Just So You Know, Girls Can Shoot Too. It's OK.

Hello, my furry little friends. I hope your Christmas was a safe and happy one, without too much stress and hustle and bustle. Mine was actually quite good, and was spent with family and friends.
For Christmas this year, I took some of my own advice (from my post back on Dec 11th) and gave my niece and nephew their very own Daisy Buck carbine air rifles, which are smaller lighter versions of the Red Ryder Carbine, perfect for smaller kids. My nephew, I had no doubt, would take to his own rifle, since he has always enjoyed shooting my .22 rimfire rifles, but I was concerned about how well my niece would take getting an air rifle for Christmas. Much to my pleasant surprise, she was as thrilled, if not more,as my nephew. She could hardly wait for us to finish our Christmas meal so we could go out and test them out. So out we went, and we sat up some soda cans and they began plinking away. I was surprised to find that while my nephew's form was good, he was impatient and tended to pull his shots. My niece, whose form needs some work, concentrated on her shots, took her time, and in the end was making better, far more consistent shots than my nephew. I believe that with practice and help, she will become quite the little marksman, or markswoman.
I want my niece to understand that just because she is a girl, does not mean that she can't shoot, she is just as capable as anyone else. So many parents have sheltered their daughters from things they consider to be dangerous. The world will not care that they have been sheltered as children and it will show them no mercy. So it's up to parents to teach their daughters the skills they need to take on the world. And learning firearms is one of those skills. Girls in many cases develop faster than their male counterparts, and that actually gives them an advantage, and they by all means should take it.
If your daughter shows interest in the shooting sports, instead of telling her "girls don't shoot" and turning her into a prissy froo froo princess, help develop the traits that will make her into a strong independent woman when she grows up.
Besides, if you nurture those skills, she might grow up to be the next Julie Golob, and then she can buy you a new car.





Shooting Champion Julie Golob: Deadlier than most men I know.

Weapons Lights and Training for Night Shooting- A Sootch00 Video

Many people do not take in to consideration that many of your home defense situations will take place at night in the dark, so it's a prudent idea to have a good quality weapons light attached to your home defense weapons, whether it be an AR, a shotgun, or a handgun.
I plan on doing some stuff of my own about weapons lights in the near future, but until then, here is a great video by Sootch00 on weapons lights and their applications in the dark.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fWDLN9Cb-k

The AR vs. the AK: A Military Arms Channel Video

Hello folks, I hope you are having a safe and happy holiday.
I have been extremely busy, and haven't really had a chance to add much to the blog, but hopefully that is going to change soon.
A few weeks ago, I was rambling on about the AR-15 family of rifles, and I mentioned the eternal argument between AR and AK owners over which one is the better rifle.
Well, Sturmgewehre over at Military Arms Channel throws his gauntlet into the fight with this video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n98LszJAlTE

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Nice December 25th

Hello boys and girls,

This has been a ridiculously long and busy 2 weeks, so I have had absolutely no time to write a decent article or blog post. After Christmas is over, I hope to get some range time, serious in depth range time, and hopefully have some decent material for you guys to enjoy. Working on finding some other people to become actively involved in posting articles and reviews here, someone besides me all the time. So if you can write half way worth a damn, and you want to apply, let me know. It pays nothing, the hours suck and the boss is a real asshole.

So, I hope all of you have a very Merry Christmas, and a Happy Hanukkah. And You can't make me stop saying it.

Give the Gift of The Shooting Sports to the Young Ones In Your Life

With Christmas (and to my Jewish friends, Hanukkah) fast approaching, I'm sure that many of you are searching for the perfect gift for the children in your life. With all the things that appear on the wish lists, i.e. iPods, Playstations, XBoxes, maybe something you should consider for the responsible older children is their first introduction into firearms.

I will always remember Christmas morning when I was 12, when I unwrapped my first personally owned gun, a stainless steel Marlin 60, a tube fed .22 LR rifle with a scope. I had shot my brother's and stepdad's guns, but this Marlin was my first true rifle that I could call my own. After Christmas lunch, my stepdad and I went out into the back yard where he had set up a backstop and pasted some targets. I broke open the bulk box of Remington .22 ammo, and we sighted in the scope, and before you knew it, I was making ragged holes in the targets. It is one of my fondest memories of childhood, and to this day, that rifle is still one of greatest treasures.

In today's politically correct, over protective, sanitized world, it's frowned upon to put a gun into the hands of youth. And while I am all for safe practice and securing of weapons around children, I feel that it is imperative for parents who have a love of the 2nd Amendment and wish for the values and heritage of our Republic to continue on into the next generation should nurture the desire of their children who show an interest in the shooting sports.

If a child is taught at a young age to respect a firearm and to understand it's a tool and not a toy, this will carry into their adulthood.

I was at a local gun shop not too long ago, when a man a couple of years older then I came in with his son who was about 10 years old. The dad was discussing a a lever action rifle with the salesman, and while it was on the counter, the son reached out to touch the stock of the rifle.

The father slapped his son's hand and yelled "NO!!! YOU KNOW GUNS ARE BAD! DON'T YOU TOUCH IT!" Embarrassed, the boy walked away.The father then proceeded to purchase the rifle. The hypocrisy that the father demonstrated was staggering to me. He tells his child guns are bad, ingraining this into his son's mind, while he himself is fine with the idea of gun ownership. The dad may have only been trying to protect and teach his son not to randomly grab firearms that don;t belong to him , but the way in which he went about it, may have only damaged the child's view of firearms in the long run. That boy may always connect guns with his father's chastisement.

I know of several other parents who refuse to bring their children to shooting sessions, saying that it isn't the place for them. If you don't start making it a place for your kids, then the shooting sports are doomed to die a slow death.

Introducing your kids to firearms is necessary to the defense of the Republic.

When you teach a child to shoot, and give them the tools they need to be a good rifleman, you are passing on the heritage of our Founding Fathers, as well as the importance of continued vigilance in protecting our Rights.

There are many different programs to can assist you in introducing your children to shooting sports. One that really stands out is the Appleseed program,which has become quite popular in recent years. Appleseed not only teaches the fundamentals of rifleman skills, but also gives the students history and heritage as well.

From Appleseed's website:

Project Appleseed is an activity of The Revolutionary War Veterans Association, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, dedicated to teaching every American our shared heritage and history as well as traditional rifle marksmanship skills. Our volunteer instructors travel across the country teaching those who attend about the difficult choices, the heroic actions, and the sacrifices that the Founders made on behalf of modern Americans, all of whom are their “progeny.”

Our heritage program vividly portrays the Battles of Lexington and Concord with the kind of care and immediacy that is absent from most formal schooling. Modern listeners are confronted with the danger, the fear, and the heartbreaking separations that arose out of the choices made on April 19th, 1775. They are also reminded of the marksmanship skills and masterful organization that ultimately helped set the colonists on the path to success. Those who attend gain a better understanding of the fundamental choices faced by our ancestors as they began to set the stage for the nation we now enjoy.

You can learn more about Appleseed by visiting them at http://www.appleseedinfo.org .

http://www.appleseedinfo.org/appleseed-mission.html

This year, don't give the kids some crap they won't care about in a month. Give them something that will benefit them for the rest of their lives. Give them a piece of their heritage, a link to their past. Give them something that may save their future. Don't be afraid to let them branch out. Teach them proper safety, teach them respect for dangerous things,but by all means teach them. They are our future. Without them, hope is lost.

As Economic Problems Rise, So Does The Crime Rate

I got a disturbing call from a friend of mine in Florida today.

His wife had taken the kids to the local park on Sunday morning for a little family time. It's a good neighborhood with low crime, nice area, nothing out of the ordinary. She was approached by a man with a knife demanding money, which she responded with pepper spray and the man ran into a wooded area. She was obviously shaken, but my friend said she has now been spurred to finally get a concealed weapons permit, so maybe some good has come from this.

This is not an isolated incident. Crime is rising all over the chart. Home invasions, robberies, carjacking, murders, you name it. As the economic system continues its decline into...God only knows where it will stop, people become very desperate. Folks who otherwise would be law abiding citizens, when faced with the possibility of being penniless and unable to provide for their family, will do some pretty outrageous things. The individuals who have been suckling at the unending teat of government welfare are faced for the first time with having to fend for themselves. They will either cowboy up and do become self sufficient, give up and become destitute, or more likely they will find other means of satisfaction.

Considering the government cutbacks in funding for law enforcement and prisons, crime rates will do nothing to continue to rise. And that boys and girls is why we have to be responsible for our own safety. In the article at the link below by Dave Workman of the Seattle Gun Rights Examiner, we look at some of these concerns and how many law abiding citizens are looking to themselves, not the government or an over worked understaffed LEO community, for their protection. My friends on the West Coast should take notice of this article.

LINK:

http://www.examiner.com/gun-rights-in-seattle/prison-releases-police-cutbacks-pose-a-danger-to-citizens

Keepin' It On The Downlow: Don't Be So Quick To Talk About Your Preps

Well, boys and girls, hope you're ready for another week.

Last week, my friend Heavy G (known for the Guerilla Radio Podcast) did a guest article over at WilderWolf about being a closet prepper.

( An excellent post, go read it : http://wilderwolf.net/2011/12/02/being-a-closet-prepper/ )

In the article he talks about how he has tried in the past to make his wife understand the importance of being prepared for potential bad situations in the future, and he has been met with less than enthusiastic results. And being the Sheepdog that he is, G decided that in the best interest of his family, what his wife doesn't know won't hurt her.

Aside from the potential issues that prepping would cause his family, G discusses how this information would prove harmful to his career. It becomes a black mark that he could never shake, and his ability to financially support his family would be hindered. And so, he works tirelessly in secret, the ever vigilant Covert Ant.

His article got me to thinking about my own approach to prepping; for the majority of the time that I have been a full-speed prepper, I had been open to many of my friends and family, even trying to "spread the Good Word" among them, with mixed results. My mother and stepfather, while aware of the current state of affairs in this world, seemed to be content to sit back and wait for God to come out of the sky and save them if the SHTF. Now take in mind, that I fully believe in the power of faith, and I believe the Good Lord works miracles, but sometimes there has to be a little input from us.

My brother, while a hunter and 2nd Amendment supporter, is clueless to the fragile nature of our society, and is content to live with his nose to the grindstone and his head in the sand.

Other relatives are of the opinion that I am a complete wackjob. As are many of my former friends. In retrospect, I believe I would have been far better off to have kept my actions to myself, instead of trying to save a clueless ungrateful few.

Today, I am a much more introverted prepper. What I do, I keep to myself. And the subject is never broached among casual friends, or DGI ( don't get it) family members.

You see, as it is now, they view people like us as paranoid, distrustful or downright foolish. We are the butt of jokes, and we are mocked and ridiculed. Which actually, I am perfectly fine with.

What I am not so fine with is the possibility of them remembering the words that they laughed at, when those words don't seem so foolish. You see, it a lot like people who are opposed to guns, right up until the point when they need one, and suddenly their viewpoint changes.

The issue is this: If, God forbid, we ever have a Katrina type situation or even worse....I have what I need to take care of my family, which is me, my wife, my dogs, and a select few ( and I do mean SELECT FEW) others. The rest of them are on their own. I do not want to be put into a situation where I may have to escort ( or worse) people off my property for begging. People have a tendency to remember where their bread is buttered. And they may decide that you don't need all that you have.

Seriously, I have no Mac N' Cheese for you.

It's not a situation I hope to have to play out. And while much damage is already done, and I can't change the past I can somewhat avert any future issues that might arise.

Now is not the time to convince people to change. If they can change, they will have to come into it on their own. I will not stick my neck out for them any longer. Birds who stick their neck out too far end up on the dinner table.

And yes, I am aware of the irony of my posting an article about laying low on a website that anyone and their uncle, God and everybody can see. I am a conundrum in that sense.

Have a good week, my furry friends.

The Gun Runner Podcast

Hello everyone, I hope your week was a good one. Mine was a long,busy gauntlet, and I am glad to be on the downward slope.

I had a chance to delve into a new podcast this week, which I was turned on to by my good friend Heavy G over at the Guerrilla Radio Podcast. I am always looking for alternatives to the nonsense on broadcast radio and TV, and the Web provides this in the form of independently produced podcasts and radio shows. ( for those of you who have been living under a rock for the last 5 years, a podcast is basically an episodic audio show produced by individuals just like me and you, pertaining to various topics, and this shows can be listened to online as well as being downloaded to your computer or media device) My new ear candy is the Gun Runner Podcast, and you guessed it, it's all about firearms, the training thereof, safety, gun rights issues and news, and common sense preparedness. The host and creator, Ryan, is a well spoken guy with a wealth of knowledge, a former Marine, and All Around Interesting Person. His first episodes, you could tell he was a little nervous, but once he opened up, he was running like a finely tuned machine. He's currently on Episode 13 and posting new every day, so right now is a great time to get caught up. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

http://thegunrunnerpodcast.com/

Give the Gun Runner Podcast a listen.

"Fear No Evil: A Philosophy Video"

Say what you want about Nutnfancy, but the man makes valid points. He's a guy who has actually been there and done that. If you have anyone in your life who thinks you're full of it because you carry a gun for defense or because you believe in the 2nd Amendment in general, let them see this video.

And by the way, if you don't like Nutnfancy, here's an idea. Don't watch him. I don't want to hear you bitch about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2HnQcZl5BE