Cabo, the one year old German Shepherd, made his debut on my blog earlier this week. If you wanted a better look at my beautiful friend – here he is! Do you have a German Shepherd? He is the smartest dog I have ever met, sweet, athletic, and fun. He loves everyone he meets – and loves visiting Bass Pro, so if you see him there, stop and say hello!
Watch this video titled, Cold Dead Hands, written by Jennifer Lawson and Bo Dottley. Jennifer is talented and she has a great voice. I love that she is a lady rocking on her guitar singing about the Second Amendment, a subject near and dear to my heart! Get the word out about this song. You can watch it below on You Tube or you can buy it on iTunes. Support those who share our beliefs!
Cold Dead Hands
Simple man, simple ways, blue collar, American made
Fear the Lord and love my family
You better not tread on me cause in the name of Liberty
You know I’m gonna fight til the bitter end
Like a mighty oak I’m gonna stand my ground
You can bet your butt I’ll never lay these pistols down
Cause this fight ain’t just about freedom, it goes a lot deeper than that
It’s about the blood our brothers shed so you can have a place to hang your hat
And if you try and take em you’ll cross that line I’ve drawn in the sand
You can have my guns when you pry em from my cold dead hands.
Just a worn out Sweet 16, it’s loaded up with memories
One of these days I’m gonna pass it on
Handed down with pride you see it’s my grand daddy’s legacy
Ain’t a man alive gonna take it away
If he were here today let me tell you son
He’d walk through hell before you ever took his guns
CHORUS
Now I lay me down to sleep, 12 gauge by the door I keep
It’s there to protect my family
Just remember it’s our right to keep and bear so we can fight
Against the thugs and government tyranny
And as long as Uncle Sam stands his ground,
You can bet your butt we’ll never lay these pistols down
REPEAT CHORUS
A true love story, not only for each other, but for 25 children who needed someone to believe in them.
Bulloch Family Ranch is a new wholesome reality series that chronicles the dramatic everyday adventures of Julie and Rusty Bulloch, a fun-loving working class couple that juggles multiple jobs to make ends meet. Together, they are the proud “parents” of more than 25 kids. Only two, Amanda and Brodie, are biological. The rest are teens who have lived at the Bulloch Ranch during various times of dire need. For almost two decades, the Ranch has served as a place where troubled teens are welcomed with open arms and given a chance to get back on the right track. Rusty and Julie are committed to giving all their “kids” a stable, caring, nurturing environment along with the tools they need to become productive adults. Bulloch Family Ranch, an original series premiering on the UP network (formerly GMC) on Wednesday, July 17 at 10 p.m. ET.
Here is how their journey of service to youth began:
I have to give Mr. Carey kudos for apologizing to those of us who own and love AR-15s, AK-47s, AR-10s, etc. Well, he apologized to “Assault Rifle” fans. I do not think anyone here is actually a fan of the term assault rifle, but I think he meant those of us mentioned in my first sentence. He does not believe that one needs a modern rifle, and because those are his beliefs, we made a parody video called “Cold Dead Hands” and then refused to promote his new film due to the violent nature of the movie. He also tweeted and made his opinion about those of us who own a modern rifle, although for some reason he keeps calling it an assault rifle.
This is my main problem with the people who argue for more gun control, they get really really mean and nasty instead of discussing the facts and educating themselves so they could listen to our side and then propose their ideas, but in ways that might actually stop the Sandy Hook shooter or the Theater shooter. Trust me, I do not want those men who caused so much devastation to get a gun, car, fertilizer, pressure cooker, gasoline, or anything else they might use to commit mass murder. Mr. Carrey and I are actually on the same side – be both want the violence to end. We simply disagree on the best way to stop it. I will never be ok with removing my right to have equal (or as equal as possible) firepower to that a criminal could get their hands on.
Thank you Mr. Carrey – I accept your apology. Now, how about a day at the range. I’d love to have a real, face to face, discussion of the facts. I am sure you come from a far different perspective than I do and If we were to remove emotion and talk, maybe we would find we have more in common than you believe.
Here is the actual “Tweet” from Mr. Carrey:
Asslt rifle fans,I do not agree wth u,nor do I fear u but I do love u and I’m sorry tht in my outrage I called you names.That was wrong. 3^{
— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) July 7, 2013
He followed up with this “Tweet”:
Btw I don’t need a crisis mgr, just a conscience. Calling ppl names is inappropriate but my position on assault weapons hasn’t changed. ;^}
— Jim Carrey (@JimCarrey) July 7, 2013
Here is my response to him:
@JimCarrey I would love to invite you to a day at the range. I’m sure we would both understand better if we talked. pic.twitter.com/wP6k9dbBrl
— HeelsandHandguns (@HeelsandHandgun) July 8, 2013
Ladies everywhere are breaking down stereotypes and taking the steps to learn how to protect themselves. In the article excerpt below, several ladies will inspire you with their positive energy and enjoyment of the sport of shooting, and the invaluable skill of self protection. These stories cannot be told too often, the main stream media forgets that female gun owners are a force to be reckoned with. We are here, we are growing in numbers, and we will not be told how to think as women. We are not weak. We are not afraid. We will do what it takes to care for ourselves and our families.
“It’s true,” Miller said. “It’s very true.” They’re learning critical tactics, but also breaking down stereotypes and bolstering confidence.
“It’s overcoming something,” said Tracy Maalouf, a physician’s assistant and INPAX student. “Fear, you know women don’t touch guns. Only guys touch guns, so to get to that point where you’re not afraid of the gun.”
“Well, I carry concealed, so just knowing I can draw that gun if I need to and use it accurately and correctly,” said Joanne Herd, an administrative assistant.
“You know, it’s nice to know there’s other women who take the safety of their family as serious as I do,” said Sheri Teoli.
And it’s not just growing in popularity here in Pittsburgh, but across the region. The National Shooting Sports foundation says gun sales to women have grown nearly 73 percent in recent years.
Research shows tragic events often contribute to that, like the elementary school massacre in Newtown Connecticut.
“I think that the Sandy Hook event is what spurred a lot of this current trend,” said Sam Rosenberg with the INPAX Academy of Personal Protection. “We’ve seen such an increase in the desire and demand for security training for everyone, but a lot of women in particular.”
Sheri is so invested that she’s training to be an instructor.
“I think it’s important to be able to do it as a woman to make other women feel comfortable that they can come out and do this,” she said.
“The days of a woman being dependent on a man for protection is long gone,” Rosenberg said. Read more here.
The stereotypical vision of the average gun owner presented by Bloomberg in his recent gun control commercial really aggravated me. It is not this one television ad alone, it is months upon months spent examining the portrayal of the responsibly armed public by the media at large.
They presume to know how I feel, what I think, why I own a gun, and my worst fears when, in reality, they know nothing about me. Multiply that times the millions of gun owners in this country. People are complex, and there are likely as many stories and reasons and feelings as there are legal gun owners.
In the hours and days following the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary school, the journalists began telling a one-sided tale. I remember listening to Soledad O’Brien, from CNN, interviewing Mary Bono-Mack, a former congresswoman from California, who is a strong supporter of the 2nd Amendment. Mrs. Bono-Mack is a well spoken woman, and while Soledad tried to lead her down a trail admitting that increased gun control would have prevented this massacre of young babies, Mrs. Bono-Mack attempted to address alternative concerns such as helping mothers with increased mental health care for their troubled children. Soledad became visibly upset, losing her composure and professionalism, biased to a point she was unable to conduct a fair interview.
Though I do frequent circles where the 2nd Amendment is highly valued, until late December 2012, no one really talked about it casually – not the right to bear arms specifically. Sometimes we would discuss a range day or a new gun purchase, maybe argue about the best gun manufacturer. The 2nd Amendment did not come up as something to argue about or discuss. It was there, like the air – required, necessary, never in question.
Even though the reality of the mental state of the killer was known almost immediately, the media and some politicians branded every gun owner as equal to Adam Lanza. Those of us who own a firearm, and believe we have every right to own that gun, became Adam Lanza in those weeks following Sandy Hook. Fueled by the constant vitriol spewed from the media, I had friends confront me and attack my beliefs as if I had transformed into someone they didn’t know. No matter how calmly and carefully I tried to talk to them, they became extremely angry and insinuated I was heartless, idiotic, or at least naïve in matters of the 2nd Amendment. (These were the ones who told me my .45 was no match for a fighter jet.) I had been friends with a couple of these people for 20 or more years and they always knew I owned guns and enjoyed shooting for sport. As a mother, I was as horrified as anyone could be about the Sandy Hook shooting – I just didn’t believe that punishing legal gun owners who had not done anything wrong would stop this from happening again in the future. It is as if they were hypnotized and could only repeat the same uninformed statements coming from the press – and nothing I said could snap them out of their media induced trance.
In late December and January, I remember every article about the killer’s mother said, “Nancy Lanza, gun enthusiast…” As if there was nothing else that was ever important about this woman. She was a gun enthusiast and probably the only person who knew her son well enough to have suspected anything at all, if one can ever imagine their child causing this type of horror.
Within a month, the News Journal, through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, had obtained all the names of persons who had legally obtained permits to own a gun and published a Google Map of the entire database on their website. It is probable that none of those who had their names published ever committed any crime with their gun, and now they were persecuted. Both sides of that community were put at risk as the criminals could make educated decisions on where to conduct their nefarious business. Who were these people that woke up one day and found their names published in a newspaper simply because they may have LEGALLY owned a gun? The News Journal did not ask who they were, they said neighbors have a “right” to know who lives next door. Before the map was published, I’d guess neighbors did know each other the way neighbors do – the good and the bad of living near someone. After the map was published, I wonder if any of those relationships were strained, or – perhaps new friends were made. Either way, what the News Journal published under the guise of “knowledge” actually vilified an entire subsection of their community – again, they presumed to “know” the people represented by the red dots. Yet, those red dots actually represented every single person in the United States of America. They were simply exercising the 2nd Amendment of our Constitution’s Bill of Rights. Those red dots could have been a young adult during the “Occupy Wall Street” protests exercising his 1st Amendment rights, a young man charged with murder, hearing that he has the right to remain silent exercising his 5th Amendment right, or two ladies hoping to marry as they await the Judicial review of the Defense of Marriage Act (4th Amendment). I do not presume to know any of these people, yet – they are GUARENTEED these rights in our constitution.
The gun owners here in America, who greived with the rest of the nation for the loss of those beautiful babies and their brave educators, had no choice but to stand up and fight in the wake of this nightmare. The media’s ship was listing heavily to the port side as a line of opportunistic politicians stood alongside pouring buckets of water onboard.
As every pro-gun person had their moment in the spotlight, it was spectacular. From my standpoint, a pro-gun blogger with access to hundreds of other pro-gun bloggers and journalists, I was so proud of our community. We banded together, and through unity have been able to communicate an alternate idea, a truth. Cable News shows did invite token gun enthusiasts so they could cite fairness in future discussions. The reality is they brought them on to be a punching bag for the host and whomever their anti-gun guest happened to be that evening.
When Senator Dianne Feinstein released her draft Assault Weapons Ban Bill, the staunch supporters of the 2nd Amendment could not sit quietly by. She reached too far, pushed too hard. We have an obligation to defend ourselves and our country from such an assault and in my opinion — we only used force equal in response to the application of force against us.
After all the hours Cable news has consumed on this topic, the Journalists and their news editors still do not understand gun owners, why we care so much, or how we became so passionate. The broad generalizations continue.
The mainstream media does not know me. Why? They have not asked.
My girlfriend Lisa called me up tonight and let me know that CBS news had ladies on talking about their guns and gun control. Luckily CBS did post it online so I can share it with you. In their story, Tina Wilson-Cohen, who teaches women how to shoot, says the idea of an assault weapons ban worries her.
“I’m very concerned where we are right now,” she said. “And I think we are teetering on losing our rights.” She said that about 90 percent of her female clients buy guns to boost confidence levels and for self-protection.
“We have females that are out there saying ‘we need to ban guns,’” said Wilson-Cohen, “but we don’t really have somebody at the table that represents women saying why we do need them.” One of her students, Jennifer Wisner, struggled for months before she made the decision to buy a gun. “To have people put limitations on what you can do after you’ve it so much thought,” she said, “it’s kind of sad.” She purchased a Smith and Wesson 22 pistol two months ago.
“As a woman, you’re not expected to own a gun,” Wisner said. “For me, you give it some thought. ‘Can you shoot the gun? Do you want to shoot the gun? If you had to, could you?’ You really think about it before you ever go and do it.” Read more here.
As a female gun owner I agree with these ladies completely. I see the women on TV lobbying for the guns to be taken, asking “why do we need a gun?” Aside from the main reason, the 2nd Amendment, for a lady – there is a much more immediate need. A lady, even against an unarmed man, will be nearly defenseless. Sure, some women are trained in martial arts, some have taken self defense classes, some carry mace, some plan on using their car keys – but the tool that made us “equal” is the gun.
You never know what happens in life, what events may occur that change your opinion either way. As woman and a mother, I cannot imagine the terror of a man breaking my window and the realization that there was nothing I could do – If I did not have a gun. I do understand that, thank God, the likelihood is low. Well, the chance of your house burning down is quite low as well – and yet you still have homeowners insurance.
I cannot understand an intelligent woman, who reads the statistics – and understands criminals will not follow laws, giving up her chance of ever owning a firearm. In fact, AR-15s are PERFECT for ladies. The adjustable stock will adapt to their length of pull, it is lighter, so easier to hold properly. Many other production rifles are too heavy and non-adjustable. Why would a lady argue against this gun? Why would she argue against her own ability to defend herself against ANY weapon, including bare fists?
Ladies – we MUST make our voices heard. The voice of a woman, strong and true, the voice of a mother who wants to protect her children – these are powerful voices. We can make a difference!
Jessie Duff is recognized as one of the most accomplished competition shooters in the world. Competing – and excelling – in five different shooting disciplines, Jessie has won both world and national championship titles, included among them are the prestigious Bianchi Cup and the Steel Challenge World Speed Shooting Championships. Over the last couple years Jessie has been a fixture in the shooting sports industry representing her many sponsors, chief among them Taurus.
In this video on the Fox News show, Hannity. She really demonstrates the difference in various guns, and why banning an AR-15 will not do anything. We are simply going to get to the root cause of the mass shootings. I do realize that by posting a Fox News video – some people will believe it is skewed. This video is nearly 100% Jessie Duff talking and showing the difference in different kinds of guns and different calibers. I think this is a fair video. Let me know what you think!
Jeff Eckles, who has an awesome wine blog called the Lonely Vine, wrote the most entertaining article about preparing for the impending Apocalypse and shared it with WeLikeShooting.com. I really read it today, and realized he has found the perfect wine to go with the most common apocalyptic scenarios.
I had shared a lovely mulled wine with some friends over the holidays, the warmth, the spices gave me that feeling of home – and yes, of security. Then I read Jeff’s article, and realized that I had been preparing for some future meteor strike, just by drinking wine that warmed my insides and put color on my cheeks.
Anytime I can mix wine with the business of protecting my family, I am a happier girl!
Why I am a female gun owner: It’s not what the media assumes
The media does seem to have a bias that assumes that most female gun owners only want their guns for self defense. That is one of the reasons I bought my first gun. BUT – I also bought my first gun because my very best male friend really enjoyed the sport, and I was interested in learning more and trying out some of the competitions he enjoyed. It opened up an entire world to me that, in spite of my military career, I had not expected to find. I also discovered that I LOVED everything about guns, tinkering with them, shooting all types, learning every detail I could – and I love that even if I live another 60 years, I will never learn it all. Firearms satisfy the geek in me, learning ballistics, various calibers, which type of firearm is better for a given purpose, how to make that firearm reach optimum performance, optics, and reloading. Firearms give me a goal to be more athletic, focusing on future tactical long range matches and the challenge therein.
Firearms give my daughter and I something fun that we both enjoy to do together. Firearms give me a topic that most of my family and many of my friends are interested in discussing, and since the topic is so broad – almost everyone can teach everyone else something new. Lastly, maybe most importantly, firearms give me security – the knowledge that I have a chance to protect my children, that we are not just sitting ducks, should our home be chosen by a criminal. All of this, and MORE, is why I love my guns. Ladies, why do you own a gun? How did you get started? Do you enjoy using your firearm? What is your favorite part about being a knowledgable gun owner?
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