Knowledge to make your life better. If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.
Is Your Defensive Firearm Actually a Woobie?
My guess is that even for this generally clueful audience, most of you carry your gun like a lucky rabbit’s foot. Listen to what John has to say here and get some real training. Your CCW class or NRA basic safety class does not teach you how to win a gunfight.
You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out, Kid: Use Good Eye Protection
Having good eye protection is important.
Staying Mentally Healthy
“We have to start guarding our mental health as vigorously as we do our physical health. Our body is a holistic creature, the mental and physical aspects are so completely linked there is no way we can engage in behavior that damages or at least limits the performance of one without it affecting the other.”
5 Best Everyday Carry (EDC) Flashlights Under $100 [2017]
Reviews of some of the cheaper tactical flashlight options available. I agree with their praise for the Fenix PD25. It’s a single battery version of the PD35 that I carry every day. I own one and carry it whenever I am in dress clothes and can’t carry the larger light as easily.
Everything there is to know about handheld tactical lights
For those of you who want even more flashlight love, this article from Ralph Mroz shares some valuable advice about real-world flashlight use. Want even more flashlight stuff? How about Michael Janich’s take in Low-Light Shooting Tactics and Self-Defense?
Big Dumb Blocks
A realistic and relatively inexpensive way to thwart terrorist vehicle attacks. To do it even cheaper, sell each bollard to a particular company to use as ad space. Ugly, but free protection.
Integrated Solutions for Personal Defense – AKA “Gun Grappling”
Craig Douglas goes over the really important factors necessary to win a close range gunfight. Any of my ECQ students would find this interview a fine review of the stuff that I teach in class. For more info on the topic, you’ll also want to check out this interview with Cecil Burch.
The Thumbs-Forward Revolver Grasp
When I first fully adopted the thumbs forward shooting grip in 1999 (I had tried it earlier, but because the police instructor who showed it to me couldn’t adequately explain its benefits, I quickly dropped it), I also tried to shoot my revolvers the same way. It didn’t work as well. No, I didn’t lose my thumb or get burnt. The shape and size of the revolver grip is different from that of a semi-automatic pistol. That means different gripping techniques are optimal.
You can certainly shoot a revolver well with thumbs forward, just like you can shoot an autopistol well with thumbs locked down. Neither of those grips is optimal for the weapon type.
For even more revolver material, check out Speed Strips vs. Speedloaders – Keeping Your Revolver In The Fight
Sell Fewer Guns.
Interesting stuff. We might actually be preventing new gun owners from buying guns when we present them with too many options.
Is Mass Murder Exceptionally American?
You might be surprised if you actually dig in to the statistics:
“While our rates of firearms mass murder are higher than most other developed nations, we are not at the top of the list.
Including non-firearms mass murders might move us further down the list.”
Soft Tissue Work for Tough Guys
The foam roller and lacrosse ball are my favorite recovery tools. I use them every single workout. Give some of these massage techniques a try.
How To Survive Mass Shootings and Sniper Attacks
I find the format and the large number of ads in this article a bit distracting, but most of the information is sound and there is a lot of it.
The 14th Reinstated
What I’m reading…
I’ve only read about 20% this book, but it’s been an entertaining storyline thus far. I think a lot of you really will like this book.
The Woodworker Who Quit Email
This is for all the folks who bitch when I don’t answer their email. Don’t feel bad. I don’t answer most email.
“…what impresses me about Schwarz is that he rejected the fear of missing out — on a new lead, on a new opportunity, on a new fan — that permeates so much of our digital age business culture, and started instead from a simpler question: how do I get better at what I do best?
Honest answers to this query rarely involve spending more time online.”
Ankle Biters: Using Ankle Holsters
Kevin Davis provides words of wisdom about how to successfully carry a gun in an ankle rig.
Concealed Carry And Traveling Armed
Massad Ayoob covers the best practices for out of state firearms carry. Follow his advice and stay out of jail.
Kathump! A Tongue in Cheek Look at Tomahawk and Axe Training.
I agree with Hock’s take on the tomahawk craze. We are really making this way more complex than it needs to be. You have a tomahawk in your hand when you are attacked? Hit the attacker with it. If you still believe you need more study or training with this destructive implement, I recommend you read the book Fighting Tomahawk. It’s the best resource available to teach you how to chop somebody with optimal efficiency.
Best practices
One of the big problems with commercial firearms training is that inexperienced trainers want to start creating “art” before they learn “best practices.” You must know and understand the rules before you can decide which are worth breaking.
“The playwright better have read Bellow and Beckett. The conceptual artist should be familiar with Duchamp. The photographer and designer needs to know Debbie Millman, Robert Mapplethorpe and Jill Greenberg…
Ignore it if you want to, but learn it first.”
The American Indian foundation of American gun culture
A very interesting long form article describing how environmental conditions (namely Indian attacks and the greater need to hunt) drove a change in perspective about guns between Americans and our English ancestors.
Shot Timers Don’t Lie
You need a shot timer if you want to make significant improvement as a shooter, but be careful not to develop any training scars.
“The point of all this is that today we are seeing way too many defensive and tactical shooters developing terrible real-world habits, all for the sake of being able to hold a shot timer up to a camera and post it to social media. How many videos have you seen where the shooter has disconnected from the sights and is trying to read the time while the slide is still moving back into battery? 1-reload-1 drills where the re-established grip on the gun is so bad and weak the shooter would not be able to deliver multiple shots on target accurately post reload if the situation required it? But they had to make the gun go bang to make the timer read.”
Lethal Lace: A Hands-On Review
For any of my female readers who might be considering this rig. Please don’t.
The Serial-Killer Detector
Read this article. Did you have any idea that there are more than 2,000 serial killers operating in the United States right now?
Some of the above links (from Amazon.com) are affiliate links. If you purchase these items, I get a small percentage of the sale at no extra cost to you.
