Author: hsoi

Keeping your kids safe around guns

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

Tam is much better than I at being snarky, but she provides a nice counterpoint.

It’s a shame some people don’t understand the point she raised.

Furthermore, if you really want to keep your kids safe around guns? Consider something like the Eddie Eagle Safety Program. That’s what gets me the most about the “well-intended” suggestions towards keeping kids safe, be it regarding guns or anything else. People expect everyone else to make the world safe for them (i.e. you change, I remain the same). The reality is the world is filled with things that, no matter our best efforts, can be harmful. Instead of expecting the world to cater to you, better you should equip yourself with the means, skills, and abilities to deal with the world around you.

So if you really want to do your kids a favor towards keeping them safe, provide them with the skills and know-how to keep themselves safe. We may try to keep strangers away from our children, but we acknowledge they may come in contact so we teach them all those “stranger-danger” tactics so they can manage should danger come their way when we’re not around. We teach kids to walk facing traffic so when there’s no sidewalk, they can see the oncoming cars. So when it comes to guns, even if you think they are horrible things that ought to be banned, it’s possible kids will come in contact with a gun at some point in their life so why not also give them the tools here to deal with it safely?

Stop. Don’t Touch. Leave the area. Tell an adult.

If you wish to educate them further, check out Kathy Jackson’s articles on the topic of kids and guns.

Quiet

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

Sorry for the lack of posting… 

Mired in stuff at work. Working through creating a generic data-driven generic object model mini-framework to drive NSRuleEditor. Didn’t even get to the dojang today. 😦

Lots of child-based crises today. Not with our own children, but with neighbor and friend children. One side-effect of being at home all the time is we often get called upon to help out, babysit, or other such things. Comes with the territory. Someone asks you for help, you don’t say no.

Today’s also a milestone date with my wife. I love you.

So, just many other things going on… doesn’t leave much time for posting.

Notes from my workout

/ hsoi

Went into the garage this morning and worked out with the heavy bag (Wavemaster XXL… I’d prefer a real hanging bag but don’t have the infrastructure to handle the abuse). Worked on various things. Some random notes:

  • If you want to “get off the X”, you cannot open with a kick…. feet gotta be used for moving, not attacking.
  • Continuing to work on “eyes level“. Eyes need to be in a middle ground between focused and uninvolved. Aware, I guess is about the best term I can come up with. Helps spin kicks and spin back/side kicks too. Even just turning for moving.
  • Continuing to work on hand positioning. The more I work with this, the more I like it. I find more and more how it fits the combatives approach/road I’m going down.
  • I want to hang a tennis ball (or something) from the garage ceiling to help work on bobbing, weaving, dodging.

I also finally circumscribed my bag. I’ve got an older Wavemaster XXL with logos and words running vertically up the length of the bag, so I knew about where the “S” was was about the level of the solar plexus, and other relative locations to body parts. Trouble was, if you weren’t facing that side of the bag, you could only guess. So I finally got a magic marker out and drew circles around the bag about where things are. I opted to draw lines at the level of the waist, solar plexus, nipples, and chin. This helps when looking for areas to target, with whatever you’re using.

Spinal Tap on tour

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

Legendary band Spinal Tap has announced their 25th anniversary world tour, one night only.

If you’ve never seen the movie, “This is Spinal Tap” do yourself a favor and rent it. 

Many people don’t know where the joke/phrase “going to 11” comes from:

And let’s not forget, that D Minor is the saddest of all keys.

Spinal Tap. Genius comedy.

50 things everyone should know

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

While the article is titled “50 Things Every 18-Year-Old Should Know“, I think they are 50 things that everyone should know… perhaps should know by the time they’re 18, but if you don’t know it yet, now is a good time to learn it.

(Revised) Improved Battlesight Zero

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

So you have your AR-15, you need to zero it in. There are many ways and schools on how to zero, but it seems that some of the”newer thinking” in this area yields some better results.

The old Maryland AR15 Shooters club website is gone, but one key piece remains: Lt. Colonel Chuck Santose’s Improved Battlesight Zero document. (h/t to M4Carbine.net). The one thing I really miss about the Maryland AR15 shooters website was they had a great many graphs showing trajectories and comparing the various zeroing techniques. When you viewed the trajectory comparisons, it became evident how good IBZ was as a battlesight zero (again, battlesight, not bullseye).

The folks over at AR15.com have their own take on the matter, with some slight improvements along with discussions, clarifications, pictures, and some trajectory graphs.

Updated: I used the Revised Improved Battlesight Zero on a Bushmaster. Clicky to read the results.

Gun laws and Texas schools

/ hsoi

A useful article about gun laws as they pertain to schools in Texas. (h/t to KR Training).

One question.

Texasl Penal Code Section 46.03(a)(1) says that you cannot carry concealed on a school bus. But I wonder. Is that school bus period? Or school bus performing school-related activities? The intent of the law seems to pertain to school-related activities, but the letter of the law seems to read school bus period. The reason I wonder is I know the City of Austin (and may well other places in Texas too) uses school buses to shuttle people around for large city events. These events have no weapons restrictions to/from/at the event, people with CHL’s can carry and go about their business as usual, and if the bus was a city bus there’d be no issue. But merely due to logistics of handling the event (needing lots of mass transportation vehicles), school buses get used.

IMHO, this is a place where the law needs some clarification. I would assert that when a school bus is used for a non-school-related function that it’s not truly a school bus, merely a bus that’s painted yellow.

But IANAL. Still, I’m going to write my Texas congresscritters.

He wants a new one

/ hsoi

So Caleb wants a new gun.

Based upon his preferences and requirements, I would say either the M&P or the XD(m).

Glock? No. He likes 1911’s and while they both enjoy a favorable aftermarket, the Glock is just different enough in ergos from a 1911 that it may not be enjoyable or may take time to adjust to.

Sig? No. He wants to shoot the gun in competition, and that first DA shot is going to suck. He could practice a lot, but still it’s going to suck.

Wheelgun? Nothing wrong with it, but such a different manual of arms (tho I’m sure Caleb put that there to be silly).

So it’s down to the XD(m) and M&P.

The XD is likely to have a closer manual of arms and ergos to his beloved 1911’s. But depending what exactly he’ll be doing with this, going with the M&P might be worthwhile because in the law enforcement sector you can get good prices, good support products. Both have a strong enough aftermarket, parts, custom work (e.g. Springer Precision for XD work), and reputation. I like both guns, but have an XD bias. 🙂