Knowledge to make your life better. If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.
Folding Knife Selection, Carry & Access
A very comprehensive article from Chris Fry about choosing and carrying a folding knife for self protection.
Learning From History
I did the lecture only version of this class at last year’s Tactical Conference. It’s truly fascinating information that no one else is presenting. If Karl offers this course in your area, go to it.
DA Revolver Function Check
Speaking of history, do you know how to function check a double action revolver?
UFC BEST KNOCKOUT COMPILATION 2018
Some good shots here.
9 Cases That Prove Why We Need AR-15-Style Carbines and Pistols
You’ve undoubtedly heard the anti-gun statement that “no one NEEDS an AR-15.” I would argue that these folks needed their AR-15 rifles quite definitively.
Skills, Drills & Standards
Dave Spaulding talks about some realistic standards to strive for in your firearms training sessions. You should also check out the “Par 4” and “Par 5” drills from Justin Dyal.
I Found a Machine Gun: What Should I Do?
This happens more often than you might expect. Here’s what to do when you find the machinegun grandpa brought home from the war.
The Concealed Handgun Manual: How to Choose, Carry, and Shoot a Gun in Self Defense
What I’m reading…
I’ve read the previous editions of this book and found them valuable. I’m looking forward to reading more of this new edition. It’s 592 pages of the best gun information out there. For you e-book users, the Kindle version will be released on January 31, but you can pre-order it here.
AR-15 Pistol Ballistic Testing
AR “pistols” packing many of the “arm brace” stocks are rapidly supplanting SBRs in the defensive realm. Here is some actual ballistic testing of the very short barrel (7.5″) .223 pistols.
With the 7.5″ barrel, the .223 loads were right around 2000 fps. Only one expanded at that velocity. The Hornady Tap (which is a poor choice in a rifle) performed better than the Hornady GMX (which is my current favorite load in the 55 grain weight).
The Speer Gold Dot performed the best overall. To see how these rounds compare out of a rifle, see my testing article HERE.
Reduced Acetazolamide Dosing in Countering Altitude Illness: A Comparison of 62.5 vs 125 mg (the RADICAL Trial)
My friends who play at high altitude may be able to reduce their Diamox dosages.
Shooting in Self Defense: What to Do When the Police Arrive
What to expect when the cops show up at the scene of your defensive shooting. A strategy not mentioned in the article is to send someone outside to intercept the arriving officers and tell them what’s going on so that you are not mistakenly shot.
Gun Ownership, Violence, Mental Health & Inherited Traits
A massive amount of information about the rates of gun ownership both between states and worldwide.
Shooting While Pregnant
Competitive shooter and author Julie Golob’s summary about the issues involved in shooting while pregnant.
Cheap guns work.
The author takes an unconventional stance on the issue, but I don’t know that he’s very far off. I decided to “torture test” the very first Hi Point pistol that was seized from a criminal at my police department. It was their “compact” version in 9mm. I shot 350 rounds out of that gun in 30 minutes with no lubrication or cleaning. The gun had a total of seven malfunctions. There are a lot of high dollar 1911s that aren’t as reliable as the “cheap” Hi Point.
If you enjoyed this post, you may also like the author’s article Why I chose the shotgun.
The Deadly Shootings That Black Lives Matter Ignores
Some sobering statistics about interracial violence…
“As for interracial violence generally, blacks disproportionately commit it. Between 2012 and 2015, there were 631,830 violent interracial victimizations, excluding homicide, between blacks and whites, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.
Blacks, who make up 13 percent of the US population, committed 85.5 percent of those victimizations, or 540,360 felonious assaults on whites, while whites, 61 percent of the population, committed 14.4 percent, or 91,470 felonious assaults on blacks.
Regarding threats to blacks from the police: A police officer is 18.5 times more likely to be killed by a black male than an unarmed black male is to be killed by a police officer.”
The fact that the BLM folks tend to focus on white cops killing black men and ignore the fact that most black murder victims are killed by other blacks causes lots of frustration in my white friends.
I think it’s partially a matter of perspective. Most of my white friends aren’t too worried about being killed by black gang members. They simply don’t live in gang neighborhoods and stay away from the “dangerous” parts of town. That keeps them relatively safe from gang violence.
A lot of my black friends do the same thing. They avoid the dangerous gang neighborhoods and are thus relatively insulated from the problems of black on black gang violence.
Those same black folks can’t avoid being pulled over by white cops quite so easily. Do you see why they are concerned? They see sensationalized images of their fellow “unarmed” citizens getting gunned down by cops and they worry that the same thing might happen to them. They don’t worry about the gang violence because they generally do the same thing that the white folks do: avoid gangs, don’t buy drugs, and stay out of gang neighborhoods.
A lot of these BLM protesters may legitimately believe they are at greater risk from the cops than they are from intra-racial violence. I’m a white cop. I’m not a fan of violent anti-police BLM protests. But I can put myself in other people’s shoes and look at things from a different perspective.
Police versus Prisons
If your statistics quota was not met by reading the previous link, don’t worry. I have more.
Read these short but informative articles. The authors’ conclusions?
“The United States is Underpoliced and Overprisoned.”
Parents, Teach Your Children To Defend
Have you considered that your child likely needs some self defense training?
How “Dispatch Priming” Can Drive Some Disastrous Shooting Decisions
This is a new area of research that has very important implications for all police officers. You should understand how “dispatch priming” can lead you to make incorrect decisions responding when to the scene. People lie. Callers exaggerate. Dispatchers screw up. Don’t assume any information you are receiving from dispatch is accurate.
Is Sunscreen the New Margarine?
Some medical myth busting that will be of interest to those of you who spend a lot of time outside.
Quality of Life
“In the 3 decades I have been carrying concealed I am still working hard to reduce my visual signature. So should you.”
The Readiness Is All.
“People conflate seeing “trained” people fail at a task and conclude that being “trained” is not an indicator of success. They are usually doing so after having watched someone who was “trained” as a part of their employment fail at a task. Someone who shows up to “training” because they are forced to by job requirements is something very different than someone who shows up to training on their own time and their own dime.”
Source and Use of Firearms Involved in Crimes: Survey of Prison Inmates, 2016
Most criminals don’t get their firearms from legal gun dealers or at gun shows.
6 Badass Lady Shooters: From Past to Present
Biographies of some notable female shooters.
The Only 4 Antibiotics You’ll Need when SHTF
A surprisingly decent article. In my “systems collapse” medical class I recommend two antibiotics on this list (Cipro and metronidazole) as primary antibiotics in the event of a total societal collapse. Those two will give you coverage of probably 80%+ of the bacterial infections you may get. Adding a couple more drugs gives you the rest of the spectrum.
Personally, I would substitute clindamycin for the clarithromycin mentioned in the article. Clindamycin is suitable for many dental infections as well as being one of the few oral antibiotics that are effective against MRSA.
If you are thinking about stockpiling antibiotics for any collapse scenario, you should probably also get a copy of The Sanford Guide to Antimicrobial Therapy to learn proper dosage recommendations and which antibiotic should be used for each infection type.
I am not a doctor and this is not medical advice. Do your research before consuming any type of drug, prescription or otherwise.
Old West lessons in gunslinging from Wyatt Earp
Analysis of this “interview” with Wyatt Earp has been going around the internet in various forms for the last decade. While I would truly love for theses statements to be proven authentic, they most likely are exaggerated if not downright fictional. The interview was conducted by Mr. Earp’s biographer (Stuart Lake). Stuart was a writer for many of the fictional “True Detective” type of magazines that were popular back in the day. A lot of historians believe that Mr. Lake was a better fiction writer than a chronicler of fact.
Dear gunstore lawyers: Shut. Up.
“If you have not so much as bothered to google statutes and case law relevant to self defense in your jurisdiction, then I insist that you do the entire planet a service and shut the ***CENSORED*** up. I don’t care if you run a gunstore, or have your own “training” outfit, or even if you talked to a cop one time and he told you to blahblahblahblah. If you haven’t done the homework, shut the ***CENSORED*** up.
You may not care if running your ignorant suck gets good people killed, but a lot of us do. Instead of spending your time annoying people at the gunstore or spreading ignorance on a forum, perhaps go look at the decisions your state’s Supreme Court has put out relevant to self defense claims and educate yourself. Maybe take a class from someone who actually has passed the bar and has some experience handling self defense cases.
Do something productive instead of making honest people scared of using a reasonable level of force to defend themselves. If you aren’t willing to educate yourself, then kindly shut the ***CENSORED*** up.”
Video Analysis – LEO getting sucker punched
Cecil provides expert commentary on the video of a police officer who was sucker punched during an arrest.
Women’s Self-defense Technique – Man Pinning Both Wrists in Mount Position
One more groundfighting link today. This is a simple maneuver that can by mastered fairly quickly. The “hug the tree” position is one I teach in my ground fighting classes. I call it the “rest position.” Your face is shielded from punches. It’s hard for your opponent to get an easy choke. It buys you time to catch your breath and come up with an alternate escape technique.
Holster Positioning – An Unpopular View
Useful guidelines for holster positioning.
STREET SMARTS: Countersurveillance Techniques
“If a criminal can reasonably predict where you will be tomorrow at this time, he can set up a huge surprise party—and it certainly won’t involve birthday cake!”
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. I spend a lot of time writing articles on this site. All my information is given free of charge. When you use my affiliate links, you support the writing you enjoy without subscription fees, annoying pop-up ads, or donation requests. Thank you for helping support my work.
