Guns

Um… they didn’t work, but I know something that does.

/ hsoi

A man goes to the Family Research Council’s offices in Washington DC and starts shooting.

DC Mayor Vincent Gray doesn’t get it.

…a Herndon man who purchased a firearm on Aug. 9 and brought it “into our city,” Mr. Gray said Thursday on NewsChannel 8.

“He would not have been able to do that in the District of Columbia,” Mr. Gray said,

Not have been able to do what in “your” city? Because it looks like he certainly did. Now I grant, after reading Emily Miller’s trials in obtaining a handgun in Washington DC it’s a tough thing to do, but not impossible. Regardless, this man didn’t seem to care about any laws.

We already have laws on the books that prohibit murder.

We already have laws on the books prohibiting assault.

We already have lots of laws in the books that make it difficult for people to obtain guns and other weapons. Heck, we have laws that can make it difficult to obtain just about anything and everything. I mean, drugs like meth, cocaine, heroin… they’re all banned, but that hasn’t seemed to stop much.

“We don’t need to make guns more available to people,” Mr. Gray said. “There are irresponsible people, there are people who have mental health problems, and the easier access they have to guns the more likely we are to predispose innocent victims, like yesterday, to the use of the guns.”

Actually we do need to make guns, training, and a better mindset available to more people. Why? Because the reason this particular situation didn’t get bad was because someone was willing to fight back. Granted, the extreme cases of someone really hell-bent on causing harm are going to do what they’re going to do. But the vast majority of criminals – petty or large-scale – only do what they do due to lack of opposition. Consider many that do the mass shooting spree stuff… once the cops show up, they commit suicide. They don’t want opposition, they want easy targets. Most criminals wanting to mug someone will hit up the person with their nose stuck in their iPhone as they walk down the street, not the guy with his head up walking like the baddest lion on the plains. Why do most burglaries happen on weekdays between 10AM and 3PM? Because most folks aren’t home thus the burglar won’t face opposition. Why does the rapist attack the woman walking alone a night and not the group of women walking around together? They just want a quick score, not a righteous fight. Consider where many crimes happen — in gun free zones, in places where it’s promoted to curl up and die. It’s rare to see crimes in MMA gyms, police stations, NRA conventions. Why might that be the case?

I don’t disagree with Mayor Gray, that irresponsible people, people with major problems, should be better managed and helped with their problems. But we must remember, someone bent on destruction will do whatever — law will not and do not stop them. I recently read a story where a mass killing occurred via arson, with the arsonist using 2 gallon milk jugs filled with gasoline, and matches. Are we going to ban the corner grocery store? Are we going to require background checks and waiting periods and monthly rationing to fill up our SUV’s? I mean, if grandma’s got a cold, we’ve got laws to make it difficult for her to get a decongestant. We can’t travel in this country any more without being considered a possible terrorist. Why are we looking at addressing symptoms instead of addressing root causes? I grant because it’s easier to make yourself feel like you’re doing something if you can pass a law and ban some talisman of evil… but it doesn’t solve the problem, and typically only makes matters worse.

Mayor Gray, you have lots of laws. Washington DC still makes it immensely difficult for law-abiding people to live their lives. Your laws didn’t stop this from happening. No, what stopped this was a person willing to fight back and stop the madness before it became a tragedy.

If you want to do something to help, Mr. Gray, why don’t you enable good people to fight?

2012-08-16 Dry Fire Practice

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Following the TLG 4-week sample dry fire routine.

Week 1, Day 4

Basic routine

  1. 20 reps of Wall Drill, from extension 2H
  2. 5 reps of Wall Drill from extension, SHO
  3. 5 reps of Wall Drill from extension, WHO
  4. 20 reps of Wall Drill from press-out, 2H
  5. 5 reps of Wall Drill from press-out, SHO
  6. 5 reps of Wall Drill from press-out, WHO

More fundamentals. Like I said, probably my favorite routine…. cause I can’t get enough work on it.

2012-08-15 dry fire practice

/ hsoi

Following TLG’s sample dry fire routine.

Week 1, Day 3, reloads

  1. 10 reps of wall drill from press-out 2H
  2. 20 reps reload from slidelock, slow, 2H
  3. 20 reps reload from slidelock, 3/4 speed, 2H
  4. 10 reps reload from slidelock, slow, 2H
  5. 10 reps of wall drill form press-out, 2H

Started late on this, but at least I got it done today. If the goal is to work every day, I have to work every day. It’s weird how some things in life I can get so dedicated on and other things I don’t. Hrm. Something for me to cogitate on.

I really need to find a mag solution. Using regular mags is ok, but you can’t really get the motion of reloads down if things keep hanging up on the slide stop. I do what I can.

One nice thing about today? 70 reps of the press-out. Make ’em count.

2012-07-24 dry fire practice

/ hsoi

Following TLG’s sample dry fire routine.

Week 1, Day 2, draws.

  1. 10 reps of wall drill from press-out 2H
  2. 20 reps of wall drill from holster 2H
  3. 5 reps of wall drill from holster, SHO
  4. 5 reps of wall drill from holster, WHO
  5. 10 reps draw & fire at 3/4 speed, 2H
  6. 10 reps draw & fire slow 2H

Had more front sight dips than I cared for. Tightened up my grip and it went away. That’s a big thing for me to work on right now: keeping a tight grip during dry fire. Or rather, keeping a tight grip always.

2012-08-13 dry fire practice

/ hsoi

Following TLG’s sample dry fire routine.

Week 1, Day 1, basic routine

  1. 20 reps of wall drill from extension 2H
  2. 5 reps of wall drill from extension SHO
  3. 5 reps of wall drill from extension WHO
  4. 20 reps of wall drill from press-out 2H
  5. 5 reps of wall drill from press-out SHO
  6. 5 reps of wall drill from press-out WHO

Start of “cycle 2” of this routine.

Probably my favorite day/routine because it’s the fundamentals.

Let’s be consistent

/ hsoi

From Unc I read how a man was fired from his job for “liking” a Facebook post.

Daniel Ray Carter Jr. logged on to Facebook and did what millions do each day: He “liked” a page by clicking the site’s thumbs up icon. The problem was that the page was for a candidate who was challenging his boss, the sheriff of Hampton, Va.

That simple mouse click, Carter says, caused the sheriff to fire him from his job as a deputy and put him at the center of an emerging First Amendment debate over the ubiquitous digital seal of approval: Is liking something on Facebook protected free speech?

I think most people would agree that yes it is free speech, it should be protected. You are expressing your opinion. To “click Like” is merely a shortcut/shorthand for saying “I like this” or “I agree with this” or some other statement of agreement and affirmation. It’s just a more efficient (lazy?) way to do it. Are we saying that if someone typed a comment under the posting “I like this” that that wouldn’t be protected? or if I wrote it on a piece of paper, or spoke it aloud in a public venue for others to hear? So why wouldn’t clicking “like” be offered the same protection under 1A?

But apparently not:

The interest was sparked by a lower court’s ruling that “liking” a page does not warrant protection because it does not involve “actual statements.” If the ruling is upheld, the ACLU and others worry, a host of Web-based, mouse-click actions, such as re-tweeting (hitting a button to post someone else’s tweet on your Twitter account), won’t be protected as free speech.

Methinks someone in the lower court doesn’t quite understand technology advancements.

“We think it’s important as new technologies emerge . . . that the First Amendment is interpreted to protect those new ways of communicating,” said Rebecca K. Glenberg, legal director of the ACLU of Virginia. “Pressing a ‘like’ button is analogous to other forms of speech, such as putting a button on your shirt with a candidate’s name on it.”

So isn’t that interesting? Our Founding Fathers never could have imagined this thing called the Internet. They could never have imagined Facebook or Twitter or iPhone’s. They could never have imagined the act of pressing with your finger could act as a proxy for expressing your liking something. But just like they understood technology advancements like clay tablets, papyrus paper, quill pens, moveable type, printing presses, pony express, and so on… they probably understood that technology would continue to advance. I’m sure they wanted speech to be protected regardless of the technology used to convey it. Certainly that’s what it seems the WaPo, the ACLU, and others put forth. I know many people will be outraged if these advances in technology would not be upheld as protected under that 200-year old document written by men that (some day) had no clue.

So why isn’t this same standard held to the Second Amendment?

Mind your mind (or, what I got from the BP2 class at KR Training, 11 Aug 2012)

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

 

Saturday August 11, 2012 was another fine day at KR Training. This time it was Basic Pistol 2. Class was sold out at 16 students, and we had a great mix: about 1/3 women, various ages, various ethnicities, various backgrounds. Yeah… keep trying to stereotype gun owners, keep showing your ignorance by doing so.

Class went well, and went just about as most BP2 classes do. Students learning fundamentals of sights and trigger control, and basic manipulations and shooting skills towards helping them pass the Texas Concealed Handgun License test. And the usual stuff crops up, of slapping/yanking the trigger, breaking old habits, not getting going fast enough, learning that DA/SA style guns are harder to shoot, and so on.

I want to expand on that last point for a moment. Hardware. It matters and can affect your skill, both positively and negatively. Many people come with DA/SA style guns and come to realize that first long heavy double-action trigger press is just difficult to manage, but you can’t avoid it and have to learn it. And then you also have to learn to change gears and shoot single-action. You have two things to learn, it’s harder, it’s more time being spent on things you don’t necessarily need to — have one trigger press and learn that sole thing and save some time so you can spend your finite time focusing on other areas that need work. Oh sure, you can be awesome with a DA/SA gun, look at Ben Stoeger, but are you willing to put in that much work to get there? If so, awesome. If you’re like me and have only so much time in a day, maybe you should look at something that permits more efficient use of your time.

As well, we had some folks come with guns that just weren’t right for them. A young lady came with a Glock 27, which is a fine handgun but is not something suitable for a beginner. It’s small, it’s harder to shoot, it’s going to be very snappy (.40 S&W, small gun). We loaned her a Glock 22 to use and things went much better for her. I think she’s now in the market for a Glock 19. Another lady in class had a M&P9c, but it was proving difficult for her to work with. I loaned her my full-sized M&P9 to shoot, and instantly she did better. Small guns are fine, and it’s understandable for people to buy them because we’re trying to be frugal and spend our money wisely, we’re thinking about concealed carry, and so we think “buy a small gun”. It’s what I did. I learned, and these folks learned, that it’s better — as a beginner — to get a bigger gun and learn your fundamentals with that larger gun. Once you have those down, then you can work on learning with the smaller gun because now you just are learning the gun, not learning the gun AND learning to shoot.

Hardware matters. It can make you shoot worse, or it can help you shoot better.

But the biggest thing that came from class was attitude.

We all want to do well. We don’t like it when we mess up. I saw many students get upset with themselves, shaking their head, muttering, and otherwise chastising themselves for messing up.

Please don’t do that.

You are learning. That’s why you came to class, right? You admitted you didn’t know something and you wanted to gain knowledge. So why get mad about not getting it? What happens then is you have a mental conversation like “Damnit! Messed up again!” and then it’s time to shoot again, and the only thought in your head is about messing up. So what do you think that’s going to lead your mind and body to do? Succeed? Unlikely.

Instead, learn to let it go.

Acknowledge you didn’t do something right. Yes it might get you a little steamed or frustrated, but let it go. Let the frustration pass through you and out. If you dwell on it, that means you are making yourself stay in a state of frustration, and that will not help you. So let it go.

Then, tell yourself what you need to do. Be mindful of phrasing here. If you are having problems yanking the trigger, don’t tell yourself “don’t yank the trigger”. Instead, tell yourself “press the trigger smoothly”. You need to know what TO do, because if you only say what NOT to do, it still doesn’t tell you want TO do, and what TO do is what matters.

So while hardware matters, really what matters more is you and what you do. Your mindset matters much more than anything. As you are learning, as you are practicing, don’t be hard on yourself. Be honest with yourself, and work to know what TO do; direct yourself in that way.

Apart from that (and being wicked hot out), a great day. Much thanx to Ed for driving. And great to run into Rog and Dock at lunch. Makes for a good day.

A month of dry fire – a review

/ hsoi

For the past 4 weeks I’ve been following TLG’s dry practice routine.

I’m ashamed to admit it’s the most religious I’ve been about dry practice.

First, the frequency. This program has me practicing 5 times a week. In the past, at most I’d work 2-3 times a week, if that often.

Second, the duration. In the past when I did practice, my sessions tended to be longer. These sessions don’t take more than 10 minutes, if that.

Third, the solid program. In the past when I did dry fire, there was no formal program — I worked on whatever I felt I needed to work on at the time. If I didn’t have something solid to do, I had a few simple routines, like one from Tom Givens, that I would run through. But often that would cause me to gravitate towards specific things, and certainly other skills would be neglected or not get enough of the focus they deserved. On this program, just about everything gets covered and in a reasonable proportion.

TLG makes it clear this is an example program, but I think it’s a good one and certainly would recommend it as a starting point for others. I like that it focuses most essential skills like trigger press and sights, and on the press out. I like that it works a full set of skills so even “less important” skills like flashlight work isn’t forgotten, but it’s also not emphasized. I like there’s some flexibility to work on other things, like I used those sessions to work on the basics with my snub. My take is one should try the routine as-written, then see from there how it could change. I wouldn’t change anything too radically, but you might see that wow, my WHO really is bad and perhaps add a little more WHO time.

I think what opened my eyes to this approach was all my weightlifting. Since my teenage years, any time I picked up iron it was always some willy-nilly routine probably based upon whatever I read in that month’s Flex or Muscle & Fitness. It never took, and while I saw some progress, I see now that progress was merely because ANYONE will see progress in that initial beginner phase because the body easily adapts. But once you get through that phase, you need some greater smarts about how to progress — if only I had Rippetoe and Wendler, Starr and Tate, WFAC and EliteFTS back then. Following a solid program has made all the difference in the world. And the right thing to do is find a solid program created by someone else — not just anyone else, but someone who has a clue. They will probably create a program that’s right and correct. You follow it, you get your results. You stay in the game long enough, you’ll be able to formulate your own that best suits you. It’s the sort of progress I hear about all the time for lifters, and the concepts really are the same in any field so it applies just the same here to shooting.

I can see solid improvement in my skill. I still have a long ways to go, but improvement is there and I’m happy. I attribute it to a solid working of fundamentals AND that it’s done often. Again back to lifting… to see strength gains you have to lift, recover, and then during the period when your body “supercompensates” you lift again… so it’s always this level, dip down, peak up, and then continue progressing from that peak. That’s how you progress. If you lifted say only once a week, you will have come down off that peak when you start again and so at best you’ll maintain. If you lifted once a month, you’d never see any progress. And so it is here, dry practicing every day leading towards gain, instead of a couple times a week and merely maintaining. I would say that if a couple of times a week is all you can do, that’s alright — it’s a minimum to maintain your skills. If you want to improve, you gotta do more. I want to improve, I gotta do more.

The road ahead is long, but the journey is good.

I’m going to stick with TLG’s routine as is for now. I don’t see much reason to change. The “shooter’s choice” Fridays might change up a bit as I get to them (e.g. drawing from an off-body carry mode that is used on occasion; perhaps transitions from primary to BUG), but for now that’s all I can see changing.

2012-08-10 dry fire practice

/ hsoi

Following TLG’s sample dry fire routine.

Week 4, Day 5, shooter choice.

Same as week 3 day 5, I’m going to work on basic routine using my snub.

  1. 20 reps of wall drill from extension 2H
  2. 5 reps of wall drill from extension SHO
  3. 5 reps of wall drill from extension WHO
  4. 20 reps of wall drill from press-out 2H
  5. 5 reps of wall drill from press-out SHO
  6. 5 reps of wall drill from press-out WHO

 

2012-08-09 dry fire practice

/ hsoi

Following TLG’s sample dry fire routine.

Week 4, Day 4, basic routine

  1. 20 reps of wall drill from extension 2H
  2. 5 reps of wall drill from extension SHO
  3. 5 reps of wall drill from extension WHO
  4. 20 reps of wall drill from press-out 2H
  5. 5 reps of wall drill from press-out SHO
  6. 5 reps of wall drill from press-out WHO

I can see improvement in my repeatable index and trigger control. Speed getting better, grip staying consistent and strong. It’s all coming along nicely.

Yes, if you want to maintain skill you need to practice. If you want to improve skill you need to practice a lot more.