A NRA affiliated non-profit organization for the preservation and promotion of the shooting sports through firearms training and safety education. April 2017 Meeting Seniors with LADIES TA KING AIM April 11th golden guns Pistol shooting competition Afternoon Shoot nd Location debuts at Senior Games 2 Saturday 150 Southeast Plaza Road By CATHY PALMER of every month WINTER HAVEN SUN Winter Haven March 22, 2017 (One block south of Cypress Gardens Blvd., across the street from Publix, next It wasn’t the OK Corral, but it was to Papa John’s Pizza) definitely a shoot-out ... Doors Open: 6:00 pm For the first time, nearly four dozen General Meeting: 7:00 pm shooters took aim at a medal, Polk Senior Games gold, silver or bronze at this year’s Guest Speaker Senior Games. And these Pistol Competition shooters were all ages, all Polk County senior ages that is. They Sheriff Grady Judd ranged from 49 and some up to their eighties and they were all crack shots. Results Page 4 The shooters were divvied up into age brackets, in 10-year increments from the 50s, 60s, Monthly Meeting 70s and 80s, explains event ADVERTISING organizer and manager Mike The Club meets the SPACE Kirila. Taking home one of the 2nd Tuesday AVAILABLE first pistol-shooting golds ever of every month. IN awarded in a Polk Senior Attendance is for members only. THIS Games was 49-year-old Pixie Two, first-time, guests per member, NEWSLETTER Rubin of Lakeland. per meeting, welcomed. Contact Us At: [email protected] Continued Page 5 Page 2 House Passes Veterans 2nd Are Ear Plugs Better Than a Amendment Protection Act Suppressor? THURSDAY, MARCH 16, 2017 FRIDAY, MARCH 17, 2017 Fairfax, Va.— The National Rifle Association Institute On March 13, the gun control group, Americans for for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA) applauds the House of Responsible Solutions, posted a tweet claiming: “FACT: Representatives today for passing The Veterans 2nd Silencers do not protect your hearing.” An infographic Amendment Protection Act (H.R. 1181), a bill that accompanied the tweet with the additional claim “You know protects the due process rights of veterans, in a 240- what protects your ears better than a silencer? Ear plugs.” 175 vote. For an organization with “Responsible” in its name, ARS “The constitutional rights of our veterans must be clearly has no concern over responsible reporting of “facts.” strongly protected,” said Chris W. Cox, executive For starters, firearm suppressors without question protect the director, NRA-ILA. “The House vote today is a step hearing of shooters and hunters. You don’t have to take our forward in ensuring our veterans’ rights are not word for it; according to the Center for Disease Control (who infringed upon.” isn’t known for being particularly friendly to firearm owners) “The only potentially effective noise control method to reduce The VA has been effectively banning veterans who students’ or instructors’ noise exposure from gunfire is receive disability benefits and use a fiduciary to help through the use of noise suppressors that can be attached to manage those benefits from gun ownership. These the end of the gun barrel.” individuals are being stripped of their Second Amendment rights by a bureaucratic rule that denies This conclusion from CDC is unsurprising to anyone who them due process. has, unlike ARS, actually used a firearm equipped with a suppressor. Firearm suppressors reduce the report of a There is no data indicating a correlation between firearm by about 20-35 decibels, and, unlike other forms of needing help managing money and being a danger to hearing protection, are not susceptible to user error that oneself or others – the criterion the government must substantially limits their effectiveness. meet before denying a person their Second Amendment rights. Many people do not realize that ear plugs (and ear muffs) must be used correctly in order to achieve their stated Noise If enacted into law, the Veterans 2nd Amendment Reduction Rating (“NRR”). ARS’s Twitter graphic, which was Protection Act would ensure that going forward, meant to show the superiority of earplugs compared to veterans who use a fiduciary would not be stripped of suppressors, is a perfect illustration of the improper way to their constitutional rights unless a judicial authority first use earplugs and the reason that many people still receive finds they pose a danger to themselves or others. This hearing damage while using earplugs. ensures due process rights for all veterans. The NRR for hearing protectors is based on laboratory “Needing help managing your money does not make testing, but the National Institute for Occupational Safety and you a danger to society. The NRA is pleased with the Health has found that these ratings are likely unrealistic for House vote today and we look forward to the Senate real world use. To account for this difference, NIOSH has taking action soon,” concluded Cox. developed a “derating” formula. “NIOSH recommends derating the NRR by a multiplicative factor of 75% for The NRA thanks Speaker Paul Ryan, Majority Leader earmuffs, 50% for slow-recovery foam earplugs and custom Kevin McCarthy , Majority Whip Steve Scalise and earplugs, and 30% for all other earplugs. This variable Chairman Phil Roe for their leadership on this matter. derating scheme considers the real world performance of most different types of hearing protector.” The END While foam earplugs with an NRR of 32 might seem to perform similarly to a suppressor, using the NIOSH formula gives earplugs a real world expected NRR of only 16, which makes them unsuitable for use alone with all but the quietest unsuppressed firearms. Continued Page 5 Page 3 Training Calendar Page 4 2017 POLK SENIOR GAMES Pistol Competition RESULTS 41 Total Registered Shooters - Out of 48 possible 38 Total Participants Youngest - 50 (Male – 52) (Female – 50) Oldest - 85 (Male – 85) (Female – 80) Top Scores: Male: 299 - 70 -79 age group Age group: Male 50 - 59 Age group: Female 50 -59 Female: 285 - 50 - 59 age group Michael Brown (Gold) Sheryl Rubin (Gold) Winners: 22 total medals awarded Viatcheslav Qulianov (Silver) Judy Flaig (Silver) 8 Gold medals awarded Darby Serra (Bronze) Janet Lamoureux (Bronze) Age group: Male 60 - 69 Age group: Female 60 - 69 Patrick Clark (Gold) Margaret Clark (Gold) Scott Phillips (Silver) Leslie Smith (Silver) Dennis Flaig (Bronze) Mary Brown (Bronze) Age group: Male 70 - 79 Age group: Female 70 - 79 Michael Musick (Gold) Mary Weiss (Gold) Pete Smith (Silver) Lorraine Jones (Silver) Quinton Hamilton (Bronze) Carolyn Bolander (Bronze) Age group: Male 80 - 89 Age group: Female 80 - 89 Lee Merriman (Gold) Betty Harstad (Gold) Donald Noland (Silver) Page 5 Are Ear Plugs Better Are Ear Plugs Better? Seniors with golden Than a Suppressor? Continued guns Continued from page 2 Continued from page 1 As Maxim pointed out, in addition to acting as hearing Misinformation on suppressors seems to be running rampant at protection, suppressors reduce ARS. The same day that ARS noise pollution generally and posted the inaccurate tweets, their make shooting a more senior policy advisor, David neighborly endeavor. Chapman, was quoted as saying To answer the question posed in “Anyone who has worked in law the title, no, earplugs are not enforcement for as long as I have better than a suppressor. While will tell you that silencers were not they may appear to offer similar designed to protect hearing, they She managed to hit almost every amounts of noise reduction, were designed to make it difficult target dead on with her diminutive suppressors aren’t susceptible to for people to identify the sound of Glock 42, a gun she picked to imperfect application like other gunfire and locate active shooters.” match her stature. She’s almost hearing protectors. Suppressors elfin, standing only 4-foot-11 and also reduce sound at the source, Unfortunately for Mr. Chapman, weighing in at a mere 85 pounds. allow hunters and shooters to be Hiram Percy Maxim, the designer Rubin’s only been shooting for safer by maintaining their of the firearm suppressor, made his “about two years” and said she first situational awareness, and design intent perfectly clear. picked up a gun with security in Maxim wrote “The Maxim Silencer reduce perceived recoil and mind, not winning medals. was developed to meet my muzzle blast. personal desire to enjoy target “I had thought about getting a gun Please make sure your U.S. practice without creating a for a few years and finally decided senators and congressional disturbance . I have always to do it. I decided I didn’t ever want representative hear from you on loved to shoot, but I never to be a victim and every day that the Hearing Protection Act to thoroughly enjoyed it when I knew seems more and more possible.” protect Second Amendment that the noise was annoying other And, when the opportunity to try rights and the health of the people. It occurred to me one day her aim competitively she jumped American gun owner. It is long that there was no need for the at the chance. past time to discard America’s noise. Why not do away with it and antiquated and unsupported shoot quietly?” She wasn’t alone. The bronze approach to suppressor medalist in the 60s age group, Pat regulation. This quote from Maxim also points Lerner of Winter Haven, also took up arms “about two years ago” and out one of the biggest benefits of suppressors over other hearing for virtually the same reasons that - END - Rubin did. protectors; they re duce sound at the source instead of relying on every person within earshot using “I was concerned,” she explained.