Friday, February 19, 2021

CWP, 19 February MMXXI Anno Domini

Hi Sheepdogs,
 
*****     *****     ***** Software *****     *****     *****
 
It’s about prevention, not response.
-- Michael Mann
 
----- Mindset -----
 
"Panic is simply the lack of preprogrammed responses."  
-- Tom Givens
 
"Why You Should Trust Your Gut With Personal Defense" by Sheriff Jim Wilson
https://www.shootingillustrated.com/articles/2021/1/29/why-you-should-trust-your-gut-with-personal-defense
 
Avoiding Surprise Attacks by Ron Borsch
https://www.activeresponsetraining.net/avoiding-surprise-attacks
Excerpts:  
     ". . . they [think they are] multi-tasking . . . however . . . they are actually Multi-MISSING."
     ". . . there are three instances where there can be an unintentional discharge.  According to
Dr. Roger Enoka, they are the startle effect, loss of balance, and maximum exertion with the non-gun hand."
     "Murphy’s Law: “Nothing is as easy as it looks; everything takes longer than you expect;
and if anything can go wrong – it will, at the worst possible moment”. "
 
Duel at the Dumbster (Part VI) by Claude Werner
https://tacticalprofessor.wordpress.com/2021/02/07/duel-at-the-dumbster-part-vi/
   I love the quote from the "The Godfather" by Mario Puzo.  
 
Concealed Carry: Armed Self-Defense by John Murphy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=racOTofkSPY
     Dos and Don'ts
 
     "In fact, just a 1.0 second's warning - when properly leveraged - can give you
an astronomical advantage . . . even over a younger, better-armed and
better-trained attacker."
     "In order to pre-position . . . and in order to stay out of check . . .
YOU NEED TO SEE THEM COMING."
     "First, you need to have been aware.
This allows you to be aware of their presence.
Which allows you to be aware of their possible intent."
-- Patrick Kilchermann
 
     If you haven't received expert training and practiced the technique, you won't
have confidence in using the technique.  So, you're not going to try to do it.  
     If you've had expert training in the technique and practiced it (2000 repetitions),
you're going to feel confident in your ability to use it in combat, under stress.  
So, it becomes a viable option.  It's in your repertoire.  
     This is the difference between taking that left handed shot around the corner
from a squatting position (to be able to shoot under the table), and not even consider
trying it.  
You saw the situation and recognized what needed to be done.  If you have the ability /
confidence to solve the problem, you execute.  If not, you . . .  (Hey, fleeing is
sometimes the smart thing to do.  It's always a judgment call.)
     Some instructors preach that you don't need a large repertoire.  They say you
only need to master a few basic techniques.  I think that is the bigotry of low expectations.  
(Hat tip to the second President Bush.)  In training, the student will rise to the
level of expectations.  Or, fail.  Which is okay.  Failure is the path to the higher
level.  John Farnam says so.  
     Self-defense is never what you practiced.  Because you don't dictate the engagement.  
If you've been able to practice the scenario before execution, you're on offense.  
Self-defense is always defense.  Which is much harder than offense.  
 
"Fear is an instinct.  Courage is a choice."
-- Rear Admiral Joseph Kernan, USN
 
----- Safety -----
 
Jeff Cooper's Rules of Gun Safety  
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.  
 
“No live ammo . . .” by Kathy Jackson
https://www.corneredcat.com/no-live-ammo/
Excerpt:  
     "Safety rules and protocols are like multiple layers of Swiss cheese.  
Every single one of them has a hole or two.  We stack them up so that no
one hole goes all the way through the stack."
 
"The Best Age To Teach Kids About Guns" by Jacob Paulsen
https://www.concealedcarry.com/safety/the-best-age-to-teach-kids-about-guns/
 
     Teach safety.  Who knows what tragedy you will prevent?
     Teach those who cannot attend the prestigious gun schools.  Who knows how
many lives you will save?  
     Let the priests save souls.  We are here on Earth to save lives.  As our
Bible tells us, store up your treasure in heaven, not on Earth.  
 
Don't go to stupid places.  
Don't do stupid things.  
Don't hang out with stupid people.  
Be in bed by 10 PM.  Your own bed.  
Don't look like a freak.
Don't fail the attitude test.  
-- John Farnam
 
----- Training -----
 
     You need training because:  
You don't know what you don't know.  
Much of what you know is false.  
It's good to the have the answers before the criminal tests you.  
-- Claude Werner (paraphrased)
 
"Friday Fundamentals 01 – Establishing Your Baseline" by the Tactical Professor
https://tacticalprofessor.wordpress.com/2015/09/25/friday-fundamentals-01-establishing-your-baseline/
Excerpt:  
     "As in any journey, you have to know where you’re starting from
before you can get to where you want to go."
 
"Your Tactical Training Scenario - Bank Robbery Gone Wrong." by Greg Ellifritz
https://www.activeresponsetraining.net/your-tactical-scenario-bank-robbery-gone-wrong
 
"Are You Training For Fads, Fantasy Or A Fight?" by Tom Givens
https://americanhandgunner.com/discover/tactics-training/are-you-training-for-fads-fantasy-or-a-fight/
 
"The real value of training and practice isn't gaining technical competence,
it's achieving confidence in your abilities."
-- Claude Werner
 
     I had a luncheon meeting with a young lady (age 26).  Though I offered to buy her lunch,
she declined, so I ate in front of her.  I was hungry.  She explained to me that she needed
a Tennessee Handgun Permit, because it would allow her to get acting gigs in New York.  She
lives in New York city, but was living with her parents in Brentwood, TN during the Covid-19
pandemic.  I offered to give her 20 hours of classroom training, so that she would be
competent in safe gun handling and manipulation (and hopefully have a better mindset).  But,
she wasn't willing to invest the time or effort in such an undertaking.  She seemed to
think that she could be John Wick without training.  I assured her that Keanu Reeves has
invested a lot of time and effort training and practicing.  (There are YouTube.com videos
of him at Taran Tactical.)  And to many of us, he still looks silly, though not cringe worthy.  
     There is no substitute for training.
     I had an email conversation with a lady (in her mid 30's, I think) who told
me about her firearms training with persons whom I was unfamiliar with.  So, she gave
me details and I looked up her instructors.  There is a whole industry of instructors
who specialize in firearms training for movie and TV actors.  This training is very
different from what one would find at Tac Con or one of the gun schools that we are
familiar with.  I tried to explain to the lady how her theatrical training differed
from what I would call real world training.  The dominant difference being mindset and
self-defense law (or lack thereof).  
     I was on the fencing team (foil) at Columbia University (the one in New York city)
and I fenced for a while on my own (foil and epee) after college.  So, I sort of know
how to fence.  I audited a theatrical fencing class (because of a girl) and quickly
realized that that training would not have prepared the actors to participate in an
International Fencing Federation (FIE which stands for Fédération Internationale d'Escrime)
match.  Similarly, theatrical firearms training is not going to prepare you for street
combat.  I know this is obvious to you.  But, it is not obvious to everyone, so I write
about it.  Because you may encounter this in the future.  
 
“You are no more armed because you are wearing a pistol
than you are a musician because you own a guitar.”
from Principles of Personal Defense by
Col. Jeff Cooper, USMC, (1920 – 2006 A.D.)
 
     Places to get training:  
 
The annual Tactical Conference is really the best training per dollar.  
https://taccon.info/
(You have to be patient.  It may take several minutes for the page to load, until then
only the splash screen will appear.)  
     This 3 day training fest goes in March of every year, but sells out by October
of the previous year.  
 
Rangemaster Firearms Training Services, LLC
https://rangemaster.com/
 
Defense Training International, LLC
https://defense-training.com/
 
FPF Training
https://www.fpftraining.com/
 
Active Response Training
http://www.activeresponsetraining.net/
 
The Law of Self Defense
https://lawofselfdefense.com/
 
Massad Ayoob Group
https://massadayoobgroup.com/
 
Yavapai Firearms Academy Ltd.
http://www.yfainc.com/  [web site does not work]
[They no longer offer training.  I just list it because it brings back fond memories.]
 
     The following will cost you a bit more (~$2000 for the 4-day handgun class):  
 
Front Sight
https://www.frontsight.com/
Dr. Ignatius Piazza likes to refer to his gun school as a resort.
 
Gunsite Academy
https://www.gunsite.com/
They send a cadre out to Nashville, TN every year to teach their 5-day handgun class at Royal Range.
 
Thunder Ranch
https://thunderranchinc.com/
Clint Smith says that every time he teaches a class, he discovers the doesn't know something.  
What a beautiful attitude.  
 
     You have to write to the following gentlemen to request training.  
I don't know of any open enrollment classes.    
 
Claude Werner
https://tacticalprofessor.wordpress.com/
 
Marcus Wynne
https://marcuswynne.com/
 
Larry Lindenman
https://academy355.com/instructors
He's listed as an instructor at The Academy at 355.  I took a class from him at Tac Con.  
 
John Holschen
https://www.westcoastarmorynorth.com/
 
     When you practice at home or on the range, think everything through.
     When you go to competition or are in combat, don’t think.  Just attack
the problem, because that is what will happen in combat.  In a high stress
situation you won’t have time to think, you will revert to your training.  
You will not panic.  You will execute as you have trained.  That’s why
training is so important.  (Thanks to Mike Maples)  
     General Patton said that trained soldiers do not panic in combat;
they behave as they were trained.
     Tom Givens says that panic is the result of not having a pre-programmed
response to the situation that you automatically default to.  So, having
pre-programmed responses prevents panic, because if you have practiced them,
you will automatically execute them.
     “No one rises to the occasion.  That's just a myth.  
They sink to the level of training that they have mastered.”  
– Ken Alexandrow, Agape Tactical  
https://agapetactical.com/about-us/
 
"Training is NOT an event, but a process.
Training is the preparation FOR practice".
-- Claude Werner
 
----- Practice -----
 
     Practice is the small deposits you make over time,
so that in an emergency, you can make that big withdrawal.
-- Chesley Burnett Sullenberger, III
 
"The Dry Practice Starter Kit" by Nate Parker
https://priorityperformance.wordpress.com/
     [Years ago the National Rifle Team coach told us that we should be visualizing
10 perfect shots for every shot we fire dry.  A few years later, I remember Ignatius
Piazza telling us that we should be dry practicing 10 perfect shots for every live
shot fired.  So, in reality, serious dedicated practice requires very few live rounds.  
A lot of the maneuver and decision making can be practiced dry. -- Jon Low]
 
Why practice?
    "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
     My experience in the Marine Corps was that the important missions were always done
by small groups that were hand picked from the larger units.  When Marines disappeared
from the unit, they had been tapped for special assignments.  
 
Stop-and-Go Drill by Jeff Johnston
https://www.americas1stfreedom.org/articles/2021/1/29/stop-and-go-drill
 
"Coach & Shooter:  Getting Help Is Smart" by Tiger McKee
https://americanhandgunner.com/discover/coach-shooter/
Excerpt:  
     "Each single performance during practice is critical. Experts agree for every
one bad repetition around 40 or more good repeats are necessary to push the bad
one over to the side — but it’s still in the memory “bank.”  Remember the saying,
“You don’t rise to the occasion; you default to your lowest level?”  Those bad
repetitions are your lowest level of competency.  Making mistakes in your practice
is detrimental to the learning process, and your performance when responding to a
dangerous attack.  With the Coach & Shooter technique mistakes are identified
immediately and corrective actions applied — before they become a habit."
 
"Why You Should Practice Drawing From Concealment" by Sheriff Jim Wilson
https://www.shootingillustrated.com/articles/2021/2/12/why-you-should-practice-drawing-from-concealment
     This article is about the preparation for the presentation.  
 
     "Be careful what you practice.
Because you will do in combat whatever you
have practiced, no matter how ridiculous."
-- "Shooting in Self-Defense" by Sara Ahrens
 
----- Techniques -----
 
"Use only that which works,
and take it from any place you can find it."
-- Bruce Lee
 
"How to Use Verbal and Non-Verbal Communication for Self Defense" by Sheriff Jim Wilson
https://www.shootingillustrated.com/articles/2021/2/13/how-to-use-verbal-and-non-verbal-communication-for-self-defense
Excerpts:  
     ". . . defensive communications should be as loud as they are clear."
     Notice how these single word signals are similar to those used in mountain climbing.  
     I remember learning the military hand signals for maneuvering units in the field.  
The only one I remember is "squad".  We only used them for noise discipline, and only
until first contact (when the shooting started).  Now days everyone's got radios.  
Which are fine, until the Russian jammers kick in.  Russian jammers are cheap and everyone's
got them.  Especially, the bad guys (including the Mexican drug cartels).  
 
"How to Handle Squib Loads and Hangfires" by Il Ling New
https://www.nrafamily.org/articles/2021/1/27/how-to-handle-squib-loads-and-hangfires
     Logical advice on handling hangfires.  Immediately clear the malfunction.  
Do not wait to see if it goes BANG.  Read the article to understand why.  
 
"Handgun Skills: Clearing Malfunctions – Keep it Simple" by Salvatore
https://reflexhandgun.com/2020/03/25/handgun-skills-clearing-malfunctions-keep-it-simple/
     You have to read carefully to follow Salvatore's logic.  He is sacrificing
reliability (in the sense of taking care of a low probability event) for speed.  
Whether or not you consider the case getting stuck in the chamber and requiring
several racks to eject, a low probability event is your judgment call.  
 
     It's important to know what to do.  It's equally important to know what not to do.  
If nothing else, so you can inform newbies as to why they should not do that.  
"Leave Cross Draw To Lee Van Cleef, Unless You Can’t Help It" by Sam Hoober
https://www.usacarry.com/cross-draw/
 
"Man Defends Neighbor Against Pit Bull Attack, Shoots Dog And Victim" by Mark Ehlen
https://www.usacarry.com/man-defends-neighbor-against-pit-bull-attack-shoots-dog-and-victim/
     [In Ralph Mroz's class, he teaches to lock up (physically grab a hold of the
good guy and hang on tight) with the good guy and then do a contact shot into the bad guy
(or dog as the case may be).  That minimizes the possibility of shooting the good guy.  
I've practiced this technique in force-on-force classes.  It works. -- Jon Low]
     [I wouldn't be concerned about over penetrating a dog.  My friend from the
Palmetto Gun Club in South Carolina shot a dog that attacked him with 5 rounds of
45 ACP ball ammo.  All 5 hit.  None exited. -- Jon Low]
 
"Being able to see the sights and how much it matters" by Nate
https://priorityperformanceshooting.com/2018/03/26/being-able-to-see-the-sights-and-how-much-it-matters/
Excerpt:  
     "For now, there is also a decision that has to be made.  Do I shoot without a light
and give up a little time on the front end, or employ the light and give up the time on
the back end?  My gut feeling is that getting a faster first hit is more important than
being faster to hits 3, 4, or 5.  That is just a gut feeling though, and not based in
anything actually concrete."
     [Data is good.  It strips away all the non-sense.  Look at Nate's data.  
Ya, getting the first hit on target sooner is good, assuming you can positively
identify the target.  Can you? without a light. -- Jon Low]
 
     Yes, as a matter of fact this does pertain to you shooting your pistol.  
Can you see how?
"Jasmin Ouschan Ep. 12 Stance #tablestories"  by Jasmin Ouschan
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BthrQ_X_6Og
     Consider carefully what she says about aiming and eye dominance.  
Excerpt:  
     "Aiming starts with the feet."
     Now where have I heard that before?  Musashi perhaps?  Depends on which
translation you read.  
     Did you notice that her explanation of how to hold the cue is exactly that
used in fencing?  Of course, no one is trying to take your stick from you when
playing pool, so the analogy is not perfect.  But, the mechanics are similar.  
 
     I had a student who was using a pistol with a small grip (because it was a small
pistol, because he wanted concealability).  He had large hands, in particular he had
long thumbs (relative to the size of the grip).  He shot with a thumbs forward grip.  
     Problem:  His trigger finger would stop when it made contact with the tip of his
firing side thumb when he shot one handed.  He thought that he had hit break dawn
(having taken all the slack out of the trigger), but he had actually hit his thumb.  
So, the pistol would not fire.  
     Solution:  Use a high thumb grip.  Thumbs up, not forward.  
 
"Shooting Stance: Does It Matter In A Defensive Situation?" by Richard A. Mann
https://gundigest.com/handguns/personal-defense/shooting-stance-does-it-matter-in-a-defensive-situation
Excerpt:  
     ". . . during a life-and-death fight for your life on the street,
there are no rules, and you cannot out-point your adversary."
     [You never need to turtle up.  Tense muscles are slow muscles. -- Jon Low]
 
     When shooting from close contact with one hand, we generally teach to pull
the elbow back as far as possible, press the bottom of the pistol grip against your
rib cage, and tilt the top of the pistol away from your body to prevent the slide
from getting fouled in your shirt.  
     If you've got big breasts, a longer barrel would reduce the probability of
shooting your breast.  Tilting the pistol further out away from your body would
help.  Turning you body would help.  Moving the pistol forward would help,
but that gets the pistol closer to the bad guy and makes it easier for him to
grab your pistol.
     I used to teach "pressing the bottom of the grip against your rib cage and
tilting the top of the pistol away from your body so the slide doesn't get caught
in your shirt."  The problem is that the pistol will pivot freely around the
contact point without an index for a consistent position.  Now days, I teach
"High thumb grip.  Thumb also pressed against the rib cage."  I believe every
thing should be positively indexed (touching something, preferably pressed
solidly up against something, preferably bone) so that nothing is floating
around in space.  This makes for a more consistent position.  
Consistency is accuracy.  
 
"Unarmed Defense: 8 Steps to Take Down an Active Killer" by Ryan Hoover
https://www.skillsetmag.com/2020/08/10/unarmed-defense-8-steps-to-take-down-an-active-killer/
Excerpt:  
     "What the hell does “Run-Hide-Fight” mean?"
 
     The author, Jake, is glossing over deep psychological science.  So, I hesitated
to include this article at first.  
"Gunfighting and Neuroscience: Why Using Your Front Sight Might Kill You" by Jake
https://www.tierthreetactical.com/gunfighting-and-neuroscience-why-using-your-front-sight-might-kill-you/
Excerpts:  
     "Less experienced shooters will need a hard focus on their sights to verify
their gun is aligned correctly.  They do not have the requisite practice time to
look at a spot and line the gun up subconsciously."
     "Scared people are trigger happy, and less accurate."
     "With practice it can feel like the gun presents itself while you watch the assailant."
---
     The primary source,
"Improving Visual Processing During Deadly Force Encounters and Recommendations for Officer Training"
by Steven C. Chraca
https://minds.wisconsin.edu/bitstream/handle/1793/78760/ChracaSteven.pdf?sequence=5
     This is a survey paper, not an experimental paper.  The author, Chraca, is drawing
conclusions from the research of others.
     Louis Awerbuck would be pleased that he is still being referenced in scholarly papers
lo these many years after his death.
     It is good that the author, Chraca, notes the use of misdirection in magic tricks.  
     This paper has to be read carefully.  The rookie officers looking at their gun does
not mean they were looking at the sights of their gun to aim, it means they were looking
at their gun (perhaps to reassure themselves that their gun was there).  And I had to
trace back to the citation,
Ripoll, H., Papin, J. P., Guezennec, Y., Verdy, P. & Philip, M. (1985).
"Analysis of visual scanning patterns of pistol shooters." Journal of Sports Sciences, 3:2
to figure this out.
---
     So, what the author, Jake, is talking about are persons who have achieved a level of
unconscious competence.  As in --
"Intentionally Incompetent" avoids training for fear of exposing his incompetence to others;
"Unconsciously Incompetent" doesn't know what he doesn't know, because he has had
no training or poor training;
"Consciously Incompetent" knows that he is incompetent, and so hopefully is motivated
to seek training;
"Consciously Competent" knows what to do and how to do the techniques and tactics,
but must think about what he is doing;
"Unconsciously Competent" knows what to do and doesn't have to think about how to do it,
because through practice it has become automatic.  
     But, there are very few persons operating at an unconscious competency level.  
And once you take them out of their book (chess term) or normal scope of operations,
it is unlikely they can maintain a level of unconscious competence.  
     Visual focus is closely correlated to mental concentration.  You are concentrating
on what you are focused on.  If you're not concentrating on it, even if it's in your
field of vision, you can't see it.  Such is "inattentional blindness".  (Remember the
gorilla video?)  The author's reference to the "quiet eye" is a reference to visual focus,
which is the object of what the mind is concentrating on.  The author, Chraca, discusses
subjects reacting to things in the field of view that are not being concentrated on,
but this is very nuanced with all kinds of caveats.  
     These blog postings are hard to write, because the audience is laymen, but the
discussion is of a technical nature in a specialized field.  So, I know I'm not doing
it justice.  
 
"Bring the gun up, not your head down." by Tamara Keel (I think?  The author doesn't
identify herself anywhere on her web site.)
https://booksbikesboomsticks.blogspot.com/2021/02/bring-gun-up-not-your-head-down.html
Excerpt:  
     "Bring the gun up to your face, don't try and stuff your face down on the gun."
     [I wish I could get the kids on my junior rifle team to do this. -- Jon Low]
 
"It's not daily increase but daily decrease - hack away at the inessentials!"
-- Bruce Lee
 
----- Tactics -----
 
How do you win a gunfight?
Don't be there.
-- John Farnam
 
"Pizza Delivery Drive Defends His Life Against Armed Robber, Then Is Killed By Accomplice"
by Mark Ehlen of https://www.marksmanshipfirearmstraining.com/training-blog/
https://www.usacarry.com/pizza-delivery-drive-defends-his-life-against-armed-robber-then-is-killed-by-accomplice/
Excerpt:  
     "It’s probably just a case of the girl not appearing like any kind of a threat
as she walked across the street toward him.  Most 17-year-old girls just don’t look
dangerous to a 37-year-old man.  Essentially, it looks like she ambushed him when
his guard was down and was probably quite shaken from the first attack."
     "Stay alert.  Don’t be too quick to reholster your gun.  And don’t let anyone
approach you that you are not sure is safe."
 
"Tactical Moment" by John Holschen
https://www.youtube.com/user/tacticalmoment
 
"Homeowner Exchanges Gunfire With Would Be Intruder On Other Side Of Front Door" by Mark Ehlen
https://www.usacarry.com/video-homeowner-exchanges-gunfire-with-would-be-intruder-on-other-side-of-front-door/
Excerpt:  
     "Normally shooting through a door is a major no-no. Homeowners have gone
to prison over that move.  Besides grossly violating Universal Safety Rule No. 4,
know your target and what’s beyond it, shooting through a door usually means
that you don’t know who or what’s on the other side.  It can also be argued that
if the threat is still on the other side of the door are they really a deadly
force threat at that point?"
 
     Yes, there is a greater than zero probability that your pistol bullets will
penetrate body armor.  There are all kinds of body armor on the market, between
the rubbish issued to military police and the plate carriers issued to artillerymen.  
[Artillerymen don't run around and maneuver as infantry, so they generally wear the
best (heaviest) armor.]  (The Jihadists in Garland, TX wore body armor, but the
police officer, Gregory Stevens, shot through it with his standard issue pistol.)
 
You win gunfights by not getting shot.
-- John Holschen
 
----- Education -----
 
"You will never get smarter or broaden your horizons
if you're unwilling to learn from others and read."
-- Becca Martin
 
"Concealed Carry: Issues and Perspectives" by John Murphy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Ju5GtzzgLE&list=PLkL2g0uY2GSduhVBwzGL2ROyN-TSdDGLq
 
     After a few years in academia, I came to realize that professors do not write their textbooks
to educate their students.  They write their textbooks to impress their peers.  The opinion of
their peers determines their reputation (and the number of votes they get for tenure), not the
opinion of their students.  
     We are fortunate in our firearms / self-defense industry that because the vast majority of
our writings are on blog postings, instructors actually write to educate their students.  
Language of the art and arcane terminology are almost non-existent.  An instructor's reputation
is whether or not a student will recommend a given blog posting to another student.  
 
     “By three methods we may learn wisdom:
first, by reflection, which is noblest;
second, by imitation, which is easiest; and
third by experience, which is the bitterest.”
-- Confucius
 
"How to Read More: 8 Reasons and 7 Strategies to Read More Books" by RYAN HOLIDAY
https://ryanholiday.net/how-to-read-more/
 
The Physics of Machine-Gun Fire
https://www.shootingillustrated.com/articles/2021/2/3/the-physics-of-machine-gun-fire
     Hat Tip to Practical Eschatology at
https://practicaleschatology.blogspot.com/
 
A series of videos by John Murphy
https://www.fpftraining.com/media
 
"Cogito, ergo armatum sum." (I think, therefore armed am I.)
-- John Farnam
 
*****     *****     ***** Hardware (which includes you) *****     *****     *****
 
"I would like to see every
woman know how to handle
guns as naturally as they
know how to handle babies."
-- Annie Oakley
 
----- Gear -----
 
“Mission drives the gear train.”
-- Pat Rogers
 
"Features to Avoid When Buying an IWB Holster" by Greg Ellifritz
https://www.activeresponsetraining.net/features-to-avoid-when-buying-an-iwb-holster
 
     You can get an excellent inside the waistband holster from Craft Holsters,
https://www.craftholsters.com/iwb-holsters
I recommend the "OPEN-MUZZLE IWB HOLSTER"
https://www.craftholsters.com/open-muzzle-iwb-holster
     If you're wondering why they are so cheap (cheaper than the Galco King Tuk
which is mass produced), it's because of currency speculation between the U.S. dollar
and the Slovak koruna.  (The holsters from Craft Holsters are handmade when you
order them.)  
     The market can remain irrational longer than you can stay solvent.  
     Ya, it takes a long time, but that's because they start making it when you
order it.  They don't keep stock in inventory.  In the U.S. you have to pay taxes
on inventory.  In Slovakia it's worse.  You ever wonder why no one saves money in
Israel?  The inflation rate is too high, the money loses value faster than the
interest rate on any financial instrument.  Many countries have gone through hyper
inflation.  If you think it could never happen in the U.S. you're being naive and
ignorant of history.  It's like people saying, "We don't have to worry about being
arrested and thrown into prison camps.  That could never happen in the U.S."  Ask
U.S. citizens of Japanese ancestry who were around during World War II.  When the
National Socialists, NAZI, controlled Germany et al, they arrested enemies of the
state and threw them into concentration camps and executed them.  When the Democrats
were in control of the United States, they arrested the Japanese and threw them
into internment camps.  (And the Democrat controlled U.S. Supreme Court ruled that
the internment was Constitutional.  That's what happens when you allow Democrats
to pack the courts.)  The U.S. citizens of Japanese ancestry couldn't work, so they
defaulted on their mortgages.  So, when they were released, they were destitute.  
What do destitute people do?  They take government welfare.  Now they are beholden
to the government and will vote for whichever politician promises them the most
welfare benefits.  Being addicted to welfare generation after generation is
effectively the same as slavery.  Think it couldn't happen here?  It already has.  
If the Republicans under President Abraham Lincoln had not initiated
The War of Northern Aggression against the Democrats, we would still have slavery
in the United States.  Sometimes war is necessary to achieve policy changes.  
Oh, does that hurt your delicate sensibilities?  It should.
That's why we practice self-defense.  We object to the policies of rape, robbery,
murder, etc.  But, unlike the vast majority of the population, we are willing
to wage small scale shooting wars to enforce our policies.  
     "Oh, you people are so violent."
     No, we people are so sane.  
 
     Here are the five factors we here at CCU recognize as all being equally
critical in holster (AND carry position) selection.
#1 - Safety. (It has to keep your trigger guard 100% secure and hold your
pistol firmly during a sprint or jumping jacks.)
#2 - Comfort. (If it's not comfortable, you won't have it on you when you need it most.)
#3 - Concealment. (It's got to be hidden. Otherwise, you're not going to want to carry it;
you won't ever be at ease; other people - good people and violent threats - may see
it and adjust their attack accordingly.)
#4 - SPEED. You should be able to get your pistol drawn and fire your first shot in
a MAXIMUM of 1.5 seconds from a multitude of 'body situations/positions'.  This may sound
hard but it's not.  
#5 - DISCRETION!!! The ability to draw SILENTLY and SECRETLY.
-- Pat Kilchermann
 
     The Well Armed Woman sent me an email advertising Sticky Holsters.  These
holsters collapse.  So, you won't be able to holster with one hand.  You have
to think ahead.  What are you going to do to safely secure your pistol before
the cops arrive, so you don't get shot by the cops.  Remember, cops are not
highly trained, nor do they practice much (if at all).  No, you might not have
two hands available.  You might be holding a baby (maybe not yours), you might
be injured, . . .   No, dropping your pistol on the ground is not a good idea.  
Someone else will take it.  (And maybe use it against you.)  You have a duty
to keep control of your pistol at all times.  (until the cops take it from you)
     You have to be able to holster with one hand.  Otherwise, the holster is
not designed correctly.  
     If feasible, you are going to holster and conceal before the cops arrive.  
Pay attention, so you see the cops before they see you.  Which should be
possible (maybe not easy) as they will have flashing lights and sirens on.
 

"Reconsidering the Backup Gun in Troubled Times"
by Salvatore of https://reflexhandgun.com/ (an interesting web site)
Excerpt:  
     "The reasons for carrying a backup gun are many: A gun can fail mechanically.
A gun can be destroyed when hit by a bullet in a fight.  You can drop it and lose
control of it, or an opponent might disarm you of it.  You may also need to arm
an ally that is not currently armed."

     ["A gun can be destroyed when hit by a bullet in a fight."  If you're not
familiar with the documented history of gun fights in the U.S., you might think
this far fetched.  It's not.  The author is not talking about shooting the gun
out of the other person's hand.  He is talking about a gun getting hit by flying
bullets in the chaos of a real gunfight.  Actually, there are lots of documented
cases. -- Jon Low]
 
"Lessons from an accidental discharge" by Dave Reichek
https://blog.krtraining.com/lessons-from-an-accidental-discharge/
     [Front Sight forbids use of Pyramid Triggers because their students have
had so many similar problems with these triggers. -- Jon Low]
 
     Jewelry does not feed, clothe, or house anyone.  So, to buy jewelry is wrong.  
To wear jewelry is vanity.  It's the same as flashing stacks of cash.  You are
effectively saying, "I am rich.", "There exist people who will pay large ransoms
for me."  If you need to show off to other people by displaying jewelry, you are
not spiritually mature.  
 
     I got a leather gun belt (1.5 inches wide)
https://www.craftholsters.com/leather-gun-belt-15-inches
and an inside the waistband magazine pouch (for my SA XD 45 ACP magazines)
https://www.craftholsters.com/tuckable-iwb-leather-gun-magazine-pouch
from Craft Holsters.  
https://www.craftholsters.com/
The material quality and workmanship are very nice.  
     When I punched out holes along the entire length of the belt (as James Jager
had taught us, instructors, to do in John Farnam's instructor development class
to allow adjustment for student's use) I could see the quality of the leather.  
The belt is not as thick as others, but it is very stiff (a good quality for a
gun belt that will have to support the weight of the pistol and ammunition).  
     The IWB magazine pouch is designed to allow the user to tuck in a shirt over
the magazine pouch (something I would never do).  The leather is thick and
rugged.  The pouch was tight on my magazine and after a month of daily use is
still just as tight.  
     I enthusiastically recommend these products.  
 
"How to Conceal Spare Ammo" by Massad Ayoob
https://gundigest.com/article/how-to-conceal-spare-ammo
 
"News/Q&A Show: Feb. 11, 2021" by Andrew Branca
https://lawofselfdefense.com/news-qa-show-feb-11-2021/
Excerpt:  
     "But they [Tasers] often don’t work, folks.  And they’re not that hard to defeat
by a suspect if the suspect knows what he’s doing.  And you only get one or two shots
out of a TASER.  And then it’s done until you go through a relatively complicated
reload process."
     [Andrew's point is that the banning of carotid choke holds (which are effective)
has forced law enforcement to use other means to subdue the violently resisting suspect.  
My experience coincides with Andrew's view.  Tasers, generally, don't work in the
real world.  And when they do, they sometimes kill the suspect.
     We were taught to use the blood choke in the Marine Corps.  It's part of the
Marine Corps Martial Arts Program at the first level. -- Jon Low]
     "Statutes don’t mean what they appear to mean, when you read them.
They mean what the courts say they mean, how the courts interpret and apply
those statutes.  And that can be quite different than the plain English
meaning of the statute.  So the best way to learn the law is not just rely
solely on a statute, although of course, you do need to know that.  But to
also understand how the courts actually interpret and apply that statute.  
And you can only learn that by reading court decisions."
     [Andrew also writes about "Battered Spouse Syndrome" laws that waive the
"imminence" requirement from the 5 elements of self defense.  So, the attack
does not have to be imminent, but the evidence has to show that the attack is
inevitable based on past behavior.  And that evidence is allowed, when normally
it would be excluded as irrelevant. -- Jon Low]
 
     Your hands cold?  Elk skin gloves.  I don't know the physics behind it,
but they work to keep your hands warm.  
 
Outland USA
https://www.outlandusa.com/
Use Code
BETTERTOGETHER
For 14% off almost anything they sell.
(When you hit their web site, the splash page should offer you 15% off your
first order in exchange for your email address.)
Free shipping on orders over $50.
     Their store / bicycle shop is in Nolensville, just south of Nashville, TN.
I like to try on shoes before I buy them.  The "Hoka One One" shoe has a thick
soft sole that is very nice for walking around on hard surfaces.  I use them on
the job; and it has allowed me to work in-spite of bone a spur on my heel.
 
     The problem:  
A student reported that the cold temperatures (around 11 degrees Fahrenheit
here in Nashville, TN) caused his pistol to freeze up and get stuck, as in the
sear was stuck to the bottom of the striker where they engage, and so would not
fire.  
     My solution:  
Keep your pistol warm, by keeping it close to your body, by carrying it in an
inside the waistband holster.
     If you keep your pet mouse in the outside pocket of your down jacket,
when you get him out of your pocket he will be frozen solid.  High order
animal, warm blooded, can't bring him back to life.  If your pet is a bearded
dragon (a type of lizard) maybe you can warm him up and bring him back to
life, cold blooded, lower order life form.  Your pistol is an inanimate object,
so you will definitely be able to warm her up in a few minutes and she will
function perfectly.  The problem is 2-2-2, in civilian gunfights 1 or 2
rounds are fired from a distance of 2 yards in 2 seconds.  Win or lose, the
gunfight is over in 2 seconds.  
     Of course, if you clean and lubricate your pistol correctly, it won't
freeze up, and will work in cold temperatures.  But, keeping it warm is still
a better solution, because the low temperature will affect the burn rate of
the powder charge.  So, the point of impact might not be where you think it
would be.  You probably won't notice the difference in pistol combat, but
you will in artillery.  
 
RECOIL magazine has a web site that lists available bulk ammo for sale.
https://www.recoilweb.com/currentdeals
 
“Your car is not a holster.”
– Pat Rogers
 
----- Technical -----
 
"Real fights are short."
-- Bruce Lee
 
"How to inspect your duty ammunition" by Mike Wood
https://www.police1.com/police-products/firearms/accessories/ammunition/articles/how-to-inspect-your-duty-ammunition-9Fl7lLIogrmhkxlB/
Excerpt:  
     "It sounds like a lot to do, but the process only takes a few minutes,
and it’s cheap insurance."
 
"The shorter the fight, the less hurt you get."
-- John Holschen
 
*****     *****     ***** Instruction *****     *****     *****

Colonel Robert Lindsey to his fellow trainers:
"We are not God's gift to our students.
Our students are God's gift to us."
 
----- Instructors -----
 
Remember, the students who require the extra effort are the ones who need us the most!
-- John Farnam
 
Hi Instructors,
     Please learn from my experience (pieced together from witness observations).  
After a shooting exercise in a class that I was teaching, the student removed his
magazine from his pistol.  He racked the slide to clear the pistol.  Nothing ejected
as expected, because there was nothing in the chamber, because he had completed the
exercise correctly.  He did a chamber check by holding the pistol as if to rack the
slide, and then pulled the slide back to see that nothing was in the chamber.  
     "All Clear!"
     He let the slide slam forward into battery.  
     "Hammer down!"  
     BANG!
     So, what happened?  
     When he first racked the slide, he did not rack hard enough to eject the cartridge.  
That's why you have to rack hard.  Support side hand should hit the firing side shoulder
in the follow through.  
     When he pulled the slide back to check the chamber, the extractor claw was holding
the cartridge against the face of the bolt (slide).  He couldn't see the cartridge
because his hand was hiding the cartridge from his view.  His hand was too far forward,
covering part of the ejection port.  That's why you have to do a proper chamber check.  
Or, lock the slide to the rear and look.
     So, ya, you can go through all the motions and still have a round in the chamber
if you're sloppy enough.  Sort of like playing a sleight of hand trick on yourself.  
 
     Be careful what you teach.  
Because your students will do in combat
whatever you have trained them to do,
no matter how ridiculous.
-- "Shooting in Self-Defense" by Sara Ahrens
 
----- Pedagogy -----
 
     "The most valuable resource that all teachers have is each other.  
Without collaboration, our growth is limited to our own perspectives."  
-- Robert John Meehan
 
"Women’s Shooting Groups – Good & Bad" by Kathy Jackson
https://www.corneredcat.com/womens_shooting_groups/
     A deep dive into some painful psychology.  
 
Teach positive.  Teach what to do.  Don't talk about what not to do.
-- John Farnam
 
     Some papers on learning and technology assisted learning.  
https://www.advancedbrainmonitoring.com/applications/human-performance-enhancement
https://www.haloneuro.com/pages/military
     Hat tip to Marcus Wynne.
     Some of you may be thinking, "What does this have to do with firearms or
self-defense training." or "How could I possible use this technology in training
my students."  Look at any smallbore rifle team.  They all have SCATT type systems.  
It's hard to get the necessary data without the technology.  Often, the shooter
does not know what he is doing, without the technology.  
     "I thought I was doing X.  I know that I was doing X."
     The SCATT says you are not doing X.  So, guess what?  You are not doing X.  
X could be following through, or holding the sights on the target as the shot is
released, or releasing the shot between heartbeats, or breathing during the
shot process, or any number of other things.  (I remember a shooter at an IPSC
match who nearly passed out at the end of a course of fire.  He thought that
the stress had exhausted him.  But, he was gasping for air because he hadn't
taken a breath from the buzzer to the last shot.)
     I remember when the common way to get to and from Hawaii was on ship.  
I remember friends and family taking the ocean liner Lurline to the mainland
and seeing them off at the port of Honolulu Harbor.  I remember my Uncle Dave
Keane saying, "If God had wanted man to fly, He would have given us wings."  
But, things change.  You don't have to be a first adopter.  But, you don't
want to be a dinosaur.  
 
     “The one important thing I have learned over the years
is the difference between taking one’s work seriously and
taking one’s self seriously.  
The first is imperative and the second is disastrous.”
-- Prima Ballerina Dame Margot Fonteyn
 
     An instructor should not expect any learning to take
place the first time new information is presented.  
-- "Building Shooters" by Dustin Solomon
 
*****     *****     ***** Legal, Political, and Philosophical *****     *****     *****
 
     "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people.
It is wholly inadequate for the governance of any other.
-- John Adams, October 11, 1798
 
News/Q&A Show: Feb. 4, 2021 by Attorney Andrew Branca
https://lawofselfdefense.com/news-qa-show-feb-4-2021/
Headlines:  
Minnesota and Hawaii legislatures advancing stand-your-ground bills.
Expanding the scope of circumstances that allow for deadly defensive force.
Witness to shop-lifting decides to shoot at thieves, hits store employee instead.
[Incompetence has dire consequences.  That's why you have to get training, and
you have to practice. -- Jon Low]
 
“AMERICAN EXCEPTIONALISM
DON'T LET THE "IDEA" OF AMERICA DIE”
by Roy Huntington
https://americanhandgunner.com/our-experts/american-exceptionalism/
 
“The prestige of government has undoubtedly been lowered considerably by the prohibition law.
For nothing is more destructive of respect for the government and the law of the land
than passing laws which cannot be enforced.”
-- Albert Einstein, 1921
     [We did the prohibition experiment and it failed.  So we repealed that Constitutional
amendment.  To repeat the same mistake with drugs, guns, prostitution, poverty, etc. is
an act of criminal stupidity.  War on poverty?  To think that such is possible is insanity.
-- Jon Low]
 
"ARMED “CASTLE” DEFENSE: GO OUTSIDE ???" by Steven Harris
http://modernserviceweapons.com/?p=18502
     Please note the nuances of Florida law.  Yours might be very different.  
 
     You have to be alive to be prosecuted for a crime.  Better to be alive and
prosecuted than dead.  If you carry concealed correctly, nobody knows you are
carrying and you never get prosecuted.  If you don't carry and bad things happen,
you and your loved ones are dead.  
 
"Our Return to Feudalism!" by John Farnam
https://defense-training.com/our-return-to-feudalism/
"Feudal Follow-up" by John Farnam
https://defense-training.com/feudal-follow-up/
     All of my friends who used to live in Chicago have left.  
The last time I was in Chicago, we were sitting at a table on the sidewalk in
front of a restaurant, eating and drinking, and watching a riot down the
street.  The Bulls had just won a national championship.  And apparently,
the people of Chicago celebrate by rioting and looting.  If the two tables
on either side of us were not occupied by my friend's body guards, I would
have left.  But, so as not to insult the competence of my friend's security
detail, I feigned relaxation and watched the riot as entertainment.  
     Now days, I would never go to Chicago for any reason.
 
     In America (as in most other places as well) your guilt or innocence has
nothing to do with whether or not you get convicted or acquitted.  The dominant
factor is the prestige and power of your attorney.  If you get a good attorney,
he will talk to the prosecutor and all charges will be dropped.  Of course,
you have to get an attorney from a powerful law firm (where one of the partners
is a former governor of the state, New Jersey).  In order to get there, you
have to ask one of your college classmates who works at the firm.  In order to
have met that classmate, you had to have gone to the Ivy League university
in New York.  Which means your parents had to have thought it important enough
to sacrifice to make that happen.  
     We work hard to make money, to gain advantage for our loved ones.  That is
the capitalist way.  
     My sister would joke about how dad never practiced law.  They just cut
deals in back rooms.  Au contraire, the deals are made on the golf course
or in the dining room of certain country clubs.  
 
"The Power to Impoverish!" by John Farnam
https://defense-training.com/the-power-to-impoverish/
     Looks like Colorado is moving back into the wild west.  
 
"Utah to Become the 17th Constitutional Carry State on May 5, 2021" by Luke McCoy
https://www.usacarry.com/utah-constitutional-carry/
 
     "I have asserted the right of Negroes to meet the violence of the Ku Klux Klan
by armed self-defense – and have acted on it.  It has always been an accepted right
of Americans, as the history of our Western states proves, that where the law is
unable, or unwilling, to enforce order, the citizens can, and must act in
self-defense against lawless violence."  
Excerpt from "Negroes with Guns" by Robert Franklin Williams, first published in 1962.
ISBN-10: 0814327141, ISBN-13: 978-0814327142
Mr. Williams was a U.S. Marine and a World War II veteran.
Mr. Williams received a charter from the National Rifle Association in 1957
and founded the Black Armed Guard.  (NRA charters were a way to get around the
gun control laws of the times.)
 
"News/Q&A Show: Feb. 18, 2021" by Andrew Branca
https://lawofselfdefense.com/news-qa-show-feb-18-2021/
Excerpt:  
     "So when you hear people talk about common sense, gun control, think through
what those things actually mean, folks, because they don’t necessarily mean just
the feel good version of the people who are advocating for those laws. And always
beware, of course of unintended consequences."
     As Andrew points out, if this incident had occurred in Massachusetts, the
grandmother would be in prison and the grandson would be in foster care.  That's
why thinking sheepdogs don't live in Massachusetts.  
     There is a great one minute video of a guy with an AR-15 stopping a porch
pirate from stealing a box from the home owner's front door.  Sometimes good guys
win.  
     Andrew talks about some self-defense pre-paid legal plans (not insurance policies).  
I've talked to several attorneys who work for U.S. Law Shield, and their description
of their financial arrangement with U.S. Law Shield is different from what Andrew
describes.  
     You have got to do your own research because all plans are different, very
different.  
 
     “Is there no virtue among us?
If there is not, we are without hope!
No form of government, existing nor theoretical, will keep us from harm.
To think that any government, in any form,
will insure liberty and happiness for an dishonorable population
represents the height of self-deception.”
-- James Madison, 1788
 
*****     *****     ***** Survival, Medical, Security, and such *****     *****     *****
 
"If you prepare for the emergency,
the emergency ceases to exist!"
-- Dr. Sherman House
 
     If someone can change your behavior by calling you a racist, your mind is weak.  
Remember what Jaba the Hut said, "Your Jedi mind tricks won't work on me."
 
"Depressing statistics" by Kathy Jackson
https://www.corneredcat.com/depressing-statistics/
     Mrs. Jackson has gotten to the truth behind the statistics.  
 
When it comes to survival, “just barely” beats the heck outta “not quite good enough.”
-- John Connor
 
*****     *****     ***** Basics *****     *****     *****
 
     "Train, Practice, Compete
are the key elements in the development of humans."
-- John M. Buol, Jr.
 
     “No possible rapidity of fire can atone for habitual
carelessness of aim with the first shot.” -- Theodore Roosevelt,
(26th President of the United States) The Wilderness Hunter, 1893
 
*****     *****     ***** Miscellany / History *****     *****     *****
 
"Good habits and skill beat luck every time."
-- Sheriff Jim Wilson
 
"Amateurs And Experts" by Roy Huntington
https://americanhandgunner.com/our-experts/amateurs-and-experts/
Excerpt:  
     "Many of you do know a great deal more about firearms, shooting, reloading,
their history, proper use, care and the law, than many of your fellow shooters.
Well . . . put it to good use and help out at the local club doing demonstrations
or seminars on your particular area of expertise.  Offer your services to local
attorneys pro-bono for pro-gun cases, help scouting groups, talk to service clubs
about gun issues, write for the local neighborhood paper about scouts shooting
BB guns.  Anything you can do to enhance and grow our sport,
our passion — our right — is good.  As the word says: “We love to do it.”  
Let’s support it."
     [Sometimes it takes amazingly little to be an expert witness at trial.  
The trial judge has all the discretion. -- Jon Low]
 
"Kelsey DeSantis: The Marine Vet, MMA Fighter, and All-Around Badass" by Karen Hunter
https://www.tactical-life.com/lifestyle/military-and-police/kelsey-de-santis-mma-badass/
     The epitome of a good attitude.  
 
All kinds of neat stuff at:  
     Practical Eschatology by Docent
https://practicaleschatology.blogspot.com/
     The Tactical Professor by Claude Werner
https://tacticalprofessor.wordpress.com/
     Active Response Training by Gregg Ellifritz
http://www.activeresponsetraining.net/
     Quips by John Farnam
https://defense-training.com/quips/
     Rangemaster newsletter by Tom Givens
https://rangemaster.com/publications/rangemaster-newsletter/
     CIVILIAN DEFENDER by Sherman House
https://civiliandefender.com/
     Handgun Combatives by Dave Spaulding
https://www.youtube.com/c/handguncombatives/videos
     Marcus Wynne
https://marcuswynne.com/blog/
     Reflex Handgun
https://reflexhandgun.com/articles/
     Active Self Protection by John Correa
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsE_m2z1NrvF2ImeNWh84mw
 
“In the long-run, there is no such thing as ‘luck’.
However, the short-run is longer than many individual lifetimes!”
-- Anon
 
     Decades ago, when I worked for Applied Signal Technology, before they were acquired
by Raytheon, I was attending an in house lecture given by the chief scientist of the
company.  He started by doing a pantomime with his two hands and asked the audience
what he was doing.  No one answered, so I raised my hand and he called on me.  I said,
you are winding up a paper tape.  He seemed genuinely shocked.  It had been many years
since the last teletypes were used.  
     What color is the tape?
     Yellow.
     How many holes are punched in each row?
     5.
     What is the encoding?  
     ITA2.
     Where were you trained?
     Cory Station. (Naval Technical Training Center, Cory Station, Pensacola, Florida)
     You're not old enough.  (He had mistakenly assumed that I was a recent college
grad, as were most of the others in the room.)
---
     A long time ago, when I worked for the National Bureau of Standards, the division
chief walked into the mass spectrometry lab and did a pantomime with one hand, and asked,
What am I doing?  No one said anything, so I said, you're unscrewing the cap off of a
test tube.  
     How would you have known that?
     We used such test tubes in high school.  
     Why would you know how to do it with only one hand?
     I was holding something with the other hand.
     (The Chief smiled, knowing exactly what I was holding.)
---
     I hope you attend a lecture in the future where the lecturer does a pantomime
and you are able to recognize that he is racking the slide of a pistol (long since
obsolete) or reloading a revolver (only viewable in museums).
     The Founding Fathers were smart enough to use the word "arms", for they knew
technology advances.  
     I hope you live to see the day where a U.S. Supreme Court Justice writes in a
majority opinion (addressing the legislature),
"What part of '. . . shall not be infringed.' don't you understand?"
 
Rush Limbaugh (1951-2021 A.D.) R.I.P.  He passed on the morning of 17 February 2021 A.D.
Listened to him on the radio.  Watched his TV show.  Read his newsletter.  
I'm glad we had President Trump to give him the medal before he died.  
(Hat tip to Matt Drudge.)  
I can't imagine any other president who would have.  
God works in glorious ways!  
 
Semper Fidelis,
Jonathan D. Low
Jon_Low@yahoo.com
 

Tuesday, February 2, 2021

CWP, 1 February MMXXI Anno Domini

Hi Sheepdogs, 
     These blog postings are not training.  They are only continuing education for 
those who have already had some formal training.  I realize some of you live in 
countries where such training is forbidden and possession of the tools for self-
defense are illegal to possess.  I urge you travel to seek training.  You don't 
need the pistol.  You need the training.  
 
     "Talk to your children while they are eating; 
what you say will stay even after you are gone."  
-- Nez Perce proverb

     Neglecting to carry self defense insurance is criminal stupidity.  
You carry life insurance, auto insurance, self-defense insurance, etc. 
because you are a responsible mature adult. 

     "Be an early riser; the game does not 
snuggle their heads on feather pillows."
-- Assiniboine proverb
 
*****     *****     ***** Software *****     *****     *****
 
"Fear is an instinct. Courage is a choice."
-- Rear Admiral Joseph Kernan, USN
 
----- Mindset -----
 
     "In anger a man becomes dangerous to himself and to others."  
-- Omaha proverb
 
SI VIS PACEM, PARA BELLUM.
(If you seek peace, prepare for war.)
 
It’s about prevention, not response.
-- Michael Mann
 
  "The wildcat does not make enemies by rash action.  
He is observant, quiet, tactful, and he always gains in the end."  
-- Pawnee proverb
 
"Questions I Wish You'd Ask pt.1: How Good Do I Need To Be?" by Samuel Middlebrook
Excerpt:  
     "I love my wife and kids SO much that I would do just about anything 
in order to keep them from harm.  In that same line of thinking, that also 
means that I will not allow anyone to take my wife’s husband from her.  
I will not allow anyone to take my children’s father away from them. 
Love always protects."
 
"Panic is simply the lack of preprogrammed responses."  
-- Tom Givens 
 
     "It is better to have less thunder in the mouth, 
and more lighting in the hand."  
-- Apache proverb
 
"Incredible 3 arrows shot at 70 metres by Olympic Champion Chang Hye Jin 장혜진"
     Same equipment as everyone else.  Same training as her team mates.  
What's going on in her mind is the difference.  
 
     "There is no fear where there is faith."  
-- Kiowa proverb
 
----- Safety -----
 
Jeff Cooper's Rules of Gun Safety  
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.  
 
Don't go to stupid places.  
Don't do stupid things.  
Don't hang out with stupid people.  
Be in bed by 10 PM.  Your own bed.  
Don't look like a freak. 
Don't fail the attitude test.  
-- John Farnam
 
----- Training -----
 
     "The old days will never be again, 
even as a man will never again be a child."  
-- Dakota proverb
 
"The Things I Wish I Knew Before My First Training Course" by Matt
 
"The real value of training and practice isn't gaining technical competence, 
it's achieving confidence in your abilities."
-- Claude Werner
 
     "It is observed that in any great endeavor,
it is not enough for a person to depend solely on himself."  
-- Lakota proverb
 
"Lynn Givens’ Visual Trigger Break and Reset Drill" by Uncle Zo
     This is a standard exercise that I learned at Front Sight in 1996.  
I use it in my classes and recommend that you use it.  
 
     You need training because:  
You don't know what you don't know.  
Much of what you know is false.  
It's good to the have the answers before the criminal tests you.  
-- Claude Werner (paraphrased)
 
  "The Bird who has eaten cannot fly with the bird that is hungry."  
-- Omaha proverb
 
"Tactical Moment" by John Holschen
 
     "A child believes that only the action of someone who is unfriendly can cause pain."  
-- Santee proverb
[Real combat training can cause pain.  In the U.S. Armed forces, realistic training 
causes many deaths every year.  If your civilian self-defense training is fun, safe 
and comfortable, can it realistic?  Self deceptions is insidious. -- Jon Low]
 
"Is your gun training perturbing enough?" by Mike Ox
 
"Concealed Carry: Issues and Perspectives" by John Murphy
 
     You can't always see the importance of math when you learn it; 
you can only see its value in hindsight.  You have to trust your math teachers.  
Work hard, and it will make all the difference in your life. 
-- Steve Jobs (paraphrased)
     [Similarly for self defense, trust your instructors, 
it will make all the difference in your life. -- Jon Low]
 
     Wow, this is amazing.  Marcus Wynne is accepting students, if you ask politely.  
"What I Do, How I Do It, And What’s New In 2021" by Marcus Wynne
Excerpt:  
     "Grown ups feel free to contact me via e-mail through this site."
 
     My brother wrote to me to inform me that there had been a home invasion in the ritzy 
area of Waialae Iki in Honolulu, Hawaii.  So, he intends to carry at home from now on.  
     I informed him that without expert training, he is a danger to everyone within range.  
The vast majority of people in the United States think that a pistol is a simple device 
and simple to use.  They are WRONG.  The user must know how to talk to the suspect, how 
to maneuver, how to use cover and concealment, how to present to the ready, how to 
present to the target, how to ensure every bullet hits the intended target (extremely 
difficult under stress), what to do if the attacker does not stop, what to do when the 
attacker is stopped, how to call for police and ambulance (extremely complicated, 
especially under stress), how to interact with the responding officer, how to interact 
with the investigating officer, what to do after the incident to ensure your health, 
safety, financial, and legal well being.  
 
"You Don’t Need a Gun for Self-Defense
You need skill!"  by Michael Seeklander
Excerpt:  
     "A gun is no more of a self-defense solution to the untrained individual than 
a car is a method of transportation to a child who does not know how to drive."
     [Please share this article with first time gun buyers who made their purchase 
in reaction to recent events. -- Jon Low]
 
     "Honey, I think we need to get a gun."
     No!  You need to get training.  
 
“You are no more armed because you are wearing a pistol 
than you are a musician because you own a guitar.” 
from Principles of Personal Defense by 
Col. Jeff Cooper, USMC, (1920 – 2006 A.D.)
 
"7 Critical Failures of Armed Americans" 
a Concealed Carry University webinar by Patrick Kilchermann 
     Meat of the presentation is from 17:39:00 to 1:20:00.  The rest of the video is 
fluff and trying to sell you stuff.  Nothing wrong with that.  
1.  Going it alone.  [You can't.  You have to get educated.]
2.  Not driving out the freeze.  [Fight, flight, or freeze]
3.  We will rise to the occasion.  FALSE!
[During an attack, we will have the presence of mind to realize what's happening to us, 
and then we will have the mental clarity to think about what we need to do to save our 
lives, and then we will have the skills to perform that complex motor skill to pull that 
action off.  That's asking a lot of a person who is in the most stressful situation of
their life.]
4.  Handguns have stopping power. FALSE!
5.  Target accuracy vs. combat accuracy  [Target skills do not translate to combat skills.]
6.  Carrying without a warrior mindset  [3 pillars:  mindset, skills, tools]
7.  Denial
     [This webinar does not teach you what to do, or how to do things.  It tells you what you 
need to learn to do.]
 
Nuances by the Tactical Professor
Excerpt:  
     Inputs to good decision making:  
Know the rules.
Have adequate skills.
Understand the situation.
=> Make good decisions.  
 
“The man who trains with a stick will defeat the man who plays with a sword.”
-- John Simpson
 
NO WISDOM IN WARNING SHOTS by Shawn Vincent
     Firing warning shots is an act of criminal stupidity.  
 
"Training is NOT an event, but a process. 
Training is the preparation FOR practice". 
-- Claude Werner
 
----- Practice -----
 
     The difference between a dream and a goal, is that a goal has a plan. 
Make a plan for improving your self-defense and pistolcraft.  Write your 
plan down in your journal.  Writing it down makes it concrete.  Until you 
write it down, it is ephemeral.  Execute your plan.  Succeed!  
     If you don't know how to make your plan, ask for help.  Find a coach.  
Ask your coach to help you set your goals and make your plan for achieving 
your goals.  If you can't find a coach, contact me.  I will tell you to:  
     Take a 4 or 5 day pistol course at one of the prestigious gun schools.  
(If you can't afford it, save up for it.  No excuses, just do it.)  At 
least once.  
     Shoot IDPA or IPSC matches.  Once a month?  (If you can't afford it, 
cancel your streaming services.)  This is the tactical scenarios part of 
your training.  
     Take Force-on-force training using Simunitions.  (If you can't afford 
it, stop eating out.)
     Take a class on judgment exercises using video simulators.  
     Take a Law of Self Defense class.  (Andrew Branca gives such a class 
online at least twice a year.)  
     Take a class on Tactical Emergency Casualty Care.  (Sherman House 
gives these classes on a regular basis.)
     If you want to kill several birds with a single stone, attend the 
Tactical Conference.  It goes in March of every year.  It sells out by 
October of the previous year.
     If you don't know what I'm talking about, contact me.  
 
     Practice is the small deposits you make over time, 
so that in an emergency, you can make that big withdrawal. 
-- Chesley Burnett Sullenberger, III
 
     I shot an IDPA match in the cold with jacket, gloves, and such.  I shot the match left handed, 
as my ability to shoot right handed is deteriorating with age.  I found out what works and what 
doesn't in terms of techniques and gear.  Very important information.  It is important to do this 
sort of thing from time to time, as it is easy to forget how difficult it is for beginners to 
learn our craft.  
     Remember, when it happens for real, you're not going to be warned (there is no ready 
command), you're going to be in an awkward position (perhaps on the ground), the situation 
will be ambiguous (you might not know what's going on, you might not know who the bad guys 
are, who the innocent bystanders are, who the friendlies are), and your senses might be 
impaired.  In the Marine Corps we were taught to immediately counter-attack on any attack, 
but that might not be the appropriate action for a civilian self-defense situation.  You 
might want to run to cover to gain time to figure out what's going on.  Running away is 
always a good thing, if you're by yourself.  
 
Why practice?
    "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
 
"THE “PLAY LIKE YOU PRACTICE” THING . . . REALISTIC PRACTICE CONDITIONS ARE CRITICAL" BY MASSAD AYOOB
Excerpt:  
     "Winter gloves make the pistol harder to hold.  A finger with thick 
glove may apply trigger pressure early in a handgun with small trigger 
guard, such as a 1911, and may block trigger return on a double action 
revolver after the first shot.  A gloved thumb may fumble with a manual 
safety or decocking lever.  Gotta try it to know."
 
"Practice the X Drill to Reinforce Pistol Skills: Here's How" by J. Scott Rupp
 
     "Work on your studies within three days of the last time you worked on your studies.  
Such consistency and recency will pay dividends."  
-- Prof. Martin Pohl, Universite de Geneve [University of Geneva (Switzerland)]
from a particle physics class (Check out https://pdg.lbl.gov/ if you're interested in this sort of stuff.)
     [So, if it's been three days since you practiced your presentation from your holster to 
the target, do it now. -- Jon Low]
     Switzerland has a national pro-gun organization named after William Tell.  I remember 
my mother reading me the story of William Tell, when I was a child.  
 
     "Be careful what you practice. 
Because you will do in combat whatever you
have practiced, no matter how ridiculous."
-- "Shooting in Self-Defense" by Sara Ahrens
 
----- Techniques -----
 
"Use only that which works, 
and take it from any place you can find it."
-- Bruce Lee
 
"Again With the Front Sight!" by Col. Kenneth Haynes (Ret.)
     The last paragraph is a gem.  Please study it, until you understand it.  
It brings sight alignment, sight movie, and trigger control (surprise break) 
into an elegant mnemonic.  
     “. . . an instructor told me to pretend that the front sight was 
attached to a rail leading to the center of the rear sight.  My trigger 
finger was attached to the front sight with a string.  Then, when I had 
the aligned sights on target, my trigger finger would smoothly pull the 
front sight back toward the center of the rear sight.  The lesson kept 
me from yanking on the trigger, kept me staring at the front sight, and
the round going off surprised me every time.”
 
"The Benefits Of Shooting With One Hand" by Joshua Gillem
     In the normal classes that I teach, we always shoot right handed with two hands 
(aiming with dominant eye), left handed with two hands (aiming with dominant eye), 
right hand only (aiming with dominant eye), left hand only (aiming with the dominant 
eye).  Because being able to do this is a higher level of preparedness than not  
being able to do this.  [It would, of course, be good to practice with the 
non-dominant eye, if you can.  Just close your non-aiming eye.  But, don't be 
disappointed if you can't.]
     When the shit hits the fan, you won't get a "ready" command.  You won't get a 
"go" command.  You will be in an awkward position, perhaps on the ground.  You may 
be disabled.  Have you practiced for that?  
     In the infantry, you've got a perimeter guard, Corporal of the Guard, Sergeant 
of the Guard, etc. so it's unlikely you'll be suffer a surprise attack.  
In the motor pool, you get overrun without warning.  In intel, you get the insider 
attack, where the "friendlies" you are training start shooting at you.  In the civilian 
world, you'll probably get sucker punched by the gal asking you for directions.  
Last night at 03:45 a guy sitting outside the Starbucks, which is on the first floor 
of the building that I'm guarding, starts yelling at me and asking me what time it is.  
He acts like he can't hear me and starts moving closer to me.  I establish a high 
tight grip on my pistol.  He acts all offended that I think he's a threat.  And 
says things like, "You're a racist.  You're scared of me cause I'm Black."  
I don't care.  I know he's a threat at zero dark thirty, he being much bigger than me, 
and no witnesses around.  If someone can change your behavior by calling you a racist, 
your mind is weak.  
 
IN EXTREMIS COMMUNICATION, PART 1
IN EXTREMIS COMMUNICATION PART 2
IN EXTREMIS COMMUNICATION, PART 3
IN EXTREMIS COMMUNICATION, PART 4
     These articles explain how to hold a dangerous person at gun point.  
Don't do this.  You're not a cop.  In the Marine Corps, we were taught to 
NEVER TAKE PRISONERS.  Because, you don't have the resources to feed, 
protect, give medical aid, or transport them.  And you certainly don't 
want to waste your manpower guarding prisoners (who might attack you at 
any moment).  The Army has Field MP's and prison facilities.  Marines don't.  
 
     I was in Books-A-Million and saw a book by Gun Digest.  As I thumbed through 
it, I saw a series of photographs and captions explaining how to reach behind your 
back to get your pistol with your support side hand (when the pistol is carried 
at the 3 o'clock position for right handers or 9 o'clock position for left handers).  
This is an advanced technique that is taught in many gun schools.  The book's 
description of the technique was bad.  The photographs showed the pistol being 
drawn out of the holster with an improper grip.  
     If you're going to reach behind your back with your support side hand to get 
your pistol, make sure to establish your correct high tight grip before you pull 
the pistol out of your holster.  (Because, you won't have time to fix the grip later.)  
Otherwise, you are going to drop your pistol.  This action probably will take more 
than the standard 2000 repetitions to engrain into muscle memory.  If you attempt 
to do it in combat (or force-on-force Simunitions training) without the prerequisite 
practice, you're not going to be happy with the results.  Yes, with practice, 
it can be done elegantly, smoothly, and quickly.  And must be done if you're holding 
a baby in your firing side arm, or the bad guy is holding your firing side hand 
(in a handshake and won't let go), or your firing side arm is injured, or . . .   
     If you've got a retention device on your holster, this technique ain't going to 
work.  If you've got a forward cant in your holster, this technique is going to be 
very difficult.  Just because the FBI cant their holsters forward does not mean 
that it's a smart thing to do.  Hey, the U.S. Army has thousands of SERPA Blackhawk 
holsters, and we all know how bad they are.  The best and the brightest do not 
rise in civil service bureaucracies to the policy making positions.  That's why 
the Founding Fathers constructed our republic to have policy makers political 
appointees or elected officials.  But, our Founding Fathers could not have imagined 
how the self-serving politicians would create a massive permanent bureaucracy.  
Civil servants are effectively impossible to fire.  So, as many tenured professors, 
many are dead wood.  So, they write policy to minimize organizational liability, 
which always conflicts with officer safety.  Or, they write policy to minimize 
equipment cost, which often conflicts with functional and reliability requirements.
 
     I see a lot of NRA and YouTube.com videos teaching breath control.  
I do not teach breath control to my defensive pistol students, nor do 
I teach it to my junior rifle team athletes.  (I am a level 3 rifle coach, 
certified by the NRA, CMP, and USA Shooting.)  
     I believe that breath control in a combat situation will happen automatically, 
as an autonomic nervous system function.   So, I don't waste time teaching it.  
Studies by USA Shooting at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, CO and 
the United States Army Marksmanship Training Unit demonstrate that with practice, 
the shooter will automatically (without instruction) release the shot at the 
respiratory pause, after the exhale and before the inhale.  After significant 
training and practice the shooter will automatically release the shot between 
heart beats.  By automatically, I mean without training to do so, without conscious 
effort to do so.  So, teaching something that will happen automatically with 
practice is unnecessary, and perhaps counter productive.
 
     Practice in the mirror.  The immediate visual feedback will allow you to 
automatically correct any errors in your position.  
 
     If you point a pistol at someone, you could be charged with aggravated assault.  
So, let's examine what we can do short of aiming in.  
     Gabe White teaches several stages of preparedness before shooting with an 
estimate of time from a given stage to the shot being fired.  
1.  Clear your concealment garment and establish your correct high tight grip.  
[I have actually used this in the real world.  Four drug dealers (two of whom 
were attempting to flank me) were in my parking lot selling drugs.  I asked them 
to leave.  They aggressed.  I cleared my concealment garment and established 
my grip.  They left. -- Jon Low]
2.  Surreptitious draw.  Establish correct grip, get your pistol out of the 
holster, and hide it behind your leg or under the table, or . . . 
[Distraction and misdirection will allow you to do this successfully.  Yes, it does 
take practice, as anything else.. -- Jon Low]
3.  Presentation to the low ready.  With a correct two handed grip, the pistol 
is pointing down at the ground a few feet in front of you.  
[The NRA Personal Protection class teaches that this will cause the bad guy 
to flee 90% of the time.]
 
"How to Avoid Looking Like a Victim" by Greg Ellifritz
 
GET YOUR HANDS UP: CRAIG DOUGLAS FENCE POSITION
 
"It's not daily increase but daily decrease - hack away at the inessentials!" 
-- Bruce Lee
 
----- Tactics -----
 
How do you win a gunfight? 
Don't be there.
-- John Farnam
 
     "Strive to be a person who is never absent from an important act."  
-- Osage proverb
 
"Tactical Decision Making (Part I)" by the Tactical Professor
Excerpts:  
     "Tactics – doing things right, which is what most training classes focus on.
     Strategy – doing the right things. This results from a thinking process, 
hopefully done ahead of time.
     The dividing line is physical contact. Once you make contact, you’re going 
to execute tactics, hopefully that support a strategy you have already developed."
     [So, you have to have a strategy.  So, you have to have a plan before you do 
anything.  So, you have to have visualized the scenario.  You're not going to 
have time to strategize while in combat, so you won't be able to plan what to do 
next during combat.  So, you have to know what your goal is before you start.  
Even a plan as simple as "Get out the side door." is sufficient. -- Jon Low]
     [A plan such as "Kill the bad guys." is fraught with peril.  Do, you know 
who the bad guys are?  There may be many that you have not identified.  Untrained 
people do stupid things when they panic.  And so may look like bad guys to you.  
(In a civilian self-defense context, just because he's charging you, does not 
mean he's an enemy.  He's just scared and running in a direction that happens 
to coincide with you.)
     If some commander gives you the order, "Kill the bad guys.", then the commander 
is responsible.  You were just following orders.  If you decide to "Kill the 
bad guys.", you are responsible.  If you start shooting bad guys, can you ensure 
you are not hitting innocent bystanders?  The IDPA match has lots of bad guys 
and one or two no-shoots.  In the real world, just about everyone in the crowd 
is a no-shoot, and there may be one or two bad guys moving among the crowd.  
This is several orders of magnitude more difficult than the IDPA match. 
     When we were in Frunze, there were several U.S. Armed Forces persons that didn't 
recognize the Kyrgish as innocent bystanders, because they were not Americans.  
I refused to take such persons with me, because they had no aversion to shooting 
the locals (They were just collateral damage.). 
     If you're playing Dungeons & Dragons, the behavior of good and evil characters 
is well defined.  In the real world, not so much.
-- Jon Low]
 
     "The weakness of the enemy makes our strength."  
-- Cherokee proverb
 
Counter Carjacking and Critical Path Design by Marcus Wynne 
     [You must be able to drive backwards.  Practice.  Vehicles with front steering 
wheels are not stable when driven backwards.  You have to practice.  
     Put high traction tires on your vehicle.  If your tires are rated for a lot of 
miles, it means the rubber is hard and so will last for many miles.  This is bad.  
You want soft tacky rubber because it will grip the road better.  Such soft rubber 
will wear out sooner, so your tires will have a relatively low mileage rating.  So, 
you will have to change your tires more often and spend more money.  Just do it.  
(Your daughter will make it home without incident, instead of skidding and crashing.  
She'll never know, but you will.)
     Get your mechanic to move your pedals so that the gas and brake pedals are 
level.  You should be able to pivot on your heel between the pedals.  Use your right 
foot only.  You may need your left foot for the clutch.  Or, bracing your body.  
     Learn to drive a standard transmission.  This is a higher level of preparedness 
than only being able to drive automatic transmission.  
     I learned in a driver's education class (yes, it was court ordered) that 
distracted driving kills 6 times more people than drunk driving.  Drivers are 
often brought into the emergency room or morgue still clutching the phone that 
they were texting on.  But, you're smarter than that, right?
-- Jon Low]
 
     "When you see a rattlesnake poise to strike, strike first."  
-- Navajo (Dine) proverb
 
"Keep Your Wheels: 11 Tips to Avoid a Carjacking" by Wyatt Knox
Excerpt:  
     "Avoid Detroit"
     "When in Doubt, Reverse", practice reverse driving.
 
     If you have the option, move to your firing side.  This should be a habit, 
as breathing.  It happens automatically, unless you intentionally break the 
habit.  Moving to your firing side allows you to shoot at your target in a 
natural Weaver arm position with minimum twisting of the torso or legs.  It's 
these little things that when compounded in a fight will give you victory.  
 
"Mastering the Element of Surprise for Personal Defense" by Sheriff Jim Wilson
Excerpt:  
     "This woman surprised her attacker in several ways.  The first is that 
she made a quick, aggressive response to his criminal actions.  The second 
is that she turned common objects into defensive tools."
     [Please note that lady did not use a pistol.  You don't need a pistol.  
You need a combat mindset. -- Jon Low]
 
"Tactical Training Scenario- “They’re Putting On Ski Masks” " by Greg Ellifritz
     A thinking exercise for you.  
 
     In answer to a student's question, not repeated because it was long and 
complicated and would require description of the context in which it was asked.  
     John Holschen teaches to shoot the first part of the target that comes into 
view, as opposed to waiting to get a view of the center of mass in order to get 
a center of mass shot.  Because that reveals too much of your body to the enemy.  
So, as you're coming around a corner, you would shoot the enemy's foot, elbow, 
shoulder, or whatever appears first.  This is not shooting to wound.  This is 
shooting to get a psychological stop.  Just as in ancient duels, the antagonists 
would often fight to first blood, because nobody wanted to actually die.  And 
generally speaking, whoever gets the first hit will eventually win the gunfight.  
Because by getting the first hit, you have disabled the enemy, which should 
make him easier to incapacitate.  
     We are not even trying for a one shot stop.  We know that shooting his foot 
will not physically stop the enemy.  As Colin Powell said, we are going to win 
by giving the Iraqis a thousand paper cuts.  Because then-General Powell did not 
want to bomb civilian population centers, as President Truman did in Japan during 
World War II (Hiroshima and Nagasaki).  This is a much safer strategy as we are 
not exposing ourselves to incoming fire.  This is a much more conservative 
strategy, and so will take more time and require more patience.  
     If you don't have time, you may want to run straight toward the enemy 
while shooting.  This exposes you to his fire.  This allows you to get closer 
to improve the probability of hitting.  Thus, reducing the probability of hitting 
innocent bystanders.  
     It's always a judgment call.  
 
You win gunfights by not getting shot.
-- John Holschen
 
----- Education -----
 
"Cogito, ergo armatum sum." (I think, therefore armed am I.)
-- John Farnam
 
"You will never get smarter or broaden your horizons 
if you're unwilling to learn from others and read."
-- Becca Martin
 
*****     *****     ***** Hardware (which includes you) *****     *****     *****
 
"I would like to see every
woman know how to handle
guns as naturally as they
know how to handle babies."
-- Annie Oakley
 
----- Gear ----- 
 
“Mission drives the gear train.”
-- Pat Rogers
 
" “Jam” is something I put on my toast." by Freddie Blish
Excerpt:  
     ". . . shooters need to understand the Cycle of Operation of their semi-auto pistols, 
rifles and shotguns, in order to properly understand what type of Malfunction or Stoppage 
has occurred.  Otherwise the cause cannot be properly attributed nor corrected."
     [And "Draw is something you do with crayons." -- Front Sight saying]
 
The Pistol –
     A modern semi-automatic self-defense pistol in good working order.  
     Revolvers are inappropriate because in combat, they take too long to reload, 
are too difficult to reload, and require reloading too often.
     Some people think, how much money will I spend on something that I may never use?  
But you should be thinking, how much money will I spend on something that my life and 
the lives of my loved ones will depend on?  
     Your pistol should be considered emergency life saving equipment, as a life vest 
when you go sailing.  You always wear it because you cannot predict when you will be 
thrown off the boat by wind or wave.  Similarly, you will always wear your pistol 
because you cannot predict when a criminal will attack.  That is his choice, not yours.  
     Your pistol should be ambidextrous, because you can't know which hand you will be 
using in combat.  Such is the nature of combat.
 
"Electronic Hearing Protection, And The Benefits They Offer" by Joshua Gillem
 
"[SHOT 2021] SmartGunz Announce RFID-Enabled 9mm Sentry Pistol" by Matthew Moss
     Your self-defense / combat pistol must be ambidextrous.  Just because you are 
right handed does not mean you will be right handed in combat.  Such is the nature 
of combat.  If you attempt to fire this pistol with your support side hand, it won't 
fire.  If you attempt to fire this pistol without the glove on, it won't fire.  
The RFID technology they are using is easily defeated by common electronic warfare 
jammers.  The RFID technology they are using is easily cloned, exactly as the 
thieves would clone your credit card chips or automobile fobs.  Which means that 
at a distance, the bad guy can turn your pistol on or off at will.  Using this 
technology is criminal stupidity.  
 
     I was in a gun shop the other day listening to guys talk about holsters.  
One guy recommended a Sticky holster.  And then they discussed what to do with 
the holstered pistol when using the bathroom, and how a friend forgot his 
holstered pistol in a bathroom in a restaurant and had to drive back to pick 
it up from the police who had been called when it was found.  The discussion 
was logical.  They came to the conclusion that Sticky holsters were okay, 
they just had to do all kinds of things to ensure safety and security when 
using the bathroom.  
     I came to a different conclusion, don't use Sticky holsters.  Use a 
holster that securely attaches to your belt, and leave your pistol in your 
holster, and leave your holster attached to your belt when using the bathroom.  
 
     Recoilweb.com has ammo in stock and for sale.
 
Ammo Seek a web site to help you find ammo.
 
"COMMON CONCEALED CARRY MYTHS . . . SOLVED" BY TOM MCHALE
 
“Your car is not a holster.” 
– Pat Rogers
 
----- Technical -----
 
"Real fights are short."
-- Bruce Lee
 
"How to detail strip a 1911" by John Travis
 
     Some people say the Glock triggers feel spongy.  What they are referring to is the fact 
that Glocks are "striker fired pistols" as opposed to "single action pistols".  Striker 
fired means that when the user takes the slack out of the trigger, he is actually finishing 
cocking the action.  
     In a "double action pistol" pulling the trigger before sear disengagement cocks the action.  
     In a striker action most of the cocking is done when the slide reciprocates, but not all.  
A little bit of cocking is left for the trigger when pressing out the slack.  This is by design.  
     In a single action pistol the action is cocked when the slide cycles, and all the trigger 
does is release the striker.  The Springfield Armory XD's are single action pistols (This is the 
BATFE designation, and it is technically correct.).  The single action pistols have crisper 
breaking triggers (less spongy) than the striker action pistols, because the user is not moving 
the striker further backwards when pressing the trigger.  
     A lot of manufacturers advertise their pistols as striker fired, when in fact they are 
single action, because they want to be associated with the Glock and compared to the Glock.  
And since their actions are single action, their triggers feel cripper than the Glocks.  
A selling point I guess.  
     So, the question is, why was the Glock designed this way?  If you're going to eliminate 
the traditional manual safety (which simplifies the manual of arms, a significant improvement 
because there is never enough time or budget for training, and the users will never practice 
enough), you've got to be able to convince the consumer that the pistol is safe.  The fact 
that the break dawn was precede by a small amount of cocking made the argument.  The striker 
action is functionally different from single action or double action, so it was patentable, 
and at the time of its introduction, it was outside the defined categories and so could not 
be illegal or in violation of any existing regulation.  While getting law enforcement to use 
your product is good for marketing, being able to get significant market share in the 
civilian market is the goal.  Any gun maker wants to be able to sell in the United States, 
where the citizens are able to buy en masse.  So, it can't be illegal.  
     The SA XD's have a trigger safety and grip safety.  Most of the American manufacturers, 
such as S&W and Ruger only have the trigger safety.  Some of the European manufacturers 
don't even have the trigger safety, on the theory that the holster is the safety.  
 
"The shorter the fight, the less hurt you get."
-- John Holschen
 
*****     *****     ***** Instruction *****     *****     *****

Colonel Robert Lindsey to his fellow trainers:
"We are not God's gift to our students.
Our students are God's gift to us."
 
----- Instructors -----
 
Remember, the students who require the extra effort are the ones who need us the most!
-- John Farnam
 

"The problem with defensive shooting is that it’s dominated by enthusiasts. 
That’s not necessarily good for you." by Grant Cunningham
 
     "Teachers not only teach, but they also learn."  
-- Sauk proverb
 
Qui docet, discit.  (Who teaches, learns.)
-- motto of the American Society of Law Enforcement Trainers
 
     "Every time I teach a class,
I discover I don't know something."
-- Clint Smith, Director of Thunder Ranch
 
"The biggest problem with communication is the illusion that it has happened."  
 
     Be careful what you teach.  
Because your students will do in combat
whatever you have trained them to do, 
no matter how ridiculous.
-- "Shooting in Self-Defense" by Sara Ahrens
 
----- Pedagogy -----
 
     "The most valuable resource that all teachers have is each other.  
Without collaboration, our growth is limited to our own perspectives."  
-- Robert John Meehan
 
     In your first communication with your student, ask if there are any disabilities, 
so you can accommodate.  It's really not that hard, and the effort will be educational.  
     Be aware that there are different types of color blindness and different degrees 
of color blindness.  Study and understand deuteranopia, protanopia, and tritanopia.  
And make your visual aids appropriately.  High contrast is always a good thing.  
If the color of your lettering is close to the color of the background, outline the 
letters in a contrasting color.  
     Learn American Sign Language.  This will open up a significant population of 
students for you.  There are very few self-defense / pistol instructors in this space.  
If you're not there yet, you can carry index cards with written or pictorial descriptions 
of the exercises.  Yes, actually it does work.  I have had profoundly deaf students.  
You don't need to lecture, they can read.  This actually cuts a significant amount of 
time from the class.  Unlike normal students, when you give a reading assignment that 
is to be completed before the start of class it will be done.  
     I ask my students if they are taking any psychotropic drugs.  I assure them that 
such medication is not disqualifying.  The instructors just need to know, so they don't 
misinterpret the student's behavior as intoxication.  I have had many students on such 
drugs.  It's no big deal.  As long as you don't make it a big deal.  
 
     "A good chief gives, he does not take."  
-- Mohawk proverb
 
"To the brain, reading computer code is not the same as reading language"
     I'm interested in this sort of thing, because I spent way too much 
time in the Psychology Department of Columbia University in New York 
as an undergrad.
     When I studied Latin in 7th and 8th grade at Punahou School in Hawaii 
it was easy for me, because it was completely systematized.  
I flunked out of French in the same time period, 
because there was no way for me to organize the information, 
so I couldn't make sense of it.  
     So, if you want your students to grok your material, you have to 
systematize it.  All the concepts have to fit together and make sense.  
Otherwise, the non-language oriented student won't get it.  
  Let me make a gross generalization.  Country folk, red necks, and 
hillbillies are computer code readers.  Effete city folk are human 
language readers.  Just my experience.  
 
Teach positive.  Teach what to do.  Don't talk about what not to do.
-- John Farnam
 
     “The one important thing I have learned over the years 
is the difference between taking one’s work seriously and 
taking one’s self seriously.  
The first is imperative and the second is disastrous.”
-- Prima Ballerina Dame Margot Fonteyn
 
     An instructor should not expect any learning to take 
place the first time new information is presented.  
-- "Building Shooters" by Dustin Solomon
 
*****     *****     ***** Legal, Political, and Philosophical *****     *****     *****
 
     "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. 
It is wholly inadequate for the governance of any other.
-- John Adams, October 11, 1798
 
"New Age!"  by John Farnam 
     I remember reading "1984" by George Orwell in high school.  My teachers warned us 
that this would happen.  They never dreamed that it would be their side doing it.  
The other side is always the bad guys, and persons will adjust their thinking to 
rationalize what their side is doing.  Because it's for the greater good.  The other 
side is just too stupid to understand.  
     Have you read the Harry Potter books?  Or, read them to your children?  You ought 
to read them and understand the underlying political philosophy, because a lot of 
people have read these books.  And most who read these books, did so at an age where 
these books molded their political thinking.  Why do you think the liberals are always 
lambasting J. K. Rowling for the things she says?  Because the books point out the 
error of doing anything bad for the greater good.  
     Decades ago, I had a girlfriend who told me that her religious (and political) 
thinking was based on the Chronicles of Narnia.  Children's books that she had read 
as a child.  That got me thinking.  
 
"The rise of the concealed carry woman: 'We have to empower each other'
Some survivors of domestic violence are taking matters into their own hands"
by Hollie McKay 
     Most people do not understand abusive relationships.  They say things like, "Why 
didn't she just leave?"  Can you just leave your job?  Can you just leave your family?  
Can you just leave your . . . ?  
Yes, as a matter of fact, it is just like that.  They don't think the way you think.  
 
"THE GUN LAWYER: Carrying an 80% or Unserialized Firearms"
by Munitions Law Group - Cheshire DeBrosse, P.C.
 
"The Aftermath of a Defensive Display" by Don West and Shawn Vincent
     Call the police and report the incident, even if nothing happened.  Because whatever 
gets written down becomes what happened.
 
"Walnut Creek Defender Shoots Innocent Bystander" by John Correia
     The defender did not aim, so he hit an innocent bystander, so he got charged with 
aggravated assault with a firearm.  If convicted, that's hard time.  
 
"Defensive Gun Uses Where People Legally Carrying Concealed Guns Have Stopped Crime, 
Cases From Early January to Late January 2020" by Nikki Goeser (Tennessee State Senator 
Mark Pody has reached out to Nikki to help her with the guy who murdered her husband 
and is stalking her from prison.  Some nightmares never end.)
 
     God gave us the right to keep and bear arms; to overthrow governments; to 
defend ourselves, loved ones, and community; to hunt (because food is necessary for 
survival); and to pursue happiness.  The government did not give us this right, 
so the government cannot take this right away from us.  
     So, if the lady with 4 young children asks for training because the ex-boyfriend 
has beaten her and will kill her, I won't ask her if she has a disqualifying felony 
conviction (such as a non-violent drug possession felony conviction) or domestic abuse 
conviction.  And if she mentions it, I won't hear it, because years of artillery and 
small arms fire has degraded my hearing (no matter what the VA says).  
     On the other hand, I will ask students with clean records to leave the class 
when I find out from reliable law enforcement sources that they are members of criminal organizations.  
My training classes are not a public accommodations.  I don't have to train anyone that 
I don't want to.  And neither do you.  
 
     I really wanted to take a class from Dave Spaulding (Tom Givens had recommended 
the class).  But when I attempted to sign up for the class, the host insisted that 
I pay using Paypal.com.  I offered to mail a check or give him my credit card number 
over the phone or by email, but he said he only uses Paypal.  I had to say that I was 
sorry, but I will not feed the gun prohibitionists.  
     I was really disappointed.  How we spend our dollars is our most important vote.  
 
     Intellectual ammunition to help you fight for our cause.
"Crime Prevention Research Center"
 
"FIREARMS INSTRUCTORS TEACHING “SELF-DEFENSE” LAW ???" by Steven M. Harris
 
"6 On-Target Concealed Carry Insurance Options (2021)" by Gun Digest Editors
     You've got to remember that this is in the opinion of the editors.  
 
     “Is there no virtue among us?
If there is not, we are without hope!
No form of government, existing nor theoretical, will keep us from harm.
To think that any government, in any form, 
will insure liberty and happiness for an dishonorable population 
represents the height of self-deception.”
-- James Madison, 1788
 
*****     *****     ***** Survival, Medical, Security, and such *****     *****     *****
 
"If you prepare for the emergency,
the emergency ceases to exist!"
-- Dr. Sherman House
 
     Wow, look at all these books on knots at Practical Eschatology.
 
     "It is good to be reminded that each of us has a different dream."  
-- Crow proverb
[Especially true of parents when looking at their children. -- Jon Low]
 
     "Always assume your guests are tired, cold, and hungry, and act accordingly."  
-- Navajo (Dine) proverb
 
When it comes to survival, “just barely” beats the heck outta “not quite good enough.”
-- John Connor
 
*****     *****     ***** Basics *****     *****     *****
 
     "Train, Practice, Compete 
are the key elements in the development of humans."
-- John M. Buol, Jr.
 
     "If you see no reason for giving thanks,
the fault lies in yourself."  
-- Minquas, Susquehannock proverb
 
     "Love yourself; get outside yourself and take action; focus on the solution; be at peace."  
-- Lakota proverb
 
     “No possible rapidity of fire can atone for habitual 
carelessness of aim with the first shot.” -- Theodore Roosevelt, 
(26th President of the United States) The Wilderness Hunter, 1893
 
*****     *****     ***** Miscellany / History *****     *****     *****
 
"Good habits and skill beat luck every time."
-- Sheriff Jim Wilson
 
"History!" by John Farnam
 
     A movie about Kalashnikov.  Can't wait.  
"AK-47: Kalashnikov" Trailer (2021)
IMDB.com says it was released in Russia on 15 February 2020.  
But, the English language trailer was just released on YouTube.com 
on 21 January 2021.  I haven't been able to find it.  Have you?  
 
All kinds of neat stuff at:  
     Practical Eschatology by Docent
     The Tactical Professor by Claude Werner
     Active Response Training by Gregg Ellifritz
     Quips by John Farnam
     Rangemaster newsletter by Tom Givens
     CIVILIAN DEFENDER by Sherman House
     Handgun Combatives by Dave Spaulding
     Marcus Wynne
 
“In the long-run, there is no such thing as ‘luck’. 
However, the short-run is longer than many individual lifetimes!”
-- Anon
 
     "The more you give, the more good things come to you."  
-- Crow proverb
 
     "Hey, Staff, why should we believe what you say, or do anything that 
you tell us to do in your blog?"
     My blog postings are suggestions from my experiences or the experiences 
of others whom I trust because of what they say, because I have never met 
many of them, and so have only their words to judge.  You have to think 
about what we say and decide to implement or discard our suggestions.  
The key word is "think".  
     "Thinking is the hardest thing a person can do.  
That's why so few people do it." -- Henry Ford 
     If you are reading this blog, it is probably because you think.  This 
blog has no colorful high resolution pictures.  This blog has no diagrams 
or captions.  So, only a very serious student of the craft would be reading 
this blog in the first place.  
 
     The market can remain irrational longer than you can stay solvent.  
 
Semper Fidelis,
Jonathan D. Low
Jon_Low@yahoo.com