Knowledge to make your life better. If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.
Building Confidence in CCW Skills
Many novice shooters “practice” rather than “train.” Training implies having some goal and structure for your practice session. Here’s how to transition your practice or recreational shooting sessions into more valuable “training.”
Basic carbine drills to include in your next range training day.
If you have a new carbine, you should also check out this primer on AR-15 optics.
Your Two Minds
Mark Manson explains some incredibly valuable NLP exercises to rid yourself of negative thoughts. I’ve done all of these and can personally attest to their effectiveness. Give them a try.
Hard Truths and The Biggest Duty You Have
I first learned about Sir John Glub’s work on the Fate of Empires when reading John Mosby’s book Forging the Hero. Glub researched all of the world’s historic empires. ALL of those empires fell between 200 and 250 years after their founding. Yet somehow we think the American Empire is immune to a similar fate. Read the article and learn a few things. The collapse will happen. It’s up to you to decide how you want to prepare for it.
“All of this adds up a very simple fact: You can’t stop the tsunami that is coming; you’re not going to be able to “restore” anything. You can, however, shift your mindset to preparing for how to survive it, as opposed to failed attempts at preventing it. You can make it through the storm, come out the other side, and possibly start something even better.”
Stranger Danger and Personal Safety for Kids
Some excellent books, videos, and websites to help you teach your kids how to interact with strangers.
AL TARMIYAH FIREFIGHT!: Lessons Learned The Hard Way
Good reading here about a military firefight and details about how better training could have prevented a crippling injury.
September Rangemaster Newsletter
Check out Tom Givens’ always informative monthly newsletter. He has a couple of exceptional articles this month.
Eye Jab -1 , Douchebag -0
A first-person debrief of a confrontation that any of us could find ourselves in.
Missing Link: The Smith & Wesson Model 68
Fascinating history of a revolver few people have ever heard of.
Project Gecko Tells You How to Travel Smartly
Some fairly sensible travel safety tips.
If you are interested in international travel, check out this article on South American taxi scams. These are all very common. Use Uber or Lyft instead of relying on local taxis as a gringo.
Brain Drain: The Mere Presence of One’s Own Smartphone Reduces Available Cognitive Capacity
“We suggest that smartphones may also impair cognitive performance by affecting the allocation of attentional resources, even when consumers successfully resist the urge to multitask, mind-wander, or otherwise (consciously) attend to their phones—that is, when their phones are merely present. Despite the frequency with which individuals use their smartphones, we note that these devices are quite often present but not in use—and that the attractiveness of these high-priority stimuli should predict not just their ability to capture the orientation of attention, but also the cognitive costs associated with inhibiting this automatic attention response.”
MIRROR IMAGE SHOOTING
I agree with Mas here. Being able to do everything with your support side hand (including drawing, firing, reloading, and malfunction clearances) in a “mirror image” of your strong side weapon handling is a useful talent to obtain.
Besides “mirror image” shooting, you should probably also be practicing at longer ranges.
AR15 Trigger: Two Stage vs Single Stage, Geissele and AR-15 Milspec
Ever wonder what the difference is between single stage and two-stage AR-15 triggers? This video explains it all. Thanks to Practical Eschatology for digging up the link.
Does Alcohol Prevent Heart Disease?
Useful summary of some of the lesser-known reported studies with regards to alcohol intake and disease.
Another very interesting article recently published on this site is Vegetarians Don’t Live Longer.
You win 100% of the fights you don’t have
“…in any conflict, in any defensive incident, there is a greater-than-zero chance that you’ll lose.
I want you to stop and really think about that for a moment. You can lose. No matter how fast your draw, no matter how short your split times, no matter how Special your Roland, there is always the chance you won’t be fast enough or your aim not true enough to win. If you believe your mad gunfighting skills will save the day because you’re just that good, always remember that there’s always someone out there who is better than you are. Or more ruthless than you are. Or simply luckier than you are.”
Evaluating a low cost nylon holster
Karl attempts to educate viewers about the dangers of carrying junk holsters. Despite Karl’s work here and all my Don’t Dig the Rig articles, I still see a lot of these kinds of holsters. It’s sad. Spend a little money and buy a holster that will safely and securely carry your defensive weapon.
Dreamland
What I’m reading…
I’ve written a lot about the horrible trend of ever increasing heroin addiction rates and overdose deaths in the United States. This book describes exactly what has happened in the last decade to create such an issue. It perfectly describes how the flawed medical research, conspiratorial drug company salesmen, pill mills, and the changing influence of the Mexican heroin distribution methods led us to the epidemic problem we have today. If you are a cop or care about an opiate user, your really need to pick this one up.
Reprioritizing Essential Self Defense Training Based on John Correia’s Active Self Protection Violent Encounter Data
Lessons learned after watching video of 10,000 gunfights.
For another meta-analysis, check out Mark Luell’s Critical Skills and Goals for Personal Protection.
Police: Suspect arrested after assaulting man, stealing his gun
Yet another case where an openly-carried firearm fails to deter a criminal.
“When Jones threatened to punch the victim, the victim pointed out his gun, which was holstered on his hip. Jones then hit the victim, knocked him off his scooter, and stole the gun, according to police.”
Keep your weapons concealed. The criminals will not be as impressed with your gun as you expect them to be.
Half-Hearted Resistance Leads to Negative Outcome in Robbery
Throwing things at armed robbers seldom turns out to be a successful strategy.
Cops and Soldiers Don’t Know Jack About Guns
It’s sad, but true. A well practiced recreational shooter with a couple of shooting schools under his or her belt probably knows more about guns and tactics than the average soldier or cop.
Don’t believe me? Maybe this article will help explain the issues involved.
Search and Rescue X Code–What Does it Mean?
With the recent hurricane in Houston and more severe weather on the way, it may be useful for you to familiarize yourself with X-Codes and how they work. If you live in one of the areas damaged by the hurricanes, you should also brush up on how to avoid disaster scams.
A Caliber and Capacity Post
“Essentially I don’t think caliber or capacity matter unless you think it matters. We can find passionate, and convincing argument from both sides. I don’t think it’s possible to find a gun forum on the internet or a gun store counter that hasn’t been the site of a heated 9mm versus 45ACP debate. Everyone wants to believe they are carrying the magic bullet. However, it seems that whether the gun you choose has 5, 7, or 15 rounds of 22 LR or 45ACP on board isn’t as important as actually having the gun on you when you need it. Followed closely by the ability to put holes in your opponent’s vital areas specifically the upper chest, and/or the brain.”
Clueless Punta Gorda Police Chief fired for his role in training death of retired librarian
I was disappointed that the chief was found not guilty at his criminal trial, but I’m glad to see that he’s at least getting canned from his job for this tragedy. Police executives hire, train, and supervise the police officers who serve your community. Many do the bare minimum amount of work necessary to keep their jobs. Until the bosses start being held accountable for the lack of training they provide their officers, more “accidental” shootings like this will happen.
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.
