Guns

Lessons to learn

/ hsoi

Dallas police said a woman shot at two people who kicked in the door to her house late Wednesday morning, killing one.

The shooting occurred at about 11:30 a.m. in the 7200 block of Concordia Drive.

Dallas police said the woman was home alone when she heard a noise — two men had kicked in the front door of her house.

She confronted the two men as they reached the second-floor landing and shot at them several times, police said.

Full Story. (h/t Guy)

Fits the typical profile for a home breakin: mid-week, mid-morning. Most home breakins happen during the work week between about 10 AM and 3 PM, because they expect no one will be home, off at the job working.

Failure of the victim selection process.

I’m not sure if the homeowner had any other lines of defense: alarm system (and using it), doesn’t seem to be sign of a useful dog, and not sure about the state of the home itself that may have made it seem appealing. But the more layers of defense you can have, the more you can do to make your home appear unappealing and “not worth the effort”, the better. It can help you keep a situation from progressing in the first place.

He said he will now teach his daughter how to forgive herself for taking a life.

I’m not sure this was some poetic hyperbole by the article author or fact, but assuming it’s fact well… this is one of those things that hopefully you think about and put into perspective before you consider a gun as a tool of self-defense. No, we don’t “shoot to kill”, we work to stop the threat. But in stopping the threat, yes a life may be taken. The better prepared you are for that reality before the fact, the better you’ll be able to handle it after the fact.

I’m glad the young woman is safe.

Is a pocket gun enough?

/ hsoi

When many people think about the right gun for concealed carry, their thoughts focus on “small, light, concealable”. So things like 5-shot snub revolvers (e.g S&W 642) or tiny semi-autos (Ruger LCP, Kel-Tec P-32, Kahr PM9) come to mind. There are many things one gives up in going to such a small gun, but there are also benefits — there’s always a trade-off somewhere.

But has anyone really quantified this data? Or is it just a bunch of internet gun-slinger bravado and anecdote about why you shouldn’t carry any gun other than a 1911 in .45 ACP the way God and John Moses Browning intended?

Claude Werner has done some study into this, and many people don’t like his results because they clash with their notion of reality.

Karl Rehn opted to do some study and data collection into this area himself. Remember that Defensive Pistol Skills BUG class I did back in July? Karl’s results are finally published in USCCA Magazine.

And Karl happened to get a picture of me looking like Trogdor.

Not everyone’s going to like the results, but data speaks for itself.

Equipment matters, and having better equipment — which does mean larger guns with greater capacity and that are easier to shoot and thus gain acceptable hits — are preferred. But a smaller gun is better than no gun.

But in the end? Training, practice, skill… that trumps equipment.

Class was good

/ hsoi / 6 Comments

This past Saturday was another round of classes at KR Training. We had one of our good combo days: Basic Pistol 2 and Defensive Pistol Skills 1.

There isn’t much to say here that hasn’t been said before about these classes, because the things that students encounter, the enlightenment, it surprises, etc. is all pretty typical for those classes. Trigger control and sight alignment remain the order of the day. 🙂  Really tho, part of why there’s not much to say is because these two classes were pretty awesome. A fantastic group of students in both classes. One thing that we noticed in DPS1 was how little we taped the targets — students were really doing well! And apart from a little rain here and there, which was easy to work around, classes went smooooooth.

But I did see a few things worth mentioning.

M&P Shield – Saw a LOT of these during the classes. I should have counted, didn’t, but there were numerous and so quickly after introduction. Shows the explosion of this gun’s popularity. But I saw a couple of things that bothered me.

1. I’ve been seeing the Shield fail to go into battery more than enough times. It goes like 98% into battery, which isn’t enough, and the gun doesn’t work. And it happens over and over. I’m not sure why it’s happening, but I’ve seen it with my Shield, and I saw it happen to multiple students and their respective Shield’s. I have no idea what to call the culprit tho… but it’s just something that gives me pause.

2. One student had a brand new Shield with a magazine disconnect. Rumor has it that now every Shield is made this way because of Massachusetts? I don’t yet know if this is the case, but if in fact EVERY Shield is now made with a disconnect well…. since I can’t recommend a gun with a disconnect, then that means I can no longer recommend the Shield. That sucks. I’ll try to look into this more.

Demographics – This morning’s The Shooting Wire had this blurb about new shooters

Having said that, I admit some concerns when a new shooter is sporting body piercings, body art and a decidedly goth dress code. Today, however, that new shooter may be male or female. They’re just expressing themselves, albeit differently from anything I’d ever considered.

Instead of accenting differences, I’m increasingly trying to convince myself to take the things we agree on (like guns) and use them as the lubrication needed to get beyond my personal

We had a wide range of students in class: young to old, male and female, and while there were no goths, there were certainly some people who broke the stereotypical gun owner mold. And one of those guys was shooting pretty damn good.

I always point out demographics because I see the reality of what gun ownership is like, and who is shooting… and who is starting to learn to shoot. It’s growing, it’s widening, it’s diversifying. No pigeonholing here.

Personal note  – On a personal note, I need to remember to keep my voice relaxed… let the PA/bullhorn do its job. It’s hard to… you have ear muffs on, I’m deaf enough already, you start to speak louder… and that just kills the vocal chords. I did better… voice made it all the way through class. But still. 🙂

 

ACLDN interview with Glenn Meyer

/ hsoi

If you don’t know who Glenn Meyer is, hopefully you’ll do a little reading here and learn about him and his work.

Glenn is a professor at Trinity University, and breaks from the norm in academia in that he’s pro-gun. In fact, he’s done a lot of research into the area of cognitive psych and guns.

In 2005-2006 Meyer researched what has become his best-recognized study to date, identifying effects on sentences handed down by jurors based on the appearance of the gun used by an individual acting in home defense. Results from that research were first published in 2009 in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology (see http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2009.00467.x/abstract), a professional publication that isn’t as accessible as the briefer online article about his study that Meyer authored for The Jury Expert, the journal of the American Society of Trial Consultants Foundation that same year. (See http://www.thejuryexpert.com/2009/09/will-it-hurt-me-in-court-weapons-issues-and-the-fears-of-the-legally-armed-citizen/)

For that fully story and an in-depth interview with Glenn, read the October 2012 issue of the Armed Citizens’ Legal Defense Network newsletter. I believe non-members can read it, and if you like what they’re putting out you might want to consider joining the organization (they do a lot more than print newsletters).

If you’re curious to read more of Glenn’s work, USCCA has published some of his articles:

“Appearances and the Armed Citizen” – a well-done article examining appearances and the armed citizen. Given Glenn’s area of expertise, this is one article you should read.

“Close Encounters of the Snubbie Kind” – that weekend of snub training I did with Claude Werner? Glenn was there too and this is write up.

Glenn’s an old friend of the KR Training group (he and Karl go way back), and it’s always a joy to read his work and train with him.

PracticeDeck 1.1.1 is now available

/ hsoi

The DR Performance PracticeDeck for iOS 1.1.1 (or PracticeDeck for short) is now live in the App Store.

It’s a simple update, bringing iOS 6 and iPhone 5 compatibility. It also raises the minimum OS version to iOS 5.

Click/tap here to download it.

Shield vs. PM9

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Karl passed along this video comparing a Smith & Wesson M&P Shield with a Kahr PM9.

It’s a pretty good review, showing how they compare. Not a lot of bias here.

I agree the Shield is a little big to be a small gun and a little small to be a big gun. But if your primary is an M&P, skills transfer to the Shield is much less of a jump than to the Kahr. But the Kahr is really small, and my understanding is once you get a Kahr running (some seem to burp during the break-in period) they’ll run like a champ. And while their triggers are long DAO’s, they are VERY smooth and quite nice.

I have been curious to own a Kahr. I have no way to justify the cost (vs. all the other expenses in my life). I really liked the K9 and would love to own one some day, just because. I’ve shot some Kahr’s that students have brought to class and always like them (other than the LONG trigger).

I’ll just say, if you buy a tiny gun like the PM9 for carry, do practice with it. Be sure you’re proficient with it.

TSRA PAC 2012 voter guide – follow up

/ hsoi

Alice Trip, TSRA Legislative Director, has always been an open and approachable person. When I wondered why only R’s and D’s were printed in the 2012 voter guide, I knew I could ask her. So I emailed her.

Here’s her reply, reprinted with her permission:

We offer information on the two major parties for several reasons but the most important is best explained by an example. In 2009 an incumbent, A rated state senator (R) lost to a known anti-gun challenger (D) by 9,000 votes.  The (L) candidate in that race took 9,000 votes.

To me, that answer comes across as “we don’t want to promote L’s because they can and do take votes away from R’s, who are generally more gun-friendly than D’s, thus we’ll lose races”.

That bugs me.

I don’t like it because it doesn’t paint a complete picture to make for fully-informed voters. It furthers the 2-party system, which just about everyone has a problem with (except those benefiting by it). And it keeps solid alternatives and better choices in the dark from voters. Granted, people are overcoming the darkness on their own, but things like this don’t help.

But I can’t really hold it against Alice. TSRA-PAC has specific goals. They do what they have to do to achieve their goals. And I’m sure if there were, in some smaller races, an L and a D running (no R) and the L was more pro-gun, they’d get the endorsement. If they put down the R and the L and the D, and the R and L were both listed with A-ratings, people will choose and votes will be split and you’ll get what Alice said above. So from her angle, I understand why it’s done.

I have different goals and ideals, and one of them is breaking away from the two-party system. I don’t like the political jockeying nor game-playing. I accept it exists and is part of the reality of it all, but it’s also part of the problem of it all.

I do not hold this against Alice nor TSRA/TSRA-PAC. I remain a Life Member of TSRA, and will continue to support them (just sent them money for the beautiful 2013 calendar that recently arrived). I do hope she’ll continue to fight her good fight (I know she will), and I’ll continue to fight mine. If you are a gun-owner or someone who cares about gun-rights in Texas, I encourage you to join and donate to the TSRA and TSRA-PAC. We don’t have to agree on everything, but that doesn’t have to stop us from being friends.

TSRA PAC 2012 voters guide

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

The TSRA-PAC 2012 voter’s guide has been posted. View the guide here.

One big gripe.

Looking down the list I see nothing but R’s and D’s.

At the end of the brochure, I see this:

Due to limited space, third-party & independent candidates are not listed

Limited space? Well, I guess these are probably still printed and there’s finite cost. I’ll grant that.

But welcome to 2000. There’s this new-fangled thing called “The Internet” and “The World Wide Web”. You might even be aware of it, given you seem to have one of those “www-dot-coms” yourself. Why can’t TSRA put ALL candidates on the website? Why can’t that subscript say “Visit http://www.tsra-pac.com for a listing of all candidates.”?

So, take the guide for what it’s worth, and do your own homework on the candidates.

Workout update

/ hsoi

If you pay attention to this sort of thing… you may have noticed the blog devoid of workout logs, be it lifting or dry fire or what have you.

I took the week off.

After this past weekend’s Medicine X EDC course, I was drained. The class wasn’t massively physically demanding, but I did haul around a 185# “Rescue Randy” dummy all weekend, it’s hot, lots of walking and moving about… and when I’m already down due to the dieting well… it doesn’t take much.

I figured at first to just take a couple days off and recoup. But then I noticed I was going to bed early every night and waking up late every morning. My body apparently craved a lot of sleep. Not 100% sure why, but my guesses are recovery from the MedX course and illness. I’m not sick, but it’s that “start of the school year petri dish” time when all kids go back to school, mix up their germs, they all get sick, bring it home to Mom & Dad, then they bring it to the office… and hooray, I’ve been around lots of coughing, hacking, sick people. I haven’t gotten sick — hooray for lots of vitamin C and ZMA — but I figure it’s something. As well, we had just enough rain that the ragweed exploded and I’m sure the allergens in the air are stressing my system too.

So just with a combination of everything, I figured this was a good “deload” week in general. Just eat my normal (reduced) diet, sleep, and recoup. I feel good.

I plan on getting back to the gym next week as usual, just starting the cycle over… no big loss.

My diet seems to be going OK. Losses feel slower now, but as long as it’s steady I’ll take it. I have readjusted my intake and macros. I did “cheat” a bit just before the MedX course because 1. I was mentally exhausted from the dieting, 2. I wanted to make sure I had enough fuel for the MedX course and didn’t have to become a patient instead of a student. Eating a bit more, and now allowing myself a little treat at the office like 1-2 Jolly Ranchers per day… hey… if it helps me keep my sanity and stay on track for the long haul, fine.

Dry fire is going to start back up. I need to construct a good backstop setup for shooting the airsoft in the house. Probably just a bunch of cardboard. TXGunGeek has a great idea where you use one of those large wardrobe packing boxes, and I like that except I don’t have a place to keep it long term.  I will also come up with a new, more practically-oriented routine given some of the things that came to light during the MedX course.