I’ll have to admit that I was extremely disappointed with Ronda Rousey losing her UFC match with Holly Holm. Of course there was also the passive global response to the Paris terrorist attacks where a lot of tough talk came out sounding like two gay guys fighting over a pillow. Then I watched the Democratic debate on CBS primetime and it was clear that every one of those losers on stage was a bra burning socialist right out of a campfire song from Leningrad. I watched those idiots for as long as I could take it and went to bed realizing that it was no wonder that we are currently at an ideological civil war within the United States—and the globe in general. Even the mystique of Ronda Rousey was being consumed by a vortex of come latelys. The same forces that put her on a pedestal were the same pendulum swing masses that would throw their support behind Holly Holm and fling joyous gazes at another fallen hero. Nobody was perfect in this world of Democrats and to hide that reality they were most comfortable under the blanket of the masses voting in favor of government assistance, dishonorable lifestyles, and endearing sympathies that justified their short aims in life. Ronda had been pulled back down to earth with them, and most people secretly loved it.

But not me. I spent the next day shooting and it was very refreshing. After more than a decade of heavy use I have a new hat which I needed to get used to. This one is made of leather and it still had the strong smell associated with new products made with that durable material.   After several hours of shooting about 300 rounds through a single action revolver, which takes some time, my temper had ebbed to the soothing smell of gunpowder mixed with leather—and all was right with the world once again.

My equipment from the Cowboy Fast Draw Association worked even better than I had previously praised, and for me that was a big deal. Out of all the broken promises that there are in life, out of all the things that fail to live up to their expectations, like the Ronda Rousey fight, sometimes a surprise presents itself at just the right time. I had recently had a nice night out with my kids to the local Cinebistro to see a good James Bond film, and had a rare day off to just shoot all day with my Vaquero and other Cowboy Fast Draw Association materials. I was able to turn on the football games and listen to them while I shot and it was just a heavenly experience.

My times were fast by traditional standards in Cowboy Fast Draw, as defined by movies, television and action stars from the 1950s. But not fast enough for the best that are out there, so I had a lot of work to do. I was shooting in the .650s of a second range and that time would have to be cut by more than half to be competitive in Cowboy Fast Draw. But that’s OK, its part of the fun and mental acuity that you have to go through while training. For me, it will be a long road, but at least I enjoy the elements of that path, gunsmoke and leather. The only other smells that might surpass those two is the aroma of a newly printed book.

For the rest of the day I had that great smell of gunpowder on my fingers. After every six shots in Cowboy Fast Draw you have to reload your equipment. First you apply a new wax bullet into your Colt .45 casings. I have a tool that pushes those bullets down to the proper depth that works wonderfully well—otherwise the constant reloading could be frustrating. Then you apply a 209 shotgun primer into a specially machined recess in your casing which propels the load. It’s all quite effective and soothing. The process of loading the ammunition is a special one that puts you in touch with the type of skills that built America to begin with. America wasn’t built by socialists, and liberal academics—they were the come-lately types. They arrived once everything was set and the land of a new world won by the heroics and bravery of frontiersman and their families. In Cowboy Fast Draw it was that America we celebrate–the one that won a new land for all to live freely in.

Liberals like the idiots on the primetime stage during November 14^th 2015 hate the cowboy because they took land from the Indian whom they assume were the natives of the continent. But among those tribes were many land grabs and battles between each other. They fought and earned respect for one another like Ronda Rousey and Holly Holm in modern UFC fighting. What Holm had done was equivalent to Chief Pontiac cutting off the head of Tecumseh and mailing it back to the Shawnee to show their dominance—which if they could have—they would. But along came Simon Kenton, Daniel Boone and several other frontiersmen armed with muzzle loaders who beat the Shawnee and Ottawa then cultivated the land of their conquests. They won it fair and square, just as Holly Holm had done against Ronda Rousey. They were better equipped, and more adequately mentally prepared for the task. My hometown of Liberty Township was won in just such a way. The frontiersman who settled my home territory were direct descendents of this epic struggle. When I get excited about the new Liberty Center area I think of this massive transition of land use, from being a territory of Indian camps to a wilderness empire of frontiersman fleeing the religious oppression of Europe to live a life of risk in a New World. To what it’s become, an essentially Galt’s Gulch of productivity and industry—an epicenter of capitalism—glorious and as wonderful as it is in a raw form.

The liberals running for president of the United States would all be aghast at my shooting hobby, which I have set up inside my house with a perfectly safe range meant to suppress the sound of gunshots and prevent any danger to anybody. They favor the Indian in the conflict of the frontiersman whereas I favor Simon Kenton and Daniel Boone. We are a story of two Americas, liberals and their Indians, and conservatives and their cowboys.

As gunsmoke danced from my gun in the afternoon light and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers played football in Ramond James Stadium against the Dallas Cowboys I thought of Ronda Rousey’s defeat to Holly Holm as the surprise attack of Fort Pickawillany by French led Ottawa Indians who butchered everyone in the English trading settlement. I think of that battle often as it is just upstream from the very river I live on. Actually, I think of all the battles around the Cincinnati area as they paved the way west for mankind to step forward. If Indians had not been conquered the liberals of our modern age would still be in Europe and would be taking with them a land straight out of the Spanish Inquisition—back to the nomads and the huts of hunters and gathering people. The skills of Cowboy Fast Draw are a celebration of what made America great. It’s not the defeat of the Indian so much as freeing them as well from a cycle of destruction that was occurring on a different scale—only not measured by European eyes. These measurements are invisible to the fools of the Democratic Party. Ronda got caught looking, the celebrity of her success, the world eating out of her hand—it was Rocky III for her and she wasn’t prepared for what Holly Holms threw at her.

As I cleaned my gun and put it away for that session I thought about France and their role in the Pickawillany attack. As a country they were quite aggressive in their early days, but now they were dominated by liberals in politics that have turned them into a global laughing-stock. Now they are a clawless nation of pacifists and topless art—but little else. That is because they allowed themselves to be taken over as a nation by the same socialists that are trying to become president of the United States after eight years of Obama’s little “c” communism.   If that’s allowed to happen—which obviously CBS television is hoping to help usher in, then America will follow France to being a laughing-stock nation. That’s not acceptable to me. Republican debates were shown on cable television, but the Democrats were put on the networks after only one previously boring diatribe of socialists, and communists wearing a mask of progressivism to take the edge off their presentation. But what stands in the way of those insurgents getting their way in America is in the gun. No wonder Democrats want to ban them. It was the gun which defeated the Indian during the frontier wars. And it was the gun that keeps the Democrats at bay now. It is the lack of guns that make France such an easy terrorist target—so what lesson do we have to learn here? Join Second Call Defense, clean your guns, and get some gun powder on your skin to keep your mind right. Because even superpowers can lose—just ask Ronda Rousey. Don’t take anything for granted.

Rich Hoffman

“If they attack first………..blast em’!”

www.tailofthedragonbook.com