Knowledge to make your life better. If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.
Chilling details of California terror ring’s plot against Freedom 250 — as ‘mastermind’ is unmasked
I’ve been writing about terrorists combining gunfire with explosive attacks for more than a decade. Pay attention to how they planned this attack.
“Authorities allege the group planned to use drones carrying explosives to create chaos and funnel crowds into predetermined areas where shooters would target “high value targets” and fleeing attendees.”
While the explosives delivered by drones is a new event in the USA, the overall plan is not. “Set off a bomb and then shoot fleeing victims” has been a dominant terrorist strategy for nearly 30 years. We saw it a lot in middle eastern Al-Qaeda attacks. That was also the original plan of the Columbine shooters.
If you are in a public venue with lots of exits, work to identify the smaller and lesser used exit positions. The terrorists won’t have enough people to cover every exit and we’ll be concentrating their efforts on where most of the people will be moving.
You don’t want to be in those spots.
Carrying A Gun While Camping And Hiking: Practical Guide
Just in time for your summer outdoor activities.
Active Killer Thwarted by Armed Civilian at Las Vegas Towers
Some lessons learned about gun malfunctions in active killer events and how to deal with the police response should you choose to engage such an attacker. You should be thinking in advance about whether or not you should intervene in a case like this. Reading To Intervene — Or Not? might help you decide.
Supreme Court Unanimously Rules in Favor of Pot-Smoking Gun Owner
A unanimous ruling, but quite narrowly crafted.
“Despite delivering a forceful ruling against the government’s attempted prosecution of Hemani, the Court also went out of its way to make clear that it was not invalidating other prohibited persons laws.
“We do not address efforts to ban addicts or those presently intoxicated, from possessing a firearm,” Gorsuch wrote. “We do not address other prophylactic laws Congress might adopt after determining that users of a particular drug pose a special risk of misusing firearms. We do not address 18 U. S. C. §922(g)(1)’s provision disarming individuals convicted of felonies (often including drug-related ones). We do not even address whether the government could bring a prosecution under §922(g)(3) accompanied by individualized proof that the defendant’s use of marijuana (or any other drug) renders him a danger to himself or others. Or proof that a certain drug always renders its users dangerous because of its potency or for some other reason. None of those issues is before us and we do not pass on them either way.”
1911 Test Time—Safety Checks 101
If you carry a 1911, do you know how to check to verify your weapon’s safeties are functioning properly?
Does your USPSA classification matter?
I can’t argue with Caleb on this point:
“If you’re training to be good at the shooting sports, train for that. If you’re training to defend your life, once you reach USPSA B-class/IDPA Expert class, you have pretty much all the gun skills you could possibly need. Make sure you maintain your skills, but take some time to work on other weak spots. Combatives, verbal judo, physical fitness (seriously your physical fitness), driving skills, etc. If you can get all of those up to B-class, you would be an absolute MENACE to any threat.
But most importantly, and I cannot say this enough: do whatever makes you happy.”
How to Exercise Your Right to Self-Defense
Mike Boyle discusses some important factors to consider when you are contemplating armed self defense.
Pepper Spray Accuracy Could Save Your Life
I can’t tell you how many times I saw cops missing their targets with pepper spray over the years.
What To Do When No One Is Coming To Save You
“The more you self-actualize and come to terms with all your successes, failures, loves, losses, tears and smiles, the more your life will be enriched. If you take on this mindset, the more positive growth you undoubtedly will have. The more you point fingers and blame, the less secure your life will become. The more you accept what cards life decides to deal, the more secure your life will be. Again, no one is coming to save you, so you need to develop the mental fortitude to find solutions to whatever problems come your way. If this all still appears too intimidating a task to accept, then you have instead accepted that the safety of your life and those you love isn’t the top priority.”
What Pasadena’s ‘horseplay’ shooting can teach cops about gun safety
Lots of folks sent me this video and asked me to comment. I’m not going to write a whole article about these jackasses. Warren says most of the stuff I would have said in this piece. What I will add is that Warren is being generous. I don’t think this is a training/supervision issue. I think this is primarily a hiring issue.
No one wants to be a cop anymore. Police departments still need bodies. Officers who would have been instantly disqualified for service 10 years ago are now being hired because agencies have no other options. They have to hire jackasses because those of the people who take police tests these days. In three years, those jackasses who would have never been hired in my day are getting promotions. Pretty soon they will run the department and all of its training. Incidents like this will be minor in comparison to where I think the profession is heading in the next few years.
Is Lead Round Nose Any Good for Defense in a Snub? Sellier & Bellot .38 Special VS .32 Long Gel Test
You might be surprised to see how these “widow maker” bullets perform in gelatin tests. While neither of these loads would be my first choice for defensive use, I wouldn’t lose sleep if they were the only rounds available and I had to carry one for self protection. The hollow points in these calibers/barrel lengths rarely expand in real life. At least that .38 round yawed significantly and tumbled completely end over end. It left an impressive permanent wound cavity on the first shot into gel.
While we are on the topic of .32 caliber handguns, you might also like to read The .32 ACP – A Gentleman’s Caliber.
Firearms Training or Trends?
“It seems the firearms training industry is driven more by celebrity than it is by substance. “Old school” you say? How about referring to them as techniques that have been proven in conflict over many years, things that are known to work. They just may not look flashy.”
When the Pace Goes Up
“The next time you find yourself saying that you do something because it “works well for you”, stop and think about it. Does it really work well, or are you not pushing to see where it might fall down? If it works great on a big target at 3 yards, does it continue to work great as the target gets smaller or as the distance gets further? If it does continue to work great, is that still true when you want to go faster? If it really does hold up when the target gets smaller and you go faster, you probably have a workable technique.”
You might also like this article from Simon as well.
What Kind of Bleeding Requires a Tourniquet?
Now that everyone is carrying a tourniquet, we are seeing lots of people apply tourniquets to wounds that clearly don’t need them.
This is update training from the Journal of Special Operations Medicine. It’s a 27 page PDF tourniquet/don’t tourniquet photo scenarios and guidance.
It’s worth a quick review if you are interested in battlefield first aid.
Some Thoughts on Torture Tests [2026]
“Personally, I think the vast majority of torture tests are largely fugazi; a bunch of flash for views rather than anything useful. Which can be fine, so long as it’s not used as data. However, as I’ve discussed previously, people commonly conflate entertainment with education, and the source of said material rarely puts forth serious effort to stop this confusion.”
Comparing Revolver and Autopistol Reliability
It’s not a torture test like mentioned above, but it is valuable commentary about revolver reliability. On a similar topic, read Is the Revolver the Ultimate Survival Gun?
The Number One Man Is Wrong, Bob — Cohort
When I attended SWAT school more than 20 years ago, we were taught that the first man to enter the room always makes the right decision. It’s up to the #2 and #3 man to adjust to cover the area that the #1 man isn’t covering. I’m glad we are rethinking such nonsense.
Surviving the Stop-N-Rob – GUNS Magazine
Solid survival information.
Should You Keep a Rifle Ready for Neighborhood Defense?
A useful concept to consider. My primary home defense guns are handguns and shotguns. I still keep a loaded AR-15 in a quick access safe in my bedroom in the exceedingly rare event that I may need to leave my house to do some work.
What I’m reading…
If you enjoy this author’s work, his book Dead Fall is on sale today for 38% off.
Firearms Instructor | Experience Defines Competence
“There’s another part people don’t like to say out loud. Not all training is useful. Some of it is outdated. Some of it is recycled. Some of it is built more around branding than substance. And some of it is just crap. At the entry level, you don’t know the difference.”
Do You See the Threats?
“You can prevent potentially threatening behavior from developing into active threat behavior by initially identifying specific threat indicators. These observable actions are readily available pre-attack indicators that communicate to you that an undesired event may be developing around you. Some examples of threat indicators include body posture, eye contact, and an intercept course.”
“When I was young, I set aside a Beretta .380 with a tip-up barrel for when I got too old to run the slide on a semiautomatic pistol. Ain’t there yet, thank God, but it got me thinking.”
Why Are You Training? Why Not?
A few weeks ago I posted the results from Presscheck Consulting’s recent training survey. If you missed it, here are the details and Erick’s commentary.
Quote to Ponder:
Shun the non-believers.
Do your work, your best work, the work that matters to you. For some people, you can say, “hey, it’s not for you.” That’s okay. If you try to delight the undelightable, you’ve made yourself miserable for no reason.
It’s sort of silly to make yourself miserable, but at least you ought to reserve it for times when you have a good reason.”
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