The Unwelcome Mat

There is a trend among elements of IPSC and USPSA (the two main wings of "Action Shooting") that has become increasingly irksome: the ostracism of military and law enforcement personnel from competitive action shooting. The logic being: "Golly gee, what if someone thinks my 'game' is really paramilitary training and tries to ban it." Well, you know what kiddies, the horse is already out of the barn on this one...out of the barn, past the pasture, over the fence, off into the dingleberries and grazing around somewhere between Yellowstone and the middle of nowhere.

It's stupefying that shooters are imposing this goofy restriction upon themselves when Liberty's adversary has imposed the far broader restriction of: "anyone with a gun is the enemy." It has been this way in America for decades now. It's been this way around the world for far longer than that. This ain't new news. And still, I keep hearing from misguided shooters:

"Well, all I have are cowboy guns, so I'm safe."

"That's why I only have high-zoot shotguns, nobody wants to ban those."

"If we make our match look like a video game, then nobody will think it's - and here's that evil word: 'Combat!' - and try to ban it."

Bullshit! Self-delusional, infantile bullshit.

Practical shooting is NOT tactical training. Any more than swimming teaches you how to be a Navy Seal. Granted, if you want to become a Navy Seal, it would be fairly advisable to be a great swimmer first. And so here we are, shunning the people on the sharp end, who could benefit and contribute most from being a world-class shooter, all because of some dippy hippy delusion that by pushing professionals away, we civvies will be around to shoot matches another day.

Well, I have a news flash for y'all. You can't appease your way to liberty. There is no concession that can be made, that will sate the enemies of Liberty and keep them from coming back for more. Pick up any history book and read. Appeasement has never worked with any petty tyrant ever. Not the Vikings, not Hitler, not Britian's Labour party, no one, ever. It won't work with the gun-control lobby either, so get over it.

The reality is, that the enemies of Liberty want to disarm EVERYBODY: police, military, you name it. No one will be armed except the high and mighty of the ruling class. So, by forsaking police and military, all that's happened is the division of those on the right side of the issue. And again, with divided opposition, the petty tyrants get their way.

Back in the heady days of three years ago, I was pretty vigorous in my support of USPSA's exclusion of camoflage clothing from matches. I still think it's a good rule. I think that civillians should dress like civillians, police like police, and military like the military. Why? I think it's important in a free-society to know who you're dealing with. That's why uniforms were created in the first place. I also know that attitude doesn't fit in with the American shooter's peculiar fascination with playing dress-up. We have shooters on the East coast running around with $20,000 shotguns and silly hats pretending to be English gentry. Why in the hell anyone would want the world to think they're a vactioning English nobleman defies human comprehension, but that's another rant for another day. I probably don't need to elucidate about the cowboys and wannabe "tactical operators." There's this strong fascination to dude one's self up and be someone one is not.

Now, I know camo's a fashion statement for a lot of folks, but as long as pot-bellied old men form "militias" to live out some silly fantasy or relive their military glory days, civillians in camo at matches are automatically going to be branded as militia. Not what we want.

Alright, I know what you're thinking: What do the last two rambling paragraphs have to do with anything I'm ranting about?

Here it is:At least for me, there's a difference between a dress code for civillian members in order to define a sport as a sport - and the systematic social exclusion, of police, military, and government employees. I need to note that most of these individuals participate in civillian garb, but occassionally they do come in uniform and use the matches or practice sessions as training. THERE IS NOTHING ON THIS EARTH WRONG OR UNSEEMLY WITH THAT!!

NEVER in my wildest dreams did I envision that this restriction was going to be used to beat up on police and the armed forces and make them feel unwelcome in the sport.

Now, we're down to not allowing military/LE shooters to discuss the job-related applications of "practical" shooting on official and unofficial IPSC shooting websites. Jesus wept. And I feel rotten about it. I'm one of the guys that beat this damned drum, but what I wanted has been perverted into something just completely offensive to me. And everybody loses. Everyone could benefit from working together. There's a lot of LEO's that would benefit from hanging out with an IPSC Grandmaster once a month. Conversely, there's a lot of civillian rifle shooters that would benefit from getting to know the DOE shooters - a very talented bunch of folks. (I'm just going to laugh if Al Qaeda ever attacks one of our nuclear facilities. The coroner's going to need a spatula to scrape those losers up.)

I'm happy as hell that my products are in use with law enforcement and military personnel worldwide. I'm happy and honored to shoot beside them at matches. If there is anything I can do that brings one more of the good guys home alive and intact, or help them wipe out another herd of Al Qaeda, I'll be pleased and proud to do it. Western Democracy is the most righteous and just thing that has ever happened in the history of humanity. The defense of it is truly God's work.

To those Neville Chamberlains who think appeasement will yield some bastardized type of "freedom," and that shunning law enforcement and the military from Practical Shooting is the way to get it, all I have to say is:

Back! Back to the 30's! There is no place for you here in the future.

info@ericwesselman.com
Located in Spokane, WA

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All images and text copyright of Eric Wesselman 2002-2005