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 Fisking, Part One 
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 Post subject: Fisking, Part One
PostPosted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 7:43 am 
The Man
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I'm not sure I'm going to get to all of this, but this essay by Gary Shade is sort of the Kennedy Gold Mine of the fiskable.

I'll skip over some of the trivia -- after pointing out that somebody who apparently finds it a challenge to spell "Minnesota" probably should exercise some discretion when taking digs at others' typeaux -- and get right to the "facts."

Facts? Well, I dunno. When some soup company refers to their stuff as "zesty" and "homestyle", or a Vegematic salesman says, "you'll love my nuts," are those "facts", or just adspeak?

Quote:
Let's look at the facts:
1) Shade's Landing Inc. is an approved training organization in the state of Minnesota
Well, yeah. There are, at the moment, precisely 175 "approved [carry permit. JR] training organizations" in the state of Minnesota. A very few teach and monitor the performance of multiple excellent instructors; some are, well, kind of deficient. "Stayin' Alive", for example, an approved organization, is the one-man shop of Scott D. Olson, a fellow who apparently was unclear on the issues around issuing an undated course completion certificate to an underaged girl. (I don't make this stuff up, you know.)
Quote:
2) It's instructors are NRA certified, including an NRA training counselor for rifle, shotgun, pistol, personal protection in the home, home firearm safety, and refuse to be a victim courses
I'm not knocking NRA training, or merit badges; I've got quite a few, m'self. Some NRA training counselors -- Tom Steele comes to mind -- are very, very good. Others, well, aren't.

As a qualification to do a good job teaching non-NRA carry classes, it's kind of a snoozer.
Quote:
3) The legal company we keep consists of noted attorneys David Gross and Marc Berris
"The legal company we keep" is one of those adspeak weasel phrases that means nothing, but attempts to suggest that it means a lot. As is "noted attorneys". Which I don't mean as a slam at David and Marc -- they're both on the short list of Minnesota lawyers I'd send somebody I cared about to on a criminal defense matter, and not because they're friends of mine; I've got lots of other friends with law degrees who I wouldn't think of referring somebody to -- but the apparent intent of this is to suggest that Shade's part of some sort of "legal company". Pfui.
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4) Our curriculum has been APPROVED by the Minnesota Department of Public Safety as meeting or exceeding the MN standards for a MN carry class.
This is a repeat of #2, just phrased differently. It's sort of like, to paraphrase one of the comments that Shade deleted from his blog post, getting pulled over by a cop, and instead of showing him your drivers license, announce that, "I am now presenting to you the credentials issued to me by the Commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Motor Vehicles that attests to my qualifications to operate an automotive device, as well as the endorsement from the American Automobile Associations that demonstrates that they insure that I drive safely and expertly."

Nah. It's just a drivers license and an insurance card.

But, sure, like all the 174 other organizations, Shade filed some paper work, and got his ticket stamped.
Quote:
5) We've trained over 5,000 students in the art of the handgun and hold roughly 6.5% to 7% of all Minnesota permit holders.
"Art of the handgun?" Seriously, Gary, let's not puff up firing ten rounds with a borrowed .22 in the general direction of a target, shall we? And take out your own carry permit -- I assume you have one -- and look at it. It doesn't say who "holds" the permit holder; it just identifies the person who holds the permit. (I'm tempted to go all Jack Nicholson and make a crude suggestion as to where you might "hold" this piece of self-puffery, but that would be mean.)
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6) We're certified to teach Utah by the Utah Bureau of Criminal Identification
Wow. You can teach the whole state of Utah precisely what? If you mean that you got your Utah carry permit merit badge, too, well, sure. But so what?
Quote:
7) We post much of the feedback we get online - we let our clients do the talking
I'm sure you do post some. But anonymous fluffery on your website -- even if, perhaps, it does come from somebody who you have trained in the "art of a handgun" -- isn't exactly a distinction, is it?
Quote:
8) We've had various county attorneys and even a Sheriff's deputies take our class (one Sheriff wanted his deputy who handles permit applications to take the class to see what permit holders go through)
Hey, I entirely understand why a sheriff would want one of his deputies to check you out; I'm surprised that more haven't.

Sheesh. This is too easy. Gary, do you do "zesty, homestyle gun training?"

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 Post subject: Re: Fisking, Part One
PostPosted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 9:01 am 
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Don't you have a book to write?

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 Post subject: Re: Fisking, Part One
PostPosted: Tue Aug 10, 2010 9:05 am 
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jdege wrote:
Don't you have a book to write?

Why, yes, I do; thanks for asking.

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