LDS Gunsite Turns 1!

January 27 marks a year that LDS Gunsite has been up and running. I started this site for several reasons. One is my own selfish need to communicate to someone things that I’ve learned. As I’ve said before, I looked for a site like this one. I’ve had the wonderful opportunity of knowing, training with, and learning from some of the most highly trained and experienced operators and specialists in the military and law enforcement worlds. Most of them happened to be members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormons. Mormons have a fascinating history that involve guns and defense. There are characters and events that are related to guns and defense that are in modern and ancient scripture and history of the Church. From Moroni to John Browning to Orrin Porter Rockwell. So I think that as LDS members we have a unique perspective of defense and preparedness. That is why I created this site.
I also wanted to address my thoughts about training and preparedness. As I’ve said many times before, and will again, training trumps gear.
I go to the range often. My favorite song is “Home on the Range.” Seriously I do have a crazy range thing that drives my wife nuts I think. I train a lot. I say a lot but if you talk to certain people they would scoff at twice a week. I will train in rain, cold, or blistering heat. We don’t get snow so I don’t have experience with training in snow. I also don’t train in dark as much as I’d like.
I go to the range to think, pick up brass, and just enjoy the “atmosphere”. I love the smell of spent ammo. The smell of gunpowder in the air. I love the sound of many different calibers being shot simultaneously. I love the unique differences between and AK and AR variant rifle. The range is a place where I can relax and get in touch with the outdoors. I used to do this camping but don’t have as much time to camp as I used to. I know, the above description of my love for a gun range is bordering on insane, but some men work with wood, some men hunt or fish, some men golf or get into sports, me, I love to hear the "ting" of a round hitting a steel target.
Take your loved ones to the range. Your kids will love it. Last Christmas my family was all together. We have a large family and I was amazed we could all work it out to spend Christmas together. We went to the range together and it was a lot of fun. Watching my adult kids shoot and put into practice what they were taught as young kids did my heart good! Everyone likes the gun range. Not many have a thing like I do for it, but most people will go shoot guns when given the chance. Use this opportunity with your friends and family to teach safety and good gun habits. Even though most of my kids don't see a gun range very often, they know what they've been taught about safety and shooting.
I hope this site has been a help and service to you. I hope you and others have learned something. My only regret is I haven't received a lot of feedback or ideas from you the readers. That may be my bad management of a blog, but I would like to learn from all of you out there. If you have any ideas for an article or something you would like to see please let me know. I say this for anyone, but especially for my LDS brothers and sisters out there. Maybe you would like to write an article yourself. That would be great too! And very welcome! Please maintain anonymity if you write, and know that I reserve the right to edit. I don't foresee a big problem with inappropriate things coming across my screen.
Thank you for your views and reading of this lame little blog. I hope to continue to serve.

Semper Paratus
Burn