Here are a few links to articles and videos I found interesting this week. Some are intellectual. Some are informative. Some are just fun. If you have some free time, check them out this weekend.
Flying With Guns
The Beretta Blog gives some good guidelines for traveling with your guns.
When Citizens Fight Back
Tom Givens is a phenomenal instructor and the owner of Rangemaster, a shooting school in Memphis. His students have likely been involved in more lethal force incidents than the students of any other training school. Tom has debriefed all of them. In this article, Tom gives some statistics about the circumstances surrounding the attacks on 64 of his students and how we should be focusing our firearms training for what happens in real life.
Lone Wolf Magazine Disassembly Tool with Punch
This looks like a useful tool if you find removing Glock mag base plates to be as big of a pain in the ass as I do.
Local Egyptian guns (12g revolving shotguns made from bits of air rifles and more)
The average citizen in Egypt can’t legally buy a gun. But the high crime rate and civil unrest make it useful to have one. An entire black market has grown up around unemployed metal workers using their skills to create home made pistols and shotguns to sell to Egyptian families. Yet one more reason gun control won’t work. Guns are illegal to buy in Egypt, but not even the Egyptian secret police can stop a dude in a machine shop from making these marvels of engineering.
Tactical Use of Terrain
Max Velocity Tactical is reprinting some of their more popular website articles. This one is a great look at how to tactically evaluate terrain features. His Rifle Basics article is exceptionally useful as well. If you like this type of information, you will enjoy the author’s book Contact.
How Not to Shoot Off-Duty Officers: The Other Side of the Coin
Excellent advice from George. It applies to off duty cops as well as CCW carriers. Your appearance and mannerisms are just as important as your actions when you take that gun out of the holster.
Think about the differences in assumptions you would make if you saw me (a muscular, buzz cut, 40 something) wearing a T-shirt and jeans holding a Glock 19 at low ready on the scene of a shooting.
What if it was a 20-something dressed in all black, carrying a Hi Point “gangsta” style?
Who would you be more likely to shoot?
The 20-something may have just legally killed an active shooter, but because of his appearance, he is thought to BE the active shooter. Sometimes I think this is an area that CCW permit holders and off duty cops don’t think enough about.
Abscess, “Answers”
For my friends interested in emergency medicine…everything you would ever want to know about treating skin abscesses. The same group’s work on eye injuries is useful as well.
Modifying an FJ Cruiser for Overlanding: Security Upgrades and Common Sense Vehicle Security Tips
A lot of great information about vehicle upgrades and security.
Basic Breaching for the common man Part 1 (Doors)
Want to learn how to mechanically breach a door? Here is all you need to know. Part Two covers ballistic breaching and breaching windows. Although shotgun slugs can be used for breaching, they pose a great danger to both people inside and the breacher himself. I wouldn’t breach with a slug-loaded shotgun. Part Three deals with fences, padlocks, and ways to pick or shim locks on doors.
Yes, Dietary Fat is Associated with Better Health
Yet another study showing that eating more fat is better than eating less fat.
“…risk for the endpoints, stroke, heart attack, or death (which is certainly a meaningful end point), were found to be 30% reduced in those individuals eating the most fat, in comparison to the low-fat group.”
Stress Inoculation
Claude makes a very important point:
“Overall, it looks like I’ve stepped up to the plate over 6000 times to stand and deliver while people are watching and, in many cases, waiting for me to screw up.
The value of that much experience at problem solving and having to perform to a standard is incalculable to me. I wouldn’t trade it for anything and I feel sorry for those who deprive themselves of that opportunity. It’s a very valuable form of stress inoculation, readily available to anyone who wants it. But you have to be willing to fall on your face for awhile because I certainly did.”
When I teach, I demonstrate every single drill. It’s mostly because I want the visual learners to “see” how it’s done. I hadn’t thought about what I might be learning as well. After 13 years of full time instruction, I don’t get the slightest bit of nervousness shooting demos anymore. I think some of the “coolness under pressure” translates to other arenas as well.
LOOK BEFORE YOU HOLSTER!
I agree with Gabe here. Take your time and look your gun into the holster. Speed reholstering isn’t a skill I teach or advocate.
Optimal melatonin dose: 0.3 mg
I’ve found melatonin to work wonders to help when I’m flying through multiple time zones or switching from day shift to night shift. I’ve tried doses up to 20mg and found that less works better for me. Give the .3 mg pill a try and see if it doesn’t work better for you as well.
Lyme Disease: Tick Bites, Rash, Determining Your Risk
Very good article about Lyme disease. It covers prevention options, symptoms and treatments. Note that most Lyme disease is spread from the deer tick, not the more common (at least in Ohio) dog tick. The author’s book The Survival Doctor’s Guide to Wounds is a good reference to have as well.
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