Gun Free Zone

A Leader? Really? And they are ecstatic about it too.

And what better way to make sure there are no “illegal” guns out there than to close ALL Gun shops in the country.

Regarding the sale of arms and munitions, the minister explained that the security measures developed by the government include the closure of all gun stores within Venezuela, saying that articles used to threaten human lives cannot not be sold freely.

“As of March, every last gun shop remaining in Venezuela – and there are less than 80 – should be closed. That is to say, in Venezuela, the perverse chapter of the commercialization of firearms and munitions is over,” El Aissami said.

I am guessing Hugo Chavez is still pissed at the fact that Venezuela is only in fourth place of the most violent countries in the world.
And, of course the United Nations applaud the effort.

If you watched the Superbowl last night and thought you missed the Mayors Against Illegal Guns ad, maybe you did not after all.

According to an article in the Miami Herald:

Some advertisers got amazing mileage by releasing commercials that they merely pretended were for the Super Bowl. The pro-gun-control group Mayor Against Illegal Guns not only got its ad— a chat between Michael Bloomberg and Thomas Menino, the mayors of New York and Boston, about the evils of guns — posted on dozens of websites but run in its entirety for free on both NBC and MSNBC news shows. Actually, the group didn’t try to buy time on the NBC telecast of the game, but merely sold it to a few local markets at a fraction of the cost, but wound up with millions of dollars in free publicity.

Well, well, well, how about that? I am sure that Pasha Bloomberg will tell you with a straight face that he never said the ad was going to be on the proper NBC Superbowl ad times but he also sure as hell did not bother to clarify whenever people had that idea and said so. At the most we will suddenly see a small press release dumped sometime in the middle of the night among garbage truck repair status and new salt intake procedures.

And that is why we win. They have to resort to obfuscating tactics because they cannot use the truth as weapon.

We love to say that a Bad Day at the Range beats any Good Day at Work. And while true, sometimes the Gods of Things that Go Bang decide it is time to test our resolve. Last Saturday I was tested.

The first go around of the Florida IDPA Triple Crown was to be held at Frank Garcia’s Universal Shooting Academy, just three hours from homebase so it was decided that we could make it a one day affair if the Missus and I left early enough. After consulting the usual online map suspects, I concluded that with one pit stop, if we left at 2:30 am, we should be at the gates of USA at around 5:30 am if nothing went wrong. On advice of people that had done the trip before, we eschewed taking US 27 due to the multiple speed traps on the way so it was Florida Turnpike all the way to Yeehaw Junction where we would switch to FL-60 and then State Highway 630. All nice and tidy…. right.

Once you hit FL-60, urban life as you know it ceases to exist. It is mostly orange groves & farm houses and very little in the way of amenities, including street illumination unless it is from incoming 18 wheelers with loads of oranges on the way to a processing plant. We arrived at USA at exactly 5:35 AM and I would have felt nice and cocky but nature was calling rather loudly. Knowing that Frostproof was just 8 miles down the road, we continued in search for public facilities but when we reached Frostproof nothing was open. Things were getting desperate on the bladder side so I though I should go back in the truck, drive back, select a really dark spot on the road, pull over and commune with nature. I drove till I found a likely and wide spot and got off the road to find myself feeling the truck suddenly sinking ever so slightly. I stopped immediately as old Off Roading memories came flooding back screaming warnings but it was too late and I was sorely confused. I knew what the sign meant, but my mind could not process it till my wife opened her door and said one simple word: Sand.

I was dumbfounded. What the “F” is this ungodly amount of sand doing on the side of the road in the middle of Deliverance County? I got out of the truck, relieved the pressing matter at hand and returned to evaluate how deep in crap I was into. In my youth I did a fair amount of off roading that included beaches and deserts, but I knew what I was getting into and I had a 4×4 vehicle; this was embarrassing and insulting to say the least. I tried rocking the truck, but the damn sand was so fine I only achieved to dig deeper as you can see in the pic above. The pic shows how dark it was, you are not gonna believe it, but there are orange trees about 10 yards from the front of the truck, but the camera could not capture them.

I called a couple of friends that I knew were in the area already and after the appropriate amount of chuckling & chiding I was rescued from the sand trap. Thanks Brian!

I just got this pic from Google Maps. If it ain’t the same damned spot where I got stuck, it is one that looks very similar. I still have not figured why there is so much sand there when there are no oceans nearby. I am sure there is a logical horticultural reason for it, but it escapes me.

We finally make it to the range and while unloading the equipment, I managed to strain my lower back once again and by the time shooting starts, I know it is gonna be a miserable match. I braved for seven stages but on the last one I caught myself millimeters away from sweeping the gun over my right foot trying to favor my back off any movement that might cause extra pain. I made the decision to DNF (Did Not Finish)  for the last three stages and head home to rest and engage in medication.

Somewhere between Ft. Pierce and Jupiter, I had a fit of sneeze but did not give it too much of a thought. At Boyton Beach I was sneezing and coughing and by the time we crossed Ft. Lauderdale my eyes felt like they were being painted with boiling oil. WTF? When we got home, I was able to barely get out of the truck, retrieve the range bag & the guns and make it inside before collapsing. The Missus coaxed me into getting in bed, shoved a thermometer in my mouth and covered me with a ton of blankets since I was shivering more than a convict in Siberia. 103 F came back the reading which was promptly followed by a couple of Advils. It had been decades since I had any kind of fever, in fact, my wife had never seen me suffering one and we have been married for almost 26 years so she was rightfully worried. My back pain had to take a respite from cure because I did not know what kind of interaction I would get from such a nasty bug and a muscle relaxant.

My fever finally went down sometime Sunday morning but the rest of the cold cavalcade stayed for the party. My head is stuffed, I am coughing like a TB ward and my chest & side muscles hurt from the exertion. I braved myself into going to work, but after three hours I realized I was not going to make it through the whole shift and returned home.

And yes, it was worth the suffering. Even with that nasty back pain, I had a wonderful time with my squad and felt good about my shooting (I shot pretty damn accurate!)

So, I hope the Gods of Things that Go Bang are satisfied of the value of my faith and leave me out of the next round of suffering. M’kay dudes?

I pulled a double whammy yesterday. My back went to crap again and it seems I caught a really nasty cold while at it. Man, I do not recall the last time I had a fever but I am sure it was before I even got married so that is 26 years ago.

Medicinal chemicals are now running through my bloodstream so my brain is pretty much playing with modeling clay, crayons and round-tipped scissors. Hopefully I’ll be better tomorrow with new posts, including a AAR of the best stage (IMHO) of the Florida IDPA Triple Crown .

Oh yes, about the Triple Crown. I had to DNF because of my back. I was slow as expected, but accuracy was pretty damn decent. I am still smiling at the 25 yard headshot I managed to make.

See you guys when I see ya.

Going to the first jewel of the IDPA Triple Crown in Frostproof, Fl. It will be held at Frank Garcia’s Universal Shooting Academy, a place I’ve been trying to go for ages, but every time there was a match, something came along and could not make it.

I am planning on taking as many pics and notes as possible to make an AAR later next week. I know I will be totally abused by the Evil Podmistress Gail Pepin who apparently managed to shanghai the whole Proarms gang to the match.

PS: I set the alarm and forgot to feed the gator. Enter at your own risk.