self defense

Why should we learn lifesaving skills, like CPR?

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

The local chapter of the American Red Cross has this babysitter boot camp. It’s a two-day course that teaches not just stuff about babysitting (and certifies you in that), but there are aspects of how to run a business. While that’s good, the “boot camp” adds CPR and First Aid certification. It was an opportunity that knocked, and I enrolled Oldest and Daugther in it.

Daughter wanted to be there. Oldest was made to go. I want Oldest to take the course because no only do I think it will help his gift in working with small children, but First Aid and CPR certified? To me, that’s worth it.

I think about the notion of CPR and the notion of First Aid. Why do we encourage people to learn these skills? Here’s what Citizen CPR of Tulsa, OK says on their website:

Why Learn CPR?

Cardiovascular disease is very common — it’s the #1 killer in US and in Oklahoma.
Heart attacks can happen suddenly, especially if you and your family have one or more risk factors (family history, overweight, poor diet, smoking, etc).

Most medical emergencies occur in a person’s home or other place of recreation.
You can’t count on medical personnel to be nearby when you have an emergency, because chances are greater for sudden cardiac arrest to occur at home. If your family and friends don’t know CPR, life can be lost in mere minutes while waiting for help to arrive.

The reasons for learning CPR and first aid are simple: because when a situation that requires those skills happens, the fastest person to respond is the person right there when it happens. In a case like CPR of course it has to be someone else. For first aid, the situation may be something you can perform on yourself and certainly no one can be closer to you than you nor respond faster to you than you.

So we seem to grant and acknowledge that life-saving skills are important to know. That the more people we have on our streets with those skills, the better it is for society in general. Just ask Howard Snitzer.

With that in mind, let’s do a little word substitution. Same sort of importance about life-saving skills, just a different skill:

Violent crime can happen suddenly.

You can’t count on law enforcement personnel to be nearby when you have an emergency, because chances are greater for sudden violent crime to occur anywhere. If your family and friends don’t know how to defend themselves, life can be lost in mere minutes while waiting for help to arrive.

If we believe it’s important to know how to save lives, why are there people who say saving lives with CPR is permissible but saving lives by carrying a firearm is not?

Syd said it best.

Use of profanity in issuing commands

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

BACK UP, MOTHERFUCKER!

or

BACK THE FUCK UP!

or

BACK UP!

or

Hey can you back up?

Is there a difference? Yes there is.

This past weekend I was assisting with classes at KR Training. One of the skills taught in Defensive Pistol 1 is issuing verbal commands. For instance, “STOP! DON’T MOVE!”. And yes, you must find your inner drill sergeant when you issue that command. The use of verbal commands is an attempt to control the situation as an alternative to and avoiding the use of deadly force. The issuance of commands isn’t black and white, there is a continuum.

You want to start out with the least amount of assertion, while still giving a firm command. “Hey, can you back up?” is an example. You’re telling the (potential) VCA what you want them to do, but you’re being reasonably polite about it. If they comply, great. The situation remains calm and they are doing what you want. If however they do not comply and the situation warrants, you may need to step up your command to gain compliance, perhaps yelling “BACK UP!”. Now you’re not asking, you’re telling, and with a louder, more commanding tone. One additional benefit of escalation is that of witnesses. Compare how it looks to uninvolved bystanders (potential witnesses) if you went from 0 to 100, especially if 100 didn’t balance out with the way the VCA was acting at the time, vs. if you went from 0 to 25 to 50 to 75 to 100, especially if the VCA’s actions were continued and non-compliant?

But this is where we get to the topic of profanity. It always happens in the DPS1 class, that someone will yell their flavor of command with a “fuck” or “fucker” or “motherfucker”. While we suggest something like “stop, don’t move”, in the end you need to find a command set that works best for you (and it may be more than one). So yes, people get creative as they work to figure it out the first time. In this particular class I was working the small range but came over to the main range to fetch a student. The class had just learned about verbal commands and students were back at the fumble tables reloading magazines, discussing, and joking about the use of profanity. I spoke about this with them, and figured it’d make something worth writing about. Hence. 🙂

The choice to use profanity is up to you. The use of profanity certainly adds a stronger tone. Compare “Back up!” to “Back the fuck up!”, and the latter is certainly a stronger command. As well, consider that criminal element likely understands and utilizes profanity themselves, so consider this in your choice. I personally will avoid the use of profanity, unless it escalates to a point where that additional emphasis is required.

If you choose to use profanity, you must be careful in your choice.

What’s the difference between “back the fuck up” and “back up motherfucker”? The first is a strong command, the second is an insult. The first just said what to do. In the second, you called the VCA a “motherfucker”… and now, you have escalated the situation, you have pissed him off more. I hope you can see how this could be a dangerous and bad thing.

Some may shrug that off as that you can’t control what comes out of your mouth when the flag flies. I won’t deny that. However, we can work to practice our scripts beforehand. Find the command set that works for you (I do like using “back up” and variants, thank you SouthNarc). When you are working on your dry fire practice, issue verbal commands. Work to find your script. Rehearse your script.

We all love working those hard-skills that involve throwing lead downrange, because that’s fun. But well-rounded self-defense should strive to avoid slinging lead as much as possible. There are other skills vital to learn, issuing commands is one of them. To use profanity in those commands can be an integral part of the command continuum, but you must be aware of the nuances and work accordingly.

It allows a woman to retain her humanity and dignity

/ hsoi / 3 Comments

This past weekend at KR Training I was assisting with classes, one of which was Basic Pistol 2. There were numerous women enrolled in the class, one of which stood out to me.

This woman was tiny.

I’d say she was 5′ nothing, if that. Very petite size, maybe weighed 80-90 lbs, if that. I mean, she was small; nothing unhealthy, just the way God made her. Plus, she was an older woman, probably in her 50’s. She came to learn how to shoot, and she did fairly well in the class.

You know what? I’m glad she’s learning to shoot, and shoot defensively.

Why?

Consider me. I’m easily twice her size. I’m 6’3″, 210#. I’m somewhat young, strong, skilled in martial arts. For someone built like me, someone like her is no physical match. It wouldn’t even matter if she was a 100th degree black belt ultimate supreme grandmaster in every martial art out there…. I’d still be able to flick her aside.

What good is pepper spray or a whistle when physically overpowering her would take almost no effort on my part?I doubt she could swing a baseball bat at me in a way that would do much to stop me. Heck, I’m not even sure she could kick me in the balls hard enough to make me fall over.

But I do know she can press the trigger on a gun, and that would do a lot more towards making someone built like me fall over.

A gun is a force equalizer. She is put in a God-given position of disadvantage. Should she be satisfied and forever relegate herself to being in the “easy prey” and “victim” category? Or should she be happy that Samuel Colt gave her the ability to be equal?

I fail to understand why there are people in this world hungry to deny women like her the ability to retain their humanity and dignity. To those people I ask, if you succeed in banning guns, what is she supposed to do? Look her in the eye and tell her.

Ladies Only Pistol Course

/ hsoi

A Ladies Only Pistol Course, taught by Lynn Givens of Rangemaster and Penny Riggs of KR Training will be offered at KR Training on Saturday May 21, 2011.

The course is designed to introduce ladies to the realities of self defense with handguns, and to give the student a firm foundation upon which future skill can be built. It looks like it should be a good course. I’ve trained with Lynn and her husband Tom, and they are top notch people and trainers. I do my best to not miss opportunities to train with them.

If you don’t know who Lynn Givens is, here’s some of her story:

Some years ago, before becoming Mrs. Givens, Lynn was stalked by a mentally disturbed man who threatened her life and the life of her young son. Eventually, that person committed suicide, ending that particular threat. However, as Lynn researched personal security issues in response to that threat, she learned about the actual level of criminal violence and the need to be self sufficient in terms of personal safety and security.  That led Lynn to a dedicated study of personal self defense, and she has since accumulated almost 1200 hours of formal training in firearms and other self defense topics.  Lynn has trained extensively with Rangemaster; John Farnam; Massad Ayoob; Rob Pincus; Michael DeBethencourt; Southnarc; and other well known instructors.  She holds Instructor Certifications from Rangemaster, the NRA, and the State of Tennessee, and is a Surefire Low Light Technology Specialist. She is the Primary Instructor among the group of female firearms instructors at Rangemaster.

My understanding is the class is half-full, and I expect it will sell out. The sooner you sign up, the better your chances of making the class!

(Full disclosure: I am an assistant instructor at KR Training… but regular blog readers ought to know that)

Burglary suspect in Houston shot by CHL holder

/ hsoi

Anti-gun folks keep touting that concealed handguns only lead to more crime, more violence, that there’s no proof they actually do anything good to stop crime.

So I offer you this recent news item:

HOUSTON – A burglary suspect was shot in the stomach Tuesday after a couple caught him in the act, police said. (h/t Tim)

Police said the man was going office to office on the fourth floor, looking for things to steal, when insurance business-owner Sherri Jones found him rummaging through her purse. Jones confronted him, but she said the suspect threatened her. That’s when her husband intervened.

Investigators said Gary Jones warned the suspect he had a concealed weapon, but the suspect continued to struggle with him.

“He told him, ‘I have a pistol I don’t want to have to pull it on you,’ and the guy just kept on and kept on until he said he just wasn’t gonna take a beating anymore,” said Terry New, a witness.

[…]

New added that he thought Tuesday’s incident showed the importance of the concealed handgun license.

“The police can only do so much to protect us,” he said. “Sometimes we have to take matters into our own hands and this was one of those times.”

[…]

11 News Legal Analysis Gerald Treece said the shooting was justified in more than one way.

“Justification in self defense, justification in defense of his spouse, and the fact that a crime was being committed,” Treece said.

 

Breaking into a garage, and how to prevent it

/ hsoi / 1 Comment

A while ago, someone sent me this video on how to break into a garage with a coat hanger and a few seconds:

It relies upon a few things:

  • A garage door with an automatic opener
  • The automatic opener has the pull to release the door from the opener’s track
  • The door has windows, so the person can see what they’re doing. Someone with enough practice and experience could probably do it without a window, but certainly being able to see what you’re doing makes it a lot easier.
  • The door is likely a daily opener, thus there’s no cross bars or other physical devices that prevent the door from opening.

They straighten out the hanger but for a little hook at the end. Wedge the top of the door just enough to fit the hanger in. Hook the hanger on the door release, and pull. Ta da.

There are some things you can do to make life more difficult, like not having windows. If you have windows, covering them or making them harder to see through is better than nothing. If the door is not a daily opener, like for a shop, consider using cross bolts or other hard and fast means of securing the door.

But there’s also something else you can do: zip ties

Wonderful idea… if you have a second hole to put the zip tie through.

I have Genie garage door openers and there’s no second hole. But thankfully, the big black plastic housing has some airspace in the front, in the area just above the release lever. A few seconds with a drill, a hole through the housing, and viola.

Carry your damn gun, people!

/ hsoi / 8 Comments

Via Uncle, a story on why it’s important to carry your gun.

 

Mrs. Maughan kills both of the attacking dogs and it turns out her dog is expected to recover. Good job and nice shooting there**. But her son takes the story to a scary place:

Brian Maughan said the event made him think about how vulnerable children or older adults would be to a similar attack.

“What if it had been a human being?” he said. “That’s just what was really scary about it.”

Mrs. Maughan is 60 so if the other older adults in that neighborhood are like her, then they be bad! But there is no reason it couldn’t have been a small child instead of her dog that was attacked. And if it had been Mrs. Maughan grandson being mauled by these feral dogs, she would still have had to go back home and retrieve her gun. Fate isn’t going to hit the pause button because you weren’t ready and need a time-out.

 

 

Tom Givens has had nearly 60 students involved in self-defense situations. Only 2 died, because they weren’t carrying their guns (I believe they had to disarm themselves due to legal reasons). Those that carried their guns lived.

The reason you carry your gun is because you need it, right fucking now. If attacks happen that sudden, if they go from 0 to ugly in no time, if so much damage can be done within seconds… do you really have time to go fetch a better tool from the house or the car or wherever it might be stored? No! You need it immediately. Really, the only place you can have it is immediately on your person, ready to go.

To borrow from Tom: Carry your damn gun, people!

 

Basic Home Security

/ hsoi / 9 Comments

Apparently there are a rash of break-ins happening, middle of the night, in neighborhoods in South Austin. We know one of the families that got hit, 2 laptop computers stolen. I’m still trying to get hard details, but the impression I’m left with is they removed the screen on a window, opened the window, got into the house, took 2 laptops, then left by the back door. Nothing broken, just stolen laptops, and easy access to them.

Like I said, I’m still trying to gather information, but I can think of a few things from this:

  • Lock your doors and windows! So many crimes like this are crimes of opportunity. Yes, locks ultimately can’t keep out a determined enough person, but if a criminal wants an easy target, why make yourself an easier target?
    • Make sure they are locked. Close, lock, then tug and ensure. I’ve had a few times where I thought I closed the window the whole way and locked it, but then when I tug-checked the window came up.
  • If you have an alarm system, use it. I know many people with alarm systems but they don’t use them or maybe only use them when they go away for vacation. Why? Do you know when something bad is going to happen? Probably not, so why are you gambling?
    • One of our window sensors went stupid a couple of weeks ago and had to be replaced. The tech noted to me that he was amazed at the number of “zones” (sensors and other things) we had in our house. He said our setup is rare, most people just get something like their doors and a motion detector. While I understand the cost factor (it wasn’t cheap to put a sensor on everything), I don’t understand how “swiss cheese security” actually works well here. Need to have everything secure.
    • Oh, and test your alarm regularly, at least monthly. Ensure the monitoring center is getting the signal.
    • If you have an alarm system, be sure signs and stickers are posted in the yard and on the windows. Make sure they know there’s a warning system.
  • Got dog?
  • Sure a firearm is nice, but let’s put perspective on it. The one family we knew that got hit, by the time they realized what was going on the guy was long gone. And while legally in Texas you can use deadly force in such a circumstance, should you? It will of course depend upon the exact circumstance at the time, but just remember: maximize beer & TV enjoyment.

A truly determined person is going to get what they want. But why make their life easy? Granted, it’s also a balancing act between making your life difficult in exchange. But there are some simple things we can do to minimize such violation and disruption in life. It behooves us to do them.

Let the dogs deal with it

/ hsoi

Another one from John Farnham, about bears.

Bears are not much different from most others predators. They know they need to eat, and they know how to get food.

[…]

Human predators are similar, just less honest and a good deal less respectable. They function outside our normal economic system, but, like bears, they know what they need, and they know how to get it. To them, you have no value outside what they can forcibly extract from you, with minimal effort and risk.

The concluding advice?

 

“… and when a bear comes… keep as many sheep as you can between the bear and you. Then, let the dogs deal with it!”

 

 

But you know, that only works if there are dogs around to deal with it. When we accept the myth that the police will be there to save us, I ask you right this moment, where is the nearest person that can save you? Where is the nearest police officer, this very moment? You know tho, one person that is right here right now is you yourself. Think about that.

Furthermore, when we attempt to use the law of the land to prohibit sheepdogs from existing and doing their thing, we’ll have fewer and fewer dogs to keep us safe. You may be unwilling to protect your own life, and in doing so you put the job of preserving your life into the hands of others. Don’t restrict and abridge those willing to help you, else you put the job of preserving your life into the hands of the predators… and they don’t see you as something to protect, only as prey.

 

You’re on your own, and always have been

/ hsoi

Whenever I talk about the fallacy of “gun free zones” being equated with “safe”, I point out where shootings do and do not tend to occur. Where do they tend to happen? Places where the law-abiding citizen cannot protect themselves, like schools or places that like to post “no guns” or “weapons prohibited” signs (e.g. Westroads Mall in Omaha). I then point out that shootings tend to not happen at places where you know everyone is armed, like NRA meetings, gun shops, and police stations.

Well, I guess I need to revise my statement. John Farnham tells of a Detroit police station that got shot up.

In the case of the Detroit Precinct Station, all legitimate residents were carrying guns, so the armed invader enjoyed only an abbreviated tenure before he was shot to death by officers who courageously and unhesitatingly responded in kind, but with more skill and precision. Had they all be unarmed, as would be the case with denizens of most schools and churches, the criminal’s deadly spree would have gone on and on!

The fact that those DPD Officers were routinely armed and ready, even in the “office,” saved many innocent lives.

You can’t stop crazy — and going into a police station to shoot the place up is a definition of crazy (he wanted “death by cop” for certain). But consider what happened. It was cut short only because of the ability to swiftly respond. Imagine if swift reaction wasn’t able to happen, how much more havoc could have ensued. Look at the big mass murders say at Virginia Tech or Westroads or other such places… lots of people died because no one was able to swiftly respond.

You’re on your own, and always have been. For the clueless and unprepared, it is only luck that has protected them thus far.