball stadium nobody wanted on taxpayers and then raised property taxes to pay for it. He added insult to injury by raising the paychecks of his staff and getting a BMW out of the public monies.

Withe so many other MAIGs already down the drain one way or the other, the rest might be wonder if the whole Bloomberg Club for Local Politicians is jinxed. I really do not care, the less the merrier we are.

Really, is it that hard to place a notation on a product page that says “Item in Backorder” or “Out, Back Order OK” or something similar? I hate having my money held hostage because you do not carry the product in your ample storage space in you mommy’s garage next to the Formica furniture from Uncle Robbie’s late 70’s swinging bachelor pad.

Two stores have pulled this crap on me: CopQuest and CopPlus. I placed an order with CopQuest for a duty belt on Feb 4 and I get this cute message saying that the “item now allocated to an incoming order from the
manufacturer. Turnaround is expected to be within 15 to 20 days.” Whiskey Tango Fox-Trot? why didn’t you warned me you didn’t have the damn thing to begin with? But wait, it gets better; It is now March 15 and the belt is nowhere near my mail mailbox.

Next was a holster from CopPlus and after I shed my monies, the Order Status page tells me that my holster is “BACKORDERED – Estimated ship date: Wednesday, March 23 2011.” Is this a standard procedure for stores that begin with the word ‘Cop’?

Now lets glance over the folks at Tombstone Tactical. I wanted 3 magazines for the Missus’ Kahr CW9. They had a great price and a warning that they were out of stock, but you could leave a 10% deposit to place the order and once they had the mags in, you could pay the rest. I went ahead, took the chance and was greatly surprised when in about a week I got an email telling me that the mags were in. As I was leaving for a match when I got the email, I responded with some funny email asking Candice to secure the mags under lock and key because they were for the wife and if lost, I’d be losing life or assorted anatomical parts. When i returned Candice had replied and also jesting assured me they were secure.

I went ahead and called Tombstone Tactical to pay for the mags and was taken care of by a nice gentleman (whose name I am sorry to say I forgot) who immediately knew who I was and was prompt and polite accepting my credit card and assuring me shipping would be expedient. Even though I told him to take it easy and that I was happy the mags were available, I got the magazines about 3 days later. And that is how you treat a customer. I am planning to send as much business as possible their way because they took that extra time and work to keep me happy or at least informed.

In the meantime I will continue to harass the other two cute looking web waesel stores till my items arrive. The stuff is also for the wife and when she is not happy, I switch to Attila The Hun mode and I am already in Semi-Mongol status.

-I can shoot fast and I can shoot accurately. Apparently I am not gifted with the combination of both. The principle is that should make the shots at the speed you can because tat the end accuracy counts. Most of the bad shots I had were directly related at trying to go too damn fast for my own good including a hit to a No-Shoot. Hits to No Shoot is the penalty that pisses me off the most and I admit I got pretty angry at myself for a while.  This is a good segue to…

-… I do not shoot IDPA as a game. My “problem” is that I go with the mindset that those paper targets can shoot back and I take as much cover as possible moving vewwy vewwy carefully. I cannot recall the last time I got a cover call at any match in years. Being that careful will slow you down at a match.

-Equipment does make a difference, specially if you consider sight radius. A mid-size carry gun will always be more difficult to shoot than a full length “competition” gun. Duplicate results if the shooter sucks to begin with. Same goes for ancillary gear: Kydex is faster than leather holster wise. But I am happy with to know that my everyday stuff will function since I compete with what I carry every day. I still do not understand those who spend hours at the range shooting a Clock 34 with all the latest tactical & approved for IDPA gear and at the end of the match, unburden all that stuff and drop a lint-covered small gun in their pockets. I just switch my competition ammo with the defensive ammo and go home.

– I’ll never work another sanctioned match if I can help it. I did plenty of that before and I will let the youngings do that from now on. I loved just shooting & waiting for the next stage alongside my beloved wife. God Bless and congratulations to the Wyoming Antelope Club for setting and executing a superb match. I know they must be dead tired but really satisfied today. Good Job guys & gals!

-IDPA should eliminate those long range shots from the rule book once and for all. 35 yards in a defensive situation is dumb tactics and the chance of a bullet hitting something that shouldn’t in Real Life is just too great. Plus you will have a tough time convincing a jury your IDPA scores in that particular stage were enough excuse for you to take that shot instead of getting the hell out of the way.

-OK, I give up. I will buy a Glock 34 for hits and giggles. It will be the first gun I will buy for “competition only.” But maybe other than the sights, I am not “tuning” it up or performing magic dremmel work with it. Out of the box and to the range.

That is all, carry on.