Knowledge to make your life better. If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.
Movement & Moving
Since Erick only got an “honorable mention” in last week’s dump, I’m leading this issue off with his contribution. I’ve changed my thoughts on movement in gunfighting pretty substantially over the years. Read this article to understand some of the issues involved with this type of training.
What We Can Learn From Mexico
Thank you to my friend Michael Bane for the kind words and the recommendation to read my travel safety book. In case you missed it, I wrote a piece about my thoughts on travel to Mexico on the blog earlier this week. If you are thinking of traveling south of the border, it might be a good idea to read it. You should also listen to Michael’s excellent advice in this podcast.
How to improve your situational awareness with natural threat detection mechanisms
A situational awareness primer. For more information, check out PREPARATION: THE BEST COMPLEMENT TO SITUATIONAL AWARENESS.
The Failure Points of Handgun Red Dots
Where you might have problems with your red dot. You might also like the handgun red dot footprint guide from the same site. For some red dot shooting drills, try Gun Skills: Red Dot Confirmations.
For some more information on handgun optics, I’d highly recommend this podcast interview with Rich Nance and Scott Jedlinski.
Standards?
My police officer friends should understand how they might someday be prosecuted. If the prosecutor knows you didn’t break the law, he/she might try to focus on muddying the waters by introducing policy violations and “police best practices.” The legal standard for police use of force is “objective reasonableness.” If your acts were reasonable, it shouldn’t matter in your criminal case if your actions violated department policies and “best practices.
Making the Case to Sling Up for Home Defense
Expert commentary on sling use. I have slings on almost all of my defensive long guns. As with many topics, I think the risks of using them can be mitigated with proper training.
Understanding the 3 Main Types of Abductions: A Guide for Private Investigators
Given the fact that a high profile kidnapping generates constant news coverage in the USA, lots of folks are interested in abductions. This article gives a very deep description of the three different types of kidnapping suspects as well as their motivations and tactics.
Your Firearms Instructor Has to be a Gunfight Survivor?
Is it better to take a class with an instructor who has been in a gunfight or one who has successfully avoided gunfights through use of his superior awareness and strategies?
CPRC Crunches Numbers On Trans Shooters
The problem with quantifying attacks by trans shooters is the same problem we have with classifying all active killer attacks. The denominator matters. Various interests alter statistical representations by changing which incidents they include in the data set.
The Danger of Higher Ready Positions
Some deeper thinking on ready positions. In any ready position, the ability to see the suspect’s hands is incredibly important. I am also opposed to any ready position that covers an innocent person. With that said, I think we’ve gotten a little too restrictive about how we train cops to NEVER point a gun at another human unless they have made the decision to shoot. Read my piece on Pointing Guns at People for an alternate perspective on the issue.
Eye Dominance / Shmominance
A different take on eye dominance from legendary shooter Brian Enos. If you are interested in the gun world and haven’t heard of the author, please order and read his book post haste.
Staying Safe in the World of Online Dating Apps
I’m not a fan of the dating apps, especially for men. I used dating apps for a long while, but dumped them all about nine months ago. My life is better for having done so. The apps are huge time sucks and filled with bots, fake profiles, and scammers. Most guys on the apps are putting out a lot of effort and not getting any results.
If your opinion of the swipe-based dating scene is better than mine, read the article above for some safety tips.
The Least Laid Generation In History: Gen Z Is Ghosting Sex… And The Implications Are Huge
Continuing the theme from the link above, modern dating and relationships have changed exponentially in the last two decades. As a single guy, the topic fascinates me.
This week I’m reading the book Sextinction: The Decline of Sex and the Future of Intimacy. I’m only about 25% finished, but it’s altering how I evaluate the current dating market.
Open Carry: There Are No More Excuses For It
I regularly get commentary from my readers accusing me of too harshly condemning open carry. It is impossible to condemn such lunacy enough. Here are a couple more articles about open carry that will hopefully convince you idiots to leave your rifles at home and cover up your pistols. From the article linked above:
“Rifle OC is fucking stupid. It’s not done to keep peace, it’s done to get attention and create confrontations. And those of us with actual training and experience, especially those of us who carry concealed pistols to defend ourselves, our families and innocent people around us, have to react when we see someone carrying a rifle ready to engage in public. For those of us with a sworn duty to protect the public, OC creates even more problems. This isn’t about police overreaction; after aaallll the mass shootings we’ve had in America, and after the horrors of the Paris attack, any police officer who ignores Random Guy Walking Down The Street With A Rifle is guilty of criminal negligence
So cut it out, open carriers. OC a pistol if you must (that’s not such a good idea either, but relatively speaking it’s the difference between gonorrhea and syphilis). But leave the rifles at home. Rifle OC doesn’t show us freedom-hating cops that the citizens are armed and capable of resisting tyranny; we already know that. We’re usually criticized for acting like everyone’s armed, not like nobody’s armed. You and your rifle don’t do anything except make yourselves look like self-centered assholes.”
If that isn’t enough for you, here is a collection of Mas Ayoob’s thoughts on the topic. Finally, read The Biggest Open Carry Mistake Is…
The Best Value Form 1 Guns
Some ideas I hadn’t considered.
Where Holster Loyalty Begins: What 5,397 Women Told Us About Carry Gear
Gun nerds may be shocked to know that 47% of the women polled did not know the manufacturer of their holster. I would hazard a guess if you asked cops which company made their duty holster, even fewer would know. While I think brand differentiation is important, the vast majority of gun owners simply don’t care about who makes their holster as long as it works.
Pepper Spray window of opportunity
Claude has some good info on pepper spray use. Having employed this technique in various “pig pile” struggles with criminals over the years, I can attest to its effectiveness.
The last dude I pepper sprayed before I retired was screaming at me with his mouth open as he attempted to kick out the windows of my patrol car. Easy target. Stream right down the throat. He stopped fighting instantly.
For you cops out there, some of your departments may not approve of this technique. Research the “hydraulic needle effect.” It’s when the force of the pepper spray tears the eye tissue. Most manufacturers suggest not spraying the eyes closer than two feet away. I would argue that a shot up the nose while grappling is much less dangerous than spraying the eyes at that range.
A Round Gun in a Square World
Caleb discusses the utility of carrying a revolver for self protection. For more revolver content, check out The Case For The Modern Defensive Revolver.
Rangemaster March Newsletter
Tom’s monthly contribution to our art. Opens to PDF.
The KA-BAR LDK – A Last Ditch Knife
An excellent review of the knife I designed. It’s easy to find on Amazon.
Preventing Butler and Orem, a Professional Sniper’s Perspective
Ron McCarthy (Sergeant, LAPD SWAT) once said “The snipers almost always get it right. It’s admin that screws things up”.
Articles like this vindicate me for being laughed out of the room by all my bosses when I suggested that our department have sniper over watch during the city’s largest outdoor holiday gathering.
Near and Far: The Complete Handgun Fight
Last call for this unique class we are teaching next weekend. Both Jeff and I thought this one would fill up, but it hasn’t. We currently only have eight students. That’s enough to do the class, but we were hoping for a turnout more like 15-20. If you want to sign up, please do so. You’ll get a ton of individual instruction from both of us over the weekend. It should be a really fun and incredibly useful class.
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