New Website to check out

Check out www.rangelog.com. It is a website where you can track all your range, competition, and practice sessions. The basic log is free, but you can pay for a higher access which will also allow you to track your practices on an Android phone and the iPhone application is coming shortly.

Not IDPA related

Thought I'd share this article regarding a Philadelphia man and his encounter with the Philadelphia Police Department.

http://www.foxbusiness.com/on-air/stossel/blog/2011/05/16/philly-police-harass-threaten-shoot-man-legally-carrying-gun#disqus_thread

A story in today's Philadelphia Daily News shows why it's so important that citizens be allowed to videotape cops - it can be citizens' only way to fight back against police abuse of power.

This incident happened several weeks ago in Philadelphia to Mark Fiorino, a 25-year-old IT worker who carries a gun on his hip at all times for self defense. He got the gun after several friends were mugged.

But he didn't count on attacks by police:

On a mild February afternoon, Fiorino, 25, decided to walk to an AutoZone on Frankford Avenue in Northeast Philly with the .40-caliber Glock he legally owns holstered in plain view on his left hip. His stroll ended when someone called out from behind: "Yo, Junior, what are you doing?"

Fiorino wheeled and saw Sgt. Michael Dougherty aiming a handgun at him.

What happened next would be hard to believe, except that Fiorino audio-recorded all of it: a tense, profanity-laced, 40-minute encounter with cops who told him that what he was doing - openly carrying a gun on the city's streets - was against the law.

"Do you know you can't openly carry here in Philadelphia?" Dougherty asked, according to the YouTube clip.

"Yes, you can, if you have a license to carry firearms," Fiorino said. "It's Directive 137. It's your own internal directive."

Fiorino was right. It was perfectly legal to carry the gun. But that didn't matter to the cop:

Fiorino offered to show Dougherty his driver's and firearms licenses. The cop told him to get on his knees.

"Excuse me?" Fiorino said.

"Get down on your knees. Just obey what I'm saying," Dougherty said.

"Sir," Fiorino replied, "I'm more than happy to stand here -"

"If you make a move, I'm going to f------ shoot you," Dougherty snapped. "I'm telling you right now, you make a move, and you're going down!"

"Is this necessary?" Fiorino said.

It went on like that for a little while, until other officers responded to Dougherty's calls for backup.

Fiorino was forced to the ground and shouted at as he tried to explain that he had a firearms license and was legally allowed to openly carry his weapon.

"You f------ come here looking for f------ problems? Where do you live?" yelled one officer.

"I'm sorry, gentlemen," Fiorino said. "If I'm under arrest, I have nothing left to say."

"F------ a------, shut the f--- up!" the cop hollered.

The cops discovered his recorder as they searched his pockets, and unleashed another string of expletives.

Fiorino said he sat handcuffed in a police wagon while the officers made numerous phone calls to supervisors, trying to find out if they could lock him up.

When they learned that they were in the wrong, they let him go.

But only temporarily. Fiorino posted the audio recordings on youtube, and now they are harassing him again:

A new investigation was launched, and last month the District Attorney's Office decided to charge Fiorino with reckless endangerment and disorderly conduct because, a spokeswoman said, he refused to cooperate with police... He's scheduled for trial in July.

If one listens to the audiotapes, it's hard to imagine how a reasonable person could charge Fiorino (and not the cops) for disorderly conduct.

Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/on-air/stossel/blog/2011/05/16/philly-police-harass-threaten-shoot-man-legally-carrying-gun#ixzz1McOxa7Vd

IDPA Practice 5-10-2011

Sorry about the lack of posts. Been fighting a nasty sinus infection that has just whipped me. With that out of the way, let's talk about last nights IDPA practice at the Sportsmans in South Carolina.

Central Carolinas Shooting Club had another practice that was very successful, fun, and safe. Had a whole bunch of shooters. Found out that several of the members had won state awards at a tournament last week. Congratulations to all those who won and those who placed as well.

After that, we started in our first of 3 courses of fire (COF's). Only got through 3 this time as we had a whole bunch of shooters. I think we must have had about 20 shooters if not more. I've got pictures of the first two COF's on my phone (but left the sync cable at home, DOH!). Anyway, the first course of fire was 6 targets, tactical priority with 3 shots at each target for a total of 18 rounds. Bleh, down 18 points. Seems I would have 2 good rounds, and one bad round per target. Didn't miss any targets though, so that is a step up.

Second COF had the same course layout, but we had to shoot the first two closest targets in tactical order with 3 shots each and one head shot to each target. Ok, so what is the difference between tactical priority and tactical order (or tactical sequence). Tactical priority is shooting the targets as they appear in order from closest to farthest. Tactical order/sequence means shooting one shot at each target before engaging the targets with a second shot. So, for this course of fire, we had to shoot each of the first targets once before re-engaging for second shots, and each of the first two targets were required to have a "head shot". Upon drawing, I shot the first target with a head shot, target two with a head shot, then two body shots, back to the first target with two more body shots, then the rest of the targets were engaged with two body shots each. Only finished down 6 points on this COF, but I noticed my groupings were getting much better. I'm tracking my front sight much better and my follow up shots are coming quicker.

Third course of fire was the standard "bill drill" of 6 shots. Only difference last night was that the 6 shots were required to be head shots. I got 5 out of 6 with one miss for down 5 points. I felt the shot that missed. It was like a double clutch pull of the trigger.

Anyway, it was another great night with CCSC. I'm hoping to shoot my first club match this Saturday, but the weather doesn't look like it wants to cooperate with a 60% chance of thunderstorms. We'll see how it goes.

That is it for me. Have a great week. Remember, shoot safe and shoot straight!