It's only 8AM, and I'm already in FULL FIRE DRILL mode...OUTDOOR CHANNEL team member Tequila called in sick, trapped in some Texas bathroom like Lindsay after a big bender huffing glue and eating bootleg Vicodin from Pakistan, which happens to be right next door to Umgahwahstan, in case you slept through your high school geography class. Tequila's just a bad case of the flu, although he's thinking of commandeering a white GMC and driving it helter-skelter to Houston, where he's going to hurl.
So, before I get back to mining my rolodex for another shooter, here's an interesting story from AzCentral on the decline in hunting and fishing:
A fourth-grader once told journalist and author Richard Louv that he liked to play indoors because that's where the electrical outlets are.I know you don't want to hear me blather about this, but notice what's missing from this article — any mention of the boom in the shooting sports. We are in the position of walking around a desert-full of parched people with a bucket of water, but nobody wants it. The shooting sports are the solution to the decline in hunting...more people in shooting translates into a bigger universe from which to recruit new hunters, as well as buttressing the RKBA battle.
[...]
But there are a myriad of reasons why people don't hunt and fish.
Some of the reasons discussed at the meeting were complex rules and regulations, reduced hunting opportunities, age restrictions, a lack of encouragement or help for older hunters, increasing urbanization of the population, rising license and permit costs, difficult access to recreational lands and a perception that hunting and fishing is cruel and inhumane.
"We try to placate the public by becoming invisible," Keck told the group.
Speaking of the RKBA battle, I made a scary — for me, at least — decision today...I decided to be conciliatory as opposed to confrontational in one of our on-going battles. My reflext is to always go for the throat, which I realize doesn't always produce the desired results...we'll see. I hope I'm not writing a piece next week on what an idiot I was!
Michael,
ReplyDeleteAnything thats good for shooting is good for hunting.
Anything good for hunting is good for shooting.
It's that simple.
Keep up the good fight!
Gerry
Get Holy Terror there...quick.
ReplyDeleteYou're right....but the industry hasn't shifted its mental models yet. They are still mired in the 1950s.
ReplyDeleteKind of like the political parties. The Republicans think it's 1977, the Dems think it's 1967.
Anyone know where we can get antique license tags in bulk?
How many years ago was it we talked about this as a problem? Focusing only onb hunting is NOT the true path.
ReplyDeleteThe resistance to change is tremendous. Look at how the AR's are now being embraced as hunting rifles instead of looking at them as sporting/target rifles.
Guy
The hunting sports do not have self defense as one of it's components. The shooting sports, however do.
ReplyDeleteIf you listen to those in the hunting fraternity, you'll learn many of them have scant interest in anything having to do with self defense. What little this large segment does have is most often addressed by their indicating their sporting shotgun as sufficient for this task.
There are shooters who enjoy the tools and then there are hunters who sue arms as tools to accomplish that which they enjoy.
Walt R.
Well, that's a good question! I suppose that the MSM, which is all there were back in the late 1960s, didn't have the resources to cover every stupid individual who experiemented with mary-jah-wana, since that included about 1/3 of the entire United States.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I did think I did okay...I survived long enough to come to my senses. The irony is, of course, that I wasn't able to save my parents, both of whom were addicts. I got a ringside seat for the implosion of two lives, everything they dreamed, wanted, aspired to, loved meticulously ground into hamburger at the end of a needle while maintaining a facade of middle class suburban respectability. I grew to hate all the smiling, concerned doctors who were willing to write endless prescriptions for Talwin, Demerol, Dalaudid for the right fee. My father died hating me because I kept him away from his drugs and his pushers.
SO yeah, I'm an asshole...forgive me for having nothing but seething contempt for spoiled Hollywood brats who have the talent and money to live whatever dreams their shallow intellects can conjure up but choose instead to glorify a culture of death. Don't ask me to mourn when they're scraped off PCH with a spatula, either...
Michael B
I too grew up with a parent who was an alcoholic and a drug addict. As much as I would like to blame his "choices," I fear that addicts have no choice. Their habit condemns them to a life of misery over which they have no control. Ms, Lohan's relapses are only spectacular because she is a celebrity. Millions of other addicts experience the same fall everyday. Fewer than 30% stay sober. This statistic is generous, btw, because there is still little objective research on addiction. Some people say the number is more like 10%. So, Lohan is probably screwed for life (as are the rest of her brethren). Should we feel sorry for them? Should we revel in their misfortunes? I say no to both responses. We as a society though need to do some soul searching as to why we think the habit of intoxication is appropriate social behavior until someone gets hurt or killed. Of course, by that time, it is too late to stop.
ReplyDelete