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The Cumulative Effects of Equipment
2009-10-01 00:55:00
From the recent discussion about hand loading carry ammo, there is something that I think is being missed: equipment choices are cumulative in the minds of the jury. Lets take an extreme hypothetical situation: 1. Subject exits his car and proceeds to cross the parking lot to enter a grocery store. 2. Subject is attacked by a known, ...
More About: Equipment

No pocket knives for UK Boy Scouts
2009-09-10 01:59:00
According to this article they are discouraging Boy Scouts from carrying pocket knives. Apparently the criminal “knife culture” of Britain trumps the “Scout Culture.” A Boy Scout without a pocket knife is just wrong. I started carrying a pocket knife (even to school) when I was about six or seven years old. Every Cub Scout I ...

Training Realism
2009-09-09 10:18:00
I just read this post The Calm in the Storm over at Low Tech Combat, and I have few criticisms. Full force training. Certainly if we need to perform a skill under stress we should have some practice in that skill under stress. Ideally we would be training in as close as we can to “actual ...
More About: Training

Stupid Gun Inventions: The Pistol Bayonet
2009-09-05 02:54:00
I know that this is kind of old news, but I am adding for completeness. I cannot fathom the purpose of this device. From the manufacturers website: A LaserLyte original, the Pistol Bayonet is ready for any situation – or just looking cool on your favorite gun. I can’t think of a situation where I need ...
More About: Inventions , Stupid

Baltimore County Tasers
2009-09-02 22:40:00
Baltimore County Police Chief Jim Johnson says that Tasers are too dangerous for private citizens. I think this is a terrible idea, not because Tasers are useful for private citizens, but because they are useful for the police. The reason they are useful for the police is because they are an effective low level of force. If ...
More About: Baltimore

Open carry guy is not the best poster boy after all.
2009-09-01 04:06:00
So after the debate regarding open carry at political protests, via Confederate Yankee I come to learn that the guy carrying the AR15 has made statements about hoping for the presidents death: When asked if he was advocating violence against the President, Broughton said he wouldn?t answer the question directly. ?I don?t care how God does it, ...
More About: Open , Poster

Flashlight Review
2009-09-01 00:21:00
Sebastian did a review of the Fenix LD10 that I wrote about in my last flashlights post and it sounds like his is pretty happy with it. I think that Fenix is going to start giving Surefire some problems in the near future.
More About: Review

Running away and related concepts
2009-08-31 11:15:00
After the comments in this post, I felt I should explain a few concepts again that some people seem to be confused about. Disengagement. This is a complicated way of saying “running away” (or used preemptively, “don’t be there.”) Obviously this perfectly sound advice and I am in complete agreement that this a very good idea ...
More About: Running , Concepts

Stupidity vs. Gun Rights
2009-08-27 09:07:00
Ironically this is not going to be commentary on crime, but rather on the gun rights movement. I found this little rant in a Seattle alternative weekly. All of the emphasis is mine. … It scared me to no end. It also pissed me off. If you all four hadn’t had guns, we would’ve had ...
More About: Rights , Stupidity , Gun rights

Size disparity, being armed, and gun control
2009-08-26 00:47:00
Marko has a well meaning but misinformed post in favor people carrying guns. The early UFC matches didn’t have weight classes and the big guys didn’t always win. Smaller trained fighters routinely prevail against larger untrained fighters. Regardless, professional criminals are armed criminals and gun control isn’t going to change that. I am all for ...
More About: Gun Control , Size , Control

Police testing non-crime guns
2009-08-21 22:27:00
Snowflakes points to a case where the police insist on testing a gun that the owner handed over after a traffic accident. I think it is a waste of time and resources for the police to run a ballistics test on any firearm that happens to come into their possession, especially from situations that are not crime scenes. From the article it seems to me that the police have a “policy” that is at odds with the law.
More About: Guns , Crime , Police , Testing

Retention Holsters
2009-08-20 23:04:00
From reading the comments about Handgun retention it seems like a lot of people believe that a “retention holster” (of whatever level) does something more than buy you a little time. A thumb snap is not a replacement for retention training.
More About: Retention

Threats and Political Protest
2009-08-20 00:06:00
From the associated press Threats , jeers saturate angry health care debate. Clearly the AP feels that the level of rhetoric (and attending protests armed) is “hate” and goes on to raise concerns about armed protests inciting violence. The AP certainly isn’t on the side of gun rights but they do shape peoples opinions.
More About: Political , Protest

Breaking Down Stereotypes
2009-08-18 20:11:00
From SnowFlakesInHell on open carry at political protests: …part of breaking down stereotypes and misconceptions about gun owners being deviant or abnormal is to act normal. Normal people do not walk around with AR-15s slung over their shoulders. I think that pretty much sums up my position on this issue.
More About: Stereotypes , Breaking

Open carry at political protests
2009-08-18 01:06:00
Open Carry at a protest where Obama is going to be. I am not sure how I feel about this one. It’s good that the police aren’t overreacting, but this has a lot of potential for going sideways in a hurry. A crackpot or a plant could create a lot of bad (worse) press.
More About: Political , Open , Protests

Fear mongering from the AP
2009-08-18 00:29:00
Headline: “Gun Dealer Sold Guns to Various Shooters” From the first sentence “An online weapons dealer who sold a gun or accessories…” (emphasis mine.) And from reading the whole article I find the sales consisted of: A holster, some magazines, a mag loader and finally a .22-caliber handgun. Nowhere does it mention that to “buy a gun online” one is still going to have to do an FFL Transfer. I am not surprised they are anti-gun. I am surprised they do such a bad job of feigning balanced reporting.
More About: Fear

Flashlights
2009-08-17 16:00:00
Rereading the results of the private citizen equipment poll I noticed that only about half of the respondents are carrying flashlights. I have written about flashlights before, but I think this boils down to people picking the wrong light for their application. High Output vs. Size Everyone wants more and more powerful lights. Unfortunately this usually comes with an increase in size of the light. I believe that the reason more people are not carrying flashlights is because the powerful flashlight they want is too big to fit into their lives, or that they don’t fully understand the role of the flashlight. The old Surefire 6P was revolutionary about 10 years ago, because of it’s high light output (approximately 80 lumens) in a relatively small package compared to the full size Mag lite. Xenon bulbs, a better reflector, and a better battery (SF123A) were a major breakthroughs at the time. Now LED technology has improved to the point where flashlights like the Fenix LD10...
More About: Flashlights

Just because you can use force doesn’t mean that you should.
2009-08-17 04:04:00
Two-Four is rightly upset about a police use of force incident. Just because you can use force doesn’t mean you should. I have written about the 21 foot rule before.
More About: Force

Reloads and Back Up Guns
2009-08-06 17:00:00
Some other results that surprised me from the Private Citizen Equipment Poll is the number of people that are carrying multiple handguns and multiple reloads. Redundancy vs. capability. We carry a primary firearm to engage deadly force threats at distance, this is a capability we wouldn’t have without a firearm. Adding a backup firearm doesn’t ...
More About: Guns , Back , Back-up

Less Lethal Weapons and Use of Force
2009-08-03 04:00:00
Via Scott at Spartan Cops, I came across a study on less lethal weapons and use of force titled ?Less Lethal Weapon Effectiveness, Use of Force , and Suspect & Officer Injuries: A Five-Year Analysis? by Charlie Mesloh, Mark Henych and Ross Wolf.
More About: Weapons

Pepper spray or handguns
2009-08-02 00:26:00
I found Conservative Scalawag had linked to my post about pepper spray, and I think his post exemplifies what people do not understand about pepper spray and use of force in general.
More About: Pepper , Spray , Pepper spray

Even more pepper spray
2009-07-24 02:12:00
So after this post about pepper spray and the commentary here it seems like a lot of people are still not getting my point. Using less lethal in deadly force scenarios. Nobody would choose to fight a knife wielding attacker with their fists if they had anything else available. Seeing as how fist fighting is ...
More About: Pepper , Spray , Pepper spray

Pepper Spray
2009-07-21 21:37:00
Looking at the Private Citizen Equipment Poll I was really surprised to see how few of the respondents carry pepper spray. I am guessing that people don’t really understand what a valuable defensive tool it can be. Low level of force. The real value of pepper spray is that you can apply it very ...
More About: Pepper , Spray , Pepper spray

The Private Citizen Equipment Poll
2009-07-18 00:59:00
This poll is focusing on the equipment that people carry in their role as private citizens. Clearly law enforcement or military will carry more (and different) equipment, so I am not really focusing on that. I am interested in seeing what the “everyday carry” is for most of our readers. If you are going to choose ...
More About: Equipment , Poll , Private , Citizen

Don?t use your Glock Fore Grip on your Glock.
2009-07-11 04:11:00
I posted about this a little while ago, and I just found this video on you tube: At 0:36 the foregrip comes loose, and 0:37 the guy shoots himself in the support hand.
More About: Grip , Fore

More about gun modifications
2009-06-25 03:15:00
Linoge seems to be quite upset on my opinions about gun modifications and accessories. A ranty bit of flamewar follows.
More About: Modifications

Firearm Modifications
2009-06-24 03:15:00
Over at Walls of the City there is a post up about customization and adding accessories to your firearms. Linoge and I clearly do not agree on this topic.
More About: Modifications

The Down-Range Video
2009-06-20 22:47:00
So there has been a lot of discussion about this Tactical Response video that shows an instructor standing between two targets during a live fire exercise. James Yeager responds to the criticisms of his detractors. Below I will examine the major points of his response and justification for having an instructor taking photos in front of the firing line.
More About: Video , Range

Junk Holsters Are Worthless
2009-06-19 18:31:00
A lot of the gun bloggers are arguing about cheap holsters, SayUncle has a recap so far, but here is my take on it.
More About: Junk

The Modified Farnam Drill
2009-06-16 23:33:00
Named for John Farnam, this is probably the best general purpose defensive shooting drill that I have seen. This is a good benchmark for measuring your shooting performance and progress. You will need some inert/dummy cartridges, at least two magazines, and a shot timer. The total round count for this drills is eight live rounds ...
More About: Drill