Knowledge to make your life better. If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.
Thoughts on Open Carry
Even though I’m generally not a big fan of open carry in an urban environment, I would say that this piece provides a balanced and nuanced approach to the topic.
“The real problem with open carry is that it is a problem at all. Carrying a handgun in the open is not like we’re advertising our assumed gender, our sexual preference, or our nationality or race. If that were the case, it would be generally accepted. Nope, mostly, open carry means you’re not agreeable to becoming a victim, and that you believe as God and Samuel Colt did, that all men – and women – should be equal. The problem of course is that a large portion of the population has a hard time accepting that. They’re fine with you displaying your differences but want you to keep your equality hidden.
It’s a damned shame and it’s not the guns. It’s the humans that are the problem.”
The author linked to one of my open carry articles. I look a little deeper at the practice in Friends Don’t Let Friends Open Carry.
The 3 Benefits and The Major Danger of a Holster Sweatguard
If you’ve decided that open carry isn’t for you, here is some concealed holster advice you may be able to use.
Is This Really The Ultimate Carry J-Frame?
Another perspective about what I consider one of the most innovative guns I’ve seen introduced in quite some time. I’m still putting mine through the paces, but I’ve been very pleased with both the .32 and the .38 versions purchased.
On the topic of snubby revolvers, you should be cautious if you carry one of the 9mm snubs on the market.
How to be as scary as hell in less than 5 seconds
Your facial expression tells a criminal attacker a lot of information about you. If he sees someone scared and timid, he’s more likely to attack. If he sees someone confident or a little crazy, he may move on to an easier target. This is an easy expression to duplicate and master in a crisis. Having done this on the street for years when dealing with criminals, I can tell you that it works well.
I modify it slightly. After relaxing all the muscles of the face, I then open my eyes slightly wider. It’s important to open only the lids so that no other facial muscles are affected. When the cheeks and the corners of the mouth move up with the eyes, it signals fear or astonishment. We don’t want that. Just open your eyes a little more and make them “sparkle.” The deadpan face combined with the “crazy eyes” gives you the perfect expression when dealing with potential criminal attackers.
For more research on this topic, read Emotions Revealed, Second Edition: Recognizing Faces and Feelings to Improve Communication and Emotional Life.
The author also has an interesting piece titled Safety Tips for Women Living in Cars: How To Make It Work.
Meditations on Duty
If you aren’t contemplating things in the same way this author is, you have failed to understand the changing state of self protection in the modern world.
The People Setting America on Fire
While we are on the topic of state sponsored violence, this article is a deep dive on who is organizing and participating in the recent campus “protests.”
You might also be interested in reading Engineered Unrest: The DIY Occupation Guide and the source document titled; THE DO-IT-YOURSELF OCCUPATION GUIDE 2024 EDITION (opens to 30-page PDF).
Classic Combat Pistol Drill: Cooper’s El Presidente
A classic shooting drill for you to try. If you shoot a rifle, try the MEU(SOC) M4A1 Rifle Qualification as well.
A Better Woobie: SnugPak Jungle Blanket
I share the author’s love for the Jungle Blanket. I’ve taken my “woobie” on several extreme adventures. I use it when I camp in the desert at Burning Man. Temperatures there regularly get down into the 40s at night. I’m usually quite comfortable sleeping with just the woobie. I did once overestimate the woobie’s power. I took it as my sleeping bag when hiking the Inca trail in Peru. It was NOT warm enough for 20 degree weather with 40mph winds at 14,000 feet of elevation. I froze my ass off on that trip.
Pick up a woobie. You’ll be glad you did.
Pedophile Surprised By Seattle Police Takes The Hallway Temperature Challenge
Nice job by the cops here, except for the crossfire issues. With that said, those are hard to mitigate in this environment. Most gun people don’t practice muzzle deflections and gun strips. Counterintuitively, going hands on is generally a better response than drawing your own gun when within arms reach. If you want to learn how to do what the cop did in this video, sign up for one of my extreme close quarters gunfighting classes.
Shooting With The Shakes
I was a fellow student in the class Mas describes here. Even with “the shakes,” he still beat me in the shooting competition.
Make Up Your Mind Monday: Spare Magazines for Carry
Do you carry a reload for your defensive firearm? If you are reading this from my site, I would assume that you would answer “yes.” Have you ever asked yourself the question “why?” If you are carrying one spare magazine, why aren’t you carrying two? Three? Six? There comes a time when carrying so many magazines becomes more cumbersome than any potential benefit we see in carrying them. Everyone does a personal risk assessment and tries to balance comfort with what we think we “might” need. That’s a different calculation for all of us. There is no perfect balance. Think of that before deriding someone for not carrying spare ammo.
Seek or Be a Rabbi
We need more “rabbis” in the firearms training world.
School “Unsecurity”: Why your school is NOT secure and how to make it TRULY secure.
What I’m reading…
I’m almost finished with this one. The author doesn’t get everything right in my opinion, but he has my attention with a lot of his unconventional ideas.
Fightin’ Iron: The Four Johns of Firearm Design
The history of four of the giants of firearm development.
Speaking of gun history, you might also like to read about the evolution of the Smith and Wesson Mountain Revolver as well as the historical shooting drills the FBI used in the first half of the last century.
Projectile Protectors – Part II: Ballistic Helmets
Learning about ballistic helmets. When I worked as a cop, I carried a ballistic helmet on the passenger seat of my police cruiser. I would put it on during high speed pursuits (early in my career when chasing bad guys was a requirement for being a cop) and when driving lights and sirens to serious calls. I was probably in more danger of getting a serious head injury in a car crash than getting hit in the head with a bullet. Something for my cop friends to consider.
Methadone Maintenance Ignited America’s Opioid Crisis
I responded to a lot of opioid overdose calls in my policing career. It’s an area of intense interest for me. I think the issue is poised to be the greatest public health crisis our nation has ever seen in the next decade. Did you know that opioid overdoses kill more people each year in the USA than all gun deaths and motor vehicle fatalities COMBINED?
Why does it matter to you if you aren’t shooting up heroin? Because a massive number of heroin/fentanyl addicts rely on theft/robbery to generate the cash they need to support their habit. The article linked above has some information most folks haven’t considered. If you are interested in the topic like I am, you might also like this Narcotica Podcast.
Using Deadly Force Against Carjackers
Most cars are becoming increasingly resistant to theft. Criminals now know the easiest way to steal your car is to snatch it at gunpoint as you are operating the vehicle. In this article, Massad Ayoob details the legalities involved with defending yourself against a carjacking.
Criminals Often Carry Ineffectual Guns that are Broken, Unloaded, or Toys
An article about the types of guns carried by criminals, including a link and discussion of my research on the topic.
Learning Strategies
As a full time instructor, I can tell you that in the last five years I’ve found it much harder to hold my students’ attention than it was in the past. If you find that your attention span has been shortened, here are some learning strategies to overcome some of the issues involved.
To Sight Or Not To Sight
Clint Smith discusses using those little bumpy things on the top of your slide. Speaking of sights, you may also like Chris Cypert’s advice about how you can customize yours.
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.
Liked it? Take a second to support Greg on Patreon!
