Guns

The Cost

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

…our priorities should always be:

  1. Avoid,
  2. Escape,
  3. Confront,
  4. Resist

When we jump to Confront and Resist before we absolutely need to, we’re being emotionally hijacked by the situation, our pasts, our current influences, and our egos. Allowing an emotional hijacking is no more a recipe for success than going along with any other kidnapping attempt. There’s always going to be a very high cost.

Internet common-taters take note; it’s not you who will pay the cost, so STFU.

Claude Werner once again nails it. There’s a cost involved in killing someone – and it goes far deeper than you may have ever considered.

The cost is not only borne by the individual who does the shooting but also by their family. At some point their children are going to go to school and one of their classmates is going to taunt them with ‘my daddy says your daddy is a murderer!’ No matter how justifiable the shooting may be, someone in the community who feels that self-defense is an unacceptable concept will express their feelings to their children and the children will pass it on to your children.

Yup.

There are legal costs. There are financial costs. But there are also personal, emotional, psychological, reputation, jobs, social, relationships… there are many costs.

Going to guns should be the last resort. We should do all we can to avoid, deter, deescalate, escape. When you truly consider the costs, those are all far cheaper options.

Perception is not reality

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

There is half as much crime in the US right now as there was about 25 years ago. Both violent and property crime have declined pretty steadily since the early 1990s.

But Americans are more concerned about crime now than they have been since 2001.

[…]

But the massive disconnect between what crime rates actually are and what many Americans think they are shows two things. One is that in general, Americans think large societal issues are getting way worse than they actually are.

Full story (from Vox) h/t Seth Anderson Bailey.

So the reality is crime is down, and pretty much at an all-time low. Crime still happens in great numbers, but nowhere near as much as you think.

But yet, people think things are worse.

Why might that be?

Could it be due to the news media? The 24/7 need for blood in the headlines? When one thing happens in some remote part of the world, someone decides it’s “newsworthy” and suddenly it’s the story dominating all media outlets for the next week?

Hooray Internet.

Hooray the “always connected” lifestyle.

Hooray for the fear-mongers.

Hooray for those that profit from all of this.

Perception is not reality.

Look beyond the headlines. Look at the Truth.

Don’t believe the hype.

 

The importance of being honest with yourself (and setting ego aside)

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Had a long weekend at KR Training: July 16 was a Basic Pistol 2 and Defensive Pistol 1, and July 17 was a Basic Pistol 2… yes again. Classes have been selling pretty well.

I want to depart from my usual “class AAR”. I mean, what we see out of these classes from a skills perspective tends to be the same thing every time. So if you were in one of these classes and are curious about skills, just hit the Search field and read what you find.

What I want to talk about is – self-assessment.

It is vital in life to be (brutally) honestly aware of yourself, your skills, your abilities, your level, your capabilities, your limits, your strengths, your weaknesses. It’s the only way to truly achieve your goals.

We had a couple people in the BP2 class that were scheduled to stay for the DPS1 class. As BP2 progressed, it was evident that DPS1 was not going to happen for them: just too much to handle. We gave them feedback, but they also took a step back and looked at themselves and opted to skip DPS1 and come back later. I’m not sure what they will do exactly (maybe take BP2 again, maybe take some private lessons), but I am proud of them for making an honest self-assessment and doing the right thing. They set ego aside and made an honest and wise choice. In the long run, this is going to pay dividends.

There’s another gentleman that’s been around for some time. He’s taken many classes with us, and BP2/DPS1 are “below him”. But he still takes them (again) because he knows he has things to work on, skills to learn, and that he can improve – and that these classes will help him get there. His honesty, his humility, that serves him well towards progress and improvement.

Don’t feel you need to always move on to the next class, just because you’re supposed to, or especially because you just want to. If you take a class before you’re ready, you’ll just be frustrated and won’t learn. There is nothing wrong with taking the same class again; in fact, now that you’ll know the material, you’ll be able to focus on other aspects of the class, including putting more effort into the drills and really letting the material sink in. Remember the maxim: redundancy fosters learning. Taking a class multiple times, that’s redundancy, and it will lead to (improved) learning.

After you finish a class, let things digest. Take a step back. Self-assess where you are. See where you are now relative to where you were: both where you really were and where you thought you were. Now look where you want to go. Will taking the next class be the way to get there? or could taking 1-2 steps back serve you better in the long run towards achieving your goal? It all depends upon your goals, of course. But the more honest you are in your self-assessment, the willingness to put ego aside, THAT is what will help you achieve your goals in the long run.

Train hard, train smart.

2016-07-21 range log

/ hsoi

Not only did I hit the gym this morning, but I also hit the range for some practice.

While I enjoy live fire work, I have to remember that the work comes in dry-fire practice and all live fire is is validation. Where am I doing well? Where am I improving? Where do I still suck? Where do I need work? It’s also a time to explore, experiment, and push.

Karl’s been pushing me towards getting my USPSA classification (finally). I’m on the road to “B” class, and I must admit it’s been showing me a lot of things where I just suck and have room to improve.  The particular things Karl’s had me working on have certainly improved my skills already, but much of that’s been doing stuff from a gaming rig (holster, pouches, etc.). Today, I wanted to see how well those skills were translating back to my carry gear.

This past Sunday before class I had a little time so I went to the steel range and worked on my drawstroke. I set up on a 12″ steel plate at 10 yards, set the timer to a random start, and off I went. I was consistently getting 1.4 second draws from IWB holster and concealment (rip up my shirt). I could push and get 1.2 or 1.3 draws, but inconsistent. Sometimes I missed my grip, so while the index then was good, the gun was out of alignment and I’d miss. Or the converse, that I’d realize the gun was off, take the moment to adjust, and then get a 1.5-1.6 draw. And sometimes I just went faster than my eyes would handle it. But really, I’m happy with this because that sort of draw time is something I’ve been striving for — at any distance, on any size target — and just haven’t been consistent in nailing. So I’m getting there. A large part of it is certainly due to working from the gaming rig and getting those 0.9-1.0 second draws at 3-5 yards to the A-Zone. So I’m pleased.

So coming into today’s session, I wanted to shoot drills where points and time affected score. So things like Comstock or Vickers count, etc..

Started with the 3M Test, which is a favorite diagnostic. I actually did pretty crappy here. I was getting OK draws (e.g. 1.6-ish), about .25 splits, about 1.75-ish on the malfunction, but then the reloads would run 3-4 seconds. BLAH. I can do this drill in 8 seconds, but was not doing it today. I spent some time looking at what one could shoot this in, and rough numbers… a 6? I only did rough figuring, but point is that one can do this much faster. Granted, according to Tom’s scoring, shooting it clean in 10.5 seconds (125 score) is “very high skill”, so I’m exceeding the top-end scoring here… but still, I’d like to work on getting this drill down to 7 seconds. While I certainly can work on shaving time off on the draw, the splits, etc., the biggest time-sink for me is the reload.

There will be a theme.

I switched to shoot the Gila Hayes 5×5 drill just to give me some perspective. That was fine, and I did it with the Claude Werner “and do it 5 times”.

I then went on to the Rangemaster Core Skills. I scored a 98 on it (par is 100). But this is a big improvement over the last time I shot it (80). I ran into similar issues here, that I can pick up a little time here and there by getting my draw and splits down a little bit (e.g. I was creeping up on 0.4-0.5 splits as the distance increased, and about 1 second splits at 15 and 25). But more than these little things, it’s some bigger things, like the reload. As well, drawing at longer distances, because I’d take too long to set up at 15 and 25 yards.

Before I called it a day, I shot the Rangemaster Instructor Qualification. Got a 240 out of 250 (25 yards – my nemesis).

So, much to take from this in terms of what to work on:

  • Continue to work on my drawstroke. At shorter distances, continue to reinforce the mental picture of what an acceptable sight picture is. Work more at longer distances to find that sight picture. While I should work some at 25 yards and such, I think right now focusing 7, 10, and 15 yards is enough.
  • As well in the drawstroke, work on nailing the grip, maintaining a crushing grip throughout. When I did the SHO and WHO shooting, I was crushing the hell out of the gun, and while I was a little slow (because I was focusing hard on ensuring sights and trigger), I only dropped 1 WHO shot — grip grip grip. Crush hard.
  • Do more 25 yard group shooting.
  • Reloads. Reloads. Reloads. If there’s any place I could make a dramatic improvement in my times, it’s here.

So in terms of dry work, I think the next couple weeks will focus on draw on various size targets, especially those simulating 7-15 yards. And reloads, reloads, reloads.

BTW I should say, what’s my goal in all of this?

I’d like to get to USPSA “A” class. I could be wrong in this — and please correct me if I am — but my assessment feels like “A” class is pretty good for my situation. What then comes for “M” and “GM” is being able to be consistent, and consistent in playing the game. That is, “A” class has really good skills overall. But now you need to apply them within the context of the game: stage planning, and other “gaming” aspects. Plus the time and dedication to put into developing and progressing towards this very specific end. Nothing against those things, but it’s not my interest right now. Of course I say this and who knows — I get to “A” and then I may just feel the thirst for “M”. I mean, I wasn’t motivated to get my classification at all, but now that I’m on the road for it and seeing what I’m learning from it… gee if I ain’t anything but motivated to get there. 🙂 Either way, gotta get to “A” first, so first things first.

Aghast

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

It’s not right to politicize tragedy.

But after a madman drives a truck through a crowd in Nice, France, killing 80+ people and wounding over 200…

How can you keep saying it’s because of guns?

 

Why strip away only this one right?

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

There’s talk these days about stripping away particular rights of American citizens, all in the name of “safety” and “saving lives” or what have you.

It’s curious tho why only one particular right is discussed as worthy of stripping away.

Should people on a terror watch list be allowed to attend a suspected radicalized house of worship? Why allow them to congregate at all? Why is a person suspected of planning terror allowed to have a Facebook or Twitter account to spew hate and network with other terrorists? If the pen is mightier than the sword, shouldn’t we go after Tweets instead of guns? “Like” or “share” if you agree.

We should also allow the FBI to have unfettered access to their emails and tap their phones so we can ensure they aren’t planning the next massacre. Being on this secret list is reason enough; it shouldn’t require the lengthy process of obtaining a warrant from an obtuse judge. I say quarter a cop in their homes for extra security.

Full article

Indeed. The Founding Fathers never envisioned “assault rifles”, nor did they envision the Internet – or Pokémon Go (and the intensive technology that enables it). And if the Internet can be used as a gateway for pedophiles, to enable child pornography, sex trafficking, terrorist plotting, and all manner of other atrocities well… why aren’t those rights being stripped?

Why just this particular one? Why is this particular one acceptable?

If some person is so potentially dangerous, why aren’t we locking them up? Why aren’t we just executing them on the spot?

I know I’m going to an extreme, but it’s the direction this thinking points towards.

Tell me folks… where does it end?

When it is enough?

And why isn’t it already too much?

KR Training July 2016 newsletter

/ hsoi

The KR Training July 2016 Newsletter is up and available.

Lots of great classes on tap this summer and into the Fall, including an extended stay by Tom Givens.

Wear suncreen, drink water, and we’ll see you on the range.

 

Peace… and bullies

/ hsoi

I honestly do support peace, communication and compromise.

But I do so not from a position of virtue singling or that these ideas are morally superior. It’s because I truly understand how much violence and hatred suck. I’m talking screaming, blood spatter and bodies ‘suck.’

Unfortunately, we have two contributing problems to the third. One is that ‘peace’ has become a not just a moral issue, but a moral superiority one. “I’m better than you because I believe in peace.’ Two is that this position has expanded into cowardice and inaction. That is someone who uses the excuse of “I believe in peace” so they don’t have to step up or confront something that is spinning out into extremes and heading towards violence.

The third problem is bullies. See in a peaceful, non violent world, the bully is king. He can be as pushy, demanding, vicious and violent as he wants and nobody can stop him. Or to be more precise, nobody will stop him. It’s a win for the violent bully.

That’s what happens when people think that peace is a morally superior position. First, they forget that the negotiating table is the option that sucks less. Second they’re at a loss when someone realizes the inherent weakness of their unpreparedness and exploits it. Third, they’ve lost sight of negotiation without the ability to back it up is begging. Fourth, way too often they start crossing the lines too. (Different tactics, but very much the same strategy and goals.) That last leads to the fifth problem, which is they see no reason not to become bullies themselves.

That works until the shooting starts.

I’d kind of like to get back to the negotiating table with the understanding that peace is not a virtue, it’s survival. Because the alternative is really really ugly.

– Marc MacYoung

Posted by Marc on Facebook.

Hebrew Hogger 2016

/ hsoi

What are you doing July 31, 2016?

Can you get yourself to Nashville, TN?

If so, you should attend the Hebew Hogger 2016!

This is a unique tactical conference in that it has no live-fire events. In the wake of the Orlando terror attack, the importance of skill sets tangential to firearms utilization have been heavily underscored…but how do you get, “those,” skills? This conference will help you learn, earn and hone those important, “soft,” skills that can, and will, save lives. Topics include performance paradigms, criminal psychology, threat identification, edged weapons defense, emergency medical skills, legal issues, and more. AND IT’S ONLY $100!

You can read all about it at Dr. Sherman House’s blog

Look at the presenters:

  • Dr. Sherman House
  • Dr. William Aprill
  • Claude Werner
  • Paul Sharp
  • John Jayne

And it’s only $100

Unfortunately I can’t make the event, but bah gawd what a deal!

Some of the top traininers out there. Talking about some of the most important stuff out there. Yeah I know… gunz and ammo and #pewpewlyfe. All that’s good, but I can tell you that the soft-skills being taught at the Hogger are going to do FAR more towards keeping you safe on a daily basis and throughout your lifetime.

And it’s all going to a good cause.

 

Lessons from the Texas Salsa Fight

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

There’s video going around about a fight that broke out at a Mexican restaurant, apparently over salsa.

This is apparently the original video/posting.

There’s a few important lessons we can learn from this video in terms of keeping yourself safe.

First, bad things can happen around you, suddenly, without warning, and without your direct involvement. Yet, you’ll be affected. It’s important to admit and acknowledge this reality of life.

Second, don’t worry about WHY something is happening. It’s very natural that the first thing to pop into your head is trying to figure out WHY this bad thing is happening. Trouble is, it will consume you, you won’t be able to come up with an answer, so it will continue to consume you. Meantime, the bad thing continues to happen and you continue to be at risk. You can think about WHY later on; right now, you need to do all you can to respond to the situation and make yourself safe. Put this into practice in your daily life. It’s difficult at first, but the way to do it is when things happen, if you find yourself asking “why it this happening?”, recognize you’re asking why, defer asking why until later, and shift gears to deal with the immediate situation.

Third, every time you walk into somewhere, identify all the exits. There were two obvious exits in the restaurant, but both were blocked by people fighting. You know where there’s another exit? Through the kitchen. Yeah fine, the kitchen is “off limits”, but in a case like this? I’m heading for the kitchen and out the back door. People backed away and felt trapped because they couldn’t get to the obvious exits. So be sure to identify all possible exits.

Fourth, this is not a time to get involved. In a case like this? My choice is to leave immediately. Head for the back, head for a non-blocked exit, and get the hell out of there as quickly as possible. Once I’m out and safe, call the police. Even if I got somehow “involved” (e.g. I got hit by a flying chair), I cannot let that draw me into this bad (and stupid) situation — this is not my fight, this is not a good thing, this is not something I want to be involved in, this is not something worth dying over or going to jail over when the cops show up.

Make these decisions ahead of time. Have your plan NOW, so when stupid shit like this erupts suddenly and unexpectedly and you find yourself caught up in it, you can proceed in a manner that maximizes your safety.