Call me Ahab

Quote of the day:

I wish these [IDPA] matches weren’t on Sundays. Its really hard for me to decide whether I want to cling to my guns, or my religion.

I lol’d.

Democrat voter fraud!

This can’t be true, because the Mainstream Media told me that only Rethuglicans steal elections!

Last night’s show was another good one - it’s good to have The Breda back and co-hosting, because honestly I’d hate talking to myself for an hour like I did two weeks ago. Here’s the player for last night’s show, where we covered competition shooting, as well as a look at the traditional activism activities of an NRA-EVC.

If you’d like to download an .mp3 copy of last night’s show, you may do so by visiting this link and clicking “Open in your default player”, or by clicking here.

On the topic of competitive shooting, we were able to cover modern bullseye pistol shooting, as well as some information on metallic silhouette, a brief glossy look at IDPA and IPSC, some talk on Steel Challenge, and finally a look at bowling pins. Honestly, I could do an entire show about IDPA and IPSC, just because of the variety of guns and gear that you can use to compete in either of these sports. We ended up focusing primarily on the Production and Stock Service Pistol classes for IPSC and IDPA simply because those are the most accessible categories. For those, you can take your Glock 17, a Fobus holster and magazine holders and run that gun. Everything you need to play those games you can buy off the shelf at your local Gander Mountain and then go and get in the game.

After we finished talking competition shooting, I spent some time talking to my friend, and NRA EVC, Sebastian of Snowflakes In Hell about traditional activism, and what us gun owners can do to get involved. With the election looming, it’s important that in this final month before the election we do everything we can to “get in the game” and push not only for the Presidential race, but for local races as well. We talked for a bit about how easy it is to lose sight of extremely important Congressional and State races because of all the focus that is being placed on the Presidential election.

As I said, last night’s show was pretty good - and although we didn’t pull in a lot of listeners do to the Presidential debate, I still strongly recommend you check it out at www.blogtalkradio.com/gunnuts - and we’ll be back next week with even more Gun Nuts radio!

[08:45] Ahab: I personally want Sen McCain to win
[08:45] Ahab: so he can unleash his robot exoskeleton
[08:45] Ahab: and fight Vladimir Putin to the death
[08:45] jessica: that’s a good reason
[08:46] Ahab: because let’s be honest guys
[08:47] Ahab: we all know that Barack Obama doesn’t have a robot exoskeleton with missile packs

Before I offer any debate-related commentary, I have to couch these statements in that I only watched the last half-hour of the debate.  For the first hour, I was hosting Gun Nuts Radio as I do every Tuesday night at 9pm Eastern time.  From what I understand from reading the punditry, everyone is saying that McCain lost the debate, which would mean that the first 2/3rds of the debate must have been terrible for Sen. McCain, because the last third that I saw was a clear win for him.

The last half hour of the debate was mostly taken up with a couple of questions about Russia, during which Obama stumbled badly.  McCain was able to make very clear and concise points about supporting our allies and opposing Russia’s aggression, while also addressing the fact that Russia controls a large amount of the energy to Europe.  Obama  looked out of his depth on the Russia issue.

On the very last question, McCain also looked better than Obama.  The question was “what don’t you know and how will you learn it” - Obama tried to say “well my wife will always remind me of what I don’t know”; but instead of sounding funny it just came off as fake.  McCain came back with “I don’t know what the future will hold, but America is awesome so let’s kick some ass” (slightly paraphrased - ed) which to me felt like a much more honest, genuine response.

Like I said though, I only saw the latter 1/3rd of the debate - since Republican strategists are saying that McCain didn’t win, I have to assume that the first 2/3rds of the debate were an absolute train wreck.

I now have a shirt, which I will officially sponsor in my capacity as “the guy who shoots the hostage”.

Check out The Ahab Special t-shirt that Robb made, and maybe buy a few.

Tonight on Gun Nuts Radio at 9pm eastern time, Breda and I will be giving an introduction to competition shooting.  The idea behind the show will be to give a newbie shooter a good idea of what they need in terms of guns and gear to get into one or more of any of the various pistol shooting sports.

Additionally, we’ll be featuring an interview with an NRA-EVC from one of the battleground states during the later portion of the show.  You can take part in the discussion live at 9pm Eastern time by calling in to the show at (347) 539-5436.  Again, we’re live on the air at www.blogtalkradio.com/gunnuts starting at 9pm Eastern time.

Now, Breda and I realized this morning that the show would be on air at the same time as the presidential debate, so we understand if you blow us off to listen to McCain and Obama repeat the same talking points over and over again.  That’s why the show will be available to download, same as always, the following morning.

But tune in tomorrow night live at 9pm Eastern time, to www.blogtalkradio.com/gunnuts for all you need to know to get into the shooting sports!

Now that is my kind of dinner date.

On a recent Friday night there, “double action” meant going through the buffet line twice; a “scalloped receiver” described a patron with a plate full of potatoes; and “full stock” meant that, in addition to iced tea and lemonade, cold beer and wine were on the menu.

So goes the evening during Dinner & Targets, a 2-year-old monthly gathering for couples featuring indoor and outdoor shooting, followed by a catered dinner.

This is in Columbus Ohio, which is actually close enough to me that I’m seriously considering attending one of these events in the future.  I mean come on, who wouldn’t want to spend a night shooting some guns then having a catered meal?

At the IDPA National Championships this year, NSSF put on one of their popular First Shots programs, and to hear the story it was a pretty huge success.

A full page ad in the match book informed competitors of the First Shots seminars and many volunteered assistance when they saw the turnout. IDPA area coordinators along with COR-BON, Smith &Wesson and Elite Operator Tactical team shooters were on hand to provide expert advise and work one-on-one with the shooters.

A school teacher who attended with her entire family said she thought the “seminar was awesome!” She was so enthusiastic about shooting her first bulls-eye that the entire family went on to spend quite a bit more time at the side matches shooting larger calibers.

Yeeeeesssss….bring those new shooters into the game.  Obviously, since I shoot IDPA, I’m excited to see that IDPA is working directly with First Shots to put on a program like this which will help attract the new shooters to the game.  I think that by introducing them to the shooting sports while surrounded by the competition environment also increases our chances of keeping that person as a shooter, which to my mind is almost more important than making a new shooter.

IDPA and NSSF should get well-deserved congratulations for this sort of event, it’s exactly what we need to ensure that we preserve our shooting heritage.

Read the press release!  It’s pretty cool, actually.  MidwayUSA and Aimpoint are donating $100 to NRA-ILA for every Aimpoint CompM4 sight that is sold to NRA members by MidwayUSA through the end of 2008.

You know, an Aimpoint would make a great Christmas gift for the Tacticool-Teddy in your family.