Colonel Jeff Cooper, R.I.P.

I was very sorry to read of the Colonels passing yesterday. I think just about everyone who carries a pistol for self defense has been tangently affected by the work of Jeff Cooper and its safe to say his work has saved and will save lives for a long time to come.


Vaya con Dios Sir, Semper Fi.

From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Cooper_(colonel)

John Dean "Jeff" Cooper (10 May 1920 - 25 September 2006 ) is recognized as the father of what is commonly known as "The Modern Technique" of handgun shooting, and considered by many to be the world's foremost expert on the use and history of small arms.
Born John Dean Cooper, but known to his friends as "Jeff", Cooper was a former Marine Lt. Colonel who served in World War 2 and in Southeast Asia during the Korean War. In addition to his expertise in firearms, he had been a history instructor, philosopher, adventurer, and author. He is also known as "the Guru."
In 1976 Cooper founded the American Pistol Institute (API, also known as "Gunsite") in northern Arizona to train law enforcement and military personnel, as well as law-abiding civilians. He sold the firm in 1989 but continued living on the ranch. He was well-known for his cogent and thoroughly researched advocacy of large caliber handguns for personal defense, especially the 1911 Colt.

VCDL Meeting 9/21/06

Just got back from another monthly VCDL meeting. Nothing really earth shattering happening at the moment but the meeting had a pretty good turn out. VCDL President Philip Van Cleave brought a beamhit laser marksmanship practice unit and demonstrated it for the crowd. Pretty neat device for practice that I will have to consider purchasing in the future.

Interestingly and unannounced to VCDL both a Sportsman for Allen and a Sportsmen for Webb representative showed up. VCDL by choice doesn't participate (make endorsements) in federal elections so courting for an endorsement won't do those candidates much good. However, PVC did say that the VCDL would publicize and educate its membership about any relevant 2nd Amendment information regarding the candidates.

Other topics in the meeting included plans for the upcoming legislative session, this weekends Gun Rights Policy Conference in Charlotte NC, National Park carry issue, and the National Reciprocity Concealed Carry Bill before the Senate. The meeting closed with a little Q & A with the membership and adjorned to fellowship at Fuddruckers.

Eating at Fuddruckers has become an after meeting tradition for VCDL. It has also become a little bit of grassroots activism at the same time. Due to Virginia's ban on concealed carry in restaurants that serve alcohol, most of the membership will legally open carry their firearms in the restaurant. Tonight as with most meetings there were about 20 people carrying their firearms openly with no problems at all.

Beer Cannon

Good Picture

Silly Quiz

Written by a counterstrike commando, but a fun waste of time. Needs a Main Battle Rifle category though.

You scored as Assault Rifle. You are soldier. Or you want to be a soldier. Or you just love military-type firearms. You need assault rifle. M16 or AK-47 will do good. Assault Rifle 94% Sniper Rifle 94% Shotgun 75% Pistol 56% Revolver 50% Machinegun 31% SMG 19% What Firearm Fits You Best? created with QuizFarm.com

Open Carry.org Meetup

On Friday night the 8th of Sept., about 25 people including myself attended an Open Carry.org get together for dinner at the Hard Times Cafe in Woodbridge, Va. We had a pretty mixed group including a few children and of the group of adults about 90% were openly carrying handguns. We had few looks but no one seemed overly concerned. There were no problems with anyone calling the police, trying to grab our weapons or bad guys shooting us first because they wanted to rob the place. I would say everyone enjoyed themselves, I know I did and its good to have fellowship with like minded folks.
This was the second NOVA Opencarry.org meetup, and it had about twice the attendance of the previous meetup. However, a group of gun owners getting together like this is not new to Northern Virginia. For over a decade VCDL meetings have been going on about monthly in Annandale, with increasing numbers of open carriers as the practice has had increased acceptance among gun owners.