Friendswood, TX home invasion story:

 

Police said a woman was working on a homework project with her 8-year-old and 11-year-old children at their home in the 2900 block of Autumn Creek when a man came through an open window at the back of the house. Three other male suspects wearing black hoodies and masks followed the first suspect in, with at least one displaying a handgun.

Authorities said the suspects tied the family up and began to ransack their home when the husband arrived home. He tried to flee but was grabbed by one of the suspects and was also bound. The family was put in the bathroom and eventually got out after the suspects left the house.

 

What I take from this read:

• Looks like it happened in the middle of the day.
• Crime of opportunity: they came through an open window, and one in the back of the house (i.e. less likely to be seen from the street).
• Not sure if any resistance was put up, but the mother was probably more concerned with keeping her children from harm… still, fighting back aids in that effort.
• Father arrived home and tried to flee (WTF?).
• They didn’t care about the people, only something to steel.

So… this is why I carry my gun around the house. Some people think I only need my carry gun when I’m out and about. But no, I need it because it’s a handy tool to have, but a handy tool is only handy if it’s on hand when needed. If it’s on my hip, it’s right where I want it to be, when I need it to be. I don’t need to go get it and risk wasting precious time.

It’s also an argument against legal disarmament. That is, there are laws on the books that prevent law-abiding citizens from carrying their guns. For instance, employer doesn’t permit the guns, even in the parking lot. Let’s say the father in this story was a CHL holder and did carry every legal way he could. If he couldn’t have his gun on his person or even in his car due to workplace limitations, that would explain coming home disarmed and walking in on your family being tied up and robbed. Is that what we wish to allow? Is that what the spirit of the law is desiring? That’s not right.

Over at Girls ❤ Guns, an article about hairstyles for the shooting range. (h/t to Caleb)

Now, speaking as a man with long hair, I’d step back and generalize this not as an article for ladies, but an article for people with long hair. I mean, if you’re a women with short hair, the article really doesn’t apply to you. That said, social constraints are such that women get different options for styling long hair than men do, so of course the article has a few options that could be considered “for the ladies” (sorry, but I look stupid with my hair in a bun).

The main point: if you have long hair, it should be tied and pulled back, out of the way. However you do it, the point is to keep your hair from interfering. One implication in this is the hair-style should be secure, because hair falling out while you’ve got a gun in your hands isn’t good. If you’re in an intensive training class, you don’t need a hair-style failure thus distraction to have to fix it. As well, if you’re a newbie, your gut reaction may be to brush the hair out of the way… and how does that gun in your hand move while you’re brushing hair away! Could be dangerous. If your hair-style fails while you have a gun in your hand, ignore the hair, finish the drill, safely put the gun away (unload and bench it, holster it, whatever is appropriate), THEN fix your hair. This is a side-reason why a ball-cap is good to wear, because in a pinch it can keep hair up and out of the way (e.g. loose fliers restrained under the cap, long hair pulled through the hole in the back as a makeshift ponytail).

Me? I prefer to have my hair in a braid. Pony tails are OK, but a braid is more secure. Furthermore, when the wind blows, a pony tail can blow the tail hairs up into your face, whereas the braid stays down and out of the way. Here’s a picture on how I wear my hair. I’m the guy, second from the right, in the blue/gray shirt and blue cap… and braided hair:

This article has more pictures.

That said, it’s good to train with your hair down once in a while. Why? Well, if you always wear your hair up or only ever shoot in situations where you can control your hair (e.g. you’re only a recreational shooter at the range and will never use a gun to defend your life at home or on the street), then it doesn’t really matter. But if you could be in a situation where your hair is down and you’d have to shoot (e.g. you like to wear your hair down, you carry a gun for self-defense), you should practice with your hair down. It doesn’t have to be live fire (yes, that could be dangerous), but certainly you can and should dry fire. For instance, I found that if my hair is down and I haven’t been to the barber for a trim in a while, my hair can get in the way of drawing and/or presenting my gun from the holster. It’s good to know these things.

Bushmaster is recalling ALL ACR rifles. If you own one of these, you MUST contact Bushmaster immediately. It’s a safety issue and a legal issue.

Here’s Bushmaster’s notice.

The Firearm Blog has a transcribed copy of the notice.

I just read about the .300 AAC Blackout on The Firearm Blog. He wrote about barrels and reloading dies, but I’ve never heard of this round before. So I went looking.

Here’s a writeup.

Here’s the official website.

Now, I’m all into 6.8 SPC because of the purpose-built nature of the round. Looking at .300 BLK? It too is being purpose built along the same philosophy as 6.8 SPC but attempting to address some issues with it. For instance, to use 6.8 in your existing AR you need to change the barrel, bolt, and magazines. With .300 BLK? only the barrel. That’s huge, especially if you’re aiming for adopting by the military.

Here’s a brief synopsis from the .300 AAC Blackout website:

 

Full power 123 grain ammunition matches the ballistics of the 7.62x39mm AK, has 37% more energy than 5.56mm M855, and 9% more than 6.8 SPC TAP 110. In fact, from a 9 inch barrel, the 300BLK has more muzzle energy than 5.56mm M855 from a 16 inch barrel. When 300 BLK is used in a 16 inch barrel, it has 23% more energy than 5.56mm M855 from a 16 inch barrel – with much higher-mass projectiles for a more dramatic effect on the target. Or choose subsonic cartridges for optimal use with a sound suppressor – 220 grain Sierra OTM (open-tip match) bullets vastly outperforms a 9mm MP5-SD in penetration and long range accuracy.

 

Look at that performance from a short barrel. Now stick a suppressor on the end of that, and you’ve got suppressed fire with adequate ballistics out of a rather compact package. Wow!

Of course, there are the obvious social implications. But I also think about hunting. For instance, using the same platform in the morning for deer hunting, then just attaching the suppressor and switching to a subsonic load for hunting hogs at night.

Go check out the official website. Lots of information, data, spec sheets, and even handloading information.

This is something I’m going to keep my eye on.