Friday, April 15, 2011

Clay Shooting

Today I was fortunate enough to get some free time and nice weather to try out some clay shooting with my Mossberg 930 12ga shotgun.  I also got to try out my new Trius 1 Step clay thrower.  It was fun day but I have a long way to go before I can could be rated even marginally competent.

Here's a video of one of my few hits:



As you can see from this short video, the Trius really wings the targets out there.  I was launching the targets myself using the spring loaded pedal.  By the time I got my balance, the targets were already out at a challenging distance.

I did do better later when I switch to my left foot as the launching foot.  Shortly before I quit, I had hit 3 of the last 4 targets.

The video was shot with a DVK808 #11 keychain camera taped to a hat.  It seemed to work pretty well. It did have some issues maintaining consistent color as my view shifted from ground to sky.

I did run into a minor technical problem with the camera + hat + tape setup.


Next time, I'll use more tape.  Luckily the camera is pretty tough.

One thing that disappointed me is amount of litter at the range.  I expected clays, clay pieces, and maybe a few missed shell hulls.   Instead I found lots of shell hulls (clearly no attempt to pick them up at all) and trash.   Boxes, soda cups, cans, plastic bags.  Just lots of trash.  I cleaned up my stuff and a bit more, but there is still plenty more.  Since there was no one there, I also reclaimed a few unbroken targets.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Ohio Senate Passes Restaurant Carry SB 17 (Not law yet)

Today the Ohio Senate passed its own version of a law to allow concealed weapons carry in restaurants that serve alcohol just one day after it left committee.   This puts the efforts of the Ohio House to shame as the their version (HB 45) has been sitting immobile on the House calendar for 2 weeks.

Click here to see work get done.  SB 17 Video

Following these bills for the last month or so has been enlightening. I have a much better understanding of how the House works.  On thing in particular came as a surprise to me.  I had assumed that many hours day were spent in the main auditorium debating the merit of bills and taking votes.   Not so.  The House seems to meet 2-3 times a week for a little over an hour.   At least half that time will be spent doing things that have nothing to do with legislating.  They honor soldiers, teachers, boy scouts, or sports teams.  They introduce resolutions to give a day a name day or congratulate someone.  What little time the do spend actually doing legislation seems rushed and haphazard.

I haven't been following the Senate since I assume the House would be first with a bill out the door.  One thing I, and apparently many other people, have yet to understand is who makes the schedule.  I still don't know who gets to decide when bills get a vote.  The videos of the sessions reveal nothing on this.  If anyone who reads this knows. Feel free to comment.  

Hopefully, the house can get this Senate Bill passed and sent for a swift signing at the Governor's desk.  It is just a shame they had to spend so much time in committee debating their version of the bill that is now irrelevant.