self defense

There’s an app for THAT?!

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

Well, maybe not yet, but apparently there will be: (h/t Breda)

Today the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, with the Department of Health and Human Services, announced a contest to develop a smartphone app to help students better protect themselves in risky situations. The effort is dubbed Apps Against Abuse.

The competition calls for developers to build an app that lets women designate friends or emergency contacts and check in with them during at-risk situations. The app would also provide fast access to information and resources for dealing with sexual assault or dating violence.

Um… OK. Sure. I guess that’s not horrible. But it also doesn’t seem to be that effective in stopping anything. This app would only be good after the fact and uh… that’s of little comfort in my book.

“Everyone has a role to play in the prevention of violence and abuse,” Kathleen Sebelius, U.S. secretary of health and human services, said in a prepared statement. “This application can be another way to encourage young women and men to take an active role in the prevention of dating violence and sexual assault.”

My role?

I teach women how to shoot guns and effectively defend themselves. I teach them how to recognize potential bad situations and get themselves out of them or avoid them in the first place. Taking classes like this, getting a concealed handgun permit and always carrying, that’s a more effective active role in the prevention of violence and assault.

Somehow I think 124 grains of 9mm hollow point is a lot more effective at preventing rape than an iPhone app.

Draw comfort from discomfort

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

Only people willing to work to the point of discomfort on a regular basis using effective means to produce that discomfort will actually look like they have been other-than-comfortable most of the time. You can thank the muscle magazines for these persistent misconceptions, along with the natural tendency of all normal humans to seek reasons to avoid hard physical exertion.

— Mark Rippetoe

Granted, Rippetoe is talking about weightlifting and exercise, but it really holds for anything and everything in life.

You watch those ice skaters during the Winter Olympics, and they look so effortless; that’s only because you haven’t seen how they have to train all those years prior to that one performance. Someone that is comfortable in front of a crowd, speaking in public… they had to do a lot of work to get up there and make it seem so natural. When you watch someone shooting a gun, like top competitors such as Rob Leatham or Julie Golob, they look so cool under pressure because they’ve put themselves under a lot of pressure. That’s how they got to the top of their game.

When it comes to self-defense, like Mark alludes to, people are unwilling to seek discomfort. Can you think of a more uncomfortable situation that being attacked? How do you think you can overcome this discomfort? You have to put yourself into it.

Try competition shooting, or at least, take shooting classes and realize that everyone else in class is watching you, sizing you up, and comparing you. Hopefully that class might have some drills or activities that put pressure on you, like having everyone shoot a drill solo while the rest of the class looks on, or doing “shoot off” elimination drills, etc..

Take some boxing classes… no cardio boxing, but something where you’ll actually get hit in face and gut.

Take some Force-on-Force training classes, where you get put into life-like scenarios and have to decide when and how to use your gun or other defensive skills and tactics.

Life is full of discomfort. Sometimes you can ignore and avoid it, but many discomforts will hound you. The only way to rid yourself of the discomfort will be to become comfortable with it.

Texas man attacked by feral hog

/ hsoi / 4 Comments

 

“He came to me, and he was literally flying, and I jumped up on the gate,” Fox said. “But I did not jump high enough or fast enough, and he hit me.”

The hog’s tusk dug several inches into Fox’s calf. A doctor later closed the wound with more than 100 stitches.

 

 

Full story. (h/t to CHLGuy’s Twitter feed)

Hard to say exactly why he got rushed, but with water and thus also food being so hard to come by right now, critters are wandering further, getting more difficult to deal with. They are also showing up in urban areas.

Your pepper spray and cell phone and “self-defense clinic” aren’t going to do you much good here… even a good pair of Nike’s won’t help you for very long. A .44 Magnum on the other hand….

 

Car door theft vulnerability

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

Apparently the way your car door handles are manufactured could make your car more vulnerable to theft.

Read this article, but especially watch the video.

(h/t to my friend Larry)

I’m not sure how much of a tizzy we should get in over this because a thief can always break glass or do other things to get into the car. Nevertheless, it’s an interesting thing to note.

Regardless, my stance remain the same: just don’t leave anything visible in your car that provides temptation. Don’t leave money, valuables, CD’s, electronics, food, clothing, cigarettes, anything easily consumable or sellable in the car. Just leave the car and nothing else. If they really want the car itself, there’s little you can do to prevent that. As well, consider Jim Trudeau’s approach because if the car’s not locked at all, there’s just no chance of damage and expensive repairs no matter how the door handle/lock is constructed.

The standard for FoF training

/ hsoi / 2 Comments

The Handgun World Show podcast episode 128 pays a compliment to my boss, Karl Rehn of KR Training. The episode is talking about choosing a good handgun trainer, they mention Tom Givens, but then go on to say around 1:19:54 in the podcast:

When you look at force-on-force stuff? Karl Rehn out of Texas is the standard, from KR Training. When you want to know how to do force-on-force and not have it turn into a giant (garbled) match, Karl is the man to go to.

Thanx to Tim for passing this along.

Austin Flash Mobs… not the good kind

/ hsoi / 9 Comments

Friend of mine that lives in North Austin sent me this:

We were both gone Saturday. Neighbors reported that around 2 pm we had a gang of between 8-10 “YUTES” arrive on foot and, starting at the beginning of my cul-de-sac on both sides of the street, were smashing car windows with bats and burglarizing whatever contents they could find. An APD unit responded in less than 5 minutes (I was told) and while this was still in progress, but the “YUTES” split up, ran in different directions, and disappeared into backyards and over fences.  I am not aware that anyone was either detained or arrested.

Coincidentally, just yesterday Gabe Suarez posted on the topic. It’s a rising problem, but for whatever reason the media and police aren’t reporting on it. Curious that….

I was wondering when this was going to start happening in Austin. I guess that question is now answered.

I do hate how the term “flash mob” has been co-opted and turned from something spontaneous and fun to something so malevolent. Nevertheless, the take home is things are getting uglier out there. The predators are traveling in bigger packs.

Stay alert… and carry your damn gun, people.

 

 

You’re doing it wrong — what can we learn.

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

He meant well, but he’s doing it wrong:

[Ashley] Viola was driving his car on Third Avenue and witnessed a 57-year-old San Mateo woman being assaulted near San Mateo Drive and asked her if she was OK, police said.

She indicated she was OK and then told Viola that the assailant was running down the street, police said.

The Good Samaritan then allegedly caught up to the man, parked his car and confronted the assailant with a firearm.

A witness recounts:

Kiera McKernan, a manager at Edmond’s Plaza Florist at that intersection, said a customer came in screaming for her to call 911. She looked across the street and saw the confrontation happening in front of the U.S. Bank.

“An older gentleman was standing out there and a younger kid pulled a gun on him and was pointing it at him,” she said.

The older man was trying to hide behind a newspaper rack and the gunman was circling the rack trying to get to him, holding a silver gun, McKernan said.

“He was waving it and making it really known that he had a gun,” she said.

From the sounds of it, Mr. Viola was using the gun to detain or threaten or harass or “make a point” or apprehend or “teach a lesson to” or something to the woman’s attacker. It’s hard to say what he was doing, but from the sounds of it his own life was not in imminent danger thus he had no reason to draw his gun. Again, I’m armchairing this because I can only go based upon what the article says.

The key take home: it’s good to help people out. You might even decide on the “beer and tv scale” that to put up chase is worthwhile. Perhaps you can keep tabs on the attacker, get a description, get a picture. Heck, even if you are able to safely subdue and detain the attacker… that’s all up to you. But unless your life or the life of another (based upon your local laws) is in imminent danger, there’s no reason to pull the gun. And in fact, you can see that it might get you in bigger trouble.

Think through these things in your head beforehand. Be clear. Have your plan on how to handle situations figure out ahead of time. Know when it’s right and not right to draw your gun, to use force, to use deadly force. To have more than the one hammer in your toolbox so that every problem doesn’t look like a nail.

Reminder – stay aware

/ hsoi / 6 Comments

Some events happened yesterday that serve as a reminder to everyone to stay alert and aware.

I went to bed early last night, but around 10 PM or so, I woke to the sound of Sasha barking. And barking. And barking.

Wife went to investigate. There was a lot of noise coming from outside. Looks like it was just teenagers up late and enjoying the brief respite of cool weather. All their noise-making and running around put Sasha on alert. Good dog. We went back to bed.

A short while later, Sasha woke us up again. I went to go look, but only saw my neighbor out with her dog and then some kid whiz by on his bike. I did think it was odd to see my neighbor up and out so late at night, but her Facebook status gave some reason why she was up late so I figured it was just more noise that was causing Sasha to stir. Eventually I got her calmed down enough and she finally sacked out for the night.

Unfortunately, I was wide awake. So I headed to my office to start working. I check email and lo… an email from my neighbor. She said she was just taking the dog out one last time before she went to bed and noticed some people she didn’t recognize hanging out a little too close a another neighbor’s garage, and eventually they slinked off. It was too dark to get a good description. That house is further away from me so I’m not surprised I didn’t notice anything when I scanned the neighborhood. It bothered my neighbor enough that she called Austin Police Department to have someone come through and check on things. Good move.

But a couple other things have happened recently that has moved us… well… we’re not in code orange, still code yellow but let’s say it’s a stronger yellow.

From what I can gather, it’s likely bored teenagers going crazy from the heat. Nevertheless, even simple petty thefts are a pain to deal with.

If you haven’t, go back and read my prior post about a Personal Security Checklist. A lot of good things to keep in mind. To that, I’ll add a few things:

  • Don’t leave things in your car. Most car break-ins are looking for things that can be quickly and easily consumed (e.g. cigarettes, food), or things that can be quickly and easily sold (e.g. CD’s, electronics), and of course, money… even those few quarters in the console could be tempting enough. Don’t give them a reason to break in to your car.
  • Lock things. Lock the doors to your car. Lock the doors to your house. Lock the windows on your house. Keep doors and windows closed. When working in the yard, close your garage door unless you’re immediately involved with it (e.g. mowing the front yard, could be OK to keep it open… mowing the back yard, close the garage door). Many such crimes are simple crimes of opportunity. If they try the door and it’s unlocked, why not just open up, reach inside, swipe, and take off? Or if the garage door is open, just step in, grab a handful of tools, and off they go.
  • If you have lights on the exterior of your home, use them. Cockroaches don’t like light.
  • If the doggie starts barking, pay attention. Yeah it might just be a racoon in the yard, but it might not.
  • If you have an alarm system, use it.

The bottom line is that you cannot prevent all crime, but you can do what you can to make yourself less appealing. Nothing obvious nor easy to steal? Lights on? Everything locked? Alarm system? hrm… not as easy a target as that other house over there, in the dark with the open windows on the ground floor behind the shrubs.

This is what denial can foster

/ hsoi

Last night I saw this tweet made by the City of Austin about a male suspect groping females in the area of the University of Texas.

 

A male subject has been groping females in the University of Texas area.

A White or Hispanic male suspect, typically on a bike has approached female victims in the West Campus area. The suspect rides by, parks his bike and then gropes or attempts to lift the skirts or dresses of the victims as they walk past him. In recent cases the suspect has been on foot when approaching victims and no bicycle has been seen.

The suspect is described as:

White or Hispanic male

5’7″ to 6′ tall

Thin build

The suspect sometimes wears a black shirt, black biker shorts, and a black and white bike helmet.

He has occasionally been seen riding a mountain bike.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Austin Police Department Sex Crimes Unit at 512-974-5230 or the Sex Crimes Unit Tip line at 512-974-5095 or Crime Stoppers at 512-472-8477.

Date: 3:52:34 PM 06/21/2011 EDT

 

 

If you have information, please submit it.

As well, submit this to every person, be they in the Texas legislature, or just a private citizen, that thinks crime cannot happen on college campuses. That thinks there’s wisdom is denying the citizenry the ability to protect themselves by their preferred means. That somehow keeping guns off college campuses means people are safer.

Oh but you say, this guy is just lifting a skirt or grabbing a boob… what’s the big deal? Is that really worth shooting someone over? Well, why don’t you ask the women he’s victimized? How about asking my wife, who was sexually assaulted… sure, it was just a boob grab, but her attacker escalated and not too soon after his assault on my wife, he went on to rape a woman.

Tell me you want to deny women the ability to defend themselves.

 

The Will to Prevail

/ hsoi / 5 Comments

KR Training Assistant Instructor and Houston Police Officer, Justin Galindo, posted the following videos and comments to his Facebook page:

Says Justin:

Interesting dramatized ad for body armor, but actually this a better ad for carrying a backup pistol. Watch the whole thing and you’ll see what I mean.

Then Justin posted this video:

Justin’s comment for the above video:

Contrast the difference between that last video and this one. Body armor is great, but I’d rather have a determined will to prevail and to win.

A good compare and contrast. In the former, she survived through equipment and luck. In the latter, he survived because of equipment, the will to live, the determination to fight and win.

Interesting coincidence. Prior to seeing Justin’s posts I was flipping channels on TV and “American Gladiators” was on. It was the woman’s Eliminator. Both contestants started about the same time, but one clearly was taking the lead and the other was struggling to keep up. The woman in the lead got to near the end where there’s that uphill reverse conveyor belt, and she tried, and tried, but kept failing to get over the top. Despite a huge gap between the two competitors, the other woman managed to catch up and go on to cross the finish line first — she wanted it more, she was determined to finish. Yes the first woman appeared to have physically run out of gas, but you could see in her eyes that she had just given up. Both women were physically spent, but the one that won had the will to prevail and win.