Defensive Pistolcraft: February 2017

Greetings Sheepdogs,
     It's a new year. Time to clear out the clutter.
There are about 50 of you who have started courses
over the past couple of years and not finished. I have
been sending out occasional emails informing you of
classes and events that you may use to finish your
course. I am now going to forget about you. If you
wish to finish a course you started, it is now your
responsibility to contact me to make arrangements.

***** Mindset *****

“God is not on the side of big battalions.
He sides with capable marksmen!”
-- Voltaire

     I don't recommend reading this article,
"Defeating Doomsday Derp: Tactical Tidbits for Threepers"
http://zerogov.com/?p=4878
I just liked this excerpt.
Excerpt:
. . . if you cannot find the money in order to train,
it’s really a matter of evaluating your priorities.
Not to turn this into a Dave Ramsey lecture, but if
you find yourself complaining about not having ammo
[or training course] money, yet you have cable or
satellite TV subscriptions, Netflix, car loans,
designer clothes with the holes already torn in them,
Blue Apron meal programs, a tanning membership,
eat out more than 1 time per month (yes, including
the drive thru) or you smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol,
eat pizza’s and wings on Sunday afternoons at your
football parties, drink four Monster energy drinks
per day or get a Starbucks Venti Grande Mocha Latte
Cup of Asshole two times per day, I simply don’t want
to hear it. Your conviction to defending life, liberty
and property is a lie.

***** Training *****

**************************************************************
Jon,
     Recently a friend, who was setting up a security team
in his church, asked me if I was interested in attending
some training with him - I said yes. And a week ago we
attended a two day course titled:
ALICE Instructor Certification Training.
What an eye-opener that was.
     In a very brief nutshell ALICE (Alert, Lockdown, Inform,
Counter, Evacuate) is a series of active measures that nearly
anyone can take to provide a very significant opportunity to
survive an "armed intruder" attack. Whether it is in a school,
church, workplace, or nearly any other collection of people.
See: https://www.alicetraining.com/
     I was lukewarm on this stuff until, as a preparatory step
to the formal classroom instruction, I took an on-line session:
ALICE Certification Training For Schools. An excellent primer
to the concepts promoted and every step makes sense, it can be
scaled to be age appropriate for students, and the effectiveness
is backed by statistics.
     This was really brought home, when I asked my 13 year old
Great-granddaughter what she was taught in her school if there
was a threat. Turns out it is a passive response of simply:
"Lock the door, pull the blinds, turn out the lights, and sit
out of view of the door." While those nearly universal passive
measures are better than doing nothing, there are far more
simple active measures that can and should be taken to greatly
enhance the opportunity to survive.
     ALICE offers a clear series of situational dependent
logical steps – of which the administration, teachers, students,
and local Law Enforcement should be a part. The teachers after
all are in this case, the First Responders, as Law Enforcement
is likely several minutes out at best and will be the Second
group in a position to take action. Even if a school has a
"resource officer" it may be several minutes before they can
engage – during which time the killing will go on.
     Even most profound pacifists, can be brought around to
taking active defense measures – more on how that is done later
if you are interested.
     There are a series of free "Self Assessments"
https://www.alicetraining.com/active-shooter-readiness-self-assessments/
that one can take to provide an evaluation of their organization,
be it church, school, business, etc.
Tom Clark
NRA Certified Pistol and Rifle Instructor
Glock Certified Pistol Instructor and Armorer
SC SLED CWP Instructor
ALICE Certified Instructor
**************************************************************

     One of the nuggets in the ALICE course is how to break
a window to escape. Take a hard object and hit the glass in
the upper right or upper left corner, so the glass falls away
from you. Then take the hard object and use it to clear the
sharp edges before going through the window.
    Many courses advocate use of force as a last resort.
This directly contradicts my Marine Corps training. The correct
response to an attack is an immediate and explosive counter attack.
This takes the attacker by surprise and has the highest probability
of success.
     If your school disarms all good guys to ensure that they
are defenseless against the bad guys, you should move to a
different school or home school. If your business disarms
all good guys to ensure that they are defenseless against the
bad guys, you should move to a different business. Yes, it is
that simple. Isn't your life worth it?
     If you are not under attack, you should immediately
run to escape. Lock down is a bad tactic. You will eventually
be found and shot.
     The Sheepdog seminar recommended that the security team
at a church should carry sashes in packets on their belts and
put them on in the event of an armed intruder event.
So, they don't shoot each other. The problem with that
technique is that it identifies primary targets for
the bad guys. (If you belong to a church that is so big
you can't identify friendlies, you need to move to a smaller
church. You should know every person in your church by name.)
     Don't open carry your pistol, because in any criminal
scenario you will be the first to get shot, as you will be
identified as a threat to the bad guy.
     Calling 911 is a good thing to do, but it is not a defensive
tactic. I have called 911 and gotten an "all lines are busy"
response, "call back later" response, "please hold" response.
So, you should be running, not calling.

Rangemaster newsletter
http://rangemaster.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/2017-02_RFTS-Newsletter.pdf
     May I invite your attention the first article on
low light encounters. Mr. Givens explains why you don't
need tritium night sights and why you should not have a
flashlight mounted on your pistol.
     I don't think your flashlight technique necessarily
needs to illuminate your sights. I think it is sufficient
that your sights are silhouetted against the lighted target.
     Mike Seeklander says if you're going to use a weapon
mounted flashlight, point it at the ground and use the
reflected light to identify your target, so you are not
pointing your pistol at the unidentified target.

"Tone is in Your Fingers"
http://scott-babb.tumblr.com/post/155775383159/tone-is-in-your-fingers-there-are-knife
Excerpt:
     The uncomfortable truth, however,
is that one cannot buy their way into skill.
. . .
     But the fact remains that learning your art is
contingent on the work you are willing to put in,
not on the equipment you use to get there. So if you
are starting on this journey, put aside thoughts of
building your collection of tools for a bit, . . .
and dedicate some time to learning your craft.

***** Tactics *****

Why do you yell at your targets?
http://godgalsgunsgrub.blogspot.com/2017/01/why-do-you-yell-at-your-targets.html

***** Techniques *****

     Practice dropping what's in your hands to get
a two handed grip.
     Shoot and scoot. Move away from the threat.
Thanks to John Correia.

     Practice one handed techniques with your support side hand.
When shooting one handed, keep the thumb high and the body
behind the gun.
     Your recoil will be in the direction of the grip axis
of your gun. So, don't cant you gun. If you hold your gun
normally (vertically), the recoil is vertical. The long axis
of your (human) target is probably vertical. So, your error
is still on the target. If you cant your gun, your recoil
direction moves off the vertical target, increasing your
probability of a miss. [I paraphrase. I hope I have done
Mike justice in my paraphrase.]
     When clearing a type III malfunction (case in the chamber,
slide attempting to chamber another cartridge from the
magazine), skip locking the slide to the rear, just unload
and reload. [This will require you ripping the magazine out
of the magazine well. Something you can't easily do with a
Glock, because their magazines don't have a protruding lip
that you can grip.]
     When reloading, point the magazine well at the incoming
magazine.
     Practice the Harries and Rogers (flashlight) techniques.
They each have their purpose.
     When in close quarters combat, cage (technical term for
bringing your support side arm up to protect your head and
face), hammer strike (Don't punch, that could easily break
your knuckles, fingers, and wrist. We are not trained boxers
wearing tape, braces, and gloves.), and retract immediately
(an extended arm is a broken arm). [Yes, you have to practice.
But, practice is fun. Especially when you find the right
person to practice with.]
Thanks to Mike Seeklander

***** Gear *****

"Analysis: US Army Chooses Sig 320 as New Pistol"
Posted by Andrew Branca
http://legalinsurrection.com/2017/01/analysis-us-army-chooses-sig-320-as-new-pistol/

"All the Ways You Can Actually Use a Pocket Knife"
by Robert Young Pelton
https://www.outsideonline.com/2146656/robert-young-pelton-all-ways-you-can-actually-use-pocket-knife

***** Instructors *****

     Our friend, Brian is starting a firearms school in Wisconsin,
and wrote to ask for my advice. My response follows.
---
Hi Brian,
     I am very happy for you.
     Don't borrow money to finance your project. Dave Ramsey says to
grow your business organically from your income stream. Most small
businesses in the U.S. fail within the first year due to being under
capitalized. This causes people to borrow money to keep their
business going. This is wrong on many levels. Don't borrow money!
     Please read the
"The E-Myth Revisited:
Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It"
by Michael E. Gerber
ISBN-10: 0887307280
ISBN-13: 978-0887307287
      I carry $1,000,000 of general liability insurance and $500,000
of professional liability insurance (in case someone sues me for
something I taught one of my students). I am insured through
the NRA. The carrier is Lockton.
NRA Endorsed Insurance Program
Administered by Lockton Affinity, LLC
877-672-3006
P.O. Box 874952
Kansas City, MO 64187-4952
I suggest you carry similar insurance.
     Keep records in a bound journal. You will be called into court
when one of your students shoots someone in self defense.
You have to have documentation that that person took your
course and what exactly you taught in that course. And why
what you taught was correct at the time of the teaching.
Because theory and practice change over time. The practice
may not be generally accepted now, but at the time of the class
it was best practices. So, make sure you have written lesson
plans for the students and detailed written lesson plans for
you.
     Be polite and professional. So, men will want to bring
their wives and daughters to your classes. Because these
are the people who need your services, because these are
the people who are victimized. The beer guzzling red necks
can take care of themselves.
     No one in their right mind would recommend Tactical
Response in Camden, TN to a lady. Anyone who has been
to Front Sight in Pahrump, NV would recommend it to
members of the fairer sex.
     Protect your reputation. It's the only thing you get to
take with you when you die.
       Keep me informed. I am always happy to help you in
whatever way I can.
Cheers,
Jon
[I am not bad mouthing Tactical Response. Their training
was great. I learned a lot of useful stuff. It's just
that the language was foul to put it mildly. Which I'm
sure makes a lot veterans feel like they are back with
their unit in the field. Good times!]

***** Pedagogy *****

Question underlying assumptions --
     Many gun schools teach their students to move
while presenting from the holster to the target
to avoid getting shot. (Presentation is what you
do with a pistol. Drawing is what you do with
paper and crayons.)
     But, Dave Spaulding says that moving while
presenting assumes the criminal is applying aimed
fire at you. In reality, criminals don't aim.
They just shoot randomly in your direction. So,
moving does not decrease your probability of getting
hit. But, moving does decrease your probability
of getting a good hit on your target, because your
shooting platform is moving. So, it's better to
stay still while you shoot to ensure you hit your
target, because every miss is destroying property
and injuring innocent bystanders, possibly killing
them.
     In a similar manner, you must question the
underlying assumptions of everything everyone
teaches you. This is the essence of critical
thought.
     "It is better to be wrong than to be vague."
-- Freeman Dyson
     If you are wrong, we can correct you. If you
are vague, no one can help you. Because no one
understands what you are talking or writing about.
     "A mistake is evidence that some one tried
to do something." -- Ingersoll
     Anyone can do nothing. But, those who do
things, make mistakes. That is how they learn.
Ask Thomas Edison. Such learning gives you a deep
understanding, as opposed to a superficial
understanding.
     The test of whether or not you understand
a thing is whether or not you can explain it
to someone else. The test of whether or not
you have a deep understanding of a thing is
whether or not you can explain it to a layman.
Explaining string theory to a theoretical
physicist is one thing. Explaining string
theory to an experimental physicist is another.
(In a few years, you will remember this joke
and laugh.)
     There are only two sciences: physics and
stamp collecting.
     So, help your teammates by explaining
things to them. Teach them. Then you will
know what you do or don't know. When they
ask you questions, you will research to answer
their questions. And hence, you will learn.
     There are two ways to learn a subject:
study it or teach it. Teaching it is by far
the better way, because your students will
ask you questions, forcing you to research
to find the answers for them. In preparing
your lectures, you will find the gaps in
your knowledge.

***** Education *****

Crime Prevention Research Center
http://crimeresearch.org

***** Legal and Political stuff *****

"Active shooter" is a liberal propaganda term used to
associate shooters with mass murderers. It does not
correctly describe the person as a "murderer" or
"intruder". Correct would be "armed intruder" or
"active murderer".

Gender is a liberal propaganda term used to confuse.
Liberals recognize dozens of genders.
For right thinking people,
     There are only two sexes: male and female.
     There are only three genders: masculine,
feminine, and neuter.

***** Survival Tips *****

***** Miscellany *****

     Lesson plans may be found at
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/474513
or send me an email requesting the latest
version.

Cheers,
Jon

Jonathan Low
Jon_Low@yahoo.com

Defensive Pistolcraft

Thursday, February 23, 2017

CWP, 23 February 2017 Anno Domini

Sunday, February 5, 2017

CWP, 5 February 2017 Anno Domini