Greetings Sheepdogs,
“From a persuasion that equal liberty was originally the portion,
it is still the birthright of all men.”
-- Benjamin Franklin
Petition Against Slavery
(c. 1773–1774)
"Don't have a gun? Buy one.
Don't know How to use it? Learn.
Don't believe in guns? Get ready to hide behind someone who does."
-- Charlie Daniels
Table of Contents:
Software --
Prevention
Mindset
Situational Awareness
Safety
Training
Psychology
Practice
Intervention
Strategy
Tactics
Techniques
Postvention
Aftermath
Medical
Survival
Education
Legal
Instruction
Hardware --
Gear
Intelligence --
Signals Intelligence
Cryptology
Religion and Politics --
"No freeman shall ever be debarred the use of arms."
-- Thomas Jefferson
"Washington's Crossing" by Roswell
In any army you will have disobedience and desertion. That's just part of dealing
with humans.
“These are the times that try men’s souls” by Thomas Paine
Will automatically download the document, PDF file.
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***** ***** ***** Prevention ***** ***** *****
Things you can do to avoid the lethal force incident.
“To those who have fought for it,
freedom has a flavor that the protected will never know.”
― P. McCree Thornton
Table of sections:
Mindset
Safety
Training
Psychology
Practice
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------------------------------ Mindset and Attitude --------------------------------
Figuring out the correct way to think.
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
--Benjamin Franklin
"Messaging" by John Farnam
Excerpt:
" “rugged individualism,” “self-sufficiency,”
all species of emergency planning on an individual basis."
"Before all else, be armed." -- Nicolo Machiavelli
"Self-Preservation: Confronting The Unthinkable" by Alex Ooley
Excerpt:
"Train your mind to embrace awareness as a constant task, cultivate the
ruthlessness needed for counterassault and embody the principles of
deselection—projecting strength and vigilance to deter predators.
By internalizing these lessons, you become hard to kill, hard to fool and
the kind of person a violent criminal actor passes by, choosing an easier
target instead."
"The line between everyday life and sudden violence is thinner than most realize."
-- Tim Larkin
“The Man in the Arena”
by Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909), 26th President of the United States
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how
the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have
done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in
the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who
strives valiantly; who errs, who comes up short again and again,
because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who
does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms,
the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at
the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and
who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so
that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who
neither know victory nor defeat.”
"Survival is a mindset, not a skill set."
-- Greg Shaffer
"Your gunfights will always be anomalies.
So are those of all the instructors you venerate.
It’s useful to keep those facts in mind."
-- Greg Ellifritz
“You need to have the capacity for danger. You need to be ‘dangerous’.
Yet, you need to learn how to not use it except when necessary.
And, that is not the same thing as being harmless.
There's nothing virtuous about harmlessness.
Harmless just means you’re ineffectual and useless.”
-- Jordan Peterson
‷If you look at someone bigger, faster, and stronger and immediately think,
‶I'm at a disadvantage″,
I have news for you: you are.
But that's only because you just put yourself there for no reason.
The truth is that anyone can do debilitating violence to anyone else.
Your size, your speed, your strength, your gender --
all the factors that untrained people think make the difference when it comes to violence --
all matter far less than your mindset and your intent.‴
-- Tim Larkin
In case the world made you forget,
"Have your affairs in order."
-- John Hearne
"Hardwiring the High Road: The Tactical Brain" by Travis Pike
"An unarmed man can only flee from evil and
evil is not overcome by fleeing from it." -- Jeff Cooper
Email from Jeff Boren --
PART I- Permission to Act
Every defensive encounter begins with a decision most people never
consciously make.
Not the draw.
Not the shot.
Not even the recognition of the threat.
The first real action happens long before any of that. It is the internal
permission to act. And if that permission has not already been granted,
nothing else matters.
Tom Givens says it plainly: “We carry a gun because we might have to
shoot someone.” That statement resonates because it forces honesty.
Carrying a firearm is not symbolic or theoretical. It is preparation for a
specific, unpleasant possibility.
Jeff Cooper described this as lowering the threshold for violence.
Not recklessness. Not aggression. A willingness to act decisively when
action is required. That willingness is not created in the moment. It is a
pre-made decision, declared long in advance.
Lance Thomas understood this. After surviving multiple violent encounters,
he said, “I refuse to be a victim of violent crime.” That decision was not
formed when the door opened. It existed long before the first criminal ever
walked into his store.
That is mindset.
Why We Freeze -
Human reactions to crisis are complex, but a pattern appears again and again.
When violence forces the issue and we have no framework to work from,
we freeze.
This is not weakness. It is not cowardice. It is a lack of prior structure.
When no decisions have been made in advance, the brain has nothing indexed.
There are no mental files to pull from. As the late William Aprill described it,
there are no “parking spaces.” Without them, the mind stalls while trying to
build meaning in real time.
That stall is what we often label as freeze.
Proper mindset prevents this not by making us faster, but by eliminating the
need to decide from scratch under pressure.
Mindset Is a Progression -
Much of Cooper’s work has been softened over time, particularly his
color codes. Treated as simple awareness levels, they lose their original
purpose.
Cooper was not teaching observation. He was teaching decision-making.
What he described was a progressive narrowing toward action. We notice
a potential problem. We identify it. We confirm or dismiss it. All the while,
we are lowering the threshold to respond appropriately if the situation demands it.
Mindset is not a switch. It is a controlled progression toward decisive action.
Where many of us stall is not in skill, but in acceptance.
The Gap Between Training and Reality -
We train hard. We measure performance. We chase improvement.
That work matters.
But training without context creates a gap.
Violence is romanticized in popular culture. Misses rarely matter. Consequences
are muted. Characters rise to the occasion regardless of preparation or cognitive
overload. On the range, targets do not move. They do not think. They do not initiate
the fight or continue to actively try to kill us.
This creates what I call, for lack of better term, the Fallacy of Time.
We unconsciously assume we will have more time than we actually will.
We tolerate inefficiency at the beginning of the fight because static drills allow it.
We rely on splits to make up for slow or inefficient presentations.
This type of training is necessary. But without the proper mindset framing it,
it quietly reinforces false expectations.
Responsibility and Identity -
At some point, responsibility becomes individual.
There is a meaningful difference between a gun owner and an armed citizen.
The distinction is not equipment, credentials, or round count. It is how we
think about violence and responsibility.
Some of us accept that violence exists and may come to us. Others assume
it will not.
Refusing to acknowledge risk does not make it disappear. It only removes
our ability to respond when chosen.
This is not victim blaming. It is reality.
Acceptance and Cost -
Acceptance is heavy. It is uncomfortable. It is not enjoyable to think about.
As humans, we often choose comfort over reality. Normalcy bias tells us
that terrible things happen to other people.
At some point, we must answer an uncomfortable question honestly:
Are we willing to take a life to stop a threat?
If the answer is no, that is a valid choice. But swearing off violence
does not make violent crime disappear. It only limits how we can respond
when confronted by it.
Acceptance carries a price. But preparedness carries a reward.
What Mindset Gives Us -
When the decision is made honestly and in advance, something changes.
We gain agency.
We build a mental framework that allows us to process before the moment,
not during it. Training gains intent. Preparation gains direction. We accept
our role in our own safety.
That acceptance does not create paranoia. It removes it.
There is a mindset lesson Tom teaches in the Rangemaster Instructor
Development program that has always stood out to me,
“If that man doesn’t stop what he’s doing, I may have to hurt him.”
It stands out to me because it is not fear. It is clarity.
However, intent alone is not enough.
Once the decision is made, the next question becomes unavoidable:
can we execute when the moment arrives?
That bridge is gun handling.
PART II - Tuning the Instrument
There is a moment most of us have seen at live events, though we may
not have paid much attention to it.
A professional musician walks onto the stage, plays a brief note or chord,
and makes a small adjustment. Sometimes it is an alternate tuning. Sometimes
it is simply a final check. The movement is subtle. Almost invisible.
What matters is not the act itself, but what it represents. The performer is
not learning in that moment. They are confirming that the instrument will
respond exactly as expected when it matters.
That idea maps cleanly to combative shooting.
Gun handling is our tuning.
It is the work that happens before performance. The work that determines
whether intent can become effect.
The Triad Is a Progression -
We have all seen Cooper’s Combat Triad represented as three equal sides:
mindset, gun handling, and marksmanship.
That depiction misses the point.
Cooper did not describe three parallel skills. He described a sequence we
move through under stress:
Mindset establishes willingness.
Gun handling enables action.
Marksmanship applies force to solve the problem.
If mindset never resolves, nothing starts.
If gun handling breaks down, nothing works.
If marksmanship fails, nothing ends.
Gun handling lives in the middle because it is the bridge between intent and outcome.
Why the Middle Gets Ignored -
Gun handling is not exciting. It is repetitive. It is quiet. It does not photograph
well and rarely generates praise.
We don’t post videos of dry fire draws late at night. We don’t celebrate the
thousandth clean presentation from concealment or the countless grip
confirmations that happen without an audience.
But this is the work that determines whether mindset ever reaches marksmanship.
When mechanics are underdeveloped, they consume attention. When mechanics
are clean, they disappear. [Everything happens automagically, without thought.
-- Jon Low]
That difference matters more than speed.
Gun Handling and Cognitive Bandwidth -
When gun handling is inefficient, it taxes our cognitive bandwidth.
The draw requires thought. The grip requires correction. Sight verification
becomes effortful. Trigger press becomes deliberate rather than automatic.
The mind becomes occupied with operating the tool instead of solving
the problem.
When gun handling is automated through deliberate practice, the equation
changes. Mechanics run quietly in the background. Attention shifts outward.
We can assess, decide, and respond as conditions change.
This is not about shooting faster. It is about thinking better.
The Cost of Skipping This Step -
Many shooters attempt to compensate for weak gun handling with
marksmanship drills or time standards. They rely on split times to make
up for inefficient presentations. They assume accuracy will solve problems
that actually originate earlier in the sequence.
It rarely works. [I would argue that it never works. -- Jon Low]
We cannot out-marksmanship broken mechanics. Accuracy cannot exceed
the quality of the process that delivers the shot.
Gun handling is not separate from marksmanship. It is what makes
marksmanship possible under pressure. [The debilitating stress of combat. -- Jon Low]
Training With Intent -
Gun handling improves through repetition, but not mindless repetition.
It requires intent.
Every draw, every grip, every presentation is an opportunity to reduce friction.
To remove hesitation. To make the movement more reliable under stress.
This work is often done alone, with an empty gun and a timer. It isn’t glamorous,
but it is where capability is built.
The goal is not perfection. The goal is predictability.
Why This Matters -
We don’t get the opportunity to fix mechanics once the fight begins.
By the time the decision to act has been made, the work in the middle
must already be done. Gun handling can’t be an afterthought. It must be
reliable enough to disappear. It must be automated.
If we want a modern, high-performance civilian standard, one that respects
Cooper’s original intent, we must stop treating gun handling as something we
rush through on the way to “real shooting.”
The most important work happens before the first shot.
When the moment comes, there is no time left to tune.
Where the Sequence Leads -
Mindset gives us permission.
Gun handling gives us capability.
Marksmanship gives us effect.
Gun handling is the bridge that ensures the first can reach the last.
And without it, the system collapses.
PART III - Marksmanship as Judgment
When most of us talk about marksmanship, we usually mean one thing:
the ability to hit what we’re aiming at.
That definition isn’t wrong. It’s incomplete. Hitting what we aim at is a
mechanical outcome. In a real fight, marksmanship is something more
demanding. It is the expression of every decision that came before the trigger press.
Accuracy alone does not solve problems.
What the Simple Definition Misses -
Marksmanship on a square range is linear: make the hit.
Marksmanship against a living, breathing, attacking human being is not.
It carries consequence, uncertainty, and accountability. The target moves.
The environment changes. The fight does not pause.
More importantly, marksmanship does not begin with the gun.
It begins with mindset. If the moral and psychological decision to act
has not already been made, accuracy degrades before the pistol is even presented.
From there, it flows directly through gun handling. Efficient presentation,
proper grip, sight management, trigger press, recoil control, and assessment
do not occur in sequence. They occur together. The triad functions as a system.
Marksmanship Begins with Accountability -
True marksmanship begins with a mental decision: the decision to press the trigger.
That decision carries weight. It accepts responsibility for what follows.
Because of that, marksmanship cannot be reduced to hoping we hit what we want to hit.
When mindset is settled and gun handling is automated, marksmanship improves,
not because we are trying harder, but because we have the mental bandwidth to think.
When Mechanics Steal Time -
When we are still consciously managing mechanics, delay appears between
recognition and action. That delay matters. Automation doesn’t make us reckless.
It makes us available for decision-making. We are no longer fighting our bodies
to perform tasks. We are free to assess and respond.
That is where accuracy improves.
Why Marksmanship Is Often Taught Alone -
Much of this comes from how firearms are taught. Pedagogy builds shooters.
It must. Sequenced learning is necessary. But without progression to andragogical
learning, those skills never integrate. Andragogy builds fighters. It is where
context, judgment, and decision-making merge with mechanics. That is where the
triad fully exists.
Marksmanship as Application -
At the fighter level, marksmanship becomes conditional. It is no longer a fixed
output, but a response to evolving information. That is what we mean when we say,
“thinking with the gun.”
Without that transition, shooters either freeze or fire without purpose,
sometimes too fast, sometimes too slow. Context determines cadence.
Evaluating Marksmanship Honestly -
As with most things, it depends.
Marksmanship must be evaluated by intent, context, and stage of development.
There are times to isolate skills. There are times to integrate them.
The danger comes when marksmanship is treated as an endpoint. There is no
destination. Only a journey.
Technical skills are the easiest part. Mental skills require constant refinement.
The destination, if it ever comes, is not proficiency. It is outcome.
Completing the Triad -
Mindset answers if.
Gun handling answers whether.
Marksmanship answers how.
Not as separate skills, but as one system.
Accuracy matters. Hits matter. Precision matters.
But marksmanship is not the foundation. It is the result.
-- Jeff Boren
"Your life is as good as your mindset." -- Nicola Cavanis
Email from Mike Seeklander --
Hey There,
If you carry for self-defense, there’s one shot that matters more than any other.
Not your fastest split. Not your best group. Not the run you did after warming up
for 30 minutes. It’s the first shot — cold. No warm-up. No do-overs. No settling in.
Just you, the draw, and reality.
Most shooters never test this. They live inside comfort drills that 'feel'.
Here’s the hard reality:
If you can’t deliver a clean, accountable hit from concealment — cold — you are
guessing about your ability.
Until Then - Train Hard!
— Mike Seeklander
"Safe gun handling and knowing how to operate the gun competently is one thing.
How to fight with the gun is a whole other plane of knowledge."
-- Tiger McKee
"Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist.
Children already know that dragons exist.
Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed."
-- G.K. Chesterton
‟If violent crime is to be curbed, it is only the intended victim who can do it.
The felon does not fear the police, and he fears neither judge nor jury.
Therefore what he must fear is his victim.”
It is high time for society to stop worrying about the criminal,
and to let the criminal start worrying about society.
And by "society" I mean you.
-- Col. Jeff Cooper, "Principles of Personal Defense"
"Be so focused on watering your grass that
you don't have time to check if someone else's is greener."
-- Nicola Cavanis
Excerpt from "Principles of Personal Defense" by Jeff Cooper --
George Patton told his officers,
"Don't worry about your flanks. Let the enemy worry about his flanks."
‟Fear is an instinct. Courage is a choice.”
-- Rear Admiral Joseph Kernan, U.S. Navy
"I do not carry a pistol so that I may impose my will on others.
I carry a pistol so that others may not impose their will on me."
-- Tom Givens
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------------------------------ Situational Awareness --------------------------------
How to avoid being taken by surprise.
"Many people don't realize that your awareness skills
are more important than your marksmanship skills.
Well, you can't shoot something you don't know is there,
or don't know it needs to be shot!" -- Tom Givens
Women are more sensitive to threat.
"What Is Jugging? Everything You Need to Know to Protect Yourself"
"Jeff Cooper's Color Code exists to help you get your head
around the need to kill someone in the immediate future."
-- John Hearne
---
Jeff Cooper's Color Code of Mental Awareness
UNAWARE - of what's going on around you. (White)
AWARE - of who is around you and what they are doing. (Yellow)
ALERT - to a POTENTIAL threat and taking action to avoid the threat. (Orange)
ALARM - by a REAL threat and taking action to escape the threat,
which might include shooting to PREVENT the attack. (Red)
COMBAT - front sight, press. Shooting to STOP the attack. (Black)
The colors are meaningless, requiring a level of indirection.
So you should use meaningful words instead. So the student doesn't
have to decode the meaning of the color. Using insider jargon is WRONG!
"The Multi-Faceted Approach to Thwart a Kidnapping"
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
Get out of New York, New York now!
“We will replace the frigidity of rugged individualism with the warmth of collectivism.”
-- Zohran Mamdani, New York City's 112th mayor
“Warm” Collectivism? by John Farnam
“We must ban all guns.”
-- Zohran Mamdani
“The moment you stop being dangerous, you become edible.”
-- William Aprill
"An officer may be forgiven for losing a battle,
but never for being taken by surprise."
-- Jeff Cooper
Zugzwang is a thing. But with situational awareness, you can avoid it.
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Safety --------------------------------
How to prevent the bad thing from happening in the first place.
How to avoid shooting yourself, friendlies, and innocent bystanders.
How to prevent unauthorized persons from using your guns.
"Good Health!" by John Farnam
Excerpt:
"Curious the way professing “wildlife biologists” along with Parks & Wildlife Dept.
“officials,” just can’t imagine that perfectly normal and healthy apex predators
(black bears, mountain lions) will happily stalk, attack, kill, and eat humans."
Jeff Cooper′s Rules of Gun Safety
RULE I: ALL GUNS ARE ALWAYS LOADED.
RULE II: NEVER LET THE MUZZLE COVER ANYTHING
THAT 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.
---
RULE V: Maintain control of your gun. -- Stephen P. Wenger
"Fences" by John Farnam
John Farnam's rules to keep you out of trouble:
Don’t go to stupid places.
Don’t associate with stupid people.
Don’t do stupid things.
Have a “normal” appearance.
Be in bed by 10:00 PM (your own bed).
Don’t fail the attitude test.
"But They Looked Harmless
Criminals who wish to harm you come in all shapes and sizes."
by Shelley Hill
Hat tip to Docent.
"The article is intended as a reminder that violent criminals can
look nice and clean and approachable." -- Docent
"Not allowing law-abiding citizens to carry guns on the pretext of public health
or safety makes as much sense not allowing sober people to drive cars in order to
protect them from drunk drivers."
-- Stephen P. Wenger
"Disturbing video shows pit bull attack 1-year-old on crowded NYC street,
refusing to let go"
by Steven Vago and Joe Marino
Hat tip to Docent.
Excerpt:
"Cops said the dog owner is not facing criminal charges."
[Do you understand? There are politically protected classes in New York City.
Best to get out of New York as fast as you can.
-- Jon Low]
"Safety is something that happens between your ears,
not something you hold in your hands."
-- Jeff Cooper
FaceBook.com post by Tom Givens --
Yesterday in Raleigh, NC, a female teacher was in her own home at 6:30am
when she found an intruder inside. She called 911 and was on the phone with
911 while the man assaulted her, beating so badly that she died shortly after
being taken to the hospital.
Police caught the intruder nearby. He and the victim were not known to each
other, it was just a random burglary. The offender has been previously arrested
over 20 times, including a recent burglary arrest. Our “catch and release” justice
system put him right back out on the street. Of course, nearby neighbors
interviewed by the press were “shocked and terrified” that something like this
could happen in their “safe” neighborhood.
Lessons:
1. There are no safe neighborhoods. Criminals are mobile, just like the rest
of American society. They make house calls.
2. The time it takes to process a 911 call and for police to drive from where
they are to where you are makes it a one in a million chance that police will
arrive in time to save you in a real crisis.
3. Being armed and trained is your best chance to stay healthy.
WRAL post,
"Police:
Man who broke into Raleigh teacher's home and killed her has lengthy criminal history"
by WRAL staff
ABC7 post,
"It's easier to stay out of trouble than to get out of trouble."
-- Claude Werner
“On Target, On Trigger” Is Wrong — Here’s the Correct Technique
by Massad Ayoob
"You are not responsible for negative reactions to your boundaries."
-- Nicola Cavanis
“The world is filled with violence. Because criminals carry guns,
we decent law-abiding citizens should also have guns. Otherwise,
they will win and decent people will loose.”
-- James Earl Jones
“Random?” by John Farnam
Excerpts:
“In the interest of public safety, we’re confiscating your guns.
And no, you won’t be getting them back.”
-- Ray Nagin, Democrat mayor of New Orleans in August of 2005,
during Hurricane Katrina
“Hell Yes, We’re going to take your AR-15s, your AK-47s.”
-- Beto O’Rourke, Democrat presidential candidate, 2019
“I support a mandatory ‘buy-back’ (forced confiscation) program.”
-- Kamala Harris, Democrat presidential nominee, 2023
"To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of people always
possess arms and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them."
-- Richard Henry Lee
"Gut feelings are guardian angels."
-- Nicola Cavanis
Gigi North
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------------------------------ Training --------------------------------
Figuring out the correct tasks to practice.
Ansatz is a thing. And the better your training, the better your guesses / estimates.
In training, you can verify. In combat, you usually can't. So use your training time
wisely to verify as much as you can.
"Those motivated by a desire to improve their
gunfighting skills as opposed to a quest for trophies,
must be willing to bleed ego on the match results
to avoid shedding blood in combat."
-- Andy Stanford
If you're an instructor, this is how to train your students.
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)
"When I’m Good Enough, I’ll Carry
All the other defensive-marksmanship skills depend on you having your gun with you."
by Tess Branson
"Without discrimination,
you're going to shoot the wrong person really fast."
-- Paul Howe
"Why a German Driver’s License Costs $4,000 😱 (& why it’s worth it!)"
by Feli from Germany
This is why the reputable gun schools can charge $2000 for a 4-day handgun class.
Some people understand this.
Feli compares the German driver's license to the Kentucky, USA driver's license.
"If you’re not measuring your training,
what you’re doing is called playing."
-- Chris Sajnog
"In order to measure, we must be able to quantify."
-- Aaron Cowan
5 Etiquette Tips for Young Men
"When you're training to protect yourself and others, speed always comes last.
In the more than twenty-five years I've been training people in self-protection,
I've never heard from someone who used self-protection tools in the field and
felt like they suffered from a lack of speed at the moment of truth. In fact, I
usually hear the opposite: it's much more common to suffer from a lack of
accuracy or force."
-- Tim Larkin
"In reality, we are training for an unknown event, against unknown threats,
by developing as many known skills as possible."
-- Jeff Gonzales
Repetitions vs. play.
"Having a gun is important.
But knowing WHEN to use it is even more important."
-- Greg Ellifritz
"The Evolution of Skills and Mindset: A Journey in Firearms Proficiency"
by Robyn Sandoval
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
"Most deadly force encounters occur spontaneously, without warning and
at extremely close ranges. Realistically, you may not have the time or the
space to effectively draw, no matter how fast your drawstroke."
-- Jeff L. Gonzales
"IN EXTREMIS COMMUNICATION, PART 1" by Larry Lindenman
"IN EXTREMIS COMMUNICATION PART 2" by Larry Lindenman
"IN EXTREMIS COMMUNICATION, PART 3" by Larry Lindenman
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
"There are three different areas, or disciplines,
in which the armed person must train.
These are mindset, gun handling, and marksmanship.
Each is equally important, and you must be at least
competent in all three areas."
-- Tom Givens
Mistakes in judgments.
Certain persons need a lot more training and practice than others.
It's important to honestly evaluate yourself.
Some people take the Bar exam 5 times before passing. My father would say,
doesn't matter. Nobody is going to ask how many times you took the exam. All
that matters is that you passed.
Albert Einstein flunked math classes in school. He thought that the "semester"
was an arbitrary unit of time and material, not calibrated to any particular student.
He understood that some people take more or less than a semester to learn the
material.
I took the Front Sight 4-day Defensive Handgun class 4 times before passing.
The 5th time was the charm. It wasn't the same in each class. Different instructors
will present the same material in different ways. Different assistant instructors will
teach and advise in different ways.
Taking different classes from the same instructor may or may not be useful.
But, taking the same class from different instructors is always worthwhile.
Because, it's effectively a different class.
"A mistake that makes you humble is better
than an achievement that makes you arrogant."
-- Nicola Cavanis
Armed citizens are way more competent than police.
In that armed citizens miss their intended target much less than police do.
And so injure fewer innocent bystanders, 3 in the last 10 years as opposed to
28 in the last 10 years for police.
"Shoot sooner, not faster."
-- Matt Little
Yes, of course you should take Matt's class to get the context and meaning
of this quote. My interpretation is that the vast majority of armed citizens
will never take the training and put in the practice to be able to shoot fast.
But that's okay. You can compensate for being slow, by improving your situational
awareness, so that you can recognize the threat sooner, and so shoot sooner.
STOP texting! Get the ear buds out of your ears! Get your head up and
look around! Who is around you? What are they doing? PAY ATTENTION!
Emails from Tim Larkin --
The people in your life feel safer because you've thought about protection.
Your spouse doesn't worry as much when you're out together at night. Your kids
think you can handle anything. Your parents rest easier knowing you take
safety seriously.
Maybe you've taken classes. Maybe you've just thought through scenarios.
Maybe you carry and assume that's enough. Either way . . . they assume you're
ready. But here's what you know that they don't . . . There's a gap. A gap
between what you THINK you'd do . . . and what real violence actually looks like.
You assume you'll have distance. Space to move. Time to react. Room to do
what you've seen in videos or imagined in your head.
But real violence doesn't give you those things. Real violence happens
when someone corners you in a parking garage while your family is getting
in the car. When an attacker rushes you in your driveway while groceries
are being unloaded. When you're trapped in that narrow hallway between
the kitchen and bedrooms. When there's no room to use what you think you
know.
And you know . . . even if you've never said it out loud . . . that if someone
gets on top of you BEFORE you can create space . . . Everything you thought
you'd do evaporates. The people who trust you are now depending on luck
instead of skill. Here's the thing nobody talks about:
Their confidence in you is built on an assumption that YOU know isn't true.
They think "prepared" means you know what to do. But knowing what you'd
LIKE to do and knowing what ACTUALLY works when there's no space . . .
Those aren't the same thing.
You can't tell them that. You can't sit down and say: "I know you feel safer . . .
but if someone attacks us in close quarters, I don't actually know what to do."
So you carry the weight alone. You hope you never get tested. You tell yourself
you'll figure it out if it happens.
But hope isn't a strategy. And that gap doesn't disappear just because
you're avoiding it.
-- Tim Larkin
---
There's a difference between hoping you know what to do . . . And knowing
you know what to do. Most people live their entire lives in that first category.
They hope their training is enough. They hope the scenario they've imagined
in their head is accurate. They hope that if violence happens, instinct will kick in.
Hope is a terrible strategy when someone's on top of you in a parking garage.
Here's the thing about close-quarters violence, where most real attacks actually
happen . . . You don't get a second chance. You don't get to pause and say,
"Hold on, let me take that class first." You don't get a do-over because you
weren't sure if the training was worth it. You don't get to rewind the moment
someone corners you in a stairwell, rushes you in your driveway, or gets on
top of you before you even realized the threat was there. In that moment,
you either know what to do . . . or you hope you'll figure it out.
And hope has gotten a lot of good people hurt.
-- Tim Larkin
“The secret of success is this.
Train like it means everything when it means nothing –
so you can fight like it means nothing when it means everything.”
-- Lofty Wiseman
"3 MORE Lessons From Concealed Carry Renewal Classes" by Jacob Paulsen
"Proper training ingrains the proper responses. Repetition is the mother of all skill.
With skill comes confidence. With confidence comes the ability to think under pressure
and make sound tactical decisions." -- Tom Givens
"LIFE SKILLS | Increase Your Performance By Failing" by Steve Tarani
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
"Make Ready with Matt Little: Pistol Skill Development"
---
"Make Ready with Matt Little: Concealed Pistol Applications"
Not ready yet, but will be soon. Check back later.
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Psychology --------------------------------
"Be stronger than your strongest excuse."
-- Nicola Cavanis
“Training deals not with an object,
but with the human spirit and human emotions.”
--Bruce Lee
"Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity."
"Train and practice so that you can stay in your rational mind,
and force your enemy into his emotional mind. The emotional
mind makes bad judgments which will allow you to win."
-- John Hearne
"The path to freedom." by Orion Taraban, Psy.D.
Wednesday, January 7th, 2026
One of my all-time favorite movies is David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia.
It is a sprawling epic about an extraordinary individual who is impertinent
enough to intuit that he is destined for greater things. In an opening scene,
we meet the restless and romantic T.E. Lawrence, who complains that his
office detail has robbed him of an opportunity for adventure and glory.
To pass the time, he lights matches and watches them burn down to his
fingertips. When another solider attempts to emulate this behavior, he yelps
in pain. “It damn well hurts,” he complains, “what's the trick then?”
“Certainly it hurts,” Lawrence rejoins. “The trick is not minding that it hurts.”
Lawrence got it right. If you can learn to not mind the pain – to put some
distance between the pure sensation of pain and its observed experience –
then the world will open up to you. The unfortunate reality of life is that
pain is inevitable, and those who haven't learned this “trick” are largely
compelled in their decisions to choose the path that promises less. However,
this is not real freedom. Learn to not mind the pain, and you can decide
where you want to go – irrespective of the sensations along the way.
This week's behavioral experiment:
Focus on an unpleasant sensation. How long can you sit with it without protest?
Warmly,
Orion
*************************************************************************
Sterre Meijer
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Conferences --------------------------------
Attending classes and conferences is required for growth.
Stagnation is complacency. Complacency kills. Even worse,
your complacency will kill your students.
"The supreme power in America cannot enforce unjust laws by the sword;
because the whole body of the people are armed, and constitute a force
superior to any bands of regular troops that can be, on any pretense,
raised in the United States."
-- Noah Webster
The AOR Association Conference 2026, $120
Friday, February 20th – Saturday, February 21st, 2026
Mesa Convention Center | Mesa, Arizona
263 N Center St, Mesa, AZ 85201
2A Freedom Fest, Free
9TH ANNUAL 2A FREEDOM FEST (2026)
February 21, 2026
9:30 am - 5:00 pm
7700 SE 129 Place, Summerfield, FL 34491 United States
Organizer: Kevin Sona
Email: kevins@2afreedomfestival.com
Rangemaster Tactical Conference, $639
TacCon26 is scheduled for
March 27-29, 2026
at the Dallas Pistol Club in Carrollton, Texas
Security Operations Summit 2026, $150.00
July 23-25, 2026 A.D.
With hands-on pre-event options on Wednesday, July 22nd!
Wednesday to Saturday, so as not to interfere with church on Sunday.
Southeast Christian Church
920 Blankenbaker Parkway
Louisville, KY 40243
Bullets & Bibles 2026 (The registration fee is a tax deductible charitable donation).
Friday, August 21, 2026 – Sunday, August 23, 2026
Hosted at Living Water Ranch, north of Manhattan, KS.
Food and lodging included in registration price.
The Guardian Conference, $700 early bird, $800
September 18th - 20th, 2026 in Oklahoma City, OK.
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Classes --------------------------------
Attending classes and conferences is required to avoid teaching
obsolete material, and to ensure you are teaching best practices.
Below are DTI Courses currently scheduled for this year,
and you may register directly for any of them at the DTI Web Page at
All are instructed by me personally.
Come and join us!
14-15 Feb 25 DTI Vehicle Defense, Okeechobee, FL
21-22 Feb 26 DTI Instructor Development, "Teaching Women to Shoot," Hollister, MO
27 Feb-1 Mar 26 DTI FlexCCarry Instructor Course, Sorrento, LA
13-15 Mar 26 DTI FlexCCarry Instructor Course, Shawnee, OK
25-26 Apr 26 DTI Urban Rifle, Nunn, CO
2-3 May 26 DTI Advanced Defensive Handgun, Sussex, NJ
22-24 May 26 DTI FlexCCarry Instructor Course, Yadkinville, NC
6 June 26 (Sat) One-day DTI Urban Rifle, White House, TN
7 June 26 (Sun) One-day DTI Defensive Shotgun, White House, TN
27-28 June 26 DTI Armed Response to a Terrorist Attack, Coraopolis, PA
25-26 July 26 DTI Instructor Development, Waynesburg, PA
1-2 Aug 26 DTI Three-Gun, Fairplay, CO
8-9 Aug 26 DTI Defensive Handgun, North Canton, OH
11-13 Sept 26 (Fri-Sun) DTI Comprehensive Instructor Development for
the Dedicated Woman Firearms Instructor, Kankakee, IL
25-27 Sept 26 (Fri-Sun) DTI FCCI, FlexCCarry Instructor Course Cisco, GA
10 Oct 26 (Sat) One-day DTI WDHG (instructed by Vicki), Slidell, LA*
11 Oct 26 (Sun) One-day DTI Defensive Shotgun, Slidell, LA*
17 Oct 26 (Sat) One-day DTI Defensive Handgun, Naples, FL
18 Oct 26 (Sun) One day, DTI Defensive Shotgun, Naples, FL
23 Oct 26 Tactical Treatment of Gunshot Wounds, Ludlow Falls, OH
24-25 Oct 26 FlexCCarry, Ludlow Falls, OH
24-25 Oct 26 DTI Defensive Revolver, Ludlow Falls, OH
"Navigating the Treacheries of Video Evidence" free webinar
Wednesday, January 21, 2026
10AM - 12PM CST
ALL registrants will receive a link to a recording of the program
within five business days of the event.
Overview:
"Shooting With Xray Vision – Instructor June 13-14, 2026", $695.00
James Williams and Chuck Haggard.
Mead Hall Range.
Gunsite Academy
Classes,
Lee Weems
Massad Ayoob Group
Blog
West Coast Armory North
Active Response Training, Greg Ellifritz
Rangemaster Certified Instructors
Map of Rangemaster Certified Instructors
Dustin Salomon
KR Training
Kari Grayson
Citizens Safety Academy
Carry Trainer, Mickey Schuch
Paladin Training, Inc.
Citizen-Defender, John Murphy
Virginia Private Firearms Training (for private lessons), John Murphy
Defensive Training International, John Farnam
Rangemaster, Tom Givens
Trident Concepts, Jeff Gonzales
Apache Solutions, Tim Kelly
Course Schedule
Harris Combative Strategies, Randy Harris
Mead Hall Range & Tactics
2026 Schedule (Including Prelim)
DTI - Vicki Farnam - FlexCarry Solutions Instructor 13-15Mar26
Shivworks - Craig Douglas - ECQC 10-12Apr26
Presscheck No Fail Pistol 17-18Apr26
Presscheck Precision Performance 19Apr26
On Demand Performance -Pistol-training.com – Simon Golob 15-16May26 (Prelim)
Civilian Tactics - -Pistol-training.com – Simon Golob 15-16May26 (Prelim)
Fisher Critical Carbine May 30-31 2026
Citizens Safety Academy - Aqil Qadir and Tiffany Johnson -
CSA Gateway Instructor Course 6-7Jun26
Tactical Anatomy Systems - Dr James Williams -
Shooting with XRay Vision Instructor 13-14Jun26
Immediate Action Combatives - Cecil Burch - 19-21 Jun 26
Grappling in a Weapons Based Environment (Prelim)
Full Spectrum Shotgun – Cox/Willis/Roth –3-4Oct26 (Prelim)
Sentinel Concepts – Steve Fisher Critical Handgun Oct 24 2026
Sentinel Concepts – Steve Fisher Critical Shotgun Oct 25 2026
Cougar Mountain Solutions – Erick Gelhaus- 6,7, and 8November26 (Prelim)
Low Light Carbine 1 day course
Low Light Handgun 1 day course
Judgemental Handgun 1 day course
Presscheck/Two Pillars - Pressburg/Hearne - 13-15Nov26
-Bill Armstrong
MeadHall Range
405-823-2433
Two Pillars Training, John Hearne
Classes,
YouTube.com channel
Mike Seeklander
NRA Instructors and their classes.
‟Training is NOT an event, but a process.
Training is the preparation FOR practice.”
-- Claude Werner
*************************************************************************
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Practice --------------------------------
How to get proficient at that task.
"Remember, the day you plant the seed is not the day you earn the fruit."
-- Nicola Cavanis
"Your speed doesn't matter. Forward is forward."
-- Nicola Cavanis
"Getting More out of “Cold Performance” Assessments" by John Murphy
“Willingness is a state of mind. Readiness is a statement of fact!”
-- Lt. Gen. David M Shoup, USMC Commandant 1960-1963
A couple of hours ago, the female friend called me for help because her oven was on fire.
I put on some clothes, grabbed a fire extinguisher, and ran down stairs. Lots of smoke
coming out of the oven. The fire alarm was going full blast. I turned off the oven, opened
the oven, and sprayed the base of the fire with my fire extinguisher. She had left some cloth
dish towel in the oven while baking her cookies.
I had given her a fire extinguisher a few month ago. Where was it? Why had she not
used it?
She had forgotten that she had the fire extinguisher. She had to think about where she
had put it. In the corner of the livingroom, hidden behind her desk and the air conditioner
unit. I moved it to the entrance of the kitchen in plain view. I again explained to her how
to use the extinguisher. Pull the pin, point the nozzle at the base of the fire, and squeeze
the handles together.
It's not enough to have the gear. You have to practice. Dry practice is fine.
"Remember, growing may feel like breaking at first."
-- Nicola Cavanis
"You have to be lucky to win. And the more you practice, the luckier you get."
-- Col. Lones Wigger
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
"Good habits and skill beat luck every time."
-- Sheriff Jim Wilson
‶Practice is the small deposits you make over time,
so that in an emergency, you can make that big withdrawal.″
-- Chesley Burnett Sullenberger, III
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
"Why are the little things called little things?
They are everything."
-- Nicola Cavanis
"People rust faster than equipment."
-- John Hearne
*************************************************************************
Sterre Meijer
*************************************************************************
***** ***** ***** Intervention ***** ***** *****
Suggestions on how to deal with the incident that you failed to avoid.
Table of sections:
Strategy
Tactics
Techniques
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Strategy --------------------------------
Deciding on the end state and how to achieve it.
"You win gunfights by not getting shot."
-- John Holschen
"Never let fear decide your fate."
-- Nicola Cavanis
“How do you win a gunfight?
Don't be there.”
-- John Farnam
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Tactics --------------------------------
Maneuver and fire in support of your strategy.
“When you’re in the dark, stay in the dark;
when you’re in the light, light up the dark.”
-- Stephen P. Wenger
"When Your Gun Can’t Beat a Knife" by Steve Tarani
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
"You brought a gun to the fight. That doesn’t mean it’s YOUR gun.
The gun belongs to whomever can keep it. Think about that before
intervening in other folks’ problems. When is the last time you practiced
your in-hand weapon retention skills?"
-- Greg Ellifritz
---
When was last time you practiced your in-holster weapon retention skills?
Have you taken a class to learn such techniques?
-- Jon Low
---
". . . if the assailant has a gun, it may actually be the easiest
gun for you to access, if you know how to take it from him."
-- Stephen P. Wenger
The hostage rescue shot.
“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.)
". . . only shoot as fast as you can assess, and . . . assess after each shot,
both of which we should be training to do all the time anyway."
-- Ralph Mroz, "Street Focused Handgun Training"
"Superior judgment trumps superior skills." -- Dan Millican
"Hesperia (Calif.) Attempted Home Invasion" by Claude Werner
"Real fights are short." -- Bruce Lee
"Understanding and Managing Space" by Claude Werner
"The shorter the fight, the less hurt you get."
-- John Holschen
"You often don't know where the bad guy is who is shooting at you."
-- Phillip Groff
“People shoot you because they see you.
They see you because you let them.
Don’t let them see you.”
-- Clint Smith
“Fortuitous outcomes reinforce poor tactics.”
-- Chuck Haggard
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Techniques --------------------------------
Ways to execute a given task in support of your tactics,
especially when disabled or under stress.
"I can always do nothing more consistently than I can do something."
-- Ben Stoeger
"When The Sights Are Right" by George Harris
Excerpt:
"Superimposing the front sight as described and
letting your eyes do the work can yield amazing results."
“What’s the number one reason for reloading?
Missing the target!”
-- Claude Werner
"Grip first, then press."
-- Mike Seeklander
"Optimal Alignment
Many factors go into making the best shot possible."
by Steve Tarani
"Use only that which works,
and take it from any place you can find it."
-- Bruce Lee
"Handgun Sitting Positions" by Justin Dyal
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
"Denn jedes Mal, wenn was geht, ist Platz für Neues.
Und wenn es gestern nicht sein soll, dann klappt es heut 🦋"
-- Nicola Cavanis
There are many techniques for doing any given task.
Search and experiment until you find one that you can perform reliably.
This is several levels of stupidity.
No one in their right mind would leave their safety on in combat,
nor put their safety on during combat. ALWAYS turn the safety off
as soon as you remove your pistol from the holster. (That's why modern
pistols don't have safeties; the holster is the safety, preventing access to
the trigger.)
The correct solution is to pull your elbow back as far as possible in a weapon
retention position. NEVER push your pistol into your enemy. Because pushing
your pistol toward your enemy allows him to take your pistol.
There is a lot of stupid stuff on the internet. Be careful. Be discerning.
"The foundations of your grip are established
before you even draw the pistol from the holster."
-- Tanner Denton
"One Handed Pistol Shooting" by Docent
"Ineffective and potentially dangerous, point shooting should be avoided
at all costs and aimed fire employed in any lethal-force scenario."
-- Massad Ayoob
"The secret is applying extreme force with the pinkies and
working your way up the rest of the digits."
-- Jeff L. Gonzales
"It's not daily increase but daily decrease - hack away at the inessentials!"
-- Bruce Lee
*************************************************************************
Sterre Meijer
*************************************************************************
***** ***** ***** Postvention ***** ***** *****
Suggestions on how to treat your wounds or the wounds of your loved ones.
Suggestions on how to avoid prosecution, conviction, and prison time.
Suggestions on how to avoid the civil law suit and judgment.
Table of Sections:
Aftermath
Medical
Survival
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Aftermath --------------------------------
You must be alive to have these problems: criminal and civil liability.
Do you know?
"Ten Years In Prison: My Recent by Active Self Protection Extra
"THESE 3 Mistakes Cost My Client 10 YEARS"
by Active Self Protection Extra
"Why You Must SHUT UP After a Defensive Gun Use"
by Active Self Protection Extra
---
KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT! Don't take videos of yourself immediately after
the incident, especially not with audio. Especially not while speaking in dialect.
Exceptions to hearsay exclusion:
Presence sense impression.
Excited utterance.
State of mind.
Ten years in prison because he couldn't keep his mouth shut.
"What is Concealed Carry Insurance?
Why Every Responsible Gun Owner Needs Legal Protection in 2026"
by Active Self Protection Extra
In the right hand column, click on the link labeled "Self Defense Insurance".
Or, the link is,
Read this before you buy insurance. You need to make an informed decision.
The various policies are drastically different.
"You need to read the fine print." -- Massad Ayoob
"Lesson 3: Expert Review" by Shawn Vincent
---
Michael Drejka was not arrested by responding officers, because it was self
defense. A few weeks later the county Sheriff held a press conference and
announced that he would not be pressing charges against Michael Drejka,
because it was self-defense.
Only after Michael Drejka went into a police station without his attorney and
ran his mouth for 2 hours did he get into trouble. KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT!
Never talk to police without your attorney present!
The 2 hour interview was played at his trial in which he was convicted.
Michael Drejka effectively talked himself into a conviction where no charges
existed before his interview.
The interview is on YouTube.com. The police interrogator says, "Okay"
repeatedly. No provocation. No coercion. The policeman just let Michael Drejka
talk and talk and talk and . . .
New reports say that Michael Drejka is getting beaten in prison by the Black
prisoners because they think he is a racist for killing a Black man. (Michael Drejka
is White.)
“Your understanding and consent are not required
for someone to take your life, kill your loved ones,
and destroy all you hold dear.”
-- William Aprill
In the right hand column of this web page, click on "Never Talk To The Police"
or use the address,
“The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him,
but because he loves what is behind him.”
― G.K. Chesterton
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Medical --------------------------------
"If you prepare for the emergency,
the emergency ceases to exist!"
-- Sherman House
"Introduction to Trauma Medicine – A Critical Element of Responsible Gun Ownership"
by Jacob Paulsen
Tactical Emergency Casualty Care Course - NAEMT Certified, $495.00
Tracey Mendenhall | VP of Operations
(Life Saving Ninja)
DEFEND SYSTEMS
(615) 480-7758
"Ballerina Lauren Lovette Shares Her Footcare Routine"
North American CAT tourniquet.
“Your character is what you do when no one is looking.”
-- Thomas Jefferson
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Survival --------------------------------
Drink enough water to always be generating large volumes of clear urine.
It doesn't have to be water. I drink sweat tea with lemon. It's the large
volumes of clear urine which is essential. Otherwise, in 10 years, you're
going to have kidney stones and other medical problems.
If your urine is always yellow, you are WRONG! You are chronically dehydrated.
You are straining your kidneys. Your kidneys can't complain to you, so I am
complaining to you on their behalf. DRINK MORE WATER!
"If you stay fit, you do not have to get fit.
If you stay trained, you do not have to get trained.
If you stay prepared, you do not have to get prepared."
-- Robert Margulies
"Survival is a mindset, not a skill set."
-- Greg Shaffer
‟We don’t decide what is necessary to survive a
lethal force encounter initiated by someone else.
That person decides what’s necessary for us to survive.”
– William Aprill
"47 Survival Skills for Kids to Teach Them ASAP" by Megan Stewart
"Survival is not based solely on technique. Survivability may hinge on the use
of the correct technique appropriate to the environment you are fighting in.
Oh, and yes, marksmanship is always valuable."
-- Clint Smith
In case you didn't know what the labels mean.
*************************************************************************
*************************************************************************
***** ***** ***** Education ***** ***** *****
Table of contents:
Legal
Instruction
Gear
*************************************************************************
"Cogito, ergo armatum sum." (I think, therefore armed am I.)
-- John Farnam
IDPA Match Rules
"Setting Yourself Up for Success" by Claude Werner
"How to Create a Church Security Checklist:
A Practical Guide for Protecting Your Congregation"
News2A.com
Citizen-Defender, John Murphy
Blog posts,
Rangemaster Newsletter, Tom Givens
Active Self Protection, John Correia
"My Gun Culture" by Tom McHale
Quips, John Farnam
Active Response Training, Greg Ellifritz
The Tactical Professor, Claude Werner
American Handgunner Magazine
Tactical Science
International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors
Alien Gear blog
Shooting Classes Blog
"You will never get smarter or broaden your horizons
if you're unwilling to learn from others and read."
-- Becca Martin
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Legal --------------------------------
“Laws are made for men of ordinary understanding and should, therefore,
be construed by the ordinary rules of common sense. Their meaning is not
to be sought for in metaphysical subtleties which may make anything mean
everything or nothing at pleasure.”
— Thomas Jefferson (1823)
"Mark Smith, National Second Amendment Attorney,
Blasts Tennessee Attorney General’s Appeal in Hughes v. Lee"
by John Harris
Synopsis -
Article -
"BREAKING NEWS! TERRIBLE LEGAL BRIEF FILED BY
TENNESSEE TO KEEP PARKS GUN FREE . . ."
by Mark W. Smith
This is why people call for defunding the police.
"Innocent Man Sues for Over $60,000 After Police Blew Up His Business.
A Court Says He's Entitled to Nothing.
It is yet another ruling that shields the government from liability
for damages caused by law enforcement."
by Billy Binion
Of course, it is not the police fault. It is the U.S. Supreme Court's fault.
“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 a dishonorable population represents the height of self-deception.”
-- James Madison, 1788
Faulty logic.
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State,
the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
-- Second Amendment, Constitution of the United States of America
"Firearms are second only to the constitution in importance,
they are the people's liberty's teeth." -- George Washington
"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
"Objective Reasonableness and the Supremacy Clause" by Lee Weems
Real combat is ambiguous. Never clear cut. Decisions made under the debilitating
stress of combat are never as refined and nuanced as decisions made with 20/20
hindsight in air conditioned court rooms. Was it objectively reasonable, given the
information that the officer had at the time? It doesn't matter what the video showed
days later. The officer did not have the information from the video at the time of
the incident.
Ida Zeile
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Instruction --------------------------------
"Remember,
the students who require the extra effort
are the ones who need us the most!"
-- John Farnam
*************************************************************************
----- Instructors -----
“He who dares to teach must never cease to learn.”
-- Richard Henry Dana
If you're an instructor, this is how to train your students.
"Every time I teach a class,
I discover I don't know something."
-- Clint Smith
Setting the motivational frame and dramatizing the process of being engaged
with the material.
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
"Teaching the Generations: One Range, Four Different Minds"
by Leo H.
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
"You must teach skill sustainment as part of training."
-- John Hearne
"Competence with a pistol is a survival skill, as is swimming,
and we will teach this class as such.
The students enjoyment and entertainment should not be our primary concern.
If we are concerned about repeat business, our concern is misplaced. Rather,
we should be encouraging our students to take classes from other instructors to
broaden their perspective and to get some contradicting (or at least differing)
information."
-- Jon Low
"Your curriculum needs to be recent, relevant, and realistic."
-- Austin Killmer
"The limited time you spend with students may be the only training they ever receive!"
-- John Farnam
“The most valuable resource that all teachers have is each other.
Without collaboration, our growth is limited to our own perspectives.”
-- Robert John Meehan
“The student’s purpose is to expand their body of knowledge and social network.
The instructor’s purpose is to help the student achieve the student’s goals.”
-- Amy Schwartz
"A false path will always be tensely, angrily, violently defended by those
it has deceived, because who are so easily deceived are ever too arrogant to repent.”
-- Instructional axiom
Colonel Robert Lindsey to his fellow trainers:
"We are not God's gift to our students.
Our students are God's gift to us."
“Qui docet, discet.” (Who teaches, learns.)
-- American Society of Law Enforcement Trainers
Elizaveta Genich
************************************************************************
----- Students -----
“It may seem difficult at first but everything is difficult at first.”
-- Miyamota Mushashi
"What to Expect from a Concealed Carry Class"
"It's better to be wrong than to be vague."
-- Freeman Dyson
"5 Firearms instructor red flags" by Caleb Giddings
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
“Train, Practice, Compete
are the key elements in the development of humans.”
-- John M. Buol, Jr.
You should be looking for a defensive pistol course designed for civilian concealed
carry for self-defense. Your purpose is to escape or make the enemy flee. The purpose
of the pistol is as an emergency escape tool. To ensure nothing can prevent your escape.
This is a defensive pistol course, as opposed to offensive. The Marine Corps has
offensive training, if you are interested.
This course is designed for civilian concealed carry for self-defense, where the
primary objective is to escape, so you don't get hurt. Or if you were texting on your
phone when the attack started, the purpose is to stop the attack, so you don't get hurt
any more. We never shoot to kill. We ALWAYS shoot to stop the attack.
Yes, this is a huge difference. It's the difference between getting convicted and spending
the rest of your life in prison, and being free to play with your grandchildren.
This is not a competitive target shooting class (racing to win the game in a rehearsed
choreographed scenario; shooting much faster than a human can think, moving much
faster than a human can think). By "think", I mean making good judgments under the
debilitating stress of combat based on surprising data. Combat is surprising. The enemy
uses the element of surprise to overwhelm you with violence. Your situational awarenss
will mitigate this, somewhat.
This is not a hunting class (stalking, trailing, tracking). If you're hunting, you can't
claim self-defense. You should always be escaping or defending. It's much better for
your health. [Generally speaking, defending a position gives you a 10 to 1 advantage
over the attacker. At least those are the odds in war games. Real war games, not the
board games you play with friends on the dinner table.]
This is not a law enforcement class (duty to pursue and arrest). Pursuing is extremely
dangerous. Detaining or restraining (handcuffing) is extremely dangerous. Holding a
suspect at gun point is extremely dangerous.
As we were were taught in the Marine Corps, never take prisoners. You don't have
personnel to guard them. You don't have resources to feed or house them. You don't
have personnel and resources to provide medical care. So, never take prisoners.
Either incapacitate them so they can't attack you and move on, or disarm them and
let them flee.
In your case, either run away (escape) or let them flee without their weapons. If they
move with their weapons they are still a threat, and you are justified to shoot them in
the back, and should do so. Retreat is not surrender. Retreat is a tactical maneuver.
The enemy is maneuvering to a position of advantage (cover, concealment, height, etc.)
You may need an expert witness to explain this to the jury. That's why you must have
a self-defense insurance policy or attorneys on retainer. You may be innocent of any
crime and still get prosecuted. That's reality. That's politics.
This is not a military class, where the responsibility to initiate lethal force is
assumed by higher authority. "You're just following orders." No, no, you are going
to have to make the decision to use lethal force. An extremely difficult decision to
make. So you better have a correct mindset.
In the military, the mission to destroy the enemy by fire and maneuver,
and if necessary, to close with the enemy to destroy the enemy with fire and
close combat. Your mission is always to escape. That way, you can legitimately
claim self-defense. You may have to shoot the bad guys to stop their attack,
so that you can escape. That's okay. Your purpose was to stop the attack.
The condition of the bad guys is incidental to your purpose of stopping the
attack to escape.
"Keep in mind that this is some seriously next level material.
It is totally normal that the first time you see this stuff, you find
it confusing. You find it difficult to understand. So, confusion
should not discourage you. It does not represent any intellectual
failing on your part. Rather, keep in mind that it represents an
opportunity to get even smarter."
– Tim Roughgarden, Professor of Computer Science and other
stuff at Stanford University
"Try.
Try again.
Try once more.
Try differently.
Try again tomorrow.
Try and ask for help.
Try find someone who's done it.
Try to fix the problem.
Keep trying until you succeed."
-- Nicola Cavanis
*************************************************************************
----- Andragogy (as opposed to pedagogy) -----
"Growth is uncomfortable because you've never been there before."
-- Nicola Cavanis
"Thinking is the hardest thing a person can do.
That's why so few people do it."
-- Henry Ford
‟An instructor should not expect any learning to
take place the first time new information is presented.”
-- ‶Building Shooters″ by Dustin Salomon
Taylor Lowery
*************************************************************************
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Gear --------------------------------
And the safe storage thereof.
“Your car is not a holster.”
-- Pat Rogers
"Choosing A Home Defense Weapon" by Richard A. Mann
Which one should you use? The one you practice with the most.
That's the pistol for me. I can shoot it with one hand.
I can manipulate the weapon mounted light with one hand
(but never with my trigger finger).
“Mission drives the gear train.”
-- Pat Rogers
"GLOCK Fail! My EDC G48" by CarryTrainer
Know the maintenance schedule of your gear. Replace parts before they break.
It broke because you neglected to change the springs out at 5,000 rounds.
Clean and lubricate correctly.
The purpose of a high capacity magazine is NOT to let you shoot more;
it is to let you reload less.
-- Tom Givens
"Introduction to Tactical Flashlights for Concealed Carriers"
by Jacob Paulsen
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
Vittoria Ceretti
Check out those hands. Glock 21 easily,
maybe a Heckler & Koch USP Tactical in 45 ACP.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For those with large hands --
If the pistol's grip is not large enough for your hands, you're not going to be able to
get a proper grip, which means you won't be able to control the pistol, which means
suboptimal accuracy and weapon retention.
For large hands, long fingers, etc. the pistols with double stack magazines,
chambered in 45 ACP are the way to go. The following pistols are listed in order
of grip girth from big to small, in order of pull length (distance from tang to front face
of trigger, when the slack is out of the trigger) from big to small. (In my opinion.) --
HK USP series, SA/DA.
Glock 21. Striker action.
(The Glock 30 is a bad idea, because the grip is too short. You won't be able to get all
of your fingers on the grip. Which means you won't be able to control the pistol.)
HK45, SA/DA.
Sig Sauer P220, DA/SA, .45ACP. I used this pistol for several years.
FN 545™ Series. Two interchangeable backstraps. Tech. spec. says double action
striker fired. Not sure what that means.
FNX™-45. Two interchangeable backstraps. Double-action/Single-action.
Smith & Wesson M&P 45, has 3 replaceable back straps. I've used this pistol and like it.
I recommend that you get one without the thumb safety, because such a manual safety
complicates the manual of arms. Your holster is the pistol's safety, so you don't need a thumb
safety.
I do not recommend Double Action / Single Action (DA/SA) because I think every
trigger press should be the same. Having a first trigger press that is longer and heavier
than subsequent trigger presses means you must train for two different trigger presses.
That just doesn't make sense to me. The heavy long initial trigger press is not a safety.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For those with small hands, or short trigger fingers, or weak hands and arms --
Walther PDP F-Series, MSRP $699. Striker action.
M&P® SHIELD™ EZ®, Striker action.
The Remington RP, $349.00. Striker action.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For those with small hands --
Pistols for small hands: (in order of grip girth from small to big,
in order of pull length from small to big)
Sig P365XL (the grip is long enough to allow all fingers on the grip
without a magazine grip extension. The regular P365 grip is too short.)
Walther PDP F series
Glock 48, like the Glock 43 but with a longer barrel, which I think is important.
Glock 43
Smith&Wesson Military & Police Shield EZ
Ruger LCP Max (this has a longer grip allowing you to get all of your fingers
on the grip, the regular LCP grip is too short)
* If the grip is too short, you will pinch your hand between the grip
and the magazine when reloading. And you need the little finger of your
support side hand on the grip for the torque to minimize muzzle flip. *
================================================
Ambidextrous pistols:
Because, being right handed doesn't mean you're going to be right handed in combat.
And because left-handers should have pistols that work correctly for them.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following are truly ambidextrous --
Springfield Armory, XDM Elite
Striker action. ~$653 MSRP.
FN (Fabrique Nationale Herstal), 509 and others
Double action / single action. MSRP: $719.00.
The H&K (Heckler & Koch), VP9
Striker action. Retails for around $600.00.
Ruger, American
Striker action. MSRP:$669.00.
Global Ordnance, Arex Delta Generation 2M
Striker action. MSRP $535.
IWI (Israeli Weapon Industries), MASADA
Standard version,
Tactical version,
Striker action. MSRP $480.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following has an ambidextrous magazine release,
but not an ambidextrous slide stop --
The Springfield Armory XD type pistols.
Striker action. MSRP $440 - $568.
Louis Awerbuck recommended the XD in 45 ACP. That's why I use it.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The following have ambidextrous slide stops, but not ambidextrous magazine releases --
(being able to move the magazine release to the other side is not the same as being
ambidextrous)
The latest Glocks. ~$600 to $700. Striker action.
The latest Walthers. MSRP: $649. Striker action.
The S&W M&P's. MSRP: $ 665. Striker action.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Megan May Williams
Check out those hands. Sig P365XL or Walther PDP F.
"There are no dangerous weapons, only dangerous men."
-- Robert A. Heinlein
Multi Drill Targets
Check out the MPS 9mm semi-auto pistol by Fabryka Broni.
discount code: INVENTORY10
for 10% discount
Ammoland
use code: ALAND5
for 5% discount
Ammo sources:
Unlimited Ammo
Target Sports USA
GunMag Warehouse
SGAmmo
True Shot Ammo
True Shot Academy
"Maxxtech - 45 ACP - 230 Grain - FMJ"
Click on 1000 rounds, that's one case of ammo, $379.00.
$0.38 / round. They will deliver to your door.
The Mag Shack
---
If you know of any others, let me know.
*************************************************************************
*************************************************************************
***** ***** ***** Intelligence ***** ***** *****
Always cite open source.
"An Optical Navigation System Better Than GPS" by The Action Lab
"Details on Maduro's capture and release from the country" by The National Desk
Competence. No casualties. No collateral damage (to friendly equipment). The sign
of a well planned operation.
"Trump says 'We're going to run' Venezuela" by CNN
"Pete Hegseth explains why U.S. captured Venezuela's Maduro"
by CBS Evening News
Rubio.
Concerning Cuba
"How U.S Delta Force Raid Captured Maduro"
by Cappy Army
Mayor of Dearborn, Michigan
And now for something very different.
"Blast from the Past – First Earth Battalion Manual"
"First Earth Battalion Manual" by Jim Channon
Hat tip to Soldier Systems.
"Op-ed: The Army’s contribution to joint space operations" by Col. Pete Atkinson
Hat tip to Soldier Systems.
"Finding the Signal within the Noise:
What Information Warriors Need to Know About Human Pattern Recognition."
by Douglas Wilbur
Hat tip to Soldier Systems.
"Irregular Warfare Center Achieves Milestone Growth in FY25,
Pivots to Homeland Resilience and the Indo-Pacific in FY26"
by Pedro A. Rodriguez
Hat tip to Soldier Systems.
"Armor" Winter 2025 edition
Hat tip to Soldier Systems.
"Chief of Naval Operations Professional Reading Program"
23 December 2025
Hat tip to Soldier Systems.
Hat tip to Soldier Systems.
"Training Like It’s 1993: We’re Still Not Doing Enough to Integrate Drones"
by John Spencer
Hat tip to Soldier Systems.
"Algorithmic Fratricide:
When Artificial Intelligence Bias Becomes a Battlefield Liability"
by Branko Ruzic
Hat tip to Soldier Systems.
"New EW System Capable of Both Active, Passive Missions"
by Josh Luckenbaugh
Hat tip to Soldier Systems.
"Little Spartans:
How Small State Militaries Use Special Forces to Punch Above Their Weight"
by Simon Anglim
Hat tip to Soldier Systems.
“The first, the supreme, the most far-reaching act of judgment that the statesman
and the commander have to make is to establish . . . the kind of war on which they
are embarking; neither mistaking it for, nor trying to make it into something that is
alien to its nature. This is the first of all strategic questions and the most
comprehensive.” – Carl von Clausewitz
"Breaking the Glass Ceiling of Irregular Warfare" by Mark Grdovic
Hat tip to Soldier Systems.
Excerpts:
"The Joint and Army definitions both suffer from a series of non-defining
declarative statements that add little to nothing to the definitions. The Army
definition mentions “overt, clandestine or covert employment,” which is
simply “all types of operations,” and both the Army and Joint definitions list
“state and non-state actors,” which is essentially anyone. Other non-descriptive
descriptions are “military and non-military capabilities,” meaning all capabilities,
and “to assure or coerce,” which means to defend or attack."
[Yep, that's what you get when you let bureaucrats write your documents. -- Jon Low]
"Counteroffensive Irregular Warfare:
A Doctrine of Signature Reduction for Strategic Competition"
by Christopher Moede
Hat tip to Soldier Systems.
"F3EAD: SOF Specific Targeting in the Intelligence Cycle"
by Gabriel Fanelli
Hat tip to Soldier Systems.
Note at the end of the article, Grey Dynamics offers intelligence classes.
TacJobs – Applications Open for Army MOS 40D Space Operations Specialist
Hat tip to Soldier Systems.
Leadership.
"The Skittles Test: A Leadership Lesson from Special Forces Selection"
by Shawn Ryan
"Did American taxpayers fund the Nashville Covenant school attack?"
by Legally Armed America
"Iraq War Habits That Get You Killed in Ukraine" by Civ Div
"BREAKING: Iranian Revolt SPIRALING Into Chaos;
IRGC Threatens MISSILE ATTACK On Israel" by TBN Israel
The Dispatch
Strategy Page
"The Merge"
Breaking Defense
Intrigue
1440
29155
Global Recaps
Timber Sycamore
Ground News
Soldier Systems
*************************************************************************
Sterre Meijer
*************************************************************************
***** ***** ***** Signals Intelligence,
Ground Electronic Warfare,
Cyber Security,
(sometimes Air Electronic Warfare too) ***** ***** *****
Always cite open source.
"A free people ought not only be armed and disciplined,
but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain
a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them,
which would include their own government."
--George Washington
"Marines Visualize Electronic Signature with
Electromagnetic Spectrum Signature (EMSS) called the
All-domain Electromagnetic Radio Operator Trainer (AERO-T)"
by Joseph Vincent
Hat tip to Soldier Systems.
"Counter-intelligence is now a communications function" by Elie Jacobs
Hat tip to Soldier Systems.
Commentary from Soldier Systems --
This is great insight into what the Navy’s Information Warfare community
is going through. Like the other services they are in a constant state of flux due
to the inclusion and then exclusion of this or that element of IW. Generally,
it’s cyber as a stand alone or cyber as the main show for the other elements
doing the heavy lifting. Unlike the Army, the Navy has kept cryptologic operations
with electronic warfare. This means that EW is informed by SI activities and can
be more reliably employed as a scalpel rather than a hammer.
It is unfortunate to read that the Navy has eliminated their LDO
(Limited Duty Officer) program for cryptology. They are losing a great deal of
technical expertise.
I also find it interesting that Military Deception and Psychological Operations
(still referred to as MISO in the article) remain within the Cryptologic Warfare
portfolio of capabilities despite the lack of service expertise in those areas.
Across the defense establishment we’ve got to get better at all manner of IW
instead of cutting away that which we would prefer not to do.
"Algorithmic Fratricide:
When Artificial Intelligence Bias Becomes a Battlefield Liability"
by Branko Ruzic
Hat tip to Soldier Systems.
I have never heard of a software engineer being held accountable for a software bug.
Probably never will, because that's the nature of the system that the executives and
bureaucrats have created. Deliver on budget, on time, that's all that matters.
"Marine Corps launches six drone training programs open to any MOS"
by J.D. Simkins
Hat top to Soldier Systems.
"Why is there no B# or E# note on the piano?" David Bennett
"An Optical Navigation System Better Than GPS" by The Action Lab
I remember when this stuff was classified. Can you imagine the idiots who classified
this basic physics?
"Hey, Staff, what's with all the high resolution color photos?"
It's an homage to the CIA intel analyst who was fired by stupid bureaucrats
in the CIA for using his government computer to look at pornography.
He explained to his superiors that he was searching for originals of photos used
by steganographers to transport data. So that he could do a compare (UNIX filter)
or an XOR. The incompetent, uneducated bureaucrats refused to understand and
fired him. He told us about it at a 2600 meeting. There were a few articles in
the national news. His lecture was fascinating. I wish I had a recording or
transcript of it.
"The Silicon Fortress vs. The Digital Cage
The White House is on a “war footing” to win the AI race --
but are we trading our biological integrity for technological speed?"
by Reinette Senum
Hat tip to Dee Dee.
Breaking Defense has a weekly newsletter, "Networks & Digital Warfare" at
Crypto-Gram by Bruce Schneier
2600
Soldier Systems
*************************************************************************
Lana Kroes Rodriguez
(I can't identify the chick on the right.)
*************************************************************************
***** ***** ***** Cryptology ***** ***** *****
Always cite open source.
Cryptosystems are considered "arms" by federal law, ITAR,
International Traffic in Arms Regulations. That means cryptosystems are
protected by the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Never let the
government infringe on your right to keep and bear cryptosystems, to
include home made cryptosystems, to include sharing cryptosystems with
others.
Knot theory in the real world.
"Does it really matter?" by HowNOT2
Excerpt from description:
"With modern ropes, no one, including us, has been able to show that having
the tail on one side or the other makes any difference to the strength of the bowline.
So we figured that the sheet bend would give us similar results. And we were right
with similar diameters of modern rope. Both the left and right-handed sheet bend
slip at really low forces. A double fisherman’s is up to 75% stronger in our tests."
"But with a larger difference in diameter, we did see a difference.
The right-handed sheet bend held on much better than the left-handed version.
This is starting to make sense where the myth came from. Sheet is an old word
referring to rigging sails. The sheet bend is a pretty useful knot for attaching a
cord to a tarp and is often used to tarp loads or make shelters.
What about a double or triple sheet bend? They are stronger but they still slip.
And they aren’t as strong as a double fisherman. In cords of similar diameter,
right didn’t appear to be any stronger.
We thought that, like a bowline, the Sheet bend might be easier to untie. Nope.
At the forces the knots slip they are extremely difficult to untie. [They bind.
Have you done much work with ropes of different diameters in your knot theory
research? Others have. -- Jon Low]
It does appear that really setting the sheet bends does make them more likely
to slip than break, vs just slip out. But in the same force range."
[Do you see the difference in lifting the right-handed sheet bend into 4-dimensions
as opposed to lifting the left-handed sheet bend into 4-dimensions? These two knots
are not mirror inversions. -- Jon Low]
"Arms discourage and keep the invader and plunderer in awe,
and preserve order in the world as well as property.
Horrid mischief would ensue were the law-abiding deprived of their use."
-- Thomas Paine
"Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange: How to Share a Secret" by Spanning Tree
This is a simplified explanation for newbies.
Original paper,
"New Directions in Cryptography"
by Whitfield Diffie and Martin E. Hellman
page 649.
When Diffie explained it to us at the Santa Clara Valley (since renamed
Silicon Valley) AFCEA (Armed Forces Communications and Electronics
Association) meeting, he said they intended for the Galois Field to be
nᵗʰ degree polynomials of characteristic 2, i.e. polynomials with coefficients
of 0 or 1 modulo an irreducible polynomial of degree n, creating nᵗʰ degree
polynomials that form a finite field. Much more efficient for digital computers
using binary (which just about all do) than integer type numbers.
Details given in "Handbook of Applied Cryptography" §12.47 on page 516.
"Computer science has nothing to do with computers or science."
-- Donald Knuth
"The Accidental Discovery That Changed Physics" (Zeeman splitting of energy levels)
by The Action Lab
The video of the electrons revolving around the nucleus are wrong. Electrons
do not orbit nuclei the way planets orbit the sun. If they did, they would radiate
energy, and thus would not be stable.
"Premature optimization is the root of all evil."
-- Donald Knuth
Database stuff
"OLTP vs OLAP and the row / column storage tradeoff" by Benjamin Dicken
"Nothing in life is to be feared; it is only to be understood.
Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that?
We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves.
We must believe that we are gifted for something,
and that this thing must be attained."
-- Marie Curie
An explanation of the FFT
"The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT): Most Ingenious Algorithm Ever?"
by Reducible
"All that we don't know is astonishing.
Even more astonishing is what passes for knowing."
-- Philip Roth
"Epicycles, complex Fourier series and Homer Simpson's orbit" by Mathologer
"Never memorize anything. Rather, study it until it becomes obvious."
-- Norman Christ
"Best Explanation of Taylor Series on Internet!" by Brain Station Advanced
"You don't have to memorize theorems.
Because you can always derive them from first principles."
-- Sven Hartman
"UCSD’s Math Crisis Explained" by Thinque Prep
This is not a University of California San Diego problem. This is a U.S. problem.
My son-in-law (Ph.D. Bio-engineering) and my daughter (M.D.)
did their graduate work at UCSD.
"Handbook of Applied Cryptography"
by Alfred J. Menezes, Paul C. van Oorschot and Scott A. Vanstone
"Computer Security and the Internet:
Tools and Jewels from Malware to Bitcoin", Second Edition
by Paul C. van Oorschot
ISBN: 978-3-030-83410-4 (hardcopy), 978-3-030-83411-1 (eBook)
"An Introduction to Error Correcting Codes with Applications"
by Scott A. Vanstone , Paul C. Oorschot
Research and Publications (P. Van Oorschot)
Alfred J. Menezes
Scott A. Vanstone
*************************************************************************
*************************************************************************
***** ***** ***** Religion and Politics ***** ***** *****
"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it."
-- Mary Flannery O'Connor
“Protect and Serve” Whom? by John Farnam
“Give me players with good character.
I can train them in how to play football,
but I can’t train them in character.”
-- Vince Lombardi
Women for Gun Rights Newsletter - December 2025
"Our right to self-defense shouldn’t end at the state line" by Dianna Muller
"Bill Lee and Jonathan Skrmetti’s Appellate Brief in Hughes v. Lee
Reveals Disdain for Unanimous Trial Court Ruling" by TFA
Trump Nation News
Monty Fritz for Govenor of Tennessee
Please support Michele Reneau, Tennessee State Representative, District 27
A true Christian Conservative Pro-gun candidate.
"Gun Free Zones Are Targets For Evil, We Need To Abolish Them"
by Gun Owners of America
It's not incompetence. It's complicity.
The following do not require an ID to vote. Fraud is the only explanation.
They are all Democrat states.
California
Hawaii
Illinois
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Minnesota
Nevada
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
Pennsylvania
Vermont
Washington, D.C.
The purpose of war is not to die for your country.
The purpose of war is to ensure that the other guy dies for his country.
—George S. Patton
Arguing with ignorant persons is a real problem.
Slavery was universal in our world before the British (and then Americans) fought
bloody destructive wars to end it. Read your Bible for instance.
“You can’t truly call yourself ‘peaceful’ unless you are capable of great violence.
If you’re not capable of violence, you’re not peaceful, you’re harmless.
Important distinction.”
-- Stef Starkgaryen
Embrace sex differences.
"We should not forget that the spark which ignited the American Revolution
was caused by the British attempt to confiscate the firearms of the colonists."
-- Patrick Henry
Soviets never called for defunding the police. Instead the KGB backed the
Prosecutor General’s Office in purges resulting in arrests, convictions, and
firing squads (and of course disappearances).
"The Night Soviet Police Murdered a KGB Agent – And Triggered a Bloodletting"
by Boris Egorov
Police can rob the peons and get away with it. The courts will back them.
But murdering KGB agents, what an act of stupidity. It just goes to show, when
you think you're above the law, eventually the vigilantes get you. Sometimes
the vigilantes are citizens, sometimes they are in the intelligence community,
sometimes . . .
Arnold is still a Republican (though a very soft one).
In case you're too young to remember this.
Why people call for defunding the police.
"TN COPS Arrested OVER 400 Sober People for DUI,
CRAZY Update in The Lopez Case, & GCOTW"
by Southern Drawl Law
400 false DUI arrests in Tennessee in one year. Half made by the Tennessee Highway
Patrol. 28 made by Sumner County Sheriff's deputies.
This is why you should never travel to the U.K.
"Russia loses 2 ships in 1 day, remaining Russian ships hide their flags"
by RFU News
Hat tip to Sidney Ontai.
Lana Kroes Rodriguez
***************************** Begin Psychology ***********************
"Brutally Honest: 3 Relationship Truths That Save or Sink Your Marriage"
by Hannah Johnson
If you have an idea, write it down.
Deep truth. Ignore at your peril.
The psychology of the leftist.
"how to lose a guy in 10 days (stories from an escort)" by Isabelle Fox
This is not just about sexual relations. It's true in general.
***************************** End Psychology ************************
Meg
President Trump, no salary, no pension from the U.S. government.
Service because of duty, not money.
It is a mistake of youth to think that the way things are is the way things have
always been.
Sgt. Maj. Troy told me that when arriving at a new command, observe for 6 months
before changing anything. Because there might be a good reason they are doing things
that way.
Thing were terrible in the past. We have fixed many things. We continue to fix
things.
Advocating ideas that have resulted in crime and genocide in the past is the
definition of stupid. Stupid is as stupid does.
Jimmy Carr explains.
Trump is keeping his campaign promises.
"I hate it when I'm trying to eat a salad and
it falls in the trash and I have to eat a taco instead."
-- Nicola Cavanis
Charlie Kirk explains why democracy is not an American value.
Democracy is rule of the majority, rule of the mob, rule of the ignorant, rule of those
who have never read the U.S. Constitution.
Only those who have a vested interest in our country should be allowed to vote,
hence poll taxes. Otherwise, you will have people voting for more welfare benefits
for themselves (corporate and personal).
Only those who have risked their lives in service of their country have a right
to vote, hence universal conscription of males and only males voting. Otherwise,
you have unmarried women voting (almost 100% Democrat). President Nixon
destroyed universal conscription. Effectively creating a mercenary armed force,
as opposed to a citizen armed force, big difference.
My pastor at Sunnyvale Presbyterian church told a story of a guy who was distraught
because he had never told his mother that he loved her before she died. The pastor told
him that she knew he loved her because of his actions taking care of her. The pastor
said, "Love is action. Love is the things we do."
As any human who has moved through this world knows, many things spoken are lies.
Actions, especially long term behaviors, do not lie.
Jimmy Carr, words of wisdom.
If I were the devil and wanted to destroy Western Civilization,
What is the difference between animals and humans?
Laurin Green explains passport bros.
Minimum wage.
Email from Hillsdale College --
Dear Staff Sergeant Low,
Here’s a story I’ll never forget, once I learned the truth behind it.
In 1917, a small group of revolutionaries led by Vladimir Lenin seized
power in Russia. They promised a better, fairer world . . . sound familiar?
But soon after taking control, they began rounding up and executing anyone
who stood in their way. Lenin even ordered his followers to hang
landowners and seize their crops—so that for miles around,
“people see, and tremble . . .”
Marxism began with promises of a perfect world—and ended in fear,
famine, and death. You may be familiar with that dark history, but too
many Americans aren’t. How do I know? Because a century later, these
dangerous ideas have been repackaged and rebranded. They’re taught in
schools and promoted by celebrity politicians using words such as
“equity,” “diversity,” and “social justice.”
The words sound harmless, but the ideas behind them are the same.
Warm regards,
Bill Gray
Semper Fidelis,
Jonathan D. Low
Email: Jon_Low@yahoo.com
Radio: KI4SDN
Nicola Cavanis
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