This past week has brought us the sad news of the passing of three good men, all stalwart supporters of the right to self-defense and the responsible bearing of arms. In order of their departures:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A week ago today J. Michael Plaxco departed. \u201cMike\u201d to his friends and \u201cJohn\u201d in the business world (to keep his accounts straight), he was to the best of my knowledge the first (and perhaps still the only) competitive shooter to win the triple crown of National IPSC Champion, World Speed Shooting Champion, and winner of my all-time favorite match known then as \u201cSecond Chance\u201d and today as \u201cThe Pin Shoot\u201d (www.pinshoot.com<\/a>).\u00a0 Mike was a gentleman with a sense of humor, and a kind way of correcting the students (myself included) who came to his brilliantly taught shooting classes. One of the stars of Team Smith & Wesson on shooting\u2019s pro tour, he had previously pioneered an expansion-chamber recoil compensator for powerful handguns that is used to this day.\u00a0 My own favorite \u201ccomp gun\u201d is a Springfield Armory 1911A1 .45 that he built for me back in the \u201880s, and with which thanks to his skill I won a bunch of matches.\u00a0 Mike wasn\u2019t quite yet 70 at the time of his death, which ended a long and agonizing painful physical issue compounded by other problems. You can still find his excellent book on the psychology and techniques of victory in shooting competitions, \u201cShooting From Within<\/a>,\u201d on Amazon.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The next passage I learned of this past week was that of Rosco Benson. Readers of Combat Handguns <\/em>magazine will remember him as the man depicted demonstrating practical draw-shoot-and have cover self defense techniques from concealed carry in Rick Miller\u2019s tactical shooting column.\u00a0 Mr. Benson was the only one of the three we lost this week whom I didn\u2019t know personally. However, I always enjoyed his commentary on our mutual friend Evan Marshall\u2019s forum, and one magazine editor I spoke with about Rosco\u2019s death this week said he thought he remembered some of Benson\u2019s own articles. He was content to stand in the background as he demonstrated things people needed to know: humble and articulate, the essence of a good role model.<\/p>\n\n\n\n