I have a friend that rags on me for my choice of .308 Winchester as a hunting caliber.
Guns
Hunting rifle
I’ve got a new rifle, specifically for (big game) hunting.
Concealed Carry Supports Law Enforcement
Howard Nemerov examines the data, the conclusion of which is that yes, concealed carry supports law enforcement.
In Right-to-Carry states, private citizens have greater freedom to defend themselves in public. Because the ratio of justifiable homicides by police and citizens is more balanced, and because the level of police defensive justifiable homicide is lower, one can only conclude that armed citizens are adept at self-defense, enough to provide a quantifiable level of protection for law enforcement. In non-RTC states, the reduced self-defensive capability of the citizenry correlates with higher rates of violent crime and a more dangerous work environment for police officers.
Read Howard’s article for the data analysis. You can even email him to get the spreadsheet.
Gun control saved the day
So the shooting at the Holocaust Museum continues to be fodder for the anti-gunners. (h/t SayUncle)
“Congress should think very hard about their responsibilities for public safety before weakening gun laws in our nation’s capital, and should rethink their decision to allow more guns in our national public areas,” said Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
“It is dangerous to force more guns into places that American families expect to be gun-free and safe,” he said.
Let’s see here. Our nation’s capital has about the strictest anti-gun laws in the nation. Yet those laws didn’t stop anything. That’s unpossible! So if the strongest laws didn’t stop it, how will more laws make any difference? No matter how many laws nor how strong they may be, they are not going to stop anyone but the law-abiding — criminals by definition don’t obey the law; if you are lawless that means you are without law, and if there are more laws these people will still be without them. Sorry folks, but towards the end of stopping violence, passing more laws that the people you’re targeting won’t obey anyways… the math doesn’t add up. Folks, even if you hate guns, can you not see the flaw in the logic?
As for being dangerous to force more guns into places…. there is no forcing going on. To force more guns somewhere would mean that you have no choice, you must have a gun. If you want to enter the museum, you must be at least this tall and have a Glock 19 on your hip. No shoes, no shirt, no Smith & Wesson, no service. No, sorry Mr. Helmke, that’s not how it works. Right now the laws restrict, the effort is to remove the restrictions. That way there’s choice so if you choose to carry a gun, you can. If you choose to not carry a gun, you can do that too. I thought people of this country liked having choice. That’s what this is all about: restoring freedom of choice.
Could the scene play out any differently if there were more gun-toting folks around there? I mean, in this situation guns actually did save the day. If there weren’t some people with guns at the museum, who knows how ugly things could have gotten. The “rampage” was stopped because Good Guys had guns. These Good Men had control over themselves, control over their guns, and their gun control saved the day.
Updated: Joe Huffman echos similar sentiments.
Visualization for self-defense
There’s been much said on the notion of “creative visualization” and how it can help improve performance. That said, we can and should use visualization techniques to help us in self-defense training.
Visualize yourself in self-defense situations and how you will respond and perform. There’s not really any right or wrong answer, except perhaps to say if you die it’s wrong and if you live it’s right, but even that isn’t necessarily so cut and dry. Certainly you should be visualizing yourself coming out a winner. Trouble is, often this creative visualization can get a little too creative and enter into the realm of fantasy, especially if you have unrealistic expectations or assessments of your skill level and ability. False bravado is not useful here. This is why visualization can only be a tool, reality-based training is certainly necessary.
Nevertheless, visualization is useful. What can help is to have a situation or a context that you did not come up with, thus you didn’t create something “perfect for your success”. The folks at Teddy Tactical have a fantastic archive of scenarios. There’s also a tremendous amount of other articles and information there, but really check out the scenarios. Read through them. Think how you would act.
Furthermore, take the advice of Tom Givens of Rangemaster. Every day look in your local police blotter. See what crimes were committed. Ask yourself what you would do in a similar situation. Furthermore, what could you have done to avoid the situation in the first place? You may be surprised to find that the answers to these scenarios often never involve drawing a gun, shooting a gun, or getting into any sort of fight or confrontation.
The goal of this visualization is to make yourself a playbook of sorts. That you may find yourself in a situation and instead of having to figure it out as you go along, risking precious time, risking making potentially costly mistakes, now you’ve got yourself a plan. You already know what to do so you can just do it. It’s easier to work with the familiar and known instead of the unfamiliar and unknown, especially in a pressure situation.
More Useful Acronyms
Previously I’ve mentioned some self-defense acronyms and the 3 D’s, and here’s a few more courtesy of John Farnam:
ADEE – Avoid, Disengage, Escape, Evade
AOJP – Ability, Opportunity, Jeopardy, Preclusion
BUIS – Back-Up Iron Sights
DOA – Dead On Arrival
DRT – Dead Right There
IBD – Israeli Battle Dressing
VBC – Victim By Choice
VCA – Violent Criminal Actor
June 2009 Rangemaster Newsletter
The June 2009 Rangemaster Newsletter is available.
Not only a nice write-up of the 2009 Polite Society Conference, but of great use to all is an article explaining how to read targets to spot and correct errors. For instance, if hits are at 6 o’clock, it’s usually due to anticipation; hits at 3 or 9 o’clock is usually from sideways pressure on the gun (typically due to the trigger finger); 5 or 7, trigger jerking/slapping; hits at 12, looking over the sights at the target; scattered hits, lack of consistency in shooting fundamentals. Read the article for further details.
Important points to remember
In reading the latest entry in the annals of reasoned discourse, it reminded me of a few key things that are worth pointing out:
* The D.C. v. Heller decision was unanimous (9-0) that to keep and bear arms is an individual right. The 5-4 split was about D.C.’s laws.
* That to keep and bear arms is a right that existed from the get go (“God Given” if you will). All 2A does is state that the government shall not infringe upon it, as a specifically enumerated limit upon the powers of the government.
More unpossibleness
Some guy wanders into the Holocaust Museum and starts shooting, wounds a guard but two other guards shoot back and wound the guy. He’s taken into custody. (h/t to SayUncle)
But how could this happen? Washington D.C. has such strict gun laws, they should have stopped this nutjob! Why didn’t the laws work?! Oh that’s right, criminals and nutjobs don’t obey the law.
So there you are, family vacationing, going on a museum tour, then some wacko loses it and starts killing people. Bad things can happen at any time without any warning and where you probably least expect or want it to happen. This is why it’s good to be prepared, always. It’s no guarantee, but the more you can do to have the odds in your favor, why would you do anything less? And why would anyone (private citizens, elected officials, etc.) want to restrict your ability to do so?
Glock getting with it
Glock was the manufacturer that made “plastic” guns a norm. The Springfield XD has been another big contender. Then Smith & Wesson came out with the M&P and what really set the M&P apart was the interchangable backstraps to allow for better grip-to-hand customization and fit (something easier to do with non-plastic-framed guns, like 1911’s). Then Springfield came out with the XD(m), and interchangable backstraps. And it seems now Glock will too. Rumor here, confirmed here.
I’m not a Glock fan in large part because of the grip. Maybe this will help. I have thought about a Glock 20 because 10mm would be a welcome thing for treading in places where one may have to contend with 2 or 4 legged predators, but I wouldn’t be happy about it. But if better grips are coming hey, that gives me hope.
Stuff From Hsoi 