The Outdoor Wire

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Congratulations To Paul Erhardt And The Outdoor Wires

March 3, 2023 by 1 Comment

Paul Erhardt starts today as the Managing Editor of the Outdoor Wire Digital Network. This is the network of newsletters that Jim Shepherd founded which includes, among others, the Shooting Wire, the Tactical Wire, and the Outdoor Wire. Paul had called me on Wednesday to give me a head’s up but I waited until it was officially announced to offer my public congratulations.

Jim Shepherd had this to say regarding the move:

Speaking of business, a bit of internal business to announce. I’m pleased to tell you we’re expanding our crew. Over the years you’ve read features from Paul Erhardt. You’ll be reading more of them going forward, because Paul’s joining the Outdoor Wire Digital Network as our Managing Editor. It’s a new position for us -and him – but reflects our commitment to continue our growth and maturing as a business.

We’re making other changes going forward this year, all part of keeping our twenty-year plus promise to you.

We’ll keep you posted.

This is a great move for Paul and a great move for the Outdoor Wire Digital Network. For OWDN, they are getting a seasoned professional who has served as marketing director for companies such as Apex Tactical and Sig Sauer as well as Director of Public Relations for NSSF. They are also getting someone who will take a lot of the day to day work load off of Jim Shepherd. For Paul, he is returning to the writing and editing that he loves as well as the opportunity for future advancement. I have no doubt that this is a win-win move for all involved.

Again, I want to offer my hearty congratulations to Paul, Jim, and the Outdoor Wire Digital Network.

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Jim’s Take On NRA v. AckMac

November 1, 2019 by 1 Comment

Jim Shepherd of The Outdoor Wires is one of the more astute observers of the firearms world. It doesn’t hurt that he helped Ted Turner found CNN. He, of course, doesn’t take credit for what CNN has become in the years since he left!

He devoted some of his column this morning to the Federal court battle between the NRA and Ackerman McQueen. Continuing the divorce theme, he said it would drive a divorce attorney to drink.

Jim’s take:

Actually, it’s more like the Borgia family chronicles than litigation between two groups of adults. Replace the “he said-she said” with “the defendant alleges” and you get the picture. Up is down, black is white, right is wrong, and inside is outside-depending on which document you’re reading.


Central to all this, as he apparently insists on being in virtually every matter, is Wayne LaPierre. The NRA characterizes him as the ceaselessly crusading reformer, out to save the National Rifle Association from the Oklahoma hordes determined to loot the treasury, burn the building and at least savage the five million members. Ackerman McQueen draws a somewhat different picture: that of a man obsessed with absolute control of everyone and everything around him except his spending habits. There, he’s more like a drunken sailor on a short shore leave.


It’s ugly, it’s personal, and it’s likely going to get worse before it resolves itself. No one on either side looks good in this situation, and that’s about as positive a face as anyone can put on it. It’s also about all I can tell you without either speculating or presenting gossip as fact.

Jim’s correct: it’s ugly, it’s personal, and none of the participants looks good.

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A Great Response To Corporate Virtue Signaling

August 28, 2019 by 1 Comment

Jim Shepherd of the Outdoor Wires posted an editorial today concerning corporate virtue signaling. The grist for his editorial was something that took place at the most recent meeting of the Business Roundtable. At that event, a number of mega-corporation CEOs signed a document pledging to shift corporate governance away from shareholder value.

Yep, they decided that being virtuous would be more important (to them) than the long-accepted dictum that the goal of a company is to make money for its owners. Granted, the document they signed was described as “high level and low on specifics” it is most assuredly indicative of the current social and business environment.


Not presuming to think along the high-minded ridges of such industry leaders, I’ve never known a company to suddenly decide business-as-usual was no longer acceptable. Honestly, this kind of talk seldom passes my personal “smell test”. It’s my experience that when someone who makes millions of dollars annually starts telling me what’s best for the rest of us, I start sniffing. Especially when I start hearing a mix of solid thinking interspersed with comments about “what type of society is possible.”

I agree with Jim on this. We have started to see high technology companies in the social media realm decide that advertising and posts of a conservative bent must be censored or rejected. We have seen certain large banks try to tell firearms manufacturers how to run their legitimate businesses. The list goes on.

I have always been something of a contrarian. Thus, it was refreshing to see a company that hasn’t bought on to the “guns are evil” mantra. Jim points out that a company called Defenseshield Inc. that has gone the opposite way.

Not everyone, fortunately, is cut from that same bland cloth. Yesterday, I was forwarded a release from Defenseshield, Inc., a “preeminent designer, manufacturer, and seller of armor systems to the US Military, Federal agencies, the nuclear industry, airports and courthouses.”
Their CEO, Collins White, irritated at the latest rounds of “virtue signaling” in corporate America, announced some “pro-constitutional measures for all Defenseshield employees:”


1. Every day is “Bring a gun to work” day.
2. 1-year membership in the NRA.
3. Lifetime membership to Gun Owners of America.
4. Free FFL firearms transfers.
5. Pay for firearms training.
6. Pay for any permits that allow you to own or carry a firearm.
7. Pay entry fees to any firearms competition
8. Pay entry fees to any gun show
9. Match contributions to NRA, GOA, USA (Olympic) Shooting, 4H shooting, Scouting shooting programs.
10. $100 annual match toward firearms range or club membership.
11. $20 for every pair of jeans you buy that aren’t Levi’s.


“The attack on the Constitution by elite left-wing billionaires cannot be tolerated,” White said, “I left New York when the so-called safe act made many of my guns, accessories and magazines illegal. I’ve relocated to Florida where the environment for business and the freedoms granted by the constitution is not under such a rabid assault. I invite all corporate leaders to stand with me in upholding the constitution, and to invest in the future of America.”

Collins White is my kind of CEO. While I am not in their customer base and have little need for their product, if I was I’d be looking to them to fulfill it.

I only wish more CEOs and more companies were like Mr. White of Defenseshield. If you would like to let them know you appreciate their standing up for what is right, you can contact them at  info[@]defenshield.com

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Jim Scoutten’s Editorial On Social Media

March 23, 2018 by 3 Comments

Jim Scoutten is the host and producer of Shooting USA. He’s been doing this for 25 years and his shows have been on everything from ESPN to the Outdoor Channel. Each time he has moved it has been because of pressure from anti-gun executives.

The major broadcast and cable channels have prohibited any form of firearm advertising for years. 25 years ago we struggled with ESPN in the first year of our gun show series when Colt was a sponsor, but couldn’t advertise their guns. Since then we’ve moved three times to new networks as each was taken over by anti-gun New York City-based owners. We’re pleased to make our television home now on the pro-second amendment Outdoor Channel.

 He has a very interesting editorial up at the Outdoor Wire and the Shooting Wire today which is where the above quote comes from. It is entitled “The Incredible Shrinking World of Social Media”. In it, he describes how the algorithms of YouTube and Facebook limit who sees videos. Moreover, age restrictions are often put on conservative videos to prevent them from influencing young minds. Another factor Jim describes is how poor internet service in rural areas limits the access of those who would be most interested in watching streaming video.

I would urge you to read the whole thing.

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The Outdoor Wire’s Concealed Carry Special Edition

October 30, 2013 by

The Outdoor Wire network of newsletters released their annual Concealed Carry Special Edition this morning. It features articles on training for concealed carry from Mike Seeklander, Michael Bane, Claude Werner, Tiger McKee, Rich Grassi, and Paul Erhardt. 

Dave Spaulding, whom I consider one of the best trainers out there, said it contains “good, useable information” on his Facebook page.

If you have a concealed carry permit or are thinking of finally getting one, I’d highly recommend this. We can all use more training.

You can open it from this link.

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Lies, Damned Lies, And Statistics

January 8, 2013 by

Jim Shepherd, publisher and editor of The Outdoor Wire, called out the Associated Press today for some of their reporting on gun sales. We all know that gun sales have been surging throughout the year. However, the AP would have you believe sales in Colorado and Connecticut, scenes of horrible tragedies, were off.

From the AP story “Fewer excited gun-buyers in Colorado and Connecticut”:

The government’s figures suggested far less interest in purchasing guns
late in the year in Connecticut and Colorado, where background checks
also increased but not nearly as much as most other states … Only New Jersey and Maryland showed smaller increases than
Colorado in December from one month earlier.

Sales must really be impacted there, right?

Not exactly as Jim notes:

Sounds reasonable, right? After all, these states are both reeling from the havoc caused there by crazies.

Not necessarily. While the story is accurate that the biggest surges in
background checks for gun purchases were in the South and West, the
numbers weren’t exactly insignificant in either Connecticut or Colorado.
The increases in NICS checks, and as may be implied, gun sales, in
those states were only sixty five and sixty-four percent,
respectively. Colorado’s checks frose from 35,009 in October to 53,453
in December. Connecticut went from 18,761 to 29,246 during the same
period.

It might be more accurate to say that “despite horrific tragedies, the
demand for firearms in both Connecticut and Colorado grew, although not
as fast as the red-hot markets in the South and West.”

But that wouldn’t fit the narrative, although the observation that
“background checks also tend to increase after mass shootings, when gun
enthusiasts fear restrictive measures are imminent.”

 Wouldn’t fit the narrative should be the new motto for the mainstream press when it comes to gun sales and the use of guns for self-protection.