Hoplophobes and National Parks

2009-05-24 / hsoi

Since the “credit card bill” was signed into law, that meant the amendment allowing concealed carry in national parks also became law. As expected, the hoplophobes are out in force. Courtesy of The Volokh Conspiracy, we get a piece in the New York Times presenting various opinions on the matter.

Why do I want concealed carry in national parks (well, I’d like it everywhere I’m allowed to go, but let’s keep this discussion on national parks)? Because there is no magical line or barrier that keeps evil folks out of certain places. The only thing that, until this law was passed, that kept concealed guns out of national parks was law — and only law abiding folks obeyed it; criminals, by definition, still toted their concealed guns and always presented a danger to you. Just because you were unaware of this doesn’t mean it’s not true. While national parks are filled with beauty, they are also filled with other things: criminals. From marijuana growers to meth labs, to rapists and assaults, to illegal aliens crossing the border and not wanting to get caught, these things are very much alive and well in national parks. National parks aren’t just the small little areas that visitors tend to frequent, but hundreds or thousands of acres of “unimproved” land, all to easy for illegal activity to occur and for those undertaking it to want to keep it that way. Hiking through the back-country, the last thing you want to stumble upon is some meth lab and the cookers wanting to ensure you don’t tell anyone what you found. We also can’t forget that large animals exist, and while attacks are rare they are not out of the question. Being able to carry your .44 magnum revolver or a 10mm Glock is like most any gun carrying: you hope and want to never need it, but if the time comes that you need it you’ll be thankful that you have it be the predator 2-legged or 4-legged.

So they say this will increase poaching. How so? Fact is poaching occurs as it is. It’s terrible, it’s already illegal. In fact, in many places poaching is a felony. Guess what? If you’re a felon, you cannot legally own guns and that certainly means you must give up your concealed handgun license. If you want to keep your license, you’re not going to poach. Most if not all people that get their licenses wish to keep them. Data shows that folks with concealed carry licenses are more law abiding than your average citizen. Law says no poaching, concealed carry folks won’t be poaching.

The streets park hiking paths will flow with blood. This was trotted out years ago, and in the many years we’ve had licensed concealed carry in this country it just has not happened. Again, folks that go through the trouble of getting a concealed handgun license are also very interested in keeping it. Take a look at what it takes to get a license and consequently what it takes to keep it. We’re not out looking for blood and to settle any score. We’re only out to preserve our life should someone decide to endanger it. If you’re a good person, then you have nothing to worry about because we’re good people too.

Folks, all the things you’re afraid of already happen. There are already laws on the books prohibiting that behavior. Allowing law-abiding citizens to go about their business will not make things worse. In fact, the intent is to make things better. Now that guy cooking meth or sneaking over the border, he’s going to have to think twice about shooting you because after 22 February 2010 he’s going to know that you just might shoot back.

Sunday Metal – KISS

2009-05-242009-04-11 / hsoi

You wanted the best and you got the best. The hottest band in the world, KISS!

Love them or hate them, KISS’s influence on the world of music — and commerce — cannot be denied. There’s no questioning the money machine that is KISS. If Gene Simmons can make a buck at it, he’s going to go for it. I have nothing wrong with it as the man works hard and reaps what he sows. I also find myself enjoying listening to interviews with Paul and Gene. Gene is a hype machine and always amusing to listen to. Paul is always the showman, even when he’s being interviewed. Always enjoyable to listen to these guys, even if in the end all you’re doing is laughing at them. In the end, they’re living the life they want and seem to be enjoying it, so I have no problem with their desire to make lots of money. I’m here however to talk about the music.

I actually think KISS makes pretty good music. A lot of people don’t agree, which is fine. Sure the songs aren’t always artistic masterpieces, but the songs are catchy, have good hooks, and you enjoy them. It’s fun music. Anthems for your life, for your party. Music you want to turn up to 11. I also appreciated that with KISS, at least with the original four members, the band was structured that everyone contributed: everyone played an instrument, everyone sang, everyone wrote. Not many bands did that.

What KISS really brought to the music world was the show, the spectacle. You went to see KISS live and you didn’t just listen to the music, you saw a show. From the makeup, to the pyro, to the on-stage “acting”. Check this video from 1975:

While early in their career, they still put on a show with pyro, makeup, even synchronized “dancing”. All of this went into making KISS something not just to see, but to hear. Every rock act since can trace the evolution of their live performance back to KISS (and Alice Cooper).

Of course KISS always worked to outdo themselves in their stage shows, with giant sets, explosions, Ace’s guitar billowing smoke and fire, and of course The Demon, Gene Simmons, breathing fire and blood:

During the 1970’s you couldn’t deny KISS. As a small child I ended up with a set of KISS trading cards and of course thought they were the coolest thing. I recall my Mom looking at a card with Gene/Demon on it. Mom was completely appalled and terrified by it, which of course made KISS even cooler. 😀

Time to grow up

2009-05-222009-05-22 / hsoi / 9 Comments

doc exodus thinks it’s time to grow up.

Jeff @ alphecca echos similar sentiments.

Not to get into caliber wars but….

2009-05-222009-05-22 / hsoi

Over at Kellene’s Women of Caliber blog, “Jim p” comments on Kellene’s opinion regarding the selecting of a handgun.

Earlier today, “Jim p” made similar comments on my blog regarding my preference for 9 mm.

I started to reply to “Jim p” on Kellene’s blog, but the reply was getting long enough that I thought it warranted a better venue for the reply. Jim wrote:

I saw in your blog something that did bother me about selection of a firearm for a woman,it listed everything other than caliber,then it went on to say it really dosent matter if its 9mm etc as long as your the last one standing,thats a nice thought,But in all reality very hopefull and foolish,Generaly if some drug crazed rapist is coming after you say in a parking garage,A 9mm will not do,thats why most police ,military use a 40 cal or more,Surviveing multiple 9mm gunshots is very common as long as a major organ is not destroyed,then it depends on the organ,Chances are unless you hit a critical area with a 9mm round as this drug crazed guy is running at you and your struggleing to arm yourself and shoot him is going to be very hard,so if you do get off one or two rounds that happen to strike this creep ,you want him to stop and drop,Not continue on,a 9mm may allow you to wound him and get enough time to get away ,but in many instances since the criminal is hyped up on a stimulant etc he will keep coming after you and over power you ,Id sugguest at least a 40 caliber if not a compact 45 caliber handgun and plenty of pratice useing it,get a heavy barrel model if you can like my S&W model 65,357 magnum has ,if you can find one as that will also help tame the recoil and muzzle jump so you can nail that SOB with one shot one kill.when your life depends on something dont go cheap,and get the best thing to do the job regaurdless of cost ,or you may not be around after the attack.

Jim, are you trying to say that shot placement matters with a 9 but not a .40 or a .45? So I could shoot a drug-crazed rapist in the foot with a .45 and he’ll stop? If that sounds asinine, it’s supposed to, but I’m just following the implications of what you wrote. Perhaps you need to clarify?

As I replied to you previously, all handgun calibers are weak and they all suck equally. Yes caliber matters somewhat, but ultimately it’s about shot placement. Take a look at this FBI report. NB: it contains autopsy photos and is graphic, may not be for the weak-of-stomach, but it’s a very important lesson. Some things to note:

107 rounds of .40 S&W and .223 TAP were fired
the criminal was hit 17 times
incident lasted 3.5 minutes

While we might dream of one-shot-stops, it’s just that – a dream. Great if it comes true, but you shouldn’t bank on it. Your comments imply that you need at least a caliber that starts with a “4”, and as a result you’ll get the uber stopping power. Well, that police shootout seemed to fire a lot of .40 S&W and even after 17 hits the guy didn’t go down. Why? If you look at the X-rays and photos you’ll see there were no shots into vital areas. Shot placement is key. Note as well that 107 rounds fired, 17 found their home: 16% hit ratio, from trained cops. Apparently this guy was hiding under a car, so I can expect misses, but even your LAPD with their high rate of training doesn’t hit 100%. Trying to bank on 1-shot-one-kill is a dream; a great mentality for training, yes, but reality doesn’t always lend to that. This is one reason I like capacity, and 9mm tends to give you more capacity. Then consider that bad guys rarely travel alone, and the math increases exponentially. Note, you can have low capacity with a 9 (e.g. a compact Kahr) and you can have good capacity with a .45 (e.g. XD-45 full-sized); but if all other things about the gun are equal, the simple fact that a 9 case is smaller than a .45 case means you’ll fit more 9’s into the same space than you would a .45.

You also must realize that Kellene’s blog is oriented towards women. Women can certainly shoot big calibers and hard kicking guns, but a lot of women prefer not to. Or we can just look at the biological, anatomical, and evolutionary differences that there tends to be between men and women and gosh but if women just aren’t generally as strong and sturdy as men are. I’ve been through enough classes introducing beginners — including women — to shooting, and not a one of them cares for the snappy kick of a .40 S&W. Most prefer 9mm and many do quite well with a good .45 (such as a full-sized 1911, which is great too because it can be customized to get exact gun fit for smaller hands). But the reality is if shot placement matters, if you’re going to have to shoot the attacker more than once, then recoil management matters and the faster you can get back on the sights and get another well-placed shot off the better.

So as I said before, if you can handle .40 S&W the best, then go for it. If you can take an ultralight snubby and fire .357 magnum loads from it and dump all 5-6 rounds into a paper-plate-sized target at 10 yards in 2 seconds, great. There is no one recipe for all people and all situations. If there was, then we’d only have one gun and one caliber, but we don’t and there’s good reason for that. If you can carry and proficiently shoot a .45, great, do that. But not everyone can, wants to, or even some are willing to say that yes I can shoot that great, but I can shoot something else even better.

Of course, I bet if you can handle those calibers with more recoil, I’ll bet you could do better with a round with less recoil. Ah caliber wars…. the thing the Internet was made for. 🙂

In the end, I think we’re ultimately in agreement: don’t go cheap, get the best thing for the job. If the best you can shoot is a .22 LR, then get that (maybe you’re eldery, arthritic, weak, and damnit that .22 revolver is the best you can do). If the best you can shoot is a .50 AE, I guess go for it. But don’t stop at just the gun, make sure you get training on how to use it well and practice!

Updated: Because we all like numbers, here’s some performance data on 9mm Parabellum and .45 ACP. Just looking at the numbers, .45 ACP may have a tiny edge. But how does tiny edge on paper translate into real world performance? And I’m not talking about how the round performs in a bad guy vs. ballistics gel, I’m talking tactics. If you can get more and faster hits from a 9, that’s arguably better tactics than fewer slower hits.

Fast or accurate?

2009-05-22 / hsoi / 4 Comments

Fast or accurate? Pick one, because you can’t have both. Yes sure you can always be faster, you can always be more accurate, and to some degree you can always improve your level of both. But in the end, to get the most accuracy you’ll have to give up some speed, or to get the most speed you’ll have to give up some accuracy.

Caleb is participating in the Bianchi Cup and posted his results from The Mover.

The thing that I’ve learned about Bianchi is that accuracy is EVERYTHING. No one cares about how fast you are, because just about everyone can make the time limits here. Shooting IDPA or USPSA isn’t great practice for Bianchi…but shooting Bianchi will make you better at IDPA and USPSA.

I know I focus a lot on speed. I think about defensive shooting and how seconds are critical, so my brain thinks “must be fast”. Lately I’ve been trying to pull myself back on that. When I do my dry fire practice, I’ve been working on being slow and smooth: “slow is smooth, smooth is fast”. I’m trying to be accurate, I’m trying to be precise and correct. I wanted to go to the gun range yesterday and do the KR Training 100 Round Practice drill, but given the impending holiday weekend figured I was better off getting job work done first then visiting the range after the weekend. Still, that sort of drill is all about accuracy (not speed) and what you must to to be accurate.

I think about my last black belt testing or even being in normal classes. One frustrating thing is how there’s so much emphasis on speed. Maybe not directly, such as the instructor saying “OK, everyone go fast” but when you get in a group there’s all this pressure to not be the last one done… so everyone zooms along. I kinda hate to see that because accuracy goes down. You watch the group and it can look like a sloppy mess. If I’m in class and get to do something like forms on my own pace, I take my time. Sure I try to still apply the five principles of form, movements are still meaningful. But I try to be accurate, I try to be correct first, fast later.

I’ve often said that no one cares about the first person to get the wrong answer. That can apply in many ways. To throw a fast kick that doesn’t find its target, to rush a draw and peel off a shot that misses the A-Zone on an IPSC target. It all doesn’t matter. I want to make every shot count, every punch matter. So, I have to slow down. I know this, I’ve known this. I’m still struggling to apply this, but thankfully it’s happening. 🙂

No competition for me, yet.

2009-05-21 / hsoi / 3 Comments

I mentioned before that I’ve wanted to get into competition shooting.

Austin Lone Star Practical Pistol Club has a steel match this Sunday, but I just got the email about it and it seems like it’s going to be a big shin-dig that’s kinda appropriate for folks that have been around for a while… not exactly the place for a n00b to show up to. I could, but I think I’ll wait a month and go when things are more subdued.

Instead, I’m going to try for a nice long motorcycle ride on Sunday morning.

It’s the perfect weekend for it.

PSH du jour

2009-05-21 / hsoi / 2 Comments

PSH – Pants Shittin’ Hysterics.

Today’s episode, courtesy of “Gun Free Kids” (h/t to SayUncle). I’ve written about these folks before, and this new move is taking it to ridiculous extremes.

Today the Texas state senate passed dangerous legislation that would force the carrying of hidden and concealed guns at public universities and colleges.

Forced? Huh? No one is being forced to carry a gun at public universities of colleges. It’s unwise to lead off your press release with factual errors, but why let that get in the way of your hysterics?

The bill threatens the safety of students, professors, and staff and increases the risks of gun violence on college campuses by making weapons more readily available.

Exactly how is the risk of gun violence increased? I asked you before for concrete facts, but once again, let’s not let facts in the way of emotional hysterics.

Of course they talk about how this is the will of the gun lobby. No, it’s actually the will of the Texas citizenry. Imagine that.

Folks, this same sort of PSH was trotted out years ago when concealed carry was first brought onto the scene. The OK corral shootouts didn’t occur, the streets didn’t flow with the blood of people solving every disagreement with a gun. The data has shown that concealed carry has served to decrease violent crime.

But again… let’s not let facts and data and logical thinking get in the way of our hysterics.

As well, this group is called “Gun Free Kids”. What are they doing talking about colleges? Apart from an exceptional child here and there, students, faculty, and staff at colleges are all adults.. at least, last time I checked. Or is this perhaps a metaphor, that they believe we can’t care for ourselves and they are mommy that knows best? Who knows.

Tex Avery

2009-05-212009-05-21 / hsoi

I was just lamenting with a buddy of mine about how we have multiple cartoon TV channels dedicated to 24/7 cartoons, yet some of the best cartoons aren’t shown on them (much anymore). Things like the old Warner Bros. Bugs Bunny cartoons. I do recall they used to have “The Tex Avery Show”, and it’s a shame that went away.

Tex Avery (or “Fred A-very” as Bugs once called him) is truly one of the best. This article (h/t to Fark) takes you on a tour through his cartooning career, and was a wonderful walk down memory lane. Tex’s cartoons always had the best gags, the most ridiculous but exciting pacing, just totally screwball. I may have watched his cartoons hundreds of times, but they still make me laugh because the jokes are just that good and just that well done. Many of the characters became who we know and love because of Tex.

One of my favorites was Screwy Squirrel. Shame he was only in five cartoons, but damn they’re good. Tex really took things to the extreme in them.

Screwball Squirrel: