Friday, September 12, 2008

Michael B Catch-Up

Lots of things going on that I wanted to give you all heads-ups on (gee..is that an awkward construction or what?).

First, I have been added at the last possible minute to the National Shooting Sports Foundation's Shooting Sports Task Force. There was some resistance to having me on this Task Force...I suppose the "troublemaker" moniker will follow me forever, as well it should...I do, however, represent Outdoor Channel, so in the end it was hard to keep me off.

Frankly, I'm a little concerned that not one single handgun company is on the Task Force, a significant concern since the original NSSF study was biased badly against handguns and the handgun sports. Luckily, USPSA is on the Task Force, and them and I are on the same page. I will keep you informed on the goings-on!

I'll be heading to D.C. Monday for the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation annual banquet. I'm hoping I can get in a couple of hours on Tuesday morning over at the NRA, where we've got bit stuff to discuss — the overhauling of the Bianchi Cup for 2009, for instance. I'll be wearing a suit, so I'll take a picture for the archives...

I pick up my Ruger #1 450/400 3-inch Nitro today...my FFL guy, Grant, left me a message that read, "Your artillery piece is here." I'm stoked...darn thing costs like a .50 BMG to shoot! Hornady has the ammo.

BTW, speaking of ammo, I hear Federal is cooking up a special .410 buckshot cartridge specifically for the Taurus Judge .45 Colt/.410 revolver. It's supposed to really rock...let you know when I can lay my hands on some. Ought to be perfect for my weird Bond derringer as well.

We're thinking of making the Whittington Center the home base for both SHOOTING GALLERY and COWBOYS, filming maybe 4 shows per series a season there...in effect, we've been doing that with SG, so I thought I might formalize the situation.

Spent last night imbibing adult beverages at the hotel in California with Brother Michael Wadell, Jim Zumbo, the lovely Aurelia Riley from The Catch and Cameron Hanes from the Elk Chronicles. There was the usual little moaning about the road, but mostly we talked about how very lucky we are to be able to do this and even get paid.

Gotta get in the wind!

Check out the DRTV coverage of the USPSA Nationals in Tulsa, too! Great job, Marshal and Paul Erhardt!

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Give Zumbo our luv! ;<

Ratcatcher 55

Anonymous said...

How many handgun people are on this task force? Hope there's more than just 2?

Anonymous said...

You and uspsa? Stacked deck! Old boys network at it again? STINKS!!! the mushroom

Anonymous said...

The NSSF is an entity of the gun manufacturers. So to say that the handgun guys are not on the task force is a little disingenuous. Like SW when they decided to sacrifice the civilian market to make nice nice with the politicians, anyone that thinks the gun companies are allied with the civilian market is fooling themselves. These companies are out there to make money. If it happens to be with civilians so be it. If not then the same. So be it. There are lots of gov't, LEO and international contracts to be had. I don't trust the gun companies any more than the Brady folks.

Anonymous said...

Jim Zumbo? JIM ZUMBO? JIMMMMM ZUMMMMBOOOOO?
I'd recommend distancing yourself from him. There are many of us that believe that he does not represent us as a legitimate segement of society, even as hunters alone. "Canned hunts", elitist attitude, etc. He plays us right into the anti's hands. Then, there's that little "assault rifle" thing.
It's painful to say, but it's how I feel.

Anonymous said...

I certainly would not drink with Jim Zumbo. I read his blog, and despite his later pleas, he meant every word he wrote about black rifles.

Zumbo isn't worth a bucket of warm piss. Why associate with such people?

Anonymous said...

Any chance Aurelia Riley is interested in going shooting in Florida anytime soon?

Jerry The Geek said...

"I'm a little concerned that not one single handgun company is on the Task Force, a significant concern since the original NSSF study was biased badly against handguns and the handgun sports."

Uh ... yes.

I recognize the difficulty here, and I'm glad that you and USPSA are at least representing the handgun milieu.

Still, I can't help wishing that they couldn't extend the hand of comradeship to Dave Skinner of STI.

Of course, he probably wouldn't be able to find the time. He's too busy traveling around the world, selling STI handguns to those who care enough to send the very best.