Knowledge to make your life better. If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.
Do you carry religiously? You may not be as safe as you believe.
Grant brings up a very good point here and I tend to agree with him. I travel out of the country about six weeks a year. I can’t carry a gun, but that doesn’t mean I’m unarmed. If you refuse to go anywhere in the world where you can’t pack your heater, you are missing out on a lot that this life has to offer.
Here’s another good article on the same topic. You’ll also want to read about John Daub’s experience trying the exercise Grant suggested.
Massad Ayoob: Deadly Force From A Position of Disadvantage
Massad Ayoob consistently provides the best advice for citizens interested in defending themselves. You should read every one of his articles that you can find. Then read his book Deadly Force.
How to Eat Street Food Without Getting Sick
I make it a point to eat street food as often as possible whenever I travel in third world countries. Contrary to popular belief, the food is fresher and prepared in a more sanitary manner than the food you will find in the tourist restaurants. Read this article for some tips and then go get some street meat!
What I Wish I’d Told Them
Good advice for all my police officer readers.
The Real Reason You Train
“What many today refuse to admit or understand is that you cannot have goodness without strength. They ignore the notion of evil. They’re blind to the reality that it can’t be reasoned with nor killed with kindness, it must simply be killed.
And this is why we train.”
Gum Wrapper Fire Starter
A neat trick to remember. I’ve also done this with a 9-volt battery and some steel wool.
3 steps to save a TON of time and money becoming a better shooter
Strategies for becoming better for less money and in less time.
Creative Home Security Ideas … Defeating the Criminal and the Potentially Dangerous
Some very innovative home security ideas that I’ve never seen before. I like the passive IR water sprinklers.
Lessons from an accidental discharge
Scary stuff from KR Training. Be careful who you let work on your defensive guns and be cautious about what modifications you make.
What Really Happens When You Get Shot
Read this educational article to learn more about wound ballistics in the human body.
M855A1 EPR: The Armor Piercing Round That Wasn’t
And for some information on external (as opposed to wound) ballistics, here is a nice article on what the various military ball 5.56mm rounds will and will not penetrate with regards to body armor. You may also want to check out THIS ARTICLE about how windshields deflect pistol bullets.
PT for the Whole Tribe
The Mountain Guerrilla pontificates on the topic of physical fitness. Pay attention to his advice:
“Previously, we mentioned the importance of establishing a tradition and culture of fitness in your tribe. This is important, in the context above, of building frith through competitiveness, but it goes deeper than that. If you have a tribal culture that values strength and fitness, and demonstrates that value through reward, you will find that the people within your tribe struggle to be stronger and fitter.
More importantly though, once the people within your tribe start seeing results from their PT, they will start to recognize a “mutual exclusivity” within the group, separate from the rest of the world who is not striving to be stronger and fitter. This “mutual exclusivity,” or “Us v. Them” strengthens the bond of the tribe, far more effectively than a bunch of cute little velcro-backed patches will ever do.”
The Return of the 9mm (or Why I Hate 40 caliber)
I’m firmly convinced that the 9mm caliber is the best defensive choice for 95% of the population…myself included.
Consistency vs Volume
Watch the short video. Cecil is absolutely right. The five minutes’ work you do today is more important than the five days’ you worked the skills a year ago. For some more thoughts on the topic, check out Larry Lindenman’s excellent piece titled “Practice in the Dead Spaces.”
These Parents Lost a Son in the Aurora Shooting. They Want the Media to Change. Now.
This is a campaign worthy of your support.
“My gun kept you safe” – no it didn’t
Very good point here…
“Your gun didn’t keep you safe. It didn’t keep the other guy safe either.
“Our side” likes to parrot how “guns don’t kill people, people kill people”. That guns are inanimate objects and they (alone, in and of themselves) can’t kill.
Well then, by the same token, guns can’t keep people safe. It’s the same inanimate object.
But then by the same token, what keeps people safe are people willing to keep people safe, be that keeping yourself safe, or keeping others safe.”
How To Choose, Buy, And Shoot A Shotgun
Useful basics for those of you new to the world of shotguns.
Rifles vs Tanks
I don’t know how useful this is in the modern day, but it was interesting to me from a historic perspective. How do you stop a tank with a rifle? It’s not by shooting it. The military actually did some formal studies to see if shoving rifle barrels into the tank’s track would create a malfunction. It didn’t work very well. If you want to learn some methods that will stop a tank, I would recommend checking out David’s Toolkit.
Concealed Carrier Turns the Tables on Armed Robbers
John does a great job debriefing a CCW shooting at a barbershop. Timing is of crucial importance in moments like these.
Imodium’s Survival Applications
Imodium (or generic Loperamide) is an essential drug to stockpile for survival purposes. In addition to the reasons mentioned in the article, in any survival situation the chance of consuming bad food and water increases. You don’t want to be disabled from the resulting diarrhea.
One caution…
There are a couple of cases where you SHOULD NOT use Imodium to control your diarrhea. If you have bloody diarrhea or diarrhea with fever, it’s best to let it run its course. You can make your illness worse by “stopping things up” under these conditions.
One more interesting point….
Besides controlling diarrhea, Modicum can help people suffering withdrawal symptoms from opiate drugs. A lot of people in this country are hooked on narcotic pain meds. The withdrawal symptoms from not taking those meds in a survival situation would be horrible. Although Imodium doesn’t cross the blood brain barrier (and get you high), it does have a weak effect at the opiate receptors and might reduce some of the physical symptoms of opiate withdrawal. This article explains some of the details.
Rangemaster February Newsletter
Check out the always-excellent Rangemaster monthly newsletter. Tom has some excellent articles in this month’s edition. Pay special attention to the debriefs of the two armed citizen defensive situations.
If you would like to read more articles like this one, please sign up for my email updates.
* Some of the above links (from Amazon.com) are affiliate links. If you purchase these items, I get a small percentage of the selling price.
