Guns

I’m big, but not the biggest

/ hsoi / 5 Comments

I’m a big guy. I’m 6’3″ tall, a little over 200 lbs. I’m strong. I’m fit.

Many times in public I’m wearing some sort of boots, thus I’m even taller. Given my size and stature, I have a strong presence. I am bigger than most people.

But just because I’m bigger doesn’t mean I’m the biggest.

I’ve been around guys bigger than me. They may be shorter, but they’ll have a neck like a tree trunk with biceps and thighs of according size. Or they may be taller, and be built like a tank.

But they don’t always have to be bigger. I recall doing some physical drills with SouthNarc, and while he’s smaller than me (lighter, shorter), the first thought that went through my head was “Holy crap, this dude is strong!”.

There’s a misconception that just because we’re big guys means we’re somehow more capable, or less vulnerable. Take this Robb Allen post:

“I’m not surprised that David would tackle somebody like that. He’s 6’5″ and he knows how to handle himself.”

Size has little to do with being bulletproof, mind you. In fact, it’s one of the reasons why some people carry guns – to protect themselves from the physically superior. Still, I’m very glad he did what he did. He quite likely prevented more shootings.

Yes, there’s something to being a bigger guy; I didn’t ask to be built like I am, but I’m certainly happy I am. But like Robb says, we’re still not bulletproof. Many times when I’m at a concert (and rock and heavy metal shows tend to cater to a particular sort of crowd), I observe and consider the people around me. Yeah maybe that dude is short, but he’s a bull. Or there’s some dude that walks around and blocks out the sun (and it’s all muscle). There’s always someone that’s going to be bigger and badder than you. We all are at risk of being on the short end of things. It never hurts to have an equalizer, because you just can’t foresee what you’ll be up against.

Man found dead at Austin gun range

/ hsoi

News story here.

Basically, a man was found dead in his car at Red’s Gun Range North.

He died of a gunshot. Seems he used the range, went out to his car, and something happened in the car. A cleaning kit was found open. They’re not sure if this was an accident or perhaps a suicide.

Talk is that it’s suicide, with the cleaning kit so it looks like an accident. But the medical examiner’s report is still to come.

If you watch the video in the above news report, they point out that the guy had a CHL and seem to make a big deal out of that fact… almost like they want to demonize CHL-holders. We’re human like anyone else. They also make sure to point out it was a semi-automatic handgun…. and the relevance of that is what?

I don’t know what the deal is here… just seems messed up no matter how you look at it.

Daley’s got a point

/ hsoi

Chicago Mayor Daley actually has a point.

The impression coming out of Tuesday’s SCOTUS McDonald hearing is that the US 2A applies to the states. Of course we won’t know SCOTUS’s decision for months, but that’s the impression. Of course, Chicago is directly impacted by this, and Mayor Daley, while not handling the potential loss all that well, actually makes a sound point:

Still, Mayor Daley isn’t giving an inch. In fact, he’s ridiculing the high court for affirming the Second Amendment right to bear arms while sitting in a protective bubble.

“Why can’t I go to the Supreme Court and sit there with a gun and listen to the arguments? If a gun is so important to us on the street or someone’s home, why can’t I go to the Supreme Court and sit there with a gun? I’m not gonna shoot anyone. But, I have a right to that gun,” Daley said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

“Why can’t I go see my congressman who doesn’t believe in gun laws? Why can’t I carry my gun into congressmen’s offices or go to his home and knock on his door and say, ‘Don’t be worried. I have a gun. You want me to have a gun.’ Why is it they want to be protected by all the federal money … to protect all the federal bureaucrats, but when it comes to us in the city” there’s no protection?

He is quite right. Why can’t law-abiding citizens carry into courtrooms? Why can’t law-abiding citizens carry onto Federal property? Why is there some sort of exclusivity for some and not others?  Granted, Daley doesn’t totally get it because he frames this as if law-abiding folks are suddenly going to turn bloodthirsty. But the general point is sound.

Of course, this is what people are wondering the most about what SCOTUS will say. While it seems a lock that 2A will end up being incorporated, the big question is how and to what extent. That is, could SCOTUS say “yes it applies, but the states are free to decide just how far it applies”. Think about how Heller expressly didn’t address notions of “reasonable restrictions” (whatever that is).

“When a child gets shot or killed, that is a failure of society. Adults should stand up and say, guns don’t solve things in homes or streets. If it was, then everyone here would be carrying a gun in our own corporations.” [said Daley]

Yes yes…. glad to see someone is thinking of the children. And guns don’t solve things? While certainly they aren’t the answer to every problem, they sure do solve some of them. There are decades of data supporting that.

Right now, we just have to wait and see what SCOTUS will say.

Still down

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

I’m better, but still hating it. Still a slight fever, a pretty good headache, some intestinal cramping. Fun, eh?

I have been watching Outdoor Channel’s Wednesday Night at the Range.

Yeah, I gave SWAT Magazine TV another try but my complaint remains the same. It talks about providing instruction and it’s just not there. Tonight’s episode was featuring sniper shooting, but there was really no instruction of that… check that, there was about a minute of instruction at the very end of the show. Otherwise the show was just a lot of “here’s someone shooting”, plugging a product, plugging the magazine, or people talking. Don’t get me wrong, entertainment is fine, but if the show is to be about instruction then instruct.

By contrast, an hour later was Sighting In, the episode about care and feeding of your AR. It started right off with an instructional segment on how to clean the AR. It showed how to field strip, how to clean, how to reassemble. This was actual instruction. Then the Pro Tips had Sgt. Johnson actually telling how to sight in, e.g. shooting 3 inches high at 100 yards to be zeroed at 300 yards.  This was actual instruction.

Compare and contrast.

Mr. Pincus, this is what I said before and I’m saying again. I gave the show another chance, but the content remained the same. For what it is, it’s not horrible. I mean, it’s entertainment, sure. But if there’s actual instruction, please tell me just what segments were true instruction. In that episode, apart from the 1 minute at the end where you are taught how to bring the rifle off sling and into position, what other true instruction was there? The GunVault segment was informative, but was advertising; doesn’t count.

Anyway, the Advil is starting to wear off. Need to go back and lie down. Besides, Invader Zim is on. Never watched it when it was originally broadcast, but man… it’s fun.

And this is why we want to carry in national parks

/ hsoi / 6 Comments

Just read the article.

SEQUOIA NATIONAL FOREST, California — Not far from Yosemite’s waterfalls and in the middle of California’s redwood forests, Mexican drug gangs are quietly commandeering U.S. public land to grow millions of marijuana plants and using smuggled immigrants to cultivate them.

Pot has been grown on public lands for decades, but Mexican traffickers have taken it to a whole new level: using armed guards and trip wires to safeguard sprawling plots that in some cases contain tens of thousands of plants offering a potential yield of more than 30 tons of pot a year.

So you’re out for a backwoods hike. You stumble into a marijuana field… and the growers won’t take kindly to that.

Many of the plots are encircled with crude explosives and are patrolled by guards armed with AK-47s who survey the perimeter from the ground and from perches high in the trees.

Of course, we knew this. But there are those that think parks are safe havens. Folks, they are no more special than anywhere else. Bad people will lurk about. Erecting artificial barriers that only keep law-abiding citizens in a submissive and weakened state (and thus embolden the bad guys)…. please, I’m still waiting for someone to show me the logic in that line of thought.

Werner Carry System

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

One thing that I had seen before but didn’t pay much attention to was the Werner Carry System. Reason being I just wasn’t sure about the Hip Grip. Would it hold securely? I don’t need it falling off my belt and sliding down my pant leg.

However, after this past weekend’s snub classes, I’m going to give it a try. It seems ideal for my needs in many ways. While I didn’t get to fondle a gun with this specific setup, a guy did have a snub with a T-Grip on it and I got to hold that. That made quite a difference in the feel. Plus this guy was very familiar with the setup so I was able to ask him a lot of questions and he was most helpful and detailed in his answers.

You see, the current Pachmayr Compac grips I have are great grips in terms of filling my hand, having a lot of tacky-ness, room for my pinky, and absorbing recoil. They’re not too huge for the gun either, but yes they are a bit on the big side and affect concealability. But with something like the T-Grip, it helps to fill the grip out in my hand. Couple that with the T-Grips (and given my concerns have been alleviated, all except for trying it myself) and I’m ready to give this a try as I think it will solve a lot of things.

I will start off without the Hogue grip and see how that goes. I’ll add that in later on.

T-Grip and Hip Grips are ordered. I’ll write more when the arrive and I can try it all out.

AAR – Snub Training with Claude Werner

/ hsoi / 10 Comments

February 27-28, 2010 weekend, KR Training hosted a guest instructor. Claude Werner, one of the top snub revolver guys in the nation (IDPA Master-level shooter, 5 years as the chief instructor at the Rogers Shooting School, and someone that’s carried a snub for about 30 years), came and taught two classes specifically on the snub revolver.  This is my After Action Report (AAR) on the two days of snub-specific training.

Continue reading →

Good for him

/ hsoi

Colorado State University’s Board of Governors voted for a weapons ban on campus.

In response, Larimer County Sheriff James Alderden said he would undermine the ban in the interest of student safety. Read more here.

“I have told the CSU police chief I will not support this in any way,” Sheriff Alderden told The Gazette. “If anyone with one of my permits gets arrested for concealed carry at CSU, I will refuse to book that person into my jail. Furthermore, I will show up at court and testify on that person’s behalf, and I will do whatever I can to discourage a conviction. I will not be a party to this very poor decision.”

It’s simple. This Sheriff has set aside emotions and looked at the hard facts:

Alderden said ban advocates have been unable to cite a single study or statistic to show that students will be safer as a result of a weapons ban. He’s convinced they will be much less safe as a result of the ban, which will leave most students defenseless. The ban establishes the campuses as “soft targets,” meaning armed criminals will have a reasonable expectation their intended victims aren’t armed.

“There are volumes of statistical and anecdotal data that show populations are safer when law-abiding citizens are permitted to carry concealed weapons,” Alderden said.

Six years after Alderden began issuing permits, he noticed the homicide rate in his jurisdiction had dropped.

Amazing that. But like I said, the ban is about emotion. Don’t believe me?

“I made the whole case, based in provable facts. The teacher said, and I quote, ‘I don’t care about the facts.’ She only cared about her emotional response,” Alderden said.

Amazing. Isn’t it interesting how in so many other areas of life people want facts, people want proof, people want evidence, but here they don’t want facts. How… odd.