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Blogshoot!

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Just a reminder to my Arizona readers that there’ll be a shoot in Casa Grande next Saturday, 1/24 at the Elsy Pearson Public Shooting Range in Casa Grande beginning at 0700 and running until we get tired and go home. 

Same as last year, the range opens at 7:00AM. There are no rangemasters. There are no chairs – bring something to sit on. The firing line is covered and there are concrete shooting benches, however.


The city has porta-potties out there on a permanent basis, so we don’t have to rent our own (but bring your own TP just in case.)

The rules are pretty simple:


No explosives, no .50BMG rifles, no tracers, no incendiaries, clean up after yourself, don’t be a dick.

The rifle range is 300 yards deep with the first berm at 200.  The mountains that form the ultimate backstop are another 300 yards out and farther.  The ground there is reinforced concrete disguised as sun-baked clay. Forget about any target stand that needs to stick into the ground, it ain’t happenin’ short of bringing a sledgehammer. Steel and targets that don’t need taping are best, but if you bring something frangible be prepared to clean it up after it’s blown to pieces. And the benches are funky-shaped. Regular camping chairs are marginal, stools and folding chairs are better. I bring a folding chair, a target stand made of 2″ PVC pipe, and my 1″ thick AR500 plate steel swingers. I also have some .22 rimfire rated rolling targets made of steel, and some polymer self-sealing targets.  I think I still have a case of bowling pins, and some clay pigeons.

It appears turnout will be light – I’ve gotten five confirmed replies so far, and a couple of maybes.

I recommend you bring:  water or other non-alcoholic beverages (no alcohol on the range), sunscreen, ear and eye protection.  Ladies, don’t wear anything low-cut or open-necked.  Yes, I’m sure it looks lovely, but you don’t want to catch hot brass down in there.  OPTIONAL:  Something to shoot with, and something to shoot AT.  If you’re a reader or a non-gun blogger interested in coming to a off-the-cuff funshoot, please come on down!  I imagine most of us will be bringing multiple firearms and lots of ammo, but if you don’t, well, I’m willing to let people shoot my stuff (with my ammo), and I’m willing to let them shoot at my targets.

If you’re coming, please let us know in comments.

UPDATE:  Looks like seven or eight of us so far.

Still Playing at Quora.com

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The question was asked,

How realistic is the average gun rights enthusiast about their ability to use their firearm for self-defense/ home protection without being a danger to themselves or bystanders?

I have a friend who is a gun enthusiast, and while he is otherwise intelligent (PhD), I simply don’t trust his judgment or competence with a firearm. He is paranoid, can’t read situations well, and is not particularly coordinated.

If I was present at bank robbery, I would feel *less* safe knowing he was armed.
Is this an unusual case?

I responded to one of the comments.

There was a response from an anonymous user.

Esoteric Gun Pr0n

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The 480 Achilles.  Quote from the link:

The 480 Achilles is the product of 5 slightly warped minds, Lewis Ballard, Aaron Bittner, John Killebrew, Doug Mann and me, Jim Taylor.  The project was a collaborative effort upon which we pooled our brains.  The puddle which resulted from this pooling may have been shallow but at least it was slippery.

photo achilles_right.jpg
photo 480-Achilles.jpg

Quote of the Day – Mike Rowe Edition

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Mike Rowe (of Dirty Jobs fame, and the HMFIC of mikeroweWORKS.com and Profoundly Disconnected) often posts at Facebook.  From one of his more recent comes today’s QotD:

Q – Last month on NPR, I thought I heard you say negative advertising was a serious threat to democracy. Did I hear you right? Tony Libonate

A – I don’t recall saying that, but I don’t disagree. Negative ads are dangerous because, in spite of all the vitriol, they’re actually very passive. They don’t ask us to vote for Candidate X; they ask us NOT to vote for Candidate Y. It’s basically a call to inaction, and the unintended consequence is killing us. Consider:

If Coke spends a billion dollars trying to convince America that Pepsi has shit in it, fewer Americans will buy Pepsi. Likewise, if Pepsi spends a billion dollars saying the same thing about Coke, fewer Americans will buy Coke. When the dust settles, one brand will still outsell the other. But along the way, millions of Americans will conclude that Pepsi and Coke are BOTH tainted, and stop drinking soda altogether. And so it goes with the electorate. Over the years, Republicans and Democrats have convinced us that the other side is full of shit. Now, congressional approval is under 15%, and voter turnout is at an all-time low. That’s not a coincidence.

As others have observed, “Democracy works for those who show up.”  Making sure as few as possible show up, as Mike says, is not a coincidence.  It’s a strategy.

Central Arizona Blogshoot?

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It’s become a sort of tradition, at least since 2010.  Here’s a short list of Arizona bloggers I know of who are still active.  If there’s anyone I should add, let me know.  Want to meet up at the Elsy Pearson Public Range in Casa Grande on Saturday, 1/24 and throw some lead downrange?

That’s fifteen.  Remember, they don’t all have to be gun bloggers, just bloggers who might be interested in going to a shoot. And you don’t have to be a blogger, either, just a reader.

So who wants to go shooting?