​Since tomorrow, 19 June, is the last day of Spring I thought that I would post a few of the photos that I took of the gorgeous flowers that bloomed in our neck of the woods this year.

​It was almost like nature wanted to show off what she could do to offset all of the other craziness spreading throughout the world. (click on any photo to start the slideshow):

​There’s nothing else to really say since the beauty of the flowers speak for themselves – so get out there and revel in Nature whenever you can.

​On 29 May we were out hiking when we happened to look up and saw the beautiful “first quarter” Moon hanging in the daytime sky. Since there were no clouds in the bright blue sky, the sunlight glinting off of the moon was radiant – making for some great photos – starting at 5:30 PM and ending at 8:30 PM. ​(click on any photo to start the slideshow):

If you want to learn more details about the moon’s daily activities you should check out MoonGiant.com. Here’s their detailed page for 29 May 2020:
​
     https://www.moongiant.com/phase/5/29/2020

In March we wrote a blog about the “4 Rules for Handling a Firearm” which covered two main points: 1) the number of firearm purchases had skyrocketed in the US in January (2,702,702 NICS checks) and February (2,802,467 NICS checks) 2020 and 2) all these new gun owners need to learn the critical rules related to safety.

Well, since that time the unsettled nature of the world has driven even more people to purchase firearms - as see by the latest FBI National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) data:

• March - 3,740,688 background checks
• April - 2,911,128 background checks
• May - 3,091,455 background checks

 
If you want to see more of the FBI’s NICS data here are the direct links:
 
     - https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/nics_firearm_checks_-_month_year.pdf/view
 
     - https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/nics_firearm_checks_-_month_year_by_state.pdf/view
 
     - https://www.fbi.gov/services/cjis/nics
 
So, in the first 5 months of 2020 there have been 15,248,440 NICS checks; an average of 3,049,688 checks per month.
 
What’s driving these purchases? Where are the purchases being made? Who’s making the purchases? Why? Like you we had lots of questions.
 
Luckily, James Miller from the Minuteman Review put together a great infographic and contacted us to see if we wanted to help spread the word. For those of you that aren’t familiar with the Minuteman review they’re a website “dedicated to supporting the 2nd Amendment and promoting firearms safety and education” that tries to “provide every gun owner—and prospective gun owner—the information they need to get the firearms and gear that are most relevant to their needs”. One of the things that we like about their website is that they have lots of articles, guides and reviews about gear related to the shooting sports.

Rather than trying to summarize all of the information in their infographic – we’ll just let it speak for itself: