Top Shot Chris Cheng - Top Shot Chris Cheng

NRA Member Benefits- Free Gun Insurance and more

5/22/2015

Not only is an NRA membership affordable at just $25/year, you get a host of free benefits simply for being a member of the NRA.

Most notable is the $2,500 worth of firearms insurance but you also get travel and accident benefits. The value of these free services is $7,500 but that jumps up to $12,500 for Lifetime NRA members. They call this package the "Trio of Security" (firearms insurance, travel benefits, accident benefits) and you can easily and quickly sign up at http://www.nraendorsedinsurance.com/no-cost-trio-of-security.

It literally took me 3 minutes to fill out the online form and activate my benefits. With all the guns I own, I can use all the insurance I can get!

If you're not an NRA member, you can get a $10 discount if you sign up through my referral link: http://bit.ly/1rZyctJ

For more on NRA member benefits, check out this video below. I appear at the 4:28 minute mark.

The Largest Friends of NRA Dinner in America

5/1/2015

The Friends of NRA is the 501c3 non-profit wing of the NRA which raises money for educational programs in the shooting sports. Hunters Ed, the Boy Scouts, 4-H, FFA, and many other high schools and other organizations receive grant money from The Friends of NRA.

Almost every week of the year, a local Friends of NRA committee is holding a dinner, in fact, I'm going to the one in San Jose, California tonight! These dinners are the primary source of revenue for the educational grant money that is distributed out each year.

In the video below, find out where the largest Friends of NRA dinner is held.

To attend a Friends of NRA dinner near you, head over to http://www.friendsofnra.org/

Chris Cheng Book Signings this weekend at NRA Annual Meetings in Nashville

4/9/2015

The NRA Annual Meetings are coming up this Friday-Sunday in Nashville, Tennessee and the show is a great time. It's free for NRA members and you can sign up on the spot if you aren't already a member. You can sign up through my discount link here which gives you $10 off for a one-year membership, the total cost comes to $25.

I'll be doing daily "Shoot to Win" book signings and offering a 20% NRA Show discount where my book will be $20 for NRA Show attendees. Here's my schedule:

Friday/Saturday/Sunday

- 11AM-Noon: TUFF Products Booth #2743
- 1-2PM: FrogLube Booth #124

I look forward to seeing you in Nashville!

NRA News: The Second Amendment is for Everyone

8/10/2014

Here's video of my NRA News interview from Thursday, August 7th. We chatted about the recent Atlantic/National Journal article on my pro-gay, pro-gun advocacy.

The National Journal has published an article entitled, “Gay and Proud: Challenging Stereotypes About the NRA.” It profiles “Top Shot” champion Chris Cheng, now an NRA News commentator. Cheng discusses the article, membership in the National Rifle Association, his support for the Second Amendment, and his experiences as a gay man in the shooting sports world. He stresses that the Second Amendment is for everyone, an individual right that everyone has for self-defense. Originally aired on NRA News Cam & Co 8/07/14.

Always great chatting with the NRA News guys.

The Atlantic- Straight Shooters: Meet the Gay Gun-Rights Activists

8/10/2014

"I think that this is an opportunity for the NRA and our community to accurately portray the diversity that already exists in the community," Cheng told me, of his new gig. "We've allowed some prevailing stereotypes to take hold, and we're not challenging them."

This statement I provided applies to not only the gun community, but the gay community, and other community groups at large.

Every group has to fight negative stereotypes assigned to it.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/08/straight-shooters-meet-the-gay-gun-rights-activists/375572/

MSN News also covered the story, which originated with the National Journal.

Chris Cheng Profile in NRA America's 1st Freedom magazine

8/5/2014

The NRA did a profile on me and the piece is a good one. Here's some select quotes:

“I realized how welcoming the shooting community is,” Cheng said. “As a minority, I had experienced this to some extent already, but it was surprising how supportive everyone was.”

“I want diversity to be a primary component of my contribution to the shooting community and the NRA,” Cheng explained. “There are millions of normal, hardworking American gun owners of all stripes. You're always going to have people who disagree with you, and that’s fine. But gun owners should not be ashamed of owning a gun or supporting the NRA.”

Full article at http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/31385023#/31385023/104.

Open Carry Texas Controversy

6/3/2014

Courtesy of www.awwomg.com.

Due to a number of open carry proponents, we are seeing restaurants such as Starbucks, Jack in the Box, Chili's and Chipotle all being forced to make statements on whether customers can open carry firearms in their establishments.

The NRA recently provided the following statement:
http://www.nraila.org/news-issues/articles/2014/5/good-citizens-and-good-neighbors-the-gun-owners-role.aspx

In response, Open Carry Texas provided this statement (Source: GunsSaveLives.net): http://gunssavelives.net/blog/open-carry-texas-responds-to-the-nras-statement-condemning-the-open-carry-of-long-guns/

My perspective is that I do not agree with the way Open Carry Texas is going about promoting our Second Amendment rights. What this boils down to is that their actions are not achieving the desired results. We now have more people siding with the anti-gun camp and more establishments are creating anti-gun policies. I support open carry, and it's socially appropriate in certain situations.

Right now your average American is not going to be comfortable seeing a random person with an AK-47 eating a burger next to them out in public. Honestly, I might even be freaked out because a restaurant is not a range where we have Range Safety Officers who can manage safety protocols. I don't know who you are.

My simple message to Open Carry Texas and other groups engaging in similar behavior- please stop and consider the implications of your actions. How have your actions benefited our cause, or put us on a path to more freedom? It's not clear to me how large national restaurant chains issuing anti-gun policies is good for 2A rights.

I don't see how continuing on this path will end with different results. It seems to be a pretty simple formula:

Walk into national food chain open carrying an AK-47/AR-15.
Patrons get scared and contact the management, police, and/or media.
National food chain issues anti-gun policy.

With each new national establishment that sees open carry folks scaring their customers, I do not envision brands welcoming the open carry organizations. Sure, many smaller restaurants and bars are on the other side of the coin and have embraced open carry which is great, but we are talking about large national chains that carry much more influence.

I'm hopeful that cooler heads will prevail, and open carry proponents will re-evaluate the efficacy of their tactics.

Mental health, not weapons, cause of Isla Vista killing spree

5/30/2014

The face of a murderer. Screen capture from his video detailing his pending killing spree.

My views and opinions are my own, and do not necessarily represent those of my sponsors or other organizations I am affiliated with.

As a UCLA student, I spent many weekends at the UCSB campus hanging out with friends, and socializing in the Greek system which was recently targeted by a mentally ill individual this past Friday. My sympathies go out to the victims, their families, and their friends. We have seen one too many killing sprees, and I am part of this country which wants to see them stop.

As a community, we must come together to support each other and not allow people or arguments to divide us. We can agree to disagree, but realize that we all want a stronger and safer society. We need to figure out what caused this unstable person to lose it and decide that killing people, and himself, would solve his problems.

The causes of this killing spree were made very clear in the killer’s 137 page manifesto. He felt shunned by women who he felt should have been attracted to him, he was ashamed to be a virgin, and he wanted to exact revenge on these women and other innocent people who he felt were part of the world who treated him poorly.

The killer was an egotistical maniac who should not be sympathized with, but rather, understood so we can best understand the root cause of this violence. We must permit rational, reasoned debate and discussion to dominate our national discourse. Emotions cloud our judgement, giving us a false sense of security when we do what “feels right” instead of doing what makes sense.

The killer seemed to have a very unstable home life with parents who did not fully understand the implications of their son’s psychological angst. He was obsessed with World of Warcraft, a computer game that allowed him to escape the real world. Unfortunately, even in the virtual world he could not escape the pangs of real rejection and isolation when his friends would play the game together at one person’s house, and not invite the killer.

Bullying was a constant theme throughout the manifesto, and the killer clearly resented his bullies. Delusional thoughts of grandeur, fame, and wealth were recurring themes as well.

Even though guns were used in the killing spree, so were knives, and his car. It’s clear that even if the killer didn't have guns that he would have still succeeded in killing a lot of people. To me, it doesn't really matter what a criminal kills with - guns, knives, cars, bombs, bats, hammers, etc. It all ends with the same result, unnecessary death and suffering. The cause is always a person or group of people who decide to use a tool for destructive purposes.

The killer's car after the incident ended with the killer's suicide. Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP.

The Santa Barbara killing spree puts a huge spotlight on mental health being the key cause not just for this incident, but for all crimes. Stronger gun control, knife control, or car control would not have helped, but a stronger mental health system could have. California has some of the strongest gun control laws in the nation, and they did not stop this attack. In this situation, it seems helpful to ask how this young person could have found help? We oftentimes focus too much on restricting inanimate objects versus helping mentally unstable people before they do bad things.

I don’t blame guns, knives, cars, the killer’s parents, or even the bullies who the killer tied to his problems. Yes, bullying is wrong and can cause terrible pain and anguish, but that does not permit victims of bullying to commit crimes at will.

I blame the killer. The singular person who performed the action.

To add more color to the mental illness issue, approximately two-thirds of all gun deaths in the United States every year are attributed to suicide. This tells us that America has more of a suicide problem, whose root causes are many.

However, just because it's the killer's fault does not let society off the hook. There are things we can and should take action on. If we can focus our efforts, money, and social services into tackling mental health I am confident this will help reduce deaths, both homicides and suicides. Filling our world with more love, compassion, and understanding will go a long way, as will standing up against bullying and giving a voice to the historically marginalized.

This isn’t about holding hands and wishing things will get better. This is about taking concrete action and engaging people in our communities. This is about interacting more with our families, our friends, our co-workers, and even strangers who we may not have previously given the time of day. It's about getting off our phones and paying attention to what is happening right in front of our faces. This is about helping people in need. When you hear a cry for help, be there for that person.

I am not one to pass the buck and let the government or someone else take care of a problem if I can help in any way, big or small. I commit to being more aware, patient, caring, and generous with my time for those in need. There are numerous support organizations that help the mentally ill and the disenfranchised. I encourage you research and find organizations in your area or online that align with your interests. Knowing what resources are available is the first important step, and if you feel so inclined to donate your time and/or money, then all the better.

I hope you will join me and the millions of other people in our country who want a happier, safer America.

On NRA News tomorrow to discuss the UCSB killing spree

5/28/2014

I went to UCLA and spent a lot of time on the UCSB campus in Isla Vista. It is literally a slice of paradise, and it breaks my heart to see so many people die at the hands of a crazy person.

I'll be sharing my thoughts on the killing spree, as well as my article "Suck it, participation trophies."

I'll be on Cam & Co on www.NRANews.com at 1:15PM PST if you want to tune in. The recording will be up online and I'll post when that's live.

My guest spot on Colion Noir's new show "Noir" on NRA Freestyle

5/28/2014

If you haven't seen Colion Noir's new show onNRA Freestyle well then you are missing out!

I was a guest on the most recent episode which you can see on YouTube below. We chatted about smart guns and how they potentially pose both a danger and benefit to society.

www.NRAFreestyle.tv

Coding while watching former googler @TopShotChris on Noir (@MrColionNoir) steaming from YouTube via Chromecast pic.twitter.com/FsQVvLxOwZ
— Chris Sierra (@crsierra) May 27, 2014