Found the following thread on a forum I often read....
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Daylight: Today I was called a Gundamentalist.
I think it was meant to be insulting or belittling. The more I think about it, the more I find it charming.
Thernlund: Mmmm... I dunno. Fundamentalist-anything really doesn't have good connotations associated with it.
Buuuut, turning an insult into a compliment is rarely a bad thing.
M1911a1lvr: I think I would rather be called that then be called a firearms fanatic.
Canthros: Presumably, a Gundamentalist is one that subscribes to the Gundamentals? That's, what? Cooper's Four Rules, the revered sainthood of John Moses Browning, and abstinence from such perversions as point shooting? Major sacraments to include baptism in Hoppes No. 9and anointing with CLP, I suppose.
JesseL: I find the term gundamentalist offensive. I prefer to be called a "gun toting lunatic", but "heavily armed nutjob" is also acceptable.
ZeroTA: Gundamentalist...I like it.
A friend told me a while back that all I do is shoot and read about guns on the internet. I told him that I have knowledge and a skill set that is, if nothing else, tons of fun but just may also be needed to save my life someday. He only has memories of television and video games. If that makes me a gundamentalist or gun nut or whatever, so be it. I just prefer "prepared citizen".
Huey148: well, what do you expect when all I have to cling too are my guns and religion....jeez...
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Who says that gun owners don't have a sense of humor. From now on just call me a gundamentalist!!
In the US, the Polish people got a bad rap for many years. Despite a rich history of contributions to the endeavors of science (Nicolaus Copernicus), culture (Frederick Chopin) and politics (Lech Walesa) polish people were often seen as being unintellectual laborers and a lower class of European citizenry. Polish jokes were part of the mainstay of many comedians. Even TV'sAll In The Family kept Archie's Son in Law's "Meathead" ancestry a running gag with a slew of "you stupid Pollack" lines for many seasons.
Many people forget that the Poles fought bravely, abet briefly, during the initialBlitzkried of WW2. Facing insurmountable odds against a well armed, modern German Wermacht, the Poles used horse Cavalry in one of its last modern engagements as a last ditch effort not to be conquered. They did not succeed. Polish soldiers that escaped and Polish refugees made up the fourth largest component of the allied forces in Europe during the war. Polish partisans (often overshadowed in history books and the movies by their French counterparts) played an important role in keeping Germany occupied in Eastern Europe during the war. Over 6 million Polish civilians died during the war, many of Jewish decent as part of Hilter's "final solution". Over all, more Poles died in the war as a percentage of their country's population during the war than any other country. After the war as a Soviet satellite the Poles served their communist overlords with distinction and were a constant threat to the West as the name "Warsaw Pact" bore out. The Renaissance of democracy in Eastern Europe could easily of be argued to have been successfully launched in Poland with the Solidarity movement causing the Polish government, and the Soviets in turn, to make many concessions that struck the match of freedom for millions of people in Europe eventually. Today the Polish Tantal AK is a well respected and much sought after modified model of the AK-74 and is considered one of the best quality rifles available.
Now, I came across this video of a "Polish plate rack" in action at a steel plate match. This thing looks like it would be a beyatch! My scores would surely suffer! I am pretty sure that the Poles did not develop this device. Anyway, I thought it was a good reason to give a brief history lesson on one of the great "forgotten" cultures of Europe. Enjoy the vid!
Found this on Break.com, pretty cool home made contraption. Built on an AR lower and what appears to be a home made fabric belt, this shotty would be a pretty cool shooter at a range. Of course the obvious question begs to be asked if that is a legal full auto lower or if somebody was handy enough to fabricate a 12 gauge upper for it, if they weren't also handy enough to do "some work" on the lower too. Thing seems pretty touchy on the belt position and extraction. Still pretty cool overall..IF your into this sort of thing.....
I think I am going to sign up for a trap shooting clinic sometime this winter up at Blackwing Shooting Center in Delaware, Ohio. I think it is a pretty cool sport and would like to extend my shooting repertoire. Kevin from Super Frickin Awsome Stuff has been trying to get me to go shooting with him. I think this way I can go out with him after having a clue so I won't be a hassle to teach and we can just get down to shootin' some clays.
Ah, the smell of fireplaces, the cool weather, Buckeye football, Halloween and Thanksgiving, leaves on the trees turning vibrant gold and red, being able to pack bigger CCW pistols....
For those of you that do not live in a "temperate" climate where you have distinct seasons, this may be lost on. But those of us who live where the weather gets cold usually have more concealment options once we stop wearing shorts and t-shirts and start wearing jeans, sweatshirts and jackets daily.
My "hot" weather carry on the left (Kel-Tec P-2AT) and my "cold" on the right (S&W M&P40c with a full sized 15 round mag as a spare - grip adapter attached). Anyone who has followed this blog will have seen a wide array of pistols have been gone through to come down to this final (or current?) paring.
Last March I told you about the Guns & Ammo Complete Book Of The AK47. Now they have provided a counterpart to that guide with the Guns & Ammo Book Of The AR-15. Available at your local retailer and listed at $8.99, it is available until 2/23/10 per the front cover. This mag is a great read for any owner or potential owner of an AR based rifle and provides a lot of information concerning AR related topics. Among topics covered are the following:
A guide for new AR owners.
Review of a Larry Vickers AR training course.
Piston driven AR's.
AR Accuracy secrets.
The US Army's designated marksman program.
AR's for hunting.
Ammo choices for your AR.
Hand loading the .223/5.56 round.
Optics for the AR.
Calibers beyond the .223/5.56 for the AR.
Reviews of the Daniel Defense M-4 and Saber M-4.
And much more!!
If you already own an AR and think you know it all you may learn a thing or two in this mag. If you are thinking about getting one (while you still can!) this is a good resource to educate yourself to make an informed decision before you plunk down $1,000+ on a rifle that you may or may not like. Either way, it is a fine addition to any reference collection in your gun safe.
OK, so here I am a day after ranting about blogging burn out posting again. Ironic, no?
Late this summer I got wind of a new "reality" series coming to Showtime called Lock 'n Loaded that followed the activity in a gun shop via concealed cameras. Sounded like a pretty good idea. I was kind of wondering what type of pro/anti spin might be put on it, but figuring that since the folks working in the gun shop would have to sign releases for it to be made that it would have a fighting chance.
The original trailer for Lock 'n Load from Showtime.
At the time I didn't subscribe to Showtime, I am more of a HBO type guy. I went ahead and ordered Showtime and set my DVR to record each of the 6 episodes. Its now going on week 4 of the series. I've canceled Showtime. This show really didn't do anything for me. I am not the only one who it apparently didn't impress, I have read several reviews on line that pan the show for various reasons.
Number one, they stole the name of the show from R. Lee Ermey's series on The History Channel. Shame on you for that first and foremost!
You stole my show's name?!? What is your major malfunction numbnuts!!
The entire thing seemed too set up for my tastes to be a "reality" based show. First off the star of the show, Josh, is apparently an aspiring actor and was the one who sought to have the show produced by Showtime to get his career started. Understandable, but does it really make it a reality show when one of the participants may be trying to get a specific response from unknowing participants and then passing that off as reality. In the second episode he actually pulls a stun gun out from behind the counter and urges a customer to use it on his buddy. Can you believe that? I am sure liability insurance on a gun store is high enough without prompting your customers to use your wares on each other. And about the shop....well, I hate to pass judgement since I personally have never stepped foot inside the place, but it doesn't seem to be the most elaborate place that they could have chosen to shoot a show about a gun shop. Maybe the cameras don't do it justice. One of my favorite shop in Columbus is just a small place with good people working there. The section that they concentrate on is the counter Josh is constantly at and has two glass cases and what appears to be an 8 or 10 foot rack against the wall that is sometimes full and sometimes not of long guns.
Hi, I'm josh, let me put this barrel in your face and then I'll get your bud to taze you.
I guess what really hit a sour point with me was in episode 1 where a female shooter comes in looking for skeet shotguns. They interact where it is revealed that Josh had just happened to be going skeet shooting the next day and they agree to meet and shoot some clays. We watch Josh show up in overalls with his tats all on display and the woman show up with a shooting jacket on and then proceed to totally school him in the match. Wow, it turns out that she is a world champion in skeet or something like that! What a surprise! And she just happened to walk into a gun shop that was shooting a show for Showtime with an aspiring actor! I do feel sorry for her though, that speech impediment that makes it sound like you are reading a script or off of cue cards must be hell to live with on a daily basis. Seriously, the series had to stoop to putting a "ringer" into it on the first episode.
The other customer he interacts with all seem to have a niche to fall in so he can experience the wide variety of people in our society that enjoy shooting. He's got men, women, old, young, black, white, Hispanic and just about every mix of each in every way possible. Some of the ways he interacts with them are humorous, some not so much. Is calling a customer "gangsta" really the image the pro-gun community want to portray? Especially in a store that is about 10 miles from Columbine H.S. in Colorado?
Some people might like this show. As for me, I have better ways to spend the extra cash that it cost to have Showtime piped onto the TV (ammo!) I wish Josh the host the best in his acting career because he does have some presence on the screen and I could see him doing TV for a living at some point. I just don't think he chose the right vehicle to try and make his big break into the limelight. For anyone who regularly subscribes to Showtime I suggest you watch the show and make up your own mind. As for me, I will quietly wait unit the next season of True Blood on HBO makes it way onto cable before I start regularly adhering to the TV again.
For those of you that may occasionally venture here more than once, you may have noticed the frequency of postings (especially ones of more than a couple of sentences) has been greatly reduced. I am apparently in one of those lulls in creativity that grasp the blogging world every once in a while. Its not for lack of material because I have more than a couple of reviews to finish and some other items that I would love to speak out about. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that I have "zeroed in" on reading only a handful of other gun blogs on a daily basis and we all seem to somehow cover the same material at the same time. I will admit some of what I post is just a regurgitation of other peoples work on their blogs and sites (and I try my best to give them credit up front for their work), but sometimes it seems like everyone is just reposting the 'net ad nausea for others to do the same. This is not a condemnation of myself or others, its just a fact of the web centered info age we live in these days. I don't get a lot of visitors on this site, maybe 50 - 75 on a normal day, so I know what I write (or don't write) may not be even read, but to me it does make a difference. I am the one who puts the time in to keep this blog up and if I can't get motivated to keep it going in what I feel is a worthwhile investment of my time, well it may be time to move on. I read somewhere that most blogs usually don't make it past a year or two. I don't think (hopefully) it will come to that. I may just need a break for a bit to recharge and get focused on some other parts of my life that have been neglected and figure out some fresh stuff to hop on to post. If that is the case expect to see some new and original stuff the week of Thanksgiving as I will be off a couple of days.
Thanks to The Mad Ogre for allowing me to post this! The Ogre (George) works for a gun store in Utah in addition to also giving firearms training and also being one of the founding members of Crusader Weponry.
Sometimes we forget the basics and need to be reminded to put the horse in front of the cart...so may I offer a reading from the book of Ogre..
Handgunning:
The biggest mistake novice pistoleros make is a simple matter of forgetting the basic fundamental skills. For some reason, they can tell you what it takes to shoot, but when they draw the weapon, it all goes out the window. For me, the biggest reason I enjoy handgun shooting is that it is more of a challenge. What makes it challenging is that handgunning is a whole person event. You can't half-ass a pistol shot. It takes a combination of body and mind and an almost zen-like “one-ness” with your handgun to make those pistol shots consistent. And it all starts from the ground up.
The Stance, is something continually harped on by martial artists... placement of your feet, your balance on your feet... there is a reason serious martial artists harp on this so much. Everything is build off that foundation. For handgunning, it is the same. We are not tensing up to throw round-house kicks, but we are getting ready to take some recoil and to possibly make movement. But since we are not about to Chuck Norris anything, our feet should be shoulder width apart, nice and comfortable, knees unlocked and just slightly bent, and our weight just a bit forward... on the balls of the feet not the heels.
Going along with the stance is a huge debate in the Gunner's Community about Weaver vs Isosceles... the correct answer is the same answer as “Mary Anne or Ginger?” The answer is “Both”. We should learn to use both and to transition seamlessly between the two. Which one we use and when all depends on the situation. If I am in an Interview Position, where I am talking to someone who I am not clear on the identity or Intent of the person – I stand with my weapon side away from that person. This puts me into the Weaver position. Should I be facing a potential threat and I'm wearing armor – I want as much of that armor facing the threat as possible so I'll be set up for an Isosceles position. And you can't say “I only use Weaver and nothing else” Well, that's just stupid because in real life, target engagements do not happen in static positions like they do on the range. Say, I'm facing a target and it starts moving from my left to my right – and I track that target with my weapon, I am swinging through Weaver into Isosceles. Say that target goes from straight in front of my Weaver position and breaks to my left – then I bring my right foot forward and I am no into the Isosceles again. So train with both, because in reality, you will need both.
Get a grip: It's almost scary when I hand a person at the gun counter a pistol and I watch them take up their grip on the gun... it's really easy to spot the Ignorant and the Novice and the Braggarts and who is an experienced shooter. Women make the biggest mistakes in the grip department. The Ladies will often grab the grip very low, putting all fingers on the grip under the trigger guard, leaving almost an inch or more between their hand and the beavertail or base area of the pistol. This is the “I've never shot a gun before in my life” grip. I especially find it amusing when the guy gripping the pistol like that has made claims to being Super Secret Squirrels in the military. Uh huh. The other common problem grip is the Revolver Grip. This is where the Support Hand's Thumb goes across the top of the firing hand, behind the pistol. This might be okay with a Revolver, and maybe that's how you've done it all your life. But now days when you do that, you run the risk of the slide hitting your thumb and causing you some sudden discomfort and or lacerations. The grip should start out with the firing hand with the pistol inline with the bone of the forearm. This grip should be up as high on the gun as possible, to put the bore axis as low as possible. The support hand then wraps around the firing hand fingers, anchoring the pistol in a vice, with both thumbs together and if possible, pointing forward. The trigger finger is up along the frame of he pistol when the pistol is not aimed at the target. A good grip is critical because because a handgun does two things during firing. One is the recoil is going to make the gun kick back and up. Torque is going to want to make the gun twist. You can Recoil from the mass of the bullet and the pressure of the charge sending that bullet out of the gun and down range. You get torque because the barrel has rifling in it to impart spin on the bullet. A good grip controls Torque and Recoil and minimizes their disturbance.
The Sight Picture. Often I ask the students what they are looking at and what their sight picture looks like. I get some strange answers. First off, the Sight Alignment, how you should align the sights. Take a look at this simple Paintbrush rendering of a sight picture.
When we are shooting target sights, we use the sights with the top of the center post even with the rear sights and we center that across the equator of our target, ( a center hold) or we put the target on top of the center post, (a 6 O'clock hold) which is the least ideal sight picture one can have in my opinion. Now, for Defensive or Tactical shooting, we use just the Dots. Line up the dots, and put that dot on the center of the target as shown in the little .gif image. The Sights and the Target together make the Sight Picture. Now how do we look at the Sight Picture? Our eyes are trying to focus on 3 things at once... something that they are not able to do. So where are we looking at? Our eyes should take a sharp focus on just one thing... the Front Sight Post. In an engagement, we are looking at the target, first and always... When a threat is identified, we bring the weapon up into the eye level and we are now looking at a sight picture. From here, shift your eye's focus to the Front Sight Post and apply pressure to the trigger. Simple as that. Don't over-think this. You don't have time. Place the Dot, and Place the Shot. Nothing else is important to look at.
The Trigger: Triggers get a lot of abuse... They get jerked and slapped and crushed just beaten on all the time. You can do everything right, and ruin the shot with even a slight case of trigger abuse. When you pull the trigger, do so with a steady pressure until the trigger breaks and the weapon is fired. To do this right, in a way that is consistent, it requires practice in large quantities. That means Dry-Fire Practice. So get some snap-caps and get to work. If you are using a pistol with a round barrel, balance a coin on it. You should be able to dry-fire the weapon without the coin falling. I like to use a laser to practice this as well. If you have a laser mounted to the weapon in the guide rod or the grip or wherever – great. You can activate the laser and dry-fire with it. The laser will clearly show you what you are doing wrong. If you do not have a laser, you can buy a cheap laser pointer for a couple of bucks. Many of these are the diameter of a pen. You can put the laser pointer in the barrel. It doesn't have to line up with the sights. You are not aiming with it. But it will still show you what is happening. The laser should not move when you dry-fire the gun. Now, it's important to practice dry-firing just as you would with live ammo. Important to note – Do not Dry-Fire any Rim-Fire type firearm without the use of a Snap-Cap. Most of the time with the laser, you will see the dot jump to the right. This is sometimes caused by a bad placement of the finger on the trigger. Use the Pad of the trigger finger, not the knuckle. The pull should be straight in line with the trigger's arc of motion. Some triggers have Over Travel. This means the trigger breaks and fires before the trigger has moved all the way back... this allows the trigger to jump that last distance and smack the back-wall of the pull and this could throw the shot off. Over Travel can sometimes be remedied by the user, or sometimes it needs a Gun Smith to sort it. The trigger can be gritty, or heavy, or it could stack. Stacking is where the trigger pull gets heavier just before it breaks. There is a lot that can be wrong with the trigger pull's qualities... but almost all of them can be overcome with lots of dry-firing practice. Okay, now that you have the trigger pulled back, and the weapon is fired – keep the finger on the trigger. Almost all Novice shooters instantly at the firing – take their finger off the trigger completely. Then they start all over again. This isn't good. This leads to Trigger Abuse. Don't beat your trigger. When you break the shot, keep your finger on the trigger. If you have a rifle, pistol, revolver, shotgun... take a moment there at the back wall. This is a part of Follow Through. Don't let up off the trigger until the Front Sight is back on the target. Let the trigger forward slowly. You will feel the trigger reach a point before it's all the way forward where it clicks. That's the reset. As soon as it resets, start pulling it back again for your second shot and then so on.
Training Scars: There are tons of Training Scars out there, too many to deal with. But I'm going to talk about two of them. A Training Scar is any Bad Habit you have picked up that needs to be worked out. If you have Training Scars, the best thing to do is to get with a serious Firearms Trainer to work with you. Your shooting buddy doesn't qualify. In fact, that could be one of the reasons you have Training Scars. Find a real Trainer who can watch you and see what you are doing wrong so he can help you do what is right. Anticipation can be fun and can sweeten the moment. Like when your lover comes out wearing some sort of sexy candy wrapper (what you tear off before consuming) that is some excellent anticipation. For those to young to know what I mean, think about Christmas Morning before Mom lets you open those presents. Or if your Extreme-Muslim – that moment just before HAhkmed pushes that button to detonate that vest you made for him. Those are examples of Anticipation. In shooting, Anticipation is a bad thing. Don't anticipate Recoil. This leads to an instant before firing where you actually push the gun. Even just slightly... this can throw your shot off. Anticipation's Best Friend is Flinch. Flinching is bad, because you can do all kinds of jacked up things including actually closing your eyes just before firing. Look, it's a simple as this... you can't hit the target if your not even looking at the thing. You are also legally liable for every round that you launch... so it would be in your best interest to keep your bloody eyes open, okay? Now, if you have Flinch it's going to take a lot of training to get it out of you. The best way to get rid of flinch is to take your shooting back to Square One. Get out the old .22 pistol or even an Air Gun. (Airsoft isn't accurate enough to really see what you are doing) Start shooting those low recoil guns, use the laser, and dry fire a lot to work out any sign of Flinching.
It is dedicated to every member of the United States Armed Forces, past and present
If you like it, you can buy a copy from iTunes at 99 cents a pop - and any profits derived from such sales will go directly to the Armed Forces Relief Trust.
If you are currently on active duty with the US Armed Forces, send them an e-mail and they'll send you a free copy.
A lot of web pages, blogs and forums deal with the SHTF (Sh!t hits the fan) and TEOTWAWKI (the end of the world as we know it) scenarios, I cannot really add much more on this topic than what you can find by doing some Google searches on the subject. I have never really thought of myself as a hardcore (or medium core) survival type, but I am definitely not a sheeple either. I outlined in my article on "Go Bags" and "Bug out bags" that I consider the most likely SHTF scenario for me to be some type of localized emergency that I would have to evacuate my family from central Ohio, while possibly providing armed security to my party in the process.
So with that in mind I decided to have a little experiment. I called a few of my friends and asked them to help out. What I wanted to do was give them a simple SHTF scenario and see exactly what they had available to react to it, take a photo, and post it up here. Hopefully, some of you will do the same and email me your results so I can publish them in another post.
I gave them the following scenario:
You have been following a crisis situation that affects your city of residence in the news for the past few days. You have now found out you must IMMEDIATELY evacuate your home with your family. There are reports of looters and gangs conducting criminal activity on a widespread basis and the police are reactionary, at best, to stop them. You have FIVE minutes to grab whatever weapons and accessories you may need for a few days to safeguard you and your family before you head out the door. What are they?
The conditions:
The items must be things that you can grab now and currently own, no "well, I plan on getting one soon" items.
They must be taken "as is", so if you have 20 mags for your AR but only 2 are loaded, you take 2 loaded mags and 18 empties.
You are limited to one long gun and one sidearm (just to keep it simple).
Assume you are the only one in your party armed and you cannot hand off a secondary weapon to a spouse or child (again done for simplicity's sake).
Again for simplicity, I am only concerned with 1st and 2nd line gear, leave the rucks packed with a months worth of MRE's out of it for now.
The Standard:
Take 5 (and only 5) minutes to grab your gear and take a picture of it.
The results.
Subject 1. Me
Well, after a bit of deliberation, I chose my AR over my AK as my rifle. This pretty much goes against every written and spoken comment I have made about this issue over the past year. It came down to familiarity and ammo. I have a Smith & Wesson M&P15 fitted with quad rails, a generic foregrip and a 4x12 scope taken from a friends stock Remington 700. In the lowest magnification the scope offers fairly quick target acquisition and helps my aging eyes pick out those fuzzy shapes I sometimes have a hard time identifying. Hidden in the pic, I have the original carry handle with rear iron site mounted on the left side of the fore grip rail as a back up sighting system. I also grabbed my CountyCommEOD bag which has an additional 9 mags for the AR (0nly 3 are currently loaded, the rest would have to be loaded from the boxed rounds in the pic). In the bag (I should have pulled it out) is a full bandoleer of 5.56 (120 rounds) on stripper clips. I also have about 240 rounds of ammo in boxes. Yeah, all of my ammo is the Brown Bear soviet type, its cheap and goes bang. To help counter the inherent mess associated with corrosive primers I also have an Otis cleaning kit, bore snake and rag in the EOD bad to perform maintanance as time allows. Also on the outside of the bag is my Blow out kit (described in an earlier post), Surefire flashlight, shemagh rag, tan aviator gloves and a "sustenance ration" consisting of a couple of cliff bars and small granola snack shrink wrapped in a seal-a-meal pouch. A bottle of water was in the pic also from the bag but fell off the table and I was too lazy at the moment to pick it up. For the pistol I chose my Glock 22 in .40 S&W. As much as I would of loved to pick my P220 in .45, I have more experience shooting the Glock (in steel plate competitions) and have more firepower available with 3 mags in it than I do in 5 mags for the P220. In addition to the 3 mags (45 rounds) carried, I have another 150 rounds of Winchester Ranger ammo (JHP) carried in the bag. I have an Streamlite M3 tactical light in the bag that fits on both the rifle and pistol (I don't know why I didn't pull all of the bag contents out, sorry!) That bag is pretty damn heavy to start. The shemagh can be used as a shoulder pad for the bag. The pistol sits in a BlackhawkSerpa holster on a generic pistol belt/1st line rig along with a aviators survival knife, Nite-Eyezflashilight/pocketknife pouch and a black utility pouch holding a field dressing, some 550 cord and a broken shell extractor for the AR.
Subject 2. "Woody"
An "old Army buddy" of mine, Woody has over 13 years of military experience under his belt, including training in the infantry. His gear consists of a Bushmaster AR with an EOTech sight, an AR chest rig with 8 loaded magazines (nicely equipped with mag pullers), a Para Ordnance P14 1911 .45 on a drop rig attached to the chest harness, a M-9 bayonet, and ammo. He chose the AR over his other rifles due to his current ammo supply and his familiarity with the platform. I am so jealous of his EOTech. The EOTech halo sight is state of the art and quickly helps put rounds on the mark. His choice of the P14 was due to the logic of "it's got 14 rounds of .45 and its a 1911", which I find hard to argue with at any level. The 1911 pattern is a battle proven design over and over. You can see he has a box of 5.56 M193 ball as well as some hollow points to reload the mags for the AR. Obviously Woody's military experience shows in his choice of weapons and gear.
Subject 3. "Kev"
Kev is my newest shooting bud. He's a Navy vet so rifles were something his military training did not emphasize like Woody and I. He also chose his S&W AR15 equipped with quad rails, a fore grip with a palm activated switch for the mounted flashlight, a Magpul stock, and a Vortex Strikefire red dot scope with flip up back up iron sites. Unlike Woody and I, he does not have an AK to choose from. He does own an outstanding specimen of a Russian SKS in 7.62x39 that would be an excellent back up choice if for some reason the AR was unavailable to take. Being the newest and most casual shooter of the 3 of us, he only has 2 30 round and one 1o round mag for the rifle along with about 140 rounds of ammo for it. Probably enough for a 1 or 2 day evacuation drive, but maybe not. His pistol of choice is a Beretta F92 with Inox finish in 9mm. A Very nice pistol. He has 2 mags and about 200 rounds of 9mm ammo to bring. He carries it on a drop leg rig with a retention holster that he can just add to whatever belt he is wearing at the time. He has a canvas protective mask (gas mask) bag to help carry the extra rifle mags on him and a .50 caliber ammo can to put everything else.
OK, so there you have 3 examples of what you might grab if the SHTF popped up on your doorstep today. Actually, I learned a lot about what I need to be doing as I definitely had some holes that I should fill in my contingency plan and "Go bag" contents.
If you would like to take this challenge yourself and send me a pic of your stuff to my email address I will post them in the next week or so in another post. I would really be interested in getting some feedback on this.
Send your pics to me at huey148 at gmail.com (sorry, don't want spam bots to find me!) along with maybe a brief explanation of your choices. Thanks!
This bill, introduced into committee by Representatives Morgan and Martin, simply states that firearms manufactured and sold within Ohio to Ohio citizens are exempt from any federal regulations unless otherwise stated under the bill. This means that if the federal government passed a nationwide ban on the sale of high capacity magazines (like the California's 10 round limit) that any magazine made in Ohio and sold within its borders would be exempt. This is a big step toward incorporating the 2nd Amendment, which has traditionally been held to be a federal right, into application to the states themselves. All items manufactured to be exempt from federal regulation must be stamped "Made in Ohio" for legal identification.
While I think this is a good bill, other than Hi-Point Firearms, I cannot think of any other manufacturers that would benefit from this bill. However, as in the film Field of Dreams..
"If you pass it, they will come".
Please contact your state representatives and let them know this is one we want passed!
What the hell, I thought reading the headline of the article that some legislator that saw too many movies where the cop shot the criminal in the leg or arm to stop him wrote this, but it came from Taser itself for liability reasons, their own apparently. Now my local police officers have to now take the brunt of the responsibility if they taze some drug abusing felon and he has a heart attack and they hit his "no no" area - his chest! I guess nobody from Taser has ever had to engage a charging target with adrenaline running and realize center mass is the easiest, and most natural, thing to aim at and hit. Next thing you know they'll be getting a notice from Smith & Wesson to only use their issued M&P's to "wound only"
Reminds me of something I saw on YouTube "lets get tazy crazy!"
Here is the list of alternate endings for movies if firearms had been used early and properly. I apologize if this has been posted before. Add any other movies and alternate endings if you can come up with any. - sarge712
Why You will Never See Proper Gun Usage in Hollywood
A lot of movies would be pretty short when practical, real-world gun usage came into play. Consider the lack of suspense and drama if proper gun usage was depicted in the following movies:
Cujo: "Oh no, I'm trapped in my car by a large, rabid dog. Oh, wait a minute (dig, dig, dig)… there’s my Glock!"
The Birds: "Boy, the air is so thick with birds, you don't even have to aim."
Signs: "Unarmed aliens are trying to kill us? Grab the AK's boys, we're a-going huntin'."
Se7en: "Some psycho is trying to force me to eat until I die. I think I'll shoot him instead."
Fargo: "Oh no, two men have broken into my house and are trying to kidnap me. How will I get their bloodstains out of my carpet???"
Friday the 13th or Halloween: "If I can't actually kill Jasonl, he's going to look pretty darned funny walking around after I blow his head off with a 12 gauge."
Any Zombie Movie: "Well, we're trapped in a house surrounded by flesh eating zombies. Good thing we've got a couple of belt-fed weapons around, isn't it?"
Silence of the Lambs: "Clarice, the man you are looking for is dead. He was shot by his last intended victim. Do you have any fava beans? Thhhpthhpthp"
The Fugitive: "Good thing my wife was able to shoot her one-armed attacker. He was trying to murder her and frame me for it."
Frankenstein: “Dang Hans! The top his head came off just like a lid when you put that bullet between his eyes!”
The Village: “ Hold the round a bit low boys ‘cause its head ain’t in the right place. We’ll show it the color red!”
As you can see, the average Hollywood movie would last less than ten minutes, including seven minutes worth of credits. Showing responsible, real world gun use would not only hurt the anti-gun cause, it would remove the contrived suspense that Hollywood thrives on. Thousands of hypocritical, highly-paid actors, writers and directors would soon be out of business. Depicting the kind of armed self-defense (and the equally taboo self-reliance) would be suicide for a profession that makes a living depicting stupid people doing stupid things.
Say what you will about the man's tastes in "art" but at least Hugh knows a good cause when he sees one. The Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) provides services and support to service members injured and maimed between the time they are still active members and the transition out of the military. They provide everything from advanced occupational therapy, financial aid for struggling members with service related injuries, retreats for the families of injured service members to morale and welfare activities and everything in between. For most severely wounded vets, the time after their injury may be the most scary and traumatizing period of their service. Many go from being in a environment where they are surrounded by many close and trusted friends to being a number on a chart in a hospital somewhere dealing with their injury surrounded by strangers. The WWP seeks to help the member during this time with services that the military may not be able to provide due to financial, manpower and other restrictions. We have a lot of injured vets out there now that would have died in previous conflicts that were saved by modern medical services. Many of their needs are new and unmet, its the WWP goal to ensure that we don't leave a man behind in this battle to care for our own brothers and sisters.
I will give the military this, they are doing a much better job now that in the past in getting service members connected with their families after their injuries. It is not uncommon for the government to fly family members to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center (LRMC) in Germany (where troops are flown after treatment in theater) to be with their wounded loved one. They then are provided opportunities to be with their injured service member throughout their convalescence, if practical. If nothing else, to allow a family to be with a dying service member during their last moments is worth the price of the transportation alone.
Back on the subject of the title of this post, Hugh is not only donating the proceeds of the event to the WWP (tickets can go for as high as $15,000) but also inviting 40 injured troops to attend as his guests. That is great, especially if you consider that some of these guys may have self esteem issues after being injured and possibly being disfigured or missing body parts. To be surrounded by beautiful women and treated like rock starts has got to be a great feeling for those guys. I hope that a few females vets are invited too and get to mix it up a bit as well. Just being in the limelight is great therapy for these troops!
I am not trying to make a moral judgment on Hugh or his history, I'll leave it up to each of you to decide that on your own. I just thing any act designed to benefit our troops is worthy of at least some acknowledgment, if not some thanks and praise.
Great day to go shooting, a little cold and muddy out, but its fall in Ohio so its not like a surprise or anything. It had been a few months since I had gone down there with my friend Eric and his son Chris to shoot so I was afraid I would be a bit rusty. I didn't do too bad. I even hauled Kevin from SuperFrikinAwsome Stuff out with me and he had a blast! He used a Beretta F92 9mm and found out the hard way that the safety on it was detrimental to his times. He fought a good fight and overcame for the most part and I think we have him hooked.
Cold Autumn morning in Ohio, temp in the upper 30's
No I'm not surrendering, you start each run with your hands at least shoulder height.
Kevin having a ball, can't you just see it on his face!
OK,a hot girl..given, great concealment! I normally try and keep this type of vid off of here (although I have done one before)as I try and appeal to all of my audience but this is a really good example of how well the a pistol can be hidden on you when worn correctly and in the proper manner.
Thanks to New Jovian Thunderbolt for the heads up on this one. The FTC is out to fine bloggers for endorsing products that they are paid for. I hope Nutnfancy over at YouTube gets wind of this.
And here's a little something for any of you FTC folks out there that may be lurking...
I AM NOT A PAID ADVERTISER NOR REVIEWER OF ANYTHING ON THIS SITE!!! IF I REVIEW A FIREARM OR PRODUCT ON THIS SITE IT IS BECAUSE I HAVE BOUGHT IT MYSELF AND WOULD ENDORSE ITS USE BASED UPON IS PERFORMANCE AND MY OWN UNBIASED EVALUATION. PRODUCTS REVIEWED OR PROFILED BY ME ARE ACQUIRED OR OBTAINED EITHER THROUGH PERSONAL MONIES ("THE GUN FUND") OR ARE PROMOTIONAL ITEMS ACQUIRED VIA SPECIAL OFFERS OR GIVE-A-WAYS. THIS GIVES NOTICE TO MANUFACTURERS THAT NO ITEM GIVEN TO ME IN THIS PROMOTIONAL MANNER AND REVIEWED OR PROFILED ON THIS SITE SHOULD HAVE ANY EXPECTATION OF PREFERENTIAL TREATMENT OR OPINION. I CALL THEM AS I SEE THEM FOLKS. PLAIN AND SIMPLE. IF I LIKE YOUR PRODUCT YOU WILL GET MY ENDORSEMENT, IF I DON'T SAME RULES APPLY.
I hate to pass judgement without seeing all of the data collected and not just what was presented, but this report/article appearing in the Dispatch this morning does paint a rather dour picture on the state of the gun show. It would appear that gun shows are a haven for criminals and are seething with illegal activity. They aren't. I have been to some and the vast majority of people there are honest, law abiding citizens like most of us. Yes, there will always be a few that try and go around the system, but they are the exception rather than the rule.
I would really have no problem personally with having to go through a NCIS check at a gun show, as a buyer or private seller, since I have nothing to hide. If they make the price reasonable, say $15 a transaction, that could be worked into the negotiated price between the buyer and seller. I agree with Jim Irvine's assessment from Buckeye Firearms Association - we need to make sure we are enforcing our current laws first. These "investigators" have at least one person on camera here selling to them after they announce that they probably wouldn't pass a background check. What happened to the seller? Did they get reported or simply used as a statistic and thrown back on the pile to do the same thing again. I know for a fact that at the last one I attended at the Veteran's Memorial in Columbus, Ohio that there were uniformed Columbus PD officers there that this activity could of been reported to.
After selling a couple of my own firearms in private transactions I will now only sell to currently licensed CCW holders of this state, period. As long as they buyer has that card and an Ohio drivers license, I know that they are an Ohio resident and that they have passed a background check - one more stringent than the NCIS check ran at a gun store. If a person is brought before a judge for any crime that would disqualify them from having a CCW, the card is one of the first things taken after a conviction.
Gun owners of America, let's keep our own business clean before the government steps in and does it for us.
NYC mayor's crusade finds lax gun shows in Ohio His investigators say guns sold illegally in Columbus
Dealers at a gun show in Columbus this summer sold firearms to undercover investigators who were posing as buyers who couldn't pass background checks, according to an investigation of seven U.S. gun shows by New York City leaders.
The report said the July 11-12 gun show at Westland Mall was typical of the seven: private gun sellers didn't halt sales even when prospective buyers said they'd fail a background check, and a licensed dealer let someone else take a background exam for the intended gun owner.
Private sellers aren't required to administer background checks, but they are forbidden by federal law from selling firearms to people they suspect would fail. Background checks are required of licensed dealers. Gun shows typically contain a mix of both types of sellers.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, an advocate of stricter gun regulation, hired private investigators to attempt to make purchases at gun shows in Ohio, Tennessee and Nevada.
In addition to the Westland Mall show, Bloomberg's undercover team went to Ohio gun shows in Niles, Sharonville and Trotwood.
Bloomberg thinks people who never could legally purchase guns from stores are walking out of gun shows with weapons often used in crimes. He said he plans to use the results of his study to persuade lawmakers to pass tougher regulations on purchases made at gun shows.
"The gun-show loophole is a deadly serious problem -- and this undercover operation exposes just how pervasive and serious it is," Bloomberg said in a statement.
The National Rifle Association accused Bloomberg of media grandstanding and said there already are laws intended to keep guns out of the hands of criminals, including those who would go to gun shows.
"Anyone who knowingly violates the law will not get an ounce of sympathy from the NRA," spokeswoman Rachel Parsons told The Dispatch. "They should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
At Westland Mall, undercover investigators attempted to buy guns from private sellers -- defined as people who sell guns occasionally and don't have to perform background checks -- six times. The investigators told the sellers that they "probably" couldn't pass a background check. In five of the six cases, the vendor sold the gun anyway, risking a federal charge, according to the New York report.
In the seven gun shows visited by undercover investigators, people were able to buy firearms in 19 of 30 attempts after admitting their backgrounds would preclude a legal sale, the report said.
Investigators also attempted to make a "straw" purchase from a licensed firearms dealer at the same mall show. In that case, a male "customer" discusses and tests the gun with the dealer and then has a female companion take the background check in his place. The dealer allowed the "straw" purchase to happen, the report said.
In 16 of 17 attempted "straw" sales at all seven shows, gun dealers allowed the proxy to take the background check.
The Westland Mall gun show was sponsored by C&E Gun Shows, a Virginia-based company that frequently organizes gun shows in Ohio, including one planned for this weekend in Wilmington and another Westland Mall show at month's end.
C&E Gun Shows did not return calls from The Dispatch. Westland Mall management could not be reached.
State lawmakers have not addressed the issue of easier gun purchases at shows. Attorney General Richard Cordray's office noted that federal, not state, law speaks to the issue.
"Obviously (the report) points out a situation that is problematic," said Rep. Ted Celeste, D-Grandview Heights, whose district includes Westland. "The whole issue of having the background checks is to avoid having the guns get in the wrong hands. The gun-show loophole is real, as this points out."
Gun-rights supporters say there is no need for more laws.
"No one condones gun sellers breaking the law," said Jim Irvine, chairman of the Buckeye Firearms Association. "But the argument that there is a loophole is not correct. If current laws were enforced, there wouldn't be a problem."
Gov. Ted Strickland, who is strongly backed by the NRA, is not calling for a new law.
"The governor believes this is an enforcement issue," Strickland spokeswoman Amanda Wurst said. "The laws on the books should be more tightly enforced."
Dispatch reporter Mark Niquette contributed to this story.
Looks like there is a new series coming to Showtime this month on the 21st called Lock 'N Load that is a reality based show on the experiences of a gun store salesman in Colorado. This angle has been done before by Morgan Spurlock on his 30 Days series when he had a anti-gun activist work in a gun shop, but this seems to be an honest to goodness gun advocate working it. It will be interesting to see how the Hollywood spin on this from the network comes off of it. I am sure that they will show gun buyers as a bunch of yahoos and cowboys, hell just look at some of the trailer. Anyway, this might me enough for me to get Showtime back for a while to watch it.
This past weekend I participated in my first Appleseed boot camp clinic and shoot up in Gibsonberg, Ohio at the Sandusky County Sportsman's Club.
Right about now a lot of you are asking "What the hell is an Appleseed boot camp?"
A few months ago I would of asked the same thing myself. I found the Appleseed Project quite be accident one night while looking up accessories for my Ruger 10/22 rifle that I purchased to try and still get out and shoot while not breaking the bank on ammo. I found a company call Tech-Sights that produces a GI pattern aperture sighting system (like the type used on US service rifles) for the 10/22. Seemed like a good idea as the simple blade sight on the stock Ruger didn't appeal to me. Anyway, went looking for reviews of this sight on the web to make sure it was worth the money (it is) and ended up finding all this talk of these sights being used for these Appleseed shoots and in the making of a "Liberty Training Rifle". Intrigued I searched for the Appleseed Project and all was revealed due to the magic of the web.
In a nutshell, The Appleseed Project is comprised of a group of individuals dedicated to the idea that every American should know about our past history as a nation of rifleman, train in this art and pass it on to future generations. It is run by the Revolutionary War Veterans Association. Of course none of them are actual veterans of THAT war, but they carry on the skills and traditions of the rifleman that enabled a rag tag bunch of colonists to do pretty damn well against the British army. Despite what the internet may tell you, they are not a training program for anti-government militias. Even though they teach the marksmanship and history of our Revolutionary War ancestors, they are about discreet range marksmanship. The things you learn here, while a GREAT building block for other skills, will not enable you to engage in modern combat. Far from sniping at columns of men in red coats walking in order and standing tall, modern combatants need to adhere to the 4 basic tenants of survival: Shoot (which they teach), Move, Communicate and Sustain (which they do not). So all this hot air about anti-government militias can be tossed aside on that account. While there teachings do have a distinctively libertarian and don't-tread-on-me approach, it is up to each attendee to do what they want with the info.
Their clinics consist of a two day clinic, called a "boot camp" in Appleseed lingo, in which you get an oral history of the American rifleman along with hands on training with your rifle designed to enable you to hit targets at "the rifleman's quarter mile" (500 yards). You will learn all of the basics of shooting (the 6 fundementals) as well as different shooting positions and techniques. You will attempt to qualify on their own version of a US Army Alternate "C" course of fire at scaled targets at 25 meters. If you are skilled enough to qualify as a "Rifleman" by obtaining a score of 210 out of a possible 250 points you receive the coveted rifleman's badge as well as the opportunity to return as an instructor later if you qualify.
The Alternate Qualification Target (shown at left) consists of 4 stages shot at targets of decreasing scaled size on the target paper, they are (in order)
10 rounds standing
10 rounds transitioning from a standing to sitting position, including a mag change
10 rounds transitioning from a standing to a prone position, including a mag change
10 rounds prone.
Trust me, those lower 2 rows of silhouettes look TINY from 25 meters!
This is not as easy as the Alt "C" qualifications that I have fired in the Army. In the Army all you have to do is get the round in the black. With the Appleseed AQT, shot placement counts and is scored.
Why Me?
OK, so why would a guy who retired just 19 months ago from 21+ years of military service think he needed to go learn to shoot military rifles with these guys. Well, lets take a look at the following vid:
So as you can see, even the humble shoe shine guy, who specializes in one thing and one thing only can still provide a lesson to somebody who has been doing it "right" for his entire life. I'll be the first to admit it, the Army does not do a great job at teaching marksmanship. When you need to develope a training program and standard that will be applied to tens of thousands of new troops each year and hundreds of thousands of others already in, a few short cuts and allowances have to be made. The Army will teach you how to properly aim and shoot a M16/M4 series weapon to their standard, which is 23 hits on 40 man sized tagets at ranges from 50 to 300 meters. That's about a 58% hit percentage. You would never pass a course in school with that but its fine for defending your life in the Army. Luckily for us, most soldiers exceed this standard by far, but some still struggle even after years of service to achieve a "go" on this important task. My experience has found that there are just those troops that see the rifle as a necessary evil to their "job" in the military and do the bare minimum to get by with it just to stay in. Others, especially those troops who prior civilian lives involved hunting or other shooting related activities, saw the rifle as a tool or extension of themselves and did a much better job at preparing and performing at qualification. Of course there are the one-offs and naturals such as a 18 year female troop from the suburbs who shoots a 40 the first time. But overall in over 20 years that was my experience and impression.
One of the things that the course taught that I was looking forward to was learning on how to use a sling. In the Army for the most part a sling was something used to carry your rifle around. In the days post 9/11 more "tactical" use of the sling has been prevailant, but it is still basically a rope to sling the rifle around with to most troops. I knew, mostly from watching former Marines (want to piss a Marine off, call him an "ex-Marine") use them, from watching others that the sling had a hidden value that I never tapped into. The instructors showed me how to use the sling properly and to great advantage. The 500 meter shot I made (more on that later) was using a rifle with no other supporting equipment than a GI sling and my body.
Do you know what this is? Come to an Appleseed event and you sure will!
The Staff
The staff at this event were very friendly and knowledgeable. They are all volunteers and former students of the course themselves.They receive no payment for their services nor travel reimbursement and in many cases buy training materials and aids at their own expense. Many at this event were from out of state, as far away as Illinois! (we even had one student from there also and another from Wisconsin!) Appleseed advertises that their instructors are required to undergo a more lengthy training period in terms of hours under supervision than either the NRA or CMP programs. They do not point this out to belittle the other programs, just as a point of note.Other than one instructor named "Panama" wearing a BDU top I couldn't tell if any of the other cadre were prior military. Really didn't matter. They were all very knowledgable and up to the task of instructing. They all go by their nicknames on the Appleseed forums so in addition to "Panama" there were other names such as "Slim", "Gopher Boy", "Fuzzy Math", "Dinky Dao", "Poster Boy", "Butt Stock" and others. While some of their methods may have run a bit contrary to my previous instructions they got the point across and were more than willing to work with you one-on-one to get you up to speed. The cadre here in Ohio wear either a Orange or Red cap with RWVA on it, depending on their level of experience, the red being the higher of the two designations. Online I have seen other Appleseeds run in other locations that the instructors apparently wear no such distinguishing garb. I, for one, liked it. It made them easily recognizable as both an instructor and range safety during the event. This is kind of important I think when you are talking about a group of individuals that come together to shoot without knowing each others tendencies or having any other type of connection initially. I cannot over emphasize their willingness to help you and assist in any way possible with the exclusion of actually shooting for you. Their methods and instruction are sound. While I may of been used to the way things ran on a military range, I quickly adapted to some of their methods after I assessed that there were NO major safety issues with their range methods.
"Dinky Dau" (red hat" instructing one of the students. Yes, she is a woman, gentlemen please check your egos upon registration.
"Poster Boy" Mike, a resident of nearby Bowling Green, where I once lived. By far my favorite instructor of the weekend. Want another reason to check your ego, the young (I do mean young!) lady in the orange cap in the background is only 13! She obviously can out shoot me because part of wearing that cap is scoring a 210 on their AQT qualifications, which I did not.
Another example of one-on-one instruction, in this case 2-on-1. Erica came here with her husband and brother (who drove from Wisconsin and brought rifles and ammo to give to them, talk about brotherly love!) and had never shot a rifle before. She started with an AR! While she, like me, did not qualify for the rifleman badge, she did get better and will be back!
The 500 meter Shot The purpose of Appleseed is to teach shooters how to engage targets at "the rifleman's quarter mile" which is 500 yards. We were lucky enough at this location to actually get to do that on their range. I shot using another shooters Springfield Armory M1A (semi-auto M14) and was able to get consistent hits after adjusting the sights. The proof is in the pudding as they say!
This is the M1A I got to shoot, it is a beautiful weapon to look at and shoot, gotta get one!
The only video I actually had time to shoot during the weekend.
The Location Appleseed locations are basically wherever they can secure a suitable range. In this case it was the Sandusky County Sportsmens Club in Gibsonberg, Ohio. Great place. Although I did not actually go in, they have an actual clubhouse at the front and several different ranges, including the 25 meter one we used (actually the back end of a Cowboy Action range complete with a Western style town range!) and the 500 meter range we shot at. For the most part we had the range to ourselves the entire weekend. It had camping on site that some people utilized (I stayed at a friends place 1/2 a hour away). Overall it was a nice club. The other big sites in Ohio are Miamisburg and Athens. Be sure to contact the state POC for your area before you attend at a new location to be sure of what they have available. The Cost The cost is a very reasonable $70 for a two day clinic, or $35 to come one day to shoot. The two day price includes an Appleseed T-shirt. Now that I have been through one full one, I may go back for a 2nd two day clinic again but then will probably just shoot single days. If you are a female, male under 20 with your parent or a actively serving member of the military the cost is FREE. Whether you pay $70 or zip, local range fees may apply. The SCSC levied a $15 range fee on top of the event cost, payable in cash upon registration.
What Worked for Me nad What to expect/bring type stuff There are plenty of links and info out there about what to bring and expect. I will post them at the end of the article. Here are a few things that worked for me or recommendations that I will be using myself next time I go.
Rifle As far as I am concerned, the Ruger 10/22 or similar .22 LR firearm is ideal for this. Ammo is cheap, recoil is ideal for both novices and more experienced shooter, and at 25 meters the ballistic difference between it and other rounds is a non-issue. My rifle ($189 stock) was modified using a synthetic stock that included sling swivels from Butler Creek ($50), a set of Tech-SIGHTS to give it military style peep sights ($55) and a modified bolt release mechanism to allow me to pull right back on the charging handle and release it (free, instructions on the web). Add a GI Sling ($12) and 3 additional 10 round mags ($13 each) and it was ready to go with a couple of bricks of ammo. If you've been keeping track the total cost was about $345 for a dedicated "Liberty Training Rifle" as it is often called. If you own an AR style rifle you can buy a .22 LR adapter and extra mags for under $200. At the time I started down this path I had yet to own an AR, otherwise I may have gone that route.
Any rifle will do as long as you can work it and know its operation inside and out. Coming back on Sunday during the first drill I was embarrassed because I could not cock my rifle. While everyone else was getting ready to shoot I was stripping it on the spot only to find out I installed the ejector incorrectly the night before, DOH! There were quite a few 10/22's there, as well as AR's, a few AK's, a FAL, a couple of bolt action rifles and even a Daewoo!
Be sure to bring maintenance supplies for it, break free and a bore snake and rag as a bare essentials minimum!
GI sling Just buy one, you'll be glad you spent the $12 at the Appleseed Store. After getting used to using it you'll be hard pressed to figure out how you went so long without it. Walking around with a green strap of cotton dangling down you arm all day is cool.
Shooting Mat or Pad Something I wish I had brought. Being "Army tough" I thought I could just make due with laying on the ground, not so. There were so many shell casings on the ground by the end of each day I was covered in welts from laying on them. The Appleseed website recommends bringing a carpet, all I brought was a cheap plastic painters groundcloth (which actually worked well as a shelter for my gear during the brief rainstorm we had). I borrowed an instructors Midway USA shooting mat (which just happend to be on sale for $24.99 now!) and it made a world of difference while I had it. Ordered one as soon as I got home.
A folding bag chair A good idea, even if I did not use mine much. We had a pretty good range and did not have to wait to get onto the line. At other locations you may have to take turns firing, a chair would be great to have then. As it was, it was a convenient place to lay items while in the ready area.
My plastic box JACKPOT!! I finally had an idea I don't think anyone has documented about these shoots. I bought a rather generic, tan plastic storage box and used it to keep all of my stuff in. Not only did it provide a convenient way to transport stuff to and from the truck, it also provided a small table to reload mags on and also kept anything inside dry during the rain. I am bringing one of those cheap luggage carts next time to wheel in around instead of carrying it to make it even more of a winning idea.
A cooler and drinks/food I failed here, I brought a cooler with drinks but no food. I thought I had read that they would have a lunch to buy but never saw it. Had to go into town to get Subway on Saturday, not convenient. Didn't eat on Sunday. Bring some simple sandwiches or snacks, granola bars, fruit or whatever else you might want to much on. You have ample time to eat while on the line so you can snack throughout the day.
A tent or awning
A couple of folks brought those portable shelter awnings with them to set up under. We had fairly cool and cloudy weather both days, but had the sun beat down they would of been great to be under. Just PLEASE don't be like the folks on the far end of the line and bring Wolverine style gear around me!
Uof M...PLEASE!!!
Clothing I intitally thought about wearing some BDU/ACE or other "tacticool" type clothing to this but then thought about how militant it would seem and wore jeans. They worked but over the course of the weekend they got dirtier and dirtier and retained sweat and grime. I may wear BDU type pants next time as they are lighter and breath better as well as allow a better range of motion for sitting and kneeling positions.As far as your top goes, I used a plain t-shirt and elbow pads. A cheap shooting jacket or BDU style top with reinforced elbows would not be out of place here either.
Its hard to tell from the photo, but my pants are filthy and feel gross by this point.
Mindset I think I got this right, I came in expecting nothing from myself and trying to take everything as it was and not let my prior military background get in the way. I knew what they were teaching was different from what I had gotten from Uncle Sam and I was right. I also was ready for the uescapable "wanna be" types in a crowd like this and just enjoyed myself with those people with whom I could connect with there.
Physical Readiness Massive FAIL here for me! I was not in shape for this. I am over weight and do not have the same muscle strength, flexibility or stamina I had while I was younger. Not only was breathing control harder, I was really sore in my legs and back both days from some of the repetitive up and down scenarios and well as supporting myself in the sling for so many hours. I am going to start exercising and stretching before I go back so it is not as burdensome next time.
One thing I had not counted on was my eyesight. Sure I knew it was getting worse (hell, I even had to change to shooting rifle lefty during my last mobilization due to my eye dominance shifting) but not that bad. With iron sights the smallest of the targets just looked like fuzzy smudges in the distance. I asked about using a scope as I saw some others use and was told after 40 there were no shame points assigned for using one. Off to the gun shop...
Well, that's about it for now. I will definitely be posting about this more in the future. In the meantime feel free to ask my any questions concerning my experience and take a look at the links below for more information. I hope to see some of you at a future shoot! ttp://appleseedinfo.org/ http://appleseedproject.blogspot.com/
I posted this in its entirety before, but this is an abridged version. Short and too the point. I am sure Penn and I disagree on many points, but he is dead on as far as this goes....sorry for the language at the end..
Had an encounter with a member of the urban underground today. I got off my usual interstate route to work due to traffic today and went to work via an alternate route that took me partially through a portion of what is know as "the campus area" in Columbus. It was not actually part of THE Ohio State University but it was adjacent to it and is largely inhabited by students and student oriented businesses. Anyway, being a cold and rainy day I stopped by a gas station to get a cup of their burnt, strong but hot coffee. After killing off the taste with ample sweetener and creamer, I headed back to my truck which was parked around the corner.
On my way out tot he truck, I was approached by a individual who asked me for some money. I politely answered no and continued to my vehicle. The individual in question then proceeded to follow me to my vehicle to the end of the parking area and continued to pry me for money. I again told him I did not have any(and I wasn't lying, I actually had no cash, I paid for the coffee from quarters and dimes in my ash tray). Next thing I knew he was beside my truck with me as I was trying to get into the door. For whatever reason my spidey sense tingled a bit. Here I was with this guy out of view of most onlookers - if there were actually any - due to the size of my truck and I was channeled in between my truck and another vehicle beside me. To my rear I had an avenue of escape as to the best of my knowledge there was nothing behind me. For some reason I chose otherwise, against what I would normally preach. I dropped my coffee (damn) quickly retrieved my chem spray from my pocket (for some reason I did not carry today, I had a pistol in the truck, but it was locked in the lock box)and brought it up in front of me to where it was not directly pointed at his face, but about halfway up his body. I could have brought it up and sprayed in less than a second. I told him something to the effect "look, I've tried to be polite until now, I don't have any money, go away!" in a very firm but controlled tone of voice. For me that's saying a lot since I am one of those types that the fight-or-flight response seems to kick into high gear quickly. He quickly and turned an ran around the corner back in front of the store. I don't know if he thought I had a gun pointed at him or not, but I definitely had an effect on him. It probably didn't hurt that I am 6 foot and over 240 pounds. When I puff my chest out it can be daunting to some people I am sure.
Realizing that the best course of action now would be to retire from the field of battle I quickly jumped into the truck and got out of there. The first thing I thought was "gee, I wonder if he went to get a friend". After getting out of there I re-evaluated the situation in my head.
For some reason I got into a "safe zone" mentally that day, maybe the familiarity of the drive, the weather making me concentrate into getting back into the warm truck or whatever. For some reason I did not anticipate the threat until it was already on me. I further made an error by stopping in a section of town I was not totally familiar with. Sure, I used to frequent the area YEARS ago, but places change and so do the people in them.
Not carrying in this case was probably a good thing, as I think the odds of this guy actually wanting to mug or rob me were pretty slim looking back. He was probably just cold or hungry and wanted something to eat or to buy some booze or whatever else he may of been addicted to. Either way, producing a gun may not of been the best course of action and actually elevated the confrontation. At lease if I did have to of had sprayed him in 15 - 20 minutes he would of been more or less fine. If I shot a bum, well, what would of happened then?
One thing I thought about was that I have often thought, and possibly even commented on this blog about, the fallacy of drawing a weapon as a deterrent, the "warning shot" defense so to speak. If I drew that canister it should only of been to use it. Not only did I escalate the confrontation but I also tipped my hat to my possible future actions. What if he had been armed? He could of taken this threat and responded by drawing a knife or firearm and then what do I have to counter with?
I should of just walked to the back of my truck and left the area. The vehicle was secured, he wasn't going to get in. I did not have to escalate the situation by taking a stand. Maybe somewhere in my mind I thought that he might have a friend back behind the truck waiting for me. I don't know. I never did check and didn't turn around when he started running to see if anyone else was back there.
Despite all of these doubtful thoughts I thought about the rest of the way in, I do not regret taking a stand for myself. I refuse to let myself be ruled by fear of the harsher aspects of living in proximity to one of the largest cities in Ohio. Sure, if I got a "do over" in this situation I might choose to act differently. But in the end both I and the other party got out of it unharmed and to what I would feel would be a legally justified application of force by myself since I did feel physically threatened at the time by an unwelcome advancing party.
Do you think I acted properly? I am not above receiving criticism if it is constructive so let it fly. James R., if you read this I would be especially interested in your comments.
Recovering from a great weekend at an Appleseed event (more to come on that soon). Fininshing up some posts and generally getting ready to put some new material up in a day or so. In the meantime enjoy this little video of me putting some steel plates in their place! Going to head back down for more in October.
My hat off to a man who, between fighting wars for his country, dedicated his life to the idea that free men with rifles provided the greatest guarantee of peace and freedom in our lifetime.
"The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles."
While looking through the free, online version of Guns magazine last month I noticed that Pachmayr has introduced a new line of slide on grip enhancers for tactical handguns called the Tactical Grip Glove. Being only $14 or so I just had to get one for my Glock 22 and try it out. Got it in the mail on Monday but due to being sick, I did not get a chance to test it out on the range until this evening. I got to admit, this grip sleeve works as advertised. It slips on easily as it is very pliable but had enough tackiness to it to grip the weapon once installed and not move out of place. Anyone who has struggled to get a HogueHandall on their pistol will know what an advantage this is. It provides a very soft and cushioned feeling to the normal 2x4 like grip of the Glock. It provides secure purchase for your hand and the back of the sleeve mimics the Glocks own backstrap stippling. As far as reducing recoil, I would have to say it does but not as much due to the material it is made of, but more in providing a slightly larger area for the recoil to be absorbed onto in the backstrap width. But it does reduce recoil in my opinion, so good for Pachmayr. If you have a pistol lying around in need of a good, cheap grip and they have one for your particular pistol I would recommend this product highly.
Recently in my home city of Columbus there was a gun battle between a lone gunman and local police that resulted in 2 officers being shot. First, thank you God for allowing them both to get out of the fight with non-life threatening injuries. As the media first reported the incident it seemed like the 2A crowd's worse nightmare. A simple traffic stop turned deadly as a gunman with no previous record unloads on police with an "AK-47" that he legally bought. This would seem to prove the theory that guns are best kept out of the hands of law abiding citizens since any one of us could turn into a killing machine at the drop of a hat. Nice theory in this case except for the fact that it wasn't true. Turns out our "regular Joe" had a small pot growing operation in his apartment and various friends and family members all stated in the media that drugs had changed him considerably over the past few years. Too bad none of them intervened in his life, because after he shot up 2 cops, his apartment and his neighbor hood he put the last round of his rampage into himself ending the standoff. Lesson here, don't do drugs. As for all the people who say that if he never gotten the weapons in the first place this wouldn't of happened I say sure, I'll turn mine in. Matter of fact, we don't know which ones of us are going to go commit vehicular manslaughter either, so lets all turn our cars and trucks in too....
The local media made a big deal about him using an "AK-47". Of course everything is an AK-47 to the media....
yeah, I ripped this off from about a dozen other sites...
Some of the other things I though were somewhat humorous was the local's media emphasis that a bullet from the "AK" traveled 150 yards and struck one of the police officers in the face through the windshield. Damn, most air rifles will travel 150 yards. I guess maybe in today's society where everyone is a doughnut munching pogue (like yours truly) and 150 yards is farther than most people can spring without stopping that does seem like a really far distance. The other thing that they seemed to latch on to was that he had a "go bag" packed according to the police with water, ammo and first aid supplies. Ooh, I guess he was one of those right wing gun nut survivalist types that I read about in the paper all of the time.
Guess what, I got one too.
Hi, my name is Pete and I'm a bag addict. There, I admit it. I have always had a penchant for buying bags to carry my stuff in when I really didn't need them. As my better half will attest, I really have no self control when it comes to impulse buying. Retailers and marketers see me coming a mile away like I was 10 foot tall, covered in orange neon paint banging pots and pans together the entire way. Its a weakness. Maybe I just haven't found what I am looking for yet, the perfect bag, one that can carry all of my "tactical" toys easily, has gobs of space in a convenient size and is not so militant looking that it will blend in with the general populace around me. Since I retired from National Guard I have had less of an actual reason to go ahead and buy the latest and greatest digitized-clown-paint-camo-scheme-3-day-assault-pack-with-dual-hydration-system, a kegerator, built in footlocker, ammo cans, and a Swiss army knife in kevlar mesh in a bikini cut.
So what is a "Go Bag" anyway? Basically its a bag designed to be used if you need to cut and run from your primary location with supplies that address your immediate needs for survival. Not every bag is the same as each bag should be tailored to the needs it must address. Many "survival" types sites devote a lot of space to the subject of these bags. Another popular term associated with them is "EDC" Every Day Carry bag. Its not as crazy as you think. Women have been carrying bags for years with items that they constantly use, workmen have been hauling tool bags to and from job sites, Medics have carried aid bags and the business people have carried brief cases and shoulder bags for year. Yet, apply this concept to something along the lines of emergency use or survivalism and all of a sudden the concept is shrouded in mystery and intrigue. I have some older and newer bags in use and others that are lying around. Some are purely tactical, some are "man purses", some are just bags. How to they compare? let's take a look:
CountyComm Bail Out Bag: Available from CountyComm Aimed at the law enforcement crowd, this bag is designed for an officer to keep essential items at the ready in case they have to "bail out" of their cruiser. It can normally be found stashed under the rear bench seat of my truck and contains just some rudimentary items in case of emergency. I normally carry just a single bottle of water and an 1 liter empty water bottle (to be filled by any potable source as needed) in it. Also in it are a few protein bars and some bagged granola, a flashlight, a knife, a AM/FM/Shortwave radio, an emergency poncho, an emergency blanket, a small first aid kit, a flare, 2 glow sticks, 20' of para cord, a small first aid kit (minor cuts and scrapes), hand sanitizer and wipes and a bandana. There may also be some extra mags and ammo for whatever I am carrying at the moment in there. Why all of this? It may sound a bit paranoid, but going on my recent post about a cops view of an upcoming revolution, I point out my assessment that a "bug out" situation for me would most likely be a some type of WMD incident in Columbus. Since I work downtown I would, or may, need some basic items to try and evacuate downtown and may have to bail from my vehicle and rely on the bag to sustain myself until I can get transportation and hook up with my wife and child. I also always have some type of jacket and blanket in the vehicle as well. CountyComm Bail Out Bag, notice the plethora of pockets and ample space inside (I have removed most of my usual contents so you can see the interior)
Messenger Style Shoulder Bag: Purchased some years ago from Old Navy, this bag is used when I need some extra carrying capacity for the office. When I do use it you will normally find a small flash light, first aid kit, emergency poncho and knife in it in addition to whatever else I may be carrying that day. The large flap of the bag is secured with two squares of velcro and is not very secure. This bag has however been a surprisingly robust design made with medium weight cotton canvas and double bar stitching. One nice thing about it is it does not look overly "tactical" and would not be out of place in most settings. In a pinch if I would need to bail from my vehicle and it was the only bag available to me it would quickly be able to be drafted into service as a true "go bag" if need be.
Old Navy messenger style bag. Sometimes simple is good.
The 3 Day assault pack type go bag. This is a bag I picked up over in the PX in Kuwait to use for hauling stuff to and from leave and the like. The Army now issues an official 3 day pack for soldiers to use during patrol duties over there as the ruck has been pretty much made obsolete by the Army's use of large amounts of vehicles in Iraq. Back in 2006 we had to buy our own for the most part. A 3 day pack gives enough room for spare ammo and food for about, you guessed it, 3 days. As a bug out bag it provides plenty of space for some spare clothing and toiletries in addition to the "normal" supplies you would want to have. This type of pack would be idea for an individual to use while evacuating a large metro area or traveling for a few days on the road.
3 Day Assault Pack type bag, plenty of room for your stuff.
Helmet Bag: Once one of the coolest bags to own back in the days of BDUs, these bags were issued to aircraft and armored vehicle crewman to store their helmets in. For a long time mine was used as an ad-hoc overnight bag. About 18" to a side and made of nylon with polyester batting in between the layers, it was soft enough to be used as a pillow. There are 2 outer pockets on the bag, 2 inner sleeves and enough room to keep some extra clothing and a rolled up poncho liner in it as well. Not ideal for use as a "go bag" but nice to have if you can find one none the less.
Helmet bag, helmet head.
CountyCommEOD utility bag. Another CountyComm bag, this is based on the current claymore mine bag supposedly. I am using this bag (with a few added pockets) as my primary range and SHTF bag. It has two sides of PALS webbing to attach all of your "tacticool" pouches as well as an internal mesh divider and two internal magazine pouches. The strap is solidly made but in my opinion a bit low on the sides to offer real stability. Still it has worked admirably for me and is tough enough for any role assigned to it. For less than $25, its hard to beat its value.
CountyCommEOD Utility bag. I have added a couple of external mag pouches, a flashlight pouch, my BOK previously covered in this blog and few snap link type clips for use.
Plenty of PALS webbing on both side to attach stuff.
You can see the 2 internal mag pouches as well as the two pouches (4 total slots) on the outside. This is a cavernous bag even if it does not appear so. Great for carrying ammo and mags to the range!
The Not-so-tactical bag approach: Having a bag scream "hey, I got survival supplies and/or weapons!" on you may not always be the smartest approach. There may come a time in an crisis situation where discretion certainly may be the better point of valor. Remember after Hurricane Katrina when local law enforcement went around and illegally seized firearms from law abiding citizens? They certainly meant well but left many a stranded family unable to defend themselves in the aftermath of that tragedy. Below are some bags that would not necessarily be out of place in any setting but yet could carry items as "go bags"
I actually got this at the hospital when my daughter was born, hence the "A Dad for a Lifetime" banner and image graphic on the bag. We never needed this bag as a diaper bag or anything so it has been sitting in my basement holding spare mags and holsters for my collection for a while. You could easily slip this into the truck of your car with a few items and be ready in case of bad times.
Here is a little black back pack I got after attending an IT training course. It is fairly well built and would probably stand up to some abuse. Couple of spare mags and other items and its ready for use.
Larger than Life bags: These are bags big enough to pack more than your "normal" items that a go bag might contain. I know for many people living in the Southern climates in the US a light sweater or polypro and a wind/waterproof shell may be all the winter gear you may need, but in the Northern states we have 4 distinct seasons with winter being the most harsh. I actually keep a bag packed with surplus military cold weather gear and some civilian items for every member of my family. Just in case we would need to evac in a hurry during the winter I just grab and go knowing that a warm coat, gloves and hat are packed for each of us. As "go bags" these would be excessive in size and would compromise mobility (one of the keys to surviving a SHTF type event) but I am including them regardless just so you have an idea of their uses. A GI duffel bag. Readily available in surplus stores it offers a wide range of packing possibilities. The two external shoulder straps also make it possible to use as a back pack if needed. This is what I keep winter clothes for myself and my family packed in for emergency use.
Genuine GI medium rucksack with frame. Definitely tough enough for whatever is thrown at it. A bit bulky in comparison to the 3 day pack shown above, but an economical choice if you need something like it. These ALICE type packs are being phased out and should be available in quantity on the civilian market.
This is a civilian knock off of a flyer's kit bag used commonly by airborne troops to store their used 'chutes for repacking later. A single cavernous main compartment with a side to side zipper allows you to pack too much in it sometimes to the point that carrying can be a hassle.
And lastly, the "I'm not a go bag" bag": No joke, its a zip lock. Remember the pictures of people walking out of New York after 9/11 due to transit systems being shut down? How many people in that crowd would of liked to of had a bag like this sitting in their desk drawers at work with maybe some basic first aid supplies, a candy or granola bar, bottle of water, a dust/hospital mask, small flashlight or other similar items. I think I said it above, but no single "go bag" is right for all situations. My thought is this, I need a small bag to help get from my office to my truck, another if I get to my truck and I can't use it, and another once I get home and need to leave there. Use your imagination. It may be a simple plastic bag but that does not limit its usefulness. Imagine you are walking out of downtown after a chemical spill or weapon has gone off. You come across an office cooler that obviously cannot be contaminated from a central source. You can use the bag to carry some of the water with you. Same use I have my blue 1 liter bottle with me in my truck. Hey, God gave you a brain for a reason, don't be limited by the obvious choices think "outside the box". That in itself is a survival strategy to depend on.
OK, so there you have it. My little secret is out. I am a bag addict. I would love to hear from some of you and see if you have a "go bag" and if so what it contains. Drop me a comment on this post if you want and we'll see how many others we can get together for a 12 step group.
Personally, I have seen the price of ammo lowered here in central Ohio and the availability increase in the past few months. There are still plenty of bare spots to be found on the shelves of your local Wally World and such around here, but the big store down on Cleveland Ave. in Columbus seems to have a good supply of target ammo to be bought. A box of 50 aluminum cased FMJ 9mm was going for around $10 a week ago. Still, there is always room for more drama in the news.
Ammo Sales Spike Continues Months After Obama Elected
Thursday, September 24, 2009
NEW ORLEANS — Bullet-makers are working around the clock, seven days a week, and still can't keep up with the nation's demand for ammunition.
Shooting ranges, gun dealers and bullet manufacturers say they have never seen such shortages. Bullets, especially for handguns, have been scarce for months because gun enthusiasts are stocking up on ammo, in part because they fear President Barack Obama and the Democratic-controlled Congress will pass antigun legislation — even though nothing specific has been proposed and the president last month signed a law allowing people to carry loaded guns in national parks.
Gun sales spiked when it became clear Obama would be elected a year ago and purchases continued to rise in his first few months of office. The FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System reported that 6.1 million background checks for gun sales were issued from January to May, an increase of 25.6 percent from the same period the year before.
"That is going to cause an upswing in ammunition sales," said Larry Keane, senior vice president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, a trade association representing about 5,000 members. "Without bullets a gun is just a paper weight."
The shortage for sportsmen is different than the scarcity of ammo for some police forces earlier this year, a dearth fueled by an increase in ammo use by the military in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"We are working overtime and still can't keep up with the demand," said Al Russo, spokesman for North Carolina-based Remington Arms Company, which makes bullets for rifles, handguns and shotguns. "We've had to add a fourth shift and go 24-7. It's a phenomenon that I have not seen before in my 30 years in the business."
Americans usually buy about 7 billion rounds of ammunition a year, according to the National Rifle Association. In the past year, that figure has jumped to about 9 billion rounds, said NRA spokeswoman Vickie Cieplak.
Jason Gregory, who manages Gretna Gun Works just outside of New Orleans, has been building his personal supply of ammunition for months. His goal is to have at least 1,000 rounds for each of his 25 weapons.
"I call it the Obama effect," said Gregory, 37, of Terrytown, La. "It always happens when the Democrats get in office. It happened with Clinton and Obama is even stronger for gun control. Ammunition will be the first step, so I'm stocking up while I can."
So far, the new administration nor Congress has not been markedly antigun. Obama has said he respects Second Amendment rights, but favors "common sense" on gun laws. Still, worries about what could happen persist.
Demand has been so heavy at some Walmarts, a limit was imposed on the amount of ammo customers can buy. The cutoff varies according to caliber and store location, but sometimes as little as one box — or 50 bullets — is allowed.
At Barnwood Arms in Ripon, Calif., sales manager Dallas Jett said some of the shortages have leveled off, but 45-caliber rounds are still hard to find.
"We've been in business for 32 years and I've been here for 10 and we've never seen anything like it," Jett said. "Coming out of Christmas everything started to dry up and it was that way all through the spring and summer.
Nationwide, distributors are scrambling to fill orders from retailers.
"We used to be able to order 50 or 60 cases and get them in three or four days easy, it was never an issue," said Vic Grechniw of Florida Ammo Traders, a distributor in Tampa, Fla. "Now you are really lucky if you can get one case a month. It just isn't there because the demand is way up."
A case contains 500 or 1,000 bullets.
At Jefferson Gun Outlet and Range in Metairie just west of New Orleans, owner Mike Mayer is worried individuals are going to start buying by the case.
"If someone wants to shoot on the weekend you have to worry about having the ammunition for them. And I know some people aren't buying to use it at the range, they're taking it home and hoarding it."
With demand, prices have also risen.
"Used to be gold, but now lead is the most expensive metal," said Donald Richards, 37, who was stocking up at the Jefferson store. "And worth every penny."
...until ready to shoot. Totally avoidable. Pretty much all modern firearms that you would buy today would have some type of internal safety to prevent this as long as you don't pull the trigger. You can't tell what he is holding but I guarantee his meat picker on that paw was all over the trigger.
Take a look at Kevin here shooting my AK. See how easy it is to keep your finger off the trigger. So simple but yet so hard for so many to do..Remember folks, YOU are the best safety designed into your weapon. I've been sick the past few days, more posts to follow soon.
Apparently the UN is trying to pass some resolution with Mexico in the mix outlawing the international trade of firearms. Say goodbye to GLOCKS, SIGS and others that have parts manufactured wholly outside the US or parts and then assembled here. They are looking for donations to fund efforts against this ban. They wanted $75 but all I could swing was $25. As always I encourage my readers to join the NRA and/or donate to their causes. Its not tax deductible, but at what what price do you put on your freedom?
Before you get upset by the pic to the left read the post, it fits in with it! This letter has been on the net a few months now from what I gather.
OK, this is going to be a long read, but the link that I got for it is down and this way you won't have to search for it.
The fear on the street is palpable. Ever since the election of Barack Obama as President of these United States in November 2008, coupled with the election of a democrat party majority in both the U.S. House and Senate, concern for the United States and personal safety has ignited like a fire in dry grass. Sales of guns - black guns, rifles, shotguns and handguns (particularly 9mm) everywhere, have gone through the roof. AR15s have literally flown off of dealer shelves, and only now in the spring of 2009, have I seen the display samples of ARs begin to reappear on the wall of my favorite shooting emporium after the initial post election rush. Manufacturers of ARs are still working to catch up and some of the major suppliers are as much as 150,000 guns behind.
Not only that, ammo is in the shortest supply I have ever seen in the 43 years of my shooting life. Have you recently tried to get 5.56mm, 9mm or even 380 ammo? Supplies of 5.56mm and 9mm ammo are in short supply due to the black gun buying craze; .380ACP because of the rise in people getting concealed carry permits and the resurgence of interest in convenient 380 handguns like the fine RugerLCP. In fact, in doing a review of the RugerLCP, my gun store only had a small supply of ONE .380 round on hand, the Winchesters 95-grain SXT, which they had just gotten in. Unfortunately, I had to do a 30-round review of that pistol. There was none other to be found.
The 5.56mm was the first caliber to noticeably be in short supply. This was first due to the war effort, the headlong adoption of 5.56mm rifles by law enforcement agencies ever since the great LAPD bank robbery and shootout, the general shooting public interest in and acceptance of the AR15 weapons system along with a realization that yes, the AR does have sporting purpose, and of course now, this new fear that is on the street. Sales of ARs also went up following 9/11.
What is odd about this new fear is that it is not coming from the average citizen gun owner out there, but it is coming from what to me is an almost shocking source: street cops. Street cops and SWAT cops that I know from various agencies - rural, suburban and metro - in my area are scared. Cops that before November 2008 never gave much thought (that I knew of anyway) to politics or more importantly to gun rights. For the most part, these are the guys that didn't generally have any interest in shooting or gun ownership beyond keeping track of where their duty gun is, and a few of them didn't even do that so well.
The guys I am talking about now are some of the same guys who used to not even carry off duty on a regular basis- but not anymore. They don't scare easily, defenders of the Constitution of this State and the United States (as our oath of office reads), have been buying ARs, survival gear, and all the ammo they can lay their hands on. All of them (or I should say "us") have been discussing and have been acquiring guns to provide a layered perimeter defense. We want something in .308 (or in my case a superb M1 Garand in .30-06) for covering the outer perimeters, 5.56mm weapons for mid-range use (for some with more limited funds, the AK-47 and 7.62×39 cartridge will suffice), and for the close up stuff shotguns and handguns (love my Benelli M4 Tactical and Beretta 92 9mm).
What are we suddenly so afraid of? Well in our discussions it seems to boil down to four areas.
First, fear of federal government intrusion into our lives. Every time I look at or listen to the news, there is something new and intrusive coming out of the Obama administration and this Congress. New tax schemes, government-run Canadian-style healthcare, a volunteer citizen defense force (whatever that is, what happened to the National Guard?) equipped with funding similar to our military, forced voluntary "service" after retirement, a lack of a southern border with hordes of illegal and criminal aliens pouring over our border, the swine flu scare as well as government forced closing of thousands of privately held Chrysler and GM dealerships, which will be the final nail in the coffin for these companies and the list goes on and on. But these items in the news are just the tip of the iceberg. We can't see the full impact of these actions yet, but we don't know what was added into the thousands of pages of stimulus package bills in the dead of night yet. I predict however that when the plans contained in the stimulus packages go into effect, a lot of us are going to be surprised if not shocked by what has suddenly and sweepingly changed.
What also scares us is the second, well-founded fear that there is an assault weapons ban looming, one that would make the Clinton Ban appear like a look of disdain in comparison. I remember well the 1990s and the Clinton years: the rise of militia groups, the "black helicopter" rumors and paranoia, all of which was motivated by the Brady Law and the Assault Weapon's ban. What if a new ban comes requiring registration or confiscation and turn-in of banned weapons as what happened in Australia?
I watched cops and citizens alike purchase these guns at $900 dollars and more, with custom or tricked out guns easily running into the $2,000 range. Then add on all the accessories, red dots, lights, slings and anything else you can name and you may have up to $3,000 wrapped up in your rig. I saw the looks in their eyes. These purchasers weren't spending this kind of money just to turn in the guns for no compensation when a government tells them to. I foresee much civil disobedience coming down the road.
Americans are citizens, and not subjects like the British, Canadians or Australians. They just don't always obey the law blindly and not one officer or citizen that I spoke to said anything like "I hope I get to keep this gun for awhile before they are banned; They are fun to shoot, so I would hate to give it up." It isn't going to happen, so the cop on the street and the soldier on the base needs to think now what he will do if the orders come down. I think you all get what I am saying here.
Which leads me to the third fear, that there is a revolution coming, yes, a revolution on the scale of the original American Revolution. You can hear this topic discussed on many of the talk radio shows by even the big name hosts. The possibility of an armed revolution against the U.S. government is being discussed, albeit very gingerly and fleetingly and as something to be avoided, which it is. I never heard this mentioned in the 90s.
One of my quietest, low profile officer friends brought it up the other day. He said that at some point in the near future, he felt there is going to be an armed revolt if things keep going the way they are. Something has got to give. I was shocked. Yes, I had heard this from some of my more radical cop friends in the past, but to hear it from a guy like this was unprecedented. Now, these guys are not saying this will happen to foment revolution, preach sedition or to even participate. They just want to be ready if it happens, to at least defend their families, because number four on the fear list is general societal chaos.
Cops fear for their parents, wives, children or grandchildren more now than ever before. Most cops are encouraging their spouses and loved ones to get concealed carry permits. Not only that, but some of these same cops are buying gun mounts for their personal cars so they can carry an AR in the family ride at the ready all the time. They are also strapping on heavier forms of off-duty hardware. I have other friends that are issued ARs or subguns for tactical team use, who always have their gear with them and are planning on just commandeering these weapons for personal use in defending hearth and home.
Final Notes
This is pretty heady and maybe even dangerous stuff. Know fully that I am not advocating anything here. I am reflecting to you what I see and hear going on around me, and maybe saying things that haven't been said in the open, until now. It is something to think about.
Written By; SCOTT WAGNER IS A 30 YEAR LAW ENFORCEMENT VETERAN AND TRAINER I took the time to look Scott up and did indeed receive acknowledgment from him that these are indeed his own words as written by him. I must reiterate his own words that Scott does not advocate revolution in this letter. It is simply his report or what he sees happening around him in the law enforcement community and his interpretation on the information.
Folks, to me this is some scary stuff he's talking about here. I have commented on this blog before about the shortage of ammo and firearms in and around Columbus, and while not back up to pre-BHO levels, the supply is slowly starting to trickle back in. At the large gun store I frequent here in Columbus the long lines and waits of a few months ago have been replaced by the more moderate lines that I remember. Maybe part of the reason is that the massive assault on assault weapons from the White House has not materialized as of yet, and when Attorney General Holder did mention it, it was immediately retracted by him and the administration. Doesn't mean we are out of the woods yet. Colin Powell was in the news recently talking about several subjects one of which was his approval of BHO and the advice he gave him to try not and do everything in the first year and promise more than you can deliver. Or maybe the simple fact is that after months of gun buying madness, the market has been saturated with buyers that have run out of money or reasons to purchase any more.
To hear the thought of open armed rebellion against our own government discussed among law enforcement officers troubles me deeply. We pride ourselves as a country on the fact that no matter how hotly contested a political race is, we have always had non-violent transfers of power in this country when it comes to our highest offices. I often wonder what would of happened if they had discovered the telegraph or telephone back before 1776 and there could of been more of an open dialog with the King of England by the colonies. Maybe some compromise could of been reached and we would still be a Commonwealth of Great Britain or something. I am sure though that the 2 to 3 months it took messages to cross the Atlantic in those days could not of helped resolving differences between the English Government and the original 13 colonies. This lack of communication may have well lead to those first fateful volleys at Lexington and Concord that started the American Revolution as we know it. I am grateful to be an American, but can't help but wonder "what if" sometimes.
Now it seems to me that communication may be having the reverse affect.
The Internet is a wonderful invention. It has revolutionized the way we look at the world and those around us. My daughter spends several (supervised) hours a week on the web on kid friendly sites and is more tech savvy than my 70-ish year old parents. Cultures that may never normally of interacted are now crashed into one another daily in a myriad of formats on the Internet. Even within our own country relationships and networks are being built in cyberspace that never would of existed a scant decade ago. Some of these networks, such as Facebook, reunite old friends and family and are generally used for the purpose for which they are designed.
Of course the Internet has a darker side. Everything designed for a useful purpose can always be exploited and misused as well. The Internet is no exception. Some of these networking sites out there promote hate and discord among the masses. Stormfront Nation is one that comes readily to mind. A white supremacy site, they have a very loyal group of members and a large portion of their forums dedicated to firearm related info. I often come across links to their site while researching a particular firearm related piece of info. Unfortunately in our society the web has grown its own legitimacy to the point that many people take for granted what is on its pages must be undeniably true.
During the last assault weapons ban the Internet was in its infancy. Use of it was limited to academia and the more "tech savvy" amongst society. Now its everywhere. When the first ban went into affect I have no doubt in my mind that people were out there that saw that as the first steps in the destruction of democracy and yet we are still here. Matter of fact, some of the backlash of that ban helped cause the sweeping influx of pro gun legislatures that came later and let the ban lapse back in 2004. People took attention to what was happening to their rights and voiced, and voted, their concerns. They didn't necessarily stock up on weapons, form a militia and make plans to start ambushing and attacking government entities. There certainly were (and still are) those types of people and groups out there, but they were isolated and pretty much not mainstream.
Now fast forward 15 years, there is talk of another weapons ban coming. I have no doubt it is on some page of BHO's "master plan" but not at the present - the man is as shrewd and cunning as any man that has ever held that office - other than using the word "stupidly" to describe police activity without having all the facts. The ban will be one of his societal issues he will try and tackle once national health care and the economy have been worked on. I would be that he is so sure of himself that he has agenda items reaching all of the way out until the 7th or 8th year of his presidency planned already. Anyway, reaction to a reported ban is being handled in a totally different way. Now a lot of these extremest views about revolution and the end of society as we know it are back. But with the net there is "legitimacy" to some of these claims and some of the people sharing these views are not able to network with each other. Our first Amendment rights give us the ability to meet and talk freely and exchange ideas and information and I whole heatedly support that. I think the "Tea Parties" of recent are excellent ways to let our elected officials know that we don't agree with the spending going on in Washington.
But, as I am sure the author of the above text will confirm, people act differently as a member of a group than an individual. That's how riots generally start. People who would not normally be brazen enough to commit outright crimes will rob, assault and even kill if given the right set of social circumstances to operate under. I don't have any research to back it up, but I think that this same type of "group think" mentality extends to web interactions as well as interpersonal interactions. I think people may be driven to do things in the real world that they have only talked about doing in the cyber world if given the right amount of encouragement. The recent rise and notoriety of "flash mobs" like the one in the video before. The idea is that these folks join and organization and then are "activated" to perform in these events at a moments notice. Kind of reminds you of the Manchurian Candidate a bit, doesn't it. Anyway, even though this was for fun and laughs, just imaging what type of networks could be built for nefarious purposes if desired.
I have a "web friend" on Facebook that I have never actually met. Came across each other via another page and became "friends" after seeing that we had similar interests to include both being veterans. He is waaaaay right of me. While I dislike our current president, I am at least tolerant enough to try and hear his plan on issues before condemning him. My friend out and out hates him, he is always sending links to join groups to "impeach BHO", "BHO sucks" and the like endlessly. I know to separate my personal views from him and ignore them. Just like with most of my "real" friends I am willing to overlook their shortcomings as I hope they do my own. A lot of people can't. Somebody will end up telling someone to go bomb a post office or something stupid like that "for the people" and they'll do it without regard to the consequences.
We need to stop and think before we start spouting "revolution" - is this what we really want? Are we ready to show up like some 3rd world country in another part of the world on the news with open violence in the streets? Car bombings and kidnapping a la Iraq? I would like to think we are better than this. We have had one civil war in this country and I think that this is more than enough. Do I think the government goes over the line? Hell yes, a lot. Do I think armed rebellion is the answer, certainly not.
I maintain a small collection of arms for personal enjoyment as well as daily self defense and what I see as two main SHTF scenarios.
#1 There is some type of external attack on the US in my area (think 9/11, I would think maybe a dirty bomb in Columbus would fit here) and I need to evacuate my family from the area in a sea of other refugees while protecting them from events such as some that played out during Hurricane Katrina. Police and medical services break down, local government ceases to function and I am responsible for the safety of my own family. Again group think and mob mentality can be deadly in the right combination.
#2 An pandemic event happens (H1N1 anyone?) that again brings local service and support agencies to their knees and I again have a need to protect my family. Same criteria for a threat as above.
At no point does my planning involve joining a militia other than possibly linking with a friend or two locally if possible and required to provide greater security for our joined families. But even this is a far reaching reality since in such a time he and I will most likely be solely focused on taking care of our own needs and family members and have differing requirements of what needs to be accomplished at the time.
I am not saying that any particular militia is bad. I see videos on line where they actually train their personnel in some valid emergency and first responder techniques that may be needed at some point in the future for their members. According to the United States Code, these organizations make up the "Unorganized Militia" and are protected under the rights of the 2nd Amendment. I support them and their members fully as long as they operate under the principles of democracy under which they were intended. I will not, however, voice my support for any organization or individuals that voice their intentions to openly combat our nations government or act upon these threats. This is especially true if these organizations have not or will not attempted peaceful alleviations of their grievances through legislative or legal means first. Yes, our country needs to wake up and realize what is happening to it. We need to wake up and let our voices be heard on the phones, mailboxes and on the computer screens of our elected officials letting them know our displeasure with what we see as challenges to our Constitutional liberties under the 2nd Amendment. We need to let them know that we will voice our concern not only there but also in voting booths in November.
Next time you read or hear about revolution on the TV or radio take a step back and ask yourself "Is this what this country really needs or wants?" Hopefully, you'll come up to the same conclusion I did.
I had originally written this post this past July but decided to delay its posting to coincide with the 222th anniversary of the signing of the Constitution. I missed it by one day, sorry. Even though we do not give it the celebration it deserves, I hope you take a moment each year and reflect on how great our nation truly is due to this document. While the Declaration of Independence basically told England that we were no longer its subjects, not until the Constitution did we have a document that united us as common citizens under one recognized government.
In recognition of my friend Web's birthday and his wife's new G22, I give you Massad's own opinion in his own words of the GLOCK
While I am on the subject of the Glock, Business Week, where I got the vid, has several articles relating to the Glock that you may be interested in from their September 21, 2009 edition (available at your local news stand now). I make no comment on their content but simply provide them for a your reading if you so choose.
OK, I said I wasn't going to comment, but in the safety article in the middle I am declaring Bovine Excrement (BS) about the lack of external safeties for the same reasons that I have outlined before on this blog. Damn, if we can't trust our LEO's to keep their fingers off the trigger unless ready to fire who can we trust?
Hey, want something FREE!! Thanks to the WeaponsCache, here's a deal you cannot pass up!!
Receive a free 1 oz. trial bottle of WeaponsShield CLP simply by sending an email to the company's founder George at gcfennell@steelshieldtech.com with your name and address and viola! In about a week you'll get a tube of this stuff. I say a tube, but it is actually in one of those precision needle applicators. I looked it up online and if you were to buy this it would be $9.95 + shipping. You simply can't beat this deal.
A $9.95 value free for the asking! Click on the pic for the manufacturer's link.
Of course there's always a catch. George is hoping that after the first vial of this you'll want to buy more. I have yet to shoot with it on my weapons but I used it to clean and oil a couple of pistols to test and it seems like pretty good stuff. It has a more dense viscosity than normal military grade CLP. I plan on taking it to the range and doing an more in depth review of the product.
To some oil may be oil, but proper lubrication is one of the key factors in a weapon's reliability. According to the WeaponShield site, the patented ingredients in WeaponsShield CLP bonds to the metal surface of your weapon under heat and pressure and provide an "advanced boundary shield", providing long term protection to your investment. Sounds a lot like Slick-50 for your car, and since I think that product is worthy of my dollar I may just be back for more of this after testing it out at the range.
I, along with most other Americans, was deeply affected by the events of September 11th, 2001. Not only in how I viewed our country's sense of national security had been shattered but also personally in that on that day the National Guard ceased to be a "one weekend a month" endeavor for the remainder of my career. I was among the first citizen soldiers to be called to active duty in support of homeland security missions, entitled "Operation Noble Eagle", and was part of the largest mobilization of troops from the reserve component since WW2. Later on as the casualty Information Management Officer for Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom I daily counted the number of Americans killed and wounded responding to the threats of the aftermath of 9/11. Many of us have served in the military and some have faced the rigors of combat duty. A few have even paid with their life the price of freedom and security won. These servicemen and women, and many other civilian contractors from around the world faced these dangers of their own accord. They knew the dangers of their occupation or situation and performed their duties of their own volition.
Most of the people who died 8 years ago did not.
Most were ordinary people like you and me. Living their daily grind not to necessarily get ahead, but to keep up with the day to day demands of living. Nobody ever asked them if they wanted to serve their country or others. Nobody ever asked them if they wanted to be part of the largest terrorist attack on American soil. Nobody ever asked them if they wanted to die that day. They just did. As we pause to remember those souls given up to the whims of a madmen that day let us remember a few who decided to live defiantly in the face of death until their last breath.
Todd Beamer and the passengers and crew of flight 93
Let's remember the heroism of Todd Beamer and the other passengers of Flight 93 that decided to fight back against the terrorists, most likely knowing that they would die in the process but others would maybe live. We know that Todd didn't take on the hijackers by himself, he had others around him who also knew the score. His voice however, will forever be remembered. His last heard statement of "Let's Roll" has become synonymous with the War on Terror (I refuse to acknowledge it by any other name) and appears on many places overseas wherever US troops are stationed. I consider their actions to be the first combat operations against Al Quaeda in the post 9/11 era. If I had my way I would sign an order ensuring that each and every one of those passengers and crew would be eligible for the Combat Action Badge.
While no official memorial has been dedicated to their actions, several unofficial memorials have been erected at the crash site to honor these Americans.
Firefighters, Police, EMS, and everyone that gave their all helping others
These people need no special explanation of their deeds, we all know of them. Firefighters and Police charging UP the stairs of the towers of the World Trade Center while flames and debris rained down around them. Service members from every branch braving a wall of flame and hazardous smoke to go search for survivors in the Pentagon. Countless civilians in all locations that gave everything they had to try and save just one life. I can count my brother as one, a medical resident at a DC hospital that was suddenly overwhelmed with burn and trauma patients and didn't leave the hospital or stop caring for the injured for 3 days. Not all of them ever got to hear the applause of others recognizing them for their actions. I have read stories of retired NYFD personnel responding to the all units call that day and never returning home. All of these people woke up one day not realizing that their lives would be changed forever. Rick Rescorla, the right man at the right time.
This is a bit long of a read, trust me, its worth every letter.
A Tower of Courage On September 11, Rick Rescorla Died as He Lived: Like a Hero
By Michael Grunwald Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, October 28, 2001; Page F01
"You watching TV?"
Rick Rescorla was calling from the 44th floor of the World Trade Center, icy calm in the crisis. When Rescorla was a platoon leader in Vietnam, his men called him Hard Core, because they had never seen anyone so absurdly unflappable in the face of death. Now he was vice president for corporate security at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co., and a jumbo jet had just plowed into the north tower. The voices of officialdom were crackling over the loudspeakers in the south tower, urging everyone to stay put: Please do not leave the building. This area is secure. Rescorla was ignoring them.
"The dumb sons of bitches told me not to evacuate," he said during a quick call to his best friend, Dan Hill, who had indeed been watching the disaster unfolding on TV. "They said it's just Building One. I told them I'm getting my people the [expletive] out of here."
Keep moving, Rescorla commanded over his megaphone while Hill listened. Keep moving.
"Typical Rescorla," Hill recalls. "Incredible under fire."
Morgan Stanley lost only six of its 2,700 employees in the south tower on Sept. 11, an isolated miracle amid the carnage. And company officials say Rescorla deserves most of the credit. He drew up the evacuation plan. He hustled his colleagues to safety. And then he apparently went back into the inferno to search for stragglers. He was the last man out of the south tower after the World Trade Center bombing in 1993, and no one seems to doubt that he would've been again last month if the skyscraper hadn't collapsed on him first. One of the company's secretaries actually snapped a photo of Rescorla with his megaphone that day, a 62-year-old mountain of a man coolly sacrificing his life for others.
It was an epic death, one of those inspirational hero-tales that have sprouted like wildflowers from the Twin Towers rubble. But it turns out that retired Army Col. Cyril Richard Rescorla led an epic life as well. In this time when heroes are being proclaimed all around, when brave actions are understandably hailed as proofs of character, here was a man whose heroism was a matter of public record long before Sept. 11.
At the same time, Rescorla's own fascination with heroism and hero- tales was a matter of private record. He even co-wrote a screenplay about the World War II infantry legend Audie Murphy. Rescorla was a man of introspection as well as action, and some of his final soul- searching e-mails provide an eerie commentary on his final day.
Rescorla, after all, was once an infantryman himself, declared a "battlefield legend" in the 1992 bestseller "We Were Soldiers Once . . . and Young." Another photo of Rescorla -- gaunt back then, unshaven, carrying his M-16 rifle with bayonet fixed -- graced the book's cover and became an enduring image of the Vietnam War.
Recognize this book? That's Rick Rescorla 35 years before 9/11 on the cover.
The survivors of the 7th Cavalry still tell awestruck stories about Rescorla. Like the time he stumbled into a hooch full of enemy soldiers on a reconnaissance patrol in Bon Song. Oh, pardon me, he said, before firing a few rounds and racing away.
"Oh comma pardon me," repeats Dennis Deal, who followed Rescorla that day in April 1966. "Like he had walked into a ladies' tea party."
Or the time a deranged private pulled a .45-caliber pistol on an officer while Rescorla was nearby, sharpening his bowie knife. "Rick just walked right between them and said: Put. Down. The. Gun," recalls Bill Lund, who served with Rescorla in Vietnam. "And the guy did. Then Rick went back to his knife. He was flat out the bravest man any of us ever knew."
Rescorla was also a passionate and complex man, a writer and a lawyer, as well as a blood-streaked warrior and six-figure security expert. At his home in suburban Morristown, N.J., he carved wooden ducks, frequented craft fairs, took playwriting classes. He wrote romantic poetry to his second wife, Susan, and renewed their vows after just one year of marriage. "He was a song-and-dance man," she says. He was a weeper, too. He liked to quote Shakespeare and Tennyson and Byron -- and Elvis and Burt Lancaster. He was a film buff, history buff, pottery buff -- "pretty much any kind of buff you can be," says his daughter, Kim. He liked to point his Lincoln Mark VIII in random directions and see where it would take him.
In his last days, Rescorla had been reading up on Zen Buddhism and the Stoics, contemplating the directions his own life had taken him. A few years ago, he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer that had spread into his bones. His doctors had given him six months to live. But the cancer was in remission, and he couldn't help but wonder what it all meant. In a Sept. 5 e-mail to his old friend Bill Shucart -- once a medic in Vietnam, now the head of neurosurgery at a Boston hospital -- he mused about kairos, a Greek word for a cosmically meaningful moment outside of linear time.
"I have accepted the fact that there will never be a kairos moment for me, just an uneventful Miltonian plow-the-fields discipline . . . a few more cups of mocha grande at Starbucks, each one losing a little bit more of its flavor," he wrote.
But Rescorla's moment was coming soon.
This American story began in England.
Rescorla was born in Hayle, a seaport on the north coast of Cornwall. He was the only child of a single mom, although he didn't know that as a boy. He thought he had a traditional family with married parents, a much older sister and an older brother. He only found out later that his parents were really his grandparents. His "sister" and "brother" were his mother and uncle. No matter. It was still a close family. He called his mother Sis until the day he died. He never did meet his father.
Rescorla's neighbor and friend Mervyn Sullivan, a retired meter reader, remembers him as "a natural number one man," a broad- shouldered, curly-haired man-child who wowed the girls and led the boys. Rescorla, known as Tammy then, was also a talented, hypercompetitive rugby player. Sullivan still sports a scar on his forehead where Rescorla kicked him 50 years ago while chasing a ball - - and Rescorla was on his team that day.
"There was no need for that kick! No one was anywhere near us. We could've had a cup of coffee!" Sullivan recalls. "But that was Tammy, you know. Totally committed."
Hayle was a working-class tin-mining town, and the Rescorlas were a working-class family. But Tammy wanted to see the world -- and some action. He joined the British paratroopers as a teenager, then served as an intelligence officer in violence-torn Cyprus. He later joined Her Majesty's colonial force in Northern Rhodesia as a commando. As Northern Rhodesia -- now Zambia -- began its transition to independence, Rescorla returned to London to serve in Scotland Yard's elite "flying squad" of detectives. But the job and the paperwork bored him.
He was looking for a fight. In 1963, America seemed to be looking for one, too.
So Rescorla reported for basic training at Fort Dix, N.J., a mercenary at 24. "He was looking for bang-bang shoot-'em-up," says his best friend, Hill, who met him at Fort Dix.
Rescorla and Hill, who was starting his second Army tour, were the only grunts at Fort Dix with combat experience. It was the same story when they began Officer Candidate School at Fort Benning, Ga. -- the so-called Benning School for Boys was a hotbed of fresh-faced college graduates. Again, Rescorla emerged as a swaggering leader, belting out Cornish songs in his lusty baritone when his classmates were stressed out and exhausted.
After graduating as a second lieutenant in April 1965, Rescorla was assigned to lead a platoon in Bravo Company of the 2nd Battalion of the 7th Cavalry -- once General Custer's outfit at Little Big Horn, now the vanguard of a new helicopter-based "air-mobile" fighting concept designed for Southeast Asia. That fall, President Johnson shipped him to Vietnam.
"Most of us were in awe of Rick," recalls Larry Froelich, an OCS classmate who is now the news editor at the Lexington (Ky.) Herald- Leader. "It came as no surprise when the stories began to trickle back from Vietnam about his exploits in the field."
The Vietnam War entered a new realm of seriousness on Nov. 14, 1965, in the elephant grass and termite hills of the Ia Drang Valley. That remote swath of the Central Highlands became known as the Valley of Death. And as retired Army Gen. Harold G. Moore and war correspondent Joseph Galloway wrote in "We Were Soldiers," their narrative of Ia Drang: "Rescorla, as usual, was in the middle of it all." In "Baptism," another Vietnam memoir, Larry Gwin dedicated an entire chapter of hagiography to Rescorla, describing him as a charming raconteur with a "crazed irreverent twinkle" at play, but also a ruthless killer with a "cold steely glint that could sear through you like the icy stare of death" in the bush.
"Rescorla was the best platoon leader I ever saw," says Moore, who will be played by Mel Gibson in an upcoming movie based on "We Were Soldiers." "What a unique man."
American troops were encircled that first night at a landing zone they called X-Ray, and one company was virtually wiped out in a hellish firefight. The next day, Rescorla's company was ordered to replace it on the perimeter at the foot of the Chu Pong mountain ridge. In a later letter to Moore and Galloway, Rescorla recalled that when he arrived -- after a U.S. fighter jet had mistakenly dropped napalm on his men -- he found corpses scattered everywhere from the night before, including an American with his hands still clenched around a North Vietnamese soldier's throat.
"Are your men up for this? Do you feel they can hold?" asked Myron Diduryk, his commander.
"If they break through us, sir, you'll be the first to know," Rescorla replied.
That night, Rescorla risked sniper fire to study the terrain from the enemy viewpoint. He ordered his men to dig new foxholes 50 yards back, lay booby traps, reposition their machine guns and artillery. After midnight, he sang a slow Cornish mining tune: "Going Up Cambourne Hill Coming Down." Lund remembers Rescorla stopping by his foxhole to reset his bayonet and critique his fields of fire, joking as if they were preparing to play paintball.
"What a command presence," recalls Lund, who now runs a cell phone accessory business in Omaha. "We all thought we were going to die that night, and Rescorla gave us our courage back. I figured, if he's walking around singing, the least I can do is stop trembling."
The next morning, Bravo Company beat back four assaults, mowing down about 200 enemy soldiers while sustaining only a few injuries.
"A quietness settled over the field," Rescorla wrote later. "We put more rounds into clumps of bodies nearest our holes, making sure. . . . Forty yards away a young North Vietnamese soldier popped up from behind a tree. He started his limping run back the way he had come. I fired two rounds. He crumpled. I chewed the line out for failure to fire quickly."
It sounds heartless, but Rescorla had a nasty job. Minutes later, he saved several of his men by dropping a grenade on an enemy machine- gunner. Rescorla still had the gunner's brain matter on his fatigues when his company was airlifted back to base.
"The stench of the dead would stay with me for years after the battle," he wrote. "Below us the pockmarked earth was dotted with enemy dead. . . . A grenadier next to me threw up on my lap. He was, like many, a man who had fought bravely even though he had no stomach for the bloodletting."
There was more to come. The next day, while Bravo Company rested, the rest of its battalion marched into a vicious ambush near a landing zone called Albany. Bravo was sent back to the rescue. "You know the battalion is in the [expletive]," Rescorla told his men. "We've been selected to jump into that [expletive] and pull them out." Once again, Rescorla sprinted into a ragged perimeter -- after a bone-rattling 10-foot jump from a Huey under fire -- and immediately lifted the spirits of weary soldiers who thought they were done.
"My God, it was like Little Big Horn," recalls Pat Payne, a reconnaissance platoon leader. "We were all cowering in the bottom of our foxholes, expecting to get overrun. Rescorla gave us courage to face the coming dawn. . . . He looked me in the eye and said, 'When the sun comes up, we're gonna kick some . . . .' "
Sure enough, the battalion fought its way out of Albany. Rescorla left the field with a morale-boosting souvenir: a battered French Army bugle that the North Vietnamese had once claimed as a trophy of war. It became a talisman for his entire division. But 305 Americans died in the Ia Drang, more than in the entire Persian Gulf War. The North Vietnamese death toll was 3,561. Even worse, leaders on each side concluded after the battle that they would be able to outlast the other side in a war of attrition.
Rescorla served one tour in Vietnam, earning a Silver Star, a Purple Heart and Bronze Stars for Valor and Meritorious Service, in addition to his $241.20-per-month salary.
He hated the way the Washington politicians were running things, with their kill ratios and no-fire zones and half-baked commitment to victory. He believed they were underestimating the enemy's resolve, mistaking fervent nationalism for Soviet-style communism, piling up body bags in a losing cause.
He liked to say the higher-ups "saw things through the rosy red hue."
"When I heard that Rick had quit the war, I felt in my heart that this was the wrong war for us," Froelich recalls. "I never thought he'd walk away from a noble pursuit."
In "Audie," the film script Rescorla wrote a few years ago with his friend Jim Morris, Audie Murphy cannot escape his past or his pain. He is "walking wounded," opening fire at his own alarm clock. He runs up gambling debts. He complains he's got no civilian skills except shining shoes and robbing banks. "How do you like sitting on that pedestal?" he is asked.
"I coulda done without it," he replies.
Rescorla did not want an Audie Murphy life after his war.
So he finished his Army tour back at Fort Benning, where he got his U.S. citizenship, then set off for the University of Oklahoma on the GI Bill in 1968. He hung around bookstores and coffee shops. He read up on American Indians and the Wild West. He studied creative writing. He earned bachelor's and master's degrees in literature, then began law school.
"I'm sure everyone's talking about Rick the Celtic warrior, Rick the hero, but he also had a deep intelligence," says Fred McBee, a fellow student who later became a philosophy professor. "He'd lay Shakespeare on you. He'd quote Proust."
He also trained officers for the Oklahoma National Guard and took another job training security guards in hand-to-hand combat. But although he remained in the Army Reserve for years, the pure-macho stage of his life was over. He married a special-needs teacher in 1972 and became a criminal justice professor at the University of South Carolina. Elizabeth Rescorla, his first wife, once found his medals hidden in a round tin in their attic.
"He always said: 'The war was part of my life. It's not my life,' " she says.
Academia, however, was not his calling. "Can you imagine Rescorla sitting around with a damn pipe in his mouth?" Hill asks. The money wasn't great, either. So Rescorla shifted into corporate security, first at the Bank Administration Institute, then at a Chicago bank. In 1985 he moved to New Jersey to be director of security for the Wall Street brokerage Dean Witter, which later merged with the investment bank Morgan Stanley. He brought a military regimen to the job, frequently calling his guards at night to make sure they were at their posts, constantly analyzing new security threats. During the Gulf War, Hill says, Rescorla concluded that the main threat at the World Trade Center was an underground truck bomb.
"We walked the garage together, and that was obviously the soft spot," says Hill, who had been hired by Rescorla as a consultant. "He told Port Authority, but they said it was none of his business."
In 1993, of course, a terrorist truck bomb in that very garage created pandemonium. Legend has it that Rescorla dropped his pants to get the mob's attention, but that Rescorla legend is not quite true. He only jumped on a desk in the middle of the firm and threatened to drop his pants if his people didn't chill out and listen. In the stunned silence that followed, he launched an orderly evacuation, refusing to leave until the entire tower was empty.
Meanwhile, he and Elizabeth were raising a family. Trevor was born in 1976, a brawny kid with his dad's easygoing charm. Kim arrived in 1978, a thoughtful kid with her dad's creative flair. Rescorla coached their soccer teams, shouted at their referees. He watched movies with them, especially westerns, especially John Wayne westerns. He edited Kim's poetry in red pen and taught her how to sneak books under her covers after her mother demanded lights out. He boxed in the basement with Trevor.
"He'd cheat," Trevor recalls with a grin. "He'd throw elbows. He'd shoulder me into the sofa. But I got him a few times, and he'd always be proud: 'Hey, T knocked me down!' "
Today, both children are following their father's paths. Trevor is a security guard, considering a career in law enforcement. Kim is a law student.
They want people to know that their dad was only human. He could be stubborn, impatient, impolitic. He didn't have much of a filter between thought and speech. His first marriage dissolved in the mid- '90s, and there were fights over money. In Cyprus, he once backed a jeep into a restaurant after a night of drinking. He once told his National Guard bosses that they didn't have nearly enough combat experience to evaluate him. He didn't suffer fools at all.
But even his ex-wife wants people to know about his kindness. He used to shovel an old lady's driveway after every snowstorm. He once drove home to fetch a sleeping bag for a homeless man. He bought a co- worker a ticket home to Jamaica after a death in her family.
When Rescorla returned to Hayle to visit his mother, he always called on a lonely blind man named Stanley Sullivan at the town's nursing home. Sullivan loved his pint, and Rescorla always brought him cans of Guinness. Then they would sing Cornish oldies like "The White Rose" into the night, tears streaming down their faces.
"My God, I'm thinking of Tammy sitting on that bed, with his huge arm cuddling that frail man," sobs Rescorla's lifelong friend Mervyn Sullivan, no relation to Stanley.
Vietnam was always in the background, but Rescorla tried to keep it in the background. He told Kim that he was no longer the same man who used to kill 20 people before breakfast. He felt uneasy at reunions, complaining in an e-mail to Shucart about their "strange mixture of sentimentality, camaraderie, hucksterism and revisionist history." He once wrote that men who died in Vietnam were "as valid as any American hero in any war this country has ever fought," and he often visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. But he could not relate to veterans who still greeted him with "Welcome home, brother," who never got over their bitter homecomings.
"We didn't get no parade," a Vietnam vet tells Audie Murphy in Rescorla's script.
"My whole life has been a parade," Murphy replies. "Makes no difference."
One day in July 1998, Rescorla went jogging near his home, not far from the headquarters where George Washington spent two winters with his Continental Army. A divorced mother of three named Susan Greer was out walking her golden retriever.
"What are you doing?" she asked the passing jogger. "Why are you barefoot?"
Rescorla explained that he was working on a screenplay about Northern Rhodesia, where the people ran barefoot, and that he wanted to see what it felt like. It was the start of an abbreviated love story. In February 1999, they were married.
"I knew he was sick," says Susan, weeping at the memory. "But I also knew that if I only had five minutes with him, it would be the best five minutes of my life."
The Rescorlas moved into a Morristown subdivision called Windmill Pond, where they could sit on their patio and talk and watch the ducks float by. They would break into impromptu dances while running errands. She started fleeing girls-nights-out before dessert, because she hated to be without him for a whole evening. He wrote her a poem called "Soulmate just before dawn":
Awakening in the dark
when the geese are silent on the pond
your steady breathing helps me
face the daybreak with a smile
Susan introduced him to herbal medicine, and the Chinese roots and grains and gelatin caps seemed to work wonders. He still took hormones that made him puffy -- he was nearly 300 pounds, and he hated it -- but he felt healthy, and his bone scans were clean.
Last May, on a trip to Cornwall, the Rescorlas decided to renew their vows outside an old Norman church. "We had taken such long journeys to find each other. We wanted to savor every moment," Susan says. Rick had always liked churches for their architecture, but in his reading about religion he had come to believe in an ordered universe, in a higher power.
"The blossoming hawthorn tree nearby reminds us of the natural and orderly course of time," he wrote for their new vows. "We are aware that our time on earth is brief: the footprints that we make in this sandy soil will one day be washed away by an eternal tide."
Rescorla was thinking about those footprints in the months before he died. In April, when he was inducted into the OCS Hall of Fame, he philosophized over a few drinks with Hill, the best man at both of his weddings. "God, look at us," he told Hill, a convert to Islam who had just undergone major heart surgery. "We should have died performing some great deed -- go out in a blaze of glory, not end up with somebody spoon-feeding us and changing our nappies."
Then there was that September kairos e-mail to Shucart, his medic- turned-surgeon pal.
"I'm enjoying life at 62," he wrote. "Mulling over a lot of interesting stuff on Stoicism/Zen/Pantheism while trying to wrap the last few years of my security job with some degree of aplomb." He quoted "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," the T.S. Eliot poem about an aging man afraid to seize the day: "Do I part my hair behind? Do I dare to eat a peach?"
Rescorla confided to Shucart that he was frightened about retirement, nervous that his "most significant contribution" was long in the past. But for all his gloomy musings about mocha grande and the elusive kairos moment, he was engrossed in an "inspirational" biography of Sitting Bull: "Countering the pessimism is the artistic/ literary impulse." And he was "very happily married." Maybe, he suggested, there was still some living to do.
"Carpe diem," he wrote. "Let's Corvette ourselves forward into that dark night, Butch and Sundance. The outlaw streak . . . will serve us well, prepare us for that moment of truth."
It doesn't sound real, now that Rescorla's moment of truth has been captured in a snapshot. But Rescorla never sounded real. Morris says he often rewrote Rescorla's dialogue for the "Audie" script. "I told him: 'Look, it's too epic. People don't talk like that,' " he recalls. "I mean, Rescorla talked like that, but no one else does."
This was Rescorla's last e-mail to his daughter at law school, dated Sept. 10:
"Your mission . . . should you choose to accept it . . . dream, then scheme. . . . This country will be coming out of its slump about two years from now. It's going to be a time for legal eagles of all kinds to leave their rocky promontories, spread their wings, and do what eagles tend to do. . . ."
On Sept. 11, Rick Rescorla's alarm bounced him out of bed at 4:30 a.m.
Susan remembers him emerging from the bathroom, imitating Anthony Hopkins as the weirdo ventriloquist in "Magic," the movie they had rented the night before.
Then he broke into a British ditty, but she can't remember which one. She wishes she could.
He put on a gray shirt and a custom-made pinstripe suit.
She selected his matching red silk tie.
They kissed goodbye, and Rick was gone, off to the commuter train.
He called Susan at 8:15 a.m. from his corner office on the 44th floor.
"He told me he loved me. He said he didn't need the movies -- he had me," she says.
Rescorla wasn't even supposed to be at work that day. Susan's daughter Alexandra was getting married the next week in a 10th- century Tuscan castle, and they had planned to go abroad early. But his deputy, Ihab Dana, wanted to visit Lebanon, so Rescorla delayed his own vacation. "It should've been me in there," Dana says. "Rick was like a father to me."
The first plane struck the north tower at 8:48 a.m. Moments later, Morgan Stanley employees began evacuating the 44th through 74th floors.
"Really, Rick made that decision in 1993," Dana says. "He saved thousands of lives."
After the truck bombing that year, Rescorla had warned Hill: Next time by air. He expected a cargo plane, possibly loaded with chemical or biological weapons. In any case, he insisted on marching his troops through evacuation drills every few months. The investment bankers and brokers would gripe, but Rescorla would respond with his Seven P's: Proper prior planning and preparation prevents poor performance. He wanted to develop an automatic flight response at Morgan Stanley, to burn it into the company's DNA.
According to Barbara Williams, a security guard who worked for him for 11 years, Rescorla was in his office when the first plane hit. He took a call from the 71st floor reporting the fireball in One World Trade Center, and he immediately ordered an evacuation of all 2,700 employees in Building Two, as well as 1,000 Morgan Stanley workers in Building Five across the plaza. They walked down two stairways, two abreast, just as they had practiced. Williams could see Rescorla on a security camera with his bullhorn, dealing with a bottleneck on the 44th-floor lobby, keeping people off the elevators.
"Calm, as always," she says.
In his cell phone call to Hill, Rescorla said he had just spoken to a Port Authority official, who had told him to keep everyone at their stations. "I said: Everything above where that plane hit is gonna collapse," Rescorla recounted to Hill. "The overweight will take the rest of the building with it. And Building One could take out Building Two."
That, of course, is not exactly what ended up happening. But by the time the second hijacked jet rammed into the south tower at 9:07 a.m., many Morgan Stanley employees were already out of the building, and just about all of them were on their way out.
Although never verified, this picture supposedly shows Rick Rescorla and two of his employees on the morning of 9/11 directing Morgan Stanley employees out of the building. Because of his actions, only 6 of 2700 Morgan Stanley employees lost their lives on 9/11. Think about this next time you have a fire or safety drill at work and how much thought you put into it.
The rest of Rick Rescorla's morning is shrouded in some mystery. The tower went dark. Fire raged. Windows shattered. Rescorla headed upstairs before moving down; he helped evacuate several people above the 50th floor. Stephan Newhouse, chairman of Morgan Stanley International, said at a memorial service in Hayle that Rescorla was spotted as high as the 72nd floor, then worked his way down, clearing floors as he went. He was telling people to stay calm, pace themselves, get off their cell phones, keep moving. At one point, he was so exhausted he had to sit for a few minutes, although he continued barking orders through his bullhorn. Morgan Stanley officials said he called headquarters shortly before the tower collapsed to say he was going back up to search for stragglers.
John Olson, a Morgan Stanley regional director, saw Rescorla reassuring colleagues in the 10th-floor stairwell. "Rick, you've got to get out, too," Olson told him.
"As soon as I make sure everyone else is out," Rescorla replied.
Morgan Stanley officials say Rescorla also told employees that "today is a day to be proud to be American" and that "tomorrow, the whole world will be talking about you." They say he also sang "God Bless America" and Cornish folk tunes in the stairwells. Those reports could not be confirmed, although they don't sound out of character. He liked to sing in a crisis.
But the documented truth is impressive enough. Morgan Stanley managing director Bob Sloss was the only employee who didn't evacuate the 66th floor after the first plane hit, pausing to call his family and several underlings, even taking a call from a Bloomberg News reporter. Then the second plane hit, and his office walls cracked, and he felt the tower wagging like a dog's tail. He clambered down to the 10th floor, and there was Rescorla, sweating through his suit in the heat, telling people they were almost out, making no move to leave himself.
"He was selfless in that situation, and that's your ultimate character test," Sloss says. "He was not rattled at all. He was putting the lives of his colleagues ahead of his own."
Susan Rescorla watched the United Airlines jet carve through her husband's tower, and she dissolved in tears. After a while, her phone rang. It was Rick.
"I don't want you to cry," he said. "I have to evacuate my people now."
She kept sobbing.
"If something happens to me, I want you to know that you made my life."
The phone went dead.
Susan watched the south tower implode in that unforgettable plume of smoke. She ran wailing into the street. She doesn't know why she did that. One of her neighbors did the same thing -- her husband had been at a meeting on the 100th floor.
The Rescorlas embarked on the grieving rituals that became so familiar to the world. The trips from hospital to hospital. The posters. The vigils. The desperate hope: If anyone could make it out of there, Rick could.
She kept calling his cell phone and hearing his message and disintegrating all over again.
Rick did not make it out. Neither did two of his security officers who were at his side. But only three other Morgan Stanley employees died when their building was obliterated.
The Rescorlas are still waiting for a body, or even a positive identification of some remains. Susan brought Rick's hairbrush to the victim center on the Manhattan piers. Trevor gave a saliva sample. But Rick never wanted a fancy funeral at Arlington National Cemetery. He wanted to be cremated with no fanfare. He told Susan that if she wanted a memorial, he'd be okay with a plaque at a nearby bird sanctuary called the Raptors. It'll go on the American eagle cage.
"My Rick has spread his wings and soared into eternity," Susan keeps saying.
Life goes on. Dana is drawing up a new security plan for Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, trying to imagine what his fallen boss would do. Jacqueline Landrau, a Morgan Stanley payroll clerk, gave birth to an eight-pound baby boy two days after she escaped from the 45th floor. The company is expected to announce widespread layoffs soon. Its $220 million lawsuit against the Port Authority for negligence before the 1993 bombing is scheduled to go to trial next year. It turns out that the agency's own consultants had also warned that the underground garage offered "an enormous opportunity . . . for a terrorist to park an explosive-filled vehicle." Alexandra went ahead with her wedding, not in Tuscany, but in Morristown.
Meanwhile, the citizens of Hayle are raising money for a statue of their native son. Gen. Moore is pushing for a posthumous Medal of Freedom. Robin Williams read a short tribute to Rescorla on that all- star telethon broadcast in 156 countries. Morris is shopping the Audie Murphy script around Hollywood. Next month, the veterans of Ia Drang will honor Rescorla at their annual reunion in Washington. And the big-budget "We Were Soldiers" film is coming out next year. Rescorla's company was edited out of the script, but the bugle he recovered at Albany will make an appearance.
In the end, there was no great mystery to Rescorla's actions on Sept. 11.
It would have been mysterious if he had reacted any differently. And everyone who knew Rescorla agrees that if he had survived the evacuation, he would have said he was just doing his job. That's what Rescorla said after Vietnam, what Audie Murphy said after World War II.
"The man died as he lived," says Galloway, the co-author of "We Were Soldiers," who is now a consultant for Secretary of State Colin Powell. "What makes some people react like this, God only knows. In Rick's case, you always expected it."
The only real mystery is why Rescorla ultimately got his chance to Corvette forward into that dark night, why he never had to get spoon- fed in his nappies. It is not the kind of mystery that could ever be solved.
But to the friends he left behind, his death made a kind of cosmic sense on a day when the universe was out of order: The right man in the right place at the right time. He left in a blaze of glory. With no parade.
Okay, If that doesn't make you tear up a bit or leave you a bit awed by the story of this man's life, please turn in your citizenship as you leave my country. I also give homage to his deputies that died along side him that day: Wesley Mercer, Jorge Velazquez, and Godwin Forde.
Sung by Rick in his final hours while evacuating others:
Men of Cornwall stop your dreaming; Can't you see their spearpoints gleaming? See their warriors' pennants streaming To this battlefield. Men of Cornwall stand ye steady; It cannot be ever said ye for the battle were not ready; Stand and never yield!
Thank you to all of our heroes that lived, and died, on that day and every day since in our ongoing war and efforts to rid the world of people responsible for this madness.
Wow, need to pay more attention in the future. The polls closed on this one a while ago and (due to the color change of the blog) I missed the end. The AR beat out the AK by 12% of the votes, which even with this type of polling I think can be ruled a win for Stoner's black rifle.
I am curious though, 15% of you chose neither the AR or AK, what rifle would you choose then? Lets give you a chance to make your voices heard. Not a poll, but a comment thread here hopefully.
Here is the situation: Some type of SHTF scenario occurs that you need to "Di dimau" outta there in a hurry. You only have a few minutes to run to your safe and pull ONE rifle out and take it and a bandoleer of ammo with you. What would it be? And for the fun of it, what pistol would you take as well?
Here are my choices: AK and a SIG P220. AK due to the reliability factor and SIG due to the cartridge size.
Post your responses, I am dying to hear what you have to say!
A conversation I had on the elevator with a woman I know from work, I was standing there in the elevator switching from my sunglasses to my normal glasses. I had my car keys attached to my kubotan hanging in the same hand as my glasses case.
Woman: What's that? (pointing to the kubotan) Me: Its a kubotan stick for self defense. Woman: Why do you need that here? Me: Frankly ********, its because I can't carry my pistol with me into work. Woman: Why would you need that?!? Me: Well, do you ever notice in the office shootings you see on CNN that there is never anyone ever shooting back at the gunman..well, see ya'..
The doors to the elevator opened and I got off leaving the woman (with her Obama '08 button still attached to her shoulder bag) standing there slightly confused. She probably reported me to HR, I don't care. I openly discuss my hobby with other workers in the open and am not afraid of the labels that she, or anyone else, may decide to saddle me with.
While this is an anecdotal comment on how gun owners are seen in the public's eye, its also a bridge into a brief overview of ways to defend ourselves when we can't carry or use a firearm. James over at Hellinahandbasket.net did a pretty good write up of this a few months ago. He has since changed hosting services and I cannot find the post. To my credit, this post was started back in May of this year and I have been adding a bit here and there to it as time has allowed.
Lets face it, we can't always carry our sidearm, even if we are licensed. Here in Ohio we have list of "off limits" area that we are not allowed to venture into armed and the vast majority do not have a gun check station to allow us to come and go from there without having to take measures in advance to secure our firearms. As I have stated before I normally carry to work in my vehicle, but leave the firearm locked in a lock box in my vehicle separate from the ammo (which is itself locked up). I then have to walk the remaining 3/4 mile or so from my car to my office building. Columbus is not necessarily known for violent street crime, but that does not mean that it doesn't (or can't) happen. I like to think that it always better to have and not need in these cases, then to need and not have. So here, in no particular order, are some alternate means of defense that you may stick into your pockets or purse someday when a firearm is not prudent.
DISCLAIMER: I AM NOT A LAWYER. In addition, I am not a law enforcement or security officer, I am not a self defense instructor or anything like that. These are my own ideas that I have formulated for myself that I am sharing with you, my reader. They are in no way to be construed as legal advise or counsel. Please consult with a legal counsel in your own area to determine what is legal in your area before you consider arming yourself with any of the following items.
Removing yourself from the danger
This is your primary defensive strategy! As such it is a weapon in and of itself. This should be the corner piece from what the employment of the other methods seek to obtain. The end result of defending yourself should be to remove yourself from the danger. If this means "loosing all your man points" by screaming like a little girl and running away - well done if it removes you from the threat. You should only consider actual confrontation as an option when all other avenues of escape have been removed. Chances are you are going to get bumped up a bit if you need to resort to violence, even if you end up on the winning side of the fight. Better to avoid that altogether than risk injury. Also, if need be, in a court of law you will have used prudent measures to assure the use of force as a last resort if need be.
RIP David Carradine. Everyone remembers the last 10 minutes of this show where Kwai Chang would whip up on a bunch of baddies that deserved it, most people forget the first 50 minutes of the show when he tries to avoid the fight. Be like the first 50 minutes.
Your Mind as a Weapon
No, I'm not talking about the movie Scanners.
This is what happens if you try and imagine Hillary Clinton nude.
Oh crap then, this is where he goes into that metaphysical bushido crap about......no. Read my earlier post about Colonel Grossman's Sheep, wolves and sheepdogs. Be a sheepdog. Don't allow yourself to be a victim. Be alert, do constant 360 degree threat sweeps as to make them a casual part of your daily routine. Carry yourself with confidence, even when you find yourself scared. A study of violent criminals in jail found that most of them admitted to choosing their victims based upon their perceiveinability to defend themselves and be intimidated. Most muggers and thieves are lazy, that's why they don't have jobs that require them to have some type of self discipline to obey rules and adhere to schedules. They want to choose easy targets, don't be that target. If you find yourself face to face with a possible assailant look them in the eyes and establish "alpha male/female" dominance in the confrontation. Let them know by your body language that you are not afraid, even if they get the drop on you with a weapon and you have no recourse but to go along with their demands, do not cower and cry (unless it allows you to run away safely - see the last section). Follow their commands in such a way that you let them know that you are doing this of your own choosing to avoid a confrontation. You may get lucky and the SOB will go away to seek a softer target.
The advent of carjacking has caused a new shift in the defensive mindset of individuals. Never assume that just because you are in your vehicle you are safe. Delivering pizzas a long time ago taught me to be vigilant. I found out (the hard way) that if I was to be mugged while delivering it would be most likely when I pulled up to some bogus address and was in the process of getting into or out of the car, when my attention was not on what was going on around me. Most of us feel safe in our cars. This is far from the truth. Most auto glass will shatter if hit with a pointed object and car doors are not bulletproof. While your in your car you biggest asset is mobility, the ability to keep moving. If you find yourself in a bad neighborhood and feel threatened bump and run the stoplights, come to a stop or slow down as conditions allow, assess the cross traffic and then proceed at your earliest opportunity. If you get pulled over by a cop, tell them that you felt threatened and explain your actions. You might get off with a warning.
Your body as a weapon
I have only spent about a year total studying martial arts in my life, so I am far from the person that you want to take advice on for this. That being said, learning some form of martial art is definitely a good idea at some level when it comes to self defense. I have often thought that a firearm is a "super gene" or "vitamin G" that can level the playing field between individuals with differing physical capabilities. When a firearm is not available learning some basic self defense techniques at a minimum and using them correctly may be enough to discourage an attacker and make him flee.
Again, I am not the person to get advice about what style is best for you or where to go for lessons. You will have to do some research on your own to answer these questions.
Here is a video of Aidido street fighting, or so it is labeled. Again, I am not endorsing this style or the school that put out this video, I just thought is showed some nice action and had a lot of different moves packed into one video to give you a hint of what martial arts MAY be able to provide for you.
Knives.
One of mankind's oldest weapons, the knife as a sidearm or secondary weapon has had a long standing tradition going back thousands of years. A knife can be a useful tool for everyday use in addition to being a weapon. I may occasionally have a folder on me as a "tool". I say tool for a very important reason, in the state in which I reside, Ohio, a knife is considered a weapon if it is carried for the purpose of being a weapon. Huh? no, don't re-read it, you got it right the first time. Our CCW law is actually a CHL (Concealed Handgun License). While I am fully in my rights to carry a cocked and locked 1911 pistol if properly licensed, a knife (if carried as a weapon) is against the law. So now I am in the predictament that if I have to use it to defend myself in the streets I may also have to defend myself in court for using it. You mileage may vary on this as your local laws and regulations may not be as stringent.
As a weapon the knife offers 2 main attacking options: stabbing and slashing. While stabbing may seem the most intuitive use for it, slashing attacks will most often be the quickest, leave you the least open for counter attacks and will do more damage over all. While a thrust to a vital region of the body may immediately incapacitate your opponent, you may miss hit a less than vital area and leave yourself in close proximity to your attacker and open to attack yourself (remember in self defense when firearms are not used, space and distance are generally our friends).
When choosing a knife it is important to consider the form of it and how easily can it deploy. While fixed blade knives are quite intimidating, they do draw attention to the wearer and can "tip your hat" to a possible attacker that you are armed. This may be a deterrent to some, to others it could just clue them in to come up behind you and shoot you in the back instead of simply mugging you. OK, so you just watched Tommy Lee Jones and Benecio Del Toro duke it our with fixed blades in The Hunted and think that a fixed blade is for you. If you are intent on a fixed blade make sure that it has a full tang and is made of quality steel. At all costs avoid "Rambo" or other survival type knives with hollow handles. They will fail you when you need them most. I personally prefer a folding lock back knife myself. Most "tactical folders" sold on the market today by companies such as CRTK, Spyderco, Gerber, Smith & Wesson and others are designed to be carried clipped to a pocket and have some type of opening assist, whether a notch in the blade or protruding assist, that allow quick one handed opening. Most quality folders have a solid locking mechanism to keep the blade from folding back onto your hand while in use. This is important for obvious reasons. I would avoid such items as the infamous "CIA letter opener" or other plastic wonders as they really only can be used for stabbing and will not normally hold an edge for any type of cutting. "But wait, they can pass through metal detectors!" Yeah, so what? None of my intended audience should have any need to carry a weapon into any area that they are prohibited. We are law abiding citizens that protect ourselves to the utmost extend allowed by law and respect those laws in doing so. Right?
CRKT makes a solid knife, I have carried one since buying a M16-13Z at the PX in Camp Arifjan, Kuwait. I have a review posted from last year that covers it.
Back to the knife. A blade, if used correctly, is a very deadly weapon for up close and personal combat. In there lies its weakness, there really isn't any way to employ it that doesn't result in injury or death to the target. Much like a handgun, you should only draw it if you have a damn good reason and are ready to actually use it. I am not going to go into specific knife training and the like, too much material and I am not properly trained enough to give anybody outside of myself any guidance on it. All I can say is that you should have some form of training in its proper use, otherwise don't be surprised if your attacker takes it away from you and you find it sticking out of your gut as he looms over you smiling. Remember that scene in Die Hard 3 where Samuel Liberal Jackson is holding Jeremy Iron's character at gunpoint (MP5) and goes to shoot him and nothing happen. Irons then takes the weapon away from him, shows him he had the safety on and then casually shoots him in the leg. Why he didn't double tap him I'll never know, but then again I don't write screenplays. Anyway, the analogy is don't pull a knife (or any weapon for that matter) unless you are at least familiar with its use and are willing to use it.
Pepper and Chemical Sprays
Long the occupant of a keyring buried at the bottom of a purse, the use of irritant sprays has been popular since their introduction into the civilian marketplace. You should check your local laws concerning the legality of possessing this type of protection. Here in Ohio it is fully legal to purchase and carry Pepper spray and CS agents for personal defense. The sprays generally work by either using Oleoresin capsicum, the same chemical found in peppers that makes them burn your mouth, in an aerosol form to spray onto an attacker and irritate primarily their eyes and mucous membranes in their mouth and nose. Other chemicals can be used or mixed in the spray and include the CN or CS family of chemical irritants. The brand name "Mace" which is sometimes synonymous with self defense sprays, was originally a primary mixture of CN chemical, which has been generally replaced with CS due to its lesser potential to harm a victim permanently.
Sprays are seemingly easy to use, point and spray. In reality there is a learning curve to using them effectively to include where and how to spray. When choosing a spray I suggest finding one that sprays in a stream pattern rather than one that shoots a cone shaped spray for a couple of reasons. First it is easier to get more agent on target quicker with a stream. Second it is easier to aim in my opinion, you can always hold down on the button and move the point of impact of the stream. And lastly, and possibly most importantly, you will be less at risk of being contaminated with your own chemical if the stream is heavy enough to go through light winds. When employed you will eventually contaminate yourself to some degree. With a cone shaped spray in a good wind not only will you probably come into contact with it yourself but the effective range and concentration on your attacker will also be minimized. If possible try to get upwind of your attacker if at all possible before deploying the chemicals.
My current spray is Fox Labs spray, which I discovered after asking a Columbus police officer what they carried and found out it was available to the public. It is rated at 5,300,000 scoville heat units (shu) which is compared to other sprays usually around 2 million units. As a comparison, habenero and scotch bonnet peppers - which are usually the hottest peppers that American will find in the supermarket for cooking - are rated at just over 200,000. In addition, the Fox spray has other chemicals which severely limit the ability of the spray to burn the skin permanently.
Stun Guns/Tazers
Anytime I talk to someone at work or in a social setting about self defense eventually the talk will turn to stun guns and a comment will be made about their use as an alternative to a handgun. The first thing I usually point out is that in order for a stun gun to work you attacker has to be standing right next to you in order for you to use it. The second thing I point out is that after the affect wears off, which may be in a matter of a few seconds, your attacker is fully functional again. This is great for police where the attacker would be handcuffed while he was recovering, but for a citizen trying to get away, this may not be enough time to get to a safety zone. Lets take a look at this video - yeah the guys in it are immature jackasses but there is a lesson here. They take a hit on bare skin and are almost immediately back to normal as soon as the current it turned off.
Clubs and batons
Even older than the knife, humans (and some other primates) have been hitting themselves over the heads with sticks and other objects since the dawn of time. Blunt force trauma, when properly applied can be a disabling and lethal force in the hands of the wielder. Clubs and batons come in varying shapes and sizes, full full length sticks down to pocket sticks such as the koppo, yawara and kubotan. Everyday objects you might have on you at the moment, like a umbrella or rolled up magazine, may be used for defense even if not specifically designed for this purpose. Chris from work recently picked up a collapsable batton from the gun show we attended. This rod is about 8 inches long when closed, but extends to around 2 feet of steel when snapped open. Fairly intimidating to someone who viewed you a few seconds before as an unarmed target.
What I carry is the fairly innocuous looking Kubotan. It was designed by Martial Arts master Takayuki Kubota for the LAPD in the 1970's as a non-lethal control device for its officers to use on suspects. It proved highly successful and the little "pocket stick" soon found its way into the pockets of a large number of police departments and subsequently into civilian purses and pockets as well. Normally sold as a stick between 5" to 6" in length made of hard plastic with groves, most sold today include a keyring on one end to use as a key fob to have with you at all times. You can pick them up in many gun shops that cater to law enforcement (such as Vance's in Columbus) for under $5. I strongly discourage the use of your keys on the end as a makeshift flail as is commonly prescribed by some. Unless you add a length of chain or cord to add some centrifugal force to your swings, the Kubotan is more effectively used as a close range striking and pressure weapon.
The Kubotan, harmless looking but oh-so-painful when used correctly.
I have not been formerly trained in all of its uses but have been taught a few simple, yet effective, strikes by some friends and acquaintances that have used it as law enforcement officers. As soon as I can find a class here locally on its use I will take one. Until that time I will rely on what I know of its use as a striking weapon for my defense. Just in case you think you might want to explore its use a bit further, I am embedding the actual manual developed by Kubota back in the 70's for the LAPD. Again, use anything you learn from it at your own risk. I take responsibility for myself using mine but will not take responsibility for your use of such a device.
So there you are. Just because we must be legally disarmed in some situations doesn't mean that we need to walk around totally disarmed and unable to protect ourselves. While I have not gone over every means of self defense, I hope that the subjects covered are enough to get you thinking in the right mindset. Once again I encourage you to seek proper, qualified instruction before using any option I have covered. As always please feel free to leave a comment on anything I may have missed or you think I am way off base on. I often learn as much by writing this blog as I hope you do reading it.
Just a quick plug for Buckeye Firearms Association. They offer free wallet sized CCW cards for Ohioans that would like a handy reference of their rights and responsibilities with them while they carry. The card covers transportation of weapons in your vehicle (both CCW and open carry), a list of states that have reciprocal agreements with Ohio, traffic and pedestrian stops with the police, the 4 rules of gun safety and forbidden carry zones in Ohio.
On their website they have a form to fill out in case you are a CCW instructor and you will be sent a pack of 50. For individuals I would call or contact them and see about smaller amounts. You can find their booths at gun shows where they give them out for free. I grabbed a few at the last gun show in Columbus for my use.
Its a great resource to have and should be sitting next to your NRA membership card. Again, if you value your 2A rights in Ohio, donate some cash to BFA and do us all a favor.
This guy has some videos on YouTube and goes by the name gpuls14. He is what is routinely called a "mall ninja" or "poser". First off, he wears a tactical vest with "Sheriff" on it to an indoor range (no way this joker is a LEO) with a big ass Rambo knife strapped to it. He even does it in videos that he is only shooting a pistol. Secondly, he turns around with a loaded AR to the rear of the range and states "I'm gonna put some many rounds in the mother f*&%ers head that it ain't gonna be funny. He then proceeds to be all macho and stuff until he gets pulled from the range. Gee, I guess we know what he got pulled off the range for. This guy is one of the reasons that the rest of us get a bad wrap in the public.
Don't bother going to YouTube and ripping on the guy, plenty of people have already beaten you to it.
There are a few pistols that generate such a love 'em or hate 'em response as the ubiquitousGLOCK (this is how the company spells it, all capitalized. Interesting considering the company is named after its founder and is not a acronym). Known nearly worldwide as "the plastic pistol" Glock (my spelling) was not as much an innovator but a perfecter of existing technologies and made the first real impact using polymer weapons in mass production.
The Glock Model 17, or Glock 17 or just simply the G17 was Gaston Glock's entrance into the Austrian military's pistol trials in 1980 and subsequently won the trials and was adopted in 1982. It became so successful that in the next decade it had been adopted by several other countries and had sold over 350,000 units worldwide, including over 250,000 here in the states. It was one of the primary reasons that police and government agencies went away from traditional revolvers to "wonder nines" in that period. I am not going to get into a caliber discussion here about the 9mm, there is far too much in print about that subject already without me adding to the pile.
Matter of fact, there is way too much out there already about the Glock as it is. That being said, I will just mention a few things I like about these pistols and let it rest at that.
Durability:Glocks are durable. Period. Any worry about the strength of polymer frames over time has been erased now that some of these pistols have been shooting for over 20 years with thousands of rounds through them. Yes, there are some stories of .40 S&W models having Kb (Kaboom!) issues with cases rupturing due to a supposedly unsupported chamber. Most of these seem to be accredited after investigation to poorly reloaded rounds or "hot" loads, very few (if any) reports of this event occurring with standard factory or service rounds is documented. The tenifer finish on their slides has proven itself time and time again and field tests of the weapon show that it can take an enormous amount of abuse and still function. Want proof? Check out this Glock 21 torture test and decide if this isn't stringent enough to win a place as a resident in your safe.
Reliability:Glocks are known for their ability to keep on firing reliably during almost any condition. See the torture test above. I think a lot of this is due to their simplicity of design (only 37 parts total including the magazine in the G17 and most other models) and generous allowances in engineering specs for bad or out of spec rounds. There are some issues related to using unjacketed lead rounds in the hexagonal rifling they utilize in their barrels, but I don't know that many people that use lead rounds for autos or for any other round anymore.
Scalability: There is a sized Glock in any caliber for any need. Need a full size service 9mm? Buy ad G17. Compact off duty or plain clothes 9mm? Get a G19. Pocket rocket size for deep concealment 9mm? Strap a G26 on. All platforms will share the same mechanics and round despite the size differences.
Safety: OK, May get some hate mail here. Glocks are safe. There, said it and won't take it back. Yes, there are no external safeties. And for a reason. Many police officers have been found shot with their weapons drawn and on safe with witnesses testifying that the officer drew their sidearm and pointed it at the assailant before being shot. In the heat of the moment they forgot their training and pulled a hard trigger that was being blocked by the safety they forgot to disengage. Glock designed their pistols with this in mind and came up with the "Safe action" design. With a Glock all of the safeties are internal. There is a trigger safety which is an articulating lever on the trigger itself that prevents it from moving unless direct rearwards pressure is exercised on it. There is a drop safety that prevents the firing pin from going forward until the trigger has been fully pulled to the rear. Finally their is a firing pin block safety that physically blocks the firing pin from even coming into contact with the primer until the trigger is pulled to its fullest rearward travel. All 3 are deactivated when the trigger is pulled and reactivated when the the trigger resets. You are the safety as I have pointed out before. I have learned to prefer this simple draw and fire safety system on my pistols. Ensure you follow the 4 principles of safe weapons handling and you'll not have any issues from a Glock. While were are talking about simplicity...
Manual of Arms: Due to the internalsafeties system on their pistols, the manual of arms to operate a Glock is fairly straight forwards. Learning it on one pistol pretty much ensures that it is learned on others in the series. Being a striker fired pistol their is no second strike capability on a bad primer hit, so the tap-rack-bang drill is very important to be learned with Glocks, but this also applies to any semi-auto pistol as well.
Ergonomics: Going to get more haters on this as well. I like the way Glocks feel in my hand. Yes it is kind of like shaking hands with a 2x4, but one that feels pretty damn good to me. I have not had a chance to handle a 4th Gen model with its little pyramids, but the 2nd and 3rd generation sit comfortably in my meat paws and point well.
Accuracy: It has been my experience that Glocks shoot as well, if not better, than most other pistols that I have shot. Maybe its the type of rifling they use, but other people have told me this as well.
My Glock 22 in .40 S&W. M3 light attached for "bling" effect.
Me using the G22 in a steel plate match. This pistol (which I bought as a police trade used) shoot as well in these matches as some of the other "race guns" costing 3 to 4 times as much. Its usually just me that stinks!
So there it is, I love Glocks. Even though I have been on a SIG high lately, there will always be room for a Glock in my safe, and my heart. Matter of fact, if the SHTF tomorrow and I had to run to the hills with the family the 2 weapons I would grab for first due to their rugged reliability would be my AK and my Glock. That's a recommendation I would stake my life on.
And lastly, here's Kevin "poppin' the cherry" on his new G36, which is a very sweet shooting piece I might add.
My bud Kevin has a blog over at SuperFrikinAwsome Stuff. I have joked to myself that he uses his blog to solely post shots of a woman's chest and stuff. Holy Cow! I checked his blog the other day and he posted a pretty good article on what to do if stopped by an officer when in a car and carrying your CCW weapon.
I have previously posted of my sole experience being stopped on this blog with my post entitled "Getting pulled over while armed" earlier this year. I am glad to see that MassadAyoob (yep, he's in it again) in the article pretty much went over everything that I did during my stop.
OK, all those years of carrying finally proved their worth after you have to defend yourself or your family against some lowlife intent on doing you harm. The hard part is over right, guess again. Now is when the courts get a hold of your life and get to make judgments on every microscopic thing you may or may not have did during the shooting.
In the video in the following link, Massad Ayoob talks about some important things to remember, say and do after a shooting when the police come on scene. Take his word on it, he knows his stuff. Ayoob is one of the foremost experts on most things related to self defense and police work and is a highly sought after consultant on these matters. After a real shooting: A 5 point plan to remember
Went to the range recently with my bud Kevin and we got to compare our pocket pistols side by side. I own the Kel-Tec P-3AT and he owns the RugerLCP. As the LCP is basically a copy of the Kel-Tec I thought it might be interesting to compare the two side-by-side.
Fight of the pocket rockets. Kel-Tec P-3AT (l) and RugerLCP (r).
1. Fit and finish: LCP. No surprise there. The Ruger is just more of a refined design that the Kel-Tec and the final finish of the gun is just more pleasant. Just look at the two pictures above, the Ruger is obviously more polished and pleasing to the eye.
2. Features: LCP. Winner by virtue of its slide catch lever. As you can see by the pic above the catch allows the slide to be held open for inspection or range use. I had to use an orange chamber block on my Kel-Tec to show clear. Note that despite the latch the Ruger does not lock back on an empty clip, same with the Kel-Tec.
3. Firepower: Tie. Both fire the .380 ACP from 6 round magazines, no room for victory on either side there.
4. Innovation and Engineering: P-3AT. Funny thought, the P-3AT is just a .380 version of their .32 ACP P-32 pistol. As I state above, the LCP is just basically a copy of the P-3AT. No major innovations other than the slide catch. If they had been able to work in the slide locking to the rear on the last round, that would of probably of swung my opinion thier way. Also you need to take into consideration that the P-3AT has been around (even as the P-32) for a number of years with no major issues, while the LCP had a major safety recall to repair a potential ND issue with the drop safety.
5. Accessories: Tie (abet leaning toward the LCP). Pretty much any holster or other accessory made for one will either fit the other or have a companion product for the other. The slight lean toward the LCP is due to the fact that you can use P-3AT mags in the LCP, but LCP mags will not work in the P-3AT.
6. Ergonomics: LCP.Ruger wins another one here, the LCP just feels slightly better in the hand, probably due to the more refined gripping surfaces. Note though that as I pointed out in my original P-3AT review, those rough diamond points on the grip will ensure sure and positive grasping of the pistol from a pocket or in the hand. They just don't feel as nice as the smoother side plate and more refined texture of the LCP. Neither of the pistols are something you will want to shoot much more than 20 - 30 rounds at a time due to recoil and such.
7. Concealabilty: Tie. Dimensionally they are the same size. The P-3AT is lighter by an ounce but since both of them weight less than 10 ounces to begin with this is moot in my opinion.
8. Accuracy: LCP. After shooting both side-by-side I have to give the nod to the Ruger. I grouped both pistols about the same, but out of the box the sights for the Ruger put the rounds more to where I was aiming than the Kel-Tec. Keep in mind though that at the distances these pistols were designed to be used at, a few inches to the left or right of aim will matter little in most instances.
9. Price: P-3AT. Never in doubt on this one. The extra feature and fit and finish on the Ruger are going to cost you a premium over the Kel-Tec of anywhere from around $50 - $100 dollars.
10. Value: P-3AT. Sorry Kev, the Ruger is overall a nicer pistol, but for what it was designed to do the Kel-Tec does it well, did it first and can do it cheaper. I insert a magazine into it, load and then holster and pocket it. If I would need to draw and use it, it would be up close and personal where the nicer fit and slightly better accuracy would count for little.
For those keeping score, the LCP comes out ahead in this battle 4 to 3, with 3 ties between the two of them.
Honestly, you cannot go wrong with either of these pistols if used for their intended purpose. Availability of either is still a bit spotty so the choice of which one to buy may purely be driven by which one you may actually be able to find in stock (right now, Vance's in Columbus has the P-3ATs on sale for $239 - if they have any left in stock!). If I had to do it over again I probably would of spent the extra cash and gotten the Ruger, but when I found the P-3AT it was the first one I saw actually in stock in a while and had to jump on it. Again, either way you fall in on this you will have a very concealable pistol that will go with you whenever and wherever you need it.
Here's a vid of Kevin shooting the LCP just so I won't go a post without abusing YouTube..
I was at a campground in a cabin a few weekends ago when we discovered that there was no can opener to be found. What to do, what to do? Fortunately I was able to whip out my leatherman tool and "quickly" remedy the situation with the P-38ish can opener affixed to the tool handle. Voila, the goodness of a can of Bush's baked beans was accessible to all.
For a long time multipurpose tools were limited to your basic Swiss Army or Boy Scout variety. Then one day a young engineer named Tim Leatherman (that's him on the left) came up with a no brainer nobody had though of yet, " hey let me put some tools on the handles of a set of pliers and make it fold able so you could put it in your pocket". The rest is, as they say history. Now the market is flooded with these things made by just about everybody. To me though, they are all "Leathermans"
Thanks to the Leatherman our dinner was saved and we could peacefully toot around the campfire all evening.
The little tool has been a constant part of my EDC (every day carry) gear for many a year. EDC is a dedicated post in itself for another time but the gist is this, always carry the essential tools and items that you may need readily accessible at all time. The thing I really like about mine is the size. Compared to some of the gargantuan tools out their today, mine is very compact when stowed and the sturdy leather pouch for it is as compact as it is also attractive on my belt. In addition to the can opener there are the normal pliers and knife tools along with several screw driver blades and other small tools. Very helpful for adjusting something at the range or cutting box tape when needed. You never really know what it can do until you need it, and when you do you'll be glad it is so easy to carry that you have it.
My "classic" Leatherman that I probably bought at an Army PX some 15+ years ago.
I carry the "old" style Leatherman Tool (all that it is marked) that was made by Leatherman's company first before all of the "Xtreme" product labeling kicked in. You can't even find it mentioned on their web site. I mean really calling a pocket toll a "Wave", "Crunch", "Core", "Surge" or "Blast" is just marketing. They are all (save the "Crunch") a lot a like in that they are all based around a set of pliers that deploys kind of like a butterfly knife. The tools differ to a degree but the same basic premise remains.
In this pic you can see how small the Leatherman is when compacted.
This is the Leatherman (stainless, bottom) compared to a Gerber multitool that I got overseas as part of the RFI (rapid fielding initiative) program. I used the Leatherman and threw the Gerber in a duffel bag for my entire tour.
The Gerber next to the Leatherman in their respective pouches. Which one would you put on your belt?
Do yourself a favor and pick one up if you don't have one already. It is a good savior in time of trouble when you have nothing else to rely on. Your baked beans will thank you.
Trying to clear up some of the drafts I have left unfinished so please keep in mind that this post was originally supposed to be published before the SIGebration post last week.
OK, lets get this out of the way, the Bersa .380, the Taurus PT845 and the Hi-Point 4095 carbine have all been sold. A SIG Sauer P220 .45 ACP has been bought. There, done.
What? You just got the Taurus and told me how great of a pistol it was? True, but its no SIG. SIGs are known as some of the most reliable and rugged pistols in the world with a reputation far surpassing the Taurus brand. I think it it fair to say that this was definitely an upgrade to the Taurus.
But what about the magazine capacity issue, the SIG only holds 7 or 8 rounds, that's part of the reason you got the PT845? Again, true, but then it is also said that what can't be said with 8 rounds of .45 probably can't be said with 12 either. Besides, the desire for a de-cocking lever on the PT845 was directly linked to my eventual desire to get a SIG at some point.
In addition, there were other things about the Taurus that I thought I could overlook but they eventually got on my nerves a bit.
The grip: The grip seemed a bit too big, even for my meat paws. I know it was a double stacked .45, but I have held other double stacked pistol in .45 and they didn't seem that big. Plus the plastic they used with the "aggressive" moldings never really caught on with me.
Plastic hammer and safety: I mentioned this in my review, even though I am sure that its use is fine and will stand up to wear, I still feel better knowing I have actual metal for these components.
All in all, I would still recommend the Taurus PT845, but not before recommending their PT1911 as a .45 choice. It's a good pistol, but sometimes I think plastic needs to take a back seat to tradition, and the tradition in this country is for all metal .45 pistols.
I will miss the Bersa, it was a solid and dependable gun. I had hoped to keep it for my wife's eventual use, but alas, I don't ever see her having any interest in my hobbies. Since I bought the P-3AT I have not had a use for it as a .380 platform. I sold it to a gentlemen from Mansfield, Ohio who produced a CCW on the spot and cash. I still highly recommend this pistol if it fits a need that you may have for a backup or second pistol.
I have not mentioned the Hi-Point 4095 carbine much on this blog. It fires the .40 S&W round and is a bit ungainly on the eyes, but points and shoot well in use. It was one of my first purchases and served me well. Unfortunately it was more of a "niche" weapon in my collection, relegated to a "what if" roll here and there. With the cost of ammo going up I didn't fire it much when I could use those rounds to practice with a pistol that I would carry instead of use for sport. Again, I still recommend the Hi-Point brand if they have a product that meets your needs. James from Hellinahandbasket.net offers a free pistol and self-defense course to people in financially disadvantageous situations. Hi-Point products would meet most of their needs in my opinion at a reasonable cost (<$200 for their C-9 9mm pistol, taxes, a box of self defense ammo and 2 boxes of practice ammo).
Now these posts got out of sequence between starting on one blog and then never publishing the draft and starting another after but you already by now know about my SIG. I LOVE IT!! This pistol feels so good in the hand it is really hard to describe. Here's a bit more SIG lovin'.
OK, so I am going to push the PG-13 envelope of this blog a bit on this one.
A couple of days ago young woman named Cassidy and her friends take a walk down the street, she decides to go topless to make a statement of equality. Oh yeah, and she's packing a pistol openly on her hip. Long story short, she gets stopped by the police who don't seem to give a damn about the pistol but her breasts do draw some ire. Now I'm not going to say that I am some enlightened member of the Y chromosome club and look beyond a woman's physical appearance. I'm a guy, I still believe we are hardwired at some point to look. Hell if this had happened here in Columbus none of this would have been illegal, but you definitely would of heard about it on the news. Truth is, nobody goes topless anymore. Closest we got was a sting operation in a local public part where the police got some women to go their topless and get a guy to expose himself, I think he got away on entrapment. Anyway, lets take a look at the video..
OK, couple of things here.
Classic civil disobedience, she properly asked why she was being detained (knowing perfectly well why) and then peacefully went along with the arrest. Same tactic used during the civil rights era and women's movement. Some protesters think burning cars and breaking stuff is the way to get noticed. Trust me, this young lady will have more impact on this locally than any vandalism could of produced.
The police acted accordingly and with the proper amount of restraint. Given this is New Hampshire, possibly one of the most Libertarian of states it is probably not the first time these officers have had to deal with this type of situation. Even dealing with obviously confrontational responses to their attempts to de-escalate the situation they remained professional at all times like they should. Good for them. Interestingly she goes from carrying in the open to apparently not having a gun on at all when arrested. If New Hampshire police operate anything like Ohio cops they may have asked her to disarm and relinquish control of the firearm to them upon contact. Possibly she may have taken it off and handed to a friend when she saw she was going to interact with the police. Matter of fact now that I think about it, the police officers may not of known there was a firearm present at all.
If any officers read this I would appreciate maybe a short comment on how you would of acted in this situation assuming a gun was present. Since many of my readers may have CCW licenses I think it may be helpful for all involved if we were enlightened to your procedures as not to have any "incidents" should we meet while you are in your official capacity.
I'm not saying what this young lady did was right or wrong. Legally in that jurisdiction she was wrong and was willing to stand up for what she believed in knowing the consequences. Many Americans today are doing the same for many reasons including - you probably guessed this was coming - the 2nd Amendment. Maybe its time I took my turn in line to stand up for what I believe in. Anyone for a little open carry walk.....I guarantee you I will be clothed .
And yes Kevin, I stole the picture from your blog.
You basically customize a weapon using whatever you want. Want to see what a Magpul stock looks like on an M4, work away. Want to put a 1911 handgrip on an AK, sure go ahead. The more bling the more fun. Still some bugs in it, but again it a beta and the guy doing this doesn't appear to be making any money on it so take it for what it is. I used it to create a mock up of what I eventually want my M&P15 to look like. Check out my pimpin' below.
The ever so popular Brigid over at Home on the Range was nice enough to stop by here and post a flattering comment on my last post regarding my SIG pistols. She also just posted an article on her beloved P220 here.
If you do not regularly read this ladies blog, shame on you. This blog expounds some of the same material that I try and comment on in a way the brings me to my knees in shame. Sometimes her stories of memories of her youth, family and events that have brought her to this point in her life are truly awe inspiring. Many times I have finished digesting a post of hers and literally been speechless about it. It is one thing to tell a story, another to bare your soul for the masses. And masses they are, I currently have 4 people following my blog on a regular basis - including my own account. Brigid has 217, not including the numerous "drive by reads" that she gets regularly. Where one of my posts may generate 5 or 6 comments if I am lucky, hers routinely draw 2o or more.
Another thing about her blog is that you are not constantly bombarded with firearm related articles. I know, almost heresy to say that but what she sometimes lacks in weapon talk is more than made up with her writing style. Sometimes a story about some distant memory of a fall morning in the woods that she describes is a nice diversion from the normal grind. And hey, she is apparently one hell of a cook because some of the recipes that she has posted are simply awesome!
She also brings the unique perspective as someone who is required to carry a weapon as part of her job. She works in the crime lab for a police agency in the Midwest and as such has a much more familiar frame to talk about daily carry as opposed to us Joe's who strap one on to and from out day jobs and on the weekends for a bit. Make no mistake, being in law enforcement does not automatically make you a weapons expert. The same can be applied to persons in the military, defense contracting and the like. I know of more than one or two soldiers that are totally a mess when it comes to weapons handling and application, they just shoot once a year to qualify (which in the Army is not that difficult, though adding a kneeling portion to the qual standards is going in the right direction) and then shove the weapon into the arms room for another 6 months. Matter of fact, most soldiers are better at cleaning their weapons than they are at shooting them! You are after all proficient in what you do most often. Back on point, Brigid does not fit this mold obviously. Otherwise I would not spend my time reading her stuff. She routinely has a post on here about range time and I would not want to challenge this lady to a shoot off on my best day!
There are a lot of us out here on the net blogging about firearms. And thank God for that. Unfortunately not everyone out here on the digital frontier expressing their views are doing so in a way that brings credibility to the 2A cause. Thankfully their are people out here, such as Brigid, that make up for the rest. Do yourself a favor and bookmark her site or follow her blog if you have a Google account. You'll be glad you did.
I posted a month or so back about a bad experience I had using Gunlistings.org to try and buy a SIG Sauer P220 pistol. Why the attempt turned out to be the wrong time, the drive to procure such a pistol remained. I already posted about getting the pistol and some of the reasons why I traded in my Taurus PT845. But why a SIG? I don't know really, they just hold some type of sway over me lately. I always really liked the feel of Greg's P220 when he owned it and wanted to have one myself I guess. Maybe it was the "to hell and back" reputation that SIG has built for itself or the way other SIG owners simply foam at the mouth while talking about their pistols that got me going. George "The Mad Ogre" Hill over at www.madogre.com makes no bones about his love of SIG weapons. When I asked his opinion of them he summed it up like a comparison somewhat like cars. A Chevy may get you where you want to go, but wouldn't you rather get their in a BMW. This is more accurate that it might seem as comparatively priced, a SIG is about the same price difference of lets say a Smith & Wesson as a BMW would be to a Chevy. Where I could pick up a S&W M&P .45 for around $500, a SIG P220 .45 will run upwards of $900 new. Any misgivings about price are usually put aside when you hold them and feel the general quality of their manufacture.
My SIG pistols, P239 .40 on the left and P220 .45 on the right.
I am not going to go into too much detail other than just saying SIG Sauer (formerly SIGARMS) is a Swiss/German manufacturer of among other things firearms. They have a US based operation out of Exeter, New Hampshire which overseas US operations and distribution. They are known for producing very high quality, abet pricey, firearms used by law enforcement and government agencies worldwide. As I stated above with the "to hell and back" comment, they are known for their extreme reliability and toughness. The Navy SEALs switched to P226 pistols when the M9's they were issued reportedly suffered catastrophic failures in the field. Those cowboys have faced off enough Injuns to know a thing or two about what is reliable and what works. I take that as a pretty strong endorsement.
An example of the "to hell and back" reliability of SIG pistols (btw even though they don't show the results, in the show the pistol still fired afterwards!)
Two of their trademark features are a rebounding hammer and decocking lever in lieu of a an external safety. The rebounding hammer utilizes as spring to move the hammer away from the firing pin after striking it to a safety notch from which it cannot move forward unless the trigger is fully depressed. The decocking lever does what its name implies and moves the hammer to the same safety notch without having to pull the trigger and manually ride the hammer forward, which can lead to negligent discharges if improperly done. Other things that set SIG pistols apart from the crowd are full length guide rails for the slide that run the length of the frame and exceptional craftsmanship that permeates Swiss and German manufacturing processes. When other companies were trying to rechamber their existing pistol designs for the .40 S&W round in the early 1990s and rush them on the market, SIG took its time and designed an entirely new pistol around the high pressure cartridge and thus was born the P229. Many of the early ones are still shooting today after thousands of rounds having being put down the barrels with little more than routine maintenance and cleaning. You may pay more for a SIG, but the residual value of these pistols far outlast their competition.
SIG P220 (top) and P239 (bottom). Notice the lack of a decocking lever on the P239 as it's a double action only (DAO) model designed for concealed carry and backup duty.
I did not buy new SIGs. The P220 I bought is a SIG CPO (certified pre-owned) pistol that had been factory reconditioned. I swear it is a new pistol and so has everybody who has looked at it. This thing is sweet shooting and "only" cost me $600. SIG takes these pistols, many former police trades, and puts them through a 5 point check to ensure that all parts meet factory spec. Any part found lacking will be replaced before it leaves the factory for its new owner. You get a "like new" pistol in many cases for what amounts to a used gun price. Pretty good deal if you ask me.
The SIG P220 .45 ACP pistol. Notice the decocking lever directly above the magazine release button and the slide lock behind it to the rear of the pistol, this is a classic SIG setup. Many first time shooters find it hard to adjust to this setup as the safety mechanism on most pistols is to the rear and slide latch above the trigger area.
The P220 only holds 7 or 8 rounds in its single stack mags so I was sure to pick up some extra so I have two 7 round mags and three 8 round mags for it. I also found a used Uncle Mike's Kydex paddle holster for it for $10 that works great!
The other SIG I picked up is a used P239 DAO in .40 S&W. It is a smaller pistol than the P220, still uses 7 round single stack mags so it is thinner than a double stack pistol. It is primarily issued as a back up or CCW weapon. It is a double action only (DAO) model which means I don't get a decocking lever with it. I sold my S&W 637 for it (more on that later) so I basically replaced a .38 double action pistol for one in .40 with 3 additional rounds and better accuracy. Compared to the .38, the trigger pull on this gun is about 10 pounds and smooth as butter. I can pull it without moving my sights much, and I am still getting used to it. I will get better with practice. As a CCW piece with no external safety it is just as well anyway. I got it for $400 and have been told that it was a good price for a SIG in its condition so I am happy with it as well (lets face it, SIGs make me happy). Like the P220, the P239 was a former law enforcement weapon, the box had a property tag for "State of Ohio Parks Dept" (whomever that is) and it even had a property receipt where the last owner turned it back in. Unlike the P220 it was not a CPO gun and it shows. It obviously has been "around the block" and has definite signs of wear. I did not notice it in the store but the slide rattles quite a bit without a mag inserted. A bit of googling and I found that this is common with 239s that have a couple of thousand rounds through them. People who have owned the pistol from round 1 to round 5,000 that have reported this say it has no impact on accuracy or reliability so I can live with it, especially as I bought it for a ranger/holster gun to begin with. It is about the same size as my M&P 40c with the exception that the handle is about 1 1/4 inch longer. With the magazine inserted, it fits just about perfect in my hand. I came with three 7 round mags. I have to buy a holster for it, probably a Versaclip from Custom Carry Concepts again once Rich gets off the road with his day job in September.
My SIG P239, formerly property of the State of Ohio. You can see obvious wear marks on the barrel in the ejection port area. Despite the wear, it still shoots as it should.
The P239 (left) and P220 (right) stripped down for comparison. Disassembly entails simply removing the magazine, locking the slide to the rear ensuring the weapon is clear, rotating the take down lever 90 degrees, and easing the slide off of the pistol. Notice that the 220 uses a double wound spring while the 239 has a flat recoil spring.
The P239 barrel (left) next to the barrel from the P220 (right). Other than the obvious size difference, you can notice the visible wear on the P239 barrel that did not go through the CPO inspection in contrast to the barrel from the P220 that did.
Shooting both of these pistols is very enjoyable. SIG quality lives up to its reputation on the firing line. Both shot good groupings although on both the shot placement is different from my point of aim. Both come with a "dot the i" type sight arrangement where you place a white dot on the front post on top of a white bar on the rear site to aim. I am still getting used to it. No biggie, I plan on getting Trijicon night sights on both of them shortly. Still, very, very happy from the first 1oo rounds through both. Recoil is very manageable with both pistols and the grip angle is about right for me.
My first 2 magazines with the P220, the two "flyers" at 7 o'clock are the first double action pulls from each mag. I am still getting used to them.
SIGititus: (def) A condition affecting firearm owners of SIG handguns in which the desire to own additional models and shoot them constantly overwhelms all other desires in the individual (see also Mosinitis).
Yeah, I got the bug now. Not a good prognosis either. I mean hell, I even got a hat! But don't cry for me and my affliction, together - and with the help of a local range - we can find a cure.
Not to turn this into a black/white issue, but you can obviously tell that the bearer of this AR (nicely equipped with a EOTechhalo site) is an African-American gentleman. I remember during the Kostric incident last week how much the news media made about the extra security needed for our 44th President because he was the first black elected to the nations highest office. I have said before how the 2nd Amendment applies to ALL of us regardless of race, gender, political affiliation and what have you.
According to the report there were several weapons in the crowd, including other AR rifles. I love it how the media made a big deal about how Arizona has an "open carry law", big deal so does Ohio. If somebody carries here openly they are within the legal right to do so also, whoopie!
Anyway, I am sure this "bringing out the big guns" story will be heard for quite a bit.
Deputy sheriff accidentally shoots himself in the leg
Monday, August 17, 2009 7:15 AM
A Franklin County deputy sheriff accidentally shot himself yesterday morning at the Downtown county jail, deputies said.
The deputy, whom officials did not name, was trying to holster his gun when it fired about 6:45 a.m. The shot went through his right leg, and he was treated at Grant Medical Center.
I hope this is not a career ending event for this deputy, either due to physical injury or reputation. While not an everyday occurrence, incidents like this do happen unfortunately. We have all seen the video of the DEA officer shooting himself in a school classroom. Sometimes being in a profession or environment where weapons are commonly used or found builds a false sense of security or familiarity with them that can sometimes lead to these incidents. Sad but true. Anyone who has ever told you that they have never pulled the trigger when they didn't mean to has either lied to you or just not had their turn yet. Whether with or without ammo in the weapon, everyone will make this mistake at least once. The trick is learning how to deal with it.
Just in case you are the one person who hasn't seen this yet. I do not agree with his reasoning to remove his weapon in the first place when he could just as easily used inert training weapons as well.
Not a whole lot of detail here but I would venture to guess that one of two things happened:
1. A piece of clothing or equipment got in between the trigger and the holster during the holstering, causing the ND
2. The deputy had his finger on the trigger when holstering
Either way, the object in between the trigger and the holster will push on the trigger when the pistol is forced against the holster and cause it to discharge in a great number of weapons without external safeties such as the Glock and SIG which are commonly used in law enforcement.
The debate for and against external safeties is an on going debate. Without going into too much detail, let me just say that I am against most external safeties on pistols. I think external safeties, while useful, install bad habits and a false sense of security in novice shooters. I believe that the shooter is the primary safety and as long as the weapon can only be fired by a deliberate pull on the trigger, most situations can be handled safely with a weapon. No weapon is 100% safe when loaded and it is up to a trained operator to handle the weapon in such a way to mitigate any safety issues present. Now with some weapons, such as the 1911 platform, you cannot get away without using the safety to utilize it properly. Such as with weapons such as the Glock without external safeties, the main thing to remember this is proper training in the use and handling of the weapon is the key.
With this in mind, I would like to offer some basic advice when using holsters:
Only use a holster that was made for your weapon.
Practice using your holster until you are familiar with its use, how it rides and any retention mechanisms you will have to use.
Never do a "blind" return to your holster when possible, always visually watch your pistol return to the holster to ensure that a piece of clothing or other object does not enter the trigger guard area.
Practice proper weapon handling techniques with your pistol (using snap caps if possible) and get in the habit of keeping your finger out of the trigger guard unless shooting (one of the "big 4" firearm safety rules)
This all reminds me of a scene from the movie Blackhawk Down..
Steele: Sergeant, what's the meaning of this? [Thinking he's talking about the unauthorized pig picking] "Hoot": Just a little aerial target practice, sir. Didn't want to leave 'em behind. Steele: I'm talking about your weapon, soldier. Now Delta or no-Delta, that's still a hot weapon. Your safety should be on at all times. "Hoot": This is my safety, sir. [He holds up his index finger and bends motions as if squeezing a trigger and then walks off] Sanderson: Let it alone, sir. He hasn't eaten in a few days.
...there is a need for gun control to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and idiots like this Darwin Award nominee in the following clip WARNING: THIS MAY BE TOO GRAPHIC FOR SOME!!
Wow, I really don't know where to start with this..
..Stupid...irresponsible...irrational...dangerous...idiotic.. the words could just keep going.. This goes not only for the stupid shooter with the bull ring in his nose but also for all of his "friends" egging him on. Luckily for the bastard the round seems to have gone right through the meat of his upper arm and didn't hit a bone or artery. Wouldn't the joke of been on him it it nicked a bone and ricocheted into his side and got logged in his lung or liver. Now THAT would of been a learning video. I hoped after he sobered up or came down off his high that it hurt like hell. Of course anyone who would do this probably doesn't have a job anyway and we can all look forward to paying his medical bills with our taxes.
Unfortunately what his also does is give the anti-2A crowd some more ammo to use in the "we can't trust people with weapons" crowd. Come on people of the video, use your brains for a little more than a sponge for alcohol and THC for a minute. But hey, looking at that nice "FTW" prison style tat, you probably shouldn't of been able to own that gun anyway but as we know CRIMINALS DO NOT OBEY LAWS!
And for any of you kiddies out there thinking of playing the copycat game, let me tell you, bullets can do a lot more that what they did to the idiot in this particular video. If you want to read a story about a real life accidental shooting and its effects on the unintended victim read this. That should change your corrupt little minds.
and here is his reaction to last nights Hardball interview
If this is such a big concern for the president may I suggest that the Secret Service make the following video mandatory day 1 briefing material for all incoming heads of state..
wow! I came up with a post that rips 3 vids off of YouTube, awesome creativeness, not!
You know sometimes I really have to wonder if the media ever takes the time to research anything before they let fly.
Chris Matthews first takes off by introducing this guy as the person that carried a gun to a protest where the president was speaking. He then proceeds to ask who he voted for in the last election and if he questioned the legitimacy of Obama's birth status. What the hell? I thought that this interview would be about why he brought the gun.
OK, then right after those questions he slams the guy for bringing it asking why would he do that given the violent history of guns and the presidents of this country. Oh, I see, lets get the guy thinking in a different direction and then slam him in the face with those rapid fire attacks. When the interviewee, William Kostric, replies that he was exercising his 2nd Amendment rights Matthews replies (very aggressively) that he knows the laws - well Chris, why the hell are you asking the question again. He even then tries to provoke Kostric again with the line "why did you bring a god damn gun". Kostric keeps fairly good poise after that shot. I would of told Matthews to go pound sand up his MOTHTER'S ass and ended the interview.
Then Matthews tries to go after him by asking him to explain the history of people bringing guns presidential events, like Kostric should be some type of historic expert on this subject on the spot. Just for the record we have had 4 presidents killed by assassination by firearm (Presidents Lincoln, Garfield, McKinely and Kennedy) and 2 others hit by gunfire but survive (Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan). President Roosevelt was such a bigger than life bad ass that he actually finished the speech he was given at the time of the assassination attempt before seeking medical attention. Remember, nobody - I mean nobody - ever messed with Teddy. In total there have been over 90 attempts, many from foreign entities and not US citizens. Even then, these events are the price our society pays for having the freedoms we enjoy to bear arms and not live under a repressive regime that outlaws weapons and hides it leaders behind castle walls.
Kostric then fires a big shot back stating that "we just made new history, I was there today, there was a peaceful rally, no one was injured, no one on our side was alarmed, people in New Hampshire are used to seeing firearms, no one from New Hampshire was alarmed. Maybe some of the people they had bussed in from Massachusetts were alarmed, but we aren't concerned about them." OOOH, BURN!
Matthews then calms down a bit (probably figuring this wasn't their stereotypical Billy Bob gun totin' rube that they think we all are) and starts asking some leading questions to Kosteric about his beliefs. Social Security: wrong, Medicaid: wrong, Federal reserve: wrong, income tax: wrong. Wonder what this is leading up to...ooh there it is.. the "therefore you brought a gun to a presidential meeting about health care." Kostric then repeats his
Found the following thread on a forum I often read....
though they teach the marksmanship and history of our Revolutionary War ancestors, they are about discreet range marksmanship. The things you learn here, while a GREAT building block for other skills, will not enable you to engage in modern combat. Far from sniping at columns of men in red coats walking in order and standing tall, modern combatants need to adhere to the 4 basic tenants of survival: Shoot (which they teach), Move, Communicate and Sustain (which they do not). So all this hot air about anti-government militias can be tossed aside on that account. While there teachings do have a distinctively libertarian and don't-tread-on-me approach, it is up to each attendee to do what they want with the info.
Do you know what this is? Come to an Appleseed event and you sure will!
Watch the video here 
