Robb Allen over at Sharp As a Marble has a plan for his USPSA match on Sunday. ExurbanKevin at Misfires and Light Strikes has a plan for his IDPA match on Sunday. Mz. VRWC and I are participating in an IDPA Regional Match this weekend, called the South Mountain Showdown, at Phoenix Rod & Gun Club. Surely, I have a plan for shooting this event, I think. The plan has to be somewhere around here, now where did I leave it?
The plan, meticulously based on the only three IDPA club matches I’ve shot so far…is:
Muzzle safety – Don’t point the gun at anything I don’t intend to destroy, including my own body parts, or my match is over early (instant disqualification).
Maintain the 180 degree rule at all times – Don’t point the gun in a direction greater than 90 degrees to the left or right of the downrange berm (instant disqualification).
Only shoot has fast as I can accurately shoot – Any faster than that will waste ammo, time, and incur penalties. (You can’t miss fast enough to win.)
Have fun and enjoy the experience.
Maintain a relaxed approach to fend off the Red Mist, facilitating quick and safe draws from concealment.
That’s it! That is my plan for this match.
I know how to pull the trigger smoothly, line up the sights correctly, and how to be safe while handling firearms. Any other “things” I could plan on doing would probably exceed the mental bandwidth available after the timer buzzes.
Watching other shooters fire at lightning speed can create tremendous performance anxiety. At some point, you realize that you can only perform at the best of your abilities. You need this realization to keep your competitors’ performance from inducing the Red Mist.
Many people focus on the hoped for outcome of the event, at the expense of those tasks that have to be performed to achieve that goal. When those tasks are performed correctly, the sum of those tasks will equal the desired outcome, which is a winning performance. My focus will be on managing the tasks I have control over. If I do everything correctly, the result will be safe competition, zero-down scores, and a good place in the results.
Now I just have to remember my plan…where did I put that plan?
Today, my interwebs are overflowing with stories and information on concealed carry. It’s getting a little safer out there, but there are still plenty of reasons to make sure you ready and able to protect yourself at all times. Here’s some great information about why and how to carry, courtesy of the internet:
My Gun Culture reviews the Ruger LCP .380. A VERY detailed review with a sprinkling of humor that makes for a great read.
NSSF has a link to a Babes with Bullets video that is part of a series on choosing a concealed carry pistol. While this video focuses on semi-auto pistols, they also have a video dedicated to choosing a conceal carry revolver, and a more general video about choosing a conceal carry handgun:
The above videos serve as a great primer for anyone (especially women) looking at the idea of carrying concealed. As an added bonus, you get to learn something from one of the greatest competitive shooters in the world for free.
Jake is (finally) gone, Mike’s a zombie, and there’s only one episode of Top Shot Season 3 left this season. So, who’s going to defeat the other three competitors (and the red mist) and become America’s next Top Shot? Let us know in the comments, and you could win some bitchin’ History Channel/Top Shot stuff:
First person to correctly name the winner tonight gets a spiffy History Channel messenger bag
Second person gets a Top Shot iPod soft case
Third person gets a Large or XL (your choice) History Channel T-shirt
Make sure to enter a valid email address when you submit your answer, and we’ll contact you for your shipping details if you’re one of the lucky three.
Thanks again to the awesome people at History Channel and Top Shot for sending us a nice selection of items to give away to our readers, and for making a pretty darn good show about competitive shooting.
APPLY TODAY!
Email TopShotCasting@gmail.com with your name, city, state, phone number, a recent photo of yourself and a brief explanation of why you are America’s “Top Shot.” For more information, visit pilgrimstudios.com/casting/topshot. Producers will get in touch if they need additional information.
This is an ongoing casting call. Currently there is no deadline for submissions or schedule for the final casting process and production of the next season. Still, we’d like to hear from you!
If you are thinking about answering the casting call, here’s a tip – don’t wait until the last minute. If you do, you might end up having to shoot your introduction video in the basement of a Holiday Inn, then uploading it using the hotel’s computer because you crashed your laptop’s hard drive the night before. On a related note, I do not lose sleep at night wondering why I wasn’t chosen for the next season.
And for those wondering (all three of you) if I’ll be tossing my hat into the reality show ring again, the answer is YES. I figure I’ll just keep answering their casting calls until they either invite me to the in-person auditions or they block my email address.
Ten of Arizona’s County Sheriffs joined together to demand accountability for those involved in Operation Fast and Furious, a Federally sponsored gun running program which supplied weapons to Mexican drug cartels from at least ten U.S. cities. The Justice Department and Eric Holder have been obstructing a House Oversight Committee investigation into the operation that went as planned.
Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever called Operation Fast and Furious a dishonor to law enforcement and a betrayal of law enforcement officers everywhere. These weapons have been used in crimes on both sides of the border. One of the weapons passed to the cartels by the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives (ATF) was used during the murder of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in December 2010. Agent Terry’s brother Kent Terry said,”My family and I are very thankful for the Sheriffs of Arizona and the fact they are helping us demand justice for my brother’s murder.”
Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu held the press conference at the base of the Peace Officers Memorial, where Agent Terry’s name has been etched.
Sheriff Babeu was joined by nine other Sheriffs, four other Republicans and five Democrats. They made the call for a special investigator into the operation, Eric Holder’s resignation or firing, and criminal charges for those accountable. Sheriff Babeu also noted the Sheriffs found out about the operation through press accounts. (months after the Sipsey Street Irregulars blog broke the story.) He also suggested that the investigation needs to investigate other departments involved in the operation, such as the FBI, DEA, Department of Homeland Security, and the State Department.
Sheriff Larry Dever expressed his embarrassment that he had to apologize for the criminal actions of other elected officials.
One reporter noted a prior operation called Operation Wide Receiver, and mindlessly alluded to this being a partisan jab. If the lazy, partisan reporter had bothered to spend a minute on Google, she would have found out that the firearms in Operation Wide Receiver actually had tracking devices and were under surveillance. Operation Wide Receiver didn’t go as planned, the guns were lost and the program cancelled as a failure. The lazy reporter could then understand that a plan to illegally sell firearms to felons to deliver to Mexican drug cartels, without tracking or surveillance, could not be the next step in an investigation.
Navajo County Sheriff KC Clark said, “I’m outraged that our own Federal Government has betrayed local law enforcement by arming violent foreign criminals and it now appears that Attorney General Eric Holder may have lied under oath.”
Yavapai County Sheriff Scott Mascher said, “The Attorney General can’t be trusted to fairly self-investigate these possible criminal charges of gun running which has resulted in murders of both individuals from the U.S. and Mexico. A Special Counsel must be appointed.”
Previously, pro-second Amendment blogger Bob Owens was a lone voice calling for a Special Prosecutor. As more and more evidence of perjury and White House participation are released, the chorus grows stronger. Even congressman Paul Gosar has suggested that participants in this illegal operation are “vigilantes from DOJ going unchecked” and accessories to murder.
It is time for the President’s staff to stop playing politics with Operation Fast and Furious. This scandal is worse than Watergate, as people have been murdered in this scandal. The President must appoint a special investigator to bring those responsible to justice, or have the history of his administration forever tarnished by this corrupt, murderous operation.
It’s Tuesday, which means it is time for another episode of Top Shot on the History Channel. We’re making your Top Shot Tuesday even better by running a Twitter contest during tonight’s episode (10/9c). We’re going to be giving away some History Channel merch, so you don’t want to miss it.
We’ll be tweeting out a question about the show during tonight’s episode, so follow us at Twitter.com/GreatSatanInc and tweet us back with your answer (make sure to use @GreatSatanInc and the hashtag #topshot in your tweet). If you win, we will send you a brand-spankin’ new History channel t-shirt.
Good luck and may the red mist stay clear of your favorite contestant tonight!
Note: Merchandise provided by the fine folks at the History Channel. Thanks!
The Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL) held their annual luncheon on Saturday in Tucson. If you are unfamiliar with AzCDL‘s mission:
The purpose of the Arizona Citizens Defense League is to protect individual freedom and laws that attend to it through lobbying, petitioning, fund raising and all lawful means to enforce Article 2, Section 2 of the Constitution of the State of Arizona.
You want to know what Article 2, Section 2 of the Arizona Constitution is about? Well, I’m glad you asked. Article 2, Section 2 states:
Article 2 – Political power; purpose of government
All political power is inherent in the people, and governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed, and are established to protect and maintain individual rights.
Mz. VRWC and I headed down to the Old Pueblo for the annual celebration of individual rights and some great BBQ. About 400 of AzCDL’s 5,000 members attended the luncheon, and almost everyone open-carried, with a few concealing.
For an event like this, it is customary for the attendees to get dressed up a bit. For many, it meant opening the gun safe and grabbing a pretty gun appropriate for this special event (much like having a strand of pearls or a tuxedo for special occasions).
We had a tasty lunch of barbequed chicken, pork ribs, and beef tri-tip, slaw salad, cobblers and more, catered by Sapphire Catering. As we finished our meal, AzCDL Communications Director and JPFO Executive Director, Charles Heller spoke to the crowd for a bit before turning the microphone over to Arizona State Representative Brenda Barton (AzCDL rated A+) to introduce the rest of the speakers. The speakers included Gabriela Saucedo Mercer, candidate for the Arizona District 7 House seat (running against Raul “boycott my state” Grijalva) and Arizona State Senator Frank Antenori (who is considering a run to replace Rep. Gabriel Giffords). Also in attendance, AZ State Representative John Kavanagh, accepting a lifetime achievement award on behalf of AZ State Senator Russell Pearce, AZ State Senator Paula Aboud, as well as chief’s of staff for various other legislators. It’s always good to see that elected citizens aren’t afraid to be around those they represent.
There were even raffles for various firearms. Despite the Smallest Minority handing us two raffle tickets before retiring for an early siesta, we did not win the Ruger LC9 he should have won. However we did steal win a faux zebra skin rifle case (perfect for Mz. VRWC’s tactical shotgun) and a family membership to Shooters World, an air conditioned indoor range in Phoenix, at the silent auction.
Long story short, the annual luncheon was a pleasure and again, members were given the microphone to suggest new laws they wanted to fight for, as well as laws they wanted repealed. I have no doubt that AzCDL will continue the fight to maintain and regain our liberties.
Bottom line, don’t pay any attention to the lazy hippies and communists putting on their Occupy Wall Street demonstration (sidewalk camping). They won’t accomplish anything sitting around whining for “change” and whining for handouts. Joining, supporting, and participating in a group that represents and lobbies for your interests will get you the government you want and deserve.
If your state doesn’t have an organization like AzCDL, consider starting your own group. Citizens have a right to the same access and persuasion as any other special interest. The power is yours, if you want it.
Jake is (finally) gone, Mike’s a zombie, and there’s only one episode of Top Shot Season 3 left this season. So, who’s going to defeat the other three competitors (and the red mist) and become America’s next Top Shot? Let us know in the comments, and you could win some bitchin’ History Channel/Top Shot stuff:
