Month: May 2009

My State Representative’s action on HB 410

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

I received a (snail mail) letter in the mail today from my Texas State Representative, Valinda Bolton. It was a brief letter:

Dear Mr. Daub:

I want to thank you for contacting me and sharing your thoughts on House Bill 410 [relating to the requirement under certain circumstances that a license holder display the person’s license to carry a concealed handgun].

I wanted to let you know that I was happy to vote in favor of this bill when it came before the House this past Friday. Thank you for giving me your input on this important bill; it is the active involvement of citizens like you that helps me come to an informed decision on legislation.

Again, thank you for taking the time to let me know your opinions. Please feel free to contact me with any further concerns or ideas you may have.

Sincerely,

Valinda Bolton

So a (likely) boilerplate thank you letter, but it was welcome to get such a follow-up. Furthermore, it was welcome to see that she voted in favor of this bill.

Of course, I’d like to see her helping HB 1893 move along, but we already know how she feels on that one. I guess this is how she earns her “C” grade from the NRA.

The “Triangle of Death”

/ hsoi

An article at the Force Science News about the “triangle of death.” The triangle of death is the part of a white t-shirt that peeks out from behind a button-down shirt or vest, unbuttoned at the top (below the neck/chin). Looks like a triangle, and the article demonstrates that it makes for a great target. Good if it’s the bad-guy you’re shooting at, bad if it’s you wearing the triangle.

What happens is, especially in a low-light situation, the triangle stands out. When you’re in a pressure situation your eyes scan and have to take in massive amounts of information in limited time, so you tend to process what stands out and/or what your eyes/brain tends to focus on. So, especially in a low-light situation, a little peek of white against an otherwise dark background (e.g. police uniform) is going to stand out, be zeroed in on, and likely become a point of aim.

I’ve seen this myself in FoF scenarios or even just pressure-stages (e.g. timed events) against realistic targets. All too often where do rounds hit? in the hand. The hand is holding a gun, pointed at you, you’re shooting back, your eyes focus on the gun, and you end up shooting at the gun.

Lessons to learn? When it comes to shooting, you’ll have to train yourself to better pick up on cues and indicators and shoot what you’re supposed to shoot instead of what your eyes may get drawn to. When it comes to what to wear, blend in with your surroundings, which may mean in a low-light situation that you wear more subdued clothing.

How American…

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Government can’t get the land it wants, so it’ll condemn it to get it. 

“We always prefer to get that land from a willing seller. And sometimes you can just not come to an agreement on certain things,” park service spokesman Phil Sheridan said.

We can’t get what we want by proper means, so we’ll be sore loser crybabies about it and force you to give it up.

Wow. What a great memorial to those people that died. </sarcasm>

Selling the XD(m)

/ hsoi

Caleb links to 5 videos where top shooter Rob Leatham shills for the Springfield XD(m).(Rob is sponsored by Springfield, thus). They’re good videos and really showcase the XD(m).

I can’t justify spending the money right now, but there’s no question if I needed to replace my Springer Precision customized Springfield XD-9 that I would replace it with a Springfield XD(m) in 9mm… and of course, send it to Springer Precision for customization. I’ve gotten to shoot a couple XD(m)’s and it’s great. The new features of the XD(m) (vs. the XD) are sound, not just hype.

I’m posting this because people frequent my blog looking for advice on choosing a gun or about 9mm handguns, or what the “best handgun” is. Certainly this is a matter of opinion and who knows, someday my opinion could change. But for now, I love my customized XD and would only replace it with an XD(m) (also customized).

Modern Army Combatives

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Via Hell In A Handbasket I am introduced to “Modern Combatives.” I do like what they write on their webpage introduction:

There are a couple of basic tenants of Modern Combatives that are important to understand. The first one is that the winner of the hand-to-hand fight in combat is the one whose buddy shows up first with a gun. This is important thing to remember because it puts combative training in perspective. If you drop an enemy dead at your feet with the Vulcan death touch, and his buddy comes in with a gun, you still lose. As Rex Applegate said in his book Kill or Get Killed “Unarmed combat is just what the name implies- a system of fighting intended for use when weapons are not available or when their use is not advisable” Where then does combatives training fit? It must be an integral part of the close quarters fight. Too often “hand-to-hand” is treated as if it were a side note to the actual training. When your weapon malfunctions three feet from the bad guy is no time to start integrating your techniques. Noted Firearms instructor and author Massad Ayoob said it best, “At close range it’s not a shooting contest; it’s a fight.”

The man behind this group is Matt Larsen, who apparently authored FM 3-25.150, the US Army’s latest Combatives field manual. If you look at the manual, it seems to be based heavily on BJJ. While I believe BJJ is great for what it is and I think some sort of empty-hand martial training is better than none, I’m not so sure this is the best thing to teach for battlefield combatives. Perhaps I’m showing my ignorance here (and folks are welcome to enlighten me), but if going to the ground in a streetfight isn’t a sound thing (attacker’s friends mob you, stomping your head into the pavement), I just can’t see how going to the ground in a battlefield is any more sound. This isn’t to say the stuff in FM 3-25.150 isn’t sound in and of itself, and there is more in the manual than just groundfighting; perhaps the way the course is taught gives a proper perspective, different from the manual.

Either way, I do enjoy reading military manuals such as these. Always chock full of good information.

Update: Allow me to clarify something.

I am not saying it’s unwise to learn ground fighting skills. I think it’s quite important to know how to do takedowns, defend against takedowns, fight from the clinch, fight on the ground (all positions: mount, guard, half-guard, etc.). Ground skills are certainly an important aspect of being a well-rounded fighter and lacking them leaves a big hole in your skills.

What I am saying is I’m not sure it’s wise to have combatives stressing ground-fighting as the primary means of unarmed hand-to-hand combat. If the new teaching is “take it to and keep it on the ground”, then you better hope that insurgent you’re wrestling with doesn’t have a bunch of friends nearby to stomp your head in… or that you’ve got a bunch of friends with M4’s backing you up. Do your best to put your opponent on the ground. If you wind up on the ground, you want to get up off the ground. 

This is why I wonder about the actual classes and how the combatives are taught. If the approach is more of having a well-rounded skillset, then that’s great. Just the field manual makes it appear the new teaching is emphasizing “take it and keep it on the ground”. Hopefully I’m wrong and it’s just my ill perception.

Your Thought for the Day

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From the Baltimore Zen Center, The High Road.

Am I cold? I do my best to just be. If I’m cold, I’ll warm myself. If I’m warm, I’ll cool myself.

This leads me to think about what we teach our children. I know I used to tell my kids to never hit, violence was not the answer. My experience has shown most parents/adults believe and teach the same. Over the years I’ve come to take a different view, that yes sometimes violence is the right answer. Yes you have to do your best to avoid it, most any other option is preferable. But sometimes a punch in the nose is the correct response. The tough part is learning when it is the correct response.

Go read. Then think about it. Perhaps you’ll see what I mean.

BJ Norris’ Blog

/ hsoi

Came acros the blog of BJ Norris. BJ is a competition shooter, having won both a World and National Steel Challenge SteelMaster title, and shooting amazingly well in a lot of other competitions. You can read all about it in his blog. He’s also got some video of himself and others shooting competitions and wow… I need more practice.

And he’s a Texas boy. 🙂

Mindset is everything – continued

/ hsoi

After a shooting class I wrote about how mindset is everything. How it’s important to convey what you want to do (not what you don’t want).

When competition shooter BJ Norris reflected back on his performance at the 2008 US Steel Nationals, he found this exact same mindset approach helped his performance. Folks, it’s a real thing… mindset is everything.

I can even reflect back on my performance at work this past week. I’ve had so many other things in life going on that it’s been difficult to accomplish the tasks I’ve needed to complete. I found myself frustrated with all the things I hadn’t been able to do, and focusing on that merely accentuated my frustrations. I changed my mindset to focus on the things I wanted to do and viola… the things that needed to get done got done.

Focus on what to do.

Can I do what they’re doing?

/ hsoi

Wow… just…. wow.

I’ve been against every bailout. This is yet another reason why. The loans won’t be paid back, and those in Washington are OK with that. Great… just flush the my money down the toilet. Awesome. And while some loans are expected to be paid back, given how well they’ve run their business up to this point, I am not holding my breath waiting for anything to be paid back. 

Why can’t I behave like this? Oh that’s right… I’m responsible.

The gears of Socialism grind on….