Before I tell you about my experience as a Hot Shots model and ask for your seal of approval (or brickbat), I’m aware that TTAG banned T&A back in the day, to be a family-friendly firearms destination. Awesome! If that sort of stuff offends you, feel free to pass on this post. A little background, though . . .
Since 2009, the Hot Shots calendar has combined images of hot women and bad-ass firearms. Past themes include James Bond, Mad Max, Life of a Soldier and 1950’s Pin Ups. (I could tell you this year’s theme, but then I’d have to kill you.)
Just in case you thought prurient sex and loads of money were the only points of this exercise, Hot Shots donates half of its proceeds to help military charities. They currently sponsor Help for Heroes and Special Operations Warrior Foundation.
As y’all know, the U.K. has some of the toughest most ridiculous gun laws in the world. So I was bemused (that’s what Brits say, right?) to discover that the Hot Shots owners hail from the Land of Hope and Glory. Present company excluded, most of the girls featured in this year’s calendar are professional models with sexy British accents. But each one is also a dedicated gun girl and knows her way around a firearm.
The producers of the Hot Shots Calendar have deep roots in the firearms industry. Sponsors include the Edgar Brothers (a British firearms wholesaler), Crye Precision (makers of multicam for the military) and Surefire.
The Brits came heavily armed for battle. Some of the firearms featured in this year’s calendar are movie props, like the gun used by Bradley Cooper in American Sniper. I used a replica of Chris Kyle’s rig for one of my shots: a McMillan TAC-338A rifle fitted with a Leupold scope.
Shooting the Hot Shots Calendar with a great photographer, a bunch of cool guns and six hot AF ladies was epic! But . . .
The anti-gun left and their mainstream media minions portray gun owners as knuckle-dragging Neanderthals. They consider Hot Shots sexist tripe, catering to the power, not to say rape fantasies of under-endowed misogynist men who cling to their guns and their, well, you know.
What’s your take? Does something like Hot Shots hurt the cause of gun rights?