Guns

In good company

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

I made Grant Cunningham’s “Hump Day” reading list for September 7, 2016.

The ubiquity of video today means that we can look at fights and attacks in a way that we couldn’t before — and, in this case, you can see what it’s like when a fight breaks out in a restaurant. On the Stuff From Hsoi blog, John Daub does a superb job of analyzing what you should do to keep from being a casualty of a fight you had nothing to do with. (My favorite: don’t worry about WHY it’s happening, instead think about HOW you’re going to respond to keep yourself safe.)

Grant, thank you for the link AND the kind words.

And I feel honored to be in good company. Not just making Grant’s list, but this particular list contains articles from: Jim Wilson, Greg Ellifritz, Caleb Causey, Tiger McKee, Wim Demeere, and Darryl Bolke. If you’re curious about people worth paying attention to, there’s a good list to start with.

Head over to Grant’s reading list and get your learn on.

No Fear

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

Politicians know that the gangs are reason for the deaths. Calling it “gun violence” is much safer, especially in wards where gangs often provide political muscle.

“Have you ever heard a Chicago alderman call out a street gang by name?” O’Connor asked. “No? Me neither.”

Statistics, data, numbers — they’re nice, but without context you can’t properly interpret them. As well, you can certainly twist numbers to suit whatever end you wish to satisfy. It’s important to look deeper (or at least take raw numbers for what they are).

The Chicago Tribune takes a deeper look at “gun violence” in its own city.

“The shooter was typically a male black between the ages of 17 and 23,” O’Connor said. “And the victim was typically a male black between the ages of 17 and 23. So what’s changed since the ’90s? Not much, the same social pathology, and the police are expected to clean it up.”

Some call it “gun violence,” a definition greatly appreciated by Democratic politicians like those at City Hall. They can point to guns and take that voter anger over homicide numbers and channel it into a safe space.

But there are plenty of guns in the suburbs, and suburbanites aren’t slaughtering each other.

It’s the gang wars.

So where is the real problem? Is it merely “gun ownership”? Will “gun control”, “gun bans”, and the like solve this problem? Or are we identifying the wrong problem – perhaps for political reasons – and thus chasing the wrong, and thus ineffective, solution?

Making it worse:

Police were investigating reports of a shooting in bloody Englewood when about 10 young men confronted them, harassed them, mocked them on the street, hurling epithets, angry, defiant.

“Every cop saw that video,” O’Connor said. “One big difference is that now, on the street, there is no fear. Even in the ’90s, with all the killing, the gangs feared the police. When we’d show up, they’d run. But now? Now they don’t run. Now, there is no fear.”

Make of it what you will.

But at least when searching for Truth, dig deeper. It may uncover uncomfortable or ugly truths, but it’s how we will find real solutions.

2016-08-31 range log

/ hsoi

A short range time this morning.

Tom & Lynn Givens will soon be in Texas for an extended stay at KR Training. Many classes going on, including the Rangemaster Advanced Instructor course. I’ll be attending, and so that’s on my mind to prep for.

Today was pretty simple:

  • 3M Test
  • Rangemaster Instructor Qual
  • FBI Qual
  • Group shooting out to 25 yards

Why these? The first 3 are classic Rangemaster advanced drills, and the group shooting at longer distances is something I’m really working to improve upon. I wanted to do Rangemaster Core Skills, but skipped it because of time (it’s cumbersome to deal with all the time recording, etc.).

My first 3M Test was weird. I guess I hadn’t mentally checked in and the test ran weird. I passed, but did it slower than normal (just under 9 seconds). Just moved slow, had a minor brain fart for the malfunction and the reload. It was just weird. But in a way, I thought it was a good thing because well, the flag doesn’t fly when you’re warmed up and ready. That was a true cold performance, and while it wasn’t up to my standard, it was still a reasonable performance. But still…

Ran it a couple more times, got the gears greased up. Ran the Rangemaster Instructor Qual once, only dropping a couple at 25 yards. FBI Qual was the same. I just felt slow the whole time. I slacked off on dry practice the past couple weeks because of life circumstance, and it shows. Have to change that. I won’t magically gain skill between now and class, but I need to at least have a better edge.

Group shooting went pretty well tho. I’m still not that tight at 25 yards, but I was getting everything in the A-Zone most of the time, which is a big improvement. What was cooler tho was when I dropped I shot I knew it without having to look. It wasn’t quite a true “called shot”, but that I could feel something was off.

A short session, just to knock some rust off and give me a touchpoint before class (unlikely I’ll be able to have another live fire session before class). Dry dry dry work a plenty between now and then.

Lathrop’s Lessons

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

It is a wise person that learns from the mistakes and experiences of others.

Become a wise(r) person and learn from the experiences of Paul Lathrop.

In February 2016, Paul Lathrop was involved in what appeared to be a low-key self-defense incident. Unfortunately, the event turned into a big problem. Paul was charged, arrested, spent time in jail, but ultimately the charges were dropped (because they were false). There are some important things we can learn from Paul’s experience.

First, Paul tells his whole story in Episode 381 of the Handgun World Podcast. You need to take the time to listen to the entire thing as there’s a great deal to be learned in hearing from Paul first-hand. Seriously. Don’t just skim what I’m about to write and think it sufficient – it’s not. You need to listen to Paul’s account. Listen in the gym when you’re on the treadmill, listen during your daily commute, listen over the course of a few sessions if it’s too long. Just listen to the whole thing, I implore you.

While I was listening, of course I thought about my incident. Realize I’m filtering what I’m about to say through my own experiences. Also, know that I am not here to criticize nor chastise Paul; I know how it is to have people insert their interpretation of events and crucify you over their false or limited knowledge. What I am trying to do is the same thing I did when I shared my story and the same reason Paul gave in sharing his story: to help others learn. We want you to learn from our experiences, so hopefully you won’t have to pay what we’ve paid.

There were three key things about Paul’s incident that stood out to me.

Always Be Cool

From what I can understand, it seems that the pivot point of the incident was Paul’s driving partner giving the other guy the one-finger-salute. Other guy felt disrespected, and everything descended from there. Of course, I cannot hold Paul responsible for the actions of his driving partner, but realize Paul paid for those actions.

In almost every facet of life, the sooner you solve a problem, the better because it minimizes cost. In the context of self-defense we tout the importance of avoid, deter, deescalate – this is an attempt to solve a problem sooner and thus be less costly. We are human thus we are emotion-driven, and we all get angry. We have to work to improve our ability to manage our emotions, especially ones that can get us into trouble. Think about how all of this could have been avoided, and if avoided how much less costly things would have been for Paul.

Since the situation wasn’t avoided, it needed deterrence or deescalation. What do you think could have been done to achieve that end? Granted, we weren’t there so we can’t specifically say. But just consider such a situation and think about possible options. For example, maybe saying “I’m sorry”. Or you may even have to make up a lie, such as “I’m sorry… I had a really shitty day today, everything broke down, wife yelling at me, boss yelling at me, dropped my phone in the toilet… it’s just been a really shitty day and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. I’m sorry.” Yeah, it’s a bit of a story, and you may not really be sorry at all! But it may just be what’s needed to keep a situation from worsening.

I believe I got the above strategy – capitulation, even false capitulation – from Greg Hamilton at Insights Training. Another thing from Greg is the “ABC of Self-Defense – Always Be Cool“. Strive to Always Be Cool, especially behind the wheel of a vehicle, and it makes a big difference in your life.

Be the first to call the police

Paul acknowledges he should have called the police.

The thing is, the first person to contact the police? They WILL be viewed as the victim, and that’s precisely what happened. The other guy got to frame the incident, and despite the fact it was a series of lies, it was enough for Paul to be arrested and to cause everything to have to be sorted out later.

I asked Massad to identify the most common mistakes armed citizens make that get them in trouble following a justified self-defense shooting. Without hesitation, he replied, “Failing to call police after the incident.”

“The citizen is in a situation that warrants drawing the gun,” he continued. “They do everything right, the suspect turns and runs, and it ends without bloodshed as most of these things do. The citizen figures that it is over, so they do not call the police, but the offender calls in and complains and the next thing you know the citizen has become the perpetrator and the original assailant becomes the victim/complainant, or at least is seen as such.”

“Who ever calls in first, by default, gets to be the victim/complainant,” he emphasized.

(from Massad Ayoob <– read this article too)

If you are in any form of self-defense incident, you need to call the police. Even if it winds up being nothing, it’s still some level of help here because bad guys don’t call the police. If you don’t call, how do you think you’ll be perceived and colored? Again, it doesn’t matter what the truth of the situation is, because right now you’re still being arrested. The truth will come out, but what cost will you pay? Again, the sooner you can solve a problem, the less costly it will be. Call the police as soon as you can safely do so.

Be a member of ACLDN

When my incident happened, I was already a member of the Armed Citizens Legal Defense Network. When Paul’s happened, he was not.

Just to get started, it cost Paul $12,500 – $10,000 to retain the lawyer, $2500 for bail (and that was apparently a reduced bail). Paul made a good point: how many of you right now can go into your bank account and write a check for $12,500? And if you can, that it won’t adversely affect your family budget? Note as well, that’s cheap, and that’s just to start. If Paul’s situation had gone another way, his legal costs would have skyrocketed.

Let’s also not forget the money in lost wages, his travel expenses (having to travel back to the locale for every hearing, etc.). Paul didn’t give a final tally, but you better believe this incident cost him a lot more than $12,500.

If he had been a member of ACLDN, he wouldn’t have had to pay that $12,500.

Membership to ACLDN is $135 for 1 year, $295 for 3 years, or $790 for 10-years. $790 seems like a lot of money, but compare it to $12,500 and it’s a drop in the bucket.

What often happens when someone talks about things like this, they try to not sound like they’re playing favorites. They’ll talk about other groups like Texas Law Shield, USCCA and so on saying “it doesn’t matter which you join, just do your research and join one”. I’ll grant there’s something to that, and I did my research and I joined ACLDN. I think they provide the best “product”. And of course, given I’ve had to directly use their services and have first-hand experience at how they run things well… I’ll just say I have renewed for 10-years, and I’d join at a “Life” membership if they had such a thing. No I don’t get paid for this, I don’t get anything from ACLDN or Marty Hayes. I’m just a member, and a very satisfied one at that.

But you know what really sells me on ACLDN? The caliber, quality, and character of the people who make up the network. Not just people like my own attorney, Gene Anthes, but Massad Ayoob and Marty Hayes himself. Listen to Paul’s story. ACLDN could not help Paul because he was not a member at the time of the incident, but Marty did everything he personally could to help Paul out. Paul also said that of all the groups out there, only Marty reached out to him.

Like I said – the character of the people who make up the network. You’re choosing people you want on your side, fighting for your life and well-being. Choose wisely.

To that I would add, choose now. Neither Paul nor I woke up in the morning and expected we’d be interacting with the police later that day. You don’t get to choose when your flag will fly. I know I had things that I put off, and had I not perhaps my day would have gone differently. It’s evident from listening to Paul that he too had things he put off, and had he not his day would have gone differently. Yes, that $135/year seems like a lot, but pull a little from your ammo fund and do it now, so you don’t risk having to pull 10x that for a lawyer.

Wisdom

I’m glad things worked out for Paul. I’m thankful to Paul for sharing his story, warts and all. I can empathize with a lot of what he went through, so I can appreciate what he did here. We share because we want you to learn, be it from our mistakes or just our general experience. Please take the lessons to heart. Please take action from our lessons.

Cocks and Glocks – they CAN coexist

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

Brian Bensimon, [Students for Concealed Carry] director for the state of Texas, commented, “If carrying a phallus to class helps you express yourself, go for it. We welcome this demonstration that freedom of speech and concealed carry of handguns can coexist on the same campus.”

Today marked the first day of classes at the University of Texas, Austin. As well, today marked the official start of the “Cocks Not Glocks” protest of the recently enacted laws in Texas that permit some level of the carry of a concealed handgun by licensed adults. Apparently some 4000+ fake penises were handed out to whomever wanted them, to carry around campus in protest.

“Take it and come” was their tag line.

Frankly, the whole thing amuses me. I gotta admit it’s kinda clever.

Weird thing tho. That lawsuit brought by those 3 UT professors that claimed permitting guns on campus would stifle free speech? I think passing out 4000+ dildos – in apparent violation of University policy (civil disobedience!) – is pretty demonstrative that if anything the topic of “guns on campus” has generated a LOT of free speech and free expression. I see no stifling here; in fact, I see a lot of creativity!

And I must admit, the original premise of the movement has a solid point (which I think has gotten lost in the the hoopla). They were originally trying to make a point that something’s not right when University policy prohibits someone from bringing a big black (fake) cock on campus, but now Texas law permits one to bring a big black (real) gun on campus. And I agree with their point. The sad part is they don’t seem to see nor make effort towards trying to improve this supposedly progressive University’s puritanical policies.

Wise advice

/ hsoi

Once the cops have been called, you don’t need to be running around outside with a gun in your hand. The chances for a blue-on-blue shooting skyrocket in incidences like that. Plainclothes officers get shot all the damn time in similar circumstances. It’s easy to tell who the responding officers are because they show up in a car with blinking lights and they’re all dressed the same. You want to not be on the playing field wearing the other team’s uniform when they show up.

From Tam. Emphasis added.

The way she phrased it is novel and I think really drives the point home.

The importance of training, because everything isn’t a nail

/ hsoi

I respond with “THERE IS A GUY IN MY CAR AND I’M ABOUT TO SHOOT HIM!”.   The thought….. if this guy is conscious that may provoke response.  I’ve had experience rousting drunks and bums in a former life, and sometimes it takes a real push to get a reaction. They will often play dead just to be left alone

No response from Mr. Dark Lump Dude… except some twitching.

I shut the door, backed up to the porch, and engaged my light while keeping a hand close to my weapon.  A few moments looking, and it’s pretty clear what I am facing. A scruffy guy who was stumbling down the road, and took shelter in the car to sleep off whatever he’s on.  My guess, only slightly educated, would be heroin, alcohol, and weed.

Breath, and back down from Defcon 1 to Defcon 2.

Carteach0 shares with us a recent situation he was involved in. You will want to click through and read the whole thing.

Earlier this month, a friend of mine was in a similar situation. Friend was drifting off to sleep but then heard someone breaking into his truck. Gun was drawn, some yelling, dude took off. No shooting.

Both of these people are well-trained.

And it’s all their training that kept them from shooting. Or rather, that they understood there’s a time to shoot, and that time hadn’t come.

See, a lot of people think that just because people have guns that they will solve all of their problems by shooting. There’s some truth to that, because often when all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. For sure I see lots of people who only understand things like “shooting”, and consider that the solution. Just read comment threads online and you’ll see this “solution” offered up quite often.

Shooting is certainly an answer, but it’s a very specific answer to a very specific problem.

This is where training comes in, and why training is so important.

Certainly, it’s important to have training in how to shoot. When the flag flies, there will be a lot happening in a little bit of time, and you must make decisive actions quickly. These decisions have massive gravity, and will likely affect the rest of your life and perhaps the lives of others. Thus, you need your brain free to work through those problems, so mechanical matters like “how to shoot (well)” should be something that you can “just do”. That takes training, that takes practice, that takes some level of dedication and discipline to acquire that ability.

Perhaps more importantly, you need to have training in how NOT to shoot. You need to understand how scenarios play out. You have to know the law. You should be aware of human psychology. Concepts like “verbal judo” and “managing unknown contacts” should be tools in your toolbox. You need to have more tools in your toolbox, so when a problem needs solving you don’t just start hammering nails.

What Carteach0 and my friend did, they were able to engage their brains. They disengaged “monkey brain” – “Ooo! Danger! Bash with rock!” – and worked to solve the problem. They were able to think, to consider, to assess the situation as it unfolded and took the best course of action that lead to the best possible outcome.

Without a doubt, this can be attributed to training.

So where can you get such training?

When it comes to legal, people like Massad Ayoob and Andrew Branca have classes and books on the matter.

Classes/material from William Aprill provides great insight into criminal mindset.

Craig “SouthNarc” Douglas is one of the best when it comes to skills like “managing unknown contacts”.

Scenario training (also known as “force-on-force” training) is invaluable at helping you see that everything isn’t a nail, you don’t always solve problems with a hammer, and giving you better insight into how things actually happen. You’ve probably heard how visualization is a powerful learning technique? Scenario training is visualization without the fantasy. There are many out there that provide this sort of training, and my boss-man, Karl Rehn, is one of the pioneers and best at this type of training.

The bottom line?

It’s not enough to purchase a piece of hardware.

It’s not enough to just go to the range or the back pasture and plink a few rounds now and again. Just because you can “drill the bullseye” out in the comfort of a causal range session doesn’t mean you can perform under pressure.

When the flag flies, you don’t rise up, you descend. Thus you need to ensure that even in this descent, you’re still at a high enough level to perform. The two situations above demonstrate that we do descend, but with enough training one can still keep their head above water.

So look at yourself right now and honestly assess yourself: are you at that (higher) level? Have you ever shot a higher-level skills course under time pressures (e.g. the “3M Test“, “3 Seconds or Less“, “Rangemaster Level 5“, FBI Qualification) and been able to pass it cold, on-demand, consistently? Have you found yourself in potentially bad situations during daily life and been at a loss as for how to solve the problem?  It’s not a time for ego or delusion folks – your life depends on honest answers. And if you’re not, start making your plans now to improve.

An observation on my grip

/ hsoi

During a recent dry practice session, I noticed something about my grip.

First, I’ve been working hard on ensuring a consistent and crushing grip during my dry work. Since there’s no recoil, it’s really easy to slack off, so I’m working to mitigate that by overly crushing the grip when I do dry work. That will build up my grip muscles/endurance, and when I’m not crushing it’s easier to notice and thus correct myself. Plus anything I can do to make a stronger grip will help with not just recoil control, but it sure does help offset when pressure ramps up and the trigger gets slapped/yanked. It’s not an excuse for poor trigger control, but when you do have a crushing grip it helps mitigate the effects.

During this particular dry session I switched from two-handed to one-handed work. As usual, my weak-hand work needed more work. I strove to really crush things and noticed something I was (and wasn’t) doing in my grip.

I need to back up a bit and explain some things about grip.

Grip the gun in a two-handed grip. Really try to determine the direction of your hand pressure. Sure, there’s a generalized, all-around crushing pressure, but at least in my grip I find that my strong-hand is applying more pressure “front to back”. That is, there’s more pressure coming in on the front-strap and back-strap of the grip than against the sides of the grip. That makes sense given how the hand is working and clamping — the fingers are bringing things together, not your tips and palm into each other. Then there’s the support-hand, which winds up applying more pressure against the sides of the grip (well, your strong-hand since the support-hand is overlapping it) than the front- and back- straps. Again, this is from the same directional clamping force that your fingers are giving (vs. tips and palm into each other).

So when you have both hands gripping, there is 360º of crush force: front-back by the strong-hand, side-side by the support-hand.

As well, because of your hand wrapping/overlapping, with proper technique you wind up with a lot of skin against grip – that contact, that friction plays a big part. Airspace between the grip and your hands gives “wiggle room” and doesn’t lead to the strongest grip. The best grip puts as much possible skin-to-grip contact over as much surface area as possible. That contact, that friction, helps to manage recoil because now there’s more friction (and other resistive forces) that the recoil must overcome.

So understanding that, what did I experience and observe?

While it’s there when I go strong-hand-only, it’s more pronounced in weak-/support-hand-only. That I am only getting 50% of that grip pressure — there’s only the pressure against the front- and back- straps. I’m crushing – or perhaps more descriptively, clamping – my grip against the front and back, but there’s really no pressure against the sides. There’s some light skin contact between sides and palm/tips, but not a lot of pressure into them. But more so, it’s just light contact – I could actually wiggle something (finger) up in there between my palm (specifically, at the metacarpophalangeal joints) and the grip. In light of the prior explanation, can you see how this is not an ideal grip?

So I worked to put more skin in FIRM contact with the grip, and work to try to make a grip that was giving more 360º pressure, than just the front-to-back-pressure, if you will. In a way, it was “collapsing the tent” created by my metacarpophalangeal joints as the hand wraps around the grip. It’s a little awkward, and it does cause some frame rub against my thumb’s metacarpophalangeal joint. I expect there will be some refinement of this, and I’ll have to see how it pans out in live fire. I expect my results will be greatly improved, tho I may wind up with a raw thumb joint.

Take a look at your grip.

Are you maximizing contact? Are you gripping it HARD? How does your grip change when you go 1-handed? Can you adjust your grip (1- or 2- handed) to improve contact and pressure?

Update

I wrote this earlier in the week. I then had a chance to go to the range and try it in live fire.

Results were not good. 🙂

I shot horribly.

Why? I’m not sure. It could be because the technique just sucked, or it could be because it was a change and I need to adapt to the change. There may be other side-effects from it that I have to work through.

Alas, that range session needed to be focused on other issues, so I didn’t investigate this grip work. I just reverted to my old way and everything was peachy. Perhaps something to learn from that as well.

Am I overanalyzing? Perhaps. Again, I went back to my old way and was just fine. But I’d like to think there’s something in this, at least for me. Because for sure as much crush/clamp grip as you can have the better, and for sure when you only have 1 hand you won’t have as strong a grip as 2 hands. So if there’s some way to improve my 1-hand grip through mechanical advantage (vs. just pure strength), why wouldn’t I want to explore that avenue?

Maybe next live-fire session I’ll get a chance to work on it. For sure in my present dry work, I’ll be doing more 1-handed work, and we’ll see where it goes.

2016-08-11 range log

/ hsoi

In about a month I’ll be a student in the Rangemaster Advanced Instructor Course.

Time to prepare.

Really, there’s only so much you can to do prepare. I’ve been through many classes with Tom Givens, and the best thing to do is not psyche yourself out. But that said, I know there are some things I want to do to get myself ready.

First, I’ve been working on a lot of things from a competition standpoint. I need to shift to a defensive standpoint. Really in most respects it’s the same stuff, but there are some differences in how you do things, how you approach things. Plus to also remember that this is Tom’s class and to do things Tom’s way. For example, he will want “ready position” to be a low ready (whereas I normally use a high-compressed ready). So it’s just getting into that mindset.

Second, I know there will be some skills that I’ll want to brush up on as much as I can. Only so much can be done in a month, but every bit helps.

What would those be?

15-25 yard shooting.

One-handed shooting, especially weak-hand.

Of course, “everything” matters, but I’m pretty sure in terms of my weak-points, those are what I need to work on (given what I know that’s coming…).

So with that, today was about shooting from a defensive standpoint. For example, using my carry gear (IWB holster) instead of competition gear. Shooting from concealment instead of open carry. And I wanted to run a bunch of drills as diagnostics to see what’s what.

Started with the “3M Test” (my favorite). Ran it in 7.88 seconds clean. Happy with that. I did look at the draw time, splits, reload, etc. and well, for sure I’m running slower, but it was still pretty solid. I know with time and improvement I’ll break the 7-seconds barrier.

Shot “3 Seconds or Less”. While I generally run this fine, I’ve been experimenting with grip changes on my one-handed shooting, but only in dry fire. This showed me that perhaps those changes didn’t work, or will need more work before I can bank on them. I dropped almost all the one-handed shots. For the rest of the session when I had to do one-handed work I reverted back to my old technique and was fine.

Did the “Rangemaster Instructor” qual. Blew a few things from rushing (e.g. got a bad grip), but very happy with my 15 and 25 yard performance

Then came the (new/2013) FBI qual. Did fine on that, and again happy with my 15/25 yard shooting.

Then I shot a couple drills that I wasn’t planning on, but Karl wanted me to shoot because he’s going to bring them into this weekend’s AT-4 class. One was Ken Hackathorn’s “The Wizard”, which is a very simple drill but sufficiently challenging. The other is LAV’s “The Test”, which is another very simple drill but sufficiently challenging. I had no problems with either drill, but I think they will make a good addition to AT-4 this weekend.

Each of these drills I shot 1 time. They were enough to get me into a mindset, and showed me things I needed.

First, I went slower than I had been — at least when shooting. Buzzer hit and I’d still move quickly to get the gun out of the holster and, from concealment, still broke sub-1.5 second draws many times. But I did find that overall my draws were slower, my splits a little increased. Why? Well, in “gaming mode” sometimes a fast-C is better than a slow-A. But here, it’s 5 seconds (or whatever) for the string — no extra points nor penalty points for using the full 5-seconds, but for sure you lose points if you hit outside the A-Zone. So I eased off the gas pedal a bit so I could ensure A-hits.

But I need to still go a little faster. Basically not as fast as competition stuff, but I feel like I’m settling into “my old habits”. I started to speed up on some of the later COFs, and it was like a middle ground: faster than before, slower than the comp stuff. I’m good with that. I’d rather be semi-fast and have consistent A-zone hits.

Second, I still need to work on mechanics, like reloading… and not flubbing that first shot after the reload.

Third, my distance shooting is better but still needs work.

One thing I haven’t documented but that I’ve been doing is ending my sessions with some group shooting. It’s been super helpful. No time limits, just shooting 5-shot groups from whatever distance.

So well, that’s what the rest of today turned into.

I set up an IPSC target. I put a 3″ “shoot-n-see” dot in the head box (which is 6″ x 6″ square). The goal was to put everything inside the 3″ dot (or better), but for sure everything at least had to be within the 6×6 box.

I started at I think 10 or 15 yards and was sucking, so I moved in closer to 7 yards. Drilled that out just fine. So I moved back to 10. Things were a little wide, then I just kept shooting 5 shot groups until things got tight. Then I’d shoot a little more to ensure I wasn’t lucky, then move back. From 10 I went to 12.5 yards. From 12.5 I went to 15. I ended up staying at 15 for some time. I never got all 5 within the 3″ dot, but I’d get close (e.g. drop 1). Even tho it wasn’t meeting the standard, it’s HUGE improvement. I wanted to keep shooting so that I could learn “what to see”. For sure, even slight movements, slight deviations were enough to throw things off. Heck, it’s a little breezy out today, and I’d even find when the breeze picked up, it would be enough to move the gun and throw things off. Had to be patient.

When I moved back to 25 yards, I changed the goal. I put a 3″ dot in the middle of the 8″ IPDA -0 circle. The goal tho was similar: strive to group in the 3″ dot, but at least within the 8″ circle. What got me here? A few times I tried to “snatch” the shot – because you will move, there will be wobble, and trying to “snatch” the shot as the sight picture goes perfect? That’s a great way to wind up in the -3 zone…. :-\   But when I just let things happen, I actually did pretty well. I’d say never smaller than a 5″ group, but that’s a HUGE improvement over how I’ve been before at 25 yards.

And remember, when I was shooting a few of the drills earlier in the day, I’d be getting A-Zone hits at 25 yards. Probably still a “bad group” (couldn’t tell given all the other prior holes in the target), but at least I was getting in the A-Zone. So yeah, this is happy improvement for me.

I called it after this figuring to just end on the good note and the slower “Zen” moments of everything.

So, back to dry fire. What to work on there?

Continue to work on draws at 15 yards, but 1. from concealment, 2. occasionally work draws at closer distances too so I don’t get myself too locked into always needing an “ideal” sight picture.

Continue to work on reload mechanics, but again from concealment.

Focus on something like a 1″ dot but also just “blank wall” and work on trigger press mechanics and other “group shooting” and trigger-control sorts of things. Small targets, trigger presses, etc.  And even try using tiny targets like this and doing draws. Sure it might take me 2 seconds to break the shot, but fine. Just make sure it’s doing all the things right.

That should keep me busy enough for the next few weeks.

Does Sweden have the answer to America’s gun problem?

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

A friend of mine posted the following article on Facebook: “Sweden may have the answer to America’s gun problem”, from Vox.

As we face a firearm crisis in America today, it’s time for hunters to stop hiding behind the Second Amendment and claim the moral high ground as our nation’s responsible gun owners.

The nation demands some action, and we, more than 13 million gun owners who hunt, are in a unique position to lead the way. Firearm registration as part of our normal licensing process could both strengthen our hunting tradition and at the same time help break the national logjam of inaction.

I started writing a response and it got too big for Facebook. So, blog post it is. 🙂

So… many interesting things about this article.

First, the underlying premise of this article is about hunting. The thing is, the Second Amendment to the US Constitution has NOTHING to go with hunting. And trying to relate Sweden’s hunting culture to the US – where, frankly, hunting culture is fading away – and the article’s premise fails because the author really fails to understand the totality of the circumstance.

It’s speaks about how guns and hunting are a healthy part of Sweden’s culture. Great! But here in the US, hunting is still alive, but today’s social standing frames hunting as evil. I mean, look at how hunters are routinely vilified, doxxed, and generally their lives destroyed by the “social warriors” these days! That’s not a healthy Sweden-like culture. As well, for most people in the US, their ONLY exposure to guns is in the news, in movies, and video games – and those things RARELY present firearms in a healthy manner. So is it any wonder that so many in the US have the viewpoint they do? So how can you really compare this to Sweden? There’s a large cultural rift, and without that underlying cultural foundation, the author’s proposal really can’t work.

As an aside, I’m not sure the author understands his own gun laws. He makes statements saying “in Sweden you can’t own a gun if…” and implies that in the US you can. I wonder if he’s ever looked at a Form 4473 before. I digress.

But really, the key premise of the article is — registration and licensing.

What the author fails to demonstrate is how this will actually solve the problem.

Because we all know that Chicago gang members are into licensing and registration…. right?

And they all use deer hunting rifles and duck hunting shotguns too, after they’ve come back in from the field (I see all sorts of gangbangers wearing blaze orange saggy pants). So the author’s desire to “start with hunters” seems to be… curious. What WILL this accomplish, apart from perhaps someone feeling good like they are “doing something”? and are somehow then morally superior (the author makes it clear that moral superiority is a desired goal), while effecting little true improvement in the problem? I mean, the author spells out that the hunters registering their hunting rifles will be checked by the game wardens, and if it’s not registered they lose their hunting privileges. Gee… that really takes a bite out of that inner-city Chicago crime.

In fact, registration schemes such as this fail to do anything useful (witness Canada’s recently dismantled system). They do waste a lot of time and money tho.

Remember: ultimately we all want the same thing: peace. None of us want innocent people to die. Where we differ is in how to achieve that end. Me? I’d like us to consider solutions that might actually achieve something, instead of trotting out the same failed solutions or solutions that have no demonstrable ability to progress us towards the desired goal. Ideas like “registration” mean nothing because CRIMINALS – you know, the people that are actually doing all this killing – will NOT abide by registration and licensing. So how will such a scheme actually help? I mean, maybe it’s just the engineer in me, but when we have limited time, limited money, limited resources, I want to pursue ideas that actually could solve the problem. To pursue known failed solutions (that will just fail again), or solutions that have no reasonable ability to affect the problem, that’s just irresponsible – because while you chase these useless solutions, people are still dying. Please, stop.

However, one place I strongly agree with the author? that knowledge and demonstrable skill are important. Of course, I’ve spent the past 8 years of my life as a professional firearms instructor. I have hundreds upon hundreds of hours of training, many certifications, thousands of hours of teaching and thousands of students taught – so I deeply understand the value and importance of knowledge and skill. I see LOTS of people whose basic firearms handling skill scares the shit out of me (I’ve had many guns pointed at me, and no it’s never fun), and what’s worse is they all say the same thing “I haven’t shot anyone”… yeah… yet. They all think they are awesome and safe, but you know… Dunning-Kruger.

Name me one place in life where more education is a bad thing, where more knowledge is a bad thing, where more skill is a bad thing! I would LOVE people to get lots of training, demonstrate proficiency, etc. (and not because it would generate revenue for me, but because ignorance kills). And frankly, a lot do that. Here in Texas, to get your hunting license you must pass a hunter education course which covers lots of useful things AND has a shooting test for proficiency demonstration. And of course, here in Texas to get your Handgun License (to allow you to carry a handgun in public, openly or concealed), you must take a class that covers topics like the law, and non-violent dispute resolution, and again you must pass a shooting proficiency test and a background check (complete with much fingerprinting). So hey, these things do exist.

But it walks a tightrope, because self-defense is a human right. And when you start to do things like mandating training, mandating licensing, etc. you create a poll tax, and we determined long ago that’s a bad thing.

I’m all for the increased responsibility the author speaks about. But to do that, we’re going to need to revisit the underlying tone of his article – one of culture. If he thinks Sweden has the answer, then we need to get closer to a Swedish culture in this regard: one where hunting is respected and a part of everyday life. If education is to be so important, then we should do things like bring hunter safety and firearms safety into our K-12 schools. Help people understand how to be safe with firearms. It may not address the criminal aspects (that’s another topic), but if we want to fulfill the author’s premise, I think it’s going to have to start with a change in the US’s cultural outlook on guns, not as bad things, but just as things.

Everyone keeps expecting gun owners to compromise on this issue. Well, compromise involves both sides making concessions.

What are you willing to concede?