Guns

AAR: Rangemaster Advanced Instructor Course, September 2016

/ hsoi / 5 Comments

On September 16-17, 2016 I attended the Rangemaster Advanced Instructor Course, run by Tom Givens, assisted by Lynn Givens, and hosted by Karl Rehn at KR Training.

I passed the class, but am disappointed in my performance.

Background

Rangemaster provides one of – if not the – best firearms instructor certification course out there. It starts with the 3-day Instructor Development Course, then continues with this 2-day Advanced Instructor Course. Really, the Advanced Course is like days 4 and 5 – it’s really “one big course”, but it’s hard to work with 5-days straight: time off work, information overload, physical exhaustion, etc., so it works better to split it up. As well, I think from a practical standpoint it works to split it up: if you’re going to be a firearms instructor, you really need the core Instructor Development Course. Do you NEED the Advanced Course? I would say you don’t NEED it, but you’d be silly not to take it (if you passed the core course, of course) and you’ll be far better off if you do take it.

I took the core course back in 2013, and as soon as I heard Tom was coming to my home range to do Advanced, I signed up. It was originally to happen in 2015 but was rescheduled. I’m glad it happened!

Why take this course? Various reasons. Again, it’s really day 4 and 5 of the Instructor course, so to get the full picture you really need to take the course. It’s another opportunity to train with Tom Givens, and he’s absolutely one trainer that anyone serious about firearms for self-defense needs to train with. I consider him my #2 most influential teacher (Karl Rehn is my #1). I knew there’d be much to learn, and learn I did.

Class Itself

Here’s what’s posted on the Rangemaster website:

The Advanced Instructor Course is the second installment of Rangemaster’s instructor development curriculum. Our Three-Day Firearms Instructor Development and Certification Course packs an incredible amount of information into three full days of training. Since most of our students are there on their own dime and their own time, we hold that course on Friday through Sunday to minimize disruption of their lives. The Advanced Firearms Instructor course picks up where day three of the basic instructor course ends. If we had five full days, the advanced instructor course would be days four and five of the process. By making this a separate course, the students can practice the skills learned, absorb the material covered in the basic instructor course, and be ready to learn a whole new set of skills.

In the Instructor Course, we have already covered the academic side of marksmanship and adult teaching methodology and given the students a thorough grounding in pistol marksmanship. In the advanced class, we push students to even higher skill levels on the range, including firing in low light both with and without a flashlight (if the facility allows). In the classroom we will cover subjects including different scoring methods; target design; course of fire design; instructor liability and how to limit it; and some of the psychological issues involved in teaching people how to fight for their lives.

The advanced course is usually conducted from 9 AM to 6 PM on Friday and Saturday. Students will need about 900 rounds of ammunition. Students receive a comprehensive training manual. We only offer this course once per year, and enrollment is strictly limited to those who have successfully graduated from our basic instructor course.

Note: we did not do any low-light shooting, because of facilities limitations.

The only way you get into this class is if you’ve passed the “basic” Rangemaster Instructor Development Course. If you do have that credential, you ought to have a good idea of what to know and be able to do to perform in the Advanced class. You’ve studied with Tom, you know what he emphasizes, and this is consistent with his outlook and curricula. It’s just tougher. More advanced topics in the classroom, more advanced skills and expectations on the range.

A few things to point out (specific to this class, but applicable to any class).

You will want at least 5 magazines (if shooting a double-stacked modern striker-fired gun; more if a single-stack), more if you can. You’ll want to wear (cargo) pants with deep pockets, to hold extra magazines, to hold loose ammo. You will be working with partial magazines, reloading mags by hand while on the line, no chance to run back to the fumble tables to use your UpLULA to reload.

If your magazines are hard to down-load/strip, keep a couple empties on your person. There will be drills where you’ll do things like “make a 2 round magazine” so  you can shoot to slide-lock then reload. Friend of mine in class had these Wilson Combat 9mm 1911 mags which are great mags, but you just cannot strip them by hand. If you have magazines like this, keep 1-2 dedicated empties.

Make sure you know your gear and that it’s dialed in. So buy your ammo ahead of time, benchrest your gun, and know how it shoots and patterns with that ammo from 0 to 25 yards. Make sure your sights are in good shape. Bring a spare gun in case of breakage, and also ensure it runs well. Make sure the guns are clean, well-lubricated, and ready to go.

We went through maybe 500-600 rounds of ammo. Bring 1000.

Wear sunscreen. Drink LOTS of water. Keep water with you somehow (e.g. Camelback, closable jug to keep behind you on the line) since again you won’t always be able to walk off the line. During my class, temperatures were in the mid-90’s with wicked humidity: we were soaked in sweat and had a few people get woozy. Tom was VERY good about managing things, shooting for a bit then going inside into the air-conditioning for lecture, and alternating range and classroom to keep anything from getting too much. Still, take care of yourself.

Mind your gear. It needs to work, it needs to be reliable. Retention holsters cause hangups. I personally was battling the M&P auto-forward “undocumented feature”  (i.e. “bug”) throughout both days. Many times it would auto-forward and NOT strip a round, causing me problems. Then I just racked it every time, and sometimes would rack out a round and sometimes not. And of course, every time the drill required a specific round count after a reload (e.g. Casino Drill) would be a time a round would properly strip, then I would rack it right out of the chamber (expecting the auto-forward to have failed to strip) and throw off the ability to complete the drill correctly. Ugh.  Oh and what was really fun? On one drill it auto-forwarded and somehow I wound up with a double-feed! That’s a first. I’m actually quite pleased that I instantly recognized it, didn’t get hung up about it, went right to work on clearing it, got back up and running, and managed to finish the string in time! (John Johnston of Ballistic Radio was my partner for that particular drill and witnessed it, even pointing it out to Tom). I’m happy with how I handled the malfunction, but I’m about finally fed-up with this “feature” of the M&P. There was a lot of SIG 320 love going on in class… but another discussion for another time.

Electronic muffs are essential.

If it’s going to be hot/sweaty, some way to manage the sweat is useful. That could be headbands or caps, to keep sweat out of your eyes. That might be a towel in your back pocket to wipe your hands down. It might mean something like Liquid Grip to help keep your hands dry. Tom let us shoot most of the drills from open carry, if we wanted to (some drills had to be shot from concealment). I shot from concealment on day 1, then from open on day 2. In my case, having my gun and magazines up against my very sweaty torso just made for a wet gun against my wet hands. So having the tucked-in shirt on day 2 helped keep things dry. If you might be in such a situation, consider wearing some sort of moisture-wicking undershirt. You could even consider an OWB holster (so long as it could still be somewhat concealed when drills require). If in doubt, check with Tom WELL in advance of class.

Can’t hurt to have something to manage wear and blisters on your fingers and hands.

So, that’s about it for some general class things.

In the classroom

The classroom material was good. We each received a binder full of class materials, packed with useful information that you will come back to later on. Just a great reference.

A few things that stood out to me.

Tom spent some time talking about target selection and design, and methods of scoring. While none of this was unfamiliar to me, the way Tom went through it all made me more aware of little details that perhaps get taken for granted. I also appreciated the discussion of Comstock scoring. Usually Comstock is saved for “gaming” and you just don’t see it much in “self-defense” courses of fire – they usually use time limits (e.g. “3 shots, 3 yards, 3 seconds”. But Tom made a great case for using Comstock (and other such scoring systems that measure both accuracy and speed, like Vickers Count) in defensive pistol work, especially when you get to this level of shooting.

There was also a video presentation. It’s something that is so dense with information, delivered so rapidly, you really need to watch it like 4-5 times before it sinks in. I hope there’s some way to get a hold of this video because I would love to watch it 4-5 more times, do you follow?  One thing that really stood out to me was he mentioned there are 3 things we humans deal with: fear, pain, death. That so many people work their whole lives trying to avoid those three things. But if you’re going to be a warrior, you have to work to make those things your friend. There’s really a lot do it, it’s worthy of an article unto itself, and I may write that up later. But just start to roll that concept around in your head.

We also had a special medical presentation by Andy Anderson. It was short and focused on tourniquets. Very cool thing? Andy brought a couple of those finger-tip pulse detectors. The intention was to apply a TQ and register no pulse – because then you knew you applied it tight enough. You need more pressure than you think. In fact, when they tried it on me, it was a struggle to cut off my blood flow. I don’t have huge muscular arms, but they have some meat on them, and it required a LOT more tension to shut things off. And yes, it hurt like crazy. Welcome to the TQ reality.

None of the classroom material felt redundant – truly an extension of the material already learned in the base Instructor class.

On the range

There’s a lot I could say about this. I’ve been thinking about it ever since class. What I’m going to say is not making excuses, but merely me recording my thoughts. I own my performance.

So I did pass the class, which I’m happy about. But I am not happy about how I performed. I expected more out of myself, especially regarding the stupid mistakes.

Before I go into class, I have to back up.

I’ve been treading water in my performance for some time now. Karl finally kicked my pants enough and over the summer I finally got my USPSA classification (“B” class, Production). I’m happy about that, but it made me realize how much I suck. When I saw what it took just to become “B” class, then you see what it takes to become “A” class, yeah, I suck. But I worked on what was needed to make classification and got it. I’m happy.

As soon as I earned the classification, I changed gears to prep for this Advanced Instructor course. For ages I’ve known that my 15-25 yard shooting sucks, but I always focused on other areas that were of greater importance. But now was the time to focus on 15-25 yards. So I did, and I’ve gotten MUCH better. I’m shooting at 25 yards better than I ever have, and I’m very happy about that. While my 25 yard shooting isn’t awesome, I was making 280+ (out of 300) on the various runs of the Rangemaster Bullseye course (except for the one double-feed run I mentioned above, got a 274 on that because rushing from that malfunction), and on many of the drills with 25 yard shooting I was doing well. Again, I’ve still got a long ways to go, but my improvement at 15 and 25 yards was evident to me. So I’m happy about that.

But that’s all I’m happy about.

Basically, I blew the mental game and screwed myself.

Goal? Pass the class. So I told myself during my prep to slow down and get the points. Don’t shoot faster than I can shoot right and well. Generally good advice, but I didn’t apply it well. So say the string is 3 shots, 3 yards, 3 seconds. I would work to use the whole 3 seconds to ensure I did right and well. Take a little more time to aim, to validate the sight picture, etc.  Not a horrible thing, but it was not the right attitude for me to take. It was a deliberate change to how I shoot, and basically laid the groundwork for me not trusting myself and my abilities.

So I go into class, the pressure is high, and I’m thinking way too much. I’m focusing on the wrong things. And so, I blow it. I really needed to just shut my brain off and “just shoot”. Do what I can do, and let myself just do what I can do. But I focused on too many things that didn’t matter, then would try to focus on some things I needed to focus on, too many things in my head, and things would just fall apart.

I can blame my gear a little bit. My primary gun had been in the shop for months to get some long-overdue TLC, and I got it back 2 days prior to class. I hadn’t had a chance to shoot or test it, so I only brought it in the off-chance my secondary failed. I’ve long known my secondary has a hard trigger break, but supposedly has an Apex DCAEK so I just rolled with it. Well, a couple days after class I put both guns on a trigger pull gauge. The gun I took class with? 7.25# pull. My primary? 5.25#. Heavier plus that hard break, no wonder I’ve developed a hell of a yank!

I’ve been shooting Freedom Munitions 9mm 124gr RN reman (because price). It’s generally been good ammo, but I saw a few weird fliers that made no sense. Karl used the same ammo when he shot the class, and he mentioned the accuracy issues to me as well. Light researching seems to raise enough of an eyebrow regarding this ammo (rather, these particular bullets) and its accuracy at distance. I’ve since purchased a bunch of other ammo (brands, bullet shapes, weights) to explore a bit.

Thing is: while some things could be gear – in the end, it’s still my fault. I still own it. Why? Because it was my choice to use the gear I did. Heck, start of day 2 I actually put my original gun in my holster but changed my mind a couple minutes later because the triggers have enough difference in the feel and I didn’t want to risk making that a factor. So in the end, it’s all still my choice, my problems.

But it tells me a few things.

The things that I was working on to get me to “B” class? They are not ingrained yet. I need to work on them more, and shooting drills with a more Comstock-like approach (e.g. Rangemaster Core Skills, or just taking any established COF, figuring out a Comstock par score, and tracking my progress). Time AND accuracy. Push myself, always, and trust myself.

That I do have a decent baseline. I mean, when pressure is on, you don’t rise to the occasion, you descend to some level. It was good to see that my descent is still pretty good. But I can also see how there are things that need more work. Things that need to become my baseline.

That I am going to be doing some gear evaluation.

I feel embarrassed by my performance.

But you know… as the late Pat Rogers said: “Learning occurs only after repetitive demoralizing failures.”

I’ve got work ahead.

Crazy thing is, I was planning for my 2017 training to go in one direction. This makes me think I may need to modify those plans. TBD.

Closing

It was wonderful to see Tom and Lynn again. They are wonderful, genuine people, with an unrivaled passion for teaching. I always look forward to time with them to learn and grow.

If you’ve passed the Rangemaster Instructor Development Course, I highly recommend taking the Advanced Course. You will learn more, be challenged more, and grow more.

KR Training September 2016 Newsletter

/ hsoi

The KR Training September 2016 Newsletter is now available.

Many good classes scheduled for the remainder of the year, and some great stuff coming in 2017 as well.

See you on the range!

You just don’t know, so behave accordingly

/ hsoi / 6 Comments

Sometimes you just don’t know. And if you don’t know, I don’t think you should get involved.

This past Saturday night, around 9 PM or so, I was driving the family back home from visiting friends. We pull up to a stop-light at a large intersection: highway runs north-south, we’re on the cross-street (going under the highway), there’s a gas station next to us, lights, people.

I see a young man and young woman, the man is carrying a large sign. It looks to be an advertising banner (e.g. “Hot Dog & Soda, $5” or some such thing) to put on the roadside to try to draw customer into the gas station. I thought perhaps the sign blew over and this guy was recovering it, or maybe given the time the station was closing and a worker pulling in the sign for the night, or maybe one of those “sign twirler guys” calling it a night.

Nope.

“Sign guy” walks over to a street light pole that has someone sitting at the base of it. Sign guy wraps the sitting guy up in the banner sign and starts beating him!

WTF?

After a few seconds of punching, sign guy (and the female  he was with) continue walking down the side walk. Sitting dude pulls the sign off himself, and continues to just sit there.

It became a teachable moment for my family.

First, would I have intervened? Highly unlikely. I have my family in the car, and THEIR safety is paramount to me. No, I don’t want to see someone get beat up, but if I get involved it could risk the safety of my family and I cannot do that.

Second, what happened? My kids’ response was that “sign guy” was the jerk. But was he?

Maybe the sitting-guy did something to sign-guy’s lady, and sign-guy was defending her (honor).

No one seemed that beat up, and the punches didn’t seem like much either. Maybe they were friends and messing around?

Or maybe in fact sign-guy was the jerk.

The problem is we don’t know. We don’t know the story, and if we interfere we risk getting it wrong. We see the guy getting beat as the victim, but maybe he’s the perpetrator. So what happens if we get involved and actually assist the bad guy?

This is a danger in getting involved in someone else’s business. You risk not knowing the whole (or enough) of the story, and you risk getting it wrong and possibly making the situation worse. I grant this is a tough thing, because we want to help. Plus we bemoan the state of our society where it’s a common exhortation that “everyone stands around and does nothing”. Every situation is different, and you have to take them as they come; but as a general rule, I’d rather not get involved if there’s risk to my personal safety, the safety of my loved ones, and a good chance involvement could make the situation worse. Better to choose options that make the situation better (think about what those could be).

Consider this from another angle.

Consider how your actions might be viewed by someone else.

If you jumped in, might someone else rolling up to the scene view YOU as the aggressor, as the attacker, as the jerk, as the person in need of “corrective action”?

Or how about if you find yourself in a legitimate self-defense situation (of yourself)? You have a gun out, someone else sees it. How do you think YOU will be viewed? How about when the police roll on scene? They will see “person with a gun”, and what conclusions do you think they will reasonably jump to?

Lessons to learn: get the whole story (or at least enough of the story), and remember that you too may be viewed with a partial (or incorrect) story. Carry yourself accordingly.

And yet another SERPA fail

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Owner of a local gun store (Crosshairs Texas, in Bastrop — just east of Austin) put a round into his leg. Why? SERPA holster.

Here’s the video he posted from the ER.

It’s not news that SERPA holsters (and those styled similarly) are bad news, and thus have been banned on many ranges and by many trainers. But some people continue to cling to them for whatever reason. Hopefully the above video adds yet another to the pile of examples of why the SERPA (and similar such holsters) is bad and should be avoided.

Thank you to Crosshairs Texas for posting that – learning point for everyone.

In good company

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

I made Grant Cunningham’s “Hump Day” reading list for September 7, 2016.

The ubiquity of video today means that we can look at fights and attacks in a way that we couldn’t before — and, in this case, you can see what it’s like when a fight breaks out in a restaurant. On the Stuff From Hsoi blog, John Daub does a superb job of analyzing what you should do to keep from being a casualty of a fight you had nothing to do with. (My favorite: don’t worry about WHY it’s happening, instead think about HOW you’re going to respond to keep yourself safe.)

Grant, thank you for the link AND the kind words.

And I feel honored to be in good company. Not just making Grant’s list, but this particular list contains articles from: Jim Wilson, Greg Ellifritz, Caleb Causey, Tiger McKee, Wim Demeere, and Darryl Bolke. If you’re curious about people worth paying attention to, there’s a good list to start with.

Head over to Grant’s reading list and get your learn on.

No Fear

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Politicians know that the gangs are reason for the deaths. Calling it “gun violence” is much safer, especially in wards where gangs often provide political muscle.

“Have you ever heard a Chicago alderman call out a street gang by name?” O’Connor asked. “No? Me neither.”

Statistics, data, numbers — they’re nice, but without context you can’t properly interpret them. As well, you can certainly twist numbers to suit whatever end you wish to satisfy. It’s important to look deeper (or at least take raw numbers for what they are).

The Chicago Tribune takes a deeper look at “gun violence” in its own city.

“The shooter was typically a male black between the ages of 17 and 23,” O’Connor said. “And the victim was typically a male black between the ages of 17 and 23. So what’s changed since the ’90s? Not much, the same social pathology, and the police are expected to clean it up.”

Some call it “gun violence,” a definition greatly appreciated by Democratic politicians like those at City Hall. They can point to guns and take that voter anger over homicide numbers and channel it into a safe space.

But there are plenty of guns in the suburbs, and suburbanites aren’t slaughtering each other.

It’s the gang wars.

So where is the real problem? Is it merely “gun ownership”? Will “gun control”, “gun bans”, and the like solve this problem? Or are we identifying the wrong problem – perhaps for political reasons – and thus chasing the wrong, and thus ineffective, solution?

Making it worse:

Police were investigating reports of a shooting in bloody Englewood when about 10 young men confronted them, harassed them, mocked them on the street, hurling epithets, angry, defiant.

“Every cop saw that video,” O’Connor said. “One big difference is that now, on the street, there is no fear. Even in the ’90s, with all the killing, the gangs feared the police. When we’d show up, they’d run. But now? Now they don’t run. Now, there is no fear.”

Make of it what you will.

But at least when searching for Truth, dig deeper. It may uncover uncomfortable or ugly truths, but it’s how we will find real solutions.

2016-08-31 range log

/ hsoi

A short range time this morning.

Tom & Lynn Givens will soon be in Texas for an extended stay at KR Training. Many classes going on, including the Rangemaster Advanced Instructor course. I’ll be attending, and so that’s on my mind to prep for.

Today was pretty simple:

  • 3M Test
  • Rangemaster Instructor Qual
  • FBI Qual
  • Group shooting out to 25 yards

Why these? The first 3 are classic Rangemaster advanced drills, and the group shooting at longer distances is something I’m really working to improve upon. I wanted to do Rangemaster Core Skills, but skipped it because of time (it’s cumbersome to deal with all the time recording, etc.).

My first 3M Test was weird. I guess I hadn’t mentally checked in and the test ran weird. I passed, but did it slower than normal (just under 9 seconds). Just moved slow, had a minor brain fart for the malfunction and the reload. It was just weird. But in a way, I thought it was a good thing because well, the flag doesn’t fly when you’re warmed up and ready. That was a true cold performance, and while it wasn’t up to my standard, it was still a reasonable performance. But still…

Ran it a couple more times, got the gears greased up. Ran the Rangemaster Instructor Qual once, only dropping a couple at 25 yards. FBI Qual was the same. I just felt slow the whole time. I slacked off on dry practice the past couple weeks because of life circumstance, and it shows. Have to change that. I won’t magically gain skill between now and class, but I need to at least have a better edge.

Group shooting went pretty well tho. I’m still not that tight at 25 yards, but I was getting everything in the A-Zone most of the time, which is a big improvement. What was cooler tho was when I dropped I shot I knew it without having to look. It wasn’t quite a true “called shot”, but that I could feel something was off.

A short session, just to knock some rust off and give me a touchpoint before class (unlikely I’ll be able to have another live fire session before class). Dry dry dry work a plenty between now and then.

Lathrop’s Lessons

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It is a wise person that learns from the mistakes and experiences of others.

Become a wise(r) person and learn from the experiences of Paul Lathrop.

In February 2016, Paul Lathrop was involved in what appeared to be a low-key self-defense incident. Unfortunately, the event turned into a big problem. Paul was charged, arrested, spent time in jail, but ultimately the charges were dropped (because they were false). There are some important things we can learn from Paul’s experience.

First, Paul tells his whole story in Episode 381 of the Handgun World Podcast. You need to take the time to listen to the entire thing as there’s a great deal to be learned in hearing from Paul first-hand. Seriously. Don’t just skim what I’m about to write and think it sufficient – it’s not. You need to listen to Paul’s account. Listen in the gym when you’re on the treadmill, listen during your daily commute, listen over the course of a few sessions if it’s too long. Just listen to the whole thing, I implore you.

While I was listening, of course I thought about my incident. Realize I’m filtering what I’m about to say through my own experiences. Also, know that I am not here to criticize nor chastise Paul; I know how it is to have people insert their interpretation of events and crucify you over their false or limited knowledge. What I am trying to do is the same thing I did when I shared my story and the same reason Paul gave in sharing his story: to help others learn. We want you to learn from our experiences, so hopefully you won’t have to pay what we’ve paid.

There were three key things about Paul’s incident that stood out to me.

Always Be Cool

From what I can understand, it seems that the pivot point of the incident was Paul’s driving partner giving the other guy the one-finger-salute. Other guy felt disrespected, and everything descended from there. Of course, I cannot hold Paul responsible for the actions of his driving partner, but realize Paul paid for those actions.

In almost every facet of life, the sooner you solve a problem, the better because it minimizes cost. In the context of self-defense we tout the importance of avoid, deter, deescalate – this is an attempt to solve a problem sooner and thus be less costly. We are human thus we are emotion-driven, and we all get angry. We have to work to improve our ability to manage our emotions, especially ones that can get us into trouble. Think about how all of this could have been avoided, and if avoided how much less costly things would have been for Paul.

Since the situation wasn’t avoided, it needed deterrence or deescalation. What do you think could have been done to achieve that end? Granted, we weren’t there so we can’t specifically say. But just consider such a situation and think about possible options. For example, maybe saying “I’m sorry”. Or you may even have to make up a lie, such as “I’m sorry… I had a really shitty day today, everything broke down, wife yelling at me, boss yelling at me, dropped my phone in the toilet… it’s just been a really shitty day and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. I’m sorry.” Yeah, it’s a bit of a story, and you may not really be sorry at all! But it may just be what’s needed to keep a situation from worsening.

I believe I got the above strategy – capitulation, even false capitulation – from Greg Hamilton at Insights Training. Another thing from Greg is the “ABC of Self-Defense – Always Be Cool“. Strive to Always Be Cool, especially behind the wheel of a vehicle, and it makes a big difference in your life.

Be the first to call the police

Paul acknowledges he should have called the police.

The thing is, the first person to contact the police? They WILL be viewed as the victim, and that’s precisely what happened. The other guy got to frame the incident, and despite the fact it was a series of lies, it was enough for Paul to be arrested and to cause everything to have to be sorted out later.

I asked Massad to identify the most common mistakes armed citizens make that get them in trouble following a justified self-defense shooting. Without hesitation, he replied, “Failing to call police after the incident.”

“The citizen is in a situation that warrants drawing the gun,” he continued. “They do everything right, the suspect turns and runs, and it ends without bloodshed as most of these things do. The citizen figures that it is over, so they do not call the police, but the offender calls in and complains and the next thing you know the citizen has become the perpetrator and the original assailant becomes the victim/complainant, or at least is seen as such.”

“Who ever calls in first, by default, gets to be the victim/complainant,” he emphasized.

(from Massad Ayoob <– read this article too)

If you are in any form of self-defense incident, you need to call the police. Even if it winds up being nothing, it’s still some level of help here because bad guys don’t call the police. If you don’t call, how do you think you’ll be perceived and colored? Again, it doesn’t matter what the truth of the situation is, because right now you’re still being arrested. The truth will come out, but what cost will you pay? Again, the sooner you can solve a problem, the less costly it will be. Call the police as soon as you can safely do so.

Be a member of ACLDN

When my incident happened, I was already a member of the Armed Citizens Legal Defense Network. When Paul’s happened, he was not.

Just to get started, it cost Paul $12,500 – $10,000 to retain the lawyer, $2500 for bail (and that was apparently a reduced bail). Paul made a good point: how many of you right now can go into your bank account and write a check for $12,500? And if you can, that it won’t adversely affect your family budget? Note as well, that’s cheap, and that’s just to start. If Paul’s situation had gone another way, his legal costs would have skyrocketed.

Let’s also not forget the money in lost wages, his travel expenses (having to travel back to the locale for every hearing, etc.). Paul didn’t give a final tally, but you better believe this incident cost him a lot more than $12,500.

If he had been a member of ACLDN, he wouldn’t have had to pay that $12,500.

Membership to ACLDN is $135 for 1 year, $295 for 3 years, or $790 for 10-years. $790 seems like a lot of money, but compare it to $12,500 and it’s a drop in the bucket.

What often happens when someone talks about things like this, they try to not sound like they’re playing favorites. They’ll talk about other groups like Texas Law Shield, USCCA and so on saying “it doesn’t matter which you join, just do your research and join one”. I’ll grant there’s something to that, and I did my research and I joined ACLDN. I think they provide the best “product”. And of course, given I’ve had to directly use their services and have first-hand experience at how they run things well… I’ll just say I have renewed for 10-years, and I’d join at a “Life” membership if they had such a thing. No I don’t get paid for this, I don’t get anything from ACLDN or Marty Hayes. I’m just a member, and a very satisfied one at that.

But you know what really sells me on ACLDN? The caliber, quality, and character of the people who make up the network. Not just people like my own attorney, Gene Anthes, but Massad Ayoob and Marty Hayes himself. Listen to Paul’s story. ACLDN could not help Paul because he was not a member at the time of the incident, but Marty did everything he personally could to help Paul out. Paul also said that of all the groups out there, only Marty reached out to him.

Like I said – the character of the people who make up the network. You’re choosing people you want on your side, fighting for your life and well-being. Choose wisely.

To that I would add, choose now. Neither Paul nor I woke up in the morning and expected we’d be interacting with the police later that day. You don’t get to choose when your flag will fly. I know I had things that I put off, and had I not perhaps my day would have gone differently. It’s evident from listening to Paul that he too had things he put off, and had he not his day would have gone differently. Yes, that $135/year seems like a lot, but pull a little from your ammo fund and do it now, so you don’t risk having to pull 10x that for a lawyer.

Wisdom

I’m glad things worked out for Paul. I’m thankful to Paul for sharing his story, warts and all. I can empathize with a lot of what he went through, so I can appreciate what he did here. We share because we want you to learn, be it from our mistakes or just our general experience. Please take the lessons to heart. Please take action from our lessons.

Cocks and Glocks – they CAN coexist

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

Brian Bensimon, [Students for Concealed Carry] director for the state of Texas, commented, “If carrying a phallus to class helps you express yourself, go for it. We welcome this demonstration that freedom of speech and concealed carry of handguns can coexist on the same campus.”

Today marked the first day of classes at the University of Texas, Austin. As well, today marked the official start of the “Cocks Not Glocks” protest of the recently enacted laws in Texas that permit some level of the carry of a concealed handgun by licensed adults. Apparently some 4000+ fake penises were handed out to whomever wanted them, to carry around campus in protest.

“Take it and come” was their tag line.

Frankly, the whole thing amuses me. I gotta admit it’s kinda clever.

Weird thing tho. That lawsuit brought by those 3 UT professors that claimed permitting guns on campus would stifle free speech? I think passing out 4000+ dildos – in apparent violation of University policy (civil disobedience!) – is pretty demonstrative that if anything the topic of “guns on campus” has generated a LOT of free speech and free expression. I see no stifling here; in fact, I see a lot of creativity!

And I must admit, the original premise of the movement has a solid point (which I think has gotten lost in the the hoopla). They were originally trying to make a point that something’s not right when University policy prohibits someone from bringing a big black (fake) cock on campus, but now Texas law permits one to bring a big black (real) gun on campus. And I agree with their point. The sad part is they don’t seem to see nor make effort towards trying to improve this supposedly progressive University’s puritanical policies.

Wise advice

/ hsoi

Once the cops have been called, you don’t need to be running around outside with a gun in your hand. The chances for a blue-on-blue shooting skyrocket in incidences like that. Plainclothes officers get shot all the damn time in similar circumstances. It’s easy to tell who the responding officers are because they show up in a car with blinking lights and they’re all dressed the same. You want to not be on the playing field wearing the other team’s uniform when they show up.

From Tam. Emphasis added.

The way she phrased it is novel and I think really drives the point home.