More shotgun advice from the NRA

[HCM]

I wonder how many comments hit the desks of the editors after this came out? This is the second NRA magazine to have a silly shotgun article in recent times. They have had decent ones on the shotgun myths in the past.

Is anyone geekish enough to remember when Thor of the Marvel Universe was time slapped back into the past and met Crom? Or when Conan the Barbarian met Elric of Melnibone in a Marvel comic? I loved Elric as a character and would you want to have Stormbringer as your HD weapon? Your family might not like it.

I met Michael Moorcock in TX. He moved to Bastrop and did a book signing at a San Antonio Barnes and Noble. One of my students was his babysitter or cat sitter. I forget.

As far as nonlethal applications of bird shot, a colleague of mine was bird shooting (or birding, whatever they call it). His hound goes off and comes running back towards him in a panic. The dog is chased by a pissed off large emu. Said colleague fires a load of birdshot in the ground before the emu to richochet (or so he said) into the legs of the monster bird attacker. This chased it off. He didn't want to hit it directly have to deal with a dead emu. There are or were emus on the loose in TX, released when the pyramid schemes for these things fell. I've seen them on trails years ago.

The issue is not whether or not bird shot is always lethal.

In the eyes of the law there are no nonlethal applications of bird shot. If you shoot someone or some thing with a firearm as a civilian it will be considered the full force in the eyes of the law regardless of what type of ammunition you use.

Encouraging people to use bird shot by convincing them that it is not a deadly weapon is extremely irresponsible. It may be a sad excuse for a deadly weapon but in the eyes of the law it is a deadly weapon nonetheless.

[RevolverRob]

Sorry, I moved two states away to go to college and stayed there until middle age. The only randoms from high school I ever ran into were dudes. One was taking tickets at a movie theater (and later became a youth pastor - not even Catholic, AFAIK) and the other was slangin' ads for a crappy rag. Neither regrettable nor fun, really. At least for me.

You're letting me down, bro. I'll forgive you for this...this time. But next time...

[OlongJohnson]

There are or were emus on the loose in TX, released when the pyramid schemes for these things fell. I've seen them on trails years ago.

They would fall under the non-native aspect of TX game laws, which means they are not "game." In general, that means you can hunt them anywhere and any time that hunting is generally legal, using pretty much any generally legal means, assuming you have the landowner's permission. Given the novelty of a 6 ft tall bird, it seems likely they'd be popular targets.

You're letting me down, bro. I'll forgive you for this...this time. But next time...

There were those two single women at the 20-year reunion whose attempts to remind me who they were fell short. Much better looking than any of the women I actually remembered, wearing hoochier dresses, and currently living in a town nearly an hour away... I kinda suspected they might just be entrepreneurs looking for lonely men who were into their earning years. Still, neither regrettable nor fun involving me.

[Totem Polar]

Whoa whoa whoa...let's not get ahead of ourselves. Have you ever gone to see the HS crush working at the cheap strip club? Sure, she only vaguely gave you the time of day in HS, but now...money talks buddy, money talks...

I’m pretty sure that Tam still outclasses me, bro. I’ll have to admire her 5.0 Mustang exploits and current event commentary from afar, on her blog.

Along those lines, it might be worth clarifying: I am calling the NRA publications cheap print clubs catering to base instinct and often using crass appeals to fantasy to generate profit, and I have grown tired of feeling cheapened by the visits.

I am in no way implying that our esteemed colleague Keel is employed as anything other than a rowboat of print solution bobbing about in an ocean of editorial problem.


(As an aside, in days of yore, I also once parlayed subject matter expertise and regular and reputable writing prowess on social media into a multi-year gig writing for a name brand magazine—one could buy issues with my articles off of pretty much any decent newsstand in the free world. I ended up turning down future assignments over a growing sense that both my take on the subjects, and on writing itself, were not necessarily in alignment with the shifting editorial priorities of the publication, so I get the idea of doing yeoman service in a once-noble household for personal reasons.)

[Glenn E. Meyer]

The issue is not whether or not bird shot is always lethal.

In the eyes of the law there are no nonlethal applications of bird shot. If you shoot someone or some thing with a firearm as a civilian it will be considered the full force in the eyes of the law regardless of what type of ammunition you use.

Encouraging people to use bird shot by convincing them that it is not a deadly weapon is extremely irresponsible. It may be a sad excuse for a deadly weapon but in the eyes of the law it is a deadly weapon nonetheless.

I understand the issue of lethality. I was just mentioning a funny nonlethal application of bird shot to a giant bird.

[mtnbkr]

How is it that the NRA is so far behind the curve on defensive use of firearms? It really is pathetic.

NRA: WTF?

Especially when you consider that at least one of the best shotgun instructors in the US is in the same geographic region as HQ. They could have put said expert in the same room as an NRA employee if they wanted some experience-based facts.

Yes, I understand the author may not have been in the area, but someone in Fairfax had to green light that article and if they were as clued in as they like to think, they might have said "have you spoken to...".

Or maybe I have a fantasy about NRA wanting to be relevant and accurate...

Chris

[BehindBlueI's]

Birdshot will absolutely kill a dude deader than Elvis...out to maybe 3-to-5 feet from the muzzle, depending on choke.

Maybe. I've seen wounds from close enough range to have powder burns and none of the pellets were remotely deep enough to hit anything vital. I'm sure goose loads are different then quail loads.

[Doc_Glock]

The only birdshot injury I have seen had the arm blown nearly clear off, and the pellets then embolized from the axillary vein, through the heart and stopped in the lungs making for a really confusing and cool chest xray.

The arm was a total loss and reminder not to mess with another man's wife.

The slug injury to the shaft of the penis was another memorable case. I think the urologists saved it, but unsure of erectile function after injury which is a shame because the it was a 16 yo deer hunter accidental injury.

[ralph]

They took the article down.

Chris

That’s great...What that tells me, is that there is apparently someone at the NRA who still has the ability to recognize derp when he sees it, and can also see how clueless, and out of touch, this makes the NRA look...

[BillSWPA]

I wonder if the article made the print edition before they realized how badly they screwed up?