Open Mouth Insert Hoof… Nick Hanauer

So I knew about this over the weekend and was marinating on it waiting to see what the other side bothers to do if anything regarding the events of last Friday.

While many may think I am talking about the school shooting in Marysville, I am not. Quite honestly I’m getting sick of people working to exploit tragedy for political gain. Which brings me to the events I am talking about…

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To the right is a real screen shot from Nick Hanauer’s Facebook Friday while in the wake of tragedy.

Now many who read this blog are from outside of the state, are not fully familiar with the ongoing legal battle, much less exactly who Nick Hanauer is.

Who is Nick Hanauer?

Nick Hanauer is a leading I-594 proponent and heir to the Pacific Coast Feather Company. To say that Nick Hanauer has had his hand in the development of I-594 is to put it mildly as he had a significant role to play in funding the initiative from the start.

Not only does he fund the initiative but he is heavily involved in Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility being their primary funder and founder.

WAGR…

Well after Friday it is obvious that WAGR is merely a xerox of every other gun control organization we have seen that is not about the things they claim but are really about exploiting tragedy for their own political gains.

Why has WAGR not immediately made a public announcement distancing itself from Nick Hanauer? Could it be because they love his money over their principles? Could it be because deep down they agree with Hanauer’s statement? Honestly I don’t think it could be put any better than a response I overheard at the fun show over the weekend:

What a ludicrous, insensitive and quite frankly, vile, comment!  I find it
offensive and morally reprehensible.  WAGR should publicly disassociate
itself from Nick Hanauer (and return the blood money they have received
from him)

That ladies and gentleman is the cold hard truth and the most basic demonstration of exactly what the other side is. They are so desperate for money that they are willing to swim with scum and villainy the likes of which would make most good-hearted people vomit.

We however will never see WAGR respond, much less distance itself from Hanauer, and never in a million years return his money. Our opponents are too desperate and honestly rely on tragedy to fuel their funding.

We hold events to raise money for charities outside the shooting sports not to mention charities within from time to time. Name one event organized by CSGV, WAGR, or the Brady Campaign where they were raising funds for anyone other than themselves. At Boomershoot we’re regularly raising money for Soldiers’ Angels.

So let me ask one real simple question, who do you really think is trying to make their communities better? The people screaming for more violence so they can capitalize on tragedy. We on the other hand get together for a weekend and say, “Hey lets help some other people while we’re at it.”

This is why we win…

Why We Win…

So if you are thinking about sending money to WAGR, you might want to think again and find a better choice.

Surprise, Feds making it up as they go along!

So some somewhere got his panties in a bunch.  even more entertainingly the feds are claiming they have the right and authority to ban it and regulate it.

There are so many things I can comment about that piece. Such as “lets run to the airport and tell some pilots people are shooting skyward.” Tell me, what the hell is trap and skeet shooting, there’s a reason they use shotguns in the sport not rifles.

Moving forward we have the feds claiming their aircraft and creates a safety hazard while then having the following Charlie Foxtrot:

But the question here is not why the FAA considers hand-sized drones to be aircraft, regardless of their size or the altitude at which they’re operated.  But why it can’t decide that an 1100 pound passenger-carrying Flying Hovercraft that looks like an aircraft – wings and all – and can fly at speeds of 70 miles per hour (and more) and at altitudes of 20 feet to more than 50 feet in the air, over water or land, is also an aircraft.  These flying machines, called WIG craft or wing in ground effect craft, fly on the air cushion created by aerodynamic lift due to the ground effect between the craft and the surface, the same as occurs between any aircraft and the ground on landing.  

Not to mention the complete destruction of the hobbyist activity of RC aircraft by reclassifying everything as a drone. Know why the FAA is now going that route to attack the activity? Because they keep losing their arguments on why they have the power.

So here’s a set of rhetorical questions:

  • If our elected officials are not held accountable to the same laws and regulations they create over us, why should anyone comply or care?
  • If regulatory agencies are constantly modifying and changing the rules to grow their power, why should anyone comply or care about them any more?
  • If regulatory agencies are using their power to stop activities which harm no one but the people in charge disagree with for political reasons, why should anyone comply or care?

America is a Republic, and what we’re seeing is the destruction of law through bureaucratic fiat. Me thinks I need to build a couple just for lunch time destruction during Boomershoot. Hey if it’s my own personal property, !@#$ off! There isn’t any commercial aspect involved.

Barron why do you want to shoot at drones?
Because !@#$ YOU!!! That’s WHY!

**Seriously I had no interest in doing such a thing until I saw they’re trying to stop it. Now it’s like owning a 100 round drum magazine that freezes after firing 10 rounds. I need one just because you said I can’t have one!

Hat tip “The short lady with the grey hair” (Otherwise known as my mom.)

Puritan: Someone that is afraid someone, somewhere is having fun.

Shooting Like A Girl…

So I was browsing through footage from Boomershoot 2012 and there was a couple clips I had intended to use but forgot about.  You see when Anette heard there was a rifle caliber pistol, she looked all giddy when I told her that.  Then we warned her about all the things that could possibly go wrong, most importantly making sure you provide correct eye relief before the shot. 

Below is the video of Anette and Shelly teaching us how to shoot like a girl.

Yes, Anette squealed like a little girl and Shelly just turned around and rocked it like a boss.  Now in Anette’s defense, she hadn’t seen that pistol fired every.  She didn’t know really what to expect other than what we warned her about.  Well when you’re warned about it flying back punching people in the face, you get a bit apprehensive.   Shelly got the benefit of watching Anette shoot it so she knew exactly what to expect.  Never the less, it was fun for everyone there, even Anette!

At the end was my new production clip I’m going to put at the end of every video I do.  That was my first venture into the world of After Effects and over time I may add more but that was 100% done in house.  I recorded the sound and edited it, did the 3D animation, and did the effect for the writing.  The animation was the hardest part because for some reason my render would break about a quarter of the way through.  Finally I did it in a bunch of stills and then condensed it into a clip.  Also of note, creating models in Solidworks is much easier than Blender.  Honestly I think blender has to be the most counter intuitive UI I have ever encountered.  When you’re excuse is, you haven’t learned it, you’re doing it wrong.  It doesn’t even lend itself to playing to figure it out, that’s a freaking clue!

In which I take advice and set the bar higher

So as Joe mentioned while we were in Reno we ran the LAPD qualification stage.  I passed, not as comfortably as I would have liked but was no slouch either.

I followed through on my word since I knew when these stages would be coming and practiced less and less as the day approached.  Prior to this shoot the last time I had shot was the beginning of August at that USPSA match.  I hadn’t shot any steel either since March and hadn’t done any extra practice either.

So for all intents and purposes I went into this thing pretty damn cold since I only really shoot about 150 rounds at a USPSA match at most.  Overall my opinion of the stages was that it wasn’t hard or difficult.  Doubly so since we made the stages harder than what actually required by the LAPD.

Ry suggested I try using Adobe Premiere and step up my game in production quality for the video.  I happen to think on this it’s probably a good idea.  So I spent this morning playing with Premiere and could actually cut a raw video that looks decent of Joe and I both shooting the qualifier from multiple angles.  That however isn’t the type of video I’m looking for.

I started writing up a script tonight and am intending to spend a decent amount of time editing to provide the maximum punch possible from this video.  There are some serious notes that and things that need to be emphasized regarding many of the stages and that needs to be done correctly.  Further, as I am evidently a beer swilling redneck, I figure I might as well act like one and start surpassing the CSGV’s and Brady Campaign’s production values for their videos.

The end goal is to get down to a short 3 to 4 minute video to educate people on the truth behind these “standards”.  Some have said we were self-selecting and I could see that if this was a National or Area level match, but not for a local match.  Local matches give you a wide variety of shooters, including multiple new shooters, with new and unfamiliar equipment.  The details on how and why that matters will be clearly illustrated in the video.

In the mean time enjoy this instead:

In Which I Lead By Example

Yesterday was the USPSA match in which I was the Match Director.  I designed all the stages and picked out the qualifier.  Overall I was looking forward to it.  Mainly because one of the stages was going to be the first stage I ever designed.

We got a bit of video of me shooting that stage.

I laugh because someone was glad that I was pissed for “forcing them to shoot this monstrosity” except everyone I talked to loved it and wanted to shoot it again. In hindsight I should have thought of a way to run it backwards.  If you’re wondering about the outburst at the end I looked at the target and saw I broke the perf on a no shoot at the end of the course.

However I’m saddened we didn’t get video of probably the most important thing that happened on that stage.  It happened while the RO was scoring my stage and I was standing right there.  I’m sad I didn’t even take a picture of it.

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You see that white guy in the middle.  Yeah I shot the little bastard because he wasn’t smart enough to get out-of-the-way.  I drilled two A’s into T2, 2 A’s in to T1, and barely nicked the perf on the No Shoot.  When the RO came through he called Alpha Charlie on the target.  He thought I was outside the perf.  I promptly stopped him and said, “Name redacted, That should be 2 Alpha, 1 No Shoot.”  He looked at the target again and said, “holy crap you’re right.”  The funniest thing is, I didn’t even think twice about it, it was immediate and without thought.

Now I know some of you will think that some how that was in my favor, it was not.  Here’s how the score for that breaks down, if it had been an Alpha-Charlie, I would have gotten 7 points.  With a 2-Alpha, No shoot I get 0 points.  The No Shoot is –10 points, each A is a 5.  If I was a little less ethically inclined I could have taken a 7 point boost on my score for that stage.

It’s not worth it at all.  I’m in this for fun and you know what, if I have to cheat to have fun I’m doing it all wrong.  If I want to stand up on the top of the hill and say I won, by god I want to be proud of how I got there.

I was really sad when I had to call a FTE for the RO I caught as a shooter ran through.  I had actually hoped he was the first guy to just skip the body and take the head shots at an earlier position.  He shot the steel and forgot to hit the other target.

Here’s the match stages, both the descriptions and the Google Sketch Up files.  If you want to use them at your local club feel free to do so.  Just give me credit and I’ll be happy.

That particular stage is 30 Minutes or Less.  It started off being just 30 shots but when I redesigned it to fit in our bays and equipment list I ended up adding a target.

Another interesting story was from the standard I created 4×3.  I designed it specifically so the shooter would have a choice between which hand to use at which distance.  I ended up walking up just after they finished reading the stage description and two of the main shooters shot it strong hand closest, then weak hand when further away.  I promptly recheck the stage description which says the following:

String 1.  Upon start signal from behind F1 engage targets T1-T4 freestyle with one shot each.  Perform a mandatory reload and reengage T1-T4 one hand only.

String 2.  Upon start signal from behind F2 engage targets T1-T4 freestyle with one shot each.  Perform a mandatory reload and reengage T1-T4 with one shot each with the opposite hand.

I thought about it for a minute and promptly talked to the two guys who read the briefing and had shot.  In the back of my head I kind of chuckled at the thought of shooting the course of fire weak hand forward, strong hand rear, but I knew it would immediately cause an uproar.  So I clarified it for everyone and we re-shot those shooters at the end.

I still kind of wanted to hear the collective groan after I shot the course and then read the description for everyone.  If you are into USPSA, learn this now, pick up the description yourself and read it before shooting.  Others may have misinterpreted the rules.

I will say I guess Jigsaw was right when she said I was an honest shooter.

So, how’s that gun control working for ya?

In London, where gun control is in effect, a gunman shot a bunch of unarmed citizens.

A taxi driver described as quiet but friendly went on a shooting spree across a picturesque rural area of northwestern England on Wednesday, killing at least five people and wounding 25 others before apparently turning the gun on himself, officials said.

The rampage, in a region famed for its tranquil beauty, shocked a country where handguns are banned and multiple shootings rare — it was Britain’s deadliest mass shooting since 1996.

And people wonder why we gun owners in America prefer to stay armed. Being able to shoot back is preferable to being placed in a box.

~TMW~

Boomershoot 2010 PRC AAR

This is my short little after action report on the precision rifle clinic 2010. Friday was a great day for shooting. Winds around 4-8 MPH I discovered my zeros from last year were still good, no real surprise there though. Though I did get a solid reminder in the pre-shooting rifle check. I don’t know how, but the bases of my rings came loose and could have caused some serious issues. I discovered my BDC on my second rifle was quite accurate and was easily putting rounds on the steel at 700 yards.

Bill Waites carrying his gear through the cold and wind up to the line on Saturday. Note the canopies bowing from the wind.

On Saturday morning shooter spotter communication was made difficult by the 10-20 MPH gusting winds. Sucks for making sure you’re heard with your hearing protection on over the wind, however it was just like my first year out there, perfect conditions for learning and practice. We got our 380 zero, and moved out to 625 and had an interesting experience. At the time we moved out winds calmed down a little. My spotter called the wind estimate, checked my book, cranked in the elevation and windage. Got on target, broke the shot dead center. Spotter call center hit. I prepared a follow up shot, my spotter however missed that in the matter of literally seconds the wind shifts from about 5-6 MPH to 16-20MPH. He tells me to hold center again I squeeze it off, 3 Mils left. Crank in the new windage, now I’m 2 Mils low, crank in the elevation bang dead center again. The lesson from this was that the spotter needs to really be aware and willing to issue a hold. Also, viewing trace and splash in the high winds is extremely difficult. The scope is vibrating from the wind and it blows the trail and splash out. At this point we moved back down to 380 and spent time practicing holds, favors, and calling winds since they were changing again. I knew we were on our game when we shot our boomers for the day. Ryan cleared his 3 boomers in the wind in 4 shots, first shot was slightly left. I cleared my 3 in 4 shots, my first went slightly right. When open season was called, we took an additional 10 boomers. I think that count only got so high because Monty ran out of ammo, who was a total bad ass by hitting a 7 inch target turned on its end. He only had a 1 inch wide target to hit, it was gone second shot.

Getting in a natural position was also a major item. Odds are if you’re muscling a shot in, you’re going to miss. Adjust the rifle and your position till you get the target in a natural point of aim. Usually my spotter would leverage the natural point of aim by keeping me in that general area.

The other comment I have, those who saw me this weekend can testify, make sure to wear sunscreen. On Friday I arrived a little late and went straight to shooting, forgetting sunscreen. My nose is roasted, toasted, and blistered, along with my forehead and cheeks. I will be spending the rest of today doing video and pictures of Boomershoot 2010.

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River Dog’s Shooting Match

River Dog had an awesome idea for a shooting match this year to run during the PRC. From looking at it though I have an idea for a different set of rules. Since River Dog already has a competition up for this year I think I’ll just save my idea for next year. I’ll do some testing on feasibility this year and if it works, I’ll talk to Joe and set up something for next year.