Another attempt to use Artificial Intelligence, AI, with a bit of nostalgia intended…
QUESTION:
When was the NRA Police Pistol Competition established and what is their status?
ANSWER IMMEDIATLEY GENERATED:
The National Rifle Association (NRA) was founded on November 17, 1871, by William Conant Church and George Wood Wingate in New York. It was initially created to improve marksmanship among soldiers and civilians after the Civil War, with a charter granted by the state of New York.
The NRA Police Pistol Combat (PPC) competition was established in 1962. It emerged as part of the NRA’s broader efforts to support law enforcement, which began with the formation of the NRA Law Enforcement Division in 1960. The PPC program was designed to encourage police officers to improve their firearm skills through competitive shooting, building on earlier NRA initiatives to enhance marksmanship that date back to 1916. The first National Police Revolver Championships, a precursor to the modern PPC events, took place in Bloomington, Indiana, in 1962.
As of February 27, 2025, the NRA Police Pistol Combat competitions are still active, though their broader context is tied to the National Police Shooting Championships (NPSC). The NPSC, which includes PPC events, continues to be a flagship competition for law enforcement officers, pitting top marksmen from public and private agencies, as well as military police, against each other. The most recent in-person NPSC was scheduled for September 2024 in Pearl, Mississippi, hosted by the Mississippi Highway Patrol Pistol Team, indicating the program’s ongoing status. However, the NRA has faced disruptions in recent years, with cancellations of the NPSC in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite these setbacks and the NRA’s legal and financial challenges—including a 2021 bankruptcy filing that was dismissed and an ongoing lawsuit from New York Attorney General Letitia James seeking to dissolve the organization—the PPC competitions persist as part of the NRA’s law enforcement outreach, though their prominence and regularity may be affected by these broader organizational struggles.
FEEL SAFE NOW?
Nationwide recall dietary supplement
Sinus wash recalled, microbial contamination of the product with Staphylococcus aureus
Cups recalled, contains levels of lead that exceed the federal lead content ban
Dark chocolate conettos recalled
Dressers recalled, tip-over and entrapment hazards
Window shades recalled, due to strangulation and entanglement hazards
Snacks recalled, Undeclared wheat, sesame, soy, yellow 5, yellow 6, red 6
Snacks recalled, Undeclared wheat, sesame, soy, yellow 5, yellow 6, red 6
Jackets recalled, due to the strangulation hazard
More than one million coolers recalled due to fingertip amputation and crushing hazards
Sprouts recalled, Listeria monocytogenes
Tuna recall, Clostridium Botulinum risk
Health, Wellness & Prevention
US vaccine advisory meeting postponed after Kennedy takes top health job
Measles on rise across US as outbreak spreads in one state
USDA works to rehire bird flu officials it fired, NBC news reports
Unhealthy makeup ingredients, what to look for
US FDA approves SpringWorks’ genetic disorder drug
Dozens fall sickened aboard Royal Caribbean cruise ship
Some US health clinics grapple with federal funding squeeze
Health Alert: CDC warns flu surges to 15 year high
Trump’s aid freeze keeps life-saving programs shut, sparks “mayhem”
Trump recall of CDC research puts scientific papers in limbo
Bird flu concerns grow as second strain found in US
| US health agencies sued over removal of health data websites |
Chief Justice Roberts Pauses Order for Trump Admin to Pay $2 Billion in USAID
VIEW COMPLETE STORY HERE
STATE OF THE UNION
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As I sweat out trying to make my March deadline, I realize I made at least one crucial mistake—I picked the shortest month of the year to finish up my latest draft. Not great planning. More on that later. Since I’m pouring most of my waking time into the novel, I’ve picked another favorite story from my first book for this week’s tale. The prompt was donated by S.X. Stabile of N.E. Town Uchoose. Last week I mentioned that I was returning to the movie set and that we’d be filming an adaption of my 101-word story, “Unfortunately, not everybody’s a baseball fan.” As it turned out, we decided to recast one of the lead roles, resulting in postponing the shoot. It will still happen as soon as we find the right actor. Stay tuned. And now here’s the Story of the Week. Unlike the one mentioned above, once you read this story, you’ll see why it would be difficult to produce—unless it was animated (nothing I know anything about).
They Think They Know Us So Well“What’re you guys doing?” Taffy panted as she joined the other dogs at the dog park. “Getting ready to play Bend Over For Rover,” Duke answered. “Can I play?” Taffy asked. “Wait. What’s that?” “We get our human’s attention. We start sniffing around like we’re gonna drop one and just when the human pulls out the poop bag and squats down, we move to another spot.” “My human brags about how he knows right when I’m about to go,” Taffy said. “That’s what makes it so fun. We have them doing squats like they’re at the gym. Humans—they’re freakin’ adorable.” Prompt: Keep Them Guessing
Novel News & Notes: On the Questionable Characters front, I’m doing a better job of getting in more editing time, resulting in a shrinking manuscript. I’ve shaved about forty pages from the last draft. If I could lose another 20-30, I’d feel even better. I know it can be done. I just need to get brutal and find bigger chunks to lose. As I mentioned last week, I want to be down to 90,000 words and I’m at 95,700 now. Maybe I should just feed the whole thing into ChatGPT and tell AI to cut out the superfluous material. Yeah, no. That’s not gonna happen. This is my book—good, bad, or otherwise. Let’s hope next week’s post is all about celebrating another finished draft sent off to the editor. As always, thanks for listening. Scotty out
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