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GRNC Releases 2024 Remember In November Ratings

February 8, 2024 by 2 Comments

Grass Roots North Carolina, the state’s independent gun rights group, has released their latest version of Remember in November. It is a rating of all candidates for Council of State, US Congress, State House, and State Senate in North Carolina on where they stand on gun rights.

From GRNC on their star ratings:

“Remember in November” candidate evaluations estimate where candidates stand on gun issues by comparing their views with those of a control group of gun owners. As noted below, a “4-STAR” candidate agrees with control group on at least 90% of gun issues, a 3-STAR agrees on least 80%, a 2-STAR on at least 70%, a 1-STAR on at least 60%, and a 0-STAR candidate agrees on less than 60% of gun issues.

Every candidate was sent a survey to their address of record with the NC State Board of Elections. Their responses were compared to a control group of gun owners on issues ranging from concealed handguns to safe storage to the Second Amendment. If a candidate did not return a survey, their response was rated a zero. When it comes to ratings, the voting record, if any, should be considered more important than survey results. In other words, action speak louder than words.

Candidate evaluations sorted by name are here.

Meanwhile, candidate evaluations by office and district sought are here.

If you look at the candidate evaluations, you will note that Republicans who blew off the survey receive the same score as Democrat anti-gun politicians. For example, in the race for Governor of NC, Republican attorney Bill Graham who has blanketed the airwaves with ads blew off the survey and has no voting record received a zero star rating. Likewise, Attorney General Josh Stein (D-NC) blew off the survey but had a negative voting record from his time in the General Assembly received the same zero star rating.

Meanwhile, in my own State Senate district, both the Republican and Democrat blew off the survey which is a shame. I already know that St. Sen. Julie Mayfield (D-Buncombe) is anti-gun but it would be nice to know that Republican Kristie Sluder believes in the Second Amendment. Her Facebook page says she stands with Trump but what does that mean in terms of gun rights?

My State House district is the same with neither the Democrat or Republican responding to the survey. If you are a Republican running in a district with a Democrat incumbent, you just might pick up a few extra votes if you stake out your position as pro-gun rights. The GOP is not called the Stupid Party without reason.

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Yeti Buys Mystery Ranch Packs

February 7, 2024 by

In a deal that must have been in the works for a while now, YETI Holdings, Inc. has purchased Mystery Ranch. YETI is well-known for their coolers and drinkware while Mystery Ranch makes high-end packs for hunting, the outdoors, and the military. It seems like a good acquisition as both companies are known for making higher-end products.

Below are examples of Mystery Ranch packs as displayed at the 2024 SHOT Show from photos I took.

While YETI did not have a booth at the SHOT Show, they did have a booth at the recent Dallas Safari Club Convention. Interestingly enough, both the Complementary Spouse and I were given imprinted YETI can coolers after we attended the DSC Chapter Leaders breakfast.

From the joint press release announcing the purchase:

“MYSTERY RANCH packs have earned a global reputation within the most demanding communities by building load-bearing equipment that delivers in the harshest environments. Their ethos, passion and people not only align with the YETI team, but also connect well with our commitment to innovation and our customers.” said Matt Reintjes, President & CEO at YETI. “Their communities, ambassadors and obsession with quality make it a natural fit with YETI.”

Founded in 2006, the original YETI cooler was born out of frustration and passion. YETI has since grown into an industry innovator of premium outdoor gear designed for the hardcore outdoor adventurer, outside enthusiast and everyone in between. Like YETI, MYSTERY RANCH products have been built with durability and performance in mind for over two decades whether for use on the fire line, backcountry or in your everyday adventure.

“YETI’s passion for innovation and the outdoors aligns closely with our founding vision,” said Dana Gleason, Co-Founder of MYSTERY RANCH. “Renée Sippel-Baker, my co-founder, and I know they are a perfect partner to build upon our long history of making the best load-bearing equipment in the world for the most extreme users as well as the everyday mission.”

YETI is headquartered in Austin, Texas while Mystery Ranch is located in Bozeman, Montana. The announcement states that Mystery Ranch will continue to work out of Montana and will work with YETI to “integrate teams and functions”.

I did not realize until I read of this transaction that YETI is a New York Stock Exchange publicly traded stock. They have a market capitalization of almost $3.8 billion on annual revenues of over $1.5 billion. YETI has 900 plus employees. They are much larger than I expected when I started writing this post! They will be adding another 150 employees with their purchase of Mystery Ranch.

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NRA Board Member Herb Lanford Passes Away

February 6, 2024 by 1 Comment

I received news yesterday that Herbert Lanford, Jr., a longtime member of the NRA Board of Directors, died on February 1st. He was 75 years old. He died in hospice care from Spartanburg (SC) Regional Hospice Home.

The notice from NRA Secretary John Frazer reads in part:

It is with great sadness that I share with you that NRA Board member Herbert A. “Herb” Lanford, Jr. passed away on February 1, 2024. He was 75 years old.  Herb served on and off the Board beginning in 1986.  He is survived by his brother, Tom; his sister, Joanne Hensley; and many nieces and nephews.

Graveside services with military honors will be held at 4:00 p.m., Thursday, February 8, at Greenlawn Memorial Garden located at 1300 Fernwood Glendale Road, Spartanburg, SC  29307.  Visitation will be at the graveside prior to the service.

Lanford’s death will leave the Board with only 75 Directors as all three of the non-elected candidates from 2023 have filled positions on the Board. Article IV, Section 2 of the NRA Bylaws makes no provision for filling a vacancy other than from those who had been on the ballot and not elected.

CORRECTION: I had assumed that James Chapman was already on the Board of Directors as he had received more votes than Rick Ector who is on the Board. I had forgotten Rick was elected as the 76th Director. Thus, James Chapman will fill the seat left empty by Herb Lanford’s death and the Board will still have 76 members. That is, for now. Things could change after the NY trial but who knows.

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Quote Of The Day

February 4, 2024 by 1 Comment

The quote of the day comes from the US Army’s Lt Col. Max Ferguson. He is writing in a Substack called the Harding Project. The goal of the Harding Project is to improve the writing of military officers and non-coms as well as to encourage them to submit articles to the various branch journals.

He wrote:

But writing is powerful. It’s the purest form of thought. The best briefing you never had to present because it’s all on the page for anyone to read at any time. Even years from now. 

Transposing Lt. Col. Ferguson’s thoughts from military writing to blogging I must say I appreciate this. Not to say that all blogging is a pure form of thought and that includes my own. Sometimes it is just ranting and raving or else you’d go nuts from keeping it inside.

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I Endorse Four For Reform

February 3, 2024 by 1 Comment

The NRA’s trial in New York has provided more than enough evidence that many members of the Board of Directors ignored their fiduciary duties. Many thought loyalty to Wayne was the same as loyalty to the organization. It was not.

The ballots for the 2024 Board election go out to eligible voters in the March issue of the NRA official magazines. Not only has the Nominations Committee stacked the ballot with retreads, they are the same people that allowed the rot and corruption to grow. They include people like former NRA President Carolyn Meadows who currently is considered too ill to testify either in person or virtually in the NY trial. It also includes 2nd VP David Coy who served on the Audit Committee for many years who voted to approve questionable expenditures after the fact.

There are four people on the ballot who were not put there by the Nominations Committee. Dennis Fusaro, Judge Phil Journey, Jeff Knox, and Rocky Marshall are on the ballot by petition. In other words, enough of you who are voting members said you wanted them on the ballot. They are untainted by the corruption of the past and are running on a platform of reform. I wholeheartedly endorse all four and would urge you to give them your votes.

The only two current Board members I might consider voting for are Buz Mills and Rick Ector. As evidenced by his letter to the Board exposing the backdoor shenanigans to make Charles Cotton the next EVP, Buz is not a go-along to get-along sort of guy. Rick Ector had done phenomenal grassroots work in the Detroit area introducing thousands of women to self-defense through firearms training. He also bucked the trend with his endorsement of Wade Callender for the EVP.

If it were me, I would not consider anyone else on the list of candidates. The four petition candidates plus the two that have bucked the system are the only candidates that I think will work day in and day out to restore and reform the NRA. We need an effective and untainted NRA. Now is the time to do it.

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Quote Of The Day

February 2, 2024 by

While I have been following the NRA’s trial in New York, I have been holding off writing about it until the New York Attorney General’s Office has rested their case. Based upon what I have read, that appears to be this coming Monday, February 5th. There is a lot there and I want to make sense of it all before tendering my complete opinion.

That said, the quote of the day comes from Stephen Gutowski of The Reload. It involves the testimony of NRA Secretary and General Counsel John Frazer.

Stephen wrote:

In it, the NRA’s top lawyer defended his integrity. When asked if LaPierre had breached his trust when he failed to disclose his now-admitted use of NRA funds for personal expenses, Frazer said he wouldn’t characterize it that way.

“I think Mr. LaPierre has always been very open and honest with me in terms of communications that we would have and then trying to rectify the issues,” he said.

But, when asked if LaPierre breached the trust of NRA members, he took an agonized pause before responding.

“I’d have to say probably yes,” Frazer testified.

LaPierre walked slowly out of the courtroom–and the NRA–on that note.

While I am glad that Mr. Frazer is finally recognizing that Wayne LaPierre breached the trust of the NRA members, it is sad that Frazer is only now coming out and saying it. His fiduciary duty which included a duty of loyalty was to the organization which means the members and not to Wayne LaPierre. He is not alone in that breach of fiduciary duty. There are many members of the Board of Directors who likewise breached their duty in their loyalty to Wayne instead of the members. Whether it was due to ignorance or a willful choice, it really doesn’t matter.

The victim in this trial has never been the state of New York. It has always been the members of the NRA who paid their dues and donated what they could to the organization because they believed in the mission. In return, they were used as the personal piggy banks to support the avaricious lifestyles of the Millies, the Waynes, the Susans, and those of their ilk.

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SCI Convention – “Writing For Hunters”

February 1, 2024 by

The Safari Club International Convention kicked off today in Nashville, Tennessee. Along with the vendors, the auctions, and the entertainment, the convention features educational seminars on topics ranging from traveling with a firearm to how to write for hunters.

John Geiger, Managing Editor of Safari Magazine, and author Craig Boddington presented a “how-to” seminar on what you need to do to get published in SCI’s Safari Magazine. It is the editorial policy of Safari to publish stories from SCI members alongside those by professional outdoor writers. Indeed, they want these stories of members’ adventures whether it is hunting for Cape buffalo in Zimbabwe or waiting for a whitetail to appear below a tree stand in Alabama. They even pay a $25 honorarium to the author.

The editors are looking for complete stories which present adventure and emotion that are accompanied by great photos. They want to know about the challenges you faced, the exotic food you ate, and the differences you saw on the trip between home and this location. The story needs a beginning, a middle, and an end. The beginning might be the most exciting part of your adventure while while the end could be a reflection on this exciting part. The middle should provide the details of this trip or hunt. If you had a PH or outfitter, mention them. Just make sure to spell their name correctly.

As to the nuts and bolts, Geiger said it is important to use proper grammar and correct spelling. Along with a good dictionary, he said to use the AP Style Book as a reference. A SCI Publications Style Guide is available from him by sending a request for it by email to jgeiger@scifirstforhunters.org. A feature story might be as long as 2,000 words accompanied by 20-30 good photos. They prefer MS Word for the manuscript while the photos should be in high resolution (avg. size is 1.5 MB). JPGs are fine. If your camera allows you to take photos in RAW format, use it. You should send in the accompanying JPGs but keep the RAW file in case the photo editors needs to make any correction. Geiger emphasized that they do not want retouched photos.

Boddington took over the seminar from this point. He noted that writing might be a skill, a knack, or a talent but everyone does it differently. The point is to see what works for you. Being a reader helps as it exposes you to different writing styles. He said one of the most helpful books he found on writing was Stephen King’s On Writing (commission earned). King suggested that after you’ve written that first draft, go back and cut it by 10%.

Here are some of the suggestions for how to write and photograph the story from Boddington.

  • Include the “hero shot”, i.e., you with the trophy animal.
  • Include the rifle in the photo.
  • Start with the high point.
  • Alternatively, a diary format may sometimes work.
  • Jack O’Connor’s books and stories included details on everything you needed to go on that hunt.
  • Take notes!
  • Have place names and spell them correctly.
  • Get the names of all on the hunt including the trackers. Spell their names correctly and get the last names if possible.
  • Focus story on the hunt for one animal and not the whole safari.

Boddington had some more suggestions regarding the photography that needs to illustrate the story.

  • Include the skyline if possible in the trophy shot. “It makes antlers look good!”
  • Change angles. Take a variety from straight on, from the side, and from a low angle.
  • Take the trophy shot both with and without the firearm.
  • Do a “walk-up” shot as if you are approaching the downed animal.
  • Clean up your mess as much as possible. Clean blood off the animal.
  • Keep the animals tongue out of the photo.
  • Imagine how a non-hunter will view your photo.
  • Pay attention to little stuff. For example, if your state requires blaze orange, be wearing it in the trophy shot.
  • If you have lost the light of day, you may need to wait until the next day to take the photo. Not ideal but it may be your only choice.
  • Scenery is good but add people to the photo. Instead of merely showing a canyon, have the hunter shown glassing the canyon.
  • Remember the one-third rule of photography.
  • Have action photos.
  • Show people in camp.
  • Do not retouch the photo. Let the photo editors do that.
  • Caption your photos when submitting them – who, what, when, and why.

I found this seminar valuable as it illustrated what the editors want, how to do it most effectively, and ways to do it right.

This seminar will be repeated on Friday at 10am with author, TV host, and hunter Jim Shockey.

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Marion Calls For A Search Committee To Replace Wayne

January 29, 2024 by 2 Comments

You could have knocked me over with a feather when I heard that Marion Hammer was agreeing with Buz Mills regarding setting up a search committee to find the permanent Executive Vice President and CEO for the NRA. I had assumed – wrongly it seems – that she was in the camp pushing Charles Cotton to be the EVP/CEO for the next few years. Something along the lines of “a steady hand on the rudder” as the NRA transitions away from the Wayne era.

This is her email sent to the Board today:

It has come to my attention that another NRA BOD Member is making phone calls trying to gain support for yet another NRA BOD Member to take Wayne’s job.

Please, please, stop and think about this.  I personally believe we need a dedicated Search Committee to find someone who is actually qualified to take the helm at NRA.  

Any member of the Board who thinks he or she is qualified for the position can submit his or her name to a Search Committee to be vetted along with other candidates.

This is a turning point for NRA and a time when we need the most qualified, dedicated person we can find to lead NRA and lead the fight to save Second Amendment rights.

The NRA President can appoint a Search Committee at any time and I believe should do so immediately.  Search Committee members can be confirmed or rejected and replaced by the Board of Directors at it’s next meeting.

Please, this is a critical point for us and the future of NRA and it’s members is in our hands.  Let’s do it right.  Under our By-Laws we have a process to fill the EVP position on an interim basis while we search for the right person.

Please do not be stampeded into anything.

I know that there are a significant number of Board Members who agree that we need a Search Committee because they have told me so.  And, I also know that previously another Board Member has emailed you suggesting a Search Committee.  And while that particular Board Member and I rarely ever agree on what’s best for NRA, this time we happen to agree that we need a Search Committee.

Marion P. Hammer

Marion’s letter may also be seen as a way to head off those who are supporting Wade Callender to be the EVP/CEO such as Texas AG Ken Paxton, Utah AG Sean Reyes, and board member Rick Ector. However, while it is probably not her intent, I do think it could work in his favor as an honest Search Committee would have to consider him a candidate.

I think the person most disappointed about this letter beyond Charles Cotton has to be Bill Brewer. I got the feeling that Brewer was hoping to maintain the cozy relationship between the leadership and himself so as to keep the money flowing to his firm.

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NC Wildlife Regulation Comments Due By January 30th

January 29, 2024 by

The public comment period on proposed changes to North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission regulations are due by 11:59pm on January 30th. The regulations include the 2024-2025 inland fishing, hunting, trapping, and game land regulations and other regulated activities (camping on gamelands, etc.).

They can be submitted online here using the online form or by email. If by email, please include your name, county, and state of residence. The email address is regulations@ncwildlife.org.

I have embedded a PDF of all the proposed regulation changes below.

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2024 SHOT Show Range Day

January 23, 2024 by

I attended Industry Day at the Range yesterday with my friends Mark and Ed. I, like most anyone who attended last year, was worried about the call for rain. Fortunately, it held off until late morning and even then wasn’t too bad. There was none of the wind, cold, and lightning that characterized Range Day last year.

This will be a quick post as I’m getting ready to head to the Sands Expo Center. I think this year will be characterized as, of all things, The Year of the Lever Action. Whether it was 1895s in .45-70 at Aero Precision or the new S&W Model 1854, we saw and shot a lot of lever actions at the range yesterday. Some were classic blued steel and wood while even more were Ceracote and polymer. I don’t have a favorite yet but I am leaning towards the Marlin 1894 in .357 Magnum. Ruger had released the .44 Magnum version in 2023 and now it is available in .357 Magnum/.38 Special.

One other quick note to add is that I was impressed by the ammunition from Sim-X. It is a lighter all-copper bullet that has much higher velocity than a lead-core bullet. That said, the felt recoil when shooting it in either 9mm or .45 ACP was distinctly less. This is something I would like to give a good test.

Now to the rest of Range Day and then Beretta Range Day courtesy of Classic Arms.