D A D E CITY ROD & GUN CLUB U. S. RT 52 PO B O X D A D E C I T Y, F L

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1 D A D E CITY ROD & GUN CLUB U. S. RT 52 PO B O X D A D E C I T Y, F L C L U B E - M A I L SECRETARY@DCRGC.US W E B S I T E - H T T P : / / WWW. D C R G C. US/ Club Officers President Stu Graff Sgraff2@gmail.com Vice President Joe Hanson VicePresident@DCRGC.US Secretary Secretary@DCRGC.US Treasurer Chet Kucharsky Treasurer@DCRGC.US of a me Chief Range Officer Charlie Burns Charlie@dcrgc.us Board of Directors Jan Bailey Jan@DCRGC.US Trent Ansel Trent@DCRGC.US Jim Marsee Jim@DCRGC.US Paul Lavallee Paul@DCRGC.US Newsletter - A P R I L Club facilities include: Club house with free coffee Outdoor Pistol (30 ft, 50 ft, 75 ft), Outdoor Rifle (50 & 100 yds.), Muzzle loading, Air Gun. Range Access: Public & Members Range Fees: Non-member adult $ Juniors under 18 shoot free but must be under the direct supervision of a member or paid adult. Hours: The club is open Sunday through Saturday From 9:00 A.M. 4 P.M. except closed Thursday, when work is done at the club. Closed Christmas Day. Come and join us for our monthly Pistol Matches. Beginners are welcome! This is where you learn and have fun, at the same time. For everyone s safety - Keep it open and pointed down range (and your finger off the trigger until you have your target in sight). SAFETY starts with YOU- be aware of your behavior / actions with a firearm in your hand. If talking, do not turn around with your gun in your hand, unload the firearm and lay it down, then finish your conversation. 1

2 Range Use and Tournament Schedule 1 st Saturday 9:00am Police Pistol Combat (PPC) 50 yard range 1 st Saturday FOLLOWS PPC MATCH Balloon Shoot - in the Hole range 2 nd Saturday 9:00 am Concealed Carry Pistol Match - 50 yard range 2 nd Saturday FOLLOWS CCM MATCH PLASTIC FLAPPER SHOOT in the Hole range 2 ND Saturday 11:00 AM (OR AFTER FLAPPER MATCH) THREE TARGET SILHOUETTE MATCH 50 YARD RANGE 3 rd Saturday 2:00pm Bullseye Pistol Match - 50 yard range For more information on these matches Check the SHOOTING EVENTS SECTION on the DCRG web site or the club house for handouts. IMPORTANT INFORMATION The Dade City Rod & Gun Club is an alcohol and chemical free club (year around). No use of alcohol or chemicals allowed on the range. Anyone under the influence, or suspected of being under the influence of alcohol or chemicals, will be asked to leave. This is for everyone s protection and safety. The monthly Board Meeting is the second Monday of the month and I encourage you to attend. After the board meeting it becomes an open meeting where members can speak and have a voice in your club. Our next meeting is May 13 at 1:30 in the club house. Before you sign in, please show your club identification card to the on duty Range Officer. From the Secretary - The Board Meeting was held on April 8, members of the board were in attendance as well as 10 members. The Treasurer s report was read by Chet Kucharsky. Attendance continues to be slow and a comparison of March 2013 income against March 2012 shows that our income was down $4,000. Although we can only speculate, Chet feels that the reduced income is a direct result of no ammo. Even weekends that normally have waiting lists have none, and the club has not even been able to secure either primers or powder, being told by our supplier that they are just not available. Large out of the ordinary expenses for March included the new roof on the pole barn over the 50 yard range and our yearly payment for insurance. Both of these coupled with a downturn in income resulted in a loss for this month. Charlie Burns stated that although we would continue to do normal maintenance, there would be no large expenditures in the foreseeable future. Swap Meet Although we previously thought that the Swap Meet on March 4 was great, the one held on April 6 far exceeded our wildest expectations. We are going to host another, this one set for May 4 to be held in the club house. Come one, come all. We will be producing flyers that we will post in local restaurants, surrounding residential club houses and of course we look to all members to get the word out. Tell your friends and invite them to come and join 2

3 us. There will be an assortment of rifles and handguns as well as reloaded ammunition, and miscellaneous products for the active enthusiast. We will be sending out a bulletin in the next week or so to remind everyone of this upcoming event. CRSO Report Charlie Burns announced the addition of Rob Stansberry into the ranks of our Range Safety Officers. Welcome aboard Rob. Matches As many of you are aware, Dave Kenney has had some health issues recently that prevented him and Barb from hosting the Balloon and Flapper Shoots. We are happy to report that Dave is on his way back to good health, but sad to report that they will be stepping down as hosts of both these events. These matches will continue but will be hosted by various Range Safety Officers. Please join us in wishing Dave a speedy recovery and our warmest thanks to both he and Barb for all their years of service. We certainly hope to see them back on the range soon. Building & Grounds The new roof was installed on the 50 yard range pole barn. New plywood was installed along with expansion spacers in the joints along with the new metal roof. New gutters and down spouts were added and the 4 drains were done by the volunteers. The roof over the 100 yard range was power washed and seems to be in pretty good shape. Later this fall we will cool seal that roof. Elections There was no election this year since the current Board members whose term is up have no opposition running against them. Jim Marsee resigned his position as Director and the Board appointed Gary Woodard to the open seat as Director for a term of two years. The Vice President, Treasurer, and Director seat currently held by Jan Bailey expired this month. These individuals are running for their same seats unopposed. A motion was made for these individuals to remain in their respected board seats and was passed unanimously. Our next meeting will be on May 13 at 1:30 in the clubhouse. All members are welcome to attend. If anyone has any questions as to content or additional suggestions and things you would like to see in the upcoming newsletters, please feel free to me at; Secretary@DCRGC.US Secretary From the Secretary At this the Annual Meeting, Stu Graff reminded us about our gun rights and the Florida Castle Doctrine that was made into law by Jeb Bush in All of us are aware we may someday be put into a position of defending ourselves, but we also want to be sure that should this happen, we won t have to defend ourselves in a court of law (think Travon Martin and George Zimmerman) There was a recent article published in the US Concealed Carry Report entitled: What Will a Jury Think?" It contains good advice to keep in mind when considering the use of a gun to 3

4 defend yourself. I am reposting this article with permission from the US Concealed Carry Report. What Will a Jury Think? WRITTEN BY BY JOHN CAILE ON APRIL 3, One of the most important ways we can protect ourselves legally is to make sensible choices before we find ourselves in a self-defense situation. And asking ourselves, What will a jury think? is an excellent way to ensure decisions that give us the edge. From mock jury trials to psychological studies, there is substantial research on the psychology of juries, especially where self-defense is concerned. We should take advantage of it. We ve all heard the urban myths spouted by legal wannabes in gun stores and on the Internet, usually pontificating with absolute certainty something like, As long as you do (X) they can t prosecute you. Unfortunately, the harsh reality is that self-defense is one of the most complex, uncertain, and difficult cases to win. And the outcome is always unpredictable. As noted criminal prosecutor Peter Hobart explains: There is no simple formula for the legal application of force in self-defense under American law. Case law varies widely among jurisdictions, and is constantly modifying and reinterpreting the rules of law. So, absent a bench trial (i.e. before a judge rather than a jury) your fate will be in the hands of ordinary people, most of whom do not own guns. They often lack even a basic understanding of firearms and get most of their beliefs about guns from television. As a result, in a case hinging on the use of firearms, they can be easily manipulated by a skilled prosecutor. One thing that can have serious ramifications is the kind of firearm we choose for self-defense. Now, I agree that it shouldn t matter what kind of gun you used to defend yourself from a violent attack, but the cold hard fact is that it does. From firearms experts like Massad Ayoob and Gary Kleck to the Journal of Applied Social Psychology, the influence that the type of weapon used has on the outcome of criminal prosecutions has been well documented. In Will it Hurt Me in Court? author and researcher Glenn Meyer explores this phenomenon in great detail. His findings show that the defendant s firearm can sway the jury against him or her: Clearly, some [jurors] believe the decision to use a certain weapon type may be an indicator that a user s mindset is more aggressive than simple self-defense. So, what to do? Keep it simple. Research shows that your carry gun should be any standard, off-the-shelf, unmodified pistol or revolver in a typical self-defense caliber (.38 Special, 9MM, 40 S&W,.45Auto, etc.). And stick with the vanilla models; no Super Combat Tactical Ranger versions 4

5 or tricked out custom guns. Likewise, you do not want a prosecutor holding up a.44 Magnum or Desert Eagle 50 caliber hand-cannon in front of a jury. In home defense situations, handguns are surprisingly less threatening to juries than shotguns or rifles. But if you do opt for a home scattergun, a plain-jane model with a wood stock and fore-grip is far less problematic than one with a black pistol grip stock and fore-grip. And be advised, the more accessories on your gun, the worse the reaction of the jury. Rifles have the highest negatives with juries, with military-style guns at the top of the list. So for home defense, don t even think about using an AR-15 (or, God forbid, anything with the letters AK ). These are virtually radioactive to juries. I m not saying don t own any of these guns; I have quite a few sexy pistols and military style carbines myself. But I never use my Sig Nightmare for daily carry, and except for the Zombie Apocalypse (or the real world equivalent), I will not be grabbing my FN-LAR. And remember to load ONLY name-brand, factory ammunition labeled self-defense or personal protection. NO extreme or hand-loaded ammo. Ever. Imagine your jury hearing that you had Demon Devastators in your gun, rather than standard ammo. Now, make no mistake, I am not saying that having a scary gun is going to necessarily result in you being convicted. You could do everything wrong, and still, theoretically at least, win a self-defense case. It s happened. But why not do everything we can to tilt the odds in our favor? The Last Word "A little matter will move a party, but it must be something great that moves a nation." --Thomas Paine, Rights of Man,