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(courtesy The Truth About Guns)

Star Wars fans know the score: “Do. Or do not. There is no ‘try’.” So when Team Taurus shooter Jessie Duff says she’ll try to blog for TTAG on a weekly basis, and underscores the word “try,” ours is not to wonder why. Ours is to do or die. Which is NOT the ethos Ms. Duff brings to this website. Still, Jessie is one of the smartest, funniest and most attractive women on planet earth, and she shoots pretty well too. We’ll take what we can get and say boy, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Which is literally true. If you’ve got questions of ideas for Ms. Duff’s initial posts hereabouts pop them below and we’ll try to get her to read them. See what I did there?

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78 COMMENTS

  1. The more the merrier. That said, I have complete faith that the creepier elements among us will scare her off before too long.

    I’ll try to come up with some interesting post ideas.

    • *Lurches out from behind tree*

      Urrghhh… pretttttyyy… uuurrgghhh…. gunnsss…..

      Edit: I would to hear gallant tales of her handing smart-asses their tails on the range after being told something along the lines of “well lookee here, lil’ lady! I’ll show you how to shoot!”

    • I think you’re right too but I sure hope not. I am a big fan of hers.

      I’ve noticed that KJW doesn’t post here any more either. 🙁

  4. Welcome aboard! We definitely need more female shooters. I just hope the creeps don’t scare her off…

  8. I’ve used Taurus revolvers. No complaints. I’ve never used a taurus semi. Have her do some demos with the semi’s.

  10. Maybe at the Firearm festival you could have a shoot off between KJW and Jessie with some random firearms and interesting targets, kinda like top shot without the boring reality crap.

    • I remember they used to have Practical Pistol type competitions some years ago where at a random point in the string you would have to holster your weapon and use whatever you found on the bench, usually something that was not common at the time like a Makarov or some such.

      Might be interesting to see KJW and Jessie run a 3-gun type course with weapons they do not use every day and have not previously practiced with.

      As for Top Shot, can we stick to firearms? The whole tomahawks and crossbows and throwing knives and such is just crap.

      • I love KJW but Jessie would /WRECK/ her.

        All I’ve really seen KJW do is some (admittedly) cool shoots standing still with an uber accurate peep sight .22 and some shotgun work that I could have done when I was 10 years old.

        Jessie on the other hand, from what I have seen/know has a complete set of firearms skills.

        I don’t think it’d even be a contest.

  11. In a sport where mental disciple and motor memory is more important than brute strength, do you believe that single sex divisions are necessary or should most classes be co-ed? And in the current gender based divisions, do you find it harder to get the respect you deserve and the sponsorships commiserate with your skills?

    • Commensurate (commiserate involves shared misery). Vocabulary nitpicking aside, yes. I’d like to hear about this too.

      Seems to me that with physical size/speed/strength mostly taken out of the equation, women should be competing on the same field as men and getting the same results. But as far as I know, they’re not. At least not yet. Why?

    • This always seemed odd to me, too- even recoil management is mostly down to form and technique, so why should there be gender divisions?

    • That’s a good one. I’d be interested in her take on that.

      In one of the few sports where most of the winning is between the ears, it’s always seemed weird and arbitrarily sexist to have gender divisions, but I’d love to hear the opinion of one of the actual female competitors.

      Maybe I’m wrong and there are great reasons for the division?

      • As a relative newcomer to guns, I’ll offer a different reason beyond patriarchial justification.

        When looking at the shooting sports, it can be morale crushing to realize just how much work it takes to get good at The Ways of The Gun. Considering most shooters in organized competition are men ,there’s almost no support structure for a female wanting to climb the skill ladder.As this comment section sadly proves, there’s a lot of guys who haven’t left the Cro-Magnon era.

        A female only division gives women a chance to build skill and a sense of accomplishment in the gun sports , without dealing with the macho BS which accompanies male oriented competition.

        Considering women are a political power bloc nowadays -and , at this time, they generally vote Democrat for gender rights issues- we need every ovary-packing shooter we can get. If we don’t get women involved with fun gun use, we will see the weapon buyback lines in our lifetimes.

        • That’s a fair point. Still, it would be fun to see some co-ed “best of the best” tournaments. 3-Gun does involve a certain amount of speed and agility, but not all the top guys are build exactly like Usain Bolt, if you know what I mean.

        • Quite a few competitive sports have an open division that’s gender-neutral. Or something akin to it, like mixed doubles in tennis. USPSA could, if it wanted to, keep Women’s Division and add a Mixed, or just allow women into Men’s. But it would be a huge pain to do because of the additional logistics at matches.

    • Women shoot “head to head” against the men in the Wimbledon Cup, which might be the most prestigious long distance shooting competition outside of Camp Perry. Women have won the cup several times, with Michelle Gallagher winning six times.

      The only reason to have gender divisions in shooting competitions is to encourage more female entries (in some competitions, half of the female shooters aren’t very good) and spare the men’s feelings when they get their asses beat by the top ladies, who can really shoot.

  12. I predict this column of hers will last exactly two posts before the Taurus haters and keyboard humpers crash the party.

    Nonetheless, Welcome Aboard Mrs Duff.

    • If she writes on occasion as an “expert” on Taurus, that might be acceptable. If everything she writes is marketing for Taurus this could get controversial. I believe she has more knowledge to impart than just press releases from Taurus.

  13. I’d be interested in how many times per week she shoots, average amount of ammo expended per week.

    Oh, and congratulations on earning Grand Master. That is not easy.

    • Two ladies writing for TTAG. Good move. Next you need to get Colion Noir,
      …or some other mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that would be storybook, man.

      (Quote Joe Biden, August 2008)

  16. I was married to the most attractive woman on the planet:
    3rd degree burns to face, chest, arms, hands. She should have died. Despite extreme pain she insisted on making me coffee every morning before she left to run her business.
    There is no ‘Try’, there is only ‘Do’ or ‘Not Do’
    That is the gift she left me with.

  17. What kinds of changes do you have to make in your lifestyle to carry? Clothing changes? What is your advice to women who want to carry, but don’t see it as practical?

    I’m sure that I’m not the only one who needs a little help in this area for my significant other.

  20. While I look for’ard to seeing Ms. Duff inrint, and am in full agreement with RF about her attributes, what drew my eye in the photo was her firearm.

    She must be in need of better home security, because some plonker broke in and stole her barrel.

    She also must be a truly amazing shooter, because I freely admit that with something that short, I doubt that I could hit a barn – from the inside.

  21. Seriously, though, I could use some truisms and advice to which most women might relate, and which I could use in my day to day work in the alarm sector.

    While I’m pretty good at spreading the Gospel of the Gun and impressing on them that “While a siren in the middle of the night does mean that the police might be on the way, mostly it means that you should grab yer gat,” every little tidbit helps.

    Words originating with her might carry more weight than words originating with me.

    Your ball, Ms. Duff.

    • Hell yes.

      It’s the only shooting sport my wife would be actually excited for me to do, mostly because she wants to make me some cowboy getup.

      While I don’t think I could bring myself to wear a costume (not to mention the cost involved to get even entry level guns), I love all of those old weapons and like to watch the competitions.

  23. Ok. Please let me be clear

    I AM NOT TROLLING BY ASKING THIS QUESTION!

    And mods, if this is out of line, please do what you need to, to remove this post.

    Will it be off limits to ask her what her opinion is on the debacle she, her ex husband, and “young shooter not to be named” went through?

    Not from a personal anguish aspect. But on how she feels it affects the shooting world, how female shooters are viewed, and other aspects?

    NOT TROLLING! Wondering if we will be able to gleam off of her perspective from the ground floor.

    • My guess is that topic would be off the table, for the sake of politeness. I understand the question you’re trying to ask, but I don’t think the answer to that particular question is so valuable to be worth breaching the bounds of etiquette.

  24. +1 for these suggestions:
    – should we have gender-free shooting competitions? Why so, or why not?
    – tips for how women can/should carry (on-body, off-body, casual moms vs biz clothing vs formal)

  27. Have her tell Taurus to make a friggin compact officer’s 1911. Jeez they make a decent full size 1911 and just leave it at that? Come on already!

  28. My question for the pretty lady, why are the customer service reps at Taurus Miami so miserable, prone to lie, and intentionally ignorant when you send a gun back for service? I sent a new Taurus to them for repairs a few years ago and was lied to, BS’d, put off, and given the run around for 3 MONTHS before finally my threat of reporting the gun stolen BY THEM in a screaming match with one of their managers elicited a higher up to get on the phone and do the right thing and send a replacement pistol.

    Their “lifetime warranty” seems to mean it takes a lifetime to get your gun back from Taurus Miami.

    I promptly sold the replacement Taurus at a loss, recommend to everyone I meet buy any brand BUT Taurus, and recommend Taurus Miami learn from Glock Smyrna, who can repair and return a pistol within A WEEK, with no arguing, no lying, no BS.

  29. I look forward to seeing some videos (GoPro, etc) of training for various action shooting disciplines she participates in. I could definitely see her being an apologist for the Tauri she competes with because if I were buying a gun in nearly any division for any shooting sport a Taurus wouldn’t even register on the radar when my money is on the line (for a host of reasons: aftermarket accessories, cost of magazines, but also fear of stoppage). I would love to hear her take on Tauri.

    As long as the weekly piece doesn’t devolve into salivating over the fact she is a female shooter, could have a hit.

    Basically: If it was a dude (Sevigny or Vogel), make those types of pieces, please don’t center on the fact she is a she and she is lovely.

      • Regardless of gender, if someone doesn’t find humor there the problem is probably on their end. And I wouldn’t be offended whatsoever if she told me I had a nice face. So I don’t really like the sexism involved in complementing facial attributes. That being said I was only aiming to make a funny anyway so my whole argument is pointless.
        Welcome to the team Miss Duff. Looking forward to your posts. Matt, I have a question for you. You want inappropriate? What are you wearing?;)

        • Jeans and a tshirt. I do have on red boxers with lobsters on them, if that does anything for you.

          Btw, my “probably inappropriate” was meant to describe my laughter, as much as the line itself. Carry on.

  32. Oh, no worries man. I know an attack when I see one and that wasn’t one. I just saw the opportunity for a tangent and took it. Keep on providing excellent digests with just the right level of snark and we won’t have any problems.

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