Here’s how things work around here: I collect interesting snippets of information that are relevant to the topics of this blog (namely revolvers, shooting, and self defense) and write posts inspired by those snippets. Sometimes it’s a news story that sets things in motion, sometimes it’s my own experiences, and occasionally it’s a remark by another blogger.

I usually write something up and hang on to it for release when I have room. For instance, Fridays are always devoted to an off-topic surprise so I hold any topical things for the following Monday. This week the CenturioGroup nonsense about lumens popped up and I was so excited to comment that I bumped the article I’d planned to today. It was based on a post last month at another blog, but there was no hurry because it wasn’t any sort of current event.

In the meantime several other bloggers jumped in to comment, making me look like a Johnny-come-lately. This isn’t the first time I’ve been scooped, though; I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve thought “I’ll get to this next week”, only to have the entire blogosphere jump on the topic while I was busy doing more important things — like earning a living.

Just so you know: I wrote the following last week. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

—

Miguel over at The Gun Free Zone recently wrote a piece defending the ‘shoot me first’ vest — that item of clothing, usually attributed to photographers, which is often the choice of the IDPA crowd. I don’t like the things. Not necessarily because a bad guy will target the wearer of such a vest (there is no evidence either way on that assertion), but simply because they are an affectation. They always have been.

Back in the early 1980s I was working in a camera store and selling gear to actual working photographers. We had ‘photographers vests’ for sale, but rarely sold any — and never to a real professional. Everyone considered them a mark of the dilettante, and no one I knew would be caught dead in one. Flash forward to 2011 and they still look silly.

That’s not to say that you can’t wear one (it is, after all, a semi-free country), but it’s advisable to do so only if it’s not out of place in your environment. I’m a big believer in blending in whenever possible, of not calling any more attention to oneself than necessary, and the ‘photographer’s vest’ is almost always anomalous. Off the top of my head I can’t think of an environment where one wouldn’t stand out, save an IDPA match.

The funny part is that if one is fixated on concealing via a vest there is almost always a style that will look right at home. Here in the Northwest, wool vests from Filson hit just the right balance between casual and business formal and look right at home in a wide variety of settings. For women, a patterned vest of some type usually looks good with just about any pants outfit. Canvas work vests are common in the trades, and in the trendier areas one can still occasionally find an argyle vest (though I think of them as quite hipsterish.)

When you get asked if you’re a photographer or a fisherman that’s not proof that you’ve pulled off some great feat of concealment; it’s a sign that you’ve stood out enough to make people question your presence. I remain (while admitting that my Stetson occasionally puts me in that situation) of the opinion that such an event is not a Good Thing.

-=[ Grant ]=-