Someone is most unclear on the concept:
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Guns
Little Lady
A buddy of mine came to me a few days ago asking for help getting started with firearms. He’s shot a little bit, his wife hasn’t shot anything. Apparently wife’s friend took some sort of introduction to firearms course and had a great experience, relayed that to wife, now wife is interested, so husband/buddy came to me for some guidance on how to get started.
Since we don’t live in the same state I did the best I could to offer some generic guidance towards finding a worthwhile instructor: questions to ask, the sorts of things to look for, etc.. And I hate to say it, but since his wife was involved my gut feeling was for them to seek out a female instructor. Why? I didn’t want them to risk getting the “Here lil’ lady, let me help you with that” sort of mentality. Or saying that “Oh for you, Hon, you want a little snub-nosed J-frame .38… but Hubby he can have a big-ass 1911 .45” sort of bullshit.
Here’s a fantastic write up on this very problem. Caleb offers his comments on the write-up, as does Tam. TXGunGeek posted on this same topic just a little while ago.
Children and guns
Kellene is starting a 4 part series on children and guns. I’ll update this as she posts each part:
- Part 1 – Want to Ensure Your Kid Never Commits a Gun Crime? GIVE Him a Gun. (how about giving her a gun too?)
- Part 2 — The Myth of Gun Safety.
- Part 3 — When Is It Safe to Educate Your Children on Guns?
- Part 4 — What’s Really Responsible for the Deaths of Our Nation’s Children?
Kathy Jackson also has a great section on her website about kids and guns.
I ran into this last week during a beginners pistol class. One student asked about how to deal with kids and guns; he had a 3 year old and an 8 year old. He told me his first thought was to keep the gun a secret and not tell the kids. In my opinion the better thing to do is to tell the kids. Make no bones about the gun, make no mystery about the gun. Make the gun a plain and boring thing; even better, take your kid shooting and teach them about gun safety and how to property use a gun. I’ve said before that we find education to be the right answer for keeping our kids safe from so many things, yet somehow we think ignorance about guns is the right approach. I fail to follow that logic. I think we ought to be consistent here: educate your kids as much as possible about guns. That will keep them safe. Of course, for this one student, I said this really only applies to the 8 year old. For the 3 year old, you’re just going to have to take steps (e.g. a GunVault or better, get your CHL and just carry the gun on your hip all the time). But when the younger child is old enough, teach them too.
Updated: Kellene just posted part 2, added the link above.
Updated 2: Part 3 was just added. Kellene makes a good distinction here. There’s teaching your children about the notion of guns and being safe with them, then there’s teaching your children how to use them. I’ve blogged on this before, here and here.
Updated 3: Part 4 added. I don’t totally agree with her take here because I do think you can draw the line between toy guns and real guns, between playing and “for real”. However, I do agree that the mindset needs to be there no matter the gun, toy or real. Even when they are playing, they can still understand and apply correct behaviors (e.g. minding the trigger finger). There can and still should be parental supervision. Even if they are playing and violate something you can and should take the time to correct them. Mindset matters a great deal, and if you can provide your children with the right mindset, with the right knowledge and skills and ability to make the right decisions, that’s going to serve your children best.
Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results
That’s the definition of insanity. It seems to be alive and well.
If there is some new era of urban conflict and we need to prepare ourselves for that conflict, there seem to be two courses of action. The course of action some want us to take is to disarm the good citizens and tell us that Government Will Save You™. Well, I offer my simple experiment as to why that won’t work. So the remaining course of action is to take some responsibility for yourself to get some training, knowledge, and ability on how to defend yourself.
It’s your life. How do you want to live it? You’re always welcome to join the insanity. Let me know how that works out for you.
Progress on SB 730
Texas Senate Bill 730 has made some progress. “Local” coverage here. Official record here, but since action just happened there’s not a lot of detail other than “status: out of committee” and “vote: ayes=7 nays=0 pnv=0 abs=0”.
Not much update on the companion bill, HB 1301.
Updated: Yes, it’s actually out of the Senate now, not just committee (their website wasn’t fully updated when I posted… lag). An article. From that article:
The bill drew fire from business leaders, who called it an affront to property rights. Bill Hammond, president of the Texas Association of Business, warned that it could also spark more workplace gun crimes – particularly at a time when more and more people are losing their jobs.
“People could go out to their car, get their weapon and go after their supervisors or co-workers who hadn’t been laid off,” Hammond said.
I’m still torn on the property rights issue, I admit. But then, I’m OK with concealed carry so if I had a business with employees and an office building there’d be no 30.06 sign out front. I’d rather be surrounded by good guys and hope that all I hired were good guys.
As for the “people could go out to their car” argument well… remember that people could also go out to their car to get their gun and stop the carnage created by someone “going postal”. As well, if someone wanted to go postal but they knew lots of armed employees were around so their little rampage wouldn’t be that productive, it just might serve to deter the rampage in the first place. But in the end, someone bent on going crazy is going to go crazy and we can’t do much to stop it. What we can do is stop abridging law-abiding citizens.
Attempted range suicide?
Wow… this is fucked up. Apparently yesterday a woman attempted to commit suicide at a local gun range.
Red’s Indoor Range is the only indoor range in Austin (there are 2 locations). I am closest to the south location, where the incident occurred, and go there on occasion. I actually don’t like to go there because I don’t like indoor ranges (too loud, too much crap to breathe in), and I don’t like how some of the clientele lacks gun handling discipline (it’s not fun having a gun pointed at you) and the “range officers” aren’t consistent about enforcement of rules. You also can’t do much practical shooting there: no drawing from holster, no movement, slow fire, can only use their approved targets, etc.. The guys that work there are generally nice tho. I do like the ease of adjusting distances and benchrest ability, good for checking the state of a gun, a scope zero, and so on. They also provide rental services, which is nice for new gun owners to be able to try before they buy. Red’s also provides a Ladies Day, which is a welcome thing. So like I said, I do go there on occasion, but try to keep it to weekday mornings if I do go.
Does the incident change how I’ll look at Red’s? No. The sad situation is this was a woman that was suicidal. She was crying out for help, crying out for attention, and was determined in her course of action. It is not Red’s fault (the owner, the employees, the store). It is not the fault of gun owners. It is not the fault of guns. I know there are those that use incidents like this to further their political agenda… the blood still flowing, the body still warm, and they jump at the opportunity to advance their politics. I think that’s distasteful and wrong, and it serves no constructive purpose. It was a woman in need of help, and if she recovers from her injuries I hope she’s able to get the help that she needs.
If you’re into such things, say a prayer for all involved: the patrons that witnessed the event, the employees that have to deal with it, the store/range owner whose business will be adversely affected (i.e. affects his ability to provide for his family), the police and medical personnel exposed to it, and the woman and her family. I hope they can find peace.
One Year Free
It looks like the NRA is having a special offer for a year of free membership.
CHL saves the day?
It’s a breaking news story… details are slim at this point, but it seems a Florida citizen with a concealed weapons permit foiled a robbery in a Miami Burger King. Another story here and here but apart from listing the CWP holder as a Good Samaritan, not much more detail.
We’ll see what comes of it.
Rules violation
Looks like rules 1, 2, and 3 were violated here. Not that I’m necessarily broken up about what appears to be a top criminal learning what karma is all about, but it’s still demonstration how not following the rules leads to big trouble.
It’s also demonstration about how not to unload a semi-automatic firearm. To properly unload a semi-automatic firearm you:
- Point the muzzle in a safe direction (see NRA’s 3 rules for what “safe direction” means)
- Drop the magazine
- Pull back the slide to eject the chambered round.
- Visually (and perhaps
tacticallytactilely) check the chamber and the magazine well to ensure and verify no rounds are present and the gun is unloaded.
Updated: Looks like rules 1, 2, and 3 weren’t the only thing violated… adding drugs and alcohol to the mix too. TXGunGeek (in my comments), it looks like this falls under your “raving idiot” category. And yes I guess there is a reason to point a gun at your head and pull the trigger… to teach others how to be just as stupid as you.
Updated 2: Fixed my typo there… should be tactilely not tactically. Freudian slip? 😉
Apparently I’m doing ok
Was out all day today, thus the lack of blog entries.
One thing I did today was “beta test” some handgun drills/tests. For an idea of what I’m talking about, check here (and the PDF files linked to on that page); those aren’t what I shot today, but it gives you an idea. It’s handgun shooting drills, timed, to assess knowledge and skills.
I have to admit, when I was told I was going to be beta testing the drills I got nervous. I was going to be watched, judged, my performance evaluated. *gulp* Furthermore, I would be shooting with two other gentlemen whose experience and skills are far more vast than mine, so I was just hit with this feeling of pressure and nerves. But a few seconds after that all washed over me I said to myself: “Don’t worry about it. This isn’t a contest. This isn’t to compare you against them or anyone but yourself. Just shoot the best that you can shoot. Take your time and get hits. Be accurate. Don’t rush and try to shoot fast, even if the other guys can and do shoot faster than you, else you will mess up and shoot poorly. So, just stop being anxious and just shoot your best.” Just had to let the wave of nerves and apprehension wash over me, then be washed off me. 🙂
We went out to shoot. I kept my mind calm and didn’t worry about anything. I’d shoot however I’d shoot, and as long as I didn’t work myself up I’d shoot fine. Just focus on that front sight, good trigger press, and that’s all you can do.
We shot the tests. If I remember correctly, I scored a 97%. Was I surprised? A little. I didn’t think I’d shoot that well. What surprised me was that I held my own with the other guys. Not that this was a competition or a need of an ego stroke, but that I’m my own worst critic. I will be hard on myself in assessing my skills, abilities, and knowledge in anything. These guys have always told me I shoot well, and while I never thought they were blowing smoke up my skirt, I didn’t think I was good enough. They might say “You shot that well”, but I knew what mistakes I made, I knew I could do better. But now to see me shoot and hold my own with these guys, it did show me my skills aren’t as bad as I think they are. These guys gave me a neutral measuring stick, so to speak, that I could measure myself against instead of just always telling myself “no not good enough”. Note: I do believe these gentlemen could still outshoot me in competition, don’t get me wrong.
I also know that I did shoot well on my own accord. I just kept to the fundamentals, e.g. “cleardistinctfrontsight-press-cleardistinctfrontsight”. I did NOT look at the target at all while shooting (it’s a habit I’m working to break); I kept my eyes focused on that front sight. Good trigger presses. Stayed relaxed and calm, focused on nothing but myself and my shooting. I was aware of all of this as I was going through the drills, and that made me most pleased. I was especially pleased in that I did not care about how I was performing. All too often I get caught up in how I’m performing and that causes me to screw up the performance. I just shot and didn’t care what happened, at least until well after the shot was over. So that’s what surprised and pleased me most. It was me performing as I should perform, and it paid off. So I was happy. It wasn’t an ego stroke, but it was certainly a good gain of confidence.
In the end, I realized I’m not as bad as I thought I was. Sure I’m still going to be hard on myself, sure I’m still going to work to improve myself. But it was nice to have something that gave me a bit of a reality check, to put things in some sort of perspective.
In related news, I am very pleased with the modifications done by Springer Precision. The improved trigger certainly helped, but what helped most were the sights. There’s no question in my mind regarding today’s drills/tests that I would not have shot as well as I did if I still had those XS Sights on (that may be (part of) my problem… having those XS sights on as long as I did and my shooting sucking as much as it did, that may have brought my confidence and “belief in myself/skills” down). The bright red fiber optic just draws my eye to the front sight. The rear sight is clear and unobtrusive. The sight picture is just great. I do believe having better tools helped me.
I’ve also been working on my grip, especially my left hand. I’m placing my left palm heel a bit higher on the grip/frame, which gets more of my left palm in contact with the frame and allows my left hand to have as far forward a cant as possible. I’m finding a “sweet spot” for where to place my left hand in terms of how it wraps around my right. And I am working with the Todd Jarrett “grip 20% harder” rule. I believe it’s making a difference in recoil management and thus ability to reacquire my sight picture. Heck, I shot some quasi-Bill drills (6 shot rapid fire strings) today and had no loss of left grip, no need to reset my grip, and good sight picture reacquisition and control.
Bottom line for the day: I got a nice idea where my skills are, and that my practice and work is paying off. So with that, off to practice more.
And the sun was shining. The weather was great. I got about 120 miles of motorcycle riding in. A good day.
Stuff From Hsoi 