Gun Nuts Radio: IDPA and the Election

If you didn’t listen to last night’s show, here’s your chance.  You can click the link right here to listen to the show, or download a copy at this link.  You can also click the embedded player below to select your episode and listen.

We addressed a lot of topics last night, starting with an intro to IDPA. IDPA, as mentioned on the show, stands for International Defensive Pistol Association – you can find their website right here at www.idpa.com. That website contains links to the rules, and a way to find clubs in your area so you can get out and shoot a match. If you’re in the Indianapolis Metro area, our local club is Atlanta Conservation Club, which holds matches once a month, and hosted the first Indiana IDPA State Championship in several years. On the show, we discussed the difference between tactical sequence and tactical priority, two of the most important terms to know if you’re going to shoot IDPA, as they will dictate in which order you engage the targets.

After discussing IDPA, we moved on to talk about the short editorial by LTC RK Brown in the December edition of Soldier of Fortune. Here’s a link to the .pdf file of the editorial, it is short and to the effective point. Discussing this editorial set off a small firestorm in the chat session, as several people whom I respect (including LawDog) took issue with my vociferous agreement with the editorial inasmuch as I feel that voting third party in this election is as effective as voting for Obama.

The quite correct point was made that the line of “don’t vote third party, this election is too important” has been tossed around in every election since Bob Dole ran against Clinton in ’96; and that many voters have reached a point of believing that the wolf no longer exists. Now, I have my position clear – I believe that this election, the boy is not falsely crying wolf, and that this election is a critical election for the preservation of our right to keep and bear arms.

Now, I don’t want people to think that I’m 100% opposed to voting third party, depending on your reasons for doing so. I generally don’t like it when people vote Republican or Democrat for 1) emotional reasons, or 2) because it’s what they’ve always done. If you’re voting for Obama because he represents your principles, then while I disagree with your decisions, I respect it. The same goes for voting third party – I may not agree with your decision, but ultimately I deeply respect people who make principled decisions with their vote, even if those principles run contrary to my stated goals.

Next week’s show should be a blast – we’re going to be doing live election coverage as the news comes in, and to be honest I think both Breda and I will be half in the bag as we’re doing it. I don’t know if I can handle CNN on election night without a few drinks. However, it should actually be a lot of fun. You can watch the results roll in and get all the snark you can handle.