Knowledge to make your life better. If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.
Situational Awareness: A Critical Life Skill You Didn’t Know You Needed
If you are part of the TL;DR crowd, this won’t be for you. If you appreciate long form articles that contain a lot of information, click on the link above.
Always Carry Pepper Spray
There are a lot of places I visit where I would prefer being denied firearm carry than being denied the ability to carry my POM pepper spray. On the same topic, you may also like Uncle Zo’s take in the article Pepper Spray: Between a Harsh Word and a Firearm.
Are You Ready For A Gun Fight?
Into which category would you fall? Do you have plans to move up a step in 2025? Don’t be a “shooter who doesn’t shoot.”
2025 SHOT Show Roundup
A revolver lover’s guide to this years new SHOT show introductions.
Effectiveness of the Combat Application Tourniquet for Arterial Occlusion in Young Children
I had this question come up in the medical class I taught last weekend. The CAT tourniquet is 100% effective (on both arms and legs) in children aged two to seven in real-life surgical applications.
Do not carry a cheap elastic tourniquet because you erroneously believe it’s more effective for small-limbed children (or pets).
There are now several studies showing that the CAT and the SOFT-T tourniquets work reliably on pediatric patients. See my tourniquet research article for more details.
Carry or Not?
Just carry your damn gun. And doubly so for you off-duty cops who read this page. Surprisingly, despite the rise in active killer events and terrorist attacks, I see fewer police officers carrying their guns off duty than in years past. Continuing on the same topic Are You Packin’? provides some nationwide CCW data.
.32 ACP VS .32 Long VS .380 ACP – Magtech JHP Ammunition
A good comparison of these “mouse gun” cartridges. For more ballistic gelatin testing you may also like to read 5.56 vs. Drywall: Is Your Home Defense Gun Dangerous?
Mediations on Combat Mindset, part 2
“Part of your combat mindset training has got to be dedicated to eliminating — or at least reducing as much as possible — this disbelief, this shock.
And, if you’re smart, taking maximum advantage of it in your attacker.
The best way to do this — and the only effective way that I, personally, know of — is to prove to yourself that you can fight after getting hit.
You have to know, not only in your head, but you have to know in your blood and you have to know in your bones and you have to know in your guts, that if you get hit, you can fight through it.”
The Lazy Man’s Guide to Cleaning Revolvers
The first time I’ve ever seen “chore boy” used for something other than smoking crack.
Handguns: A Too-Cool Tool?
Have you ever considered that your carry gun might be too “retro?” One of the other problems with unusual or older handguns is that it might be far more difficult to collect a Holster Wardrobe.
Safely Remove A Firearm From Someone Else: Tips To Prevent Injury
If you are a police officer, paramedic, doctor, or firearms instructor, you must know how to take a gun from another person without shooting them or yourself while doing so. Here is some solid advice. I’ve also found that removing the person’s belt will also make it easier to take off some inside the waistband holsters. I provide some additional information on this topic during my appearance on the That Weems Guy podcast a couple weeks ago.
When Corruption Is a Job Perk
A lot of the cops I know truly believe in the “broken windows” theory of policing.
The gist of the “broken windows” idea is that when cops ignore minor criminal infractions and “quality of life” issues, the environment becomes more disordered. The theory posits that disordered environments foster more crime.
Proponents of the theory think that when criminals see minor infractions going unpunished, it encourages those criminals to escalate to more serious or more violent crimes in the future.
Some cops utilize the theory to mentally justify a heavy-handed “crackdown” against petty criminal activity. Some of them really think that if we start locking people in cages for infractions like jaywalking, loitering, littering, minor vandalism, and relatively inconsequential “victimless” crimes, neighborhood safety will improve.
Interestingly enough, a lot of cops supporting the “broken windows” theory don’t see any problem with giving their family members a “courtesy card” that might get them out of a speeding ticket. It’s a “minor” ethical violation to use one’s government position to give friends and family members special treatment in terms of a “get out of jail free” card.
Under the “broken windows” theory, arresting or citing people for minor criminal infractions reduces major crimes in the future. How does that same idea track in terms of ethical violations?
If we think that minor criminal infractions should be rigorously prosecuted in order to prevent more serious crime in the future, how should we deal with minor ethical violations (like giving the courtesy card)?
If “broken windows” supporters were intellectually consistent, they would think that cracking down on minor ethical violations would prevent major ethical violations from happening in the future.
I don’t see many cops refusing to hand out their yearly allotted numbers of “courtesy cards” to friends and family.
Clearly they don’t think that minor ethical transgressions will lead to bigger ethical problems down the line. Yet the same people think that they are reducing robbery rates by vigorously enforcing jaywalking laws.
Cognitive dissonance anyone?
Handgun Training for Worst Case Scenario
These two shooting drills seem deceptively easy. Try them at your next range session. I would bet that fewer than 1% of gun owners can pass them both.
Guide to 1st-3rd Gen S&W Semi-Autos
I have to admit having a real affinity for S&W autopistols. The 4506 was the first gun I carried on duty. The 3913 was the very first auto pistol I ever purchased (for off duty carry). The guns are great, but the model numbers used to describe them are incredibly complex. Here’s an easy explanation for you.
Concealed Carry Corner: Pros and Cons of a Backup Gun
Although I never worked a single shift as a cop without carrying a backup gun, it would be an exceptionally rare situation for me to feel I needed to carry two guns in my retirement. Your mileage may vary.
Building Rapport with Your Larger Community
In any long term social or economic collapse, it isn’t the people who “head for the hills” by bugging out alone who are the survivors. The survivors are those who are part of an established community that supports its members. Read this article and the earlier piece he linked to. It’s good information. I’m a hermit and admit that I don’t do this well. Pay attention to the author’s tactics.
Identify before you shoot
The Tactical Professor puts the proverbial “bump in the night” into proper perspective.
“Looking at it this way makes a very strong case for why we have to positively identify before we shoot. It is 32 times more likely that the sound or shadow is a member of the household than it is an intruder. Las Vegas would really like those odds. If we’re going to be the slightest bit responsible, we have to look at ALL the possibilities, not just the ones that scare us the most. Shooting through the door without doing any kind of identification is just plain wrong.”
Claude has been writing about avoiding “negative outcomes” with regards to firearms use for more than a decade. Maybe you should pay attention.
Victorinox Swiss Army Rescue Tool Pocket Knife with Pouch
I recommend this blade to foreign travelers visiting areas where weapons are restricted. This isn’t a weapon. It’s a rescue tool. And it’s a Swiss Army knife.
But take note of the blade. Unlike other SAK offerings, this one has a thumb hole for quick deployment and a liner lock to keep it from closing on your hand.
See the “window breaker” on the end? That makes an excellent fist load impact weapon even without opening the blade.
May not be kosher in the UK because of blade length and lock, but in any other country customs officials and cops will ignore this one (unless you try to smuggle it onto an airplane or past a metal detector).
Home Defense Guns-What Experts Choose
I really appreciated the information Mickey shared in this video. Then I looked at the comments (especially the early ones). How can people be so willfully ignorant in a perpetual manner when they have access to all of the world’s collective wisdom in a device they carry around in their pocket all day?
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