The Safety Rules in Depth - Part 3

Rule 2: Never let the muzzle cover anything which you are not willing to destroy.

If there was a single gun rule that, when violated, resulted in the most damage, injury, and death, it would have to be Rule 2.

After all, the direction a gun is pointed determines where the bullet goes when the gun fires. While Rules 1 and 3 are devoted to preventing the gun from going off unintentionally, with Rule 2, it doesn't matter whether the gun is fired intentionally or unintentionally (or, as the anti-gun crowd believe, it goes off by itself). This Rule must be followed, or bad things happen.

Rule 1 is a philosophical rule. It takes a change in the shooter's thinking to make it work. You need to have a change in your attitude, so that you always treat the gun as if it were always loaded, even if it isn't. Which it is - see Rule 1.

Rule 2 is a concrete rule. It doesn't matter how you think about the Rule, what your attitude is. The gun is pointing where the gun is pointing, regardless of how you think about it.

In my experience, Rule 2 is the most violated of all the safety rules. The main reason for this is ignorance and inexperience. New shooters may be used to playing with a toy gun, or not having a gun around at all.

And then there are the thousands of very bad examples on TV and in movies.

Wow. Not only did Vincent violate Rule 2, he violated Rule 3. Bad things happened. Sorry, Marvin.

Almost as bad are the hundreds of images where an actor points the gun in the air as they move around. No one tells viewers that this isn't for good safety practice, this is so the gun is in the shot with the actor's face.

This Rule takes concentration. Nothing about Rule 2 can be left to attitude or thinking or philosophy. You must be aware where your gun is pointed at all times, or bad things can happen.

So, what works when teaching Rule 2? Zealous enforcement and repetition. When you find someone waving a gun around, call them on it. Whether you are polite about it or not depends on the situation and the violator, I suppose, but you should be firm and unequivocal in any case. In my family, we are all allowed to call "MUZZLE!" and push the gun downrange or toward the ground if it's safe to do so.

A search of most gun forums will also find many accounts of violation of this rule at gun ranges, gun shows, and gun stores. When a polite but firm reminder not to point the gun at something they aren't willing to destroy goes unheeded, the only recourse then is to leave. I know I've done it.

+++

Rule 2 is the failsafe of the gun rules. Follow it - make sure the gun isn't pointed at anything you aren't willing to destroy - and even if someone violates the other rules, you will be safe.

Got It On Camera

My Quest for C Class

Note: I thought about delaying this post until I found some good video editing software that I like, so I could illustrate my points. But I think the points need to be made. When I finally settle on editing software I will post a follow-up.


When I first took up golf, one of the best tools I found to help my swing was to watch myself on video. While most people have no problem pointing out my faults, I tend to politely dismiss their help. But, on video, the good parts and bad parts of my swing stand out clearly, without comment or advice. The camera doesn't lie, and it isn't trying to get in my head and mess me up to make that $5 Nassau.

This past weekend I was using some software to capture individual frames of my shooting videos as photos. In the process, I got to look at my shooting stance, grip, and follow through in slow motion, and I found out that video works the same way with my shooting as it did for golf.

When I shot video of my golf, I would tape my practice sessions as well as my play, so I could compare what I did when I concentrated on it, versus what I did when I wasn't concentrating as much as relying on muscle memory and training.

For my shooting, I reviewed match footage, but I don't have video of any practice sessions. I am focusing on the match, and on making good shots, not on the mechanics. So, what I am seeing on video is my ingrained habits, my training.

Here's what I found out:

> My draw is smooth, and it does what I think I have been practicing for it to do. The gun comes out and up smoothly, and I press straight out while the support hand takes a grip. It also goes straight to the target, without any oscillation at the top. That's good.

> I control recoil a lot better than I think I do. From the beginning of my shooting career, I've always thought that I did a poor job of recoil control, almost like I was shooting one of those .500 Magnums you see on Youtube. It turns out, however, that my muzzle rise is actually on par with some of the best shooters I've seen. It goes up just a little and settles right down. This proves that not only do I have a bad image of myself as a shooter, I'm also focused well on the target such that muzzle flip isn't even noticeable. That's good.

> I do a decent job of positioning my body as I shoot. But, as I suspected, I move a lot like a sea lion. That will improve as I lose weight. I full imagine to be moving like a penguin in no time.

> On close up targets, I lack the confidence to make double taps. I will instead take two measured shots. It's not that I can't do double taps, so it has to be confidence. That should come with practice.

> I do a decent job keeping the muzzle down range when I move. I've never been warned or DQ'ed by a Range Officer, so that confirms it.

> I need to pay a little more attention to my trigger finger when I draw or move. I have been warned about this, so this is something to pay attention to and practice.

> Compared to someone like Dave Sevigny, my magazine changes look like I'm trying to force a live snake into a coke bottle. I think I can make this better by practicing. But it's not because of the direction the bullets face in my magazine pouch. (Yes, I had someone point this out to me, again.)

> My Glock 17 Bruce runs flawlessly in every video I've shot. This jives with the fact that I've never had a malfunction of any kind in a match. In fact, apart from a broken extractor and a couple of limp-wristing incidents with my son, Bruce has had exactly 2 failures to extract in the 19 years I've had him.

At my next match, I'm going to try to get video of me on every stage. By then I will have some better editing video, and I'll make another report showing what I've found.

I'm also planning a range trip on a week day in a couple of weeks. If the range is clear enough, I will get some video of some standard drills like El Presidente and the Mozambique. I can then compare my results to those I find on line.

Be Prepared, Part 9 - Stay Prepared

So, three years ago you did your part and put together a set of emergency supplies that you could carry in your car. Then comes the big snow, and you're stuck. So, you get out the bag, and you find those batteries are dead, and the emergency food is gone, because your kids snacked on it a few times without telling you. Bummer.

A few months ago I wrote about my Get Home Bag that I carry with me in the car. Like just about everything in life, even a Get Home Bag takes maintenance. So, with winter approaching, I took some time to unpack the bag and make sure the perishable items were fresh.

You can see the contents of my bag above. I listed them in the previous post, and all was there except the granola bars, which I had commandeered for the most recent USPSA match.

I ended up replacing the water bottles, but everything else was good. I also shook out the blanket and bedroll and re-folded them, and I will wash and dry the towel, too.

I also checked out the compass (it was fine), and tried the lighter (it lit fine). Another change I made was replacing the two AA batteries with three AAA batteries, since I changed my every day carry flashlight to one that takes AAA.

For sure, repacking it all was a pain. I should have taken some pictures of what went where. But, in the end, it all went back.

You put good effort into planning. Take a few minutes now, and periodically, to make sure your work wasn't in vain.

Where Were You?

US Army Photograph

When I was a very young boy, we lived a couple of blocks from my grandparents, and my parents would take advantage of that as often as they could. For sure, this meant that I spent Sunday mornings with my Grandmother, while my folks went to church. I liked that a lot, since I was the only grandchild, and I was treated well, as you would expect.

I remember I really enjoyed watching cartoons on Sunday mornings, Popeye in particular, the old Max Fleischer classics, in black and white. At least, I remember them in black and white, probably because the TV was black and white.

One Sunday morning, my routine changed. Instead of my cartoons, there was something else on TV. In fact, it was on all 3 channels.

There was some kind of military parade going on, but there was no music. Everyone was quiet.

I distinctly remember one big black horse with no rider. Boots were in his stirrups, and they were in backward.

I didn't know why my cartoons weren't on. My Grandmother came in, and she looked at the TV, and started to cry. This made me cry, too.

++++

This is my earliest memory. It was Sunday, November 24, 1963, and an honor guard was moving the body of President John F. Kennedy from the White House to the US Capitol, to lie in state, following his assassination on November 22. I was 2 years and 8 months old.

For years, I thought this memory was of President Kennedy's funeral, of the procession from the Capitol to Arlington National Cemetery. Then, in 1983, to mark the 20th anniversary of the events, MSNBC replayed the NBC coverage of the assassination and funeral, exact 20 years from the moment it occurred.

There, on the 24th, as the TV showed the President being moved to the Capitol, I saw the military escort, and the big black horse with the boots backward in the stirrups. I then realized it wasn't the funeral I remembered, but the moving of the President to the Capitol.

I remember, in 1983, being 22 years and 8 months old, still being moved to tears by the sight of the horse, by the memories.

Every generation shares a "where where you" moment. For this one, it's the September 11 attacks. For others, it's the Challenger explosion, or Pearl Harbor. This is one of mine.

Paradigm Shift

When I first took up competitive shooting, back when the Earth was still cooling, I discovered something that, in retrospect, was detrimental to my growth as a shooter. It's taken me a long time to change that, and even now, I have only changed half of it. The time has come to change the rest.

The Mistake

The club I first shot with in Alabama was filled with pistol shooters who had grown up in the time when Bullseye and PPC were the reigning games. So, they concentrated a lot on accurate shooting, and not as much on speed. I, on the other hand, was new to competition, and I looked at the scoring method, which was total shooting score divided by time, and realized I had an advantage. Most of the members were shooting 9s and 10s but shooting slower than me. I found that I could shoot 7s and 8s but shoot faster, and win. For two years this worked, and I either won or came in second in just about every match. This was my mistake.

Fast forward about five years, to an IDPA club in east Texas. I was still fast enough to get away with shooting not so well. Yes, there was an added penalty for a complete miss that wasn't there in the Alabama club. But I still did well. I was shooting against some professionals - a couple of Border Patrol agents and some Texas DPS Troopers - and I usually managed to at least be the high amateur. So I settled for faster scores with poorer shooting, and I told myself that was good. My mistake continued.


The Truth

Now, I was faced with the Truth - I can't shoot badly fast enough to win. So I concentrated on shooting better. In the past two years I've learned my about sight alignment and trigger control than I ever knew before. And my shooting scores have improved.

But, I can't move as fast as I did, and it's killing my overall scores.

I won't re-post the video of me shooting the same stage as Dave Sevigny in USPSA, but it's there in black and white. Dave shot the stage in 28 seconds and I shot it in 63 seconds. That means he could have started over again, and still beat me.

Now, the good side to this is, as I said, my shooting scores have improved. Dave had 174 points and I had 162, right in the middle of the pack. Looking at the other stages, and all 67 competitors, my shooting was in the middle, definitely C Class. But, over the last 20 years I've gained weight and slowed down, and that will keep me in D or worse.

And, I need to face it - if I am in a life and death struggle today, I probably won't survive, because I'm so out of shape and overweight. I've been telling myself that I can survive on shooting skills or survival preparations, but that's not true.

The Answer

If I am ever to get any better in this sport, and if I am going to have a chance of surviving TEOTWAWKI, I have to lose weight and get in shape. And the truth is, at my age, it's only going to get worse, without hard work.

This isn't anything new. I've been saying the same thing for a long time. My doctors have been saying the same thing for a long time. I would go on a diet and exercise program that was successful for a while, but only as long as I kept it up. Then the old habits would come back.

So I write this today, not to moan and complain, but to get it in black and white. I have to change my lifestyle, if I am going to get better. If I am going to live.

The Shift

I have a plan*, and over the next few months and years I'm going to share my progress, my ideas, my successes, and my failures.

I admit I was reluctant to do this publicly on my blog. But if I am going to succeed I need motivation and support, and maybe this is where I will find it. So, here it is.



* The Plan.

It's a radical plan my doctor suggested. I suspect he got it from some shady website, maybe a late night infomercial. It has 2 crucial steps, and it scares me, but I'm going to try it.

1. Eat less.

2. Exercise.

I know, it's radical. Wish me luck.

What We Are Up Against

I was reading my normal morning blog fix today, and I was reminded by Joe Huffman of some statements not so long ago.

This is what we are up against:

I think -- you know, we can't be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans to legitimately own handguns and rifles...

Bill Clinton
March 1, 1993


And we should -- then every community in the country could then start doing major weapon sweeps and then destroying the weapons, not selling them.

Bill Clinton
October 1, 1993


Banning guns is an idea whose time has come.

U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden
November 18, 1993


Banning guns addresses a fundamental right of all Americans to feel safe.

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein
November 18, 1993


We're here to tell the NRA their nightmare is true!. We're going to hammer guns on the anvil of relentless legislative strategy! We're going to beat guns into submission!

U.S. Rep. Charles Schumer
November 30, 1993


If I could have gotten 51 votes in the Senate of the United States for an outright ban, picking up every one of them, Mr. and Mrs. America, turn them all in, I would have done it.

Diane Feinstein
February 5, 1995

My family ask me why I get so vociferous when I talk about the Second Amendment and my right to keep and bear arms. This morning I printed these quotes out, so I can let them read it for themselves.

Robert Woodall on HR 822

HR 822, the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity act, passed the House of Representatives on Wednesday by a vote of 272 to 154. This bill requires states to recognize the carry permits issued by other states.

Many have expressed surprise that Rep. Rob Woodall, Republican of the Georgia 7th District, voted No, despite being a proponent of the Second Amendment. But Mr. Woodall explained his position clearly on the floor of the House.



At first I thought his position was a cop-out, but I find it a well reasoned and lucid explanation.

Unfortunately, it's based on fantasy and wishful thinking.

It assumes that all the states enforce and apply the Second Amendment, so we must enforce and apply the Tenth Amendment and allow them to continue to do so. The problem is that all states don't apply the Second Amendment. In fact, some actively oppose it. The purpose of HR 822 is to enforce the Second Amendment explicitly rather than implicitly.

Just about every Amendment since the 13th has included the phrase "Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation" or similar language. Before that, it was understood that Congress would enforce the Constitution with appropriate legislation. That's the Congress's job.

All HR 822 does is enforce the Second Amendment with appropriate legislation.

Doing that with the Tenth Amendment is another issue for another time.

HR822 Redux

Yesterday I posted an open letter to my Congressman, Dr. Phil Gingrey, urging him to vote for HR822, the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act.

I fully expect him to do so, since he is a co-sponsor.

I did not, however, give much guidance on how you can contact your Member of Congress to urge them to do the same. I assume my readers are capable of using the Interwebz to find such things.

Barring that, the website Congress.org has a nifty app that allows you to enter your zip code and fins out who your elected officials are. Please avail yourself of this service if needed.

++++

As an aside, please don't let this be the only time you contact your representative. I make it a point to write or email my Congressman and my Senators at least monthly.

Keep your letters and emails short and to the point. Don't ramble.

++++

I am proud to live where I live. Our Congressmen in the past have included Larry McDonald, Newt Gingrich, and Bob Barr.

But I'm reminded of Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gobachev's rule: "Доверяй, но проверяй."

Trust, but verify.

Welcome New Additions

Every so often I trawl the interwebz looking for blogs that interest me.

Welcome By Other Means and Down Range Report to the list of Blogs I Read.

Someday I hope to add them to the Bloggers I've Met list. Michael at RKBArms was the last one to be added there.

++++

By the way, "trawl" isn't "troll." That wasn't me.

A New Look at Empty Mags

I may be late to the party, but check out the newly re-branded EmptyMags blog.

JP was one of the first gun bloggers to welcome me to the fold. He's been a great source of information and entertainment both on his blog Eyes Never Closed, and on the Twitter.

He recently started the Empty Mags Podcast, and has now combined those efforts into a unified website. I'm glad - this will give me one place to go. Believe it or not, I try to read all those blogs listed on the right side at least once a week, many daily.

An Open Letter to Congressman Phil Gingrey

Congressman Phil Gingrey, MD
119 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515

Dear Congressman Gingrey:

I know you support the right to keep and bear arms guaranteed in the Second Amendment. Currently, the consistent exercise of this right for lawful self defense is hindered by a patchwork of state laws governing the issuance of concealed carry permits. While my Georgia Concealed Weapons License is recognized and honored by 24 other states, there are many who do not honor it, because of differences in the ways the laws are written in those states.

I am writing you to urge you to vote YES on HR822, the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act, which comes before the House for a vote in the next couple of days. This bill would level the playing field for the licensed concealed carry of firearms, by mandating that all states which issue such licenses honor licenses from all other states, in much the same way as states honor each drivers' licenses from other states. This bill will go a long way to helping keep travelers and visitors safe.

Thank you for your attention to this important bill.

Yours,

XXXXXX XXXXXX

Kennesaw, GA

PLEASE write or call your Congressman today and urge them to support HR822, the National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act.

Match Report - USPSA at Cherokee Gun Club

This past Saturday I shot the regular monthly USPSA match at the Cherokee Gun Club in Gainesville, Georgia.

The weather was perfect for a pistol match, starting in the low 50's F and ending around 60, with a slight breeze. There were 67 competitors and all classes and divisions were represented except revolvers. And, Dave Sevigny was there, and I got to chat with him for a few minutes.

There was an excellent mix of stages as well, including a couple of simple stages and one of the most complex field courses I have ever had the pleasure of running. More on that later.

I started on Stage 4, but I'll go through the stages from the beginning. Stage 1 was called Do Your Dance, and it consisted of multiple targets along the edge of the stage, with barrels and a dividing line up the middle of the stage. The Dance came from the requirement that targets on the left side be shot from the right side of the divider, and vice versa, so that the shooter was essentially dancing back and forth down the field. Very interesting. I shot it clean (which for me means no misses, I"ll worry about all Alphas later) but my time was slow. No surprise.

Stage 2 was the Classifier stage Cash 'n' Carry, with three targets from engaged from a box, one popper engaged while moving to a second box, and three targets engaged from the second box, only from under a horizontal bar that forced us to kneel or squat. (Given the choice I usually kneel.) I missed two shots on this stage and shot a no-shoot. Not good.

Stage 3 was called Doomed, and now I know why. It's the one shown in the picture above. There were two swinging targets and a guillotine target. The Guillotine target is covered by a no-shoot at the beginning of the stage, and shooting a popper drops the no-shoot. About 2 seconds later another no-shoot rotates into position blocking this target, so you have a short time to shoot it.

I shot Alpha / Charlie on the guillotine, not bad. But I missed one shot on a 25 yard target, and one shot on one of the swingers.

The best way to shoot swinging targets is to shoot when the target is all the way down on the left or right, as it's changing directions. In retrospect I should have shot more shots at the swingers.

Here is Dave Sevigny shooting stage 3:



Stage 4, where I started, was called Gotcha, and it was basically targets up the middle of the stage, with lanes on the outside of the stage where the shooter had to be. We shot our way down to the end and then shot three targets over a barrier. For me this was my best stage of the day. No misses, mostly Alphas.

Stage 5 was called Zombiemart. This one started with the gun in a cash register (really a briefcase) and then we engaged three targets straight away, with targets to the left and right.

I'll come back to Stage 6. . . .

Stage 7 was the Classifier Table for 1, and was a welcome change. Starting with an unloaded gun sitting at a table, we shot three targets, then reloaded and shot them again. Since I finished 6th in Production on this stage, this tells me my shooting was good but I need to work on my movement.

On Stage 6 this was painfully obvious. Here I am shooting Stage 6, Barrel Issues.



Here is Dave Sevigny shooting the same stage.



That was the fastest time of the day. As you can see, there were steel plates, poppers, and a gallows. All the fun a shooter can stand.

In the end, I finished 50th of 67 shooters, and was the highest in the D class. I take what victories I can!

I also took away a lot of things today:

> I need to (obviously) lose some weight, so I can get around quicker.
> I need to work on my double taps on close targets. On Stage 6 I shot a measured pair when a double tap would have done better. (Of course, I could also argue that if I shoot worse with double taps, say, Alpha / Charlie versus 2 Alphas, does that get eat up the faster time?)
> My magazine changes were decent.
> My sight pictures were decent, and I was calling my shots most of the day, even on the stages with lots of movement.

All in all it was the best match I've shot in a long time, and the most fun I've had in USPSA. Kudos to Peter Oliver, the match director at Cherokee. Peter came in second overall, by the way, which was probably the best he could expect.

Range Visits for Self Defense Practice

The ideal place to practice shooting for self defense is an outdoor range, because you need to be able to practice shooting on the move, shooting from odd positions, and other scenarios that you would encounter in a self defense situation.

Unfortunately, many of us don't have access to an outdoor range often enough to practice these perishable skills. In some previous posts, I gave some thoughts about how I practice at an indoor range to get ready for competition. Yesterday during lunch I went to the range to practice my self defense shooting.

Here's what I practice for self defense. Since my range doesn't allow me to draw and shoot, all shots are from low ready.

I use a silhouette target set at 7 yards to 10 yards. I use 10 yards because I've paced off my house, and this is the longest shot I would have to make. Sure, I might face longer shots, but that's not what I'm practicing today.

I start with the target at 7 yards, and make single shots into the central target zone. For me, this is a triangle formed by the nipples and the larynx. A shot in this area makes the most effective hole in an attacker, and is most likely to stop the fight the fastest. I want 10 or so good shots in this zone, with good form and follow through.

Next I do two shots to the triangle, starting with a measured pair, and moving to a double tap. Again, I want good hits, good form, a follow through.

Next, I do Mozambiques - a shorthand for a drill invented by Lt. Colonel Jeff Cooper, consisting of two shots to the triangle which fail to stop the threat, followed by a shot to the head. It should be noted, from my experience at competitions where it has been included, that a true Mozambique is not a quick "two shots to the body and one to the head." There is a pause between the first two shots and the head shot to assess whether the head shot is needed. This is important, because in a real fight, there is no way to know that the third shot would be needed. So, that's the way you should practice it.

In fact, if you have a shooting partner at the range, a great way to do a true Mozambique is for the partner to watch you shoot the first two shots, then call "Yes" or "No" indicating whether your shots stopped the target. If not, then you follow up with a head shot. Then, go on farther - if that shot isn't dead on the central nervous system, follow up with a pelvic shot.

Next, I turn my body 90 degrees left, and starting with the gun at low ready, I press out to the target with my right hand and deliver shots to the triangle, first singles, then doubles. This simulates a shot to the extreme right, where you might not have a chance to square yourself to the target.

Next is a couple of Mozambiques from this position, but I try to square myself to the target between the body shots and the follow up, just like I would want to do in a real situation.

Next, do the same from the other side. Naturally, using the weak hand means taking more care, but that's the point of practice. You will get better.

If your range allows, shots from the retention position would also be included. My range has a bench in front of me, so this isn't a good idea.

Next, I run the target out to 10 yards and practice making single shots and doubles, either to the triangle, or to another zone like the pelvis, so I can distinguish those shots from others. The longer distance doesn't seem like much, but it's enough for me to make a difference.

I usually end the session with the target at 5 yards, and I shoot 4 or 5 shots as fast as I can, while keeping them in the triangle.

As you can see from the photo, I'm not always as accurate as I want to be, but most of the shots are in the triangle or in the head, or at least where I was aiming. But I am getting better, and that's the whole point.

The Safety Rules In Depth - Part 2

Rule 1 - All guns are always loaded.

This rule has probably generated the most dissension among gun owners than anything else, including the "9mm versus .45ACP" debate. Some don't even include it as a rule, arguing that, if the other rules are followed, it becomes moot.

However, it can be argued that unloaded guns cause more "accidental" shootings than anything else in the shooting world. Of course, what really happened is that guns that were assumed to be unloaded did what loaded guns are designed to do when the trigger is pulled. And, since no care was taken about which direction the gun was pointed, the result, many times, is tragic.

A loaded gun is a deadly weapon. To treat it as anything else is negligent and foolish.

But the argument is made that not all guns are loaded. Examples would include guns at a "cold" range, such as at a competition. In this case, guns are only loaded once the competitor is on the firing line, and then only at the direction of the Range Officer or Safety Officer.

The point of this rule, though, is to prevent the negligent discharge of a gun that was assumed to be unloaded, but really wasn't. As with many things, Lt. Colonel Jeff Cooper said it best in his final version of Rule 1:

All guns are always loaded. Even if they are not, treat them as if they are.

If we treat all guns as if they are loaded, then we won't point them at anything we don't want to destroy, and we won't put our fingers on the trigger until we are ready to shoot.

It's a mindset that we have to develop, that is part of the overall safety mindset - that our gun is a powerful tool, which we must control and direct at all times.

++++

Certainly one of the scariest and most frustrating experiences is to be around someone who has no concept of gun safety, and insists on waving it around or putting their fingers on the trigger. I have no qualms about asking someone politely to treat the gun as if it were loaded, and please stop that. It is usually at a gun show or gun store. If they get upset about my request, I take myself and my business elsewhere.

Of course, at a range or in my home is another issue. I try to be as nice as I can, but nothing pulls the barium rods out of my nuclear asshole reactor quicker.

++++

Once, when my son was perhaps 8 or 9 years old, we were getting the BB guns out for a shooting session. We put on our safety glasses, and I took down the trusty Red Ryder Range Model Lever Action Carbine (without a compass in the stock, or this thing that tells time), and I tilted it back and forth to make sure there were no BBs in the action.

I handed it to my son, and asked, "Is that loaded?"

"No."

Wrong answer. The guns went back up, to be brought out another day.

He's never forgotten that lesson. And he knows every gun is loaded, even if there might not be any ammunition in it.

Fall Back, Get Ahead

Just like remembering to change the batteries in your smoke detectors, the change of time from Standard to Daylight Savings Time and back again affords us a built in reminder to do those things we need to do every 6 months, or yearly.

For instance, I change batteries in every clock in my house on New Year's Day. It's a reminder of the fleeting nature of time, and I usually have a bunch of batteries I got on sale for Christmas.

So, Sunday I took the opportunity to do some of those things I always do once a year.

I detail stripped my Glocks and checked all the things I usually don't check, like recoil springs, firing pin springs, and firing pin cups. (Everything was fine.)

I baked the desiccant bags from my gun safes, to restore them. (I know, I should do this monthly. It's now on my calendar.)

I unpacked my Get Home Bag, and checked all the items against my checklist. (You never know when I've taken something out and forgotten to replace it.) I also ran the blanket and sleeping bag through a fluffy cycle in my dryer. I replaced all the water bottles with fresh ones, and replaced the box of granola bars. (Guess what my snacks are this week . . . )

I did an ammunition inventory. I will then put that against my calendar of upcoming matches and shooting outings to decide when I need to buy more.

I took all my long guns out of the safe, and cleaned out the bottom of the safe (so that's where that went) and re-positioned the spacers that hold up the guns. I then wiped down my guns with a good oily rag, and put everything back in neatly. Man, that looked nice.

One embarrassing confession - I took photos of a lot of this, but I also blew off my whole yard with the leaf blower, put together a new roll-around tool box, and put together a new fire pit. So, I didn't get a chance to download the pictures. It's just as well, some of these tasks will make good stand alone posts later this week.




Oh, I also set my clocks back an hour.

Make A Comment. I Dare You.

I don't know how I missed this. My daughter just sent me this picture that she found on Reddit.

One commenter said he was knitting a tank. Well played, sir.

I'm making no comment.

It Must Be Censorship

Wisconsin instituted its Shall Issue concealed carry permit program on November 1. By 9:00 AM, over 83,000 applications were downloaded from the Wisconsin Justice Department website. The website normally gets about 80,000 hits a day, but by noon it had gotten ten times than much.

In the days and weeks leading up to Tuesday, the anti-gun crowd made its usual pleas that there would be blood in the streets, and Wisconsin would be like the wild west. I really felt for Wisconsin gun owners, who fielded objections and got their law changed.

Every day since then, I've spent a few minutes doing an interwebz search for stories of murder and mayhem. I can't find any. I've even suggested on Twitter (direct to the CSGV and Brady Campaign) that government censorship was to blame. Nothing.

Maybe Sunday will be the test, when thousands shoot up the church services.

Seriously, the point of this post is this: the anti-gun crowd say the same thing in every state, every time there is a new gun law.

> Allowing concealed carry will lead to blood in the streets.
> Allowing concealed carry in bars or restaurants that sell alcohol will lead to drunken shoot outs.
> Allowing open carry will lead to fear and mayhem.
> Allowing constitutional carry will lead to the fall of civilization as we know it.

Each time the alarm is sounded, and nothing happens. Then, then next time, the same alarm is sounded, and again nothing happens. Nothing, except the murder and violent crime rates decrease in states with permissive gun laws, and stay high in Illinois and other states with restrictive laws.

When will someone step up in a state with a new gun law and bring this up ahead of time? Take the wind out of the anti-gun sails - bring up their arguments first and show that they are baseless.

Let those of us who've been there and done that step up and help out those in the states who are trying to improve. I know I will.

Get Them While They're Hot

Available from Sean Sorrentino, here.

Fashionable Hawaiian shirt not included.

Cross Dominance Revisited

April 2010

August 2011

As I've related before, my son is cross dominant. Like a large number of people, he is right handed but left eye dominant.

We've worked on compensating for this before, as seen in the top photo, taken over a year ago. He even started shooting rifles left handed.

The last time we went shooting, I noticed he was shooting rifles right handed. I asked him about it when we got home.

His answer? He figured he should learn to shoot both ways. What about his eye dominance? Did that make the rifle shooting a problem? Not really - he just squinted a little with his left eye, and it all fell into place. Considering he was hitting targets at 100 yards with iron sights with the AR, I'd say it worked.

I also noticed him last weekend shooting his Nerf pistol right handed, despite having done that almost exclusively left handed. And he did a good job with it.

When he starts competing, and the stage calls for "offhand" shooting, the rest of us are in for a surprise. He won't have one.

Quote of the Day

[A] dead rapist is MILES better than a live, scared nearly to death rapist. The recidivism rate drops faster than the body temp does.

Sean Sorrentino

"Sheriff: Time For Citizens To Arm Themselves" - The Flip Side

Like a lot of folks, I heard the story about Spartanburg County SC Sheriff Chuck Wright’s news conference on Monday, and his advice to women in his county: Get a concealed carry permit, get a gun, and carry it.

It was full of such observations as "when you can get your barrel back on the target quick. That’s gun control."

I wasn’t so much surprised that a Sheriff was offering this advice. After all, this is the south, and his views are in no way in the minority here. I was more surprised that so many news outlets covered it, without offering any opposing viewpoint at the end.

I felt pretty good about it, and even sent the link to some friends.

Then I heard the story reported on the local news radio, and the reporter then said that the Sheriff said that women don’t have to be accurate, they just have to get close.

I re-read the article, and there it was:

At one point, Wright held up a fanny pack and said, "They make this right here where you can conceal a small pistol in them. They got one called The Judge that shoots a .45 or a .410 shell. You ain't got to be accurate; you just have to get close."

Whoa.

Now, I agree that with .410 shot, the Taurus Judge is probably accurate enough at "rapist distance" to do enough damage to stop an assailant even with a hit to a non-vital area. However, while I’ve never shot a Judge, from talking to those who have, and from reviews I’ve read, with buckshot the Judge is quite a handful to shoot. It would be all the more so for a woman. Couple that with an attacker who is, at best, amped up by adrenaline, and at worst, by meth or more, and "just get close" probably won't do the job.

In fact, what bothers me is many women may hear the Sheriff, and opt instead for the cute pink Airweight, and then never practice with it. Because, after all, “You ain't got to be accurate.”

Sheriff Wright needs to be sure women in Spartanburg, and all gun owners for that matter, understand that carrying a gun brings with it a responsibility to practice. Now, South Carolina’s concealed carry permit program does require training and a proficiency exam, but shooting is a perishable skill, and we all owe it to ourselves to stay up with our skills.