If you look back on OCDO, the reporter, Joe Tarr, contacted me in October asking my help in finding Madison area gun carriers to interview. This was just a couple of weeks or so after the Culver's incident. I posted here for volunteers, but apparently the response was small. Not a surprise, coming on the heels of Culver's. So he kind of focused in on me. He first met me when he came and listened to me talk to 2nd Year medical students at the UW on Oct. 13. He basically just introduced himself. We exchanged a couple of emails and he came to the Janesville event and spoke with me for an hour or so. Then there was the trip to the gun range-- we picked him up on the way out of town. It was a 2-hour round trip, plus the time spent on the range. So, altogether he probably spent about 5 hours with me over the course of approximately one month. Next the Isthmus art director contacted me about posing for some shots. The photographer contacted me via email and suggested a shot of me holding a gun in front of my house. I told him "I don't want to be holding a gun, and I don't want to be in front of my house. Otherwise, I'm fine with it!" (LOL) I suggested that I hold a book. (I was either going to hold "The Shooter's Bible" or a book I have on Constitutional and civil rights in America.) He was puzzled by this and said "The article is about how you never leave your house without a gun." This was my first clue how they were going to spin the story, since I couldn't read it until today when it was published. The photographer then asked if I'd be okay being photographed in front of his house. He's about 10 minutes from me, so I said okay, and that I'd bring a gun. The photographer had his lights and reflectors set up on the sidewalk when I got there. I brought along a number of guns, I had a tiny Kel-Tec P3AT and a couple others with me. I thought the photo might be somewhat humorous if I had a just a small gun. But he told me that the article mentioned the Glock 23, which I had told the reporter is the gun I carried the most frequently, and was the gun he shot at the range. (He also shot my G35 and Ruger SP101.) So that's the gun in the photos, since it relates to the story somewhat.
We froze our butts off doing the shots. The wind started to kick up, blowing his equipment around on the stands. Of course the majority of photos simply involved me standing with a holstered gun. We did just a few at the end with the gun being held, and I suspected that the art director would choose those because they're more attention-getting than my ugly mug. Apparently I was right.
What the article was like prior to the editor getting it, I don't know. There are a few minor technical errors-- the holster was Kydex, not metal. We shoot Simunitions ammo during the shoot-don't shoot scenarios, not paint balls. But overall it was fairly accurate where it counts. I put comments online on the Isthmus website for additional clarification of where I stand.
I stopped at Woodmans around noon to get a few things and pick up a copy of the Isthmus to read the article. As I was getting the paper on my way out a guy was picking up a copy in front of me. I said "they picked a handsome guy for the cover this week" and he glanced at me and then the paper and mumbled "ah... yeah." As I loaded my car I noticed him sitting in his truck reading it.