Knowledge to make your life better. If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.
Mass Attacks in Public Spaces: 2016-2020
A new Secret Service study analyzing 173 public mass attacks. It’s free and contains valuable information. Download it.
Snubbies-The Four Formats
Massad Ayoob provides a lot of great info about snubby revolvers. I don’t, however, like his holster recommendation of using the SERPA as a holster.
February Rangemaster Newsletter
This newsletter is always full of good stuff from Tom.
The Bullet Garden: An Earl Swagger Novel
What I’m reading…
A new Swagger novel from one of my favorite fiction authors.
The 2020s: The Car Crash Decade
Some more unintended consequences of the “de-policing” movement.
Why the Diagnostic Pistol Target is a Waste of Time
“Well, I know it’s not the answer a lot of people want to hear, but the absolute best way to improve is to get help from a qualified shooting instructor who can actually watch you shoot and give you feedback. Looking at the target doesn’t always tell us what we need to know, but a good shooting coach can watch the shooter — usually just their hands — and determine a lot about what they need to work on. I know it’s not as easy as printing out a target, but there’s really no substitute for a good shooting instructor.”
Guns & Mental Health
Guns and mental illness.
The Difference Between Open-Minded and Closed-Minded People
“If you recognize some closed-minded behavior patterns in yourself, you’re not alone. We’re all somewhere along the continuum between open- and closed-minded. Further complicating things, it varies by day and task.
Being open-minded requires a lot of work and it doesn’t happen by accident.”
Cop Talk The “Hand on Gun” Ready Position
“If you have an immediate identified threat, you want the gun up and out to start, but for less critical situations, a quarter to a half a second isn’t much of a price to pay for the advantages of “hand on the holstered pistol.”
The Trouble with Trench Guns
Ever wonder why you don’t see pictures of soldiers using “trench guns” in the trench warfare of WWI? This is a fascinating bit of history about how the Germans protested that using shotguns in war was “undisciplined and barbaric.” To avoid inflaming international sensibilities, the US military voluntarily censored all photos of troops carrying shotguns.
If you’ve been in Tom Givens’ shotgun class, you’ve heard about this. If you haven’t, read the article.
Physical Altercation With Three Judges Results In Jail Time
I remember reading about this one. I know exactly where that white castle is. Next ASP lesson: “Playing ‘Captain-Save-A-Ho’ is always a bad idea, even if she’s a judge.”
Age and Bodyfat
“These are the facts. Therefore, if health and physical capacity are your primary concerns, abs are not a leading indicator – in fact, they may be a lagging indicator, depending on how they got there. Younger people who train very hard and watch their diets carefully will usually show visible abdominal musculature. But many athletes performing at a high level do not; low bodyfat levels are not an advantage in every sport, and some sports are so strenuous that the diet necessary to show visible abs does not allow for recovery from the work.”
Threat Response Fundamental Number 3: Cover
Talking about properly using cover in a gun fight.
CCW in Public Restrooms: When You Gotta Go…
A topic new concealed carriers should contemplate before they have to use a public restroom while packing a gun.
A Conversation with Master Bladesman, James Keating
James Keating is a very unique voice in the world of knife training. If you don’t know who he is, you owe it to yourself to do some research.
Guns of the Gangsters
The favorite guns owned by all the famous gangsters from the US prohibition era.
Street Medicine: Which First Aid Skills Should You Know?
I agree with the author. If you don’t have at least this level of training, you should probably fix that as soon as possible.
The Glock Performance Trigger: An Initial Comparison and Review
Details on the new upgraded factory trigger developed by Glock.
Homemade Tannerite Clone from Cold Packs
Did you know that you can make an explosive target out of the ingredients from an instant cold pack mixed with aluminum powder. That might be a useful bit of knowledge to have someday. Don’t do this in Ohio. The finished product is illegal there.
VIDEO: Off-Duty Miami-Dade Cop Assists Fellow Officer By Fatally Shooting Gunman In Publix Parking Lot
Read this news report and think about how you might handle this incident as either a CCW carrier or an off-duty cop. I don’t know that I would jump in on this one. I do find it interesting that the off-duty Miami cop with 30 years of experience was far more decisive than the on-duty cop already on scene. Guys like this who have the skills to drop a bad guy are being rapidly replaced by newer officers who are afraid to shoot someone. That won’t be good for our society in the long run.
Basic Civilization
Thanks to Tamara Keel for posting this one.
This is how it is supposed to work, folks. The reality is that it doesn’t work like this now and circumstances are likely to get WAY worse before they get better.
“There’s a certain amount of victim-blaming going around over the Tyre Nichols killing, and it’s pernicious. In a police stop, one party has essentially pledged to be the adult, and it’s the sworn officer. We should be able to reasonably expect that police will exercise mature judgement; once they have detained an individual, the officer is responsible for their welfare. Nobody’s got a beat-down coming from the police: punishment is the purview of the courts. Even if the detainee freaks out and runs away, despite the degree of restraint and judgement this calls for on the part of the police.
Too high a bar? Tough. That’s the job, along with a belt-load of equipment, a radio to call for backup, the support of their fellow officers and qualified immunity — in fact, because of all those things, because they walk among us with the backing of government, carrying all levels of force up to lethal with a remarkable degree of assurance it can be wielded with impunity, we expect police to behave with restraint. When they do not, it is entirely proper that justice is swift and fair.”
The 9-In-9 Skill Drill
I really like this Dave Spaulding drill for intermediate level or better shooters. Want some rifle practice? Try the Maine Urban Rifle Qualification Course.
Officer Down: To the Sound of Guns
My police readers should really take a look at this article.
It is a de-brief of one of the more spectacular police gunfights that I’ve ever seen. Don’t expect the bad guy to stop after one shot. The murderer here killed his mother and then opened fire on his neighborhood with an SKS rifle. He hit four responding cops who were all taken out of the fight immediately (none had rifles). The cop that ended the fight was hit once in the scalp and once in the thigh before he put two .223 rounds into the murderer’s chest.
The bad guy went down and the cop approached to handcuff him. The cop didn’t recognize his AR-15 was empty. When he got to the murderer, the murderer drew a .357 magnum revolver and attempted to fire. The cop tried to shoot, but didn’t have any more ammo. He butt stroked the murderer with his AR-15 three times in the face, breaking his jaw and eye socket, without effect. The butt strokes didn’t take the bad guy out of the fight but did allow the officer time to draw his pistol. The officer shot the murderer three times in the chest and twice in the head. That finally stopped the fight.
Learn from this incident. Identify the skills this officer needed to win the fight..firing from prone, light discipline, moving under fire, shooting on the move, use of cover, using the rifle as an impact weapon, and transitioning to his pistol. Do you practice these skills? Do you think you should?
More Than Just A Gun Bucket: How to Choose A Good Holster
Chris Cypert offers some useful holster selection advice.
Seriousness of Empty-Hand Attacks
A retired ER doc talks about the damage one can sustain from empty hand attacks.
Another Option for Carrying Medical
An alternate to the popular ankle carry medical kits.
Garden Club Ladies
I definitely learned a few things from this article. In it, Kathy Jackson describes the personality traits, struggles, and motivations of an under-served segment of the gun-owning population.
Recoil Control with Bill Blowers
Some valuable thoughts on rifle recoil control from Bill Blowers. Don’t play this if adult language offends you.
John Murphy and The Skill Acquisition Paradigm
Everyone who is interested in training should listen to this podcast.
Don’t Invite Criminals to Target You and Your guns
Putting gun stickers on your car is a really stupid move.
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.
