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We were honored to attend the Scottsdale Memorial services for Joe Foss, the last great man of the 20th century. It was an inspiring occasion and emphasized yet again that happiness is the byproduct of accomplishment. Joe Foss was the definitive high achiever of his time. Everything he did, he did better than other people. All his life he was an enthusiastic marksman and a marvelously good shot. I knew him only slightly, but I was able to verify this. I was able to furnish him with a superb sporting rifle, to his own specifications, and it was delightful to know that he used it delightfully well. He was a great man, an obvious refutation of the proposal that all men are created equal, and all who knew him were enriched by the experience. May he rest in peace.

One hundred years ago the Wright Brothers got us off the ground. Among that year's special notabilities, we have the great Springfield 03 rifle, which served as the pattern model for all such weapons to come. The "Springfield Sporter" was the proud possession of the senior big-game hunter for many decades, and it was usually backed up by the innovative Mannlicher carbine, also of the year 1903. One wonders what sort of weaponry, if any, shall distinguish the year 2003.

We were amused to see a news caption from the San Francisco Chronicle referring to the Steyr Scout as "a rare and expensive rifle made in Austria." I suppose these people refer to a Porsche as a "rare and expensive automobile made in Germany."

It has long been clear that when most shooters use the word "accuracy," they are more likely to mean "shootability," which is not the same thing. Absolute accuracy can only be determined by means beyond the reach of most casual gun owners, but some pieces are indeed easier to hit with than others. Most factory arms are more accurate, in the technical sense, than all but a few shooters can appreciate, but various good examples are indeed more shootable. I have had occasion to present rifles to two different celebrities, who upon practice reported back that their weapons were strikingly accurate. The feature I think they were appreciating was the trigger-action. A really good trigger, which breaks lightly and cleanly without apparent motion, is the greatest single element of shootability. A good man can do very well with a poor trigger-action but not as well as he might. This is especially obvious from unsupported positions. On a benchrest it hardly matters.

For people who are concerned about lead spray from steel targets, we point out that spray is distributed in a circular pattern perpendicular to the angle of impact. It goes up, down and sideways regardless of the aspect of the target. (You can test this by cardboard shrouding if you wish.) Thus, nothing much is accomplished by slanting the target at minor angles. Eventually, of course, you will achieve ricochets, but target display will suffer.

With all these "peacemaking" troops wandering around in blue helmets, we should point out that the classic American Peacemaker is the legendary Colt Single-Action Army revolver. The origin of that nickname is impossible to ascertain at this date, but it does indeed fit the subject. A fully armed society is a peaceful society, in largest measure. Scholarly investigations into the character of the "Wild West" discover that while individual animosity was occasionally settled in barroom brawls with sidearms, the streets of the towns were conspicuously peaceful, especially after dark, which is certainly more than you can say about what we have today.

To surrender one's personal weapon is to invite disaster. This has been obvious for so long and so often that there is probably a Greek word for the practice. If called upon to give up your gun by a superior force, you are faced with an evil choice, but if you retain it you at least retain your dignity. One thinks of the Fancher train, wherein the emigrants were assured that if they dropped their guns they would not be harmed. One thinks of Piet Retief, who was told that he and his people could not enter the presence of the king in possession of their arms. One thinks of the German Jews under Hitler, and one thinks of British street crime today. In contrast, one thinks of Hartmann, the all-time-high-scoring fighter-pilot who, when asked to leave his pistol outside when being awarded his medal by Hitler, declaimed, "If the Führer doesn't trust me, I do not want his medal." Those who do not know history are condemned to repeat it.