The ITS Tactical crew will be attending the Warrior Appreciation Night on the third evening of SHOT Show in Las Vegas, NV and we’d like to take a few minutes to tell you about what it is and how you can get a chance to win some fantastic prizes through their raffle presented by USPSA.

The Warrior Appreciation Night is in it’s sixth year and presented by the American Legion as an event to honor all veterans, past, present and future.

“The Warrior Appreciation Night is a great way to acknowledge and honor our heroes — those who have served and those currently serving to protect our nation and the communities where we live.” Daniel S. Wheeler, national adjutant of The American Legion.

If you would like to attend, tickets for civilians are $20 while veterans and law enforcement can get in for free with a valid ID. Be sure to visit the site for details though as it will be best to set up your tickets in advance if you are a veteran or LEO.

While not everyone will be lucky enough to visit this event in person, you can still make a difference by donating to some great causes and taking part in the online raffle. You have the ability to choose what organization you’re donating towards and each has a specific set of awesome items up for grabs. There are nearly $30,000 worth of firearms and accessories available and tickets are just $10 each.

Note: Each of these raffles contains more than just the firearms. Cases, ammo, optics, training packages, and hearing protection are just some of the extras you’ll receive if you win.

• American Legion / Operation Comfort Warriors
  • Black Rain Ordnance PG5 Custom AR15
• America’s Mighty Warriors
  • Remington Versamax Tactical 12 Ga. Shotgun, Bushmaster AR 15, and Armscor Rock Island G.I. 1911
• Green Beret Foundation
  • Colt Competition CRP-18 Rifle by Bold Ideas
• Honored American Veterans Afield
  • Mossberg AR Rifle and 2011 Freedom Gun Works Custom 5″ .40 Cal. Pistol
• Law Enforcement United
  • Northern Competition Custom Tactical AR Rifle, and Remington R1 1911
• Lone Survivor Foundation
  • Lancer Systems / AAC 300 Blackout AR Rifle and Armscor Rock Island G.I. 1911
• V-SPANN
  • Northern Competition Custom AR Tactical Rifle and Para Black Ops 1911

You are not required to be present to win and the drawing will take place on January 16th at 4:30 PM PST. The age limit for this raffle is 21 years old and you have to make sure you are legally allowed to possess the firearm you intend to win. If you are a winner, you are also responsible for the FFL transfer. 

While there are some very worthy charities on the list, the one that’s near and dear to our hearts here at ITS is America’s Mighty Warriors, who we donate the proceeds of our 5.1.11 morale patch to. America’s Mighty Warriors was founded to help our military, their families and those that have fallen through their loss and we are proud to help in any way that we can.

We strongly encourage you donate to any of the above organizations. Your contribution truly makes a difference in the lives of so many. If you aren’t able to donate at this time, please always keep our veterans and those serving our country in your thoughts.

We’ve got big plans starting this Monday the 16th when Las Vegas SHOT Show 2012 kicks off with Media Day at the Range. This article will to tell you all about what we have going on during the week and why you’ll want to track us down.

Primarily we’ll be there reporting live from the show floor on all the latest and greatest in the industry each day, so keep your eye on our homepage for the live feed. We’ll also be updating on our Facebook page and Twitter with everything we’re seeing too. The SHOT Show runs each day Tuesday the 17th thru Friday the 20th from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., with Monday being Media Day at the Range. We’ll definitely be covering Media Day at the Range as well.

As you might have seen on our Facebook page, our SHOT Show Poker Chips are back with a new design for 2012. In addition to handing you one for free when you find us at the show, any order placed in the ITS Store during the week of SHOT Show (January 16th – 20th) will receive a free poker chip as well! (while supplies last).

Limited Edition SHOT Show 2012 Poker Chip

Tweet and Meet

How do you find us? Easy! Follow us on Twitter throughout the day and we’ll be tweeting our location as we cover the show. If for some reason you can’t track us down during the day, we’ve got a Tweet and Meet each night after the show. We’ll be tweeting out the location each night of where we’ll be at having drinks and everyone is invited out to have a drink on us! You’ll just have to watch Twitter carefully to see where we’re at each night.

Free FR T-Shirt from Tactical Distributors, DRIFIRE and ITS Tactical

We’ve partnered up with our friends at Tactical Distributors and DRIFIRE to offer give a free tee to the first 100 people that head over to the Tactical Distributors Booth and give the correct passphrase! So what’s the password to get your free SHOT Show 2012 DRIFIRE Ultra-Lightweight Short Sleeve Tee?

Simply head over to TD’s booth at #26307 and say “The Indians are on the Warpath!” Without the password they’ll probably tell you they don’t know what free tee you’re talking about! You may remember the odor resistance of these shirts from our review here on ITS Tactical, these are great shirts and inherently fire resistant as well.

Discount Code

Yet another reason to find us at the SHOT Show is that we’ll be handing out a card with a discount code for the ITS Store that will be good for the week of SHOT only (Jan. 16th – 20th.)

We’ll be working hard for you all week by bringing you live coverage straight from the floor of SHOT Show, check back with us often throughout each day next week as our information will continually update on our Website, Twitter and Facebook!

Thanks for all your support this past year, we’ve had huge growth and owe it all to each one of you! We’re both humbled and extremely proud to have such awesome friends to surround ourselves with here in our community on ITS Tactical!

Check out last year’s coverage of SHOT Show 2011 linked below, but be warned, it’s going to be a huge upgrade to last year! 

Your feedback is a critical element to our development here at ITS Tactical, so I have a question that I’m really hoping to get your response to. Should there be more content for women on ITS? We’d like to hear from you no matter if you’re a female follower of ITS, or if you’re a male follower who thinks your wife, girlfriend, daughter or friend would be interested in posts and reviews geared toward them.

At the 2011 SHOT Show in Las Vegas I noticed a larger segment of the booths there that had things specifically for women. There were even entire booths dedicated to the female consumer. Having attended the show in 2010 with ITS as well, the difference was so significant to me that it confirmed what I had been thinking before we made it to SHOT. We should have content dedicated to helping women become better prepared for self-protection and anything they might encounter.

Content for Women

Part of what led me to begin thinking about contributing more to the site is out of my own frustration. There is a consistent lack of products that will work for me. I’m a petite person, so everything needs to be scaled down in size for me to be able to use it. Take my concealed carry weapon for example, a Sig Sauer P232. It’s a smaller gun that looks like it would be a good fit for me, and it even felt good in my hands when I was holding it at a gun show.

It wasn’t until I had already purchased the gun and got it to a range to shoot it for the first time, that I noticed why it wasn’t the most efficient gun for me. For starters, my index finger can’t quite extend long enough for me to have good form when I’m pulling the trigger. Secondly, the slide is very hard for me to rack without contorting my arms into a position that isn’t conducive to a quick, emergent response. My P232 is still a great gun that’s fun to shoot, but if I needed to draw and fire that first shot in a hurry I worry that a malfunction could cost me too much time to fix with a weapon that’s difficult for me to get back into the fight.

Another frustrating element of the tactical industry is that, in my humble opinion, the clothing and shoes are just too big and unshapely. I was so excited to see a brand at SHOT this year called SHE Outdoor Apparel. Their clothing line is tailored, classy and I actually saw XS in their sizing options! For someone who is vertically challenged and a borderline midget this is great news! I haven’t had an opportunity to try on their garments on yet, but I’m looking forward to checking out the true fit and functionality of it. I also found out that Magnum Boots is gearing up to offer more clothing for women very soon, so I can’t wait to see what’s coming.

I would love to see more resources for education geared toward women, too. I consistently hear about classes and training opportunities that are full of men, but honestly I don’t want to go shoot with men until shooting in any situation is second nature for me. The thought of a male-dominated shooting class intimidates me at this point. I’ve only been properly shooting a serious weapon in the last five years, and I just don’t feel I’m able to understand the lingo or how to repair my weapon without assistance. I know not all women are like me in this regard and maybe I can get Doc’s wife Andrea at RSKTKR to sign me up for private lessons, but I would venture to guess that there are plenty of women out there who are lacking enough confidence to sign up for classes as easily as men do.

Based on the points I’m making and your own experiences with what’s available for women, would you welcome more information published on ITS that will support self-protection and preparedness for the ladies? I appreciate you taking the time to consider this new idea and providing your feedback; I look forward to reading your responses!

Dom over at Hyde Definition just sent us over the first public photo of the new PenCott colorways they’ve developed.

These were designed to address arid, mountain, urban, snow and low-light operational needs. They look fantastic and we can’t wait to see the production versions! You may remember PenCott from our Camouflage Comparison a few months back.

Dom will be attending the Internationale Waffen Ausstellung (IWA), an annual trade-show for the shooting, hunting and firearms industry taking place in Nuremberg, Germany, from the 12th to the 15th of March 2010 to promote Hyde Definition and the new concealment solutions.

The IWA is the second largest trade show of its kind behind the SHOT Show in the United States.

Contact Dom here to obtain more information.

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Ok Guys and Girls, it’s time for our collective tactical voice to be heard.

Chuck Taylor All-Stars are arguably one of the most popular shoes to ever be produced, and have been unofficially adopted by the tactical community and military for a long time.

There are thousands of color schemes Converse has produced over the years, but none that are truly tactical!

Yes, there are black canvas on black sole Chucks, which are awesome, but none in true tactical colors.

The Tactical Chucks pictured here (The bag says Vintage 1946) were seen at the 2010 SHOT Show in Las Vegas, and if we didn’t grab a photo of them, would have slipped into oblivion.

We contacted Converse and eventually got routed to their eStore email address, who needed visual confirmation to give us any information about the elusive Tactical Chucks. Luckily we had a photo…

Just to provide a full disclosure, we’ve attached the email correspondence from Converse so you can see just why we’ve created a petition to get these Tactical Chucks made!

______________________________________________________

Sent: Wed 1/27/2010 12:12 PM

To: Estore

Subject: ID on a pair of Chucks

Hello,

I spoke with someone on the phone yesterday to inquire about a pair of

Chuck Taylor 1946 Converse All Stars that I saw while I was attending

the Las Vegas SHOT Show last week.

I’ve attached a photo of the shoes and would like to see if there’s

any information on availability and when they’ll be released.

Thank you,

Bryan

______________________________________________________

On Jan 28, 2010, at 9:51 AM, Estore wrote:

Hi Bryan,

Unfortunately this shoe was never produced and will not be available

for purchase. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Have a great day,

Jessica

Converse.com

Customer Service

______________________________________________________

Sent: Thu 1/28/2010 10:08 AM

To: Estore

Subject: Re: ID on a pair of Chucks

Jessica,

Can you please explain why it was being showcased at SHOT Show if

there was not an intent to produce it and it wouldn’t be available for

purchase?

Thank you for following up,

Bryan

______________________________________________________

On Jan 29, 2010, at 9:51 AM, Estore wrote:

Hi Bryan,

We apologize for any confusion. Often times our Merchandising team will take old models or prototypes to shows like SHOT to get a gauge on whether or not there is interest in the shoe. They usually let people know that the shoes are not available for sale, we apologize that you were not told this.

Thank you.

Have a great day,

Jessica

Converse.com

Customer Service

______________________________________________________

Ok.. so you read it, right? “Often times our Merchandising team will take old models or prototypes to shows like SHOT to get a gauge on whether or not there is interest in the shoe.”

Converse needs to see that there’s an interest in getting these Tactical Chucks made, and the Tactical Community needs to speak up!

Sign this petition and show Converse that you want to see these get made!

The goal for this petition is 1,000 signatures and will automatically be sent to Converse once we hit that goal.

Send this to friends, family, shooters and anyone you know that could use a pair of Tactical Chucks!

Sign the Tactical Chucks Petition!

Before we announce the winner, we’d all like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who participated in our contest and all the great feedback that was left.

You all have made our coverage of the 2010 SHOT Show worth every minute of our time, and there’s no way we won’t be brining you even more coverage next year!

The winner of our SHOT Show Schwag is… Crew Member “Shift.” Shift was Crew Member #107 of 176 entries, and as always we used random.org to choose the winner.

A big congratulations to Shift, and thanks again to everyone who participated!

Shift, please contact us if you haven’t received an email yet.