Guns

Addressing violent crime in Austin

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

So the Austin City Council thinks that banning law-abiding citizens from engaging in lawful commerce will lower violent crime rates.

Of course, there’s no data nor facts to back up such approaches, but why let facts, data, and reason get in the way of a good knee-jerk “do something” emotional reaction.

Now, I’m all for doing things to reduce violent crime, and if those that claim to want to reduce violent crime really want to do such a thing, they should look at real root causes and work to address those things. That Guy points out an interesting find about Austin’s violent crime rates. From KLBJ 590AM:

Austin police say downtown crime involving the homeless or transients is becoming a big problem. Assistant Chief Raul Mungia with the Austin Police tells the Public Safety Commission, “From January 2011 to November 6th 2012, 35 percent of the violent crime down there involved transients.”

Mungia says 254 violent crimes were reported with 29 of those incidents involved transients as a suspect and 13 as a victim.

So Councilman Martinez, if you want to “do something” about reducing violent crime, looks like you’ve got a good place to start. That’s real crime, real violence, real problem, really happening. Instead of “feeling good” and accomplishing nothing, here you could feel good about accomplishing something tangible.

I’m sure Leslie Cochran would appreciate it.

Austin restricting gun shows?

/ hsoi / 7 Comments

When you can’t do anything useful, that’s when you “do something”.

And so it goes, with the City of Austin and Travis County considering bans on gun shows.

City of Austin and Travis County officials plan to take steps to ban gun shows on city- and county-owned property — and potentially even curtail them on private property within the city limits, the American-Statesman has learned.

Why would they do such a thing? There’s hundreds of thousands of dollars of revenue at stake from just the use of the facilities, then all the sales tax revenue for the city. “In these tough economic times”, why would the city throw away hundreds of thousands of dollars of revenue?

“This isn’t a silver bullet that is going to solve all of our problems, but this is our way of saying, ‘What we do have control over in terms of the Austin City Council, we should take a proactive stance to not further enable the distribution and sales of guns through public property or through public facilities,’” [City Council member Mike] Martinez said.

[Travis County Commissioner Sarah] Eckhardt said, “It is all that we can do. It is a drop in the bucket, but if everybody does what they can, in aggregate, I think we will have made a difference.”

Oh I see. They think doing this is somehow going to stop gun violence. That this will somehow stop media-sensationalized mass murder from happening.

I see.

And their data that action A causes result B is where?

But you see, this has nothing to do with logic, and reason and facts.

“I would just prefer that if people want to buy firearms, they do it through a retailer and not through gun shows,” Martinez said.

I would just prefer it.

I wonder how Martinez feels about eBay and Craigslist. And how about all those local Austin farmers and flea markets? Garage sales?

So you see, no rational debate. No rational discussion. No logic. No facts. Just one Councilman’s preference because of his own ignorance and misunderstanding… and a need to “do something”, even tho that something will have no impact upon reduction of violence.

But it sure will have impact upon reduction of city revenue.

Some additional coverage at stainles’ blog and Lawrence Person’s blog.

Consider as well this could lead to breach of contract, and all manner of lawsuits for the city. More things to reduce city revenue. Can the city really afford it?

Look, if y’all think gun shows are hotbeds of criminal activity, then take steps to manage the criminal activity. But preventing law-abiding citizens from engaging in lawful commerce and depriving the city of much needed revenue strikes me as irresponsible behavior in our elected officials.

We will remember these actions on election day.

Starting IDPA

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

I made it a goal of 2012 to participate in at least one competition match.

I failed to meet that goal. Main reason? Limited time on weekends, and I chose teaching over playing games.

Plus I’ll tell you a secret. Public perception. Yes, I’m embarrassed to admit it, but people expect because you teach that you should be some awesome shooter — and that is not an unreasonable expectation. I know I don’t suck, but I am not at the level I expect of myself. I just haven’t made “becoming a Grandmaster USPSA/IPSC shooter” a top priority. And so I fear, with the “small world” that is the shooting world here in Central Texas, I’d go out to some match, stink up the joint, and how that would reflect on me as a teacher, upon KR Training, and so on. And so it’s kept me away. That’s just unhealthy and wrong, but it’s human of me. I’m getting over it.

I decided that in 2013 I need to shoot more. I need to get my skills up. And with Karl and Tim’s support, I’m backing off teaching and going to shoot local IDPA club matches in 2013. There are a lot of IDPA matches every month if I wanted to drive and be away every weekend, but I’ll start with one match and month and see how it goes. My intention is to shoot one IDPA match a month (with some minor exceptions), and dry practice the needed skills in between matches. If the only live fire I get each month is the match, then so be it — it’s better than I have been doing. I am not planning on shooting more than 1 match a month, but who knows how things might progress.

Interesting thing is the next matches? They’re all running the IDPA Classifier. Heck of a way to start, eh? But why not. In a way, it’d be cool to establish a baseline for myself. Yes, I expect to stink up the joint because I don’t know the rules, I don’t know how to play the game, and I don’t know how to “game” the game either. So I’ll just shoot, be very conservative, and suck. But at least there’s no where to go but up. 🙂

I’m also rusty as hell. *sigh*

That said, today I did go out to the A-Zone range and ran myself through some drills, one of which was the Classifier. At least I won’t be totally cold and unfamiliar with it. Alas, it’s been raining and was raining there this morning, light, but enough that it was muddy and slippery. Still, it doesn’t matter. Shoot, it’s no excuse for performance. The only thing it really prevented me from doing was kneeling — I got “almost down”.

How did I do? I’m solidly a Sharpshooter. That kinda depresses me because it’s not the level of performance I expect from myself — if I had shot Expert, I would have been happier. I had too many points down (especially on stage 3), including some misses that should not have happened. I mean, I expected I might stink up stage 3, but I should have been able to shoot stage 1 clean and I didn’t. *sigh*  I can say this was the first thing I shot, cold from the car, and the last time I did any live fire was a couple of months ago (yes, horrible). In fact, I haven’t done much dry fire either. I am not being a good role model. So really, when I look at it all, my performance is in line with everything. And I’m not happy about that.

I can’t fix it all overnight. Here’s a few things I can do now to start making tangible improvements:

  1. Get the first shot off faster. My time to first shot was in the 1.7 to 1.8 range. I was being slow today, intentionally so, but I can certainly work to improve this down to at least 1.5. A lot of this is just anticipating the buzzer and moving my body quickly to get the gun out of the holster a.s.a.p.. After shooting the Classifier, I spent some time doing one shot draw drills against the timer, trying to push myself. I could push and get to 1.5 without much problem but then #2 would fall apart.
  2. Work on the press-out/presentation. It’s about getting into that eye-target line, so when I do the draw, when I get things out faster. This really dovetails into #1. But while I do want to strive for the ideal sight picture and such, I have to remember the Brian Enos stuff of seeing as much sight picture as is needed, but no more. Allow myself to go faster and have the “good enough” sight picture for 7 yards (which will be different than 20 yards).
  3. Slow down more on the 15+ yard shooting.
  4. Speed up on 1H shooting.

Really, I think if I work on the draw/present, that’ll take me far with everything at this point. The goal then being to be able to shoot stage 1 clean, and I think 30 seconds is reasonable as a starting goal. I found some posts on the brianenos.com forums, for Expert breakdown and Master breakdown. Using those as a guide, I think cleaning stage 1 in 30 seconds is a good starting goal to work towards. Given how I shot today, it’s quite do-able with the above focus of faster draw and speeding up the 1H shooting.

Once I tackle that, I’ll reassess and tackle the next weak point. The larger goal is to classify as Expert (or better). In terms of time frame, I reckon that means “by the next Classifier”, which is probably January 2014. I’ve got a long road ahead of me.

Wish me luck on this new journey.

Fun Family Day

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

If you look down on “rednecks”, both the people and the things they do, then you should stop reading now because this post will probably offend you. 🙂

Had a wonderful day with the family today. Originally we were to do this during my Christmas vacation, but since I was down with the flu it didn’t happen. Fortunately the heavens saw fit to give us today, so the opportunity was taken.

The main thing? Going to the gun range and shooting. Some work, some recreation. Thank you, Karl, for letting us use the range.

It started off with me doing some live fire pistol skills work, because of my desire to start shooting IDPA. Details on this elsewhere. Meanwhile, Wife and Kiddos were inside the range house doing schoolwork (the joys of homeschooling).

When I finished my work, I took Wife out for a little work with the shotgun. She wants to improve her proficiency with the shotgun, so we did some work there. Alas, a 12 gauge, even with low-recoil rounds, just isn’t in the cards for her (Karl, if you find her shoulder, please let me know). She’s just fine with the 20 gauge. I just wish … oh wait! It looks like Federal now has a 20 gauge buckshot with FLITECONTROL wad (PD256). Holy crap! This is awesome. Of course, as I look around right now, everyone’s out of stock. But wow, this is great. I’m there and it’s pretty much removed my reserves about the 20 gauge. Sure it’d be nice to standardize on 12 gauge, but oh well. At least now I don’t have to put up with sub-optimal 20 gauge buckshot.

After that, Wife was done for the day. With the wet weather and the temps in the 40’s, it was just too cold for her to keep going. But the Kiddos were ready.

I recently purchased a new shotgun and needed to break it in and ensure function. I ran a bunch of 12 gauge target loads through it, then some full-power buckshot (of course, the Federal FLITECONTROL), and some slugs (Brenneke low-recoil slugs). The slugs didn’t want to go into the mag tube easily for some reason, looks like the brass was hanging up on the retainer clips, but no big deal really. Everything functioned great. I did put a 12″ Hogue Short Shot stock on it (shorter LOP makes for easier shouldering) and while 12″ LOP is a little too short for me, it worked out alright and I didn’t smack my thumb into my face as much as I expected I would. 🙂  I consider the shotgun functional and able to be pressed into service.

Oldest has never shot a 12 gauge before — he’s always been a bit recoil shy. But today he stepped right up to the plate and fired it like a champ. We’ll work on speeding up his shot recovery, but he really did a great job with it.

Youngest has never fired a “big gun” before, just .22’s. But he wanted to try the shotgun. 12 gauge was too much tho, so I pulled out the 20 gauge (a Mossberg 500 Bantam youth model) and let him try it with some light target loads (which are still kinda stout). He handled it well, tho was taken aback a bit because it was a big boom — again, it’s the most gun he’s ever fired. But he did come back for a second shot, but that was enough. 🙂

We put the shotguns away and took out an AR-15. I originally didn’t plan on bringing out an AR, but when packing up this morning, Oldest expressed interest in shooting it and I wasn’t going to say no. Again, he’s been very recoil shy in the past, only wanting to shoot .22’s. So for him to want to step up is great in my book. I mean, I know he can handle it, after having shot that 255# feral hog a couple years ago with a .308 bolt-action. Oldest got to learn what “giggle factor” is. 🙂  He was having WAY too much fun with that rifle — I should have brought more ammo. Daughter shot it for a bit, but she tweaked something in one of her arms the other day and so it was kinda painful to hold up the rifle. Youngest tried the AR as well, and was quite pleased that the recoil was far less than the shotgun — tho it was a heavier gun to hold up.

We put the long-guns away, and pulled out everyone’s favorite: the Buck Mark Camper. All 3 kiddos shot at the steel targets with this, and it’s just fun to plink with such a low-recoil gun — tho Youngest did get bit by the slide. Daughter showed some good improvement on trigger control. She asked how you get to shoot faster, so I explained a bit and I guess something clicked because she was shooting a little faster by the time we wrapped up.

While a lot of today was about having fun, it also was with purpose. I want my kids to be self-sufficient and able to take care of themselves. Yes, that means being able to shoot a gun proficiently. You may not understand why that’s the case, and if you don’t understand I’d be happy to discuss it with you; even if you don’t agree with it, I hope you are willing to have an open mind and come to listen and understand. The guns shot, the things we did, all done with purpose, even if I was the only one that knew what the purpose was.

Alas, we had to wrap it up before everyone was tired of it, but that’s ok — always leave them wanting more.

We headed to the Elm Creek Cafe for a delicious lunch (everyone loves that place), then back home.

Oh… and the Buc-ee’s in Bastrop is finally open. Yes, we stopped in. Finally my family came to understand why I adore Buc-ee’s.

We had a great day. Smiles all around. Happy family. I can’t wait to do it again.

DIY Airsoft trap

/ hsoi

Remember that Airsoft M&P I purchased a few months ago?

If I’m going to have it, I need a place to shoot it. If I’m going to shoot it, I need a way to manage all the plastic BB’s.

It’s CO2-powered, and it has some oomph. I tried shooting it at simple cardboard and that proved to be no match for it. TXGunGeek told of a great solution, getting those big wardrobe boxes, because you can stick one at the end of the hallway and it makes for a great place to catch the plastic BB’s. I think that’s a great solution – if you have the room. Alas, I do not have the room for one of those huge boxes, nor would Wife tolerate it. 🙂

When I was a teenager, I had a pellet gun and had a trap for it. The trap was made mostly out of thick plastic, except for the back and front. The front was a simple cardboard cover, so you could afix a target and of course shoot through it (and easily replace it). The back was made out of a steel plate and angled downward so any lead pellets that hit it would be deflected down. Also, hanging within the box were some curtains, I think made of Kevlar or at least very thick canvas, to help trap the pellets. It worked quite well, and served as my inspiration. (I just found it, it was a Crosman Target Trap).

The rules? To make a BB trap that minimized the bouncing BB’s and cleanup, but also that didn’t cost me a whole lot. Plus if it got all beat up and shot out, wouldn’t be a big deal to replace. So I went digging around the house to scrounge what I could, and was fortunate to find everything I needed. So in the end, this project cost me nothing but a bit of my time.

A box

What was fortunate about this project was receiving a package from UPS, and the box it came in was a nice large cube. That was the perfect way to start this effort. After some work with a knife and duct tape, I had formed the basics of the trap:

 

The basic trap.

Key factors were to put duct tape along every seam and corner, taping down whatever was needed to minimize nooks and crevices where BB’s could become trapped. I also wanted to make the opening as large as possible to accommodate whatever my target was, but still have a lip at the bottom to of course prevent rollout. After having used this trap for a little bit, I could argue having the front being replaceable to be useful. That is, the BB’s still can and do bounce, and having this big wide opening covered up of course helps retain the BB’s. I didn’t want to put a cover in place because it would get shot out and I’m lazy and didn’t want to have to always be replacing it. The paper target works fine covering most of it but well… maybe I might want to just leave a 8.5″x11″ opening, so the paper target hangs just fine, easily replaced anyways, but otherwise there’s maximum retention.

We recently retired some bedsheets from a child’s bed. I also found some carpet tack strips in a corner of the garage. A little measure, a little cut:

Start of the curtain

I cut the strip to fit the width of the box. I cut the curtain to be the width of the box and twice the height. Put the tack strip in the middle, just poking the tacks through the cloth to hold it. Note this cloth is not very thick nor heavy. I actually shot a few things and found that the weight mattered. If it was too heavy, it didn’t absorb the energy of the BB as much as deflect it — the point is to stop ricochet. So this light bed sheet worked fine to catch and cradle the BB as it hit, stopping it.

I applied the tack strip to the inside of the roof:

Hanging the curtain.

Here was a time for experimentation. Where to put it? Should I put the curtain close to the front? closer to the back? I even tried two sets of curtains to see what effect that would have. In the end, I settled on one curtain placed about 3/4 of the way back. First, two curtains ended up acting like a heavier curtain, too much material, too much resistance, and BB’s bounced instead of being absorbed. But also, too close to the front could allow the BB to “shoot through” the curtain and just strike the back and bounce. Positioning the curtain close to the back but with some room ended up working out the best because the cloth would absorb the BB but then all strike the back wall and be enough to make everything stop. It’s just what worked best.

I did play around with a cardboard insert at the back wall, at an angle to angle the BB’s down. That didn’t work out, but I also didn’t experiment with this angle (pun intended) all that much.

Despite all of this, I still had two problems: 1. the tack strip fell down, 2. BB’s could still bounce.

Finished trap

I had used glue and the strip’s tacks to attach it to the roof of the trap — it’s just cardboard. And while that was OK, it wasn’t ideal. So I just cut another section of tack strip, put it on the outside of the box opposite the inner strip, and used the nails within the strip to nail the two strips together. Works like a charm.

I also took the cut cloth from my second curtain experiment and just laid it loose and bunched on the floor. That worked well to provide an absorbing and uneven surface for trapping the BB’s that fell down, and it doesn’t get in the way when you want to empty the trap.

To use the trap? I just print out targets on paper and attach them with a tack from the top of the box. Simple enough.

It works pretty well. A BB here and there still flies out, but overall it works well enough and I’m quite pleased. Didn’t cost me any money, just a bit of my time, and was fun to devise and assemble.

How do you respond to being asked?

/ hsoi / 11 Comments

Many people that carry concealed appreciate the concealed aspect of it. Out of sight, out of mind, no one’s business but my own.

But sooner or later you’re going to encounter someone that will ask you if you are carrying, now.

How to respond?

This thread on the Armed Citizens’ Legal Defense Network Facebook page had some good discussion on the topic.

M.H.’s response was along the lines of saying “That’s not a polite question to ask someone.”  This is the approach I’ve most often heard, but I don’t like it as a blanket response. First, I’m not sure Ms. Manners ever broached the topic of carry, so I can’t really blame someone for not knowing if it was polite or not. In fact, if someone did know it was not polite, chances are they wouldn’t have asked. So in the end, all you’ve done is rebuke the asker and made them feel stupid. Is that really what you want? Likely not, so why use this answer?

Some people give non-committal answers, like “I’ll never tell” (L.W.) or M.P’s “No, but if I did I wouldn’t tell you either” or “When appropriate” (which we should know means “always”).

Others view it as a political statement or a teachable moment, a time to be proud and let people know because carry is nothing to be ashamed of (R.G). I did like R.G.’s deflective but inviting response: “Hey, that’s a great question! How about we grab a latte someplace on me and chat?”. View it as an opportunity to educate someone.

I’ve never had a firm, blanket response to this question, because I’ve never felt there was such a solitary answer. To me, it all depends upon context. Who is asking? Why are they asking? When and where are they asking? Does it matter if they know? These things all come together to help you form the correct answer. And yes due to that, sometimes “that’s not a polite question to ask” may be the appropriate response!

But that said, it’s like all situations in that being prepared for it, thinking ahead, coming up with some default responses, are good things to have filed away. I like R.G.’s comment as a blanket response because it doesn’t expose anything immediately, and opens up the lines of communication for later when you could have better control over the situation (e.g. maybe you’re talking in a place where such an overheard conversation would be inappropriate, so now you can move somewhere more appropriate). Also remember, you don’t have to directly answer – or answer at all – the question asked. Someone might get insistent “yeah, but are you carrying NOW!??” and you can just keep repeating the latte line. You don’t always have to give them the answer they want, give them the answer you want – you be in control.

Give thought to this question and your responses. They will affect how others perceive you and concealed carry as a whole. Leave them with a positive impression (or at least, not a negative one).

Put your money where your mouth is

/ hsoi / 6 Comments

From HuffPo author Amitai Etzioni:

We should not wait for our elected officials, in President Obama’s good words, “to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this, regardless of the politics.” We should do our share. One way to proceed is to mark our homes, apartments and condos, with a “gun free” sign. Parents should notify their friends that they would be reluctant to send their child over for a play date unless the home was safe from guns. Residential communities should pass rules that ban bringing guns onto their premises, clearly marking them as gun free.

Anyone who puts up such signs will become an ambassador for gun control, because they are sure to be challenged by gun advocates to explain their anti-gun positions.

You know what? That would be an interesting effort for sure. I truly appreciate Mr. Etzioni’s proposal for these “gun control ambassadors” because he’s suggesting people take immediate action themselves, instead of waiting for politicians to bicker and waffle and solve nothing.

He’s calling for people to put their money where their mouth is. To proudly proclaim their stance on this issue. Put signs in your yard. Wear a t-shirt proclaiming your stance. Put a bumper sticker on your car. If it’s what you believe, let everyone know.

So for you that support gun control, what say you? Are you willing to do as Mr. Etzioni proposes?

 

KR Training December 2012 Newsletter

/ hsoi

The KR Training December 2012 newsletter is now posted.

A little different from other newsletters, given the current state of affairs. But this is the sort of thing you won’t see reported in the mainstream media.

First, please educate yourself

/ hsoi / 6 Comments

You know what’s frustrating?

When someone demands their ignorance is right, and refuses to first educate themselves on the topic. They believe plunging headlong with their ignorance is the way to achieve meaningful results.

Look at the topic of global warming. Any time some “tea bagger” brings up how it isn’t happening, there are those that point out the ignorance and wonder how any sort of “meaningful discussion” can be had when the other side is so full of morons.

Well, that’s how a lot of people feel when you want to talk about “gun control” and you have a demonstrable ignorance about “AK-16 automatic assault machine guns with their high capacity clips and shoulder things that go up”.

If you want to pursue the route of gun control, that’s fine, but you’d do well to first educate yourself about guns. Speaking from a position of ignorance shouldn’t be seen as a righteous position.

 

Pulling back so I can move forward

/ hsoi

I had written this long post that basically wound up being me sorting out my thoughts.

I opted not to post it since it was just endless rambling. But because of what I sorted out, I figure I might as well post about it because 1. it’s less rambly, 2. it actually might be directly relevant to some of you.

I’m not going to be teaching as much in 2013.

I still love teaching. I’ve met so many great people, helped so many people overcome fears and take those initial steps towards greater personal responsibility and safety. I also learn a tremendous amount (how does the saying go? when one teaches, two learn.) I will still be helping out at KR Training as much as I can, but with finite time and resources, especially on weekends, pulling back on my assisting there is what had to be sacrificed.

So what will I be doing to move forward?

I’m making the commitment to participate in competition.

I’ve been treading water. My skills have stagnated, and I’m just fooling myself in trying to find ways to get better without doing the core thing: shooting. If you want to get better at X you must do X. Dry fire only takes you so far. Even using that Airsoft is helpful, but only takes you so far. My friend Tim, who is a master-ranked IDPA shooter, has been very helpful, supportive, and encouraging in this area… listening to me, helping me sort through it all. If I want to progress, I need to get out and shoot more.

I’ve tried to do competition in the past, and I even made it a goal that in 2012 I’d shoot at least one competition match. But I didn’t. It comes down to lack of time, and that I didn’t make time for competition. Simply put, I can only allocate so much time and effort in my life to “gun stuff”, and I preferred to spend it at KR Training helping with classes. Looking back, that was the right decision on a number of levels. Going forward, now is a time I can do this.

Why IDPA? Looking at the types of matches available in my area well… 3-Gun, Carbine, and other long-gun types of matches are out because those aren’t really my thing nor my emphasis (tho maybe later). So that pretty much leaves ISPC/USPSA, IDPA, or Steel Challenge. Some time ago I steered away from IDPA because I didn’t want to get bothered by the folks that shoot it like it’s tactical training and deny that it’s just a game, that it can be gamed, and it can be an equipment race just like any other game. I just didn’t want to be around the element. But I look at what I need to focus on in my own skills, and what I need right now is actually to slow down and get more accurate. I need to focus more on accuracy, and when it gets down it it, IDPA is a game of accuracy first and speed second. Steel? That’s all about speed. Given my needs right now, IDPA actually seems most fitting.

I don’t consider this “training”. It’s a game. But I know it will help me perform better because it’s new situations, pressure, and a break from the stagnation. And if I’m just better at the core task, that will carry over regardless of context. I’ll admit I’m unsure about the level to which I’ll take it. Will I totally game it out? Or will I stick with habits? For example, dropping the slide by grabbing the slide over the top (horseshoe grip), pulling back, and releasing is probably the better general approach to working the slide. But there’s no question it takes time to do and isn’t as fast as hitting the slide lock button. I’m sure I’ll fall back to established habits at first, the question being if I’ll replace those habits with the gaming element. Just have to see how it goes.

I think what’s also helped is all my lifting. Staying dedicated there has really made a difference to me. Writing about it is part of that dedication. And so, it’s part of why I am writing about this change here — an intent to follow through and commit.

This isn’t some “new years resolution”. It just happens to fall around that time because schedules are being determined. But it is a change, and I do need strong resolve to go forward. Thanx for riding along with me.