Here’s A Target Rich Environment!

by Todd Walker

As most of you know, I don’t advertise on my site. Not in the traditional sense. I do promote products that I find useful and of high quality from time to time. This is one of those times.

First, I have no financial interest in any product I promote here. The Target Source is no different. I’ve mentioned Clark Ellard’s targets before here. He makes his targets at his home in his shop from AR500 steel. I’ve shot other “walking” targets before that were cheaply made. That shooting experience made me want to go back to shooting tin cans off a log.

Clark’s targets are made here in the U.S.A. with the best materials. I’ve gotten to know him over the past few months and can attest to his character, business practices, and customer satisfaction. He’s an avid supporter of our 2nd Amendment. His background in construction allows him to customize targets, shooting houses, gun storage safes for vehicles and homes, and even safe rooms if you’re in the market for one.

With the squeeze placed on family budgets these days, you might be thinking shooting targets are down on my wish list of preparedness items. Every family should prioritize when prepping. You know the three areas experts parade out: Beans, bullets, and band aids. Great advice. But what are those bullets for? They’re a tool, like your gun, of self-defense, survival, and … family fun!

Looking at the crazy spike in ammo and gun sales since Barack Hussein’s re-election, coupled with the Newtown shooting hysteria, millions of Americans who have squeezed a trigger ran out and bought guns and ammo. Smart move. Now it’s time to train with your new tool.

No amount of watching the “Die Hard” movies will make you a proficient shootist. Like any other skill, you must practice the fundamentals. One of the best ways is to make range time a family event. If you are a gun ‘newbie’, get the proper training for yourself. Then introduce your kids to this right of passage. Watching Clark’s young son plinking a target with his lever-action .22, quite accurately, made me smile and reminisce.

I was fortunate, like so many others growing up last century (makes me sound old), to have parents that taught me how to shoot. Back then, my daddy would haul a load of trash up the dirt road to the dump. Sounds like the story line from Alan Jackson’s song “Drive.” I’d always tag along. He’d let me drive his old truck with a three-on-the-tree, too. He backed the truck up to the pit, we got out, I loaded the shotgun, and the fun began. Daddy would throw bottles into the sky for me to shoot. That’s where I learned wing shooting. Thanks for the memories, Daddy!

Drive (For Daddy Gene) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I don’t recommend that practice today. If you don’t have a trash dump to shoot bottles and cans, I’d recommend these quality steel targets.

They’re so much more fun than shooting holes in paper. With ever hit, there’s immediate feedback. The target ‘pings’ and moves. You know you hit your mark. No need to grab optics to confirm your accuracy. They’re a great way to keep new shooters on the range, and adds variety for experienced marksmen. For less than the price of dinning out with your family, you can purchase one of the plinkster targets. You won’t be unhappy. Plus, the little ones will thank you for introducing them to my favorite past-time.

You can click on the logo at the top of this page and you’ll be directed to Clark’s new website – The Target Source. His site is new and will be adding a price list soon. Until then, you can contact him via phone on his website.

If you’re not totally satisfied with his targets (or any product he builds), he’ll make it right. If you decide to buy from Clark, tell him I sent you. I’d love to hear your feedback.

Happy shooting!

Follow me on Twitter for the latest on our journey to self-reliance, preparedness, and resilient living: @SurvivalSherpa

Related articles

• Quality USA Made Steel Target Review and Video (survivalsherpa.wordpress.com)
• DHS trains with ‘No Hesitation Targets’ (americanclarion.com)

Carry Tools of Protection, ALWAYS!

by Todd Walker

Just got back from a little R&R with the Dirt Road Girl. Very refreshing!

I just checked my news sources and learned about the shooting at the Batman screening. What a senseless tragedy. Sympathies and prayers to the families and survivors.

Let the gun grabbing begin. Each time a crazed moron goes on a shooting rampage, talking heads do what they do and call for disarming the general public. Only police should carry deadly weapons. The over-reaction has begun. Expect TSA style gropings coming to a theater near you. It’s for our ‘safety’ citizens. The sad part is that many welcome and want this kind of ‘security’. Rainbows and candy canes all around. That’s why I don’t watch any TV news.

 

While on our little get-away, DRG and I spent every morning and evening walking on the beach. We’re not huge sun worshipers for medical reasons. We do l0ve the ocean and sand. Doesn’t this pose a problem with concealed carry? Nope. I was packing when we kicked the waves washing on shore, fished off the pier, and picked up seashells. We joke about me carrying at times. But, you never know.

I bought DRG a pocket pistol a few years ago for Christmas. She thought they were ‘cute’. I have to agree. However, after shooting the Ruger LCP, she decided to stick with her revolver. I inherited the little gun… dang it! We call her “Lucy”. She’s easy to conceal in a pocket or inside a waist line. With the right amount of cleavage, a bra might work. She accompanies me everywhere I’m legally able to bring my little friend – like the beach. [Don’t forget to clean thoroughly after exposure to salt water atmosphere]

I don’t patronize businesses that proudly sport their “Gun Free” signs. Private property is private property and I will respect their wishes by not going inside. Here’s the exception: I have to leave Lucy at home when I go to my teaching job. It’s a weapon free zone; a.k.a. “Victim Zone.” I wondered how the shooter was able to do so much damage in a packed theater. I’m sure there had to be a few concealed permit holders there. Why didn’t they produce their weapon and ventilate the mad man? Oh, the theater is a “Gun Free Zone.” Like me, permit holders a law abiding clan. I guess the shooter didn’t see the sign.

Please don’t take that last statement as making light of this deadly encounter. I’m simply saying that we all have to make a choice and have a plan for the worst case scenarios. For me and mine, I choose to be armed at all times. My weakest point is in the classroom. I feel naked in school. Naked is good in a few situations, but not when it comes to a preparedness plan for self-defense. Leaving ‘education’ again is a pot on the front burner of my brain. There are many ingredients in the pot that make for the soup of change in my life. The ‘victim zone’ issue is only one of them.

Guns are tools. Keep them in your preparedness tool box and on your person… ALWAYS!

 

Keep Doing the Stuff of Self-Reliance,

Todd

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Does Not Compute for Gun Grabbers: More Guns, Less Crime

Source: Washington Times

MILLER: Gun ownership up, crime down

Gun-control advocates are noticeably silent when crime rates decline. Their multimillion-dollar lobbying efforts are designed to manufacture mass anxiety that every gun owner is a potential killer. The statistics show otherwise.

Last week, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced that violent crime decreased 4 percent in 2011. The number of murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults all went down, continuing a pattern.

“This is not a one-year anomaly, but a steady decline in the FBI’s violent-crime rates,” said Andrew Arulanandam, spokesman for the National Rifle Association. “It would be disingenuous for anyone to not credit increased self-defense laws to account for this decline.”

Mr. Arulanandam pointed out that only a handful of states had concealed-carry programs 25 years ago, when the violent-crime rate peaked. Today, 41 states either allow carrying without a permit or have “shall issue” laws that make it easy for just about any noncriminal to get a permit. Illinois and Washington, D.C., are the only places that refuse to recognize the right to bear arms. The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence did not respond to requests for comment.

If the gun grabbers were right, we’d be in the middle of a crime wave, considering how many guns are on the streets. “Firearms sales have increased substantially since right after the 2008 election,” said Bill Brassard, spokesman for the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), which represents the $4 billion firearms and ammunition industry. “There was a leveling off in 2010, but now we’re seeing a surge again.”

The FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) serves as one of the best indicators of gun sales because it counts each time someone buys a gun. Checks hit an all-time high of 16.5 million last year. In the first five months of this year, the numbers have gone up 10 percent over the same period last year as Americans rush to the gun store in case President Obama decides to exercise “more flexibility” in restricting guns in a second term.

Gun manufacturing is the one private-sector industry “doing fine” on Mr. Obama’s watch. Sturm, Ruger & Co. sold 1 million firearms in the first quarter of 2012 – an amazing 50 percent increase from the first quarter of 2011. The jump was so steep that the company stopped accepting orders from March to May to catch up with demand for its products.

Last month, Smith & Wesson announced a firearm-order backlog of approximately $439 million by the end of April, up 135 percent from the same quarter in 2011. Sales in that period were up 28 percent from 2011 and 14 percent over its own predictions to investors. NSSF estimates the industry is responsible for approximately 180,000 jobs and has an annual impact on the U.S. economy of $28 billion.

Mr. Obama could honestly take credit for this jobs program, economic boost and the reduction in violent crime that has followed the spike in gun ownership on his watch. Instead, he’s silent about his greatest positive accomplishment.

Emily Miller is a senior editor for the Opinion pages at The Washington Times.