Education

Choosing a gun, another take?

/ hsoi / 19 Comments

Earlier this morning I wrote a piece on choosing a gun. Then I see via SayUncle a link to a piece on advice for a first time gun buyer. Uncle is right that it’s nice to see a positive piece in the mainstream media, but I have to take odds with the advice given. In light of my earlier posting, I feel a desire to comment on the article.

“[For the first time buyer] we usually suggest a shotgun or a revolver because of the simplicity.”

While I appreciate simplicity, what’s so simple about these? Granted their internals might be different and simpler than others in their class, but should we be looking at internals or operational simplicity? When it comes to a shotgun, what do they tend to suggest? A pump action shotgun. Operationally speaking, that’s not simple. You have to know how to pump the shotgun, you have to have the mental wherewithal to pump and not short-shuck it, then deal with the malfunctions that might ensue. Folks, a simple “point and click interface” goes a lot further, and frankly a semi-auto shotgun is going to be simpler to operate than a pump action, especially for people that don’t want to practice much. But then you do get the complexity of having to ensure you have a shotgun load that can operate the semi-auto’s mechanism, dealing with cleaning and maintenance, and so on. There’s always a trade-off. 

Then we look at a revolver, and while a revolver is a bit mechanically simpler than some semi-autos, operationally they’re just about the same as modern semi-autos. With a revolver (assuming a double-action revolver), you pull the trigger, gun fires, chamber advances and the gun is ready to fire again with the next trigger pull. Take a modern semi-auto like a Glock, Springfield XD, or Smith & Wesson M&P. You pull the trigger, gun fires, “chamber advances” (empty case extracted, magazine pushes next round up and slide goes forward to chamber the round), and the gun is ready to fire again with the next trigger pull. In the end, the operational simplicity is the same. Now, when it comes to malfunctions, yes a revolver is better because you can just pull the trigger again, no tap-rack-bang. But I’d rather take a little time to learn about and practice malfunction drills and have 19+1 rounds at my fingertips than only 5 or 6 in a revolver. Then we can talk about dealing with caliber, capacity, practice, speed of follow-up shots, and so on with revolvers vs. semi-autos, and while there’s many facets to this equation and always trade-offs, I still think most people will be better off starting out with a semi-auto.

Hill says the first home defense gun he recommends to his customers is a shotgun. “If somebody enters your house,” he says, “and they hear the sound of the shotgun being pumped, if they’re smart…they’ll leave.” … “An intruder knows that sound,” she says, “and it’s intimidating.”

I know some people live by the mantra that the sound of racking a shotgun is the be-all-end-all solution to home defense. I am not sold on it. Granted it’s an intimidating sound, but it assumes the invader will hear it and then be scared off by it. Basically, you’re bluffing and you better hope they don’t call your bluff. If it comes to a point where you must use a gun, then you must be prepared to use it… not to be making “scary noises”. It also means that when you make that sound, you’ve given away your position. It also means that the gun is not ready to go. If time is critical and you raise the shotgun to your shoulder and you press the trigger and it goes click instead of bang, or that you now MUST rack it to ensure you’re ready to go (again giving away your position, giving up precious time), is that tactically sound when your life is on the line? Furthermore, given the meager capacity of a shotgun, being down by one load can be a disadvantage. It also implies you’re using a pump action shotgun, which as I’ve said before doesn’t equate to the simpliest firearm to operate.

Bauer also touts a shotgun’s stopping power and says it’s good for beginners because it requires less aim than a hangun.   She recommends loading it with a No. 4 buckshot.

So something that kicks like a mule is good for a beginner? If you don’t practice with it, that recoil is going to be an unwelcome surprise. If you do practice with it, that recoil is going to wear on you and how willing will you be to continue to practice when your shoulder says “no more”?  Less aim? Hardly. Check out Box O’ Truth #3’s list of Lessons Learned #2. In fact, take a read over my take on a home defense tool, which talks about shotguns as a home-defense weapon.

“Birdshot,” says Gregory, “won’t go through the walls of your house which means  family members in other rooms, like your children, won’t get injured.”

If it won’t go through walls of your house, it won’t go through the bad guy either. Again, see The Box O’ Truth. That isn’t to say that birdshot doesn’t have a place, but it’s not my first choice (then, neither is a shotgun).

Gun store owner Hill says you should take your time choosing your first gun.  And if more than one person will be using it, both people should come to the shop to get a feel for the gun’s size and weight.

“The wife should always come with her husband,” he says.  “A gun is a lot like buying a mattress. It’s what feels good to the hand.”

I will agree that you should take your time choosing your first gun. I emphasized this in my previous article. I’ll also agree that if more than one person will be using it, you should tailor things for both people. For instance, I’m certainly right-handed, but my wife is fairly ambidextrous and tends to shoot lefty. As a result, choosing firearms that have ambidextrous features (e.g. magazine releases) is a good thing. If you have to make a choice to serve one person over another, choose either the dominant user of that or the smaller person. So if the firearm is going to be used 95% by this one person, I’d say to set things up primarily to suit that person, but ensure the other person can use it because chances are that 5% of the time may be the time that saves someone’s life. Or opt to fit the smaller person because it’s easier for a big person to use something fitted for a smaller person, but it’s tough for a smaller person to use something fitted for a larger person.

Our experts’ second choice is a .38 revolver.   They selected this gun because it’s easy to load and unload.  And, unlike semi-automatic handguns, revolvers don’t jam.

While a .38 isn’t the worst caliber in the world, there are better. I spoke to revolvers earlier, but on the subject of loading and unloading them well… are they easy to (un)load? I suppose, especially if you use things like speed loaders to load them. I don’t find dropping a magazine and inserting a new one into a semi-automatic handgun to be that difficult an operation. But either way, the key is to practice. Can a revolver jam? Maybe not jam, but they are mechanical and like anything mechanical that can break and/or malfunction. They are not immune.

“If you’re going to stand your ground,” says Gregory, “then a shotgun will work.  But if you’re going to be moving around your house, you can’t hold a shotgun and a cell phone or flashlight at the same time.  A handgun is easier and it’s more accurate.”

If you’re going to move around your house, this is why something like an M4-gery works well. They do raise a good point about two hands and operation. This is why having a weapon-mounted flashlight can be useful. This is also why it’s important to not just have these tools, but having a plan on how to use these tools.

Whether you choose a revolver or a shotgun, all our experts agree, you need to learn how to use your firearm.

Although I haven’t agreed with a lot of their advice, this final point is one we certainly agree on. No matter what tools you choose, you need the education and training to learn how to use it.

Updated: John The Texaner has a reply to this posting (as you can see in my comments). So in the spirit of that, I’d like to reply to his reply. 🙂

In general we’re in agreement on things. He is right that this particular blog posting deals with new shooters as the article this blog entry replies to was geared towards first-time shooters. As I stated in my other piece on choosing a gun, knowledge is best. As John mentions, getting range time is invaluable because it gives you “hands on” experience and first-hand knowledge towards what works for you. The first time you feel the recoil from a 12 gauge, your eyes are opened a little bit. 🙂  Education is so important.

He does touch on an interesting point worth elaborating. John mentions how he took his girlfriend to the range, and unfortunately it wasn’t the best range experience: indoor range shooting 12 gauge slugs. That’s not a great initiation. While sometimes that may be how it has to go (and this certainly isn’t a slight or comment on John), generally a good way to introduce a newbie to firearms is gentle and easy. Find a good location that is as free of other distractions and issues as possible… indoor ranges aren’t ideal because they’re loud, but sometimes that’s all you have. Outdoor can be better for noise, but maybe not for weather. Then when you choose a firearm, pick something light and easy. For instance, for a total novice, start with a .22. Move to a 9mm or a .38. Then try a rifle like an AR, then a .308. Basically, you’re moving up the ladder of power, slow and gradual. It’s often more successful to ease people into things instead of dropping them off the deep end. Again, not a comment on John, just  was an opportunity to make a general comment about introducing people to firearms.

One thing John mentions is the special stock that he added to his shotgun. How it improved the recoil is awesome. It also points out something to consider. You’ll see in the picture on his page how it has a shell holder on the buttstock. Carrying extra ammo is good. One disadvantage to this setup is it’s biased towards shouldering on the right shoulder. What if the shotgun has to be shoulders on the left? This is a consideration for lefties, but it’s also a consideration for righties because sometimes you may have to shoot “weak side”. This is why I think something like a TacStar SideSaddle is a better solution. But again, your needs are likely different from mine. There’s nothing wrong with a buttstock setup, just ensure it works for you.

But one place where John and I disagree is on the choice of home defense weapon. That’s OK. He practices hard with his choice, and in a lot of ways that’s key. He points out the strengths of the shotgun, and there’s no question it’s a devistating weapon. I’ve laid out reasons why I think there are better choices, but that’s why I’ve suggested before that the key thing for folks to do is to take your time, get educated, and make the best decision you can that works to suit your needs. No one holds the monopoly on “the ultimately weapon” and really what’s ultimate is what’s ultimately works for you and your needs. What you feel is best to address your situation, what you’re willing to become educated on, what you’re willing to practice with, what you’re willing to build your skills on.

John, thank you for your input! Much appreciated!

Choosing a gun

/ hsoi / 17 Comments

There’s a buddy of mine that has been on the fence about getting a gun, but slowly he’s coming to the conclusion that owning a gun would be a wise decision towards the ability to protect his home and his family. Between that, some other people coming to me for advice on “getting starting” with firearms, and noticing a great many people come across my blog because they are searching for the best gun, or the best 9mm handgun, best pistol, or the best defensive gun, good defensive home guns, or whatever combination of search terms… I figured it might be useful to have a posting discussing this topic.

Continue reading →

The Rules

/ hsoi / 18 Comments

When dealing with firearms, there are rules of gun safety. I’ve mentioned “the rules” here and here and alluded to them here, but I haven’t had a good post that just discusses “the rules” so I’m remedying that with this post.

When I first was learning about guns I heard some basic safety rules, and as you dig around the Internet and talk with other people, you’ll find various incarnations of “the rules”. Some say there’s 1 rule, some say 3, some say 4, some say 10, some have even longer lists. Then you may go to a gun range and get even more rules, but often those rules pertain to the range and not general gun safety (and certainly they never negate the basic rules). All rule sets tend to be well-intended and have good advice. For instance, this 10 commandments of safety has some good stuff to it, both in terms of general safety and good advice for safely walking the fields while hunting. This is a list of 14 safety rules from a US Army manual. However, being an engineer I appreciate simplicity.

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.

– Antoine de Saint-Exupery

As a result, I gravitated to the two front-runners of the gun safety mantra: Col. Jeff Cooper‘s:

  1. All guns are always loaded. Even if they are not, treat them as if they are.
  2. Never let the muzzle cover anything you are not willing to destroy. For those that insist this particular gun is unloaded, see Rule 1.
  3. Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on target. This is the Golden Rule. Its violation is directly responsible for about 60% of inadvertent discharges.
  4. Identify your target and what is behind it. Never shoot at anything you have not postively identified.

and the NRA’s:

  1. Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction.
  2. Always keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot.
  3. Always keep the gun unloaded until ready to use.

Between the two, I leaned towards Col. Cooper’s version of the rules. I read the debate between the two versions, I read Cooper’s Commentaries, I saw how other gun folk I respected followed Col. Cooper’s version, and I don’t know if I gave into the herd mentality and/or opted to bow at the altar of Jeff Cooper, but I settled on using Cooper’s 4 rules as the rules I would build my foundation upon. Life was good, and safer. But I must admit, something about Cooper’s rules never sat well with me. I think it was rule 1. While I do think rule 1 is a good guideline, there are aspects of gun handling that require you to treat a gun as unloaded, such as dry fire. I have been unable to reconcile the two, as a rule shouldn’t be violated; a guideline perhaps can be, but a safety rule should not. So how can I dry fire if the gun is (treated as) always loaded? In “the debate” a great point was made about this very issue:

The simple reason the NRA’s Rule One is superior is that if this rule is followed – even if all others are forgotten – nobody will get hurt. The same cannot be said about Cooper’s Rule One, and that is yet another reason why it is inferior – especially for the tyro.

The NRA method is far more universal than Cooper’s rules. Further, while there is no excuse for pointing a gun in an unsafe direction, there are lots of good reasons for treating guns as unloaded (e.g., dry-firing, inspecting the bore, etc.) when it is positively determined it is unloaded and made safe. I can dry-fire a verified safe gun in a safe direction; I can’t dry-fire if it is “always loaded.”

No “rule” so frequently and facially untrue carries much weight. That said, I still assert it is a valuable mindset. But proper mindset is a level above following rules to which only a minority of gun handlers ever aspire.

Furthermore, Jeff Cooper himself, at least at one time in his book Fighting Handguns on pages 97-98, advocated point shooting, which would preclude using the sights and thus violate his rule #3.

While sitting in classes at KR Training, Karl starts every class with a safety lecture. I noticed when he teaches safety to beginners, he teaches the 3 NRA rules. I asked him why he teaches that set of rules instead of some other. He gave me a detailed response, but there was one thing about his response that stood out to me:

The NRA rules are written as positive statements (what you should do) in a logical order (safe direction is most important) with nice clean parallel sentence structure (each starting with always for emphasis).

I hadn’t made that observation about the 2 rule sets, but (as usual) Karl is right. In light of my “mindset is everything” posting, this really struck home with me.

So as I think about it: the rule reconciliation, the universality and applicability, the structure, the presentation, the mindset, and the greater simplicity, I’m going to improve my mindset and adopt the 3 NRA rules. This affects my own mindset, as well as what I teach to others. I’ll still keep Cooper’s rules in my head as there’s still value to them, but I’m going to change my mindset to follow the NRA’s.

A positive message for kids and everyone

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Kuk Sool Won of St. Paul keeps a blog, and they just posted an entry about “A homeschooling perspective.” The posting, IMHO, doesn’t have much to do with homeschooling or martial arts, but it has a lot to present about life and good things to teach your kids (or even yourself).

Such a simple exchange, but I found it so moving. I’m so glad my son is getting these messages early from strong, compassionate teachers. You can keep going after you make a mistake. You can ask for help. You just have to keep practicing.

It reminds me a little of a story I read once about a famous modern-dance choreographer-I can’t remember which one now. Maybe Martha Graham? One of her dancers fell flat on her butt during a rehearsal and sat there with a stunned expression on her face, not moving, not getting up. The choreographer swooped over to the dancer and exhorted her, “Don’t stop now! Make it into something beautiful!”

 

If at first you can’t succeed…

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

… lower the standards.

If I remember correctly, the grade scale in my public government school was:

A	100 - 94
B+	93 - 90
B	89 - 84
C+	83 - 80
C	79 - 74
D+	73 - 70
D	69 - 64
F	63 - 0

So the students referred to in the article have to maintain at least a 70 to participate in other activities, but parents are complaining it’s too high and want to go to a 60.

To me, that’s a big fat fail no matter how you cut it.

Socialization

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

So I’m reading JR’s blog and he refers to this article from DirtCrashr. The article talks about the so-called “GIVE Act”. What actually hit me about the blog post wasn’t so much the content of the posting, but that along with the visual that hit me when I was reading it. Here’s a screenshot (you can click on it to see it larger):

Just look at that. Yes, read the words… then look at the pictures, especially the one on the top-left and the one on the right. Just take in the whole visual state of the blog posting.

You see, Wife and I homeschool our children. What’s the #1 thing that people say to us regarding homeschooling? Why, the “S” word of course: socialization.

Kinda takes on a whole new meaning now doesn’t it?

Mindset is everything

/ hsoi / 5 Comments

After assisting with classes one day, I was reviewing how the classes went and I recalled one moment I had with a student that I thought was worth sharing.

This student had a particular way of doing something, and the class taught him a better way to do that thing. The student was getting frustrated with himself because he kept falling back into habit instead of utilizing the new, better technique. I told him not to focus on the frustration, on the old technique, but instead to focus on the new technique. To me, it’s a matter of mindset and how that will affect your performance.

Having 3 children and spending a lot of time around and working with kids, I’ve learned that if you want someone to do something in particular, the best way to get them to do it is to tell them exactly what you want them to do. I know that sounds simple, but you’d be surprised how much we don’t it. For instance, let’s say the child is running and instead you want them to walk. What I hear most people say to the child is “DON’T RUN!”. This doesn’t work. There’s an infinite number of things the child could do. By saying “don’t run” you’ve now narrowed down this infinite list by one thing. The child still needs something to do, they will now pick from this “infinity minus one” list of things to do, and statistics will favor the child still not doing what you want. So, if what you want the child to do is walk, then just say “WALK!”. The key is to convey to the person what you want them to do. This isn’t as simple as positive vs. negative phrasing; in fact, they’re orthogonal concepts. For example, “don’t touch the stove” (it’s hot), or “don’t go in there” (something dangerous is in there). Those are negatively phrased, but they are stating exactly what you want the person to do. Yes, you’ll mostly use positive phrasing in this conveyance, but the important thing is to convey what you want them to do.

Getting back to class then, that student was getting onto himself about not doing his old habit. All he kept focusing on was not doing his old habit. So what do you think he did? His old habit. Why? Because his mindset was focused on the old habit. Sure it was also “don’t do that”, but the thing was he wasn’t telling himself what he should do. So once I got him focused on “do the new technique” instead of “don’t do the old habit”, everything changed. His brain was focused on “new technique”, and sure enough, by the end of the day I was only seeing him using the new technique. Good deal!

Going with the gun thing, I hear the stories about people getting shot. I hear about people that got shot multiple times with big guns and managed to live to tell the tale. Then I hear the stories about people that got shot once with a pea shooter in some non-fatal way and fall over and die. Usually the moral of the story is the same: the people that died made up their minds to die… their mindset was “you get shot, you die” and so they gave up; the people that lived made up their minds to live… there was no other option, they were going to live all other things be damned. 

If you focus on failure, that’s that’s you’re going to do — fail. If you want success, focus on success. Focus on what to do that will lead to success. Your mindset is your first step in whatever direction you choose to go.

Updated: An article/study lending support.

Updated 2: Further support.

Science remains in Texas, sorta.

/ hsoi

The Texas State Board of Education voted 7-7 on restoring a rule that “strengths and weaknesses” of all scientific theory be taught in public school science classes. The vote, failing to pass, means the doors to teaching creationism as scientific theory remain closed.

Frankly, I’m torn on this.

Should strengths and weakness be taught? Hell yes. Should evolution be taught? Hell yes. Should “creation stories” be taught? Hell yes. Should Intelligent Design be taught? Hell no. Allow me to explain.

In my opinion, Intelligent Design is a disingenuous concept. It’s not a scientific theory, it’s a religious effort masquerading as science in some sort of zealous effort to wedge Christian theology into the science classroom. I don’t appreciate this. Call it what it really is, present it for what it really is. Trying to do this really doesn’t win anyone over to your cause, since you’re twisting and lying. But hey, if you want to further this notion of “Intelligent Design” then you better talk about The Flying Spaghetti Monster as well.

Should we teach all approaches to how life, the Earth, the universe was created? Yes we should. Why? Because ultimately we don’t know. Every approach has as much chance to be wrong as the others. The more that we can know, the better off we can be. I personally find my life better off the greater variety I know about. Variety is the spice of life, right? We seem to dig 31 flavors, not 1 flavor, yes? And just because you can know about all 31 flavors, you can still favor just one of those flavors. So why can’t you know about how the ancient Egyptians viewed the creation of the world? What harm does that do? What help does that do?

I frankly think that if we’re going to provide people with an education, those people are better served by the more they can know. Too little knowledge can be dangerous, but I just don’t think too much knowledge being dangerous. So let them learn about Darwin. Let them learn about the Judeo-Christian creation stories. Let them learn how tribal cultures view things. Just let them learn. In this learning, present things as they are. You can present religious matters from a purely academic standpoint, although you do have to allow them to be treated academically. Present all possible theories, all possible stories, explore them, question them, seek to understand them and see how they fit into the greater human experience and deciphering of our great life mysteries. Let people learn…. freely, unabridged.