NEWS

States Crown Youth State Trap Champions

Several states have crowned their Youth State Trap Champions. Those young champions will move on to compete in the SCTP National Championships July 31-August 5 at the World Shooting and Recreation Complex in Sparta, Illinois. Those teams include Alabama, Illinois, Michigan, Florida, and North Carolina.

Benelli Ultra Light Captures Outdoor Life's 2008 Editor's Choice Award

The new Benelli Ultra Light 20-gauge shotgun has been selected as the winner of the Outdoor Life Editor's Choice Award for 2008 in the shotgun category. Outdoor Life annually recognizes the best and most innovative "outdoor" products.

Nosler Lead-Free E-Tip Now Available In .270 And 7mm

Nosler, Inc. is pleased to introduce two calibers to the lead-free E-Tip® lineup. Now available in .270 130-grain and 7mm 150-grain, Nosler's patent pending E-Tip is built on a highly concentric gilding metal frame, which provides unsurpassed penetration and weight retention.

Free Gun Locks Available Nationwide During Gun Safety Classes Classes Available At Bass Pro Shops On August 9

Bass Pro Shops will offer free gun safety seminars at 47 stores at 10 a.m. (local time except in Canada) Saturday, August 9. The first 100 people to complete the course at each store will be given a Project ChildSafe gun lock.

Steamboat Springs Shooting Range Offers Residents a Chance to Take 'First Shots'

Three Quarter Circles Sporting Clays is offering area residents a free introduction to shotgun shooting and firearm safety at a First Shots Seminar to be held July 13 at 8 a.m. at the range in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Class size is limited and pre-registration required.

International BB Gun Championship Match This Weekend In Bowling Green, Kentucky

This weekend in Bowling Green, Kentucky the forty-third International BB Gun Championship Match sponsored by Daisy and the U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce will get underway. Hundreds of young people will be competing for medals in this NRA-sanctioned match.

Shooting USA Profiles the US Olympic Shooting Team

This week, Shooting USA on Outdoor Channel presents an hour long special on the nation's top shooting athletes. The special coverage will introduce you to the members of the US Shooting Team, both the athletes and the coaches who train and advise them.

Tennessee Holds Second Junior Olympic State Championships

Tennesse has selected their candidates o the National Shotgun Junior Olympic Championships to be held in Colorado Springs, Colorado on August 9-16. Ten athletes out of the 162 registered for the Second Annual Tennessee Junior Olympics will compete in the National Junior Olympics along with the first place teams in Wobble Trap and International Skeet.

Kimber Makes Record NRA Foundation Firearms Donation

Kimber, the world's largest producer of 1911-style pistols, has made one of the largest donations in NRA Foundation history, some $600,000 of fine firearms that will be utilized by both The NRA Foundation and Friends of NRA program. Given the enthusiasm with which NRA members support their organization, total proceeds could exceed $1,000,000.

Mossberg Donates Shotguns to Priority Youth Programs

O.F. Mossberg & Sonce, Inc. has donated shotguns to the Mid-America Council of the Boy Scouts of America, the Crater Lake Council, BSA and the Michigan District of the Royal Rangers.

Guns & Ammo TV Embeds Fortier With Troops

Guns & Ammo TV kicks off the 2008 season with an exclusive first look at two new semiauto pistols and then introduces its new On The Road segment by putting a camera in the hands of writer David Fortier is imbedded with the U.S. Army's 7th Cavalry in Iraq to give viewers a first-hand look at how our troops are faring in the war against terrorism, only on Outdoor Channel.

Piatt Takes Another Title

Bruce Piatt continued his winning streak by taking the Tactical Iron division of the United States Practical Shooting Association 2008 Area 8, Multi Gun Championship. Piatt again gave his SunBusters shooting glasses credit for his performance, making it easier for him to see his targets clearly and precisely.

Bagakis Takes Area 1 Revolver Title

John Bagakis of Livermore, California won five of the 12 stages and lead the field the entire way to capture the Area 1 USPSA 2008 Revolver Division Championship.

Thomasie Wins Third Consecutive USPSA Event

June was a very good month for Sgt. Travis Tomasie of the U.S. Army Marksmanship Unit (USAMU). He picked up his third Limited Division title at the United States Practical Shooting Association's (USPSA) Area 1 Championships held June 26-29 in Sherwood, Oregon, following wins in Area 5 and Area 7 Regional matches.

Fisher Defends USPSA Area 1 Limited-10 Title

Randy Fisher of New Westminster, British Columbia successfully defended his Limited-10 Championship at the United States Practical Shooting Association's (USPSA) Area 1 match.

USPSA Prez Takes Top Spot In Area 1 Open Division

They may not have played 'Hail to the Chief' but the President of the United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA), Michael Voigt, captured the Open Division title at the Area 1 Championships held June 26-29 in Sherwood, Oregon.

Draughn Grabs Single Stack Title At USPSA Area 1 Match

Bret Draughn of Peoria, Arizona won the 2008 Single Stack Division Championship at the United States Practical Shooting Association's (USPSA) Area 1 championships.

California's Brad Holt Wins USPSA Area 1 Production Title

Kingsburg, California's Brad Holt took an early lead and held onto it to win the Production Division Championship at the United States Practical Shooting Association's (USPSA) Area 1 match held June 26-29 in Sherwood, Oregon.

Petzal Named Full-Time Rifles Editor Of Field & Stream

David E. Petzal, a 36-year veteran of the Field & Stream becomes the full-time rifles editor, effective July 28, 2008. Petzal will continue to author the magazine's monthly rifles column, contribute weekly to the Gun Nut blog, oversee all of Field & Stream's firearm related product testing, and contribute to feature stories.

FEATURE

Independence Day A Welcome Relief

Nearly a week after the Supreme Court apparently reversed the rotation of the earth, changed night into day and set the forces of evil loose on an unsuspecting mankind with their affirmation of an average American citizen's individual right to keep and bear arms, the caterwauling of the anti-gun community seems, if anything, to be increasing.

Everyone from the Brady Center to the New York Times has contributed. Before the ruling, I had no idea that simply reaffirming the Second Amendment would release each of the hounds of hell to utterly destroy Western civilization.

Oak Park, Illinois Town Manager Tom Barwin, said "it's completely befuddling that our Supreme Court would be in alliance with gangbangers." Barwin, incidentally, is a former police officer.

FBI Director Robert Mueller checked in with his own observation on the Heller decision while speaking Monday at a convention of the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Administrators, The ruling, Mueller says "throws a lot of things up in the air." In fact, he said, the ruling "may harm efforts to deter violent crime" - adding that he hoped college campuses would continue to "be weapons free."

In the meantime, my friend Tom Gresham is pushing the idea of the industry doing something special for the six original plaintiffs in the landmark lawsuit.

His idea is to get the firearms industry to create special commemorative firearms for the six. Since the District seems intent on keeping their ban on semiautomatic pistols, it would seem revolvers might be the logical handgun of choice. It would also seem fitting and proper that each of these commemorative handguns start with a serial number containing some variation of 478 F.3d 370401 - the case citation on the original Parker v. District of Columbia suit.

We could also personalize them further with an engraved message - maybe "right of the people..to keep and bear arms" on the barrel or maybe "we affirm the judgement…" (the final line of the Supreme Court Opinion).

It's not "glory or death" or "molon labe" or one of those victory-or-death type messages, because the right of the people didn't die in a glorious scene from an action movie, it was reaffirmed by thoughtful people examining the facts in a rational manner.

For once, it seems facts trumped emotion.

Speaking of facts…Michael Bane's bopping the Sacramento Bee for a little media mis-speak regarding firearms, deaths, suicide and Japan.

Huh? OK, the Bee recently ran an editorial saying "30,000 Americans die every year from gun violence, a gun death toll greater than anywhere in Europe or Japan." Pardon the pun, but that's, well, dead wrong. As Michael points out, there were 33,093 suicides in Japan last year. That's larger than the gun death total in the United States (incidentally, the US number includes suicides, homicides and accidents). Since Japan's population is approximately half that of the United States, it would seem appropriate to quote Michael on this one "Plod on, oh Ignoramus Rex. Oblivion awaits."

Did anyone mention emotion usually trumps facts?

And finally, before we start the long holiday weekend, a puzzlement regarding the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing. In virtually every other sport, television, print, radio and "new media" are being bombarded with the mico-stories of the athletes.

So where are our Olympic shooters?

Nowhere to be seen.

As an industry, we carp about not getting a fair shake in the mainstream, yet we've not done anything out of the ordinary to let our own constituency know we have some of the world's best shooters headed to Beijing -and their stories are uniquely American.

We have shooters who have emerged from our youth programs and moved on to be world record holders. But we're not seeing Vince Hancock's face plastered across our industry. Neither is Kim Rhode a household name - despite having won a gold medal in a sport that was eliminated and then, coming back to win a medal in a different discipline.

Those are "Chariots of Fire" type stories, but we're not telling them.

Don't get me wrong, we're no less guilty of ignoring the stories of our individual shooters than anyone else, but having come back from the 2008 Shooting Sports Summit, it's apparent we're not following our own advice and playing to our strengths.

In today's "millennial generation" we were told, it's all about personal excellence, personal security, taking individual responsibility and being a better citizen than the previous generation. And the key to bringing new participants into shooting, be it archery or air rifle, free pistol or shotgun- was to make it attractive to the next generation. Attractiveness to the next generation is based on individual appeal.

It seems we talk too-much about the tools and not enough about the people using them. As one corporate imaging commercial used to say "our people make the difference."

This year, more than any years in quite some time, shooters should have an especially good feeling about this holiday - and the wisdom of the men who risked everything they had - including their lives- to bring independence to their brand-new country.

After all, for the first time since the Second Amendment of the Constitution was written, we have seen a clear reaffirmation of our individual rights- despite considerable pressure having been brought in an attempt to persuade the Supreme Court to decide otherwise. Some say a 5-4 decision was a "narrow win" - but it is a win - for every American - whether they realize and appreciate it or not.

Have a great Independence Day holiday - we'll be back next Monday.

--Jim Shepherd