A Passing of No Consequence

Well heck, I note the passing of my goldfish, Pooh Yee. Ornamental goldfish are strange, exotic creatures, prisoners of their much-manipulated and ultimately flawed genes — although I suppose that could be said for all of us. I got him for a couple of bucks at some giant pet store years ago. Even though he was 3/4 of an inch long, I figured he must be tough, since he survived the trip from the goldfish factories in China. At his passing, he was almost 9 inches long and was pretty hefty.

No big. Just thought I should note it.

crisp and clear blue sky
alighting on a tree branch
.....a goldfish!

—Dhugal Lindsay, Fuyoh 3, 1995

Yet Another Sign of the Apocalypse...

...as Hollywood considers remaking Red Dawn.

Except in the new version, crazed rednecks with machine guns attempt to take over the great liberal bastions of Boulder, Eugene, Madison, Auston and Berkeley, where they are repelled by plucky neuvo-hippies and b-HO supporters allied with noble but oppressed migrant workers throwing blueberry scones and harsh language!

And speaking of liberals, here's a little tidbit from Chicago, b-HO's home turf, where being a scumbag just seems to come with the territory:

Ald. Richard Mell (33rd) is a former hunter with an arsenal of weapons that reportedly features shotguns, rifles and pistols, including a Walther PPK of James Bond fame.

But there's a problem.

Mell forgot to re-register the weapons as required every year by the ordinance that he helped to pass as one of the City Council's most senior members.

So, what does an alderman do when he finds himself in violation of the law? He writes a new law. Mell has quietly introduced an ordinance that would reopen gun registration in Chicago and create a one-month amnesty for himself and other gun owners in the same predicament.

Ah politicians...gotta love 'em!

We're Getting Prickly!

The new personal defense series for Quarter 1 2009 is officially green-lighted!

And I'm pleased to announce that SHOOTING GALLERY regular Walt Rauch, the author of THE REAL WORLD — What Has Worked for Me, PRACTICALLY SPEAKING — The Guns, Game and Gear of IDPA, founder of both USPSA and IDPA and one of the most respected self-defense authorities in the world will be a regular on the new show!

A PROFOUND THANK YOU!!!

Gosh, I cannot thank all of you enough for the wonderful weekend in Louisville!

First, to the fans of SHOOTING GALLERY, DRTV, COWBOYS and the blog and podcast, you awed and humbled me. I signed literally hundreds of autographs, had my picture taken with dozens of people and got to talk to the greatest bunch of men and women in the world! You thoughts and ideas have been and will continue to be invaluable to me, and I cannot thank you enough for your support.

To our DRTV and GUNSITE regulars who turned out in force, as usual you guys rock! Don Worsham, you're as weird as I suspected you might be, and I'm glad you like my other weird friends. Charles, Tim, Bob and the other GUNSITE-inistas, as always, a hoot of a time, and I learn new stuff every time I hang with you guys.

To the blog community, welcome aboard! Christie Caywood — Bitter Bitch Herself — and the NRA deserve a huge "attaboy" for bringing the gun blogging community on-board as full and deserving members of the media. I have been a press-card-carrying member of the mainstream media since I was 18 years old, but I unequivocally believe that the new media is our future. I am as proud of this blog as anything I have ever written — article, book, speech, whatever. Great meeting all of you, and I look forward to our shared futures.

To the industry, which is united as never before...yes, there's a storm coming,, but we have weathered storms before. And I am completely heartened to see that for the first time ever, we have a gut-level understanding that all guns are the same, that there is no difference between a $20,000 sporting clays Perazzi shotgun, a Glock .45, one of Ronnie Barrett's .50 BMGs or a "black" rifle AR-15...we stand together!

Let me sum this up...I just spent four days in an armed society...I walked around in a room full of thousands of people with guns on their hips (myself included, a little Ruger LCP in a small SafePacker on my belt)...no one was "paranoid"...no one was "scared"...no one sat on the porch and strummed a banjo...the man I believe will be the new President of the United States came to tell us he was with us...one of the most popular commentators in the world, Glenn Beck, came to say that while he didn't know squat about guns, but he understood the people there in Louisville..."I don't believe in organizations; I believe in rights," Beck said. "And I joined this year as a lifetime member of the NRA."

I have said this before, but it never hurts to say it again...we are not just a different culture, we are a better culture. This from my friend Jim Shepherd on the Shooting Wire this AM:

These four days, I've witnessed a snapshot of America in the city I once called home. And once again, I'm speaking proudly of Louisville as "the closest thing I've ever had to a home town."

Louisville – and the NRA Meetings were the picture and sounds of civility, hospitality and fraternity. Not the quality of "American Gothic" or the sounds of great symphonic work, but a photo you wouldn't be ashamed to stick on your refrigerator along with the other portraits of your America while you hummed contentedly to yourself.

That's not bad.

Amen...and pass the ammunition!

NRA Saturday!

Another excellent day!

First, I want to make a couple of announcements. I recently mentioned that Richard "Tequila" Young, the host of our COWBOYS series had ridden off into the sunset, leaving a really big pair of boots to fill. I'm proud and happy to announce that Ron "Tupelo Flash" Stein has been tapped to fill those boots!

You've seen Ron before on COWBOYS, several times. He's a veteran top cowboy action and Western 3-Gun shooter, match director last year for the great Gunfight Behind the Jersey Lilly cowboy match in California and at one tme in his checkered career one of the top Elvis impersonators in Vegas and touring the world. The Tupelo Flash will become a regular presence on DRTV over the summer, so watch for him.

Best saddle up, Tupelo...it's time to ride!

Secondly, I've gotten some email queries about Outdoor Channel's decision not to renew the shows produced by Intermedia, including GUNS & AMMO TELEVISION and PERSONAL DEFENSE TV, effective 1 January 2009. I'm not a Boss, nor do I play one on TV. I'm a producer, but I also know that nature — and television — abhors a vacuum. This weekend I asked OC to dust off a treatment I'd written almost two years ago for a series on self-defense for regular people, and it looks like that new series is going to be a go. Right now, my plan is to produce the series, not host; some of the names already committed to work with me on the series include Ken Hackathorn, Dave Spaulding, Rob Haught, Michael Janich...essentially a "Who's Who" of the top trainers in America.

As usual from me, no bullshit, no lab coats, no histronics, no "contractor casual" nonsense...just solid information that you can use to live a better and safer life. I hope to be making formal announcements in the next week or so, and by then I'll have several more names you're going to recognize from people who weren't here in Louisville. I'm pretty excited about this...nearly broke my heart when it got shelved because of conflicts with outside shows!

So far, initial industry response to the new series idea is spectacular...wonderful!

I spent a bunch of time today talking to the .50 Caliber Shooting Association, of which I am a member in good standing, on our upcoming DRTV Everything You Wanted To Know About The Big 50 series to be filmed this summer in conjunction with my friend Ronnie Barrett...this is going to be so much fun...and, as usual, another ground-breaking innovation from DRTV. I also want to make it clear that we have a POLITICAL agenda as well...the .50s are the sharp point of the spear, the lightning rod for antigun weasels. As well as educating people on .50s, we'll be providing resources for the .50 BMG community to help them in their — and our — fight. We are in the fight 100%; there's a storm coming, and we'll do everything in our power to help our community be ready for it!

BTW, on gunny stuff, I got to hang out a little today with Bruce Siddle, the new owner of Detonics. You guys know I really like the little Detonics CombatMaster, which has always been the gold standard for small 1911s. I despaired for a little bit that Detonics might not survive into the next iteration, but my fears were misplaced.

Bruce is showing a majorly enhanced — and well thought out — Detonics line. We'll have video for you on DRTV (duh), but let me just tell you about the top end of the line...a series of Detonics pistols spec'ed by my good friend and master gunsmith Wayne Novak. These pistols are hot, and I can't wait to get my hands on one of the Novak Detonics CombatMasters...great looking and great handling little guns! There's also Commander and full-sized models available. Watch for the videos.

Hey, it's after midnight and there's a clear and present danger of turning into a pumpkin!

More tomorrow!

Blogger Bash a Super Success!

Absolutely great!

I'm too tired to even list the great people I met...we'll have lots more info on it from Bitter Bitch...I couldn't be happier...

Quickly, the Remington .308 they're showing has a DPMS lower (DPMS and Bushmaster are in the Cerberus stable), but the production guns will be Remington branded. My people at Remington said they'd have me a gun in mid-to-late June, and Marshal and I will be traveling out to BIG GREENJ to shoot it and film it for DRTV.

Big trick is from Skip Patel at Bushmaster — a really slick refinement of a .338 Lapua gas gun...it is just beautiful...Skip's shot it out to 1800 yards...next week, Skip tells me they'll be testing an upper in — get this — .416 Rigby. Again, we'll be traveling out to Georgia to put some rounds through this ground-breaking gun.

Really liked the colored Charter snubs...I'll be ordering a red and black version (try to get you all a pix tomorrow); also one of the .327 6-shot snubs, if I can get the ammo from Federal.

Struck a deal with Ronnie Barrett to do a whole series of DRTV videos on the big .50...this is going to be fun!

My pal Ron Norton at Chiappa, who's building me a 16-inch take-down '92 clone, is showing a beautiful Mare's Leg '92 pistol in .44 Mag, .44-40 and .45 Colt...totally impractical, but I'm the guy who bought a Super-Shorty! Also a realy nice .22 SAA-styled single action revolver at the slick price point of $160 American money.

Ran into Kenny Hackathorn and Rob Haught at Springfield and had Dave Williams, Springfield's ace gunsmith, take us through the new XD-M, with its replaceable backstraps and it's no-trigger-pull-necessary disasembly...currently in .40 (16 rounds), but, duh....

Tired now...

PS: Have asked OC tech people to explain sound problems to me. Will be discussing it in California in two weeks...

Michael Bane @ NRA Convention!

I will be signing autographs today, Saturday and Sunday at the OUTDOOR CHANNEL booth at the NRA Convention in Louisville, KY!!!

Please, drop by and chit-chat!

When I'm not at the booth, I'll be cruising the floor, looking at stuff like the new Springfield XD-M (short for M-hanced, or something like that), the new Remington AR-10 clone in .308, the finally almost available new Detonics and whatever else I can ferrett out.

Just on principle, I'll see if I can fling some poo, too!

b-HO's Election Rules

Here's a good story from our pal Rich Lowry over at NRO on Obama's election rules: Here are the Obama rules in detail:

He can’t be called a “liberal” (“the same names and labels they pin on everyone,” as Obama puts it); his toughness on the war on terror can’t be questioned (“attempts to play on our fears”); his extreme positions on social issues can’t be exposed (“the same efforts to distract us from the issues that affect our lives” and “turn us against each other”); and his Chicago background too is off-limits (“pouncing on every gaffe and association and fake controversy”). Besides that, it should be a freewheeling and spirited campaign.

Democrats always want cultural issues not to matter because they are on the least-popular side of many of them, and want patriotic symbols like the Pledge of Allegiance and flag pins to be irrelevant when they can’t manage to nominate presidential candidates who wholeheartedly embrace them (which shouldn’t be that difficult). As for “fear” and “division,” they are vaporous pejoratives that can be applied to any warning of negative consequences of a given policy or any political position that doesn’t command 100 percent assent. In his North Carolina speech, Obama said the Iraq war “has not made us safer,” and that McCain’s ideas are “out of touch” with “American values.” How fearfully divisive.

I definitely don't want to be divisive! That's why I want to be right up front and say b-HO is a discount socialist who has put forth an agenda that will lead to the destruction of the America we love. He wants to take our guns and, if elected, will do his best to gut the Second Amendment. That's not to divisive, is it? It's the truth.

I had great fun today blasting away with my "Respect My Authority" Winchester X2...what can I say? THIS YEAR, I swear, I'm going to address this SHOTGUN THING. I talked to my friend Allen Treadwell, who is just a brilliant young shotgun shooter, and Olympic shotgun master Haley Dunn, who's also way cute, about coming out to Colorado this summer to film an episode of SHOOTING GALLERY on torturing me into learning the shotgun...they're up for it, although it will probably kill me.

Jeff over at Alphecca is shopping for cheap assault weapons:

Reader Participation Time. I’ve got several firearms including my beloved Bushmaster (and another Bushmaster rifle planned) and other stuff. But. I want an arsenal of “assault weapons” before the Dementiacrats take over. Frankly, the cost counts. Okay, cash is actually in short supply.

Stop by his site and toss out some suggestions (Hint...everybody needs an AK...maybe a super el cheapo Romanian version from J&G, $349.95).

You might also waqnt to catch up on BATFE and Adventure Unlimited, the last shop refusing to give in to the bullying of that swine Michael Bloomberg. Ahab has a great summary:

The entire pro-gun community is aware of Mayor Bloomberg of New York City’s lawsuit against licensed FFLs - the lawsuit that was a result of his sending private investigators to their stores to break the law and then try and sue them for it.

You may or may not know that as of right now, there is basically one last shop standing that is refusing to give into the bullying by Mayor Bloomberg and his cronies. Adventure Outdoors is still fighting the original lawsuit, as well as having filed a counter-suit, suing Mayor Bloomberg for defamation.

The ATF throwing Adventure Outdoors under the bus pertains to the original case, which is still being fought in court. Earlier in the year, Adventure Outdoors had subpoenaed three BATFE agents to be deposed in regards to the case pending against Adventure Outdoors. After the initial subpoenas were withdrawn, the BATFE “agreed” to allow the agents to be deposed in written question - now BATFE is going back on that agreement and has filed motions to exempt the agents from their written depositions.

Morning & Assorted Lunacy

...mostly having to do with SG production issues...every so often I have to morph back into a television producer, fret heavily and sort crap.

Sorry I misspelled Stev...Steph...er, Steve's name! We had a great dinner last night, and I think you guys are going to be very happy about some of the things we talked about...some very cool things coming up for DRTV!

Interesing piece in USA Today this AM on grey parrots and intelligence. Hard to imagine that researchers still have a problem with the idea of a sentient animal. God forbid that man doesn't tower over the animal kingdom in exactly the same way that a god allegedly towers over man...so much of our view of the "animal kingdom" is tainted by an outdated sense of the "natural order of things."

Of course my grey parrot, Ripley, understands perfectly that he is the King of the World, as well as the Official Flock Leader when I'm not around. Accordingly, he spends his days ordering my Sweetie around and giving her helpful hints in daily activities. It's a miracle she hasn't batter-fried him. Ripley is, by any standards you'd care to apply, sentient...he is self-aware, conscious of time, has a good vocabulary that he can use descriptively, adapts and learns in new situations, has a limited understanding of numbers (up to 3 or 4, better than most high school students these days) and has a hobby ("collecting" odd noises...he has a prodigious memory and quite a collection).

I personally think he should run for office.

What I Learned from Willie

I note this AM that my old Texas pal Joe Nick Patoski has written the definitive biography of Willie Nelson, WILLIE NELSON: AN EPIC LIFE. Joe Nick is a superb writer and the perfect person to chronicle this exceptional life.

We all pal'ed around back in the "Outlaw Country" — sad, our lonely days and lonely nights reduced to a Wikipedia entry — drank too much Pearl and Lone Star in too many chicken wire bars, slept in a lot of dusty concrete block motels next to roadhouses and, in general, got towed along in the tail of the Willie and Waylon comet. I could have said we surfed the whiskey river, but hey...

Am in Baltimore for the Congressional Sportsmen shoot...am planning on a long night of drinking with my pal Steven Hunter to get me ready for tomorrow's shoot...