Guns

Not a reason to pull your gun

/ hsoi

AUSTIN (KXAN) – A Travis County man faces charges after police say he shot a man who was trying to leave the scene of a fender bender near the Austin Bergstrom International Airport.

Charlies Dunbar, 73, is charged with aggravated assault after he allegedly shot 34-year-old Stacy Stautzenburger in the neck on Nov. 22, 2010. Stautzenburger was treated at a nearby hospital and released. Police reports did not say what time of day the shooting happened.

The shooting started with a minor fender bender on Texas 71 Eastbound. Dunbar holds a concealed-carry license, has no criminal record, and told police he was afraid Stautzenburger was going to run over him. He said he brings the .32 Beretta Tomcat with him for protection when he goes to Austin.

Full story here. Another write-up here.

First order of business: this is not a reason to pull your gun, nor a reason to use it. The gun is only pulled out when you feel your life (or the life of another) is in imminent danger. It’s not used to hold someone at bay.

But was the man’s life in danger? That’s hard to tell from the police report.

Apparently Stautzenburger didn’t have his license or insurance paperwork on him. Around here that typically means the person is driving illegally. And the fact Stautzenburger didn’t want police involved? That’s a possible tip-off the person is illegally in this country. So, “the fact that Stautzenburger had no ID on him made Dunbar ‘nervous,’according to the police report” and I can’t blame him for feeling that way.

But after that, the timing of events is odd. One thing says that Stautzenburger then went to his car and got in. Dunbar told him not to move. Stautzenburger started his car, then apparently Dunbar pulled his gun. Apparently Dunbar felt that the Stautzenburger was going to run him over, but during the reenactment to police it didn’t jive… he couldn’t have been run over.

At the hospital, Stautzenburger told police he wasn’t intending to flee the scene, but was trying to leave because Dunbar had pulled a gun on him and he was afraid of him. He told police he had “no intention of running Charles over with his vehicle,” the affidavit reads.

But if that’s the case, then why did he get into his car and start his car? Stautzenburger says he was trying to leave because the gun was pulled, but then why did you get into and start up the car?

Events don’t jive.

Furthermore:

“Charles said that he pulled the trigger in order to stop him, but was not intending to kill him.”

Folks, if you pull a gun you are using deadly force. Even if you didn’t intend to kill him, you very well could have.

Chances are good things aren’t going to go well for Dunbar. And it’s unfortunate it makes the rest of us CHL holders look bad. Stastistically it doesn’t amount to much (there’s always a bad apple in the bunch). I mean, that’s one bad CHL holder while the hundreds of thousands of other CHL holders didn’t do anything…. but us well-behaved folks don’t make the evening news.

So what can we learn from this:

  • You don’t pull your gun unless your life (or the life of another) is truly in danger. It’s that “maximize beer and TV time” maxim.
  • You say as little as possible during and after the event. The events are likely to be fuzzy in your brain and you’ll be pumped with adrenaline and emotion. You may not remember things correctly, and it can only serve to work against you. The facts will be what they will be and cannot be denied, but you don’t need to remember the facts in a skewed way. They won’t change in 48-72 hours, so use your lawyer and speak through them to ensure the facts are straight. I mean, supposing Dunbar remembered the “reenactment” incorrectly, if he wants to correct his story, the changing of the story won’t look good.
  • You take your CHL class from a good instructor, pay attention, and heed what’s taught there… especially the parts about non-violent dispute resolution.

 

Situation analysis – does Aikido work?

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

Poking around the Internet searching for stuff about Aikido, I came across the website for the Big Sky Aikido dojo. The head instructor is Gregory Olson, who has studied Aikido for over 30 years. He’s also a University professor, so he’s written numerous articles on Aikido-related topics. One article is Aikido, Judo, and Hot Peppers: A True Story of Violence Averted. The gist of the story is Olson Sensei goes out to dinner with his family when his wife noticed someone breaking into their car. Olson Sensei confronts the individuals, uses some judo and Aikido to control the situation, eventually the police arrive and cart the thief away. But, the details of the confrontation are important, so please read the article (or at least sections “The Incident”, “The Confrontation”, and “Epilogue”, all of about 2 pages).

Did Aikido Work?

The big question everyone wants to know is, did Aikido work? These days if it’s not muay thai, Brazillian Jiu-Jitsu, judo, wrestling, western boxing or whatever ilk can feed into MMA-style work, then it’s considered crap. I admit, there’s something to that line of thinking, but we have to remember what a person’s individual goal is in evaluating “did it work”.

In the simplest sense yes the Aikido worked. The thief was stopped and turned over to police. The physical action taken by Olson Sensei was able to stop the crime.

But let’s look at a larger context. Aikido is not just a series of movements, but there’s an underlying philosophy of nonviolence and redirecting the opponent’s energy. If we take it in this context, Aikido truly worked because the thief came out not just unharmed, but as an improved citizen. Olson Sensei recounts what happened a few weeks later:

Several weeks after the incident, the young man, a local high school football player, came over to my home with his father to apologize to me for his behavior that night. He said he and his friend had been in my van looking for a new tape to play in his car’s tape player. He told me he had spent a long night in our local jail pondering his predicament and the costs of not acting with integrity. He told me he was sorry that he had “goofed up.”

The boy was able to learn from the incident. Hopefully he truly did learn something and will grow and become a better person for having gone through what he did. As Olson Sensei put it:

I experienced the warrior spirit and philosophical training coming together to protect the young man who was making a small but not insignificant mistake in his life.

So I would say that Aikido truly worked. It worked on its physical level. It worked on its philosophical level.

Now let’s think what could have happened if the only training Gregory Olson had was in MMA-style arts. If the only tool you have is a hammer, everything becomes a nail. Chances are the kid would have gotten a good beating. Maybe not, but when the flag flies we revert to whatever our body is trained to do in monkey-brain mode, which generally means “bash head with rock”.

Now take it a step further. Suppose the only training Gregory Olson had was with a gun and he was able legally carry that gun. I don’t know what Montana law says about defense of property, but here in Texas yes one could legally use a firearm to defend their property. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. And just supposing Mr. Olson had a gun doesn’t mean that boy would have ended up dead. But these are things worth thinking about.

Let’s delve further into the story. After taking control of the thief, Olson Sensei recounts how 5-8 other young men came around — friends of the thief! They immediately surrounded Olson Sensei and started yelling at him to let their friend go. I don’t care how badass you are, a 8 on 1 fight is generally going to leave the 1 at the mercy of the 8. Is any sort of empty-hand martial art going to help you here? Maybe… the interesting thing with Aikido is it practices against multiple opponents, so perhaps it could help him. Still, the odds are generally not in your favor, especially in a snow-covered parking lot. This is a point where I personally would appreciate having something to even the odds, like a baseball bat or a gun. Again, nothing saying you will end up using them, but while you wait those 12 long minutes for the police to arrive, the best you can hope for is to keep them at bay.

Did it?

The reason this story struck me is because of the situation I presently find myself within. I’ve studied martial arts where you are given the range of options, from simple submission to more painful and damaging solutions. I spend a great deal of time studying defensive handgun use. I like having options and not being artificially limited because you don’t know what life may bring you. Sure, just one guy in a parking lot may be easy to handle, but when his 8 friends step out of the darkness, that changes the situation and calls for a different course of action.

At first I did not want to consider Aikido study because of its philosophical limitations: sometimes a violent response is the best and right response, and Aikido frowns upon such a course of action. But I’m now at a point where I think studying in that way would be good for me. It would help bring some balance to my mindset. I don’t know exactly how good or bad it will be for me, just have to start on the journey and see what happens. I don’t believe studying Aikido will be a waste of my time. Oh sure, the MMA-types will say I’m wasting my time, but well… my daily life doesn’t involve combat, it involves living. While the crux of martial arts is fighting, there is more to it. I’d like to see where Aikido can take me.

I appreciate having options. While on the one hand I want to expand my toolset to allow myself more options, on the other I want to throw away options to hone and refine my toolset. Aikido’s physical skillset is limited (compared to more comprehensive arts), so that’s focus and refinement. Aikido’s philosophy is limited, so that too is focus and refinement. What sort of insight will it bring to me? We’ll see.

.300 AAC Blackout tests

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

I’ve written about the .300 AAC Blackout before. A very interesting round to say the least.

Over at TacticalGunReview.com they’ve got some testing results performed by Bill Wilson.

 

“Bobcat at 40yds, amazing based on the exit wound we had good bullet expansion, 172# sow taken at 85yds, both with 130gr TTSX at 2050fps MV, one shot DRT with massive spine/lung damage on hog. It’s like shooting a pop gun, minimal report and no recoil………………. We’re going to shoot several bullets into the hog in the am and recover some bullets to see what kind of expansion we’re getting.”

 

 

It’s not going to be any sort of long-range round, but it seems effective on smaller to medium sized game with mild impact on the shooter. Promising! Read the whole article for full analysis.

 

Texas Shooting Sports Complex – update

/ hsoi

It seems the Texas Shooting Sports Complex, which would have brought a nice big shooting sports complex to Hays County (south and west of Austin), isn’t going to happen.

The Hayes County Parks and Open Space Advisory board reviewed and commented on 12 projects. Of those 12 projects, the TxSSC came in 12th place. Here’s the board comments:

Project #12.  Hays Co. SSTF, Tx Shooting Sports Center                                    Score:  50.1

  • Primary purpose of facility is not a priority in the Master Plan
  • Funding request is for land purchase only, and exceeds current remaining amount of bond funds available
  • There are no matching funds for the land purchase
  • Land acreage identified in proposal would only accommodate shooting sports center, and not the parkland/other elements discussed in application
  • Road and other infrastructure development needed – significant additional cost
  • Question revenue stream
  • There is definitely a need for a shooting sports complex/range in Hays County, but this is not an appropriate use of the Park and Open Space Bond funds

So there you go.

From the brief comments it appears the group isn’t giving up, it just needs to fall back, regroup, and then try again. If the above are the case I think it’s reasonable for the center being turned down. Compared to other projects, this project impacts less of the community. Furthermore, it looks like making this project a reality will cost a lot more than just what’s in the proposal.

Here’s hoping something like this can go through eventually. Hopefully the group will take the comments to heart and work to find a solution that’s workable for all. Blue-skying a facility is nice, but maybe breaking it down into stages might be a way to get it there. Walk before you can run.

Good luck, y’all.

Thanks, jackass….

/ hsoi

…. way to make the rest of us look bad.

Some jackass decides to play a prank on his friend. He wanted to wake his friend up by shooting him in the chest with his air gun. But instead, the jackass used a .22 rifle and killed his friend. Story here, but here’s the meat of it:

Manchester police told WCAX-TV that the two friends were staying at another friend’s home Thursday. Police say 23-year-old Nicholas Bell of Manchester was hoping to play a prank on his friend and wake him up with an air gun.

But authorities say Bell ended up firing a shot from a loaded [.22] rifle into the chest of 24-year-old Jeffrey Charbonneau of Manchester, and he died.

There’s so much wrong in this, I don’t even know where to begin. Carelessness, rules violations, and the simple irresponsibility of it all.

It also demonstrates that even “wimpy” .22 LR is still enough to kill a person. No it’s not my first choice, but I’m not volunteering to be shot by it either.

Handguns for critter dispatch

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

I’ve long thought about an appropriate handgun for critter dispatch.

On the one hand, there’s the thought of hunting with a handgun. On the other, there’s the thought of wanting a beefier sidearm when out in the backcountry should some 4-legged critter (or even a 2-legged one) decide to become a problem.

First thought is a .44 Magnum revolver. It’s got the history, the proven track record. But it’s also big, bulky, a pain to shoot well (massive recoil, big heavy trigger), and limited to 6 rounds. Still, you could view it as the standard to measure against.

So there’s the big boys like .460 S&W, .500 and so on, but that’s just getting to be too much. Sure the .460 has some appeal since those wheel guns could also shoot .454 Casull and .45 Colt, but is this getting to be too much gun for the purpose? Sure it’s useful for hunting, but toting around for back-country defensive needs?

Then there’s 10mm. This appeals to me because you can get it in a semi-auto handgun, which has advantages of better triggers and more capacity.

But if you’re going to go 10mm, why not consider .460 Rowland? I think foo.c was the one that clued me in to .460 Rowland. You can’t deny the ballistics data, that it beats the .44 Mag. Of course, it needs a compensator to help make it more shootable, but that’s not too big deal. I mean, if I was being run down by a mountain lion or something of that sort, being able to peel off multiple shots rapidly is a big plus and part of what I’m looking for. And you get this out of a 1911-style gun. There are even conversion kits for Springfield XD’s and Smith & Wesson M&P’s. The cool thing there is the increased capacity, that you can carry in familiar holsters, and the overall cost for the gun and the kit is reasonable — cheaper than a lot of those .44 Mag revolvers.

When I mull it all over in my head, .460 Rowland seems like the best all around consideration.

I’m just talking aloud right now… I don’t have the funds to make such a purchase, but I do think about this from time to time. While my 9mm is better than nothing and certainly fills the bill for 2-legged predators, some ugly 200# hog will just be tickled… having a little more power would be welcome.

What’s your favorite gun drill?

/ hsoi / 5 Comments

OK fellow shooters.

What’s your favorite drill?

Bill drill? 4×20 Transition drill? El Presidente? Texas CHL course? Central Texas Standards?

Please add a comment to this post describing it. Give me the name, a link to a webpage that describes the drill and/or a detailed description of how to perform the drill.

I’m collecting this for a project I’m working on. Thanx!

Who’s violent?

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Geez.

Over on Fark there’s a story about a man whose 900# bear was killed. Well, it’s not really his bear. It’s a wild bear that happened to live in the same area as the man, the man fed it and watched it over the years, and a hunter legally killed it during open season.

But the Fark comment thread is the interesting thing. It continues the meme of wondering why anti-gunners are so violent:

Jakevol2
2010-11-20 10:05:08 AM

Here is another example of why gun owners should kill themselves. I have never heard a happy story that involved a gun.

Never heard a happy story that involved a gun? Go talk with the almost 60 of Tom Givens’ students that are still alive because they used a gun in defense of themselves and others. I’d say those are happy stories.

Click through to Jakevol2’s profile:

Bio:

If you own a gun, kill yourself.

If you smoke pot, kill yourself.

If your are a Republican, a conservative, a libertarian, or a teabagger, kill yourself

If you didn’t like Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World , kill yourself.

If you can’t obey the law, I hope the government kills you.

Wow. (your are?)

But hey… he didn’t read the article (hunter didn’t use a gun). And it’s obvious he’s just a troll. Really, better left ignored but you know… it’s fun to point out how the pot’s blacker than the kettle.