Is Accuracy Final?

 My apologies to my regular readers, but the CFDA is considering a rule change that I think is bone-headed.  Read more, below the fold.

Is accuracy final, as Wyatt Earp so famously said, or is speed the idea?  I see a proposed rule change on Item #9 of the Mashal's Muster Agenda that reduces the maximum time for a scored shot from 1.250 second to 1.000 seconds. While I understand the motivation of the intended rule change, I think that this idea is a slippery slope and may damage the Association in the long run.  For example:

I have one club member, a dues-paying member with a CFDA number, who is extremely handicapped.  His disability is such that he cannot safely load his revolver.  We do it for him.  He struggles to maintain the 1.250 rule.  What should I tell him?  That he is no longer good enough to shoot with us?  That is not the Cowboy Way.  I'll need a lot more guidance about how I breach that conversation.

My lady, my wife and best friend, Blue Eyed Belle, has struggled with speed since we took up this game several years ago.  We love the CFDA, host titled matches, attend other events, but we are slow.  Belle shoots in the 9s and 10s, and when she cold or her hip is hurting, in the 11s.  We know that because she hits the target, which is the point of the whole exercise.  If a 1.001 isn't good enough, she may reevaluate her participation in the sport, which may cause me to reevaluate my participation in the sport.  

Let's get down to the crux of the issue.  I myself am a slow shooter.  I hit in the 6s and 7s, occasionally drag a 5 on a good day.  Last weekend, I was shooting in Kentucky and was told, confidentially, by a shooter I love and respect that I was causing discontent because I was giving away Xs by shooting 6s.  But, we know that I was shooting 6s because I was hitting the target.  The faster shooters were not.  The simple way to win matches in this game is to hit the target.  As a slow shooter, I don't mind when I am out-run, but the other fellow should not complain when I hit the target.

Quick Cal even wrote an article several years ago.  Is There A Gut Shot?  It might be a good time to revisit that article.

Blue Eyed Belle and I are both life members, we love the game and the CFDA.  We do not intend to do anything to jeopardize that relationship.  We have made two firm commitments to upcoming events and plan to fulfill those commitment.  This proposed change, if adopted, will not change those commitments, but may cause us to reevaluate our continued participation in the sport.

I spent most of my adult life in law enforcement with a pistol on my hip.  Gunfights are short, brutal exercises.  I am grateful that I only drew my gun twice in 37 years in the line of duty.  I am extremely grateful that I never had to shoot anyone. I could tell you some really interesting things about true gunfights, but this is neither the time nor the place.  The CFDA is a sport that requires rules, but I believe this rule change is a slippery slope to placate those shooters who get  their feelings hurt when someone else hits the target.  If you come after the 10 shooters now, eventually you will come for the 6 and 7 shooters.

The simple expedient is to hit the target.

I remain, respectfully, - Major D.