NEWS

Umarex Hires Out Of Bounds For Creative

Umarex USA, supplier of sporting air guns and high quality small bore firearms, has announced the naming of Out of Bounds Creative as the agency of record for Umarex USA's firearm lines.

Women On Target Clinic to be held in Ridgeville, South Carolina

The Palmetto Gun Club will be holding a Women On Target® Instructional Shooting Clinic on May 17 in Ridgeville, South Carolina. The Women On Target® program helps create opportunities for women by encouraging, educating, and mentoring women new to recreational shooting and hunting sports.

Follow The Bianchi Cup Online

Readers can follow 2009 30th Anniversary NRA National Action Pistol Championship which will take place in Columbia, Missouri, May 18-23 online with results, photos and features on competitors at NRABlog.com.

Traditions Introduces The New Vortek

Traditions Performance Firearms, known for their extremely accurate and dependable muzzleloaders, introduces the new Vortek. Adding to their innovative line of break open muzzleloaders featuring a newly designed break open action and alloy frame with a "drop-out" trigger assembly designed for easy cleaning.

NRA Names Scoutten 2008 Independent Recruiter Of The Year

The National Rifle Association (NRA) has presented Shooting USA host, producer and NRA recruiter Jim Scoutten with the 2008 Independent Recruiter of the Year award.

Vogel Leads Team EOTAC To 5 Titles At SC IDPA

Robert Vogel, a police officer from Wapakoneta, Ohio, won the Stock Service Pistol title, finished high overall and led Team EOTAC to a total of five titles at the South Carolina IDPA State Championship held April 25 in Gaston, South Carolina.

Connie Smotek Wins Bronze Medal in Cairo

Two-time Olympian Connie Smotek (Bryan, Texas) won the third medal for the U.S. at the 2009 ISSF World Cup for Shotgun when she claimed the bronze in the Women's Skeet event.

FEATURE

Big Week Ahead

Tomorrow, it's wheels up for Arizona and a week of concentrating on two of my favorite things: guns and the firearms industry. The first part of my favorites will involve a visit to Gunsite, the famous shooting school for the military, law enforcement and civilians (like me). One of my friends calls it "Disneyland for shooters." With more than 2,000 acres of facilities, Gunsite has been one of the primo places for top-end shooting instruction since it was founded by the legendary Lt. Col. Jeff Cooper in 1976.

Gunsite, training for everyone from wannabes to warfighters. Gunsite photo

Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing the high Sonoran desert, especially since the weather forecast is for highs in the seventies as opposed to the hundreds about two hours away in Phoenix. Fortunately, my work in Phoenix will be indoors.

We'll be shooting more video for Guns & Gear at Gunsite as we prepare for our premiere in July. We'll keep you posted on that.

And then it's down to Phoenix for the NRA's 2009Annual meeting. This year, there will be plenty of mid-year product rollouts, and we'll keep you up-to-date as they're announced. We know at least one established company will be introducing another entry into the "modern rifle" category, and there are a host of new optics and accessories to keep the thirty thousand or so NRA members in attendance amused. We're also looking forward to hearing the keynotes from a pair of celebrities who take pride in being both conservative and accurate in their work: John Stossel and Colonel Oliver North.

And we're looking forward to seeing other standup NRA members including the Ted Nugent, Wayne LaPierre, Chris Cox and others. We'll also spend a couple of minutes talking with our friends and colleagues at a pre-NRA get together to plan some media strategies as we continue to fight to dispel many of the misleading "facts" about firearms and firearms owners.

In short, it's time to hit the road again to see what's happening in other parts of the country. The NRA meetings always create their own energy, and we are working to translate that potential energy into a kinetic force for guns and gun owners.

And speaking of kinetic energy, we're pleased to report that one of the worst pieces of antigun legislation in quite some time has been put in the equivalent of a dormant file by the California State Assembly. Los Angeles democratic assemblyman Kevin De Leon had introduced AB962, a measure that would have prohibited the transfer of more than 50 rounds of ammunition -per month- by individuals or by stores to individuals. It would also have licensed and taxed anyone selling ammunition commercially, and mandated background checks on anyone buying ammo.

If that's not enough, it would have required a thumbprint of each purchaser, and have banned all mail-order sales.

As others have so accurately observed, it would have been a program that was virtually unmanageable - designed to harass, tax and discriminate against legal gun owners and firearms dealers.

I used the word "dormant" to describe the file where AB962 is now parked because it could - theoretically - be brought back up in the future. Seems gun owners need to find a way to put a tombstone over this piece of feel-good, do-nothing legislation.

We'll keep you posted.

-- Jim Shepherd