Instead of regaling you with tales of my catastrophic performance accompanied by equally disgusting videos, I’ll take the chance to post about an intriguing development. Right after the raffle and before the awards ceremony, two gentlmen whose names I could not hear (The PA went Tango Uniform) introduced themselves as from IDPA HQ and announced that contrary to internet “rumors, there were nothing to the wildly reported statements that no SOs from Florida were being accepted. Other than the fact that every SO I know and contacted HQ to volunteer was given the runaround and one was flatly told by an official to butt out, apparently it is only a “rumor” and that the Florida SOs will have as many spots as they want because they are expecting 500 shooters to attend the WC. I think I heard that 140 SOs will be needed which is a significant number.

The other thing they mentioned was the point system and that people were upset about not having enough points to attend the world championship. It must have been that I was way back from the gentlemen because I could not tell if there will be a point system or not or WTH. Apparently HQ is sorely pissed that USPSA will be holding the Nationals on the same weekend as IDPA’s World Cup and with 500 slots to fill, they will be needing every Tom, Dick and Harry who wants to pay the fee for the match. Also the big shooters are going to the USPSA Match and thus go the Sponsors and so goes the money/raffle/prized & assorted goodies. A half empty World cup would be a nasty black eye for the sport.

It is very funny that USPSA turned out to be the best ally for IDPA shooters.

And for my shooting at the Florida Match? Let’s say that the last event that had so many points down was the Market Crash that led to The Depression, OK? But I did have a bucketful of fun!

One of the most liberating things at a match is to screw up so bad in your first stage that you really stop caring for the scores and start having fun. That goes double when you royally screw up in a stage so simple you are told you should take sewing or macrame as hobby.

With that out of the way, the first day of the match was as much fun as I expected. The Wyoming Antelope Club is hosting a great match as they have us used to it and the stages run between the fun and the “OMG who was the twisted SOB who came up with this crap.”

I’ve been bumping into people I haven’t seen in ages. Formerly Gun Doc Dave Pruitt somehow was condemned to my squad and it is a blast to see him again and also to see he has not slowed down one bit. I met David when I was just starting in IDPA and he shot in the local Miami Matches. I bet he was amused to see I still have not learned a damn thing about shooting.

And now, go ahead and make fun of me. Stage 7 “Shotgun!”

Arrived yesterday to Wyoming Antelope Club to the usual group of people that know how to organize a match and could not be any friendlier. It is nice to see familiar faces from past matches and meet new friends collected over the interwebs. The wife and I bumped into John Strayer at the hotel and he was convinced she not only can speak but is as frightening as I’ve been telling everybody. I finally met Dale G. and somebody must stop feeding MiracleGro to him, he is frigging tall enough.

And one for the “Only in Florida” files: Seen somewhere around Sarasota Lakes.

One more thing, Alligator Alley is not just a cute name for the tourist trade. The sight of gators sunbathing on that 100 mile stretch of I-75 was something not even Animal Planet can fathom. The wife stopped counting at 70. I guess it explains the reinforced fence between the road and the Everglades.

Robb brings a bit of good news:
Senate Bill 234 has been amended to remove the offensive provisions I discussed yesterday.

So no more Panty-Twisting OC BS but we lose Campus Carry. The fight will continue.

SB 234 has been modified by adding the following language:

(b) Carrying openly requires that the carrier display his
47 or her license to carry a concealed firearm in a clear sleeve on
48 or near the holster in such a manner as to be visible.

Which brings back memories of other successful Mandated Visible Identification requirements for dangerous people:

Almost 25 years of Concealed Carry have demonstrated that Law Abiding Floridians have not abused our rights. We have been ridiculed and put down by every “expert” out there and proven them wrong again and again yet in something as simple as Open Carry by lawfully licensed individuals, we suddenly need to be stamped as to soothe some panty-twisted individuals that still did not get the message that they are much more safer among Us than your average pedestrian. That this and other amendments were passed almost in total obscurity and without the input of gun owners shows we cannot trust the legislature to do what is right.

We are not asking for some special favor. This is not the 80’s where the question of the Second Amendment was still up for debate. We are in the Post Heller & Post McDonald times where the 2A has been ratified as an individual right. This is almost a quarter of a century of showing that guns save lives, that the worst predictions of blood running down the streets never came to happen, that violent crimes not only did not increase but actually subsided, yet we must make sure we do not scare some uninformed LEO or a High Society Palm Beach resident on her way to buy organic Tofu shrimp for the Oh-So-Social event of the night.

Kudos to the Florida Legislature for such tactful addition to Open Carry in Florida. Keep it Classy!

On the bright side, they did not impose the tattooing of our permit number in the inside our forearm. I guess you can call that good news.

“Police, on average, for every 10 rounds fired, I think, actually strike something once or twice, and they are highly trained,” said Bill Bratton, the former New York City police commissioner.

That quote extracted from the Op-Ed column School of Glock by Gail Collins is one of those myths (OK, lines of absolute BS) that Anti Gunners use to tell everybody we are too stupid to handle a gun. I am sure that Ms. Collins truly believes that and I wouldn’t be surprised if that happens in dear old NYC, where the average Big Apple dweller only shoots out of an XBox, but the rest of the US (Yes Gail, there is a Rest Of The Country) knows the average cop can’t shoot worth a damn.

The sad part is the reason cops cannot shoot is because people like Bill Bratton spent more of the budget on training cops on how to be touchy-feely/Kumbaya My Lord/Patchouli effeminate than ammunition for training. Most police officers do not train in a regular or even infrequent basis. They get to qualify with their firearm maybe twice a year, shooting perhaps some 60 rounds while the average gun owner shoots his firearm about six times a year and 100 rounds each time.

Smart cops that can afford it, usually practice more on their own and even spend a pretty personal penny seeking advanced instruction. But unfortunately, they are a very minuscule group and they are seen by some as Rambo-wannabes. Others join shooting clubs with action shooting sports that will give them a distinctive edge over their colleagues when the S hits the F. One such officer confided that he is scared shitless amongst his fellow officers manipulating guns but he does not even blink an eye at the range among the civilians in our club because we (civilians) are more respectful and more proficient with a gun in our hands.

Via Say Uncle

Honorable Facepalm award with Dumb Asss clusters recipient shown in the video had his finger in the trigger and injured not only himself but a fellow officer. That he dropped & abandoned the gun a couple of feet away from what appear to be NOT choir boys is just icing in the Crap Cake.

Our club runs four matches & practices every month. Number of attendees run from the low 40s to the 70s and in an over a decade of me being a member we had absolutely zero gun-related injuries. It is not unusual to read about a police-generated gun accident every month but yet, we are supposed to believe that they are better prepared than civilians?

Hippie Please!