Photos - BFFs Day at the Range - Corrected Pistol Stance

It was nice to see that the shooting range was busy today, given the tragic events of yesterday. I even saw a father with his two young children, one boy around 9-10 years old, the girl perhaps 8 years old at the most, their dad diligently teaching each of them to shoot a .22 caliber rifle. There were husbands and wives there together also and groups of friends, all shooting a wide variety of firearms, safely and responsibly.

I decided to spend the day at the range with my best friend, Carmelita, whom you may remember is the friend I posted about recently when I accompanied her to purchase her very first shotgun. I've been wanting to take her out to get some experience and confidence with that shotgun, a Rock Island Armory M5, today was that day, besides, her birthday is this coming Tuesday and a day at the range was my birthday gift to her. Keep checking back on the blog this week because I shot plenty of video at the skeet/trap range, the pistol range AND the rifle range. But for this first post from today's shoot, I just wanted to highlight a couple of items.

Firstly, let's show off Carmelita's Walther P22 in an ultra-cool ACU color scheme...

Secondly, a tip for new or inexperienced shooters; pay close attention to your stance. Shooting from the correct stance can make a big difference in the accuracy of your shots. Carmelita doesn't have much range time under her belt, and you can plainly see that in her casual stance in the photo below...

Now look at her corrected stance, feet at least shoulder width apart, providing a solid, stable base. This is a huge improvement, one that requires practice and repetition in order to become habit. I noticed that as she got more and more fatigued, her stance reverted back.

And here is her shot group from the Walther P22 at 15 yards. Not bad at all. Good shooting Carmelita and happy birthday!

I brought along a wide variety of firearms for the two of us to enjoy on her birthday. 

Pictured above: Kimber Pro Carry II 9mm and Smith and Wesson M and P (nickel boron) 9mm.

Pictured above from L to R: Springfield 1911 A-1 .45, Kimber Pro Carry II .40, Smith and Wesson M and P (nickel boron) 9mm and Walther P22.

Pictured above from L to R: 1954 Tula SKS, Yugo Mauser 24/47 and Mosin Nagant M44.

Carmelita shot the SKS but she wasn't having any part of the Mauser nor the Mosin Nagant. Once she saw the power and kick coming out of those two World War Two era rifles, not to mention the sound of the blast, she said, no thanks!

I'll edit the video this week, it will include footage from the skeet/trap range where we took both of our shotguns for a spin. I'd never been skeet or trap shooting in my entire life before today. I had no idea it was so much fun! we're most definitely going again.

Connecticut Tragedy

My sincerest sympathies go out to the families and friends of the victims of the tragic Connecticut school shooting.

There's no question that a debate needs to happen about how best to prevent tragedies like this from ever happening again.

In my humble opinion, there is no way to prevent mass shootings like this from happening. There will always be evil (and insane people) in the world and it's ignorant to think that guns are ever going to disappear. I think that the only way to mitigate and stand up to evil is to have responsible, emotionally intelligent, armed citizens.

The hypothetical situation I am putting out there for debate is this...

What if a teacher at this school had been a concealed weapons permit holder and had been responsibly carrying a weapon at the time of this shooting? Yes, I am proposing the idea that teachers be allowed to conceal carry while at work.

What are the pros and cons of allowing teachers to conceal carry while at work? Or anyone in any profession for that matter.

Responsible, law-abiding citizens who carry arms aren't to be feared. I carry concealed, not because I have any desire to be a vigilante. A person can be vigilant and not be a vigilante.

The good people of the world deserve to have the right to defend themselves against evil (and insane people).

My heart is broken for these innocent victims and for those victims of previous shootings such as in Colorado and Arizona. But practical and pragmatic thought must prevail. Restriction of gun rights, outlawing "assault" weapons and high capacity magazines isn't going to prevent these sorts of tragedies. The reality is that there are far too many guns already in circulation in the world and because of that, new restrictions won't have any effect at all.

The answer lies in improving the overall mental and spiritual health of our society as a whole.

What kind of state of mind must a person be in to kill innocent children? This shooter had to be completely out of his mind! Totally insane, whether temporary or otherwise and that's where the responsible, armed citizen comes into play.

I hope I never, ever end up in a life or death situation where I come face to face with an armed killer, but if I do, I pray that I am legally and responsibly carrying my own weapon so that good, can have a fighting chance against evil.

Funny Gun Photos of the Day

These pics had me cracking up!

Enjoy.

Video - Smith and Wesson VTAC .40 and Nickel Boron 9mm Overview

Hope you enjoy my latest video which features a brief overview and disassembly of the Smith and Wesson M and P VTAC .40 and the Smith and Wesson Nickel Boron 9mm. Enjoy!

I Just Received my My Gun Diary T-Shirts - What's Your Excuse?

My first batch of T-Shirts just arrived in the mail. For starters, I ordered about 10 to give away to friends. They turned out pretty wicked cool. I'm going to order a few of the black T-Shirt designs this weekend as well.

ORDER YOUR T-SHIRTS NOW!

Machine Gun Granny

Funny gun photo of the day. Check out machine gun granny!

Dave Likes the Smith and Wesson VTAC

I'm in California for a quick weekend visit, made a point to visit my life long friend Dave and his beautiful wife and family, turns out Dave is really enjoying following the blog. He mentioned that my new Smith and Wesson VTAC .40 really caught his eye. I snapped a couple quick photos of my new baby with my iPad the night before I left on this trip, and while I'm not impressed with the image quality of the iPad camera and normally would not be inclined to post photos of such poor quality, I certainly would never deny a friend. So here's a couple pics, enjoy with the knowledge that I'll post some hi-res pics when I get back.