27Sept06

Comments on cold ranges, from a friend in the Philippines:

"Cold range philosophy has been standard here since we went soft in the 1970s. When a return to hot ranges is suggested, all kinds of fraudulent rationalizations are frantically served up in order to thoroughly refute any such idea. Curiously, "safety" is rarely mentioned. Political b ig shots don't like the idea of we peons goring armed, even on ranges. The only ones they want contentiously armed are their own bodyguards!

We do our best to teach people to be safe and competent with guns, with an eye toward our students some day being faced with a security emergency. Yet, cold ranges betray our lack of dedication. As with trap and skeet shooters

(who, for example, insist on resting muzzles on their toes) cold-range trai ning rapidly deteriorates into just a game, a diversion from more important activities, like closing the next deal.

On those rare occasions when anyone listens to me, I confront them with the

inconvenient fact that cold ranges are little more than crystallized hypocrisy. We need to get back to the day when our students came first! "

/John