Great Satan, Inc.

Today, we posthumously thank those who have served and given the ultimate sacrifice for this country.  Tomorrow, many of us will go back to our daily grind and not give much thought to those that are either currently fighting, or those who have fought and died for our freedoms until Memorial Day comes around next year.

Uncle Ted has another idea.   Make every day Memorial Day

As parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, we owe it to America’s finest to educate the youth of the United States that many brave Americans have paid the ultimate sacrifice in the name of freedom. Teach them that freedom isn’t free. Teach them that the American military has freed more people from the shackles of tyranny and slavery than any other force in the history of the world. Teach them to remember this not just on Memorial Day, but every day.

Organizations like Soldiers’ Angels make remembering our military and showing our thanks throughout the year easier than ever.  Soldiers’ Angels is a “volunteer-led 501(c)(3) non-profit with hundreds of thousands of volunteers providing aid and comfort to the men and women of the United States Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, veterans and their families”.

They offer dozens of ways to get involved in making a difference in a soldier’s life – none involving a sacrifice as great as the one our military proudly and selflessly provides to us each day.

Happy Memorial Day 2010, Day 1.

[Read more →]

Day 2 of the 2010 NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits in Charlotte proved to be a packed day, just like the first day of the NRA convention. Staying in the center of town made for a short walk to Charlotte Convention Center and the few panhandlers I saw didn’t pester me. I should note that Charlotte’s panhandlers did have the newest and cleanest clothes I’ve seen on beggars anywhere, the Charlotte Observer should be proud.

Honored American Veterans Afield, also known as HAVA, has a booth in the main lobby area. We’ve written about the great work HAVA does, backed by the outdoor industry, to help injured and disabled soldiers transition back to civilian life. I participated in their fund raising raffle and happily departed with a few HAVA branded Smith & Wesson lockback knives. We hope you’ll support their efforts too. Despite the large attendance at the show, I was able to get a photo of the HAVA booth in main lobby area.

(Click on the pics for a larger version)

Honored American Veterans Afield

Even though the lobby was fairly easy to navigate, the show floor was very active and crowded around the popular booths.

NRA Meeting & Exhibits floor on Saturday.

Lauer Weaponry, maker of Duracote gun paints, had a display of custom painted firearms. I looked at the graffiti laden Manhattan paint scheme momentarily before this brightly painted AR-15 with a rail mounted .45 caught my eye, then apparently blinded me.

Lauer Weaponry displayed their Bloomberg edition gun paints, along with a Manhattan themed rifle, complete with graffiti.

But wait, there’s more, click here to see

[Read more →]

The NRA Annual Meetings & Exhibits for 2010 was held in Charlotte, NC last weekend (5/14-5/16/2010). I took the trip out from 2nd Amendment friendly Arizona for this year’s NRA convention to see the festivities, attend the 2A Blog Bash, and experience the educational seminars.

The Charlotte Observer greeted attendees with an extremely offensive piece, begging attendees not to shoot the place up, calling NRA members “a highly partisan lobbying group” for extreme right-wing Republicans. Fortunately, the Observer is extremely out of touch with the good people of Charlotte who warmly welcomed me to their city, asked me about the annual meeting, life in Phoenix, and generously offered me help at every turn. Welcome signs for NRA members were posted throughout the city.

(Click the thumbnails for larger photos*)

Official Welcome Sign, a pin version was worn by hotel staff too.

Organic welcome sign at Matt’s Chicago Dog

NRA welcome sign at Ratcliffe on the Green in Charlotte, NC. Check out Zach Goodyear’s tasty game meat menu for the NRA Annual Meeting.

The NRA learned from last year’s Annual Meeting in Phoenix, implementing those lessons by opening event registration the day before the show, increasing the efficiency and quantity of registration lines to smoothly handle the significantly higher attendance of over 72,000 people.

Short registration lines were a great improvement over 2009.

But wait, there’s more! Click here to see the rest.

[Read more →]

Congratulations, Northern Arizona!  Shooting enthusiasts and law enforcement in Northern Arizona are one giant step closer to having the shooting range they deserve.

On Saturday, May 15th, The Arizona Game and Fish Commission unanimously voted to approve the purchase of the 160 acre Foster Ranch property for the development of a Northern Arizona shooting range.

AZ Game and Fish’s efforts to establish a range in the Flagstaff area began way back in 1998, and the approval is great news to all the people and organizations that have worked tirelessly for almost a decade to make this happen.

Flagstaff is the largest city in Arizona without a public shooting range, which leaves recreational shooters with few options, and forces law enforcement in Flagstaff to train at a makeshift range at a cinder pit in Winona, Arizona.

The Foster Ranch site is about 10 miles southeast of Flagstaff, and meets the Arizona Game and Fish’s objective of developing a shooting range located within 30 minutes of downtown Flagstaff by the year 2013.  The purchase price of the land is 1.1 million dollars, which is entirely funded through a user pay, user benefit model (read – ZERO Arizona general fund tax dollars).

A request for the purchase of the land now goes to the Arizona Governor’s office for approval (the state doesn’t fund shooting ranges, they merely approve, or disapprove, the budget plan created by the AZ Game and Fish Commission).  We are very hopeful that their approval will be swift in order to reach the 2013 goal.

[Read more →]