The Daily Microaggression

I'm working on it, anyway. At the airport in Louisville headed home after the first filming for AMERICA'S RIFLE, our Internet series on the AR-15 platform. Marshal Halloway's and my basic idea was "demystifying" the AR platform. My thinking is that after the Obama Boom there are a huge number of ARs in circulation in the hands of people who, having bought them, are now figuring out what to do with them.

In the first 6 episodes we'll step you through the AR as a self-defense tool, competition (including 3-Gun), hunting, long-range precision, maintenance and customization. Each episode will feature a technical segment on different aspects of the platform. My friend Nick Collier, who teaches DoubleStar's AR armorer classes and who can probably carve an AR out of a block of soap, will be handling our tech stuff.

Our friends at DoubleStar stepped up to fund the project. I say friends very specifically. My relationship with DoubleStar and their parent company, J&T Distributing, goes all the way back to the first season of SHOOTING GALLERY more than a dozen years ago. In that first season I decided to break a long-time taboo on outdoor television and 1) show AR platform guns in civilian hands in numerous contexts, and 2) with the Clinton Assault Weapons Ban still in place, we'd show people how to build thier own compliant AR.

It's not like it is now, with AR parts companies on every street corner. I made a blind call to J&T and told Teresa Starnes (the "T" in J&T) that I was going to have my own television show and I was going to teach people how to build and use ARs, at that point the most demonized gun ever. There was a long silence on the phone. Finally, Teresa said, "Seriously?"

LOL! But Teresa worked with me through that first build, and J&T remained a staunch supporter through the early years of the series. Not surprisingly, DoubleStar -- the complete gun side of the business -- has been a regular advertiser.

I say all this history because I think there's sometimes a substantial misunderstanding about advertising and relationships in our industry. I have read that advertising is a way of buying good will or subverting "objective" journalism. And yes, it can be both those things. But it doesn't have to be. I believe in relationships, I believe in friendship and I believe in loyalty. It means something to me that J&T was willing to help me out when I'm pretty sure Teresa, whom we lost last year, thought I was crazy as an outhouse rat.

Our host for AMERICA'S RIFLE is 3-Gun master Jeff Cramblit. Jeff shoots for DoubleStar and Hornady, among others. What attracted me to him as a host, however, was his wide-ranging interests in firearms and shooting. As a benefit, he's really great on TV.

Anyhow, Marshal and I are pretty excited. Jake Stocke, DP at AMERICAN RIFLEMAN Television, is handling videography and post, and he's great to work with.

I got home today and pretty much went straight to the range. If the weather holds, we may shoot an Appleseed on Sunday, and i still donut have the free float tube for the FAL. I could just go with either the house AR from Spike's or my 3-Gun rifle from JP, but I'd sorta like to do something a little harder…the Tavor or the little DoubleStar CCC ultra-lightweight carbine, one of my favorite ARs. I put a Burris AR-1X on the CCC go test it out…I'd been on a waiting list since the AR-1X was in such demand.

I did a quickie sight-in on the AR-1X…hopefully I'll put more rounds through it tomorrow and see how I like it before I make any decisions.