Greetings Sheepdogs,
***** Mindset *****
I am the kit fox,
I live in uncertainty.
If there is anything difficult,
If there is anything dangerous to do,
That is mine.
-- Sioux warrior's song
Please read "The Farnam Method of Defensive Handgunning"
by John S. Farnam. To order the book, send a check for $30
made out to Defensive Training International to
Mrs. Vicki Farnam
1281 E Magnolia Street
Suite D/340
Fort Collins, CO 80524
Make sure to include your address.
Mr. Farnam teaches to shoot from a stationary position.
Don't move and shoot at the same time. (The games such as IDPA
and IPSC love to force the competitor to shoot while moving.)
But, shooting while moving drastically increases your
probability of missing, and every miss is damaging property
and injuring innocent people, maybe killing them.
"Only those who risk going too far can
possibly find out how far one can go."
-- T.S. Elliot
Voluntary Victims
http://defense-training.com/2018/voluntary-victims/
Excerpt:
“Stay alert and keep your head up.
Out here, not all ‘organ donations’ are voluntarily!”
Complacency kills.
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal,
it is the courage to continue that counts.”
“Never, Never, Never Give Up.”
-- Winston Churchill
***** Safety *****
“The fast and/or emphatic reholster
is an awesome way to shoot yourself.”
-- Chuck Haggard
". . . personal defense is a lifestyle, not a hobby."
-- Sheriff Jim Wilson
***** Training *****
Why do I need to train?
"To each there comes in their lifetime a special moment
when they are figuratively tapped on the shoulder and
offered the chance to do a very special thing, unique
to them and fitted to their talents. What a tragedy if
that moment finds them unprepared or unqualified for
that which could have been their finest hour."
-- Winston Churchill
Stop practicing shooting!
https://thestreetstandards.wordpress.com/2018/12/12/stop-practicing-shooting/
Please read the comments by Marcus Wynne at the end of the blog post.
5 quick and easy spec-ops trigger control tips for defensive pistol precision
http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/5-quick-and-easy-spec-ops-trigger-control-tips-for-defensive-pistol-precisi/law-enforcement-defense-security
“When you aren’t skilled and confident,
you get scared and you over react.”
-- Greg Ellifritz
Practice smarter: Information is key to improving shooting
http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/practice-smarter-information-is-key-to-improving-shooting/law-enforcement-defense-security
Practice smarter: The physiology behind learning
http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/practice-smarter-the-physiology-behind-learning/law-enforcement-defense-security
Practice smarter: Putting it all together
http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/practice-smarter-putting-it-all-together/law-enforcement-defense-security
Your Tactical Training Scenario- Castle Doctrine
https://www.activeresponsetraining.net/your-tactical-training-scenario-castle-doctrine
Over the Christmas and New Year vacation, I practiced on the simulators
with Axiom Training in Summerville, SC. Email: fma.axiomtraining@yahoo.com
We had students from 11 years of age (female) to 60 (male). We consistently
found that the students shoot over the bad guy, when the bad guy ducks or
falls due to being shot.
John Farnam says you should fire your first shot to the bad guy's
navel (because it is difficult for him to move in such a way so as to
avoid getting hit there) and then the subsequent 3 rounds up the midline to
his neck (and then move).
We had a very ambiguous scenario in which a young man and a young
woman were lying on a couch in a college dormitory setting. He was
holding a knife and trying to convince her to do things. It was not
clear that she was in distress or not enjoying the situation.
The 11 year old girl presented her pistol from concealment and
fired 3 times into the guy (all good solid hits that would have
incapacitated him immediately). In the debriefing, she said that she
thought he was attacking her with the knife (and couldn't understand
how such behavior could be play). When questioned about any concerns
she might have had about missing and hitting the young lady (who was
lying next to the guy), she said it never entered her mind. When
asked if she had used her sight to aim, she said no. She said she
just pointed and shot.
In another scenario, a middle age woman (wife and mother of two)
watched a guest in her house get beaten to death and then allowed the
attacker to turn on her and kill her without presenting her pistol
from her holster. She put her hands on her face and turned to look
at us.
Yes, you can learn a lot in simulator practice. The simulator
is sometimes the crowbar that pries your eyes open to see reality.
Training scars
Are you doing something in training classes that you should not be
doing in combat? Are you doing something during your practice sessions
that you should not be doing in combat?
At Front Sight we learned Administrative Actions. We would do a
chamber check and a magazine check after every exercise before
holstering. The idea was that it ensured you were prepared for the
next exercise. We were repeatedly told that these were administrative
actions and that we were not to do them in a combat situation. But,
as Sara Ahrens says,
“Be careful what you teach. Because your students will do in combat
whatever you have trained them to do, no matter how ridiculous.
Be careful what you practice. Because you will do in combat whatever you
have practiced, no matter how ridiculous.”
(These are not direct quotes. I have paraphrased Ms. Ahrens.)
So, perhaps the correct thing to do is to dispense with the
administrative actions and simply holster after the After Action Drills.
Then you can practice reloading and clearing malfunctions when needed
in real time.
At Front Sight we never picked up spent casings. The casings
were considered part of the gravel surface on the ground. But, on
some ranges, students are required to police up their brass after
every exercise. Better to pick up brass at the end of the day.
Or, leave the brass on the ground for the brass hounds. There are
people who reload and would love to pick up your brass for you.
Training & Practice: You Need Both to Build Self-Defense Skills
https://www.shootingillustrated.com/articles/2019/1/4/training-practice-you-need-both-to-build-self-defense-skills/
Excerpt:
We train to learn new and proper techniques.
We practice those techniques often enough so
that they become a habit. And it is also the
reason for continuing our education by
taking more classes. Those classes reinforce
what we have learned and give us a chance to
make sure that we are practicing it properly.
There are actually many bad instructors in the
training industry. So, you have to be careful.
If you see them violating any of the 4 basic safety
rules:
RULE I: ALL GUNS ARE ALWAYS LOADED.
RULE II: NEVER LET THE MUZZLE COVER ANYTHING
YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO DESTROY.
RULE III: KEEP YOUR FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER
UNTIL YOUR SIGHTS ARE ON THE TARGET.
RULE IV: BE SURE OF YOUR TARGET.
in their YouTube.com or Photobucket videos or
advertising material, avoid them.
If you see them violating the safety rules in
class or allowing others to violate the safety rules,
leave the class. Don't worry about losing your tuition.
This is a life and death situation.
I have to mention this because very dangerous
practices have appeared in classes on YouTube.com
videos and after action reports from classes as
reported on several instructor forums.
Live fire while persons are down range is wrong.
Dry fire with real pistols while persons are down
range is wrong. Dry fire while aimed at persons is wrong.
"But, Staff, we did that sort of training in
the Marine Corps."
Yes, that is true. We fired artillery over the
heads of other guns in our battery. We crawled under
live machinegun fire and live explosive detonations.
But, I do not believe that that sort of training is
appropriate for civilian self defense operations.
The Armed Forces accept training casualties,
including fatalities. We, as civilian instructors,
should strive for zero training casualties.
Our insurance carriers won't tolerate casualties.
"I would like to see every
woman know how to handle
guns as naturally as they
know how to handle babies."
-- Annie Oakley
Rangemaster newsletter, January 2019 A.D.
http://rangemaster.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/2019-01_RFTS-Newsletter.pdf
Excerpt:
Remember that recency trumps everything in retention of motor skills, . . .
"You train for the people who love you."
-- Tatiana Whitlock
***** Tactics *****
Audacity wins.
-- Carl von Clausewitz
"FBI Miami Firefight" by Edmundo and Elizabeth Mireles,
2017. (No publisher listed.) ISBN 978099510308
Excerpts:
". . . In the military, if you run into an ambush,
you assault through the ambush. In law enforcement,
if you run into an ambush, you seek cover, return fire
if possible and call for back up. Two diametrically
opposed philosophies came into direct conflict on that
day." Page 82.
[I teach my students that an immediate explosive
counter attack (or preemptive attack, without telegraphing
your intention) is effective because surprise is a force
multiplier. Col. Cooper espouses similar advise in his book,
"Principles of Personal Defense", ISBN-10: 1581604955
ISBN-13: 978-1581604955
-- Jon Low]
IN EXTREMIS COMMUNICATION, PART 3
https://pointdriventraining.com/2015/12/24/in-extremis-communication-part-3/
Who Dares Wins
-- motto of the Special Air Service
***** Techniques *****
"The shorter the fight, the less hurt you get."
-- John Holschen
10 Common Handgun Draw Mistakes, and How to Fix Them
https://www.personaldefenseworld.com/2018/12/10-handgun-draw-mistakes/
My comments:
-
Snatch, Don’t Pull
[I had to think about this for a while.
I'm pretty sure what the author is talking about
is jerking the pistol out of the holster, as
opposed to smoothly pulling the pistol out of
the holster. In order to get the inertia
effect that the author is talking about, you
have to have a non-zero third derivative of
displacement with respect to time. [Zeroth
derivative is displacement. 1st derivative is
velocity. 2nd derivative is acceleration.
The automotive industry calls the 3rd derivative
"jerk", because that's what the passengers
in the car feel.] So, you have to jerk the
pistol out of the holster. (Always a good
idea, because in combat, easy things become
difficult and difficult things become impossible.
So, make sure you can do everything easily in
training and practicing.) -- Jon Low]
-
Support Hand
[For us, civilian concealed carriers, the
support hand would not normally be free to slap
the chest. Rather, it would be holding the
concealment garment out of the way. Or, it would
be occupied, forcing a one handed presentation
from the holster. So, slapping the the chest
with the support hand may be forming a training scar.
-- Jon Low]
-
Trigger Control
[All bad autonomic nervous system responses are
defeated by the surprise break. That's why Col.
Jeff Cooper taught it. Anticipating recoil, and
pushing the muzzle low left (for a right handed
shooter), and breathing incorrectly (such as not
breathing) are autonomic nervous system responses.
-- Jon Low]
-
Slow Down Strings
[This is essential, because you can do all
these things only as fast as you can think.
Letting your pre-programmed responses outrun
your rational thought is wrong.
You may have had the experience of outrunning
your GPS unit while driving because you were
driving too fast. Bad results, you missed your
exit, you got into the wrong lane, etc. Worst
case, the cop does not stop you for speeding in
time, and you collide with another vehicle or
pedestrian, killing many. (You may not understand
what I am saying. When I was young, I hated the
cops for giving me speeding tickets. But, I am now
more mature and thoughtful. So, I realize that
the cops pulling me over for speeding, prevented
me from killing many people.) -- Jon Low]
-
Lack of Economy of Motion
“. . . speed is the economy of motion, . . .”
[You must not push yourself to go faster.
Rushing is one of the three causes of mishaps.
The Marine Corps calls self imposed rushing,
time compression. Distraction, breaking habits,
and time compression cause mishaps (in particular
crashing aircraft).
If you want to go faster, practice.
With deliberate practice, you will automatically
get faster.
It takes about 2000 repetitions to engrain
muscle memory, so you can execute the action without
conscious thought. How many times have you pissed
into the toilet bowl? Way more than 2000, right?
Why do you still miss? Because, your are not doing
it deliberately. You are not concentrating on what
you are doing. Repetition of an action is not the
same as deliberate practice. -- Jon Low]
-
Re-holstering
“If you don’t practice that and you’re in a
high-stress situation it’s going to be very difficult.”
[If you don't re-holster, the cops might shoot you,
because you are the person with the pistol in hand
at an active crime scene. -- Jon Low]
*** The following are related and should be read in the order presented. ***
Front sight focus or point shooting: Which is better?
http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/front-sight-focus-or-point-shooting-which-is-better/law-enforcement-defense-security
Sighted vs. point shooting: Myths and realities
http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/sighted-vs.-point-shooting-myths-and-realities/recreation-leisure
Excerpts:
This is something that shooters can eventually do
subconsciously . . . in a few thousandths of a second
instead of 0.4 seconds, or more.
. . .
Everything was being driven by the subconscious.
. . .
But I do agree with point shooting as a step in the sighted shooting process.
Why the quickest thing you can do to shoot better is something you shouldn’t do
http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/why-the-quickest-thing-you-can-do-to-shoot-better-is-something-you-shouldnt/law-enforcement-defense-security
Speed vs. accuracy in training and self-defense
http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/speed-vs.-accuracy-in-training-and-self-defense/law-enforcement-defense-security
Excerpt:
So, it’s really important that you do the shooting fundamentals
on autopilot so that your cortex can make smart choices about
whether or not to shoot and what to shoot.
*** End of related articles. ***
Craig Douglas teaches How to draw a firearm while standing in a crowd
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZwYmNwlVi8&fbclid=IwAR0ihslCuwjd-UGzvEXuDwBA9beNJr2RvLDfozErA7RvJZzBWO6Ib4DQCjw
After Drawing, When Should You See Your Sights?
https://gundigest.com/handguns/concealed-carry/after-drawing-when-should-you-see-your-sights
HOW TO ESCAPE A STANDING REAR CHOKE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMESzGWGV7M
This technique is similar to the technique taught
in the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program. As with all
self-defense techniques, the goal is to escape.
The Marine Corps technique's (taught in 1981) goal was
to incapacitate or kill. The Judo we learned in boot
camp was not the sport Judo taught in civilian schools
for progression into Olympic competition. Sport Judo
is sanitized. They do not teach techniques that would
injure or kill the opponent. Parents wouldn't send
their children to such classes.
How do you win a gunfight? Don’t be there.
-–John Farnam
***** Gear *****
Avoidance, Deterrence, and De-escalation
-- John Farnam
"FBI Miami Firefight" by Edmundo and Elizabeth Mireles,
2017. (No publisher listed.) ISBN 978099510308
Excerpt:
"Keeping in mind that the Wound Ballistics Workshop
concluded that size does matter, . . . " (the author
italicized the word "does"). Page 138.
[That is why you should shoot the biggest bullet
that you can shoot accurately. -- Jon Low]
I got a holster from
Craft Holsters
https://www.craftholsters.com/
Ivana Krasku 980/9
96901 Banska Stiavnica
Slovakia
(They had initiated the contact because apparently someone in Slovakia is reading this blog.)
Model: Open-Muzzle IWB Holster
Color: Black
Handed: Right
Gun: manufacturer Ruger, model American, .45 ACP
As described and pictured on the web page,
https://www.craftholsters.com/open-muzzle-iwb-holster-p79
$59.95
Shipping $17.95 UPS
The material quality is high. The quality of workmanship
is high. The areas that need to be reinforced are (so the
mouth of the holster stays open and it appears that the holster
will not wear out in normal usage before the pistol does).
Double stitching throughout. Molding is well done.
Tension screw is effective at controlling the friction on
the trigger guard that holds the pistol in the holster.
(I like my holsters tight, so my pistol won't fall out
when I break dance. Don't want to be like that FBI special
agent who dropped his pistol at the night club and then
negligently shot a guy when the agent picked up the pistol.
Ya, I have to jerk hard to get the pistol out of the holster,
but that's the trade off I'm willing to make.)
As with all high quality leather holsters, it is tight at
first and needs a break in period, but then it holds the pistol
firmly and consistently. I had forgotten the smell of high
quality leather. I haven't bought a leather holster since
my Kramer decades ago. (I've been using hybrid holsters
of leather and Kydex.) The snaps that hold the holster to
my belt are secure. Wearing the holster in the 3 o'clock
position is comfortable. No sharp edges digging into me
or anything like that. I can bend my leg at the hip without
the holster impeding movement. There is no adjustment
(as in most hybrid holsters) for cant or position of
carry up and down relative to your belt. But, it is
designed correctly, so that's not a problem.
I recommend this holster without reservation.
Finding a pistol grip that fits your hand is essential
for weapon retention and accuracy. Your glove size
(circumference measured around your knuckles) is not relevant.
The length of your fingers (not your thumb) is really what matters.
When you have established a correct high tight grip, and
the barrel is in line with the bones of your forearm
(in the same line, not just parallel to) your fingers
should wrap around the grip so that your finger tips point
back toward you.
Try grabbing a hammer. Got a solid strong grip?
Try grabbing a pencil in the same way. Too small, right?
Try grabbing a basketball in the same way. Too big, right?
There is an optimal size of an object that allows you to
get your strongest hand grip on that object. On your pistol grip,
it is the largest grip that allows your finger tips to
point back toward you.
Why do you need a strong grip? So, the pistol doesn't
come out of your hand. Well, someone may be trying to rip
it out of your hand or you may have bumped into something
that would knock the pistol out of your hand.
Ordering some full size self-defense pistols in .45 ACP
from fattest grip to thinnest grip (in my opinion)
we have (magazine capacity + 1 in the chamber):
Glock G21, 13+1
Para Ordnance, 14+1
Springfield Armory XD, 13+1
Heckler & Kock USP, 12+1
Heckler & Kock HK45, 10+1
Smith & Wesson M&P, 10+1
Ruger American, 10+1
CZ 97 B, 10+1
Model 1911 type single stack pistols, 8+1
(Of course, you can change the stocks, back strap,
etc. to change the size of the grip.) Grip size is more
important than magazine capacity. Don't be silly with
life and death decisions.
Once, you find a pistol with correct grip size for
your hand, you have to adjust the trigger so that when
you place the center of your fingerprint on the center
of the trigger, and you have taken the slack out of the
trigger, the last bone of your trigger finger is
perpendicular to the barrel. That is to say, your
trigger finger is pressing the trigger straight to the
rear, without any vector component of force in any other
direction. So, your gunsmith may have to move your
trigger, or you may have to change your trigger. Just
do it. Don't compromise your grip to get proper trigger
placement.
I met a Customs and Border Patrol Officer at an
instructor's class whose hand was too small for his
pistol's grip (a Glock). So, he rotated his hand around
the grip, so he could get his finger on the trigger.
(So, his thumb did not lay flat against the side of
his pistol, but rather pointed out to the side.)
He had to do this because his agency would not allow
him to use some other pistol and would not allow him
to modify the trigger on his issued pistol. (He put in
a lot of practice and shot quite well. But, WHY?
This is akin to forcing all of your agents to wear
the same size shoes. Can you imagine trying to work
in shoes that don't fit your feet?) As a civilian,
you don't have such ridiculous restrictions. So,
get a proper fitting pistol grip and move your trigger
to accommodate the length of your trigger finger.
Your pistol should be ambidextrous. Just because you're
right handed doesn't mean you're going to be right handed in
combat. The person you give your pistol to might not be right
handed.
Pistols such as the Glock and Smith&Wesson M&P allow you to
move parts to make the pistol left handed. That's not the
same as being ambidextrous, and once so configured will
present a problem for the right handed shooter (which may
be you, being forced to shoot with your support side hand).
The truly ambidextrous pistols that I know of are:
Springfield Armory XD
Ruger American
Some of the Fabrique Nationale Herstal pistols
Some of the Heckler and Koch pistols
Some of the Walther pistols
Charter Arms makes a left handed revolver. But, you
should not be using a revolver for combat. They don't
hold enough ammunition. They take too long to reload.
They are too difficult to reload under stress or one handed.
All other revolvers are extremely right handed and difficult
to manipulate left handed.
If you choose to have a manual thumb safety on your
pistol, it should be ambidextrous. But, you should not
have a manual thumb safety. Unless, you are going to
practice enough to automatically defeat the safety when
you present your pistol, and automatically engage the
safety immediately before holstering (which takes about
2000 deliberate correct repetitions). So, in the modern
manual of arms, the safety is only engaged when the pistol
is holstered. If you have a properly designed holster,
it will cover the trigger. So, the manual thumb safety
is not useful. That's why most modern combat pistols
don't have manual thumb safeties.
***** Instructors *****
"In martial arts and especially if you claim to teach self-defense,
the price of error is blood. The luxury of an instructor is that
it will not be your blood. That makes bullshit more reprehensible,
not less." -- Rory Miller
Instructors, please read "The Farnam Method of Defensive Handgunning"
by John S. Farnam; completely, not just the parts that pertain to you.
Because you will have to teach those left handed revolver techniques to
your student. Well, you will, if you are worth your salt.
Shooting Sports Industry Influencer Series: John Chapman
https://www.getzone.com/shooting-sports-industry-influencer-series-john-chapman/
Excerpt:
"Talking negatively about other instructors is a huge red flag."
This is truth.
My aunt Lois told me, if you don't have anything nice to say,
don't say anything.
It's a matter of maturity, spiritual maturity.
"Every time I teach a class,
I discover I don't know something."
-- Clint Smith, Director of Thunder Ranch
The Telephone Game and the Training Industry
https://tacticalprofessor.wordpress.com/2017/05/14/the-telephone-game-and-the-training-industry/
Colonel Robert Lindsey to his fellow trainers:
"We are not God’s gift to our students.
Our students are God’s gift to us."
***** Pedagogy *****
"Train, Practice, Compete are the key
elements in the development of humans."
-- John M. Buol, Jr.
***** Education *****
Video Podcast: Concealed Carry and Responsibilities
http://www.downrange.tv/blog/video-podcast-concealed-carry-and-responsibilities/42719/
This is reality.
Excerpt:
Adaptive thinkers and competent doers.
Louis Awerbuck: Interview With a Madman
https://louisawerbuckinterviewwithamadman.blogspot.com/2009/02/jeff-cooper-once-told-me-that-he.html
Excerpts:
. . . All males from the shoulder line to the waist are the same height,
whether it’s me or a basketball player. And from nipple to nipple they’re
all nine inches wide. So in a full frontal shot, if you’re out nine inches
here you’ve got nothing. . . .
[Mr. Awerbuck's training is one of the reasons that I took my
children to a 4-day defensive handgun class when they were 14 years
old. He was correct about a lot of things. And humble to the end.
-- Jon Low]
The odds and stakes of home protection
https://tacticalprofessor.wordpress.com/2018/12/23/the-odds-and-stakes-of-home-protection/
Driving 201: Road Tactics
https://www.integratedskillsgroup.com/blog/driving-201-road-tactics
Small Arms Survey report: Improvised weapons
http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/about-us/highlights/2018/highlight-report-improvised.html
Free download at
http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/fileadmin/docs/U-Reports/SAS-improvised-craft-weapons-report.pdf
We're not talking about zip-guns. We're talking craft-production.
We're not talking handtools in your garage. We're talking top of the
line milling machines and lathes. No, I'm not advertising for my
employer.
An Introductory Guide to the Identification of
Small Arms, Light Weapons, and Associated Ammunition
http://www.smallarmssurvey.org/resources/publications/by-type/handbooks/weapons-id-handbook.html
Free downloads at the web site. For those of you who have been through
any of the intelligence schools, check out chapters 7, 8, and 9. I have
a high school classmate who has worked as an intelligence analyst since
grad school. He sits in an air conditioned office in Suitland, MD.
I told him that he should get out in the field and see the real world.
Criminals do not appear out of no where.
If you didn't see him coming, shame on you.
"Criminal Assault Pre-Incident Indicators"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPbCw9pV90c&fbclid=IwAR0Vq3tOjlj7MQbqBbGREnaTXwH9IGXjPMAtSkyPhALrQsfvPHk0390JYSI
If you didn't take immediate action (like running away)
when you noticed him, shame on you.
"I'm the victim! It's not my fault!"
Completely false. If you live defensively, you will have time to avoid.
"The car accident wasn't my fault. I had the right of way."
Completely false. If you drive defensively, you will never get into a collision.
(Even if someone intentionally attempts to ram you.)
If you have a collision with a stationary object, you are an incompetent
driver, and you need to take training and practice until you are competent.
Cars are unstable when driven backwards. If you can drive
backwards fast in a controlled manner, you are well on your way
to becoming a competent defensive driver.
If you are constantly scanning 360 degrees around, even when
you are stopped at an intersection, you will notice the car barreling
down behind you, and you will have time to pull onto the sidewalk
to avoid getting rear ended.
Yes, we are that type of person.
Awareness & Action!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56Bp6jxKR6s
FPFTraining
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSV5s-3gY-0WLDewDQ5WbPA
“Destiny doesn’t make appointments,
nor does she waste her time with the naive and unready!”
-- John Farnam
***** News, Legal, Philosophical, and Political stuff *****
Downrange Failure
https://tacticalprofessor.wordpress.com/2018/12/27/downrange-failure/
Media Hype Questionable Gun Control Study
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=lXGgI2E5JUw
What you believe depends on what you choose to read and watch.
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=747672642281894&id=100011174952414
"There is no journalism. There is only propaganda."
-- Prof. Yerkes, English Department, Columbia University (~1977 A.D.)
"When You Give a Teacher a Gun" in Gentlemen's Quarterly magazine
https://www.gq.com/story/when-you-give-a-teacher-a-gun
A reporter embeds with a FASTER Saves Lives class in Ohio.
Few tyrants argue for 'slavery of the masses.'
Instead, they argue for the power to
'protect people from themselves.'
-- AE Samaan
***** Survival Tips *****
"If you prepare for the emergency,
the emergency ceases to exist!"
-- Dr. Sherman House
This is why you must never send your child to a government school.
UNPREPARED AND OVERWHELMED
http://projects.sun-sentinel.com/2018/sfl-parkland-school-shooting-critical-moments/
This happens all over the world, all the time. About once
a week world wide. (I read and analyze open source intelligence.
It was my job in the Marine Corps for 3 decades.) A concentration
of children with unarmed and untrained adults is a honey pot for
criminals and terrorists. Notice the sexual predators kept at the
school by the district administrators in spite of the investigator's
recommendation to fire that faculty member.
When Cops Shoot an Unarmed Kid
http://www.activeresponsetraining.net/when-cops-shoot-an-unarmed-kid
This is truth. As Ralph Morz says, police departments
disqualify any applicant with any arrest record. So, they end up
with applicants who have never been in a fight, not even a shoving
conflict. Can such people handle violent confrontations? They
can't even conceive of a violent confrontation. So, what do they
do when they can't control the situation? They go to guns.
Don't go to stupid places.
Don't do stupid things.
Don't hang out with stupid people.
-- John Farnam
Or, . . . as my girlfriend says,
"That's a horrible idea. What time?"
***** Basics *****
"Panic is simply the lack of preprogrammed responses."
-- Tom Givens
Training: Three ready positions every concealed carrier should know
https://www.guns.com/news/review/training-three-ready-positions-every-concealed-carrier-should-know
The problem with the Sul position is that you only have one
hand on the pistol. So, we teach a retention Sul position, which
is the same as the Sul, except that the support side hand is in
front of the pistol (holding the pistol), instead of behind the pistol.
The thumb tips are still in contact to prevent the possibility of
shooting your support side hand. (Ya, I know that sounds stupid.
But, it's a real thing.)
"Fear is an instinct. Courage is a choice."
-- Rear Admiral Joseph Kernan, USN
***** Miscellany *****
"We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence is not an act.
It is a habit."
-- Aristotle
Pro Tip: Understanding Parallax | Shooting USA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7Q9O_jzs6Q
How Does it Work: Open Bolt vs Closed Bolt Firearms
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=Ga4uoWmfEt4
Individuals and churches come to me for training.
Usually after a traumatic experience. When they realize
how inept they are at personal or organizational security.
A young lady asked me for training because she and her
friend had been followed by two men in a Kroger grocery
store. The men followed them out to their car.
I reach out to churches, businesses, and individuals.
Because the training prevents the criminal predator from
choosing the trained person to victimize in the first
place, avoiding the trauma. Training changes the person's
personality, behavior, body language, etc. The trained
person leaks information that makes it clear to any
observer this is not an easy submissive target.
For the latest version (it changes almost daily)
of my lesson plans for my NRA Defensive Pistol course,
send me an email. Jon_Low@yahoo.com
“After our enemies with guns have all been wiped out,
there will still be enemies without guns, and they
are bound to struggle desperately against us.
We must never regard these enemies lightly.”
-- Mao Tse Tung
Report to the Second Plenary Session of the
Seventh Central Committee of the
Communist Party of China, 1949 A.D.
Cheers,
Low Jun Hin
Report to the Sheepdogs of Defensive Pistolcraft
Patriotic Defenders of the Second Amendment
United States of America, 2019 A.D.
Jonathan D. Low
Jon_Low@yahoo.com
Tuesday, January 22, 2019
Monday, December 24, 2018
CWP, 24 December 2018 Anno Domini
Merry Christmas!
May I invite your attention to
The Art of Instructing (Part 1 of 2)
http://www.dtioperator.com/free-videos/
As Mr. Farnam says, the firearms training
at police academies and military boot camps is
poor. I too realized this truth from my experience.
(In Marine Corps Recruit Training in 1981,
we were not trained to keep our trigger finger
in the register position. This resulted in
many tragic training and combat friendly casualties.)
So, I took my children to a 4-day pistol class
at Front Sight Firearms Training Institute
when they turned 14 years of age. I then took
my son to a 4-day M-16 class before he entered
Marine Corps recruit training. Because I wasn't
going to leave it to some large institution that
has to train hundreds of persons a day to train
my children. Neither should you.
***** Mindset *****
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal,
it is the courage to continue that counts.”
“Never, Never, Never Give Up.”
-- Winston Churchill
Some are disturbed by the fact that after using lethal force
in self-defense, the good guy is criminally prosecuted and civilly
sued in the courts. How unfair. How unjust. As I tell my
children, "The world is not fair. The sooner you understand this
and accept it, the sooner you will be able to use it to your
advantage; rather than whining about it."
What does the Bible say about this?
"There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there
are righteous people who are treated according to the conduct
of the wicked, and there are wicked people who are treated
according to the conduct of the righteous. I said that this
also is vanity." Ecclesiastes 8:14, New Revised Standard Version
Boundaries
http://www.activeresponsetraining.net/boundaries
Decisions must be made now, because you cannot predict
when the incident will occur. Maybe the woman was not
refusing, maybe she was just hesitating. Dithering kills.
Know what you're going to do before you have to do it in
a high stress situation.
The immediate explosive counter attack (without telegraphing
your intentions) is effective, because you take the element of
surprise, which is a force multiplier.
"Physical courage is an instinct.
Moral courage is a much more difficult intellectual decision."
-- Pastor Mike Ayon
***** Enemy Mindset *****
Complacency kills.
"Only those who risk going too far can
possibly find out how far one can go."
-- T.S. Elliot
***** Safety *****
“The fast and/or emphatic reholster
is an awesome way to shoot yourself.”
-- Chuck Haggard
Let me tell you something I tell my children (not that they
ever listen to me or believe me). If you wear jewelry or give
jewelry, you have been corrupted by the propaganda of the world
into believing that jewelry is good. That is a false belief.
Jewelry does not feed anyone. It does not clothe anyone.
It does not house anyone. It cannot be used as a tool for
transportation or security. Quite the contrary,
jewelry tells the prospective mugger that even if you don't have
any money or credit cards in your wallet, he will at least get
that ring. Jewelry tells the prospective kidnapper that the
prospective victim is loved by someone who will pay a large ransom
for her. Jewelry attracts the wrong kind of attention.
It is a vanity. You don't want to associate with the type
of people that jewelry impresses.
Jewelry tells the incel person that you are the object
of his hatred.
"5 things to know about incels"
https://www.policeone.com/mass-casualty/articles/482200006-5-things-to-know-about-incels/
Don't kid yourself. Incels are real and have committed many
mass murders.
***** Training *****
“When you aren’t skilled and confident,
you get scared and you over react.”
-- Greg Ellifritz
Can eye dominance change? Yes. Tom Clark writes to tell of
his changing when he got cataracts. It wasn't obvious to him at
first why his groups were opening up. But, after an eye dominance
test (which he does with every class he teaches), the problem was
discovered. After about 100 repetitions, the dominant eye was
firmly in control and the groups tightened back up.
I have found that using your dominant eye for aiming has a
strong psychological effect. You will have much more confidence
in your aiming when using your dominant eye.
If you still use your sights to aim, you should do this instead
http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/if-you-still-use-your-sights-to-aim-you-should-do-this-instead/recreation-leisure
What Really Happens In A Gunfight?
http://www.handgunsmag.com/editorial/tactics_training_what_happens_gunfight/138051
Excerpts:
Awareness is as important to gun fighting as is trigger control.
The history of gun fighting for more than a century has shown
that the person that lands the first solid hit will usually win
the confrontation.
Many advised that they had taken the time to think about what
they would do in the event they were attacked and had even played
out scenarios in their head.
Objects that are large and of contrasting color are easier to
see under stress, which makes the current generation of semi-auto
sights on the wrong end of the sight plane. I, for one, have
highlighted the front sight of all my pistols with bright orange
emergency warning tape. It offers a contrast that is large and
bold and I feel is the reason that I can recall my sights during
high stress events.
Dr. Vincent DiMaio, a noted pathologist and author of the
book Gunshot Wounds, has been quoted as saying the stopping power
comes from, "Where you hit the person and how many times you
can hit them."
Those that understood what was happening to them better
handled the sensation during the encounter versus the people
who did not.
. . . those who are totally comfortable with what they did,
have no doubt in their justification to do so and have suffered
no side effects whatsoever.
Today, Saturday, 8 December 2018, I took Basic Tactical
Trauma Care given by Josh Black and Jason Rader.
Things I learned:
If you had taken such a course a few years ago, you would
have learned the ABC, Airway - Breathing - Circulation as the
order of priority of care. The modern theory is MARCHE,
Massive Hemorrhaging - Airway - Respiration/Raking - Circulation/CPR -
Head Injury/Hypothermia - Evacuation, as the priority of treatment.
We learned all kinds of professional tricks to prepare the
tourniquet and other gear so that you can use it in chaotic high
stress situations. (When your hands are slippery with blood.
When one of your arms is not working. When you can't lift your leg.
Etc.)
We watched a video in which a guy gets shot in the leg
severing his femoral artery and loses consciousness in 17 seconds.
So, we then trained to put a tourniquet on ourselves in less
than 17 seconds. Yes, as a matter of fact you can do it.
It's just a matter of deliberate, intentional, motivated practice.
Sure, it takes 3 minutes to die from loss of blood, but if you
don't get your tourniquet on before you pass out in 17 seconds,
you die. So, you have 17 seconds, not 3 minutes.
We learned how to effectively slow arterial bleeding with
aimed direct pressure, to give you time to get the tourniquet
on the victim, or to pack the wound. If you don't know exactly
where the arteries are, you are not going to be able to pinch
them off.
We executed 2 scenarios in 2-man teams. Actually
executing the things you thought you learned and practiced
in class is an essential part of training. If you don't
actually execute a tactical scenario in your class, you
don't know if you've learned anything.
We learned how to identify yourself as a good guy,
so the cops don't shoot you.
We learned how much blood a given person has and what
the symptoms are at particular levels of blood loss.
We learned how to do Blood Sweeps and Skin Rakes to
find the injuries. No, as a matter of fact it is not easy
to find an injury on a responsive subject. It is
extremely difficult on an unresponsive subject. [PJ's
(U.S. Air Force Pararescuemen) told of a person they
rescued and though they had stabilized in transport
back to base. The person died because they had failed
to find a bullet entrance wound in his armpit.]
We learned how to deal with open, closed, tension,
and hemo pneumothorax (by definition the presence of air
or gas in the pleural cavity, but it can also be blood, hemo).
We learned how to determine blood pressure by
whether or not there is a pulse at a particular location
on the body.
We learned that part of your duty is to gather
intelligence for the next level of medical care. Yes,
you have to give the Emergency Medical Technicians or
Para Medics a report, MIST, Mechanism of Injury, Injury,
Signs and Symptoms, the Treatment that you administered.
Only use real CAT or SoftT tourniquets. The cheap
counterfeits on the market don't work, which may lead to
death. The other uncertified tourniquets that you can
buy on Amazon.com don't work, that's why they are not
certified.
Using a tourniquet correctly will not cause an
amputation of the limb. Once you put the tourniquet
on, don't loosen it, don't take it off. Let the
doctor do that. If you don't have the courage and
pain tolerance to apply a tourniquet correctly,
you will stop veinal flow, but not arterial flow;
which means blood will accumulate in the limb causing
swelling and killing the tissue. So, learn how
to do it correctly!
Use Combat Gauze. It is impregnated with hemostat.
John Farnam's advice for training and everyday carry,
http://defense-training.com/thank-you/#gf_4
Please view the videos at
http://www.dtioperator.com/free-videos/
Mr. Farnam asks that you share this information.
How Handgun Training Makes You A Better Precision Rifle Shooter
https://gundigest.com/rifles/tactical-rifles/how-handgun-training-makes-you-a-better-precision-rifle-shooter
If you're wondering what the author is talking about in
regards to instructors standing down range between the targets
while students shoot at the targets, contact me, and I'll tell
you about it off line.
"You train for the people who love you."
-- Tatiana Whitlock
***** Tactics *****
Audacity wins.
-- Carl von Clausewitz
". . . personal defense is a lifestyle, not a hobby."
-- Sheriff Jim Wilson
***** Techniques *****
"The shorter the fight, the less hurt you get."
-- John Holschen
Don’t Dig the Rig #17
http://www.activeresponsetraining.net/dont-dig-the-rig-17
Greg explains why front pocket carry is a bad idea.
Ambush Prevention Strategies for Patrol Officers
http://www.activeresponsetraining.net/ambush-prevention-strategies-for-patrol-officers
Greg suggests some techniques to avoid an attack
when sitting in your car.
I tell my students, don't sit in your car to do anything.
Get into your car and go. When you get where you're going, get out.
Texting in your parked car in a dark parking lot is asking
for trouble.
Situational Awareness Tips & Drills
https://modernsurvivalblog.com/security/situational-awareness-tips/
SouthNarc’s Favorite GUN DISARM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2bkgbGFtmg&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR2SxwKlJ5zxIvtxmaKTJ-5cwOS3kd8Y8OBnLv0gM6YyvF3GoUgFtY4-5RE
Low Light Tactics for the Regular Person
https://www.integratedskillsgroup.com/blog/low-light
The picture of the Harries flashlight technique is wrong.
The support side elbow should be down, not sticking out to the side.
In the picture, the left arm is pushing the right arm up.
This is wrong. The left arm should be pushing left, while the
right arm pushes right. So, the "CON:" listed is wrong.
How do you win a gunfight? Don’t be there.
-–John Farnam
***** Gear *****
Avoidance, Deterrence, and De-escalation
-- John Farnam
Jeff Gonzales explains why he carries an extra magazine
rather than a back up gun.
https://medium.com/@jefflgonzales/two-guns-or-29c8d546850b
Who dares wins.
-- motto of the Special Air Service
***** Instructors *****
"Every time I teach a class,
I discover I don't know something."
-- Clint Smith, Director of Thunder Ranch
Teach with the knowledge that your students will teach
their friends, relatives, colleagues at work, etc. intentionally
or unintentionally. So, explain in detail why you are teaching
a particular technique. Your student should never have to
appeal to authority (no matter how great an authority you are).
Your student should always be able to convince his audience by
logical argument (without mentioning your name, because you
stole everything you teach from others). For instance, I teach
the Chapman version of the Weaver position because the advantages
are that:
1. It places your support side arm in front of the vital organs
in your torso, making it more difficult for the enemy to strike
your heart and lungs. (For those of us who do not regularly
wear body armor. If you are wearing body armor, it makes sense
to present the front of your armor to the enemy and not expose
the side of your armor.)
2. It is the same stance for pistol and long gun. So,
transitioning between the two is easier than with other positions.
3. It allows the shooter to pull with the support side arm bicep.
If the support side arm is locked out straight (as in the isosceles
stance), you can't pull with the support side arm. You have to
pull with the support side arm to prevent the muzzle from flipping
up on recoil. If the muzzle flips up on recoil, it takes longer
and is harder to get the sights on the target for the second and
subsequent shots.
4. It looks more aggressive to the enemy (a significant
psychological advantage) because it is a fighting stance similar
to a boxing stance. The body language says, “I am ready and
willing to fight.”
5. It reduces the width of the target that you present to the enemy.
This has a strong psychological affect on the enemy as it makes his
target smaller and thus reduces his confidence in hitting his target.
6. It gives the shooter a supported position when the shooter
transitions to the kneeling position or the squatting position.
7. The Harries flashlight technique uses the Weaver stance.
http://michaelharries.com/index.php
8. It flows naturally from the interview position that you
assumed, because you were aware of the situation, because
you were in condition yellow when the enemy started the incident.
If you can't explain why you are teaching the techniques
that you are teaching, you owe it to your students to do the
research, so that you can explain the reasons for using the
technique and explain the details of the technique.
Colonel Robert Lindsey to his fellow trainers:
"We are not God’s gift to our students.
Our students are God’s gift to us."
***** Pedagogy *****
"We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence is not an act.
It is a habit."
-- Aristotle
The Developmental Model
https://firearmusernetwork.com/2017/11/25/developmental-model/
Excerpt:
"I too was merely once a small arms instructor
with no understanding or appreciation for how
competition is actually the essential part of
development."
"Train, Practice, Compete are the key
elements in the development of humans."
***** Education *****
“That nation is surest to live in peace,
that is most capable of making war;
and a man with a sword always by his side,
shall have least occasion to make use of it.”
-- John Trenchard
Rangemaster Newsletter
http://rangemaster.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/2018-12_RFTS-Newsletter.pdf
Mistaken Identity Shootings
http://www.thetacticalwire.com/features/3f871d07-c5d2-4d59-bc17-46b27a0f1b88
Excerpt:
"After you had to defend yourself, put your gun
BACK IN THE HOLSTER while keeping an eye on the bad guy
so you reduce the risk of getting shot by the police."
“Destiny doesn’t make appointments,
nor does she waste her time with the naive and unready!”
-- John Farnam
***** News, Legal, Philosophical, and Political stuff *****
Civil War happens when the victimized are armed.
Genocide happens when they are not!
-- A.E. Samaan
“Red-Flag,” revisited!
http://defense-training.com/2018/red-flag-revisited/
Write to your Representative and Senator before
you lose your liberty. If you are too lazy or apathetic
to do so for yourself, do it for your children who will
have to live under these laws.
Sheriff: Woman kills jail escapee who kicks in her door
https://apnews.com/c84c1f16fb414aac990bf71670099070
Excerpt:
“This is the shining example” of why owning and
knowing how to use a gun is important, the sheriff said.
Placed in Harm’s Way, Unarmed!
http://defense-training.com/2018/placed-in-harms-way-unarmed/
Brazilian Lawmakers Push Law Recognizing Right to Own Guns for Self-Defense
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2018/12/02/brazilian-lawmakers-push-law-recognizing-right-own-guns-self-defense/
Ohio state lawmakers pass firearms bill, with
changes, in effort to avoid Gov. Kasich's veto
https://myfox28columbus.com/news/local/state-lawmakers-pass-firearms-bill-with-changes-in-effort-to-avoid-kasich-veto
This new Ohio law brings Ohio into line with the other 49
states in that the prosecutor must prove beyond a reasonable
doubt that the defendant's acts were not self-defense. Previous
Ohio law forced the defendant to prove by a preponderance of the
evidence that his act was self-defense. That's a big difference.
Andrew Branca says that even if you can afford an expert witness,
that doesn't mean you can get him to testify for you at trial. It is
at the sole discretion of the trial judge as to whether or not your
expert witness will be allowed to testify.
It is necessary, but not sufficient, for your expert witness
to be relevant. Relevant means both material (it affects legal
arguments that matter) and probative (it would help the finder of
facts reach a decision).
It doesn't matter what expertise the expert witness has,
all that matters is what expertise the judge thinks the expert
witness has. As Hayes and Ayoob explained in their lecture,
"The Firearms Instructor as Expert Witness" at the 2018 Tactical
Conference, as an expert witness, you have to convince the judge
that you are a subject matter expert and that the subject matters
to the case being tried. Manny (Emanuel) Kapelsohn also mentioned
that you have to convince the judge without causing the judge
to think that your testimony would be prejudicial.
“Totalitarian states can do great things,
but there is one thing they cannot do:
They cannot give a rifle to a factory-worker,
and then tell him to take it home and keep it in his bedroom.
That rifle, hanging on the wall of the working-class flat or
laborer’s cottage, is The symbol of Democracy!
It is our job to see that it stays there!”
-- George Orwell
***** Survival Tips *****
"If you prepare for the emergency,
the emergency ceases to exist!"
-- Dr. Sherman House
What cops need to tell their families about active shooters
https://www.policeone.com/active-shooter/articles/482011006-What-cops-need-to-tell-their-families-about-active-shooters/
Extreme Weather Driving Guide
https://www.geico.com/more/driving/auto/car-safety-insurance/extreme-weather-driving-guide/
"Staff, this stuff is basic. Why mention it in your blog?"
This information is for those who don't have a plan. They
may use this information to form their plan; to know what to do
in the event of . . .
If a person does not know what to do, he panics. If he knows
what to do, he executes his plan.
Don't go to stupid places.
Don't do stupid things.
Don't hang out with stupid people.
-- John Farnam
***** Basics *****
"Panic is simply the lack of preprogrammed responses."
-- Tom Givens
"Fear is an instinct. Courage is a choice."
-- Rear Admiral Joseph Kernan, USN
***** Miscellany *****
For the latest version (it changes almost daily)
of my lesson plans for my NRA Defensive Pistol course,
send me an email. Jon_Low@yahoo.com
Few tyrants argue for 'slavery of the masses.'
Instead, they argue for the power to
'protect people from themselves.'
-- AE Samaan
Your Servant,
Jon
Jonathan D. Low
Jon_Low@yahoo.com
May I invite your attention to
The Art of Instructing (Part 1 of 2)
http://www.dtioperator.com/free-videos/
As Mr. Farnam says, the firearms training
at police academies and military boot camps is
poor. I too realized this truth from my experience.
(In Marine Corps Recruit Training in 1981,
we were not trained to keep our trigger finger
in the register position. This resulted in
many tragic training and combat friendly casualties.)
So, I took my children to a 4-day pistol class
at Front Sight Firearms Training Institute
when they turned 14 years of age. I then took
my son to a 4-day M-16 class before he entered
Marine Corps recruit training. Because I wasn't
going to leave it to some large institution that
has to train hundreds of persons a day to train
my children. Neither should you.
***** Mindset *****
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal,
it is the courage to continue that counts.”
“Never, Never, Never Give Up.”
-- Winston Churchill
Some are disturbed by the fact that after using lethal force
in self-defense, the good guy is criminally prosecuted and civilly
sued in the courts. How unfair. How unjust. As I tell my
children, "The world is not fair. The sooner you understand this
and accept it, the sooner you will be able to use it to your
advantage; rather than whining about it."
What does the Bible say about this?
"There is a vanity that takes place on earth, that there
are righteous people who are treated according to the conduct
of the wicked, and there are wicked people who are treated
according to the conduct of the righteous. I said that this
also is vanity." Ecclesiastes 8:14, New Revised Standard Version
Boundaries
http://www.activeresponsetraining.net/boundaries
Decisions must be made now, because you cannot predict
when the incident will occur. Maybe the woman was not
refusing, maybe she was just hesitating. Dithering kills.
Know what you're going to do before you have to do it in
a high stress situation.
The immediate explosive counter attack (without telegraphing
your intentions) is effective, because you take the element of
surprise, which is a force multiplier.
"Physical courage is an instinct.
Moral courage is a much more difficult intellectual decision."
-- Pastor Mike Ayon
***** Enemy Mindset *****
Complacency kills.
"Only those who risk going too far can
possibly find out how far one can go."
-- T.S. Elliot
***** Safety *****
“The fast and/or emphatic reholster
is an awesome way to shoot yourself.”
-- Chuck Haggard
Let me tell you something I tell my children (not that they
ever listen to me or believe me). If you wear jewelry or give
jewelry, you have been corrupted by the propaganda of the world
into believing that jewelry is good. That is a false belief.
Jewelry does not feed anyone. It does not clothe anyone.
It does not house anyone. It cannot be used as a tool for
transportation or security. Quite the contrary,
jewelry tells the prospective mugger that even if you don't have
any money or credit cards in your wallet, he will at least get
that ring. Jewelry tells the prospective kidnapper that the
prospective victim is loved by someone who will pay a large ransom
for her. Jewelry attracts the wrong kind of attention.
It is a vanity. You don't want to associate with the type
of people that jewelry impresses.
Jewelry tells the incel person that you are the object
of his hatred.
"5 things to know about incels"
https://www.policeone.com/mass-casualty/articles/482200006-5-things-to-know-about-incels/
Don't kid yourself. Incels are real and have committed many
mass murders.
***** Training *****
“When you aren’t skilled and confident,
you get scared and you over react.”
-- Greg Ellifritz
Can eye dominance change? Yes. Tom Clark writes to tell of
his changing when he got cataracts. It wasn't obvious to him at
first why his groups were opening up. But, after an eye dominance
test (which he does with every class he teaches), the problem was
discovered. After about 100 repetitions, the dominant eye was
firmly in control and the groups tightened back up.
I have found that using your dominant eye for aiming has a
strong psychological effect. You will have much more confidence
in your aiming when using your dominant eye.
If you still use your sights to aim, you should do this instead
http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/if-you-still-use-your-sights-to-aim-you-should-do-this-instead/recreation-leisure
What Really Happens In A Gunfight?
http://www.handgunsmag.com/editorial/tactics_training_what_happens_gunfight/138051
Excerpts:
Awareness is as important to gun fighting as is trigger control.
The history of gun fighting for more than a century has shown
that the person that lands the first solid hit will usually win
the confrontation.
Many advised that they had taken the time to think about what
they would do in the event they were attacked and had even played
out scenarios in their head.
Objects that are large and of contrasting color are easier to
see under stress, which makes the current generation of semi-auto
sights on the wrong end of the sight plane. I, for one, have
highlighted the front sight of all my pistols with bright orange
emergency warning tape. It offers a contrast that is large and
bold and I feel is the reason that I can recall my sights during
high stress events.
Dr. Vincent DiMaio, a noted pathologist and author of the
book Gunshot Wounds, has been quoted as saying the stopping power
comes from, "Where you hit the person and how many times you
can hit them."
Those that understood what was happening to them better
handled the sensation during the encounter versus the people
who did not.
. . . those who are totally comfortable with what they did,
have no doubt in their justification to do so and have suffered
no side effects whatsoever.
Today, Saturday, 8 December 2018, I took Basic Tactical
Trauma Care given by Josh Black and Jason Rader.
Things I learned:
If you had taken such a course a few years ago, you would
have learned the ABC, Airway - Breathing - Circulation as the
order of priority of care. The modern theory is MARCHE,
Massive Hemorrhaging - Airway - Respiration/Raking - Circulation/CPR -
Head Injury/Hypothermia - Evacuation, as the priority of treatment.
We learned all kinds of professional tricks to prepare the
tourniquet and other gear so that you can use it in chaotic high
stress situations. (When your hands are slippery with blood.
When one of your arms is not working. When you can't lift your leg.
Etc.)
We watched a video in which a guy gets shot in the leg
severing his femoral artery and loses consciousness in 17 seconds.
So, we then trained to put a tourniquet on ourselves in less
than 17 seconds. Yes, as a matter of fact you can do it.
It's just a matter of deliberate, intentional, motivated practice.
Sure, it takes 3 minutes to die from loss of blood, but if you
don't get your tourniquet on before you pass out in 17 seconds,
you die. So, you have 17 seconds, not 3 minutes.
We learned how to effectively slow arterial bleeding with
aimed direct pressure, to give you time to get the tourniquet
on the victim, or to pack the wound. If you don't know exactly
where the arteries are, you are not going to be able to pinch
them off.
We executed 2 scenarios in 2-man teams. Actually
executing the things you thought you learned and practiced
in class is an essential part of training. If you don't
actually execute a tactical scenario in your class, you
don't know if you've learned anything.
We learned how to identify yourself as a good guy,
so the cops don't shoot you.
We learned how much blood a given person has and what
the symptoms are at particular levels of blood loss.
We learned how to do Blood Sweeps and Skin Rakes to
find the injuries. No, as a matter of fact it is not easy
to find an injury on a responsive subject. It is
extremely difficult on an unresponsive subject. [PJ's
(U.S. Air Force Pararescuemen) told of a person they
rescued and though they had stabilized in transport
back to base. The person died because they had failed
to find a bullet entrance wound in his armpit.]
We learned how to deal with open, closed, tension,
and hemo pneumothorax (by definition the presence of air
or gas in the pleural cavity, but it can also be blood, hemo).
We learned how to determine blood pressure by
whether or not there is a pulse at a particular location
on the body.
We learned that part of your duty is to gather
intelligence for the next level of medical care. Yes,
you have to give the Emergency Medical Technicians or
Para Medics a report, MIST, Mechanism of Injury, Injury,
Signs and Symptoms, the Treatment that you administered.
Only use real CAT or SoftT tourniquets. The cheap
counterfeits on the market don't work, which may lead to
death. The other uncertified tourniquets that you can
buy on Amazon.com don't work, that's why they are not
certified.
Using a tourniquet correctly will not cause an
amputation of the limb. Once you put the tourniquet
on, don't loosen it, don't take it off. Let the
doctor do that. If you don't have the courage and
pain tolerance to apply a tourniquet correctly,
you will stop veinal flow, but not arterial flow;
which means blood will accumulate in the limb causing
swelling and killing the tissue. So, learn how
to do it correctly!
Use Combat Gauze. It is impregnated with hemostat.
John Farnam's advice for training and everyday carry,
http://defense-training.com/thank-you/#gf_4
Please view the videos at
http://www.dtioperator.com/free-videos/
Mr. Farnam asks that you share this information.
How Handgun Training Makes You A Better Precision Rifle Shooter
https://gundigest.com/rifles/tactical-rifles/how-handgun-training-makes-you-a-better-precision-rifle-shooter
If you're wondering what the author is talking about in
regards to instructors standing down range between the targets
while students shoot at the targets, contact me, and I'll tell
you about it off line.
"You train for the people who love you."
-- Tatiana Whitlock
***** Tactics *****
Audacity wins.
-- Carl von Clausewitz
". . . personal defense is a lifestyle, not a hobby."
-- Sheriff Jim Wilson
***** Techniques *****
"The shorter the fight, the less hurt you get."
-- John Holschen
Don’t Dig the Rig #17
http://www.activeresponsetraining.net/dont-dig-the-rig-17
Greg explains why front pocket carry is a bad idea.
Ambush Prevention Strategies for Patrol Officers
http://www.activeresponsetraining.net/ambush-prevention-strategies-for-patrol-officers
Greg suggests some techniques to avoid an attack
when sitting in your car.
I tell my students, don't sit in your car to do anything.
Get into your car and go. When you get where you're going, get out.
Texting in your parked car in a dark parking lot is asking
for trouble.
Situational Awareness Tips & Drills
https://modernsurvivalblog.com/security/situational-awareness-tips/
SouthNarc’s Favorite GUN DISARM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2bkgbGFtmg&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR2SxwKlJ5zxIvtxmaKTJ-5cwOS3kd8Y8OBnLv0gM6YyvF3GoUgFtY4-5RE
Low Light Tactics for the Regular Person
https://www.integratedskillsgroup.com/blog/low-light
The picture of the Harries flashlight technique is wrong.
The support side elbow should be down, not sticking out to the side.
In the picture, the left arm is pushing the right arm up.
This is wrong. The left arm should be pushing left, while the
right arm pushes right. So, the "CON:" listed is wrong.
How do you win a gunfight? Don’t be there.
-–John Farnam
***** Gear *****
Avoidance, Deterrence, and De-escalation
-- John Farnam
Jeff Gonzales explains why he carries an extra magazine
rather than a back up gun.
https://medium.com/@jefflgonzales/two-guns-or-29c8d546850b
Who dares wins.
-- motto of the Special Air Service
***** Instructors *****
"Every time I teach a class,
I discover I don't know something."
-- Clint Smith, Director of Thunder Ranch
Teach with the knowledge that your students will teach
their friends, relatives, colleagues at work, etc. intentionally
or unintentionally. So, explain in detail why you are teaching
a particular technique. Your student should never have to
appeal to authority (no matter how great an authority you are).
Your student should always be able to convince his audience by
logical argument (without mentioning your name, because you
stole everything you teach from others). For instance, I teach
the Chapman version of the Weaver position because the advantages
are that:
1. It places your support side arm in front of the vital organs
in your torso, making it more difficult for the enemy to strike
your heart and lungs. (For those of us who do not regularly
wear body armor. If you are wearing body armor, it makes sense
to present the front of your armor to the enemy and not expose
the side of your armor.)
2. It is the same stance for pistol and long gun. So,
transitioning between the two is easier than with other positions.
3. It allows the shooter to pull with the support side arm bicep.
If the support side arm is locked out straight (as in the isosceles
stance), you can't pull with the support side arm. You have to
pull with the support side arm to prevent the muzzle from flipping
up on recoil. If the muzzle flips up on recoil, it takes longer
and is harder to get the sights on the target for the second and
subsequent shots.
4. It looks more aggressive to the enemy (a significant
psychological advantage) because it is a fighting stance similar
to a boxing stance. The body language says, “I am ready and
willing to fight.”
5. It reduces the width of the target that you present to the enemy.
This has a strong psychological affect on the enemy as it makes his
target smaller and thus reduces his confidence in hitting his target.
6. It gives the shooter a supported position when the shooter
transitions to the kneeling position or the squatting position.
7. The Harries flashlight technique uses the Weaver stance.
http://michaelharries.com/index.php
8. It flows naturally from the interview position that you
assumed, because you were aware of the situation, because
you were in condition yellow when the enemy started the incident.
If you can't explain why you are teaching the techniques
that you are teaching, you owe it to your students to do the
research, so that you can explain the reasons for using the
technique and explain the details of the technique.
Colonel Robert Lindsey to his fellow trainers:
"We are not God’s gift to our students.
Our students are God’s gift to us."
***** Pedagogy *****
"We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence is not an act.
It is a habit."
-- Aristotle
The Developmental Model
https://firearmusernetwork.com/2017/11/25/developmental-model/
Excerpt:
"I too was merely once a small arms instructor
with no understanding or appreciation for how
competition is actually the essential part of
development."
"Train, Practice, Compete are the key
elements in the development of humans."
***** Education *****
“That nation is surest to live in peace,
that is most capable of making war;
and a man with a sword always by his side,
shall have least occasion to make use of it.”
-- John Trenchard
Rangemaster Newsletter
http://rangemaster.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/2018-12_RFTS-Newsletter.pdf
Mistaken Identity Shootings
http://www.thetacticalwire.com/features/3f871d07-c5d2-4d59-bc17-46b27a0f1b88
Excerpt:
"After you had to defend yourself, put your gun
BACK IN THE HOLSTER while keeping an eye on the bad guy
so you reduce the risk of getting shot by the police."
“Destiny doesn’t make appointments,
nor does she waste her time with the naive and unready!”
-- John Farnam
***** News, Legal, Philosophical, and Political stuff *****
Civil War happens when the victimized are armed.
Genocide happens when they are not!
-- A.E. Samaan
“Red-Flag,” revisited!
http://defense-training.com/2018/red-flag-revisited/
Write to your Representative and Senator before
you lose your liberty. If you are too lazy or apathetic
to do so for yourself, do it for your children who will
have to live under these laws.
Sheriff: Woman kills jail escapee who kicks in her door
https://apnews.com/c84c1f16fb414aac990bf71670099070
Excerpt:
“This is the shining example” of why owning and
knowing how to use a gun is important, the sheriff said.
Placed in Harm’s Way, Unarmed!
http://defense-training.com/2018/placed-in-harms-way-unarmed/
Brazilian Lawmakers Push Law Recognizing Right to Own Guns for Self-Defense
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2018/12/02/brazilian-lawmakers-push-law-recognizing-right-own-guns-self-defense/
Ohio state lawmakers pass firearms bill, with
changes, in effort to avoid Gov. Kasich's veto
https://myfox28columbus.com/news/local/state-lawmakers-pass-firearms-bill-with-changes-in-effort-to-avoid-kasich-veto
This new Ohio law brings Ohio into line with the other 49
states in that the prosecutor must prove beyond a reasonable
doubt that the defendant's acts were not self-defense. Previous
Ohio law forced the defendant to prove by a preponderance of the
evidence that his act was self-defense. That's a big difference.
Andrew Branca says that even if you can afford an expert witness,
that doesn't mean you can get him to testify for you at trial. It is
at the sole discretion of the trial judge as to whether or not your
expert witness will be allowed to testify.
It is necessary, but not sufficient, for your expert witness
to be relevant. Relevant means both material (it affects legal
arguments that matter) and probative (it would help the finder of
facts reach a decision).
It doesn't matter what expertise the expert witness has,
all that matters is what expertise the judge thinks the expert
witness has. As Hayes and Ayoob explained in their lecture,
"The Firearms Instructor as Expert Witness" at the 2018 Tactical
Conference, as an expert witness, you have to convince the judge
that you are a subject matter expert and that the subject matters
to the case being tried. Manny (Emanuel) Kapelsohn also mentioned
that you have to convince the judge without causing the judge
to think that your testimony would be prejudicial.
“Totalitarian states can do great things,
but there is one thing they cannot do:
They cannot give a rifle to a factory-worker,
and then tell him to take it home and keep it in his bedroom.
That rifle, hanging on the wall of the working-class flat or
laborer’s cottage, is The symbol of Democracy!
It is our job to see that it stays there!”
-- George Orwell
***** Survival Tips *****
"If you prepare for the emergency,
the emergency ceases to exist!"
-- Dr. Sherman House
What cops need to tell their families about active shooters
https://www.policeone.com/active-shooter/articles/482011006-What-cops-need-to-tell-their-families-about-active-shooters/
Extreme Weather Driving Guide
https://www.geico.com/more/driving/auto/car-safety-insurance/extreme-weather-driving-guide/
"Staff, this stuff is basic. Why mention it in your blog?"
This information is for those who don't have a plan. They
may use this information to form their plan; to know what to do
in the event of . . .
If a person does not know what to do, he panics. If he knows
what to do, he executes his plan.
Don't go to stupid places.
Don't do stupid things.
Don't hang out with stupid people.
-- John Farnam
***** Basics *****
"Panic is simply the lack of preprogrammed responses."
-- Tom Givens
"Fear is an instinct. Courage is a choice."
-- Rear Admiral Joseph Kernan, USN
***** Miscellany *****
For the latest version (it changes almost daily)
of my lesson plans for my NRA Defensive Pistol course,
send me an email. Jon_Low@yahoo.com
Few tyrants argue for 'slavery of the masses.'
Instead, they argue for the power to
'protect people from themselves.'
-- AE Samaan
Your Servant,
Jon
Jonathan D. Low
Jon_Low@yahoo.com
Saturday, November 24, 2018
CWP, 24 November 2018 Anno Domini
Greetings Sheepdogs,
***** Mindset *****
Audacity wins.
-- Carl von Clausewitz
Read this! This is very important!
Montie’s Law of Self-Defense
http://www.wimsblog.com/2018/11/monties-law-of-self-defense/
Excerpt:
"The most effective way to end a fight is not being there to begin with.
The second most effective way is to attack first."
Helping others, defending others, is a good
and heroic thing to do. But, if there were no
risk, it would not be heroic. If there were no
risk, everyone would do it. Why do so few people
do it? Because the real risks are staggering.
https://www.news-star.com/news/20181031/suspect-in-shawnee-teens-stabbing-at-walmart-gets-life-sentences
Forget about what happened to the bad guy.
He was a worthless scum bag. Focus on what
happened to the teenage boy, the hero.
Mindset: The Cooper Color Codes
http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/mindset-the-cooper-color-codes/recreation-leisure
Excerpt:
". . . proportional deadly force . . ."
[Legally speaking, force is either deadly or non-deadly.
As then-General Colin Powell said, we want to win, so we
will use overwhelming force, not proportional force.
The context was speaking to a clueless journalist who was
complaining about how unfair it was that the big bad U.S.
was waging war on the weak innocent Iraq. -- Jon Low]
“Sheep don’t trust sheepdogs, any more than they trust wolves.”
-- Greg Hamilton
Going Armed
http://defense-training.com/2018/going-armed-3/
Excerpt:
". . . instant access to deadly weapons
is still the difference between life and death."
“Never call an unarmed man ‘security’. ”
-- Dave Grossman
Upgrade Your Language: Four Words That Make You Weak
https://blog.bulletproof.com/the-four-words-that-make-you-weak-upgrade-your-language/
"Precision of language is precision of thought."
-- Prof. Edward Melkonian,
School of Engineering and Applied Science, Columbia University
Everyday Carry: Everybody's Wrong
https://www.integratedskillsgroup.com/blog/lines-of-equipment-why-would-you-carry-all-that
"Only those who risk going too far can
possibly find out how far one can go."
-- T.S. Elliot
***** Enemy Mindset *****
Complacency kills.
No Ordinary Violence
https://samharris.org/no-ordinary-violence/
Sam has been very kind to allow me to use his writings
in my NRA Defensive Pistol courses.
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal,
it is the courage to continue that counts.”
“Never, Never, Never Give Up.”
-- Winston Churchill
***** Safety *****
“The fast and/or emphatic reholster
is an awesome way to shoot yourself.”
-- Chuck Haggard
***** Training *****
“When you aren’t skilled and confident,
you get scared and you over react.”
-- Greg Ellifritz
Dr. Sherman House is offering some courses you may be interested in,
https://civiliandefender.com/about/
Deliberate Practice
https://tacticalprofessor.wordpress.com/2018/11/24/deliberate-practice/
The primary source that Claude refers to:
The Beginner’s Guide to Deliberate Practice
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-beginner-s-guide-to-deliberate-practice-1576022377
Excerpt:
"Mindless activity is the enemy of deliberate practice.
The danger of practicing the same thing again and again
is that progress becomes assumed. Too often, we assume
we are getting better simply because we are gaining
experience. In reality, we are merely reinforcing our
current habits — not improving them."
"Perhaps the greatest difference between deliberate
practice and simple repetition is this: feedback."
[This is why it is essential that you get with your
coach, and get on the SCATT at least once a week.
Without feedback, you don't know what you are doing.
You may think you know what you are doing, but you are
probably wrong. The SCATT will tell you what you are
actually doing. For instance, James thought he was
breathing normally in prone. But, he wasn't breathing
at all. It is very easy to deceive yourself, because
you are in a high stress situation.
-- Jon Low, Level 3 rifle coach USA Shooting]
"One consistent finding across disciplines is that
coaches are often essential for sustaining deliberate
practice. In many cases, it is nearly impossible to
both perform a task and measure your progress at the
same time. Good coaches can track your progress, find
small ways to improve, and hold you accountable to
delivering your best effort each day."
"Deliberate practice is not a comfortable activity.
It requires sustained effort and concentration. The people
who master the art of deliberate practice are committed
to being lifelong learners — always exploring and
experimenting and refining."
When to walk out of a class
https://thestreetstandards.wordpress.com/2018/11/04/when-to-walk-out-of-a-class/
Ralph has contributed a great deal to our industry
over the years.
Equally important for you instructors is when to
ask a student to leave your class. Very hard to do
if you have taken money from the student. If you haven't
decided on the triggers that will cause you to expel
a student, you never will. And that would be tragic.
When I taught at Front Sight, we regularly escorted
people off the range. If the instructors are not
willing to remove unsafe people from your class, you
have to leave the class.
Strategic Edge Gun Range was open for night shooting
last night (3 Nov. 2018 A.D. till 21:00 hours), so I
practiced my flashlight techniques and my left handed
flashlight techniques on a steel plate rack and a steel
silhouette.
But before that, I shot as long as I could
in civil twilight to see how dark it had to be before:
1. I could not positively identify my target.
2. I could not clearly resolve my front sight from
my rear sight.
I lost the ability to identify my target long before
I lost the ability to resolve my front sight. This is
a big problem. Because one could confidently shoot at
unidentified blobs in low light conditions, convincing
oneself that it would be a good shoot because one could
aim correctly. I had to re-emphasize rule 4, Be Sure
Of Your Target. One of the reasons I was able resolve
my front sight in low light conditions was that machinist
Coach Hoffman had opened up my rear sight notch by
1/100th of an inch. (This is important. You need to
get this done on your sights, if you can't resolve your
front sight from your rear sight in low light conditions.
If you are using tight target sights, you need to change
sights or get your rear sight opened up. We are not
target shooting in pristine conditions. We are combat
shooting in adverse conditions.)
Putting tritium glow in the dark sights creates this
same problem, being able to aim long after you can no
longer identify your target.
I found the Harries technique allowed me to aim
by silhouetting my sights against the bright target.
I found the cheek index and crown index allow me to aim by
lighting up my sights. Different sight pictures that
need to be practiced, because they don't necessarily
give you the same point of impact. (I'm not sure why,
but I'm working on it.)
I don't have a flashlight attached to my pistol
because it's just too easy to search with the flashlight
on the pistol, which violates rule 2, Never Let The
Muzzle Cover Anything You Are Not Willing To Destroy.
You're going to use your flashlight a lot more than
your pistol, so it's best to have a hand held flashlight.
Shooting with a flashlight in the other hand
is effectively one handed shooting. So, you need to
practice one handed shooting, left and right. Just
because you're right handed, does not mean you are
going to be right handed in combat. (This goes for
knife fighting too. If you find yourself in a fight
with a knife in your secondary hand, FIGHT! Don't
attempt to transfer the knife into your primary hand.
The transfer takes time and risks losing control
of the knife. Which ever hand is not holding the
knife should be holding the front of your neck
protecting your carotid arteries. Marines are called
Leathernecks because they wore a leather collar
around their necks to protect their carotid arteries.
The enemy knows that any attempt on your part to
transfer your knife between hands is an opportunity
to attack.)
Personal-Defense Preparation: Considering Worst-Case Scenarios
https://www.shootingillustrated.com/articles/2018/11/5/personal-defense-preparation-considering-worst-case-scenarios/
Equipment is not a proxy for skill
https://tacticalprofessor.wordpress.com/2018/11/08/equipment-is-not-a-proxy-for-skill/
This is why you have to train. You have to be
the guy who gets the hit with the one and only
.22 caliber round that you have, and not the guy
who fired 15 rounds from an AR-15 and 12 rounds
from a .40-caliber pistol and missed every time
(Thus, he ended up dead from the .22 round.).
Gabe White . . . KING of the kydex SLAP!
https://civiliandefender.com/2018/11/08/gabe-white-king-of-the-kydex-slap/
Sherman's review of Gabe's pistol class,
“Pistol Shooting Solutions”.
Why Do I Need Training?
https://americanhandgunner.com/why-do-i-need-training/
Excerpt:
"Most of the skills and principles used with firearms
are contrary to our natural instincts, making it difficult
if not impossible to learn on your own. You’re gonna have
to get some training from a professional instructor."
10 Right Things To Do For CCW
https://americanhandgunner.com/10-right-things-to-do-for-ccw/
Excerpt:
"Don’t use real guns, regardless of how much you’ve “unloaded” them!"
[Reminds me of of what Prof. Alday said, "Zero is less than
one, even for very large values of zero." It wasn't a joke.
It was a measure theory class. You add up the lengths of the
points (measure zero) in the interval from zero to one and you
get the non-zero length of one. So, if you add enough (uncountably
infinite) zeros, you can get a non-zero sum. Such is the
counter-intuitive world of infinite sets.]
A friend told me that he was training to shoot with
both eyes open. I asked him how that was working for him.
He said that he was hitting off to the left. [He is shooting
right handed (which does not necessarily mean he is right
handed) and he believes he is right eye dominant. But, we
did not do an eye dominance test, as it was just a casual
conversation in church.] I explained to him that the shots
that go off to the left are because he is shooting at the
target image from his left eye. I told him to close his
left eye when shooting, just for the fraction of a second
when he releases the shot, to ensure he is aiming at what
he thinks he is aiming at. He said that his instructor
was a Navy SEAL (My friend is a Navy veteran and reveres
the SEALs. Having been a Marine and having worked in the field
with SEALs, I avoided saying anything disparaging about
his friend.) and the instructor said to keep both eyes
open all the time.
I said that an appeal to authority is not legitimate pedagogy.
I asked him to stick out his thumb at arms length.
Focus on a distant target. How many thumbs do you see?
Focus on your thumb. How many targets do you see?
If you close your non-aiming eye, you eliminate this problem.
Remember Murphy's Law, "Anything that can go wrong,
will go wrong, at the worst possible time."
So, when you are in combat, your eye dominance will change.
So, you have to close your non-aiming eye when you are
releasing the shot. You can keep both eyes open the rest
of the time.
Sheriff's Tips: Don't Drop Your Guard
https://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/2018/11/2/sheriffs-tips-dont-drop-your-guard/
Always carry your concealed pistol in the same
position.
Ask for help.
My pastor told us of Steve Jobs (of Apple Computer fame).
When he was a child (12 years old or so), he heard of the Hewlett
Packard computer company. So, he looked up Bill Hewlett in the
phone book and called him. Jobs asked Hewlett for parts, because
Jobs was trying to build a frequency counter. Hewlett was
impressed, and offered Jobs a job at HP. That's how Jobs got
his training, experience, and parts.
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who
asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who
knocks, the door will be opened."
-- Matthew 7:7-8, New International Version (NIV)
If you think you can learn this defensive pistol craft
stuff all by yourself, you are wrong. You have to ask for
help. You'll probably have to pay for that help. But, that's
okay, everyone has to eat, even firearms instructors.
Many of the wise-men have died: Jeff Cooper, Louis Awerbuck,
Pat Rogers, . . .
So, get your training while you can. Instructors don't teach
forever.
Cold weather practice - I went to the range (a private
club) to practice in cold weather. Getting to my pistol buried
under my shirt and jacket was quite a feat. But, as with
anything you practice, it gets smoother and faster with deliberate
practice.
I found that my thick leather gloves (military issue or
gardening type) did not work with my pistols. (They worked
okay with my AR-15 type rifles.) I found that thin synthetic
or kid (baby goat) skin gloves worked.
Not wearing gloves in cold weather is a mistake. Your
hands will get numb. You will lose fine motor coordination.
When you touch or hold metal objects, the heat transfer will
be efficient, causing your hands to get cold fast.
You must wear a hat. Girlfriend knitted ski caps with
floppy ears are cute. And the cuter you look, the less you
look like a threat. Remember, when the bad guy starts shooting,
he's going to shoot the threats first. That's why you never
open carry. Not even at Tennessee Firearms Association meetings
at Golden Corral (I love that place. They give us veterans
free food on Veteran's Day.). While the bad guy is shooting
the open carriers, you will have the opportunity to leave,
move to cover, or shoot the bad guy. So, open carry does
have its purpose.
"You train for the people who love you."
-- Tatiana Whitlock
***** Tactics *****
". . . personal defense is a lifestyle, not a hobby."
-- Sheriff Jim Wilson
Get Off the X: Exiting & Equalizing in a Fight
https://www.shootingillustrated.com/articles/2018/11/14/get-off-the-x-exiting-equalizing-in-a-fight/
***** Techniques *****
Avoidance, Deterrence, and De-escalation
-- John Farnam
Sneaky Draw
https://www.tridentconcepts.com/2018/11/10/sneaky-draw/
Excerpt:
"Moving one hand slowly and even using the free hand
as a distraction will go a long way."
[Magicians use distraction and misdirection all the time
to deceive their audience. Remember, inattentional blindness;
the bad guy will not see what he is not paying
attention to. -- Jon Low]
Concealed Carry Corner: Concealment Defined
https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2018/10/25/concealed-carry-corner-concealment-defined/
Excerpt:
"It is also essential that we are self-aware at all times.
This is the key to mastering concealment. Being self-aware
requires that we scrutinize everything about ourselves. If we
are unable to scrutinize ourselves then we will not be able
to be honest to ourselves. This honesty is required for us
to conceal from knowledgeable parties that are actively
searching. Concealment is managing the perception others
have of you. It is impossible to be invisible, but it is
possible to be dismissible. Blending in and looking like
any other person is required for true concealment."
Former CIA Chief Explains How Spies Use Disguises | WIRED
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JASUsVY5YJ8
This video is all about how to be the grey man. The one no one
notices. Ms. Mendez says women can disguise as men, but men
cannot disguise as women. This is an important truth to understand.
Political correctness has no place in our business.
"The shorter the fight, the less hurt you get."
-- John Holschen
Using Your Gun In Extreme Close Quarters: Why Does it Matter?
https://www.concealedcarry.com/safety/extreme-close-quarters-defense/
No criminal is going to attempt to mug you from across
the parking lot. They are going to be up close before they
reveal their intentions. Practicing with your firing side
elbow pulled as far back as it will go and the bottom of your
pistol grip pressed against your ribs, is practicing for a high
probability event. Practicing shooting at 25 yards, is
practicing for a low probability event.
Israeli Carry’s Fatal Flaw: A Case Study
https://blog.beretta.com/israeli-carrys-fatal-flaw-a-case-study
You have to carry your pistol loaded (round in the chamber),
because you won't have time to load your pistol. You have to
carry your pistol on your body, because you won't have time
to get your pistol.
How do you win a gunfight? Don’t be there.
-–John Farnam
***** Gear *****
See Through Suppressor in Super Slow Motion
(110,000 frames per second)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pOXunRYJIw
Shooting THROUGH Trees!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZgzuso-wCU
Dustin does the experiments for us.
Can't argue with empirical data.
If you are reading this blog, you are obviously a reader.
But, if you have friends who are watchers (as opposed to
readers) you could direct them to this video. It explains
why negligent discharges with the Blackhawk SERPA holster
are a design issue, not a training issue.
The Serpa Holster is Hot Garbage | Active Self Protection Extra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9xIFdCVNOI
Those of you who have been reading this blog
for a while have read the Federal Law Enforcement
Training Center and Department of the Interior letters
forbidding the SERPA holster and explaining why. If
you have not read these documents, send me an email
and I will send them to you.
Keep Your Carbine Running: Dispelling Lubrication and Cleaning Myths
https://www.swatmag.com/article/keep-carbine-running-dispelling-lubrication-cleaning-myths/
Excerpt:
"If you want to hang with the big boys, you need to understand
the basics completely, receive good initial training, practice,
and regularly take more advanced training. Have proper
cleaning protocol and use sufficient lubrication. Do periodic
maintenance and replace wear items. Anything else is just
wasting time — and perhaps lives."
Some Basic Tools to Maintain Your Firearm
https://www.concealedcarry.com/safety/basic-tools-maintain-firearm/
My comments:
"Patches, or clean squares of cotton cloth, . . . "
are fine as long as they don't have any lint. Lint build
up can foul trigger mechanisms. Turn your pockets inside
out. See that lint ball? That's what's building up in
your trigger mechanism if you don't clean it regularly.
No, you don't have to take the trigger apart (leave that
to the gunsmith). Just use a can of WD-40 with the red
plastic tube to spray out the innards of the trigger
and then use compressed air to blow out all the gunk and
excess cleaner and lubricant. (Keep your cans of
compressed air away from junkies. They will huff
your compressed air.) WD-40 is a cleaner. It is not
a lubricant.
You can also use paper coffee filters as patches.
They are clean (sanitary, not sterile) and don't have
any lint.
The modern modular pistols allow you to take the
firing mechanism (the only part with a serial number
on it) out of the frame without tools (Sig Sauer P320,
Ruger American, etc.). Don't do this.
All kinds of springs and pieces will come off, and
you'll have a hard time finding them, much less
re-assembling them correctly. Leave it to the gunsmith.
If you're using a punch, you're going too far.
Dis-assembling your pistol in a clear plastic bag
will prevent the loss of springs and small pieces. Yes,
some pistols are badly designed and small pieces will
go flying off into space when you dis-assemble.
Walther Arms PPS M2 Voluntary Safety Recall
https://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/2018/11/16/walther-arms-pps-m2-voluntary-safety-recall/
Who dares wins.
-- motto of the Special Air Service
***** Instructors *****
Colonel Robert Lindsey to his fellow trainers:
"We are not God’s gift to our students.
Our students are God’s gift to us."
WWDLD? (What Would Dave Landis Do?)
https://primaryandsecondary.com/wwdld-what-would-dave-landis-do/
Excerpt:
"Lead by example."
[Actually, all leadership is by example. You either set a good
example or a bad example. The choice is yours. -- Jon Low]
Clint Smith's take, on instructors doing demos for the students
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7Y797rkbrA
I think instructors should demo every operation for the
students. The students need to have a visual example to
copy. Not just in form, but also in timing. What is the
rhythm of this operation? At what speed is it reasonable to
perform this operation?
The instructor may need to demonstrate after the student
has tried it a few times, because only then will the student
know what to look for in the instructor's demonstration.
Remember Inattentional Blindness, if the student doesn't know
what to pay attention to, he won't see it.
How to Introduce Senior Citizens to Shooting
https://www.nrafamily.org/articles/2018/11/2/how-to-introduce-senior-citizens-to-shooting/
I always teach the fundamentals, because much of what
my students know is false.
Andrew Branca says some of his students do not come
to him with zero knowledge. They come to him with -20 knowledge.
Your students have learned from ignorant people they
associate with, movies, TV shows, the internet, incompetent
instructors, etc. Not all veterans are competent to teach
our subject. Not all police are competent to teach our subject.
Not all certified instructors are competent to teach
our subject. Sorry, but that's just the truth.
So, you have to teach the fundamentals.
Jay Hafemeister says,
"There’s a Ron White joke about being thrown out of a bar
by multiple bouncers. He didn’t know how many bouncers
it was going to take to throw him out, but he knew how
many there were.
I have a pretty reasonable expectation that I’ll never
again have to draw a pistol in response to a deadly threat.
If I do draw it, I probably won’t have to fire it.
If I do have to fire the pistol, it’ll probably only need
to be fired once or twice.
If I could get someone to carry, train, and practice
with a .22lr Ruger LCR they’d be fairly well prepared for
the vast majority of the deadly force encounters most
civilians will face.
I’d rather see them carry a Glock 17 or 19 type
pistol like I do. But . . . "
Lessons Learned as a Professional Instructor
https://www.acrossthepeak.com/blog/lessons-learned-professional-instructor
Excerpts:
". . . knowing a subject and teaching a subject are
two vastly different animals."
"If you are an instructor and you care about what you do,
FOLLOW THIS ADVICE. I guarantee that if you actually use all
of it, when you walk in to begin class you'll be confident.
You will KNOW your classroom is setup. You will KNOW everything
works. And you will KNOW if something goes wrong, it's beyond
your control and you won't stress about it. You will have
mastered your content. Your classes will flow smoothly. You
have anticipated any questions that might come up and you
know how to answer them.
Ultimately, take pride in your craft. Master it.
Own everything that you put your name on."
[Even though the title of my classes may be the same,
I have never been able to teach the same class, because
the students are always drastically different. I have
never been able to predict what we will be doing at 13:00
on Thursday, because I have always had the policy that
"We will go as fast as the slowest person in the class."
-- Jon Low]
"Every time I teach a class,
I discover I don't know something."
-- Clint Smith, Director of Thunder Ranch
***** Pedagogy *****
If you are helping someone and
expecting something in return,
you are doing business, not kindness.
"You don't have to memorize formulae.
Because you can always derive them from
first principles."
-- Prof. Sven Hartman, Physics Department, Columbia University
Yes, as a matter of fact this does apply to us.
Teach first principles. Let the student derive
tactics based on the principles and the situation.
Don't teach situation specific tactics. Because
your student will default to them, rather than relying
on first principles to decide what to do.
"But, preprogrammed responses are faster. We don't
have time to analyze during the fight."
That's only true if you're the bad guy. The good
guy has a duty to think. Which includes, but is not
limited to, the safety rules.
Yes, combat is a very difficult, complex, and
intellectual endeavor, for the good guy.
"Thinking is the hardest thing a person can do.
That's why so few people do it." -- Henry Ford (founder
of the company that did not take government bailout money.)
"We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence is not an act.
It is a habit."
-- Aristotle
***** Education *****
“That nation is surest to live in peace,
that is most capable of making war;
and a man with a sword always by his side,
shall have least occasion to make use of it.”
-- John Trenchard
Oral Histories: Massad Ayoob
http://rangemaster.com/publications/oral-histories-ayoob-2/
Excerpt:
"I don’t teach “keep it simple Stupid” cause it ain’t
simple, you ain’t stupid, and basically the more tools you
have the better you’re gonna be . . . the more techniques
you’re going to know . . . the better practitioner and
diagnostician you’re gonna be."
"Essentially the single thing I’d have to say is sighted fire."
"I think the labels are important."
[As I tell my students,
precision of language is precision of thought.
-- Jon Low]
Revisiting the "21-Foot Rule"
http://www.policemag.com/channel/weapons/articles/2014/09/revisiting-the-21-foot-rule.aspx
Excerpt:
However, research of actual OIS (Officer Involved Shootings)
incidents has shown that officers can only accurately hit
their moving assailants 14% of the time in life-or-death
situations from distances of only two to 10 feet. On the
other hand, assailants were able to successfully engage
and hit officers 68% of the time within those same distances.
[Think about why this is so, in high stress combat situations.
It's hard to hit a moving target when you are stationary.
It's extremely difficult to hit a stationary target when
you're moving. It's effectively impossible to hit a moving
target while you are moving .
Unlike the bad guy, you have a duty to avoid hitting
the bystanders. So, you should be shooting from a
stationary position. Hopefully, from behind cover.
If no cover exists, from the lowest position you can use.
-- Jon Low]
Erik Tweedt posted videos of a squib load firing
https://www.facebook.com/ArchetypeoftheGun/videos/306226903310924/
and a video of the recovered cartridge
https://www.facebook.com/ArchetypeoftheGun/videos/2133775303540416/
Note that the bullet did not leave the case. Rather,
the gasses escaped through the primer hole.
Spreading Lies
http://pistol-training.com/archives/8621
[The reason you have to be able to shoot tight groups
in training and the reason you have to practice to get into
the habit of shooting tight groups, is because in a high
stress situation your groups will open up quite a bit.
-- Jon Low]
***** News, Legal, Philosophical, and Political stuff *****
Civil War happens when the victimized are armed.
Genocide happens when they are not!
-- A.E. Samaan
The Azana Day Spa Shooting
http://www.activeresponsetraining.net/the-azana-day-spa-shooting
Lessons learned:
Gun-free-zones are not safe.
Restraining orders and protection orders don't stop bad guys from killing you.
Sometimes it takes the police 6 HOURS to get to you.
You'll bleed to death in 3 minutes. STOP THE BLEEDING!
You'll suffer brain damage from lack of oxygenated blood
to the brain in 6 minutes. START CPR!
Suffocation takes a bit longer. START MOUTH TO MOUTH RESUSCITATION!
You've got to practice, so you can get that tourniquet on in 30 seconds.
You have to have a tourniquet.
Good Guys Win
https://www.swatmag.com/articles/more-articles/good-guys-win/
“Destiny doesn’t make appointments,
nor does she waste her time with the naive and unready!”
-- John Farnam
A List of States That Allow Concealed Guns on Campus
https://www.campussafetymagazine.com/university/list-of-states-that-allow-concealed-carry-guns-on-campus/
Sunny Italy!
http://defense-training.com/2018/sunny-italy/
Excerpt: (paraphrased)
In September 2018 A.D., Matteo Salvini, a daring, pro-gun, pro-police,
pro-freedom populist, and Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister,
engineered legislation that eased Italy’s gun laws,
de-restricting military small arms and made it possible
for Italian citizens to own them. He also changed
the legal definition of self-defense, making criminal
prosecutions of citizens who bravely defend themselves
from violent criminals, less likely. Citizens are
enthusiastically responding by applying for licenses,
and buying guns, at a record, and accelerating, pace!
ATF Inconsistencies Does Not Pass Muster In Court – This Is Not A Stock
https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2018/11/06/atf-inconsistencies-does-not-pass-muster-in-court-this-is-not-a-stock/
Sixty-seven defensive gun uses by people legally
carrying guns in public over the past three months
https://crimeresearch.org/2018/10/sixty-eight-defensive-gun-uses-by-people-legally-carrying-guns-in-public-over-the-past-three-months/
Company gives guns to all its employees for
a 'unique and memorable' Christmas gift
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/company-gives-guns-employees-unique-memorable-christmas-gift-190418122.html
Some legal opinions -
https://www.facebook.com/pg/munitionsgroup/videos/?ref=page_internal
THE GUN LAWYER - Criminal Gun Defense
https://www.facebook.com/munitionsgroup/videos/489759294732208/
Excerpt: (paraphrased)
After the use of lethal force in self-defense,
Don't say anything. (Think about the condition you are
going to be in.) Everything you say will be used against you.
When you are able to sit calmly with your attorney
and discuss the matter, then you can decide what to
say to the police.
Cops are trained not to say anything after an officer
involved shooting. This is policy in every police department.
So, why in the world would you say anything?
[Guns and guitars, yeah!]
Massacre at Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, California
was in another Gun-free zone: 12 murdered, 18 injured
https://crimeresearch.org/2018/11/massacre-at-borderline-bar-grill-in-thousand-oaks-california-was-in-another-gun-free-zone-12-murdered-18-injured/
Statistically speaking, all mass murders occur in gun-free-zones.
Why? Two reasons:
1. In any place with armed citizens, the bad guy is immediately
stopped. So, there is no mass murder. So, there is no report
of a mass murder.
2. Criminals may or may not be crazy, but they are not stupid.
The criminal is going to choose to attack in a gun-free-zone
so he doesn't get hurt.
The purpose of gun-free-zones is to create unarmed victims
for armed criminals to prey upon. This is the evil that the
Bible warns us about. Jesus tells us to carry sidearms,
book of Luke 22:36.
VIDEO: Armed bystander backs down DV stabbing suspect at Seattle Center
https://q13fox.com/2018/11/02/video-armed-bystander-backs-down-seattle-center-domestic-violence-stabbing-suspect/
Defense of others ain't easy.
Concealed Carry Handgun Laws By State
https://www.concealedcarrytoday.com/concealed-carry-firearms-laws-for-the-50-u-s-states/
Where is it Legal to Carry a Concealed Handgun in TN?
https://www.concealedcarrytoday.com/where-is-it-legal-to-carry-a-concealed-weapon-in-tn/
“Totalitarian states can do great things,
but there is one thing they cannot do:
They cannot give a rifle to a factory-worker,
and then tell him to take it home and keep it in his bedroom.
That rifle, hanging on the wall of the working-class flat or
laborer’s cottage, is The symbol of Democracy!
It is our job to see that it stays there!”
-- George Orwell
***** Survival Tips *****
"If you prepare for the emergency,
the emergency ceases to exist!"
-- Dr. Sherman House
“Unarmed” Police?
http://defense-training.com/2018/unarmed-police-2/
Why were 6 police officers in the night club
unarmed? Because the night club was a gun-free-zone.
All mass murders occur in gun-free-zones. Criminals
may be crazy, but they are not stupid. Gun-free-zones
create unarmed victims for armed criminals to prey
upon. Rush Limbaugh mentioned the non-mass-murder
at the McDonalds in Alabama last week. No reports
in the liberal media, because the father (who was
there with his two sons) immediately shot the
masked man (who burst into the McDonalds and started
shooting at people). No mass murder, therefore no news
reports. Mass murders do not occur where armed
citizens exist. Gun-free-zones are stupid places.
Don't go to stupid places. Don't send your children
into stupid places. No, you don't have to send
your children to government schools. You can send
your kids to private schools (scholarships exist if
you ask for them). You can home school your kids.
(You don't have to do it yourself. You can get
together with like minded parents and take turns
teaching, going on field trips, and such.)
You May Be Strong . . . But Are You Tough?
https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/you-may-be-strong-but-are-you-tough/
Excerpt:
Think Positive
Most of us have an internal monologue going on in our heads,
telling our own story. How this sounds depends on our view
of ourselves and external stimuli. If you’ve always been
good at schoolwork, you might envision yourself as “smart,”
but maybe not “strong” or “charming.”
The thing is, these definitions are mostly arbitrary.
Anyone who works hard enough at academics can do well in school,
and anyone who trains hard enough can do well in sports.
Whether or not we are willing and able to push ourselves hard
enough to do well often depends on that internal story.
So, the simple solution is to only accept positive self-talk.
This is a common tactic of the super-successful, and is standard
fare in such personal development classics as Dale Carnegie’s
"How to Win Friends and Influence People", Napoleon Hill’s
"Think and Grow Rich", and Stephen R. Covey’s
"The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People".
[In Marine Corps boot camp in 1981, we never used hot
water when taking a shower. My son tells me that when he
went through boot camp in 2008, they only had hot water a
couple of times to prevent hypothermia. -- Jon Low]
This link is to Greg Ellifrizt's
"Weekend Knowledge Dump - November 23, 2018"
http://www.activeresponsetraining.net/weekend-knowledge-dump-november-23-2018
Please read the article,
"Florida Deputies Had Difficulty Remembering Mass-Shooter Training"
and Greg's comments. This is reality. The police are not capable of rescuing
your children at their school. They never have been.
Tactical Combat Casualty Care guidelines
https://www.jsomonline.org/TCCC/00%20TCCC-AC%20Guidelines/TCCC%20Guidelines%20for%20All%20Combatants%201708.pdf
Don't go to stupid places.
Don't do stupid things.
Don't hang out with stupid people.
-- John Farnam
***** Basics *****
"Panic is simply the lack of preprogrammed responses."
-- Tom Givens
"Fear is an instinct. Courage is a choice."
-- Rear Admiral Joseph Kernan, USN
***** Miscellany *****
For the latest version (it changes almost daily)
of my lesson plans for my NRA Defensive Pistol course,
send me an email. Jon_Low@yahoo.com
Few tyrants argue for 'slavery of the masses.'
Instead, they argue for the power to
'protect people from themselves.'
-- AE Samaan
Cheers,
Jon
Jonathan D. Low
Jon_Low@yahoo.com
***** Mindset *****
Audacity wins.
-- Carl von Clausewitz
Read this! This is very important!
Montie’s Law of Self-Defense
http://www.wimsblog.com/2018/11/monties-law-of-self-defense/
Excerpt:
"The most effective way to end a fight is not being there to begin with.
The second most effective way is to attack first."
Helping others, defending others, is a good
and heroic thing to do. But, if there were no
risk, it would not be heroic. If there were no
risk, everyone would do it. Why do so few people
do it? Because the real risks are staggering.
https://www.news-star.com/news/20181031/suspect-in-shawnee-teens-stabbing-at-walmart-gets-life-sentences
Forget about what happened to the bad guy.
He was a worthless scum bag. Focus on what
happened to the teenage boy, the hero.
Mindset: The Cooper Color Codes
http://exclusive.multibriefs.com/content/mindset-the-cooper-color-codes/recreation-leisure
Excerpt:
". . . proportional deadly force . . ."
[Legally speaking, force is either deadly or non-deadly.
As then-General Colin Powell said, we want to win, so we
will use overwhelming force, not proportional force.
The context was speaking to a clueless journalist who was
complaining about how unfair it was that the big bad U.S.
was waging war on the weak innocent Iraq. -- Jon Low]
“Sheep don’t trust sheepdogs, any more than they trust wolves.”
-- Greg Hamilton
Going Armed
http://defense-training.com/2018/going-armed-3/
Excerpt:
". . . instant access to deadly weapons
is still the difference between life and death."
“Never call an unarmed man ‘security’. ”
-- Dave Grossman
Upgrade Your Language: Four Words That Make You Weak
https://blog.bulletproof.com/the-four-words-that-make-you-weak-upgrade-your-language/
"Precision of language is precision of thought."
-- Prof. Edward Melkonian,
School of Engineering and Applied Science, Columbia University
Everyday Carry: Everybody's Wrong
https://www.integratedskillsgroup.com/blog/lines-of-equipment-why-would-you-carry-all-that
"Only those who risk going too far can
possibly find out how far one can go."
-- T.S. Elliot
***** Enemy Mindset *****
Complacency kills.
No Ordinary Violence
https://samharris.org/no-ordinary-violence/
Sam has been very kind to allow me to use his writings
in my NRA Defensive Pistol courses.
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal,
it is the courage to continue that counts.”
“Never, Never, Never Give Up.”
-- Winston Churchill
***** Safety *****
“The fast and/or emphatic reholster
is an awesome way to shoot yourself.”
-- Chuck Haggard
***** Training *****
“When you aren’t skilled and confident,
you get scared and you over react.”
-- Greg Ellifritz
Dr. Sherman House is offering some courses you may be interested in,
https://civiliandefender.com/about/
Deliberate Practice
https://tacticalprofessor.wordpress.com/2018/11/24/deliberate-practice/
The primary source that Claude refers to:
The Beginner’s Guide to Deliberate Practice
https://getpocket.com/explore/item/the-beginner-s-guide-to-deliberate-practice-1576022377
Excerpt:
"Mindless activity is the enemy of deliberate practice.
The danger of practicing the same thing again and again
is that progress becomes assumed. Too often, we assume
we are getting better simply because we are gaining
experience. In reality, we are merely reinforcing our
current habits — not improving them."
"Perhaps the greatest difference between deliberate
practice and simple repetition is this: feedback."
[This is why it is essential that you get with your
coach, and get on the SCATT at least once a week.
Without feedback, you don't know what you are doing.
You may think you know what you are doing, but you are
probably wrong. The SCATT will tell you what you are
actually doing. For instance, James thought he was
breathing normally in prone. But, he wasn't breathing
at all. It is very easy to deceive yourself, because
you are in a high stress situation.
-- Jon Low, Level 3 rifle coach USA Shooting]
"One consistent finding across disciplines is that
coaches are often essential for sustaining deliberate
practice. In many cases, it is nearly impossible to
both perform a task and measure your progress at the
same time. Good coaches can track your progress, find
small ways to improve, and hold you accountable to
delivering your best effort each day."
"Deliberate practice is not a comfortable activity.
It requires sustained effort and concentration. The people
who master the art of deliberate practice are committed
to being lifelong learners — always exploring and
experimenting and refining."
When to walk out of a class
https://thestreetstandards.wordpress.com/2018/11/04/when-to-walk-out-of-a-class/
Ralph has contributed a great deal to our industry
over the years.
Equally important for you instructors is when to
ask a student to leave your class. Very hard to do
if you have taken money from the student. If you haven't
decided on the triggers that will cause you to expel
a student, you never will. And that would be tragic.
When I taught at Front Sight, we regularly escorted
people off the range. If the instructors are not
willing to remove unsafe people from your class, you
have to leave the class.
Strategic Edge Gun Range was open for night shooting
last night (3 Nov. 2018 A.D. till 21:00 hours), so I
practiced my flashlight techniques and my left handed
flashlight techniques on a steel plate rack and a steel
silhouette.
But before that, I shot as long as I could
in civil twilight to see how dark it had to be before:
1. I could not positively identify my target.
2. I could not clearly resolve my front sight from
my rear sight.
I lost the ability to identify my target long before
I lost the ability to resolve my front sight. This is
a big problem. Because one could confidently shoot at
unidentified blobs in low light conditions, convincing
oneself that it would be a good shoot because one could
aim correctly. I had to re-emphasize rule 4, Be Sure
Of Your Target. One of the reasons I was able resolve
my front sight in low light conditions was that machinist
Coach Hoffman had opened up my rear sight notch by
1/100th of an inch. (This is important. You need to
get this done on your sights, if you can't resolve your
front sight from your rear sight in low light conditions.
If you are using tight target sights, you need to change
sights or get your rear sight opened up. We are not
target shooting in pristine conditions. We are combat
shooting in adverse conditions.)
Putting tritium glow in the dark sights creates this
same problem, being able to aim long after you can no
longer identify your target.
I found the Harries technique allowed me to aim
by silhouetting my sights against the bright target.
I found the cheek index and crown index allow me to aim by
lighting up my sights. Different sight pictures that
need to be practiced, because they don't necessarily
give you the same point of impact. (I'm not sure why,
but I'm working on it.)
I don't have a flashlight attached to my pistol
because it's just too easy to search with the flashlight
on the pistol, which violates rule 2, Never Let The
Muzzle Cover Anything You Are Not Willing To Destroy.
You're going to use your flashlight a lot more than
your pistol, so it's best to have a hand held flashlight.
Shooting with a flashlight in the other hand
is effectively one handed shooting. So, you need to
practice one handed shooting, left and right. Just
because you're right handed, does not mean you are
going to be right handed in combat. (This goes for
knife fighting too. If you find yourself in a fight
with a knife in your secondary hand, FIGHT! Don't
attempt to transfer the knife into your primary hand.
The transfer takes time and risks losing control
of the knife. Which ever hand is not holding the
knife should be holding the front of your neck
protecting your carotid arteries. Marines are called
Leathernecks because they wore a leather collar
around their necks to protect their carotid arteries.
The enemy knows that any attempt on your part to
transfer your knife between hands is an opportunity
to attack.)
Personal-Defense Preparation: Considering Worst-Case Scenarios
https://www.shootingillustrated.com/articles/2018/11/5/personal-defense-preparation-considering-worst-case-scenarios/
Equipment is not a proxy for skill
https://tacticalprofessor.wordpress.com/2018/11/08/equipment-is-not-a-proxy-for-skill/
This is why you have to train. You have to be
the guy who gets the hit with the one and only
.22 caliber round that you have, and not the guy
who fired 15 rounds from an AR-15 and 12 rounds
from a .40-caliber pistol and missed every time
(Thus, he ended up dead from the .22 round.).
Gabe White . . . KING of the kydex SLAP!
https://civiliandefender.com/2018/11/08/gabe-white-king-of-the-kydex-slap/
Sherman's review of Gabe's pistol class,
“Pistol Shooting Solutions”.
Why Do I Need Training?
https://americanhandgunner.com/why-do-i-need-training/
Excerpt:
"Most of the skills and principles used with firearms
are contrary to our natural instincts, making it difficult
if not impossible to learn on your own. You’re gonna have
to get some training from a professional instructor."
10 Right Things To Do For CCW
https://americanhandgunner.com/10-right-things-to-do-for-ccw/
Excerpt:
"Don’t use real guns, regardless of how much you’ve “unloaded” them!"
[Reminds me of of what Prof. Alday said, "Zero is less than
one, even for very large values of zero." It wasn't a joke.
It was a measure theory class. You add up the lengths of the
points (measure zero) in the interval from zero to one and you
get the non-zero length of one. So, if you add enough (uncountably
infinite) zeros, you can get a non-zero sum. Such is the
counter-intuitive world of infinite sets.]
A friend told me that he was training to shoot with
both eyes open. I asked him how that was working for him.
He said that he was hitting off to the left. [He is shooting
right handed (which does not necessarily mean he is right
handed) and he believes he is right eye dominant. But, we
did not do an eye dominance test, as it was just a casual
conversation in church.] I explained to him that the shots
that go off to the left are because he is shooting at the
target image from his left eye. I told him to close his
left eye when shooting, just for the fraction of a second
when he releases the shot, to ensure he is aiming at what
he thinks he is aiming at. He said that his instructor
was a Navy SEAL (My friend is a Navy veteran and reveres
the SEALs. Having been a Marine and having worked in the field
with SEALs, I avoided saying anything disparaging about
his friend.) and the instructor said to keep both eyes
open all the time.
I said that an appeal to authority is not legitimate pedagogy.
I asked him to stick out his thumb at arms length.
Focus on a distant target. How many thumbs do you see?
Focus on your thumb. How many targets do you see?
If you close your non-aiming eye, you eliminate this problem.
Remember Murphy's Law, "Anything that can go wrong,
will go wrong, at the worst possible time."
So, when you are in combat, your eye dominance will change.
So, you have to close your non-aiming eye when you are
releasing the shot. You can keep both eyes open the rest
of the time.
Sheriff's Tips: Don't Drop Your Guard
https://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/2018/11/2/sheriffs-tips-dont-drop-your-guard/
Always carry your concealed pistol in the same
position.
Ask for help.
My pastor told us of Steve Jobs (of Apple Computer fame).
When he was a child (12 years old or so), he heard of the Hewlett
Packard computer company. So, he looked up Bill Hewlett in the
phone book and called him. Jobs asked Hewlett for parts, because
Jobs was trying to build a frequency counter. Hewlett was
impressed, and offered Jobs a job at HP. That's how Jobs got
his training, experience, and parts.
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find;
knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who
asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who
knocks, the door will be opened."
-- Matthew 7:7-8, New International Version (NIV)
If you think you can learn this defensive pistol craft
stuff all by yourself, you are wrong. You have to ask for
help. You'll probably have to pay for that help. But, that's
okay, everyone has to eat, even firearms instructors.
Many of the wise-men have died: Jeff Cooper, Louis Awerbuck,
Pat Rogers, . . .
So, get your training while you can. Instructors don't teach
forever.
Cold weather practice - I went to the range (a private
club) to practice in cold weather. Getting to my pistol buried
under my shirt and jacket was quite a feat. But, as with
anything you practice, it gets smoother and faster with deliberate
practice.
I found that my thick leather gloves (military issue or
gardening type) did not work with my pistols. (They worked
okay with my AR-15 type rifles.) I found that thin synthetic
or kid (baby goat) skin gloves worked.
Not wearing gloves in cold weather is a mistake. Your
hands will get numb. You will lose fine motor coordination.
When you touch or hold metal objects, the heat transfer will
be efficient, causing your hands to get cold fast.
You must wear a hat. Girlfriend knitted ski caps with
floppy ears are cute. And the cuter you look, the less you
look like a threat. Remember, when the bad guy starts shooting,
he's going to shoot the threats first. That's why you never
open carry. Not even at Tennessee Firearms Association meetings
at Golden Corral (I love that place. They give us veterans
free food on Veteran's Day.). While the bad guy is shooting
the open carriers, you will have the opportunity to leave,
move to cover, or shoot the bad guy. So, open carry does
have its purpose.
"You train for the people who love you."
-- Tatiana Whitlock
***** Tactics *****
". . . personal defense is a lifestyle, not a hobby."
-- Sheriff Jim Wilson
Get Off the X: Exiting & Equalizing in a Fight
https://www.shootingillustrated.com/articles/2018/11/14/get-off-the-x-exiting-equalizing-in-a-fight/
***** Techniques *****
Avoidance, Deterrence, and De-escalation
-- John Farnam
Sneaky Draw
https://www.tridentconcepts.com/2018/11/10/sneaky-draw/
Excerpt:
"Moving one hand slowly and even using the free hand
as a distraction will go a long way."
[Magicians use distraction and misdirection all the time
to deceive their audience. Remember, inattentional blindness;
the bad guy will not see what he is not paying
attention to. -- Jon Low]
Concealed Carry Corner: Concealment Defined
https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2018/10/25/concealed-carry-corner-concealment-defined/
Excerpt:
"It is also essential that we are self-aware at all times.
This is the key to mastering concealment. Being self-aware
requires that we scrutinize everything about ourselves. If we
are unable to scrutinize ourselves then we will not be able
to be honest to ourselves. This honesty is required for us
to conceal from knowledgeable parties that are actively
searching. Concealment is managing the perception others
have of you. It is impossible to be invisible, but it is
possible to be dismissible. Blending in and looking like
any other person is required for true concealment."
Former CIA Chief Explains How Spies Use Disguises | WIRED
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JASUsVY5YJ8
This video is all about how to be the grey man. The one no one
notices. Ms. Mendez says women can disguise as men, but men
cannot disguise as women. This is an important truth to understand.
Political correctness has no place in our business.
"The shorter the fight, the less hurt you get."
-- John Holschen
Using Your Gun In Extreme Close Quarters: Why Does it Matter?
https://www.concealedcarry.com/safety/extreme-close-quarters-defense/
No criminal is going to attempt to mug you from across
the parking lot. They are going to be up close before they
reveal their intentions. Practicing with your firing side
elbow pulled as far back as it will go and the bottom of your
pistol grip pressed against your ribs, is practicing for a high
probability event. Practicing shooting at 25 yards, is
practicing for a low probability event.
Israeli Carry’s Fatal Flaw: A Case Study
https://blog.beretta.com/israeli-carrys-fatal-flaw-a-case-study
You have to carry your pistol loaded (round in the chamber),
because you won't have time to load your pistol. You have to
carry your pistol on your body, because you won't have time
to get your pistol.
How do you win a gunfight? Don’t be there.
-–John Farnam
***** Gear *****
See Through Suppressor in Super Slow Motion
(110,000 frames per second)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pOXunRYJIw
Shooting THROUGH Trees!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZgzuso-wCU
Dustin does the experiments for us.
Can't argue with empirical data.
If you are reading this blog, you are obviously a reader.
But, if you have friends who are watchers (as opposed to
readers) you could direct them to this video. It explains
why negligent discharges with the Blackhawk SERPA holster
are a design issue, not a training issue.
The Serpa Holster is Hot Garbage | Active Self Protection Extra
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9xIFdCVNOI
Those of you who have been reading this blog
for a while have read the Federal Law Enforcement
Training Center and Department of the Interior letters
forbidding the SERPA holster and explaining why. If
you have not read these documents, send me an email
and I will send them to you.
Keep Your Carbine Running: Dispelling Lubrication and Cleaning Myths
https://www.swatmag.com/article/keep-carbine-running-dispelling-lubrication-cleaning-myths/
Excerpt:
"If you want to hang with the big boys, you need to understand
the basics completely, receive good initial training, practice,
and regularly take more advanced training. Have proper
cleaning protocol and use sufficient lubrication. Do periodic
maintenance and replace wear items. Anything else is just
wasting time — and perhaps lives."
Some Basic Tools to Maintain Your Firearm
https://www.concealedcarry.com/safety/basic-tools-maintain-firearm/
My comments:
"Patches, or clean squares of cotton cloth, . . . "
are fine as long as they don't have any lint. Lint build
up can foul trigger mechanisms. Turn your pockets inside
out. See that lint ball? That's what's building up in
your trigger mechanism if you don't clean it regularly.
No, you don't have to take the trigger apart (leave that
to the gunsmith). Just use a can of WD-40 with the red
plastic tube to spray out the innards of the trigger
and then use compressed air to blow out all the gunk and
excess cleaner and lubricant. (Keep your cans of
compressed air away from junkies. They will huff
your compressed air.) WD-40 is a cleaner. It is not
a lubricant.
You can also use paper coffee filters as patches.
They are clean (sanitary, not sterile) and don't have
any lint.
The modern modular pistols allow you to take the
firing mechanism (the only part with a serial number
on it) out of the frame without tools (Sig Sauer P320,
Ruger American, etc.). Don't do this.
All kinds of springs and pieces will come off, and
you'll have a hard time finding them, much less
re-assembling them correctly. Leave it to the gunsmith.
If you're using a punch, you're going too far.
Dis-assembling your pistol in a clear plastic bag
will prevent the loss of springs and small pieces. Yes,
some pistols are badly designed and small pieces will
go flying off into space when you dis-assemble.
Walther Arms PPS M2 Voluntary Safety Recall
https://www.americanrifleman.org/articles/2018/11/16/walther-arms-pps-m2-voluntary-safety-recall/
Who dares wins.
-- motto of the Special Air Service
***** Instructors *****
Colonel Robert Lindsey to his fellow trainers:
"We are not God’s gift to our students.
Our students are God’s gift to us."
WWDLD? (What Would Dave Landis Do?)
https://primaryandsecondary.com/wwdld-what-would-dave-landis-do/
Excerpt:
"Lead by example."
[Actually, all leadership is by example. You either set a good
example or a bad example. The choice is yours. -- Jon Low]
Clint Smith's take, on instructors doing demos for the students
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7Y797rkbrA
I think instructors should demo every operation for the
students. The students need to have a visual example to
copy. Not just in form, but also in timing. What is the
rhythm of this operation? At what speed is it reasonable to
perform this operation?
The instructor may need to demonstrate after the student
has tried it a few times, because only then will the student
know what to look for in the instructor's demonstration.
Remember Inattentional Blindness, if the student doesn't know
what to pay attention to, he won't see it.
How to Introduce Senior Citizens to Shooting
https://www.nrafamily.org/articles/2018/11/2/how-to-introduce-senior-citizens-to-shooting/
I always teach the fundamentals, because much of what
my students know is false.
Andrew Branca says some of his students do not come
to him with zero knowledge. They come to him with -20 knowledge.
Your students have learned from ignorant people they
associate with, movies, TV shows, the internet, incompetent
instructors, etc. Not all veterans are competent to teach
our subject. Not all police are competent to teach our subject.
Not all certified instructors are competent to teach
our subject. Sorry, but that's just the truth.
So, you have to teach the fundamentals.
Jay Hafemeister says,
"There’s a Ron White joke about being thrown out of a bar
by multiple bouncers. He didn’t know how many bouncers
it was going to take to throw him out, but he knew how
many there were.
I have a pretty reasonable expectation that I’ll never
again have to draw a pistol in response to a deadly threat.
If I do draw it, I probably won’t have to fire it.
If I do have to fire the pistol, it’ll probably only need
to be fired once or twice.
If I could get someone to carry, train, and practice
with a .22lr Ruger LCR they’d be fairly well prepared for
the vast majority of the deadly force encounters most
civilians will face.
I’d rather see them carry a Glock 17 or 19 type
pistol like I do. But . . . "
Lessons Learned as a Professional Instructor
https://www.acrossthepeak.com/blog/lessons-learned-professional-instructor
Excerpts:
". . . knowing a subject and teaching a subject are
two vastly different animals."
"If you are an instructor and you care about what you do,
FOLLOW THIS ADVICE. I guarantee that if you actually use all
of it, when you walk in to begin class you'll be confident.
You will KNOW your classroom is setup. You will KNOW everything
works. And you will KNOW if something goes wrong, it's beyond
your control and you won't stress about it. You will have
mastered your content. Your classes will flow smoothly. You
have anticipated any questions that might come up and you
know how to answer them.
Ultimately, take pride in your craft. Master it.
Own everything that you put your name on."
[Even though the title of my classes may be the same,
I have never been able to teach the same class, because
the students are always drastically different. I have
never been able to predict what we will be doing at 13:00
on Thursday, because I have always had the policy that
"We will go as fast as the slowest person in the class."
-- Jon Low]
"Every time I teach a class,
I discover I don't know something."
-- Clint Smith, Director of Thunder Ranch
***** Pedagogy *****
If you are helping someone and
expecting something in return,
you are doing business, not kindness.
"You don't have to memorize formulae.
Because you can always derive them from
first principles."
-- Prof. Sven Hartman, Physics Department, Columbia University
Yes, as a matter of fact this does apply to us.
Teach first principles. Let the student derive
tactics based on the principles and the situation.
Don't teach situation specific tactics. Because
your student will default to them, rather than relying
on first principles to decide what to do.
"But, preprogrammed responses are faster. We don't
have time to analyze during the fight."
That's only true if you're the bad guy. The good
guy has a duty to think. Which includes, but is not
limited to, the safety rules.
Yes, combat is a very difficult, complex, and
intellectual endeavor, for the good guy.
"Thinking is the hardest thing a person can do.
That's why so few people do it." -- Henry Ford (founder
of the company that did not take government bailout money.)
"We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence is not an act.
It is a habit."
-- Aristotle
***** Education *****
“That nation is surest to live in peace,
that is most capable of making war;
and a man with a sword always by his side,
shall have least occasion to make use of it.”
-- John Trenchard
Oral Histories: Massad Ayoob
http://rangemaster.com/publications/oral-histories-ayoob-2/
Excerpt:
"I don’t teach “keep it simple Stupid” cause it ain’t
simple, you ain’t stupid, and basically the more tools you
have the better you’re gonna be . . . the more techniques
you’re going to know . . . the better practitioner and
diagnostician you’re gonna be."
"Essentially the single thing I’d have to say is sighted fire."
"I think the labels are important."
[As I tell my students,
precision of language is precision of thought.
-- Jon Low]
Revisiting the "21-Foot Rule"
http://www.policemag.com/channel/weapons/articles/2014/09/revisiting-the-21-foot-rule.aspx
Excerpt:
However, research of actual OIS (Officer Involved Shootings)
incidents has shown that officers can only accurately hit
their moving assailants 14% of the time in life-or-death
situations from distances of only two to 10 feet. On the
other hand, assailants were able to successfully engage
and hit officers 68% of the time within those same distances.
[Think about why this is so, in high stress combat situations.
It's hard to hit a moving target when you are stationary.
It's extremely difficult to hit a stationary target when
you're moving. It's effectively impossible to hit a moving
target while you are moving .
Unlike the bad guy, you have a duty to avoid hitting
the bystanders. So, you should be shooting from a
stationary position. Hopefully, from behind cover.
If no cover exists, from the lowest position you can use.
-- Jon Low]
Erik Tweedt posted videos of a squib load firing
https://www.facebook.com/ArchetypeoftheGun/videos/306226903310924/
and a video of the recovered cartridge
https://www.facebook.com/ArchetypeoftheGun/videos/2133775303540416/
Note that the bullet did not leave the case. Rather,
the gasses escaped through the primer hole.
Spreading Lies
http://pistol-training.com/archives/8621
[The reason you have to be able to shoot tight groups
in training and the reason you have to practice to get into
the habit of shooting tight groups, is because in a high
stress situation your groups will open up quite a bit.
-- Jon Low]
***** News, Legal, Philosophical, and Political stuff *****
Civil War happens when the victimized are armed.
Genocide happens when they are not!
-- A.E. Samaan
The Azana Day Spa Shooting
http://www.activeresponsetraining.net/the-azana-day-spa-shooting
Lessons learned:
Gun-free-zones are not safe.
Restraining orders and protection orders don't stop bad guys from killing you.
Sometimes it takes the police 6 HOURS to get to you.
You'll bleed to death in 3 minutes. STOP THE BLEEDING!
You'll suffer brain damage from lack of oxygenated blood
to the brain in 6 minutes. START CPR!
Suffocation takes a bit longer. START MOUTH TO MOUTH RESUSCITATION!
You've got to practice, so you can get that tourniquet on in 30 seconds.
You have to have a tourniquet.
Good Guys Win
https://www.swatmag.com/articles/more-articles/good-guys-win/
“Destiny doesn’t make appointments,
nor does she waste her time with the naive and unready!”
-- John Farnam
A List of States That Allow Concealed Guns on Campus
https://www.campussafetymagazine.com/university/list-of-states-that-allow-concealed-carry-guns-on-campus/
Sunny Italy!
http://defense-training.com/2018/sunny-italy/
Excerpt: (paraphrased)
In September 2018 A.D., Matteo Salvini, a daring, pro-gun, pro-police,
pro-freedom populist, and Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister,
engineered legislation that eased Italy’s gun laws,
de-restricting military small arms and made it possible
for Italian citizens to own them. He also changed
the legal definition of self-defense, making criminal
prosecutions of citizens who bravely defend themselves
from violent criminals, less likely. Citizens are
enthusiastically responding by applying for licenses,
and buying guns, at a record, and accelerating, pace!
ATF Inconsistencies Does Not Pass Muster In Court – This Is Not A Stock
https://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2018/11/06/atf-inconsistencies-does-not-pass-muster-in-court-this-is-not-a-stock/
Sixty-seven defensive gun uses by people legally
carrying guns in public over the past three months
https://crimeresearch.org/2018/10/sixty-eight-defensive-gun-uses-by-people-legally-carrying-guns-in-public-over-the-past-three-months/
Company gives guns to all its employees for
a 'unique and memorable' Christmas gift
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/company-gives-guns-employees-unique-memorable-christmas-gift-190418122.html
Some legal opinions -
https://www.facebook.com/pg/munitionsgroup/videos/?ref=page_internal
THE GUN LAWYER - Criminal Gun Defense
https://www.facebook.com/munitionsgroup/videos/489759294732208/
Excerpt: (paraphrased)
After the use of lethal force in self-defense,
Don't say anything. (Think about the condition you are
going to be in.) Everything you say will be used against you.
When you are able to sit calmly with your attorney
and discuss the matter, then you can decide what to
say to the police.
Cops are trained not to say anything after an officer
involved shooting. This is policy in every police department.
So, why in the world would you say anything?
[Guns and guitars, yeah!]
Massacre at Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, California
was in another Gun-free zone: 12 murdered, 18 injured
https://crimeresearch.org/2018/11/massacre-at-borderline-bar-grill-in-thousand-oaks-california-was-in-another-gun-free-zone-12-murdered-18-injured/
Statistically speaking, all mass murders occur in gun-free-zones.
Why? Two reasons:
1. In any place with armed citizens, the bad guy is immediately
stopped. So, there is no mass murder. So, there is no report
of a mass murder.
2. Criminals may or may not be crazy, but they are not stupid.
The criminal is going to choose to attack in a gun-free-zone
so he doesn't get hurt.
The purpose of gun-free-zones is to create unarmed victims
for armed criminals to prey upon. This is the evil that the
Bible warns us about. Jesus tells us to carry sidearms,
book of Luke 22:36.
VIDEO: Armed bystander backs down DV stabbing suspect at Seattle Center
https://q13fox.com/2018/11/02/video-armed-bystander-backs-down-seattle-center-domestic-violence-stabbing-suspect/
Defense of others ain't easy.
Concealed Carry Handgun Laws By State
https://www.concealedcarrytoday.com/concealed-carry-firearms-laws-for-the-50-u-s-states/
Where is it Legal to Carry a Concealed Handgun in TN?
https://www.concealedcarrytoday.com/where-is-it-legal-to-carry-a-concealed-weapon-in-tn/
“Totalitarian states can do great things,
but there is one thing they cannot do:
They cannot give a rifle to a factory-worker,
and then tell him to take it home and keep it in his bedroom.
That rifle, hanging on the wall of the working-class flat or
laborer’s cottage, is The symbol of Democracy!
It is our job to see that it stays there!”
-- George Orwell
***** Survival Tips *****
"If you prepare for the emergency,
the emergency ceases to exist!"
-- Dr. Sherman House
“Unarmed” Police?
http://defense-training.com/2018/unarmed-police-2/
Why were 6 police officers in the night club
unarmed? Because the night club was a gun-free-zone.
All mass murders occur in gun-free-zones. Criminals
may be crazy, but they are not stupid. Gun-free-zones
create unarmed victims for armed criminals to prey
upon. Rush Limbaugh mentioned the non-mass-murder
at the McDonalds in Alabama last week. No reports
in the liberal media, because the father (who was
there with his two sons) immediately shot the
masked man (who burst into the McDonalds and started
shooting at people). No mass murder, therefore no news
reports. Mass murders do not occur where armed
citizens exist. Gun-free-zones are stupid places.
Don't go to stupid places. Don't send your children
into stupid places. No, you don't have to send
your children to government schools. You can send
your kids to private schools (scholarships exist if
you ask for them). You can home school your kids.
(You don't have to do it yourself. You can get
together with like minded parents and take turns
teaching, going on field trips, and such.)
You May Be Strong . . . But Are You Tough?
https://www.artofmanliness.com/articles/you-may-be-strong-but-are-you-tough/
Excerpt:
Think Positive
Most of us have an internal monologue going on in our heads,
telling our own story. How this sounds depends on our view
of ourselves and external stimuli. If you’ve always been
good at schoolwork, you might envision yourself as “smart,”
but maybe not “strong” or “charming.”
The thing is, these definitions are mostly arbitrary.
Anyone who works hard enough at academics can do well in school,
and anyone who trains hard enough can do well in sports.
Whether or not we are willing and able to push ourselves hard
enough to do well often depends on that internal story.
So, the simple solution is to only accept positive self-talk.
This is a common tactic of the super-successful, and is standard
fare in such personal development classics as Dale Carnegie’s
"How to Win Friends and Influence People", Napoleon Hill’s
"Think and Grow Rich", and Stephen R. Covey’s
"The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People".
[In Marine Corps boot camp in 1981, we never used hot
water when taking a shower. My son tells me that when he
went through boot camp in 2008, they only had hot water a
couple of times to prevent hypothermia. -- Jon Low]
This link is to Greg Ellifrizt's
"Weekend Knowledge Dump - November 23, 2018"
http://www.activeresponsetraining.net/weekend-knowledge-dump-november-23-2018
Please read the article,
"Florida Deputies Had Difficulty Remembering Mass-Shooter Training"
and Greg's comments. This is reality. The police are not capable of rescuing
your children at their school. They never have been.
Tactical Combat Casualty Care guidelines
https://www.jsomonline.org/TCCC/00%20TCCC-AC%20Guidelines/TCCC%20Guidelines%20for%20All%20Combatants%201708.pdf
Don't go to stupid places.
Don't do stupid things.
Don't hang out with stupid people.
-- John Farnam
***** Basics *****
"Panic is simply the lack of preprogrammed responses."
-- Tom Givens
"Fear is an instinct. Courage is a choice."
-- Rear Admiral Joseph Kernan, USN
***** Miscellany *****
For the latest version (it changes almost daily)
of my lesson plans for my NRA Defensive Pistol course,
send me an email. Jon_Low@yahoo.com
Few tyrants argue for 'slavery of the masses.'
Instead, they argue for the power to
'protect people from themselves.'
-- AE Samaan
Cheers,
Jon
Jonathan D. Low
Jon_Low@yahoo.com
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