The Truth about Assault Rifles

In the wake of the most recent school shooting, there has been a big discussion on "Assault Rifles".

As a hunter and defender of the 2nd Amendment. I support the constitutional right of the people to keep and bear arms. I also am appalled at the ignorance of the media and their attempt to isolate specific deaths as worse than others. I feel that the liberal media's agenda to disarm American's is blatant and ill advised.

First is the use of the term "Assault Rifle". The use of this term is inaccurate and misleading. By definition an "Assault rifle" is a FULLY automatic rifle (Also known as a machine gun) and these have been severely restricted by the federal government since 1934.

AR -15 rifles are NOT assault rifles or Automatic Rifles as the media would have you believe. AR-15's are some of the most popular rifles being sold today. The AR-15 platform is a design platform that was created in the 1950's by ArmaLite. The term "AR-15" stands for; "ArmaLite Rifle" after the company that designed the rifle . The "15" is the fifteenth design of this specific chambering. To be more specific, the AR-15 is a platform for a semi-automatic rifle chambered in .223/5.56 which other manufacturers are copying.

For clarity, a Fully automatic rifle works by pulling the trigger once, the action is driven by the recoil of the previous bullet and the action continues to fire as long as the trigger is held. The trigger need only be pulled once for the gun to have continuous fire until the gun is empty.  As stated above, these are severely restricted for civilians to own since 1934.

A semi-automatic gun only fires each time the trigger is pulled. In other words, for a semi-automatic rifle to fire, the trigger must be pulled each time.
 AR-15 rifles are semi-automatic rifles. The trigger must be pulled every time a round is fired. Holding the trigger does not fire the a new round. The trigger must be released and pulled again. It will fire as fast as you can pull the trigger until the gun is empty. 

It continues to puzzle me that so many people are on a bandwagon of banning a specific platform of gun because they kill people. When we all know that guns do not kill people, people kill people. The gun is just the mode.

We did not get to this place in America where people walk into schools with guns shooting over night. We got here by a slow eroding of values and morals. This erosion began thirty plus years ago. And we will not recover from this overnight. It will take a generation of people who are tired of the disregard of human life and the devaluation of one another to decide to bring an end to the violence.

New Book Release

So You Want to Hunt Turkeys

My new book describing the excitement of hunting turkeys will be available for purchase in April.

The book is currently going through final layout and should be ready for my final review in a few weeks. Publication will take place in early March with a release date of April 1, 2018.

This book is the culmination and combination of many factors. First it is a collection of stories I have written over the years about the pursuit of turkeys and how to kill them. It collects the majesty of the bird, and the frustration he causes as we mere mortals attempt to lure him into range of a shotgun or bow.

The book does have a few 'how-to' chapters, but the majority is more about the 'why' we hunt turkeys. This hardback Limited edition will be available for sale through this website, and at retailers. Currently I have a few book signings scheduled and will announce their dates and times when it is finalized.

The dust jacket cover of the book will feature an Osceola turkey I photographed while hunting with Osceola Outfitters in St. Cloud Florida. Special thanks to Hoppy Kempfer for allowing me the opportunity to photograph such beautiful birds.

I want to thank my wife, without whose support and encouragement this and many other projects would remain hidden on my computer. I also want to thank my editor, Lisa Greenway for her diligence and steadfastness. She is a God send and I am thankful to have her assisting me on this project.