The 1997 annual meeting of the National Rifle Association was held May 2-4 in Seattle, Washington. Over 20,000 people attended. The big news was the active campaigning of Charlton Heston, for a seat on the board of directors. An active supporter of Wayne LaPierre, Heston ran against other well known candidates like Oliver North. In addition to the politics that are always a part of any organization, there were two floors filled with firearms exhibits. I spent most of my time looking at those exhibits and not a lot of time worrying about the politics. Although the final election results have not been announced, it appears as though the real slate of Wayne, Marion, and Tanya will remain in control of the organization's direction and policies.
Having already attended the recent SHOT Show, I wasn't surprised to see many of the new guns on display. I had missed seeing the new CZ models in Las Vegas, so was very interested in seeing them here. I spoke with a representative of CZ who lives in Oakhurst, California. After talking about the local neighborhood of Bass Lake (my adopted home is Fresno, California), we talked about when the new CZ-100 would be available. The representative said it would be about a month from now. We'll see. The other day I was on a plane that had a broken switch in the cockpit and that was supposed to take 20 minutes to repair. It took an hour so those were 20 "airline minutes." I wonder if the CZs will be here in one actual month or one "firearms distributor" month. Regardless, I think the new CZ-100 will be worth waiting for and worth the "about the same as a Glock" retail price. The CZ-100 comes in a ported .40 version, and a non-ported 9 mm version. This is a very light, small gun with a plastic frame. The sights are adjustable and appear to be made by Meggar. Women should like the size and feel of this gun. It is larger than a Kahr K-9, but appears to be smaller and thinner than the Glock 19, or maybe the same size. I'm sure one of the "gunwriters" will publish all of these measurements as soon as he or she receives a sample CZ-100 and writes an article based on the manual accompanying the pistol.
I learned two important things about the CZ-100. It has a trigger that stages. You pull it back quite a ways until you feel some resistence, then the actual trigger pull starts. Also, like a Ruger, but unlike most other striker fired pistols, you can pull the trigger twice or more on a misfire. This might be a livesaver in an actual defensive situation.
My first impression of the CZ-100 is that I think the .40 will need the ports to control recoil in such a light gun. The pistol points well. Just from a first look, I think I would like to try one out for a longer test and may get to do that in a month or so when the CZ-100s start to arrive here in the states.
Another gun worth a look is an old German model now made here in the states, the famous Luger. Today it's called the American Eagle and it's made by Stroger Industries. The pistol is lightweight and points the same as a Glock (higher than it should, and not right on the money like a Smith and Wesson Sigma...). The sights aren't very moden, but then this kind of pistol has faded into history in terms of use other than for plinking and informal target shooting. I just like the feel of the Luger, and so do many others. I'll bet that Stroger Industries sells a good amount of these pistols every year.
I'm still trying to figure out the best sights to use for IPSC shooting. I just can't do very well with plain black sights. I need something on the front to attract my attention when the muzzle is wavering around in the general direction of the target. Today I took a look at the Aro-Tek ghost ring sights for the Glock 21. The person at the Aro-Tek booth suggested that I look at a distant object with both eyes open, then bring the red dot front sight into view. It went right to the target, centered in the ring, and I still had my left eye open. I'd better get some of these sights, but there's no hurry; the new Glock 21 is back at the factory for warranty repair. The Glock 21 has multiple failures to extract and a number of "stovepipe" jams. Glocks are supposed to be ultra-reliable so there is something very wrong with this one. I'm sure the factory will fix and when it comes back, I'll have the Aro-Tek ghost ring sights installed.
One of the pleasant surprises from the NRA convention was the discovery of one of the best ranges and gun stores I've ever seen, the Bellevue Indoor Range and adjoining Wade's Eastside Guns. This great facility is located at 13580 Bel-Red Road, Bellevue, Washington (east of Seattle). I managed to get by there a couple of times during the convention, firing several hundred rounds in the process and finding some hard to find items I've been looking for. If you're ever in Seattle, make a point to stop by this store. There is a map in the local yellow pages.
There were some things I didn't like about the NRA convention. First, there was a local group outside trying to get people to sign petitions to change the law in Washington state to require safety training for handgun purchasers. Wayne LaPierre spoke out against this law during a television interview. I have mixed feelings about this. When I see an NRA member at the exhibits pick up a pistol and put his finger on the trigger right away, I worry that our own people haven't had enough safety training. Instead of always taking the opposite position whenever someone suggests a gun law, I think we should be more proactive in finding a solution the problem they perceive exists. It is always possible, of course, that the real motives aren't stated and a call for training may be a Trojan horse for some other agenda. Nevertheless, when you watch the poor mother whose daughter was shot and killed by someone playing with a handgun, and then see Wayne LaPierre say in response that there is a "gun ban industry," you wonder if either of these people stopped to listen to the other. Of course, there is a "gun ban industry," just as there is an anti-abortion industry in the U.S., but maybe the mother who lost her daughter could use a response that deals with her concerns instead of making this an automatic Second Amendment issue. There is no law, for example, requiring any non-health care professional to take CPR training, yet people take it because it's the smart thing to do, and the American Red Cross makes sure there are plenty of certified instructors who can teach it.
Maybe we need a new category of volunteer instructor, called an NRA Safety Instructor. Active shooters could be certified as NRA Safety Instructors in less time than it takes now for full instructor certification. NRA Safety Instructors would be certified to teach only the Home Firearms Safety course, which means they could teach abbreviated "First Steps" safety lessons. The difference between an NRA Certified Instructor and an NRA Safety Instructor would be that Certified Instructor could teach shooting, while the Safety Instructor would be limited to safety lessons and gun handling instruction. Since many active shooters cannot spare the time for all the lessons leading to full certification, but could spare a Saturday (instructional basics in the morning with how to teach Home Firearms Safety in the afternoon), we might get a lot more instructors this way.
NRA Safety Instructors who later wanted to become Certified Instructors could take the full instructor training later. Their experiences teaching the safety lessons would better prepare them to teach the rest of the NRA courses.
Another aspect of the NRA meeting that I didn't like too much was the
demographics. The exhibit halls were filled with older Caucasian males,
a few women, and almost no minorities. Gun safety, personal protection,
and the Second Amendment are important to all Americans and when it comes
time to vote, we will need all the votes we can get to preserve our rights.
When we advertise training courses, shooting events (IPSC in particular),
we need to make sure that everyone in our communities know about these
activities. If we do not broaden the membership of the NRA, our influence
will decrease as the average age of our members increases.
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