Shooting from the Hip

Infamous cougar photo by David Rodgers

While the term “cougar” has taken on a new life recently — mostly one resembling an older Monica from Friends — the latest hiccup of cougar hysteria has been focused on the original one. You know, the mammal with four legs, a sandy mane and furry paws.

What’s more, this “hysteria” stems from an e-mail that’s been passed around since 2007. Sigh.

The e-mail, which included a few snapshots of a curious cougar hanging out on a porch, claimed that this big cat was peering into the windows of a nearby home, watching children play and strongly suggested he was surveying the wee ones as potential dinner options.

A recent write up in the Wall Street Journal mentioned this specific e-mail, saying that it was passed along as “proof” that cougars are back in a big way. When comparing various versions of the e-mail, you come to realize that this exact cougar showed up on the same exact porch for the same exact photo shoot in five different states. Exactly. That’s one busy cougar.

According to The Journal, there has been 765 cougar reports in Missouri alone since 2005. But how many of those have actually been verified by Missouri’s Mountain Lion Response Team? Oh, about two.

Apparently cougar-sighting mania has been going strong in Missouri since 2006. That’s when Missouri Conservationist published this in-depth article outlining the mountain lion myth.

“We have had only a handful of confirmed mountain lions in Missouri, despite hundreds and hundreds of reports,” writes Dave Hamilton, a resource scientist at the Missouri Conservation Department. “There have been eight confirmed mountain lions since 1994. One of these was hit by a car near downtown Kansas City in 2002 and another in 2003 near Fulton.”

Despite this low number of actual confirmed cougar sightings in the state, Missouri still employs an eight-person Mountain Lion Response Team, on hand to calm any further hysteria that might arise. So, you can rest easy … until that next forward makes its way into your inbox.

In the meantime, watch this crazy video of a mother cougar protecting her young from a grizzly bear.

Blogs and forums are buzzing about the redesigned fourth-generation Glock, set for release in 2010.

Richard over at Gun Holsters and Gear says the new Glock, or the “Next Generation of Perfection,” is rumored to have an adjustable grip for hands of all shapes and sizes as well as a textured finish.

AccurateShooter.com mentions that grip on Glock handguns has been a point of contention for some time. Glocks have been manufactured by Glock GmbH in Austria since 1963. The company’s is known for its strike-fired polymer-framed pistols.

“Glock has been losing market share as police departments nationwide have traded in their Glocks in favor of the more ergonomic Smith M&Ps,” said the editor at AccurateShooter.

When the fourth-gen G22 RTF2 Glock was first released this year, Steve at The Firearms Blog wrote: “I think 3rd gen glocks will be considered the ‘classic’ and having an older one will be ‘cool.’”

Will the newly redesigned Glock make it into the ‘cool’ category?

If you’re a gun owner and haven’t received an e-mail forward warning of the horrors of SB-2099, an alleged U.S. Senate bill that would enforce a federal tax on firearms, then you are one of the few.

This mythical bill, which has been dispelled since 2000, claims that:

• Senate Bill SB-2099 will require gun owners to put on the 2009 1040 federal tax form all guns that you have or own.
• It will require fingerprints and a $50 tax per gun.
• The bill will become public knowledge 30 days after it becomes a law.

All of the above is completely and utterly false (well, according to Snopes). But why would this rumor resurface after being disproved nearly a decade ago? According to About.com’s Urban Legends, the 2008 election was the catalyst.

The latest e-mail about the SB-2099 “bill,” is a combination of the 2000 forward and another e-mail about the Blair Holt bill, which is true. The amalgamation of both bills, however, proves false.

The recent forward resurgence caused the NRA to release a statement in August that said the e-mail ruckus had caused them to receive “hundreds of e-mails warning us about SB-2099”

“Like many rumors, there’s just a grain of truth to this one,” the statement said. “Someone’s recycling an old alert, which wasn’t even very accurate when it was new.”

The video opinion commentary below discusses SB-2099, saying that the whole thing is a hoax, and points to potentially more pressing matters for those who own firearms.