Ron Durham was born in Long Beach, CA.
He was raised in Southern California and joined the U.S. Army at age 17. Here
he showed his the beginnings of his firearm skills, earning Sharpshooter and
Marksman medals with rifle and carbine, respectively.
Ron returned to southern California after
his Army service. Like many southern Californians, Ron enjoyed drag racing.
His first love was a red 1962 Ford Galaxie 406 in which he won many races.
Ron moved to Yuba City 40 years ago where he married and had two daughters.
At that time, he became proficient in Archery, and also enjoyed duck hunting
and deer hunting.
In 1975 he married Peggy, who also had two
daughters. They enjoyed many years of fishing in Canada and Alaska. Of course,
most of their fishing was locally on the Sacramento and Feather Rivers.
Later, Ron came to his love of pistol shooting, in which he excelled. In USPSA,
he was ranked as a B shooter in Production. Limited, and Limited-10 classes.
In IDPA, Ron was classified as Master in SSP, and Expert in ESP and in CDP.
He was always eager to pass on his knowledge to other interested shooters. He became a Safety Officer Instructor and completed the Firearms Instructor Course at Yuba College. In 2000, Ron was named "Volunteer of Year" at the Marysville, CA Police Department. Ron was instrumental in reviving the moribund North Valley Shooters Association in Gridley, CA, serving both as it’s Vice President and it’s President.
Ron helped the development of both the North Valley Shooters Association and the Sacramento Defensive Pistol Shooters at Sloughhouse, CA. He was Match Director for our joint first IDPA regional match, the 2001 Gold Country Classic. Ron became the first Regional Coordinator of the new North Central California IDPA region. Ron was Co-Match Director of the first sanctioned match of the new region, the 2002 North Central California Regional Championship.
In the last few years after his retirement, Ron was known for, and justly proud of his excellent gunsmithing of the triggers of Glock pistols. Ron produced triggers so light and smooth that they seem more like a single action than double action.
Born: 2-17-41, Deceased 12-13-04. He will be missed.
The Gold Country Classic hosted 113 shooters on eight stages. The match ran extraordinarily smoothly and, as a result, finished in good time. The was, of course, due to the efforts of our dedicated club members who spent two days before the match putting up the eight match stages, and scoring and acting as Safety Officers and Assistant Safety Officers on the day of the match. Thank you all for your efforts. Match results are available on our web site www.sdps-idpa.org.
The efforts of our Match Director, John Mercurio, and our Assistant Match Director, Wayne Johnson, however, go well beyond the extent of the term “dedicated.” We don’t even want to know the extent of troubleshooting that they engaged in and the hassles that they had to solve for the match to run so smoothly. Ron Durham would be impressed.
Oh, yes. We made money.
June’s match was an attempt to reverse that trend. Ed Vernon, John Lustig and I prepared stages that were lower in round count and movement. Ed built two of his tricky stages that were great fun to shoot. Included was a target almost completely hidden and a target with it’s head hidden that required shooting under hard cover to it’s exposed body.
One of my stages supposed that you were approached from behind. You were kneeling, checking your car’s rear tire, between your car and the approaching bad guys. No time to stand and deliver, you turned while kneeling and engagde the two targets. Round count was increased by shooting a second string strong hand only. My other stage supposed that you were hit while firing at he bad guys and dropped you firearm. You started while kneeling to recover your weapon and engaged the three bad guys weak hand only.
On John Lustig’s stage, you stopped while bicycling to render aid to a person thought to be disabled on the bikeway. Before you could dismount from your bike, the shill’s henchman approached with weapons. Of course, there were many henchmen. Apparently, everyone wants John’s mountain bike (John, beware of the Dark Side!)
The match results can be found on our web site at www.sdps-idpa.com. Chad Case finished 1st
overall. Interestingly, Mike Grant finished 2nd and 3rd overall. His 2nd place finish was as ESP Expert and his 3rd place finish was only 0.30 seconds slower shooting as CDP Expert. This may answer the FAQ, “Which gun is the fastest in IDPA?”
John Mercurio and Scott Yu finished 4th and 5th overall, close behind Grant and less that 0.30 sec apart. (!) Ed Vernon and Wayne Johnson were about 0.7 sec apart in 6th and 7th overall.
Only 1.02 sec separated Austin Neves, Allen Lowe, John Prall and Randy Bates in 8th through 11th place, respectively!
http://www.putfile.com/media.php?n=IPSC_real2
http://www.putfile.com/media.php?n=mikael_vieira.mpg
http://www.putfile.com/media.php?n=travis_reload.mpg
Pools: more dangerous for children than guns. This article, in the Arizona Daily Star, points out that swimming pools are responsible for many more deaths of children each year than are firearms.
The article quotes goes on to quote authors Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, who state that “…one child under 10 drowns annually for every 11,000 pools. By comparison, one child under 10 each year is killed by a gun for every 1 million guns…” Quote taken from Levitt’s and Dubner’s book, “Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side to Everything”, William Morrow, 2005.
[Arizona is both a “shall issue” CCW state and also does not ban open carry of firearms. Thus, handgun carry is common in Arizona. Comments mine]. Yet data from the Arizona Child Fatality Review program show that for 2003-2003 there were 140 child deaths due to drowning and 15 child deaths due to gunshot wounds. By Eric Swedlund, Arizona Daily Star, June 12, 2005. http://www.dailystar.com/dailystar/printDS/79388.php
INFORMATION TAKEN FROM GABE SUAREZ’ FORUMS: A State Corrections Officer answering the question on another forum, "Does evil exist?" "I work in a prison. I see Evil every day. My last prison was a lockdown supermax, where Evil was naked and violent, right out in front. Now I work in a sex offender yard, where Evil wears a polite face, and warm smile.”
”And people wonder why I carry a gun. [Because] Evil gets out on parole next
Tuesday..."
For those who feel the need to celebrate diversity: Among friends. http://www.thoseshirts.com/diversitybk.html
California Border Police: Assemblyman Ray Haynes (R) has begun an initiative that, if successful, would create a California State Border Patrol. Haynes represents Assembly District 66, principally the rural areas of Riverside and San Diego counties. He states:
“California taxpayers spend over $10 billion every year paying for services for illegal aliens. For years, we have asked the federal government to do a better job of protecting our border, but those pleas have met deaf ears. It’s time to stop complaining about Washington and to take matters into our own hands. That’s why I wrote the new California Border Police Initiative.”
To find out more about the California Border Police Initiative and to view the video of my interview with CNN’s Lou Dobbs, please visit www.CalBorderPolice.com.
We need your help to qualify this important immigration reform measure. At the website, you will be able to join our email list, sign-up to volunteer for the campaign, request petitions when they become available, or make an on-line donation.
This is a people’s initiative (no big special interests are paying the way), so I need your help to make it a reality. Please visit our website today, www.CalBorderPolice.com today.
Thank you, Assemblyman Ray Haynes
ASSEMBLY BILL 357 AND SENATE BILL 352: Words of Wisdom from our President.
Guys and Gals:
It's time to get off of our duffs and phone, Email, and letter write (that's right, snail mail) ALL of your state Senators and Assemblypersons. These two bills will, if passed, put an end to our sport. The LIBERAL DEMOCRATS have introduced two bills that are a back door way of getting rid of all handgun shooting sports in California.
You will not be able to reload your ammunition. You will have to purchase it at an outrageous price, if you can find it. The ammunition producers have said that they will make California "off limits" because of the high cost of retooling just for the California market.
If these bills pass and are approved by our Governor, it will be too late to get off the couch and do anything about them. The camel has now got his head in the tent! Let's stop this B.S. by the kids under the Capitol Dome.
I know that most of us in our busy lives don't pay much attention the political antics of the kids down town, but this time we have to voice our opinion and voice it strong. The non-shooting public will, in their ignorance, think this is a great idea. They don't realize it will "infringe on our right to keep and bear arms" by making it impossible to continue to shoot without ammo. Read Mike McGinn's NRA update sent to you today for details of the phone numbers to call.
Let's flood the Capitol with our responses. This is our last stand, we have our backs against the wall. I'm ready to fight this idiocy.
Your Pres. Wayne Johnson
How to contact the individual members of the California Assembly Public Safety Committee:
Mark Leno, Chair -- Dem-13 (916) 319-2013, Assemblymember.leno@assembly.ca.gov
Jay La Suer, Vice Chair -- Rep-77 (916) 319-2077, Assemblymember.Lasuer@assembly.ca.gov
Rebecca Cohn -- Dem-24 (916) 319-2024, Assemblymember.Cohn@assembly.ca.gov
Mervyn M. Dymally -- Dem-52 (916) 319-2052, Assemblymember.dymally@assembly.ca.gov
Jackie Goldberg -- Dem-45 (916) 319-2045, Assemblymember.Goldberg@assembly.ca.gov
Todd Spitzer - Rep-71 (916) 319-2071, Assemblymember.spitzer@assembly.ca.gov
Mailing addresses, FAX numbers, and information about committee members can be found at the following web site:
www.assembly.ca.gov/acs/newcomframeset.asp?committee=57
How to contact individual members of the California Senate Public Safety Committee:
Elaine Alquist, Chair Dem-13 (916) 651-4093 senator.alquist@sen.ca.gov.
Charles Poochigian, Vice-Chair Rep-14 (916) 651-4014 Senator.Poochigian@sen.ca.gov
Gilbert Cedillo Dem-22 (916) 651-4022 Senator.Cedillo@sen.ca.gov ??
Bob Margett Rep-29 (916) 651-4024 Senator.Margett@sen.ca.gov ??
Carol Migden Dem-03 (916) 651-4003 Senator.Migden@sen.ca.gov ??
Don Perata Dem-09 (916) 651-4009 Senator.Perata@sen.ca.gov
Gloria Romero Dem-24 (916) 651-4024 Senator.Romero@sen.ca.gov
Mailing addresses, FAX numbers, and information about committee members can be found at the following web site:
www.senate.ca.gov/ftp/sen/committee/STANDING/PUBLICSAFETY/_home1/PROFILE.HTM
Woman's gun may have saved her life: It’s hard to believe, but they may be beginning to get it in the Bay Area.
By STEPHEN FRYE Of The Daily Oakland Press, March 20, 2004
Four years ago, she was helpless as a man robbed her at gunpoint. On Friday, legally armed with a handgun, she may have saved her life.
And Farmington Hills Police Chief William Dwyer, who dreaded a change in the law in 2001 to make it easier to receive a concealed weapons permit, admits that he's changing his mind about that law.
Dwyer said the woman could easily have been killed after she was targeted by a couple looking for an easy score. They were waiting at 6:30 a.m. outside an office building at the southeast corner of 12 Mile and Drake roads.
Angela, a married mother of two, was arriving at the office where she has worked for six years. She asked that her last name and hometown not be made public.
She saw a car in the lot that she did not recognize, with two people inside, putting her on her guard. When she left her car, a man got out of that car and walked toward her.
He passed the entrance to the building and continued toward her. The man came within 10 feet of her, and she knew she had to act.
"I didn't get a chance to get in the office," she said. "He had his hands in his pocket with his hood pulled up. I opened my purse and pulled my gun out.
"I felt my life was in trouble. The first instinct was to pull out my gun."
The man turned tail and walked away, and the car pulled up to him near the roadway. He jumped in and they drove off.
No shots were fired.
Dwyer said there was "no question" she was in trouble.
"She took the appropriate action," Dwyer said. "She probably saved her life. She is a very fortunate young lady. (Also) she did an excellent job as far as giving a description of the vehicle and the suspect. She's a very courageous young lady."
Her calm demeanor and quick thinking - she called police from her cell phone immediately after the suspect drove off - led police to the man and his female accomplice within a minute of the robbery attempt, Dwyer said.
He said the couple - a 21-year-old man and a 28-year-old woman from Detroit - would be charged with conspiracy to commit armed robbery.
Police confiscated a loaded 9 mm handgun from the couple's car. The man has several outstanding warrants and the woman was convicted for receiving stolen property.
Later Friday, Dwyer said a 28-year-old Southfield woman who knows Angela had been arrested for setting up her robbery. Police are seeking a fourth suspect.
Dwyer, who as head of the state's police chief's association opposed the change in state law that made it easier for residents without criminal backgrounds to carry guns, acknowledges that the law has saved at least one person.
"I always said the CCW (Carrying a Concealed Weapon permit) legislation is somewhat controversial," he said. "I'm certainly rethinking it."
He credited her for taking the appropriate training and, equally important, using common sense.
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