Bullet Boy on Shooting Sports

If you have been following me on Twitter for awhile you know that I have been absent.   Since about the first week of April until today I have been wide open with bits of time in between that I used to catch up on living.

I started off in April planning to work 7 – 10 hr day’s a week   for 1 month and then move to 6 10′s for 6-7 weeks.   Well that didn’t work out exactly as planned.   In the world of Carpentry contract work the job only lasted 4 weeks before labor cut backs.   So then I got day jobs a couple times a week in the same place for other companies for the next few weeks. Then without notice I got offered a really good job doing electrical work with a commercial construction company. Since being laid off from the initial job back at the first of March I have made a couple one day trips up and down the East Coast.   At the electrical job I have managed to work quite a few hours and been very busy on the weekends catching up on things I missed during the Spring Work triathlon.

Speaking of triathlon I managed to loose about 10-15lbs and started to get some muscle tone back after having office jobs for the last few years.     Work seems to be leveling off now and I have what I hope is a job for the summer and possibly even further with a good company.   Things should be returning to normal around here for me soon.

The end of the week I will be shooting in the Alabama State Tactical Carbine Championship.   Since I have not been practicing or even fired a weapon in a couple months I’m not sure I will be ready. After this weekend I’m sure to have plenty of ideas for post and catch up in all the goings on in the world.   The debate over 2nd Amendment rights is heating up recently with the attachment of carry laws in national parks to a credit card bill.   So the summer is looking pretty good from where I sit as a blogger but kind of rough and action packed as a 2nd Amendment Supporter. I am sure I will have more on that in the future.

Wish me luck as I get back in the saddle again.

CNN.com is reporting that Ammunition is “hard to find as gun owners stock up”.   Demand for ammo is up – I predict a small part is supply is lower as some manufacturers are taking advantage (Just a guess with no way to back it up).

You can read the CNN.com Article, here.

AURORA, Colorado (CNN) — Gun shops across the country are reporting a run on ammunition, a phenomenon apparently driven by fear that the Obama administration will increase taxes on bullets or enact new gun-control measures.

“In the last two months it’s gotten very, very difficult to find ammunition,” says Richard Taylor, manager of The Firing Line, a gun shop and shooting range in the Denver, Colorado, suburbs.

“There are a lot of rumors floating around that the present government would like to increase taxes on ammunition. I think [there is] just a lot of panicked buying going on.”

While campaigning for the White House, Obama supported re-enacting the now-expired ban on assault weapons. But there is no indication that the administration will take up that measure — or any other gun-control initiative –anytime soon.

Nonetheless, some gun owners aren’t taking any chances.

Two weeks ago, The Firing Line was forced to impose a four-box-per-customer limit on ammo. Before that, the shop was selling 10,000 rounds of 9 mm handgun ammunition a day.

Some calibers of ammunition have been unavailable for months.

“Currently no .380 ammunition — I haven’t seen any for about four months … .38 special, it’s been at least a couple of months,” Taylor says. “It’s just that there’s been a huge demand and it’s far outweighed supply right now.”

Taylor says plenty of people are still coming to the range to shoot, but are gun owners hoarding ammo?

“People are buying cases or whatever they can get their hands on and putting it away, absolutely,” he says. “The only way that this shortage can have to do with it is that people are buying and hoarding.”

Karl Roos, a physician, stopped by the range to do some shooting with his Smith and Wesson .357-caliber Magnum, using some rounds from his personal stock of ammo.

“I have yet to see .38 special or .357 Magnum ammunition on the shelf. The stuff I’m shooting I’ve had for several years. I just haven’t seen it for the last several months,” says Roos, who adds he is always on the lookout for fresh sources of ammo. “As I’m doing the rounds of the local stores that carry ammunition, if I see something on the shelf I’ll buy it.”

“I’m not too worried about things being banned or anything like that,” he says. But he notes that many of his fellow gun enthusiasts are scared: “There’s definitely a lot of fear.”

Jim Minardi, a gun dealer in Lakewood, Colorado, says only a few people are actually hoarding. But they are buying up so much ammo that there isn’t much left on the shelves.

“The minority of our customers are stockpiling ammunition,” Minardi says. “The majority are standard shooters buying what they can.”

Wal-Mart is one of the largest ammo dealers in the United States. In an e-mail exchange, a Wal-Mart spokesman confirmed that ammo sales have been brisk.

“Some Wal-Mart stores have experienced an increase in demand for guns and ammo and for those locations, we are working closely with suppliers to replenish shelves,” says William C. Wertz, the discount chain’s divisional director for public affairs and government relations. “In some situations where demand is high, so that we can better serve all customers, we will place a limit on the amount of a product that can be purchased.”

“It’s no different with ammo than other products (toilet paper, batteries, etc.) that may be in short supply for one reason or another.”

Each year U.S. ammo manufacturers make about 8 billion rounds, according to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for the firearms and ammunition industry. Current production data won’t be in until late May, but the foundation expects the numbers to be way up.

“In order to keep up with demand for ammunition, manufacturers are working at full capacity, 24-7,” says Ted Novin, an NSSF spokesman. “Currently demand for ammunition is outpacing supply.”

Novin says he believes the reason is clear.

“The increase in demand for firearms and ammunition is largely attributable to gun owner concerns regarding the current political climate,” says Novin, referring to the Obama administration and the Democrat-controlled Congress.

“Many of the lawmakers in power have a long history of supporting legislation that violates the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding Americans,” Novin adds. “Gun owners recognize this and are reacting accordingly.”

Ammunition manufacturers have been scrambling to keep up with demand.

A message from Steve Hornady, president of Hornady Ammunition, on the company’s Web site reads:

“Here at Hornady Manufacturing we are breaking our own production records in an attempt to keep up with customer demand. We have added extra shifts, machinery and we are also in the process of expanding our manufacturing plant.”

Winchester Ammunition posted a similar statement:

“Winchester Ammunition, like other ammunition manufacturers, has seen the demand for our products increase significantly since last fall. To meet that increased demand, our operations are running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”

Andrew Arulanandam, communications director of the National Rifle Association, says the “unprecedented ammo shortages are widespread, and they affect small and large retailers.”

“We have heard from members across the country in cities and in small towns from California to Maine,” Arulanandam says. “There is a fear that Congress or the new administration will push for a firearm or an ammunition ban, or for a significant increase in excise taxes on firearms and ammunition. We hear this from hunters, target shooters and even from first-time gun owners who fear that there will be an effort to incrementally curtail and eventually dismantle this freedom.”

Back at The Firing Line’s gun range, pilot Ron Cardwell is working on his target shooting with his 9 mm semiautomatic pistol. He loves to shoot and hopes the ammo crisis ends soon.

“I have three or four boxes of 9 mm left at home and a couple of boxes of .45,” he says. “I’m just buying as much as I can whenever I can.”

Liberal Democrat and 2nd Amendment supporters are probably a minority in most circles.   I am sure there are lots of both that just haven’t announced themselves like Jane Gabriele the star of a Democrat and Chronicle’s article, “Sports shooting: Fairport mom hits target in life, on range“.   The article shows an unlikely mother of 4, known Liberal Democrat, Jefferson Award winner for community service, NRA & Boy Scouts of America certified in Shotgun-Pistol-Archery instruction, and a 2nd Amendment rights supporter.

The article just goes to further my point I began discussing in the post about “Barack Obama Presidency and Guns“.   In order for the Gun Ownership movement to be effective in politics people like Jane Gabriele need to be won over.

Article from Democrat and Chronicle -

Sports shooting: Fairport mom hits target in life, on range

December 14, 2008

After watching Jane Gabriele’s work on the rifle and pistol range, a male friend gave her a ball cap printed with the words: “Shoot Like a Girl — If You Can.”

“We bring different strengths to the sport,” says the Fairport attorney, wife and mother of four boys as we sit and chat on a sunny day at the Genesee Conservation League in Penfield.

“Women have traditionally handled firearms. It’s not always easy. The kickbacks on some of the things these guys bring here can knock you on your butt.”

Especially when you’re all of 5-foot-1, 104 pounds.

At GCL, one of the area’s finest shooting facilities, members eye targets with everything from .22 caliber pistols and rifles to 44 magnums and .306s. Gabriele is a frequent guest of friends Joe Pera and Frank LaManna, who always leave somewhat in awe of her.

“One day, Frank had a .357 handgun which he can use expertly at 50 yards,” Pera says. “Jane was looking longingly at Frank who asks, ‘You want to shoot this thing?’ She said, ‘Yes,’ and she handled it beautifully. She’s tiny and I thought it would knock her on her backside, but she had no problem and emptied the gun. She’s an amazing lady.”

In more ways than being a crack shot.

In a few short years since taking up the shooting sports, Gabriele, 47, has become a National Rifle Association and Boy Scouts of America certified instructor in rifle, shotgun and archery.

As a lawyer working for the Empire Justice Center, a nonprofit legal firm, she targets issues ranging from predatory mortgage lending to special education on behalf of folks with limited resources.

She’s a recipient of a Jefferson Award for community service, and as a member of the Democrat and Chronicle’s Citizen Impact Team, she has penned powerful opinions on subjects as varied as gun control, school safety, transportation services for the disabled and use of nuclear power.

Let’s just say that conversations with Jane Gabriel are thoughtful, passionate — and never dull.

Clearly, though, she most enjoys talking about the family she nurtures.

Husband John Gabriele, a rock of support, is the head of the piano department at School for the Arts, someone more interested in keys than calibers, and that’s OK.

Two older sons from her first marriage are off and running. Tim, 24, a Rochester Institute of Technology computer science graduate, works for Harris Corporation. Christopher, 20, is studying chemistry at Geneseo and wants to teach.

Meanwhile, Anthony, 15, and Mark, 11, fill what gaps remain in mom’s hectic schedule with school, scouting, sports and music lessons. And if all this isn’t enough, Gabriele is a caregiver for her 78-year-old mother, Teresa Knapp, a dialysis patient.

“Jane just cares about people. She’s a sweetheart and the more you get to know her, the more you love her,” says Pera, a retired Xerox engineer, trumpet teacher and longtime family friend.

A small woman with big ideals. You could say she’s a real pistol.

OK. So how does a liberal-minded, nonprofit attorney become a gun-owning Second Amendment advocate?

Gabriele says with a big smile that she’s “the affirmative action” arm of her political bent. Someone who believes strongly that more education not more regulation is the key to preserving America’s sport shooting heritage while curtailing gun accidents, violence and crime.

“Sometimes the greatest handicap that we as liberal Democrats have is that we want to fix things and help people,” Gabriele says. “Guns … have been characterized as inherently evil, but they’ve been part of our culture as long as we’ve have had a culture. They are a useful tool and a source of pleasure — as well as a dangerous weapon.

“Keeping it in perspective, so are knives and cars and a lot more people will die from use of those instruments than guns this year. We need regulation that goes as far as possible to prevent Columbines and Virginia Techs, but not so far that we lose sight of the pleasures of plinking.”

Growing up on a farm in Brockport, the oldest daughter in a brood of nine kids, Gabriele enjoyed plinking with family members. But rekindling those memories isn’t why she raised her hand at her sons’ Scout camp when the rifle instructors offered parents the opportunity to take the merit badge course with them.

Gabriele wanted to learn more about gun handling and safety so that she could be a more informed adult authority for her younger boys. She encourages more parents to do the same. The NRA’s Women-On-Target Program is a practical introduction to firearms and has been widely praised.

Well-meaning parents who speak out against guns, then allow their kids to play paintball or violent video games where humans are the targets, are sending mixed messages, Gabriele says. The centerpiece of all credible firearms courses is “personal responsibility,” something Gabriele hammers home in a PowerPoint presentation she helped put together for Troop 208 in Fairport.

“The liberal agenda is anti-gun, it’s just a fact,” she says. “But when I look at it personally, I’m more pragmatic. What I tell my sons is, ‘I’d rather have you have the training and know what you’re doing around guns. I want you to have a healthy respect for guns.’ It’s the people that never train their kids (or get trained themselves) and boys being boys, find grandpa’s loaded gun in the attic.”

While aiming high isn’t a good thing on the range, it has served Gabriele well in life.

Home for her first marriage was a trailer park in Clarkson. With the help of legal aid, she took on the owners to clean up a faulty leach field that was a health hazard. Her association with Empire Justice Center has morphed from client to volunteer to tireless working attorney. As a single mom, she put herself through law school starting at age 29, commuting to the University at Buffalo, and passing the bar on her first try.

“I know what it’s like to feel helpless,” Gabriele says. “In the justice system, if you don’t have money, you’re a little bit screwed. That’s our one bottom line: We don’t charge a dime. If there are filing fees, we figure out a way. If you qualify for our services, we’ll help you.”

As they’ve grown older, Gabriele’s high-achieving sons have grown to appreciate their mom’s inspirational story.

“It’s the kind of the thing you read about but don’t see every day. I’m really proud of her,” Tim says.

Their mom taking up the Scout instructors’ offer to take the rifle course sounds just like her, too.

“Absolutely,” Tim says. “She has a no-holds-barred attitude about life.”

Gabriele calls becoming a firearms instructor part of the “twists and turns” of having an open mind. She’s not worried about growing old.

“I’m worried about getting boring,” she says with another infectious laugh.

Earning one of 290 spots out of 4,500 applicants for law school took spunk. It’s the same with picking up a rifle with a mule’s kick and hitting a tiny circle half a football field away. A “Zen-like” experience, she calls it, requiring controlled breathing and precise movements.

“When a door is opened, you either walk through or you don’t, and if you don’t, you’re going to regret it,” Gabriele says. “So what if you go flunk out of law school? Try it. That’s what this was. I figure I’m here on this planet and I only have so much time to spend, so try some stuff. This was really a wonderful thing.”

It was a bull’s-eye.