This month I shot what I believe will be the last of The Pin Shoots, my all-time favorite shooting match that began in the mid-1970s as the Second Chance Shoot. It was conceptualized and run by Richard Davis, “the man who bullet-proofed America’s police” when he became the first to use ballistic nylon and later Kevlar and Twaron to create soft, concealable body armor that could be discreetly worn under one’s shirt and could stop bullets.
Best known among shooters for creating the sport of bowling pin shooting (and my own favorite shooting match!) he will be best remembered for the thousands of lives his concept has saved over the years, a thousand or so of which were with his own brand of armor, Second Chance.
On awards night as the finale of the event played out, Richard was introduced by his son Matt, who has continued the tradition of saving lives with his own brand of ballistic vest, WarBird (www.warbirdpro.com) and also brought the Second Chance Shoot back to life as The Pin Shoot from 2017 to this year’s June finale.
Richard, you need to know, was never a cop. He was inspired to invent his always-on body armor when, as an armed citizen, he won a gunfight against three armed thugs and got hit by a couple of bullets himself. It made him one of the most stalwart supporters of the law-abiding armed citizen concept.
Richard became famous for shooting himself with his own armor on. It gave a new meaning to the term “stand behind your product.”
Asked to speak to us in in the audience, Richard took only a minute and ten seconds and focused on the time one of his competitors in the body armor industry asked him how he could shoot himself like that.
Believe me, his answer is worth a minute and ten seconds of your attention, and here it is:
Or watch video here.