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All was not roses and kittens

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Lest anyone think that the NRA Convention was all roses and kittens, there were a couple of flies in the ointment.


On Saturday, Thirdpower from Days of Our Trailers casually made mention of a planned protest. “Hullo,” sez I, “Protest?” Turns out that some anti-gun types had purchased a Permit to Protest for 1300 hours. I trundled out just prior to the designated time: Nada. Nuffin’.


Bloody hippies. No discipline.


On more serious matters I had run into OldNFO in the press room where he was monumentally cheesed off at El Paso Saddlery for fielding a couple of reps whose Give-A-Damn engine was apparently stuck in neutral.


I have an El Paso Saddlery “Street Combat” holster which I am fond of, so as soon as I could I popped over to El Paso Saddlery’s booth …


… where I am sorry to report that OldNFO was correct. I’m going to guess that the NRA Convention was an onerous burden to those folks — but that’s just a guess, since I couldn’t get anyone to talk to me.


*sigh*


Oh, well. If El Paso Saddlery doesn’t want anyone’s business, I’m sure that Mike or Dennis will be happy to pick up the slack.


I had remarked to Herself that the H-S Precision booth was satisfyingly lonely at several times during our perambulations, and after Stingray over at Atomic Nerds sent a request, I scooted over to the H-S Precision territory under full sail with a snark broadside prepped.


To my shock, I found that the booth was full. Overflowing, even. Gobsmacked, I looked around … and discovered that the FN guys were having a demonstration, and the mass of spectators had overtaken and seized the H-S booth for use by friendly forces.


After catching a look at the faces of the H-S folks, I didn’t have the heart to kick them when they were down.


Plus, I couldn’t get through the crowd.


Heh.


LawDog

Egad
Huh

10 thoughts on “All was not roses and kittens”

  1. Why doesn't HS Precision just put Horiuchi on the payroll and advertise "Guns so accurate, even Lon can hit the right target!"

  3. Stupid question, what exactly does the "H" in H-S precision stand for? It would not by chance stand for Horiuchi does it? Perhaps that is why his testimonial was given so unabashedly…

  5. Sad, sad day. I wonder what the uproar would be if a Branch Davidian was to testify for Century Arms or some such?

  7. I know the owner of El Paso Saddlery and he stopped caring the minute Bobby McNellis died. He now owns restaurants called Wing Stop in El Paso and other places and uses the Saddlery as collateral. I'm betting it was Ryan at the convention and that's pretty much his attitude around the shop also. Expect the store to go under in the near future.

  8. We get worked up about HS using Horiuchi's testimonial, and rightly so, but we should not forget why his testimonial was seen as valuable in the first place. It was (presumably) not because HS thought people would be fans of his shot at Ruby Ridge, but because after Ruby Ridge and Waco, he was promoted, presumably a few times, and ended up in charge of some big chunk of the FBI's rifle program; his testimonial was to the effect that HS products had served well in the program he was running.

    I know it's hard to boycott the FBI, but really, just pause a moment and let that sink in. I admit that until the HS Precision brouhaha, I had assumed that Horiuchi was quietly retired from the FBI somewhere where he couldn't cause further embarrassment, but that was never the case, was it? They promoted him.

  9. I am quite fond of this guy here for gun leather, and you may consider this a shameless plug:

    http://www.simplyrugged.com/

    I was half a click away from buying from El Paso when Rob was recommended to me. Among other designs, Rob offers the old Tom Threepersons/El Paso/George Lawrence design and built a holster and belt for my barbecue gun that is, simply, stunning in addition to rugged, in oxblood color with the old-style western carving. And, with a Ranger style belt that isn't on his website. The assembly is georgous and utilitarian at the same time. I don't think you'd be disappointed.

    H

  10. There's a guy on Swissrifles.com forum who does excellent leather work, as evidenced by the pictures and the testimonials of his customers. Should I need leatherwork I can't do myself, I'm looking up his name.
    The forum is enjoyable, too, particularly if you aren't worried about catching the "Swiss Flu" and buying 5 different straight pull rifles!

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