Joyce Wilson

Thanks all. It's been pretty brutal. None of us that work at IDPA have any power yet. They keep saying that we will by the end of the weekend, but I just found a power line down across our property. Spent all afternoon using the tractor as a bulldozer trying to clear out the rifle range. The trails through the woods are pretty hopeless right now. But I'm really thankful that we have a generator and plenty of diesel. And a wood burning fireplace with plenty of wood. Amazingly enough, with the generator on, I have internet connectivity. No phone service, but we use a wireless repeater type system to get hooked up out here in the country. Anyone need any firewood, unfortunately now we really have plenty Joyce

Just wanted to let everyone know that IDPA HQ was shut down last week by the ice storm that hit NW Arkansas. Power was finally restored to the office on Friday, however very few of the employees at IDPA or Wilson Combat have power at home. Many are still having difficulty just getting out of their driveways. If you have tried to call either place and been able to leave a message, we will get back to you as soon as we possibly can. We're hoping that power will be restored in the area this weekend, but with the massive destruction, that may be just a dream. Thanks for your patience. We'll be back with you as soon as we can. Joyce Wilson, Director International Defensive Pistol Association

A "revised" version of the new rule book has been posted on the official web site, www.idpa.com, which reflects clarifications, corrections and changes to the original posted 1-6-05. This update is in response to constructive input by the membership that doesn't move IDPA away from it's original purpose and principles. We would like you to look it over once again and send us your "constructive" comments prior to Jan 24th. We will review these comments and make additional changes as required and hopefully post the "final" version of the rulebook by Jan 26th. In any case the new rulebook will be effective April 15, 2005. As I stated in my post on the web site, the changes to the rule book have been in response to member requests and have been the work of numerous experienced members, past BoD members, Nationals MDs, ACs and CSOs. We know that we will not be able to completely satisfy all of the membership since the membership appears to be divided in opinion as to what IDPA is and should be. However, IDPA was formed with a purpose and principles and we are doing our best to stick to the original concept which has obviously worked pretty well so far. Best regards, Bill Wilson, President and the IDPA HQ staff

IDPA Headquarters has posted a clarification document on the website. Please visit to view the document. Thank you, Joyce Wilson, Director International Defensive Pistol Association

One more thing for the record. I don't visit any of the boards very often because of a couple reasons: first, I really don't have the time, and second, it becomes difficult on occassion to not be offended by some of the personal slams at Bill. As to the changes in the holster/ammo carrier criteria, NONE of the changes were made for the profit of Wilson Combat. They were made because too many shooters pushed the envelope on carry equipment. We saw lots of equipment at the Nationals this year that barely held magazines or speedloaders in place. We tried to make the rules easier for the Safety Officers to enforce. It's tough for us to try to keep up with all the variations of holsters, mag pouches, etc. and that's our business. It's impossible for most of the Safety Officers who have full time jobs not in the firearms industry. And lastly, the reason that I don't visit the boards more is that I've seen posts that I've made show up on other boards with the context twisted. I don't mind if people quote me (obviously they are going to no matter what), just please quote me entirely, not selectively. Thanks, Joyce

Guys, I'll be the very first to admit that I know absolutely nothing about revolvers. I certainly didn't catch anything wrong about the weight limit because of my first statement. Bill thought he had picked out the heaviest practical revolver to weigh to set this limit. I just brought all of the comments on this to his attention and he didn't realize that the 625, 610 or 627 were over that limit. We're in the process of doing some research right now. (It's 6:15 and I'm still here at work). There may even be a couple of other things that we missed. I hope not too many. We even had the thing professionally proof read this time. I don't know what the correction will be, but keep watching. We'll announce it on the website. Thanks for your patience. Joyce Wilson

Two posts in one day - I must not have anything else to do Seriously, it's not that we try to ignore the boards. Although there have been some boards in the past that I have become so frustrated with that I just quit posting to and watching for obvious reasons. I have to be really, really careful about what I do post. We're trying really hard to establish lines of communications. I know that some of the Area Coordinators are not as responsive to shooters as they need to be. Unfortunately there are only so many hours in the days and too many projects. But we are working on that also. I think that I could spend 24 hours a day, 7 days a week trying to fix all the problems. But then I wouldn't have any time to shoot . The new rule book will have all references to other shooting sports removed. When the original book was done by Bill, it was shortly after he was completely snubbed by USPSA. This was after he had been a founding member of that organization and had devoted a lot of time, effort and money to that also. So you may be able to see why he was disheartened by that. As far as answering questions and making decisions that could affect policies of the sport on these boards. I won't do that. Shoot, I can't even interject personal opinion without someone thinking it's now a rule. We're going to try to standardize on making the clarifications (when necessary) on the website. That creates it's own set of problems since not everyone has web access (I know it's the 20th century, but I just got a letter from a member complaining about not knowing when matches are because the club was only e-mailing). It would be great if we had e-mail addresses for the entire membership, then when a clarification occurred, we could simply e-mail it. But we don't. And trying to mail out clarifications would be an overwhelming burden in terms of manpower and cost. So bear with us. Remember, we're still only 7 years old and still going through some growing pains. Joyce

Hi Guys, I didn't leave, I've just been really busy working on stuff like the new rule book. In fact, Dru and I were here until midnight Monday night reviewing the nearly final draft. We have absolutely, intentionally drug our feet on this for several reasons. One, we still have members to take care of daily. And two, most importantly, we want to do this right once and for all. That's not to say that there won't be revisions in the future, we just don't want to have to make the sweeping changes in format, etc. as we're doing now. You will see answers to your questions on holsters, rail guns, extended dust covers, etc. I'm not going to make those decisions public at this point as I want it to be final and accepted by the Board first. Yes, we move slowly on policy decisions. We like to gather enough information to make an informed decision. I will not make a decision without considering the long term ramifications of that decision on the sport. In the reorganization of the rule book, we've looked over all the e-mails, letters and general suggestions we've received. We've also discussed these issues at length with the Area Coordinators and the Nationals Match Directors. We wanted input from the people out there. One thing that we've found is that generally there's not much wrong with the rule book except for clarifications of some issues and reorganization for readability. We're pushing really hard to have it in print and out to the clubs, etc. by the end of March. Yes, that's a little later than we wanted to get it out, but like I said before - we're pretty busy right now. As far as pot shots at Bill, yes, I'm pretty sensitive about that. Not thin skinned, but sensitive. He's put lots of time, effort and his own money into this sport that contrarily to popular belief, was not developed to further the gun sales of Wilson Combat. Otherwise why would there be a stock service or revolver division. Or ESP for that matter. Yea, we make some .38 supers, I shoot one. And now we're making some 9's - basically after everyone else did and in response to customer requests. Sorry I'm so long winded and you may not see me back on the boards for a while. I have an organization to run and lots of things to get done. I don't know if I know any of you ( since no one on this board uses real names besides me), but I hope to get to meet all of you sometime. Joyce

OK, I'll try to be more active I usually just have time to monitor and not really be involved with too many issues. As you all can imagine, it's pretty tough to get everything done for a 10,000+ member organization with only 4 employees but we do our best. Also, I've been involved with boards that just turned out to be bashings for the sport or Bill and that kind of ruffles my feathers I'll be happy to answer (or find the answer) to any questions that you all have. And you can also e-mail me directly at joyce@idpa.com. As far as the mag safety, yes it is illegal to disable it. IDPA doesn't allow any safety feature of any weapon to be disabled. As Mike posted previously, we're in a litigous society unfortunately and therefore we must protect ourselves from ourselves, or the g'ment will try harder to protect us . Hopefully I'll get to meet you all somewhere or maybe I have and just don't know it from your log ins. Joyce

Hi Guys, I've been lurking for a long time, as I really don't have much time to spend on any of the Boards, but I had to register and log in for this one. I need to set the record straight in that Bill's grip safety WAS NOT pinned. As far as I know, he has never had a grip safety pinned on any of his IDPA or carry guns. He may have had them pinned on his IPSC guns - years ago - but then he hasn't competed in any IPSC matches that I know of since the 15 year reunion back in whenever. IDPA does not allow any safety device to be circumvented. Obviously this is hard to check, but it is still not allowed. Like Ken Hackathorn says ' big boy rules', I don't think we really want to get into taking competitors guns apart at Sanctioned Matches. Thanks, Joyce Wilson, IDPA HQ