Month: November 2016

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I, Whiskey: The Human Spirit

November 12, 2016 by

The Competitive Enterprise Institute produced a wonderful short film called I, Whiskey: The Human Spirit. The film shows how the commerce of whiskey creates human connection.

“I, Whiskey is about freedom, the freedom to connect and create,” said I, Whiskey Executive Producer Richard Morrison. “It tells the story of entrepreneurs, scientists, and bootleggers and celebrates their rebel spirit and colorful history. The Competitive Enterprise Institute loves to show how commerce helps build a flourishing civil society, and telling the story of whiskey is a fun, approachable way to do that.”

“Whiskey is science, chance, time, risk, ingenuity, love, intensity—it’s all in a glass when it’s done right,” said Rick Wasmund, owner of Copper Fox Distillery, the featured interviewee in the movie. “My name’s on the bottle, but I’m not the inventor of whiskey. I’m just a little guy trying to bring something new to the world that people will enjoy. It takes a lot of people and systems to make this work– bottle makers, the label people, the whole sales process, the retail operators – I love the connections that I have all over the country and the world.”

They have now released the film on YouTube and I have embedded it here. It is worth eight minutes of your time to watch.

To find out more about the film and those who brought it together, follow this link.

I enjoyed whiskey tonight in a very Carolina meets Kentucky way – I mixed bourbon (Very Old Barton) with Cheerwine. To me, it is much better than bourbon and Coke.

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Kudos To Brownells

November 11, 2016 by 1 Comment

Many companies are offering discounts on this Veterans Day. However, in my opinion, Brownells and these companies are doing something even better. They are donating a portion of their sales from today to an organization that helps those from the Special Operations community that have been wounded. While all of our military veterans deserve help, few have been called upon as much over the last two decades as those in special operations.

Brownells & 11 Industry Partners Join Forces to Support Veterans

GRINNELL, Iowa (November 10, 2016) – Brownells is proud to announce it has formed a coalition of industry partners to donate sales dollars on Veterans Day – Friday, November 11, 2016 – to Special Operations Wounded Warriors(SOWW).

On Veteran’s Day 2016, Brownells will donate five percent of its total sales to SOWW. In addition, the following companies have agreed to donate five percent of their Veterans Day sales at Brownells to SOWW:
  • Magpul
  • DoubleStar
  • Faxon Firearms
  • JP Enterprises
  • Midwest Industries
  • Wilson Combat®
  • Leupold
  • Trijicon®
  • Otis Technology
  • LifeStraw®
  • XS Sight Systems®
Earlier this year, Brownells partnered with Magpul to donate a percentage of sales on Memorial Day to SOWW. The Veterans Day donation event, with 11 industry partners participating, represents a significant increase in support for SOWW.

“We could not be more appreciative and grateful for the outstanding and continued support of Brownells, its Senior Management, its employees, and its customers,” said SOWW Vice President Joel Pellicci. “As a Tier One level sponsor, our highest level of support, Brownells is a major contributor and supporter of our mission to provide thanks, fellowship, and therapeutic retreats to wounded members of the U.S. Special Operations Communities. Brownells’ aggressive support of SOWW has positively affected the lives of many people in need over the last five years.”

Customers can learn more about the Veteran’s Day promotion by visiting the Brownells/SOWW Veterans Day page.

About SOWW
Special Operations Wounded Warriors (SOWW) is a not-for-profit group that provides outdoor experiences and therapeutic retreats, as well as assistance with medical, physical and mental therapies for both veterans and active-duty members of the Unites States Special Operations Forces who have been wounded in action.  For more information, visit www.sowwcharity.com.
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Happy 241st, USMC!

November 10, 2016 by

I want to wish a happy 241st birthday to the United State Marine Corps.

Since “virtue signaling” is all the rage with millennials, I want to recognize that group of millennials who get it done day after day in the harshest of conditions. If you think about the definition of millennial – those born after 1980 – then the bulk of the US Marine Corps, both enlisted and officers are indeed millennials. I just wish we had more like them.

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Already Begging For Money

November 10, 2016 by

I’ll bet you thought it was the NRA-ILA asking for money after what they spent on this election. No, it’s not them but throw them a few bucks anyway.

Actually, the Brady Campaign who sent out an email soliciting donations early this afternoon.

Dear (fill in the blank) ,

This is a hard day for so many of us, for our movement and for our nation.

Although we are incredibly disappointed that a candidate who ran his campaign on a message of hate, violence, intimidation, and fear will be the next President of the United States, that won’t stop us from fighting with everything we’ve got for the safer America we all want and deserve. Trump’s election isn’t the end of that fight. It’s just the beginning.

Of course, we can’t ignore the victories our movement experienced in this election. We made progress in states where we put the issue to the people, and in some key races across the country where candidates ran on a platform of stopping gun violence — but we’ve got a lot of work to do together.

By donating today, you can send Donald Trump and the new Republican Congress a message that their opposition to lifesaving gun reform won’t fly. Your donation of just $5 today is an investment in the future of our movement, and will ensure we don’t lose ground over the next four years.

Thanks for all you do,

Dan Gross

President

The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence

 They included a picture of Hillary Clinton from her concession speech and her exhortation to keep fighting for what you believe in. This is America and you should continue to fight for your beliefs. However, as President Obama said at the White House today, the election was like an intramural game and now that it is over we are all Americans. That message has not sunk into the Brady Campaign.

I guess if I were them I’d be a little disappointed, too. I mean the Second Amendment will be protected and a new justice or two (or three) on the Supreme Court might actually force the lower courts to stop blowing off the Heller and McDonald decisions.

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Alan Gottlieb Of SAF/CCRKBA On Trump Win

November 10, 2016 by

Alan Gottlieb of the Second Amendment Foundation and the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms released this statement congratulating Donald Trump and Mike Pence on their win.

BELLEVUE, WA — In a joint statement, the Second Amendment Foundation and Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms congratulated the nation’s gun owners for making possible Tuesday’s victory that will send Donald J. Trump to the White House in 2017.

SAF and CCRKBA also offer their sincere congratulations to President-elect Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence for their historic and stunning victory, and especially for Mr. Trump’s gracious call for unity among all Americans.

“What happened Tuesday night was a reaffirmation that Americans can make the system work, and that this nation’s gun owners are a cornerstone of that system,” said SAF founder and Executive Vice President Alan M. Gottlieb. “It cannot be ignored that this nation’s tens of millions of honest firearms owners turned out to protect their constitutional rights. From the outset, Mr. Trump made it clear that the Second Amendment will be safe on his watch.

“While America’s hard-working gun owners can celebrate the victory they helped make possible,” added Gottlieb, who also chairs the CCRKBA, “we must remain mindful that the gun prohibition lobby, which is largely funded by elitist billionaires like Michael Bloomberg, will almost certainly double down on their efforts to erode our Second Amendment rights at the state level, whenever and wherever they can.

“Every gun owner owes a huge ‘Thank You’ to our good friends at the National Rifle Association for their efforts and expenditures to educate and guide voters,” Gottlieb noted.

Having talked with Alan at the Gun Rights Policy Conference and listened to all the speakers there, I think there was a sense then that we were going to have to work very hard to preserve our gun rights and, even then, we might fail. That was September and this is November. My how things have shifted.

I would like to point out Alan’s thanks to the NRA for their immense efforts in this election. Alan is not only the Executive Director of SAF but also a Life Member of the NRA.

As to the NRA’s efforts, see this clip with NBC’s Chuck Todd and Tom Brokaw.

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NSSF On The Election Outcome

November 10, 2016 by 1 Comment

The National Shooting Sports Foundation released both a statement and a video message regarding President-elect Trump’s win. As to their #Gunvote campaign, I did see one of the billboards here in Asheville. I was actually a bit surprised.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), the trade association for the firearms and ammunition industry, today congratulates President-Elect Donald Trump on his historic victory.

The American people have spoken. We have elected a president who has pledged to protect our Constitutional rights and a majority of both houses of Congress that will work to ensure that our individual right to keep and bear arms will be preserved.

The work of those who love liberty and our nation’s hunting and shooting traditions is never over. Americans need to remain involved to help ensure that the defense of our Second Amendment remains strong and the lawful commerce in firearms is protected at all levels of government.

We thank all those Americans who supported NSSF’s 2016 #GUNVOTE voter education and registration initiative. We know that we can count on you. You should know that we remain steadfast in our mission to help promote, protect and preserve hunting and the shooting sports.

From their video featuring their General Counsel Larry Keane.

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Interesting Observation

November 9, 2016 by 7 Comments

I tend to take anything out of the mouth or pen of Paul Krugman with a grain of salt and then some. In an opinion piece written in the New York Times last night after it became apparent that Donald Trump was going to win the presidency, he made an observation with which I have to agree wholeheartedly .

We still don’t know who will win the electoral college, although as I write this it looks — incredibly, horribly — as if the odds now favor Donald J. Trump. What we do know is that people like me, and probably like most readers of The New York Times, truly didn’t understand the country we live in.

The rest of the piece was how we uneducated boobs didn’t value democratic values or the rule of law and that we voted to make America a failed state. Blah, blah, blah, yada, yada, yada.

Krugman is absolutely correct in that he doesn’t understand America. Living in the rarefied air of Princeton and New York City means that you live in a bubble. The best analogy I can give is that it is a real life Truman Show where the biggest worry of parents is not how they are going to make the mortgage or put food on the table but whether their 2.2 (or less) kids get into an Ivy League college. When you don’t produce a tangible product or when you aren’t compensated by your output, then the lingering downturn in the economy really doesn’t impact you. Those people can then go along in their merry delusions about those of us in the South or in flyover country.
 
My suggestion to Professor Krugman is to do a Steinbeck-esque road trip across America. Get off the main roads. Stay in small motels. Eat at the diner and the mom & pop restaurants. Visit small businesses. Indeed, go to a gun store and take a shooting class. Go to coal country or places in eastern Kentucky where the best job available is in the local nursing home. If Professor Krugman were to do such a trip and honestly report what he saw and felt, then I would have more respect for him.

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Big News Out Of Nevada On Question 1

November 9, 2016 by

One of the biggest supporters of the universal background check initiative, Question 1, in Nevada has changed his mind. Casino owner Steve Wynn had given $50,000 to Nevadans for Background Checks. This is the Bloomberg front group that was pushing the universal background check initiative in the state.

As you can hear in the video below, Wynn changed his mind after two of his executives explained all the ramifications of the law.



The NRA released this statement in response.

“This stunning reversal by Steve Wynn – a member of Michael Bloomberg’s gun control advisory board — could be a game changer,” said Robert Uithoven, Nevadans for Freedom campaign director. “Like many unsuspecting Nevadans, Mr. Wynn believed the Bloomberg campaign’s false claims that Question 1 would keep guns out of the hands of criminals and make Nevadans safer. After taking a closer look at the poorly worded initiative, Mr. Wynn told Fox News he now opposes Question 1, along with Governor Sandoval, Congressman Heck, Attorney General Laxalt and 16 of the 17 elected sheriffs in Nevada. ‘I don’t think anyone knows the extent of the overreach that [Question 1] would allow.’ Wynn went on to concede that the NRA Nevadans for Freedom is right when we say that this measure will criminalize the commonplace activities of Nevada’s law-abiding gun owners. The truth is Question 1 will not make Nevadans any safer. It will instead cost law-abiding citizens time, money, and freedom.”

Coming as it did just before Election Day, I am unsure of the real impact of this change of heart given the extent of early voting in Nevada.


My friend J.D. Smith of the AR-15 Podcast told me last week that he thought that despite Bloomberg’s multi-million dollar ad campaign the outcome was looking better for Question 1 failing. J.D. attributed this to a strong grassroots effort. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that he is correct.

UPDATE: Steve Wynn’s conversion on the road to Damascus was too little and too late. Question 1 passed in Nevada by 50.45% to 49.55%. In real terms, the vote was 558,586 yes and 548,685 no.

I have real qualms about whether the SHOT Show should be continued to be held in Las Vegas. The Orange County Convention Center in Orlando is larger and the area has approximately the same number of hotel rooms.