Category: Blogs

Caleb and Robb are looking into doing a Gun Blogger Invitational match:

The short version is that Robb and I are both fond of the blogger get togethers like The GBR and the 2ABlogBash, but we’d like to see a little bit more shooting at these gun blogger events. GBR has a range day, and the BlogBash has NRA’s air rifle range, but what if there was a match, say a “Gun Blogger Invitational” match that allowed you to hang and bang action pistol style with your fellow internet gun nuts?

My advice would be to make it within a day’s drive of most people.  Flying is a pain in the ass these days, and flying with guns means you have to check at least one bag (which they like to charge you for now).  But because some people do have to fly, make it in a city which you can get a direct flight to out of most major cities.  The Blog Bash is in Phoenix this year, which is actually harder to get to than one might think.  Most flights out of Philadelphia are indirect.  Getting to the GBR in Reno is real difficult from the East Coast; no direct flights, and not a wealth of available times of flights.  I love to drive, so a day’s drive away would be ideal for me attending.

Other than that, I would have a high degree of interest in such an event.  I don’t shoot IPSC or other action shooting sports competitively, mostly for lack of opportunity in this area, but I’ve always enjoyed doing it when I’ve tried it.

Tam seems to have collected herself a troll, and a particularly nasty one at that, who appears to be this blogger showing here.  My issues with the threeper movement are much less based in what they believe than you might think.  If a bunch of guys want to get together and play Army of Defending the Republic, it’s no skin off my back.  It’s a free country.  But could we please do it without being flaming dickheads?  Thank you.

I know there those out there of threeper persuasion, who are honorable, respectable folks, so I don’t mean paint too broadly with this brush, but you guys have some angry, nasty people on your side of the fence, and people will judge you by the company you keep.

Jennifer is selling some really great T-shirt for future tea party goers.  I think it’s a great all around T-shirt.  Perhaps another for Kevin Baker to add to his collection.

Rachel Lucas seems to be trying to make her way in her new home across the pond, and talks about her impressions in regards to a story circulating of two teenage yobs who attacked a bus driver with knives:

But I don’t know now. I realize I’ve been here less than four weeks but already I’m starting to get a different vibe about this sort of event, and I’m not sure how to articulate it, but it’s something along the lines of: these people are just too nice.

The culture is different. There are a lot of ways to describe it, none of which really nail it for me, but it is different. And until you get to the moment where they’re not doing anything to help during an attack, it’s pretty damn AWESOMELY different. I hesitate to even say that because I know some of my fellow Americans will take offense or take it the wrong way, but the thing is, like I keep saying, the people are are exceedingly polite and I like it a whole lot.

Read the whole thing.  My total experience of the UK was a few days in London, so I can’t claim to be an expert.  But it strikes me as a good example of approaching a foreign culture with an open mind, and a willingness to admit that things aren’t always as simple or as straightforward as we assume them to be.

Looks like Tom King is having some issues with anti-gun trolls over on his blog: “The anti-gun posters to this blog are the rudest most ill mannered people I have ever encountered.”  It happens to every blogger eventually.  I used to believe in a relatively free and unfettered exchange, but no longer.  I enjoy the exchange of ideas, but not so much the exchange of barbs.

Looking through Google Analytics today, satisfying my curiosity about the makeup of my audience, I am surprised by where my readers come from.  Out of roughly 30,000 returning visitors in the past month, they come from the following states:

State	Visits	Percentage
Pennsylvania	3,385	11.40%
Virginia	2,315	7.80%
Texas	2,218	7.47%
California	1,837	6.19%
New York	1,609	5.42%
Ohio	1,293	4.36%

What’s more interesting is that if you look at my top locales for those top states:

Locale	Visits	Percentage (of state visitors)
Philadelphia, PA	407	12.02%
Fairfax, VA	327	14.43%
Austin, TX	286	1.80%
Los Angeles, CA	310	16.88%
New York, NY	795	49.41%
Columbus, OH	323	24.98%

This is just a small example.  But I was surprised to find the city of my largest readership is actually New York City, representing half of my total traffic from the State of New York.  Philadelphia is the number two overall city.  The number two city in California for readership is none other than San Francisco.  Austin won in Texas, but all the big Texas cities were pretty well represented.  Number three city overall?  Wasington D.C.  Not too surprising, really, considering how much I blog about politics.  Traffic is mostly from federal government sources, defense contractors, and the Brady Campaign.

A lot of my readership is urban.  Considerably more so than I would have expected.  How’s that for breaking down stereotypes?  We’re talking about return visits here too, not just people who happened across the site on a Google search, so these visits can be reasonably called readers.  I’m not complaining.  People in New York City, Washington D.C. and Philadelphia are exactly the kinds of folks we need to be reaching.

I’m going to take this issue up with the NRA.  And here all this time I’ve been promoting NRA out of concern for the cause.  What a fool I’ve apparently been.  Thank you, thank you, lefty bloggers, for showing me the light.