Saturday Night Special

Among the 600 competition shooters from around the world competing at the 2008 National Handgun Championships are four locals: Gary Chan of Anaheim Hills, Brennan Price of Fullerton, Michael Pelissier of Huntington Beach and Chris Endersby of San Clemente. The local pistol packers are now bound for the U.S. Shooting Academy in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for the Sept. 6-13 shoot-offs.

The competition is presented by the United States Practical Shooting Association (USPSA). Practical shooting, also known as "run and gun," challenges competitors to shoot rapidly and accurately over obstacle-laden courses called stages. Scores are based on the speed in which a stage is completed, minus penalties for inaccurate shooting.

The USPSA championships are a warm-up to the International Practical Shooting Confederation (IPSC) World Championships scheduled for the end of October in Bali, Indonesia.

Yeah, great, call me when someone comes up with synchronized practical shooting, where teammates mirror one another on an obstacle-laden course--facing one another.