By now, you’ve probably heard of Groupon, the website where discount coupons are available for sale. The business model here is volume – the more they sell, the better deal they can give.

This is apparently the idea behind a new gun-related website, GearHog. This site went live on July 19, and sold a couple of thousand $50 coupons for Brownell’s for $25 each.

Today and yesterday they’ve been selling $100 gift certificates to USA Ammo for $50. You may remember I reviewed this ammo some time back and found it to be very good for my needs.

Well, I decided if I could buy this ammo at half price, it would be even better, so I bit, and bought a certificate. Then I went to the USA Ammo site and bought 500 rounds of 115 grain FMJ 9mm. When I combined that with a 50% discount on shipping (enter MOREAMMO as the code at checkout), I used the certificate, and added $4 and change.

I’ll report back on my experience once the ammo shows up, but so far, so good.

I’ll also report on any other good deals I hear of from GearHog.

FTC Disclaimer: clicking the link in the banner to the right will get you to GearHog and will earn me a commission on what you buy. GearHog offers this to anyone who wants to post it on their blog or web site. I was not approached by anyone from GearHog or USA Ammo about this post nor was I offered any incentives.

Last month I wrote about the UN Small Arms Treaty, which you may have read some about in other outlets, and probably got an email or two about.

I wrote my Senators, Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, as well as my Congressman, Dr. Phil Gingrey.

I received an email from Senator Chambliss this morning that I’d like to share.

Dear Mr. L:

Thank you for contacting me regarding the United Nations Small Arms Treaty. It is good to hear from you.

On December 6, 2006, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 89, which is aimed to promulgate a new international treaty on the global trade in conventional arms. The resolution, “towards an arms trade treaty; establishing common international standards for the import, export and transfer of conventional arms,” was adopted without the support of the United States, under the Bush Administration; however, the Obama Administration recently reversed this decision, and announced that the United States would support negotiations on the condition they were, “under the rule of consensus decision-making needed to ensure that all countries can be held to standards that will actually improve the global situation.”

Currently, there are preparatory committee meetings taking place in anticipation of a 2012 conference to finalize the treaty. In response to these meetings, Senator Moran (R-KS) sent a letter to President Obama and Secretary Clinton expressing strong concerns with the treaty. I joined him on this letter, and I will continue to closely monitor this situation. Should legislation come before the full Senate, I will keep your thoughts in mind.

If you would like to receive timely email alerts regarding the latest congressional actions and my weekly e-newsletter, please sign up via my web site at: www.chambliss.senate.gov . Please let me know whenever I may be of assistance.

As I said in my original post, there are enough pro-Second Amendment Senators that I doubt any such treaty would be ratified. I will keep in touch with him on this.

I await a response from the others but I will, of course, share them as they come in.

I just got word that this blog is now part of the GunUp Blogger Network.

GunUp was started earlier this year as a gathering place for shooters of all backgrounds. In my mind, the site took off with the addition of Caleb Giddings as the Director of Community Relations. Caleb was a competitor on the first season of Top Shots, and runs Gun Nuts Media, the home of the Gun Nuts blog, and Gun Nuts Radio podcast.

In the words of CEO Dan Hall,

We believe that gun ownership transcends demographics. GunUp is not tailored to any one particular group of gun enthusiasts – if you like guns, we like you and you will be welcome at GunUp. One of our goals is to build a community that provides resources and education to prospective, new, and experienced gun enthusiasts in a safe and supportive environment.

It sounded like my kind of place, and I’m proud to be a part of it. Check it out.

Video courtesy of Dave Sevigny

In honor of Gaston Glock’s birthday today . . .

By now you know that one of my crusades in life is against the pre-conceived notion, the entrenched opinion. I try to apply this to myself as much as anyone else.

One that particularly gets my ire is the 1911 aficionado who completely dismisses the Glock because “the grip angle is wrong.”

In defense, I call witness Dave Sevigny.

As I reported before, Dave became the first person to beat Rob Leatham in the US Single Stack Championship, shooting a 1911.

For those who don’t know, Dave is also Captain of Team Glock. He’s used a Glock to win just about every National Championship there is, in USPSA and IDPA. You can watch him shoot some amazing strings anywhere on Youtube, including my channel.

Yet Dave was somehow able to overcome the grip angle that has been such a stumbling block to so many.

So, maybe the grip angle of the Glock (or is it the 1911?) isn’t wrong, maybe it’s just different. Maybe the steps to shooting a gun are present the gun, align the sights visually, smoothly press the trigger until the gun goes off, and follow through. Maybe there’s nothing in there about grip angle.

All sarcasm aside (shock!), I would challenge those who say a particular gun feels wrong to deliberately set out to master that gun, for two reasons. First, you should never be limited by hardware, or more importantly, your perception of hardware. And second, you never know when that gun will be the only one available for you to use to defend yourself or your family. And that is more important than any championship.