Guns

How do you respond to being asked?

/ hsoi / 11 Comments

Many people that carry concealed appreciate the concealed aspect of it. Out of sight, out of mind, no one’s business but my own.

But sooner or later you’re going to encounter someone that will ask you if you are carrying, now.

How to respond?

This thread on the Armed Citizens’ Legal Defense Network Facebook page had some good discussion on the topic.

M.H.’s response was along the lines of saying “That’s not a polite question to ask someone.”  This is the approach I’ve most often heard, but I don’t like it as a blanket response. First, I’m not sure Ms. Manners ever broached the topic of carry, so I can’t really blame someone for not knowing if it was polite or not. In fact, if someone did know it was not polite, chances are they wouldn’t have asked. So in the end, all you’ve done is rebuke the asker and made them feel stupid. Is that really what you want? Likely not, so why use this answer?

Some people give non-committal answers, like “I’ll never tell” (L.W.) or M.P’s “No, but if I did I wouldn’t tell you either” or “When appropriate” (which we should know means “always”).

Others view it as a political statement or a teachable moment, a time to be proud and let people know because carry is nothing to be ashamed of (R.G). I did like R.G.’s deflective but inviting response: “Hey, that’s a great question! How about we grab a latte someplace on me and chat?”. View it as an opportunity to educate someone.

I’ve never had a firm, blanket response to this question, because I’ve never felt there was such a solitary answer. To me, it all depends upon context. Who is asking? Why are they asking? When and where are they asking? Does it matter if they know? These things all come together to help you form the correct answer. And yes due to that, sometimes “that’s not a polite question to ask” may be the appropriate response!

But that said, it’s like all situations in that being prepared for it, thinking ahead, coming up with some default responses, are good things to have filed away. I like R.G.’s comment as a blanket response because it doesn’t expose anything immediately, and opens up the lines of communication for later when you could have better control over the situation (e.g. maybe you’re talking in a place where such an overheard conversation would be inappropriate, so now you can move somewhere more appropriate). Also remember, you don’t have to directly answer – or answer at all – the question asked. Someone might get insistent “yeah, but are you carrying NOW!??” and you can just keep repeating the latte line. You don’t always have to give them the answer they want, give them the answer you want – you be in control.

Give thought to this question and your responses. They will affect how others perceive you and concealed carry as a whole. Leave them with a positive impression (or at least, not a negative one).

Put your money where your mouth is

/ hsoi / 6 Comments

From HuffPo author Amitai Etzioni:

We should not wait for our elected officials, in President Obama’s good words, “to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.” We should do our share. One way to proceed is to mark our homes, apartments and condos, with a “gun free” sign. Parents should notify their friends that they would be reluctant to send their child over for a play date unless the home was safe from guns. Residential communities should pass rules that ban bringing guns onto their premises, clearly marking them as gun free.

Anyone who puts up such signs will become an ambassador for gun control, because they are sure to be challenged by gun advocates to explain their anti-gun positions.

You know what? That would be an interesting effort for sure. I truly appreciate Mr. Etzioni’s proposal for these “gun control ambassadors” because he’s suggesting people take immediate action themselves, instead of waiting for politicians to bicker and waffle and solve nothing.

He’s calling for people to put their money where their mouth is. To proudly proclaim their stance on this issue. Put signs in your yard. Wear a t-shirt proclaiming your stance. Put a bumper sticker on your car. If it’s what you believe, let everyone know.

So for you that support gun control, what say you? Are you willing to do as Mr. Etzioni proposes?

 

KR Training December 2012 Newsletter

/ hsoi

The KR Training December 2012 newsletter is now posted.

A little different from other newsletters, given the current state of affairs. But this is the sort of thing you won’t see reported in the mainstream media.

First, please educate yourself

/ hsoi / 6 Comments

You know what’s frustrating?

When someone demands their ignorance is right, and refuses to first educate themselves on the topic. They believe plunging headlong with their ignorance is the way to achieve meaningful results.

Look at the topic of global warming. Any time some “tea bagger” brings up how it isn’t happening, there are those that point out the ignorance and wonder how any sort of “meaningful discussion” can be had when the other side is so full of morons.

Well, that’s how a lot of people feel when you want to talk about “gun control” and you have a demonstrable ignorance about “AK-16 automatic assault machine guns with their high capacity clips and shoulder things that go up”.

If you want to pursue the route of gun control, that’s fine, but you’d do well to first educate yourself about guns. Speaking from a position of ignorance shouldn’t be seen as a righteous position.

 

Pulling back so I can move forward

/ hsoi

I had written this long post that basically wound up being me sorting out my thoughts.

I opted not to post it since it was just endless rambling. But because of what I sorted out, I figure I might as well post about it because 1. it’s less rambly, 2. it actually might be directly relevant to some of you.

I’m not going to be teaching as much in 2013.

I still love teaching. I’ve met so many great people, helped so many people overcome fears and take those initial steps towards greater personal responsibility and safety. I also learn a tremendous amount (how does the saying go? when one teaches, two learn.) I will still be helping out at KR Training as much as I can, but with finite time and resources, especially on weekends, pulling back on my assisting there is what had to be sacrificed.

So what will I be doing to move forward?

I’m making the commitment to participate in competition.

I’ve been treading water. My skills have stagnated, and I’m just fooling myself in trying to find ways to get better without doing the core thing: shooting. If you want to get better at X you must do X. Dry fire only takes you so far. Even using that Airsoft is helpful, but only takes you so far. My friend Tim, who is a master-ranked IDPA shooter, has been very helpful, supportive, and encouraging in this area… listening to me, helping me sort through it all. If I want to progress, I need to get out and shoot more.

I’ve tried to do competition in the past, and I even made it a goal that in 2012 I’d shoot at least one competition match. But I didn’t. It comes down to lack of time, and that I didn’t make time for competition. Simply put, I can only allocate so much time and effort in my life to “gun stuff”, and I preferred to spend it at KR Training helping with classes. Looking back, that was the right decision on a number of levels. Going forward, now is a time I can do this.

Why IDPA? Looking at the types of matches available in my area well… 3-Gun, Carbine, and other long-gun types of matches are out because those aren’t really my thing nor my emphasis (tho maybe later). So that pretty much leaves ISPC/USPSA, IDPA, or Steel Challenge. Some time ago I steered away from IDPA because I didn’t want to get bothered by the folks that shoot it like it’s tactical training and deny that it’s just a game, that it can be gamed, and it can be an equipment race just like any other game. I just didn’t want to be around the element. But I look at what I need to focus on in my own skills, and what I need right now is actually to slow down and get more accurate. I need to focus more on accuracy, and when it gets down it it, IDPA is a game of accuracy first and speed second. Steel? That’s all about speed. Given my needs right now, IDPA actually seems most fitting.

I don’t consider this “training”. It’s a game. But I know it will help me perform better because it’s new situations, pressure, and a break from the stagnation. And if I’m just better at the core task, that will carry over regardless of context. I’ll admit I’m unsure about the level to which I’ll take it. Will I totally game it out? Or will I stick with habits? For example, dropping the slide by grabbing the slide over the top (horseshoe grip), pulling back, and releasing is probably the better general approach to working the slide. But there’s no question it takes time to do and isn’t as fast as hitting the slide lock button. I’m sure I’ll fall back to established habits at first, the question being if I’ll replace those habits with the gaming element. Just have to see how it goes.

I think what’s also helped is all my lifting. Staying dedicated there has really made a difference to me. Writing about it is part of that dedication. And so, it’s part of why I am writing about this change here — an intent to follow through and commit.

This isn’t some “new years resolution”. It just happens to fall around that time because schedules are being determined. But it is a change, and I do need strong resolve to go forward. Thanx for riding along with me.

 

Is this what you want to reap?

/ hsoi

I know everyone’s in an emotional state right now… and gun control is hot on the lips of so many people.

This woman would have been raped or murdered, if she didn’t have a gun.

Is that what you want?

“Of course not!” you reply.

But that’s precisely what you’ll get if you get your way.

A gun is neither good nor bad; it’s what someone does with it that’s good or bad. It’s the person and their actions.

Instructor – follow up

/ hsoi

My prior article on instructors was primarily aimed at those that wished to be instructors and the path to get there. However, in examining the path one might follow on the road to becoming an instructor, it sheds a lot of light for those that wish to be students — how can you pick a good instructor.

While the context might be different — weightlifting/physical training — the principles remain the same. Dave Tate lists 4 ways to tell if your coach has a clue:

  1. Who did they learn from?
  2. Who did they train with and/or under?
  3. What have they done?
  4. Who have they trained and have made better than themselves?

Doesn’t matter the context or the specific type of instructor. These pretty much hold for any instructor be it martial arts, lifting, cooking, painting, whatever.

 

Becoming a Firearms Instructor

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

I never set out to become a firearms instructor.

Heck, years ago I didn’t set out to ever own a gun either… but about 5 years ago that all changed. Well, it changed a lot earlier than that, but it was about 5 years ago that I bought my first firearm. If you go through life open to the possibilities, open to what flows, truly seeking Truth and not just confirming your own biases then well… it’s interesting where you wind up.

So as I took classes at KR Training, one day Tom Hogel takes me aside and suggests I get my NRA Instructor Certifications. I had no desire to teach, I was totally taken aback that he just came out of the blue to move me in that way, but he and Karl both encouraged me and well… here I am.

I am far from a master, but I have been travelling this Instructor road for about four years now. Kathy Jackson recently posted to her blog an article about “How to Become a Firearms Instructor“. It’s a good article, that contains valuable information for both instructors (current and prospective) and for students.

In fact, I think Kathy’s article speaks more towards students than instructors. Read on.

Kathy talks about how there are two roads: certification, apprenticeship. I’ve done both, and I can say that both are valuable. While having certifications are nice and they open doors and grant some level of immediately recognizable credentials, history, and understanding, I just don’t think they’re as valuable as apprenticeship. If you want to learn X you have to do X. So if you want to teach, you need to teach. But you can’t just go out there and teach — you need to learn how to teach, you need to be taught how to teach. And it’s not just how to be a teacher, but learning how to be a teacher in that particular topic area. I can attest to many things I’ve learned by being on the range, by being under Karl, watching Karl, seeing how HE does things (because Karl’s one of those few people that can both do the thing at a high level, and teach the thing at a high level — I’m fortunate). There’s just no substitute for experience, and doing it under the watchful eye of a mentor.

Still, certifications have a place. What I think is more important is to keep your binder of certificates growing. Kathy encourages this too: continuing education. I also am fortunate to have a mentor that acknowledges he doesn’t have all the answers and is willing to continually improve. Karl continues to attend classes himself and seek out training from other instructors. He encourages us to get better and grow. Granted, I haven’t done much to travel to other instructors, due in part to time and money, but as well, Karl brings some of the best instructors here: Tom Givens, Claude Werner, Caleb Causey, SouthNarc, amongst others (Ben Stoeger’s coming in 2013)… so if they’re coming here, great! I’ll finally be taking Rangemaster’s Instructor Certification course in 2013.

But what you must remember is, like Kathy points out, certifications usually just take a weekend to get.

I know what it takes to get NRA Instructor Basic Pistol certification — folks, it’s not much. I could probably take any KR Training Basic Pistol 2 graduate and get them their certification (ok, perhaps stretching it… but not by much). This isn’t to be a slight on the certification because it’s quite valuable and useful, but just realize that because someone has a piece of paper doesn’t mean they know what’s what. Just because someone is certified by Texas DPS to be a CHL Instructor doesn’t mean they actually know anything about shooting (and hitting the target).

It’s important for (prospective) students to look at the whole of the Instructor:

  • Who are they?
  • Do they put their name on their website? A picture isn’t needed, but is useful.
  • What credentials do they have?
    • Being ex- law enforcement or ex- military doesn’t mean they know how to shoot, or how to work things in a civilian context
  • Who have they trained with?
  • Are they still training? When was the last time they took a training course, and with whom?
  • Do they do other shooting activities, like IPSC/USPSA, IDPA, 3-Gun, or other competition? Hunt?
  • What’s their approach and attitude? If you Google search them, what are others saying about them? How does the instructor present themselves online?

And yes… shop around. There’s lots of people wanting to join the bandwagon. Just here in the Austin area there are more and more people setting up shop as firearms instructors, so look around and compare who and what’s available.

Kathy’s article contains a lot of wisdom for people wishing to be firearms instructors. I’d also say that it’s good guidance for (prospective) students about the sort of instructors you should seek.

 

Reaction times

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

If you have to defend yourself, typically that means you are reacting.

That means you are behind the curve.

You have to perceive what’s going on, process what’s going on, figure out what to do, and then do it. That takes time. At best it may take only a second or two, but that’s still time. Every second can be critical.

I saw this posting at Fark about an F1 driver and his reflexes.

Here’s the video:

Watch how quickly things unfold, how quickly he reacts, and how quickly everything could have gone south. Of course, this is why he’s Dino Zamparelli and one of the top F1 drivers — and you’re not.

In the Fark discussion thread, Farker sat1va wrote:

That was pretty damn great. I left collision reconstruction about 4 years ago but the latest on perception-response when I last applied it was anywhere from 1.0 to 2.5 seconds depending upon the circumstances. Perception-response is the time it takes to identify a hazard, decide upon a reaction, and execute the reaction with your body. The circumstances make all the difference for this time and removing any element such as knowing you just need to brake or push a button will lower that time. For example if you’re driving in heavy city traffic (lots of visual noise) through a green light intersection and a vehicle enters from your left (unexpected hazard approaching from a high eccentricity) you’ll tend to have closer to the 2.5 second perception reaction time before you begin to steer or brake. On the flip side if you’re bombing down a sparsely populated rural tertiary highway (low visual noise) and an oncoming vehicle crosses the centre-line (low eccentricity) you’ll probably be closer to 1.0-1.5 secs. Clearly this driver was on his toes driving down the wet low visibility track, and we don’t know if he was fed any information on a yellow flag up ahead, but either way his reaction time was either spectacular or had a dash of fluke in it.

So consider that: 1.0 to 2.5 seconds to react. Look at all that unfolded within a second or two in that video. Look at how much can happen in such a short period of time. Consider in this racing context it’s a pretty controlled context and there’s a small set of possible situations and responses to have to deal with, so you can trim down your reaction time.

Now back out to a violent attack. How many variables could we have to deal with? How much will our brain have to flip through a mental rolodex to find what to do? And will it find anything?  Considering the greater number of possible situations and then possible reactions (because “shooting him” isn’t going to be and can’t be the only answer), consider then how this affects your reaction time. Chances are, your reaction is going to be slow. Yes every situation is different, and yes people are different. But let’s just back up and look at the general concepts and its a fairly good risk of being slow.

This is where force-on-force training can be useful, because your brain can find a problem and solution to an already experienced event, instead of now having to invent one on the fly. You get put into real and typical scenarios, you then reacted. Maybe you did it wrong or did it right, but either way after the scenario is done, there’s a briefing to discuss, and you will ingrain the lessons. The more FoF you do, the more you’ll learn. The more you’ll come up with game plans, and then you can just act instead of having to wing it.

It’s also why formal training with reputable schools is important. These are people that have studied what it takes to stay alive in a deadly force confrontation. They have worked for formalize methods of teaching so they can imbue reactions in their students that are appropriate. For example, when we get into classes like Defensive Pistol Skills 1, we don’t just tell you to “draw” or “shoot” or “fire”. We yell “GUN!!!!!” as your indicator for when you should be drawing your gun and shooting. Why? It’s attempting to replicate what your brain is going to be saying. Some dude pulls a gun on you and you’re not going to ask him out for tea! No, your brain is going to be going “HOLY SHIT! HE’S GOT A GUN!!! GUN!! GUN!!!”, so it’s about ingraining that reaction to that stimulus.  And then, your reaction times can decrease because you don’t lock up wondering what to do next, you can get to action.

I don’t know how much credence to put into sat1va’s numbers, but the principle remains. Shit happens, we’re behind the curve, and it takes time for us to perceive, process, devise a plan, and execute the plan (OODA loop). Anything you can do to tighten up your OODA loop works in your favor.