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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR<br />
Dear Editor:<br />
The “Cost-Effective Practice” article<br />
[by Duane Daiker], like the rest of Vol 5<br />
May/June 2008 CCM, is most excellent!<br />
However, I would like to add to the options<br />
enumerated therein. Specifically,<br />
I have found great value in using gas<br />
blowback AirSoft-type pistols as an aid<br />
in teaching pistol shooting fundamentals<br />
in my <strong>Concealed</strong> Handgun Permit<br />
classes, and for practice.<br />
Although it is not a substitute for<br />
some real live-fire experience, I perceive<br />
some advantages, especially for<br />
new shooters, to include:<br />
I have found great value<br />
in using gas blowback<br />
AirSoft-type pistols as<br />
an aid in teaching pistol<br />
shooting fundamentals<br />
in my <strong>Concealed</strong> Handgun<br />
Permit classes, and for<br />
practice.<br />
• Safety. With minimal precautions<br />
(eye protection), if a new or too-casual<br />
shooter fails to follow some gun safety<br />
rule, no one is really endangered. For<br />
presentation-fire-reholster exercises,<br />
an accidental discharge will hurt nothing<br />
more than pride!<br />
• Convenience. There is no need to<br />
travel to a range to practice or to evaluate<br />
new shooters’ sight picture, sight alignment,<br />
hold control, trigger squeeze, and<br />
follow through. Target backstops can be<br />
as simple as a large cardboard box with<br />
a piece of scrap carpeting hung inside.<br />
• Low noise/recoil. The sound of these<br />
toy guns is about the same as shooting<br />
.22 subsonic ammo in a suppressed pistol.<br />
Hearing protection is not necessary,<br />
and a new shooter is unlikely to develop<br />
a flinch. Also, the neighbors are unlikely<br />
to even hear it, much less complain.<br />
• Legality. All AirSoft-type guns sold<br />
legally in the <strong>US</strong> have a governmentmandated<br />
orange tip on the barrel, and<br />
are classified as toys. Hence they are (as<br />
far as I know) legal to own and use, at<br />
least in your own home, and on your<br />
own property, in every state.<br />
• Economy. Green gas is cheap, propane<br />
is cheaper, 6mm BBs are practically<br />
free, and the backstops I describe<br />
above capture the pellets, which fall to<br />
the bottom of the box and can be reused<br />
if you REALLY want to be frugal.<br />
• Utility. Aside from safety, convenience<br />
and economy, these pistols are<br />
a fun way to work out a flinch, build<br />
strength and endurance (they weight<br />
almost as much as the real thing), and<br />
otherwise improve your skill levels in<br />
the comfort of your own back yard,<br />
basement, or spare room.<br />
In my most recent classes, students<br />
have had excellent results shooting a<br />
Glock 23 replica from Taiwan (about<br />
$100), that uses green gas or propane<br />
to shoot standard 6mm plastic BBs and<br />
auto-cycle the slide. Transition to live<br />
fire at the range was easier, because the<br />
students were already comfortable with<br />
the basics, and knew they could hit a<br />
target.<br />
Keep up the great work!<br />
Dave Knight<br />
Certified Firearms Instructor<br />
Radford, VA<br />
Due to volume received, not all<br />
letters can be answered. Letters may<br />
be edited for space and clarity.<br />
Send your letters to:<br />
<strong>Concealed</strong> <strong>Carry</strong> Magazine<br />
Attn: Editor<br />
4466 Hwy P - Suite 204<br />
Jackson, WI 53037<br />
Or email:<br />
editor@usconcealedcarry.com<br />
I just want to say that “Point Shooting<br />
Versus Aimed Fire,” by Gabriel<br />
Suarez [page 46, CCM April 2008] is<br />
an excellent article. He hits the target<br />
dead center on that one.<br />
Bob Orlando<br />
Excellent article on Bill Akins by Mark<br />
Walters [“Mr. Bill Akins and the Akins<br />
Accelerator,” Ordinary Guy column,<br />
May/June ‘08]. He left out one thing:<br />
how can we send a check to Akins to<br />
help him fight?<br />
Clay Stuckey<br />
Contact for Akins’ defense fund is:<br />
John Monroe Trust Account<br />
9640 Coleman Rd.<br />
Roswell, Georgia, 30075<br />
Make checks payable to John Monroe<br />
Trust Account. Please make note on the<br />
check or cover letter that donation is for<br />
William Akins vs United States.<br />
Editor<br />
Corrections:<br />
The news article titled, “Muggers need<br />
to get real jobs in this town!” on page<br />
12 in the April 2008 issue of CCM incorrectly<br />
identified the location of the incident,<br />
which actually took place in Charlotte,<br />
North Carolina. Thanks to reader<br />
Phillip C., who brought the error to our<br />
attention.<br />
K.L. Jamison’s article, “Warriors of the<br />
Working Day” cited John Fortescue as<br />
the source of the title quote. While Fortescue<br />
may have been the first person<br />
to apply that phrase to the American<br />
militia, Will Shakespeare used it first, in<br />
Henry V. Thanks to the multiple readers<br />
who spotted this one.<br />
<br />
<strong>US</strong>CONCEALEDCARRY.COM n CONCEALED CARRY MAGAZINE n JULY 2008