Oink oink.
Greetings Sheepdogs,
"Oh Boy!" by John Farnam
---
Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has publicly
declared that Iran will retaliate against the U.S.
"No freeman shall ever be debarred the use of arms."
-- Thomas Jefferson
Ya, I know I repeat a lot of stuff in this blog. That's because there is a constant
stream of new readers / students. This blog is continuing education for my students.
We are very sorry to hear that our students in Japan are being harassed by government
law enforcement. We understand that there is no local police, only a national police and
that they are not friendly toward the God given right to keep and bear arms. You are in
our prayers. Love is action. Love is the things we do. Know that you have our love.
Table of Contents:
Prevention
Mindset
Situational Awareness
Safety
Training
Psychology
Practice
Intervention
Strategy
Tactics
Techniques
Postvention
Aftermath
Medical
Survival
Education
Legal
Instruction
Gear
Cryptology
Signals Intelligence
Intelligence
Religion and Politics
*************************************************************************
Incompetent people electing incompetent politicians
who appoint incompetent administrators
who hire incompetent teachers.
*************************************************************************
***** ***** ***** Prevention ***** ***** *****
Things you can do to avoid the lethal force incident.
Table of sections:
Mindset
Safety
Training
Psychology
Practice
*************************************************************************
Tiffany Nogoy completed her 3 year missionary work in Panama City, Panama
I had a friend at Sunnyvale Presbyterian in California. (Her parents prefer
that I not mention her name.) She went to France with Crusade for Christ.
I didn't know at the time that France was the jumping off point to Algeria.
Her mission was to give aid and comfort to women in Algeria who were
converting to Christianity or who had converted. We all die. The important
thing is what we die for.
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Mindset and Attitude --------------------------------
Awareness, Avoidance, De-Escalation, Escape
"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
"The irresponsible man: the case against unmarried men"
by Orion Taraban, Psy.D.
"Initiative and imagination are incomprehensible to the average person."
"Your life is as good as your mindset." -- Nicola Cavanis
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach him how to fish and
he will feed himself for the rest of his life, perhaps also his family and community.
[Unless there is a government welfare system to addict him to the government dole.]
Defend a man and you save his life today. Teach him how to defend
himself and he will defend himself for the rest of his life, also his family and
community, if he is so inclined. He may even teach potential victims to
defend themselves: young girls (the primary target of criminal sexual predators),
the elderly, the disabled, etc.
So you should be outreaching to the weak, because the meek shall inherit
the Earth, not the weak. So, you should consider it your duty to convert the
weak into the meek. [You might want to look up the word "meek" in a scholarly
dictionary, because the culture is guilty of incorrect word usage. Yes, I know
that English is defined by "common usage". But, "common usage" is a technical
term, not a literal term. "Common usage" means as used by the literati (not
necessarily the same as the intelligentsia, certainly not the same as our political
or cultural elites), not the peasant or proletariat (even though they make up
the vast majority).]
To the criminal predator, females are high value targets. Some of you have
taken vows to protect a lady. Some of you have a duty to protect a girl, because
you are her parent or guardian. It is physically impossible to be with her 24/7,
and you might not have the financial resources to hire bodyguards for her. So,
what do you do? Send her to expert training, so that she can protect herself
and your family when you are deployed.
Yes, I have paid tuition, air fare, car rental, hotel, and food money for ladies
in the past, because I care. Show you care. Saying, “I love you.” is fine, but it
doesn't do much to protect anyone.
"Love is action. Love is the things we do."
– Pastor of the Sunnyvale Presbyterian Church
(That's Sunnyvale, California.)
"There are no dangerous weapons, only dangerous men." -- Robert A. Heinlein
"It’s not about the odds, it’s about the stakes."
The probability of you being attacked may be low. That does not matter.
What you will lose, if you are not prepared, not aware, and don't act immediately
and decisively, is all that matters.
“My grandfather, a cop and blooded gunfighter, was present one night when
I was a small child and had a nightmare. My parents, of course, were dedicated
to calming me down and included the old canard of "there's no such thing as monsters"
in their assurances.
My grandfather later sat me down and told me there were indeed monsters
in the world. "What makes 'em scary," he told me, "is they look like everyone else.
But if you keep your eye on 'em and be on your guard . . . sooner or later,
you'll see the mask slip." ”
-- Jay Winton
When your doctor gives you certain drugs or knows that you are in a high stress
situation due to an illness, divorce, death in the family, etc., your doctor will warn
you not to drive, not to operate heavy machinery, not to pilot boats or planes, not
to make any life decisions, not to sign any legal documents, etc. Why? Because
your judgment is impaired. If you are drinking alcohol, the solution is simple, stop
drinking alcohol. If you are abusing drugs, the solution is simple, stop abusing
drugs. The solution is simple. I know the solution is not easy.
Unfortunately, all self-defense situations are combat. And all combat is highly
stressful. So, how do you exercise good judgment in the high stress of combat?
Expert training and diligent deliberate practice.
When asked by a journalist, General Patton responded,
“Trained soldiers do not panic in combat. They do what they were trained to do.”
This is truth. If you train and practice, you will perform well in combat.
"An unarmed man can only flee from evil and
evil is not overcome by fleeing from it." -- Jeff Cooper
I will give you the warning that the CIA Field Agent assigned to the
U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia gave me.
"The enemy is aware of your presence. Take precautions."
‟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
"Go all the way." by Orion Taraban, Psy.D.
Wednesday, June 18th, 2025
One of the most challenging day hikes in the world is the Cactus to Clouds trail
in Southern California. Beginning on the floor of the Coachella Valley and ending
at the summit of Mount San Jacinto, the C2C boasts over 10,000 feet of elevation
gain over the course of 22 miles. I was able to complete it some years ago by
starting out in the middle of the night and climbing the first grueling leg by starlight.
Every year, unprepared hikers get themselves into trouble on this trail – which
has resulted in a not inconsiderable number of deaths. Feeling demoralized or
exhausted, these hikers turn around and try to make their way back to the valley
floor. However, with merciless daytime temperatures, this often means that they
are walking into an oven. They become dehydrated and disoriented – and some
are never seen again.
This is why the C2C is known as a “high-commitment hike.” Once people pass
a certain point, it is safer for them to keep going up – no matter how tired or
panicked or lost they might be. Retreat is not always an option, and – contrary to
popular belief – it can be riskier to do certain things by halves. This isn't about
hiking.
This week's behavioral experiment:
Where could you commit more to one of your goals?
See what happens when you do.
Warmly,
Orion
"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
". . . the confidence inspired by your knowledge of what you can do with a gun if
necessary is bound to be reflected in your bearing. It is a confidence that cannot be
counterfeited. Either you have it or you don't. If you do, it will be sensed by an
enemy, causing doubt to arise in his mind; and a feeling of personal doubt will
adversely affect his actions in a situation where loss of any advantage might be fatal."
-- Bill Jordan
"Before all else, be armed." -- Nicolo Machiavelli
". . . with enough determination you can win even when you appear to be losing
-- just keep shooting!"
-- Bill Jordan
"The line between everyday life and sudden violence is thinner than most realize."
-- Tim Larkin
"Firearms are second only to the constitution in importance,
they are the people's liberty's teeth." -- George Washington
“Happiness is the by-product of achievement” -- Jeff Cooper
"Be so focused on watering your grass that
you don't have time to check if someone else's is greener."
-- Nicola Cavanis
"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
"Have your affairs in order."
-- John Hearne
Happy memories, even after they're gone.
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ 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
"The Practical Guide to Concealed Carry" by Tom McHale
Excerpt:
If you decide to carry a gun for self-protection, it’s your mission and responsibility
to do everything in your power to avoid using it.
How do you do that? At the top of the list is maintaining constant awareness and
noting suspicious behavior. However, it’s also important not to overreact. Don’t be
a paranoid freak. That takes all the fun out of life.
You can dramatically improve your general awareness level by adding a few new
habits and breaking some bad ones, like keeping your nose buried in your phone
anytime you’re in public.
That one lifestyle change will do more than anything else to help improve your
situational awareness: put away the phone while navigating public spaces.
You may even find that a more switched-on lifestyle improves your daily life
experience. By paying more attention to your surroundings, you’ll discover new
things and experiences to enjoy and appreciate. By paying more attention to
people and remembering that 99.9 percent of them aren’t out to hurt you, you might
make some new friends and acquaintances.
Here’s the bottom line. Keep perspective. Being alert improves your odds of
avoiding a criminal encounter and makes you a less attractive potential victim.
That doesn’t mean you have to become paranoid.
Most people are not actually out to get you.
Situational Awareness
Situational awareness is precisely what it says: knowing what is happening
in and around your immediate environment. While human beings are pre-wired
with senses like sight, smell, and hearing alerting us to impending danger,
situational awareness requires one to actively “switch on” their danger radar.
Maybe someone in your life can walk through a room and, afterward, recall
each person’s wardrobe choice. Perhaps you’re that person. Some people are
just naturally observant and can effortlessly pick up on such details. Most of us
aren’t wired that way. Even those who are could use some training and guidance
on what types of things are essential to observe from a self-defense perspective.
For those of us who might not have the Sherlock Holmes observation gene,
some practical tips can help you stay “switched on” during your daily travels.
The "Normal" Baseline
Wherever you go, there is a “baseline” of normalcy. Not to say that things are
“normal” in the broad sense, but instead, there are constants and rhythms in
every situation.
People in specific environments will dress, act, and speak in specific and
detectable ways. Knowing the “normal” state of affairs during your daily routines
is the easiest way to spot the abnormal. That’s why it’s essential to use your
observation skills to pay attention to the normal state of being wherever you go.
What you usually see, hear, and feel will establish the baseline to alert you to
the abnormal.
At the beach, the normal baseline will be reflected by people wearing bathing
suits, shorts, and t-shirts. You’ll see people carrying large bags filled with towels
and toys. People will read books, play games, and go swimming. Those are all
normal and expected things for that time and place. A guy wearing a suit and
dress shoes would not be typical, nor would a man wearing a trench coat.
While the beach is an extreme and obvious example, the principle applies
everywhere.
A woman pushing a cart and dragging a child in a grocery store is perfectly
normal and expected. So is a lone man waiting at the deli counter. However,
someone standing at the front of the store near the checkout lines without a cart
or basket may not fit into the regular grocery store activity rhythm.
Convenience stores are characterized by people coming and going quickly
after paying for gas or buying a few items. You’ll see business suits and
construction attire, but the common element will be the “quick stop” behavior.
Individuals hovering outside the door out of sight of the employees may be part
of the baseline, but it is a suspicious one.
You get the idea. Whether you consciously know it or not, you already see
and process baseline activity for every place you frequent. The first step to
actively increasing your situational awareness is to catalog the baselines of places
you go. That will help you spot the people and activities that are out of place.
A realistic observation strategy focuses on the anomalies of those people
outside of the environmental pattern. To do that, you must filter through the
rest of the nearby folks and discard or ignore them.
Suppose you walk into a convenience store and see an adult holding a gallon
of milk while dragging a three-year-old away from the candy counter. In that case,
those are two people you can probably delete from your observation and tracking
radar. Rather than worrying about noting and remembering their physical
descriptions, perhaps focus on the guy fidgeting off to the side.
The more familiar you are with your local environment, the easier it will be to
observe, process, and ignore people who fit within the usual pattern.
Establishing the norm and focusing on anomalies outside that pattern makes
a lot of sense. That allows you to quickly discard as potential threats the 99+ percent
of people you encounter each day who mean you no harm.
-- Tom McHale
"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)
"An officer may be forgiven for losing a battle,
but never for being taken by surprise."
-- Jeff Cooper
*************************************************************************
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ 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.
Primary safety for the family? The father.
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
"NYC Council Woman Issues 2A Call to Arms" by Liberty Doll
"Gut feelings are guardian angels."
-- Nicola Cavanis
" 'Expert Police Trainer' Shoots Trainee After She Disrupted Group Photo |
Maurica Manyan Analysis "
by Dr. Todd Grande
Bad attitude. Violation of all rules.
"Safety is something that happens between your ears,
not something you hold in your hands."
-- Jeff Cooper
Truth.
That's why it is so important carry a pistol. We are at the top of the food chain
because we use tools. Pistols are emergency escape tools.
"It's easier to stay out of trouble than to get out of trouble."
-- Claude Werner
"Preventing Unintentional Discharges with a Revolver" by Claude Werner
"You are not responsible for negative reactions to your boundaries."
-- Nicola Cavanis
"In Western WA, women hit the gun range for safety and community"
by Sofia Schwarzwalder
Hat tip to Stephen P. Wenger.
Mentions our friend, Martha Holschen, the leader of Ladies Shooting Club
at West Coast Armory North. Her husband is John Holschen.
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.
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Training --------------------------------
Figuring out the correct tasks to practice.
"Current students of this craft are fortunate to have many trainers who
bring a depth of experience and knowledge to their classes. Several of them
are nearing the time when they will no longer be teaching. If you want
exposure to their material, you should hurry up and take a class from them."
-- Erick Gelhaus
"What You Need to Know About Shooting From Retention with Massad Ayoob"
by American Handgunner Magazine
Prevention
Intervention
Postvention
Homicide is not the same as murder, but this is rarely explained to the jury,
because the defense attorney is incompetent. It takes a huge amount of money
to hire a competent attorney. The law schools are as much a scam as the Ivy
League universities. They churn out incompetent graduates.
Shooting unarmed persons is fine. There is always an articulable disparity
of force. If you have a competent attorney who can articulate it.
Putting a compensator on your self-defense pistol or porting the barrel is
wrong on many levels. Not just those espoused by Mas. Same for revolvers,
that hot gas coming out between the cylinder and the barrel is going to cut
and burn you. If you can't imagine this happening, you desperately need
training.
There is much you can't imagine, but there is very little that is impossible.
Pulling elbow as far back as possible is the correct position. The nonsense
that you see in IDPA matches is bad on many levels: easier for the bad guy
to grab your gun; the recoil causes your whole hand and forearm to move back
instead of just the slide moving back, causing the slide to short stroke and
malfunction; no solid support from the rib cage; no proper indexing (indexing
requires solid consistent physical contact, not just light touching).
Anything you say or write on the internet will be posted on a billboard on
Interstate 40 and will stay up there forever.
"Active Response Training Extreme Close Quarters Gunfighting
Instructor Development Course" by Uncle Zo
(I met Uncle Zo at TacCon. I respect his opinion.)
Excerpts:
"This time, it was coupled with urgency, as Greg’s public disclosures about his
health suggest his time is limited. As he darkly joked in class during a discussion
about market conditions, no marketing gimmick fills seats faster than dying of
cancer. If you have any interest in training with Greg, check his upcoming classes
and book a seat while they’re available."
". . . think hot gas or projectile shavings from a revolver’s cylinder gap or
hot gasses from a ported or compensated pistol." [An excellent reason to never
carry a revolver or a ported barrel. -- Jon Low]
"The real value of live fire is reducing the novelty of discharging a weapon
close to your body—it’s louder and more concussive than shooting at full extension."
"I’d argue a member of a vulnerable population—like a 70-year-old with a
heart condition—is more likely to need these skills than a tactical athlete."
"And let’s face it: the average self-defender might invest a weekend
in training, if anything, not years on the mats." [It is critically important to be
realistic about your training and capabilities. If you forget how old you are and
attempt to run the guidon around the battalion in a formation run as you did
25 years ago, you might be in for a shock. -- Jon Low]
". . . pressing your gun’s muzzle into the opponent (taking it out of battery),
then press the trigger." [Well that doesn't make sense. The semi-auto pistol
won't fire when out of battery. Better to pull your firing side elbow as far back
as possible, and then press the trigger. -- Jon Low]
"Pairs, necessary for drills, could adjust intensity based on skill and comfort.
No one got thrown around or ended up on the ground." [Yes, it is essential to
conform your class to your audience. Also, special equipment is needed for
safe training when there is more contact: Red Man suits, padded floor mats, etc.
-- Jon Low]
". . . reducing novelty is a key part of quality self-defense training."
"Stress inoculation and novelty reduction—like in simulation or
force-on-force training—help mitigate this."
---
Greg's classes,
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)
Another argument for hot ranges.
Ya, Larry Vickers. How sad.
And this was just training. Real is much worse. Especially the smell.
You ever smell New Orleans during Katrina?
"The Moment Shawn Ryan Knew He Was Done with the SEAL Teams"
by Tucker Carlson Network
TCN,
"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 draw stroke."
-- Jeff L. Gonzales
---
So you better have some hand-to-hand combat skills.
Push ups.
Pull ups.
Dips.
Up side down squats.
Sit ups.
Something to try the next time I'm at the gym.
Straddle to hand stand.
Splits.
"Flexibility is useless without the strength to control it." [True.]
I [Jon Low] don't think ballistic bounces is a good idea. I was taught at the
Olympic Training Center that bouncing causes micro tears in the muscles.
Better to apply steady force. Increase force on the exhale. Hold stretch for
7 minutes. Yes, it does take that long for the muscles to relax, especially
when being stretched. Breathe into the pain. Relaxation of the muscle
groups will come, if you have the patience to hold the stretch through the pain.
If forced to go into a split in combat, without the requisite flexibility,
the muscles will tear. That's a 6 month recovery, if you survive the combat
and can get to a medical facility.
Hip flexors.
How to pancake stretch.
"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
My father told me, if you're going to get a college degree, do it as soon as possible.
That way, you will have more time to use it (more time to earn that higher income,
which was true at the time). I found that advice to be wrong for me. I lacked the
self-discipline to do college as an immature high school graduate. It would have
been much better for me to serve in the Armed Forces first, and then to attend
college as a mature self-disciplined veteran (with Uncle Sam picking up the tab).
In matters of money, receiving the money today is much better than receiving the
money in the future (even with interest). There is an economic term for that, but I
don't remember it (my dementia progresses). Paying tomorrow is always better than
paying today (especially when there is no interest). That's why I always request
"reconsideration" and "waiver" when the Social Security Administration tells me that
they overpaid me.
In matters of survival, skills learned yesterday are infinitely more valuable than
skills learned in the future. You may need the skill today to survive. You may need
the skill today to defend your loved ones.
I have a friend at church who tells me that she will not carry and will not defend
herself, because whatever happens is God's will. And she would be loathe to interfere
with God's will. Ah, raising victimhood and martyrdom to a saintly status.
We have the God given right to self-defense as enshrined in the Talmud,
"If someone comes to kill you, arise quickly and kill him."
-- Tractate Barachot, pages 58A and 62B
Also enshrined the Bible,
“Then Jesus said to His disciples,
whoever does not have a sword should sell his coat and buy a sword.”
– Book of Luke 22:36, New Life Version of the Bible
This is a transliteration of an ancient text. The sword was the standard sidearm
of the time. Jesus is saying that self-defense is more important than staying
warm in the winter. A modern translation would be,
“Then Jesus said to His disciples,
whoever does not have a pistol should sell his smart phone and buy a pistol.”
Because the pistol is the standard sidearm of our time.
To enforce our God given right to self-defense, our U.S. Constitution implements
the right to keep and bear arms.
"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, U.S. Constitution
You may have sworn an oath to uphold and defend this right. If so, I remind you
of your oath. Honorable persons will sacrifice their salary and pension to keep
their promises. Dishonorable persons will sell their souls.
"In reality, we are training for an unknown event, against unknown threats,
by developing as many known skills as possible."
-- Jeff Gonzales
"Discussion: Preparing for What?"
by Rich Grassi
Hat tip to Stephen P. Wenger.
Primary source,
"P&S ModCast 429 - Setting Up For the Wrong Mission"
by Primary & Secondary
"The license to carry is not training and is not an indication of competence."
"Outreach to the 30 to 40 year old divorcees. Because they are the primary
protector of their home and children."
"[Real world] gun use is defensive in nature." [Which is entirely different from
police, military, competition, and hunting. So the teaching goals, techniques,
and tactics should be different as well. -- Jon Low]
Lucky Gunner Lounge
Citizens Defense Research
“Train, Practice, Compete
are the key elements in the development of humans.”
-- John M. Buol, Jr.
"Vision"
by Gabriel “OragamiAK” White
"To . . . not prepare is the greatest of crimes;
to be prepared beforehand for any contingency is the greatest virtue."
-- Sun Tzu
"Ceecurets Of Shootin' " by Clint Smith
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
“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
"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
“If you are reading this and can’t put your hand on your defensive firearm,
all of your training is wasted.” -- Col. Jeff Cooper
"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
"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
"A mistake that makes you humble is better
than an achievement that makes you arrogant."
-- Nicola Cavanis
“Training deals not with an object,
but with the human spirit and human emotions.”
--Bruce Lee
"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
Signer of the Declaration of Independence
“It may seem difficult at first but everything is difficult at first.”
-- Miyamota Mushashi
"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
Read!
Ene Kallas
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Psychology --------------------------------
"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
"No one is coming to save you: you are the one you are waiting for"
by Orion Taraban, Psy.D.
"If you do not train, you will not improve."
"The more you assume responsibility, the more your life will improve."
"Assume radical responsibility. Everything that happens to you is your fault."
---
As we learned in the Marine Corps, all Marines take responsibility for their actions.
Leaders take responsibility for the actions of their subordinates.
Leaders delegate authority and assume responsibility.
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Conferences --------------------------------
Attending classes and conferences is required for growth.
Stagnation is complacency. Complacency kills.
"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
Combatives Association Summit, $899.00
October 24 - 26, 2025
D'Iberville, Mississippi
Register at
TFALAC’s 2025 Annual Event
Saturday, September 6, 2025
Farm Bureau Expo Center at the
James E. Ward Agricultural Center on the
Wilson County Fairgrounds.
945 East Baddour Parkway
Lebanon, Tennessee 37087
See you there.
40th annual Gun Rights Policy Conference! Free.
Sept. 26 - 28 in Salt Lake City, Utah, at the
Salt Lake Marriott Downtown at City Creek.
Gun Owners of America annual meeting, free of charge
Knoxville Convention Center, Knoxville, TN
9 - 10 August 2025 A.D.
---
GOA Defend Her High Caliber Brunch, $15
Sunday, August 10th at 11:00 AM
The Marriott Ballroom in Knoxville, TN.
See you there.
Bullets & Bibles Conference, $750
Friday, September 12, 2025 – Sunday, September 14, 2025
Living Water Ranch, north of Manhattan, KS.
For more information about lodging (free lodging in the dorms) on site or
meals (3 meals a day included in registration fee) or
if you have any questions regarding the event,
contact our Bullets & Bibles Conference Coordinator,
Vonda Copeland
director@fhftc.org
or call 785-293-2449.
See you there.
Guardian Conference, $800
September 19th - 21st, 2025 in Oklahoma City
Rangemaster Tactical Conference, $639
TacCon26 is scheduled for
March 27-29, 2026 at
the Dallas Pistol Club in Carrollton, Texas
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Classes --------------------------------
Attending classes and conferences is required to avoid teaching
obsolete material, and to ensure you are teaching best practices.
"Advanced Defensive Handgun" by John Farnam
08-09 November 2025
Nashville, TN (well, actually a bit north in Cross Plains, TN)
Venue: Deer Hollow Fire Arms Training
Massad Ayoob Group
https://massadayoobgroup.com/
Click on "Training Calendar"
MAG20 Charleston, South Carolina, January 2018
Blog
West Coast Armory North, John Holschen
11714 Airport Rd Everett WA, 98204
425-265-7143
rangemaster@westcoastarmorynorth.com
Law of Self Defense, live online class upcoming dates
September 27, 2025
TFI Academy (Keith Tyler)
Training in Context (Tatiana Whitlock)
Active Response Training (Greg Ellifritz)
Modern Warriors
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
Quips,
Rangemaster, Tom Givens
Newsletter,
Trident Concepts, Jeff Gonzales
Apache Solutions, Tim Kelly
Harris Combative Strategies, Randy Harris
Mead Hall Range & Tactics
Two Pillars Training, John Hearne
Mike Seeklander
‟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
In the context of dry practice at home --
[The squib loads that Jordan refers to are made by loading a case with a primer and a
wax "bullet", no powder. "Basically, a de-primed cartridge case is loaded by pushing
the mouth through a ½" cake of paraffin. This cuts out a cylinder of paraffin closely
resembling in length, diameter and shape a standard wadcutter bullet for the caliber
being loaded."]
"These squib loads are amazingly accurate up to twenty or twenty-five feet, they
practically eliminate the element of danger, and build up confidence so that you will
let the shot go without hesitation."
-- Bill Jordan
[Yes, eliminating hesitation is critical. -- Jon Low]
---
"Waxing eloquent about wax (bullets.)
An old-school training tool."
by Jesse Slater
Hat tip to Gred Ellifritz.
---
As Bill Jordan says, don't put any propellant in the cartridge. If you get the wax
bullet moving too fast it will melt and won't be spun by the rifling. No accuracy
and a wet sticky mess.
"There is no glory in practice, but without practice there is no glory."
-- Jeff Gonzales
"Statistics show that affrays between officers and criminals usually
occur under conditions of surprise, short range, and poor light."
-- Bill Jordan
---
Does your practice simulate such?
"Well, after the fight someone noted that McKone's pocket was bulging and politely
inquired as to what might be spoiling the drape of his trousers. Puzzled, Sam thrust in
an exploring hand. The pocket was full of fired cases. During the fight, without
realizing he was doing so, McKone, an old reloader, had saved every empty!"
-- Bill Jordan, "No Second Place Winner"
---
‟Be careful what you practice.
Because you will do in combat whatever you have practiced,
no matter how ridiculous.”
-- Sara Ahrens, ‶Shooting in Self-Defense″
"Shoot as much as you want but if you start to get shaky,
it’s time to go home."
-- Duaine Zeitz
"Your speed doesn't matter. Forward is forward."
-- Nicola Cavanis
"Practice your shooting by doing exactly the same thing,
exactly the same way, every time, until it is completely automatic."
-- Duaine Zeitz
“Willingness is a state of mind. Readiness is a statement of fact!”
-- Lt. Gen. David M Shoup, USMC Commandant 1960-1963
Everyone wants to win. Few are willing to put in the practice to ensure their win.
"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
‶Practice is the small deposits you make over time,
so that in an emergency, you can make that big withdrawal.″
-- Chesley Burnett Sullenberger, III
"People rust faster than equipment."
-- John Hearne
*************************************************************************
*************************************************************************
***** ***** ***** 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.
"Never let fear decide your fate." -- Nicola Cavanis
“How do you win a gunfight?
Don't be there.”
-- John Farnam
"You win gunfights by not getting shot."
-- John Holschen
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Tactics --------------------------------
Maneuver and fire in support of your strategy.
"Superior judgment trumps superior skills." -- Dan Millican
"The history of gun fighting fails to record a single fatality resulting from a quick noise."
-- Bill Jordan
"Real fights are short." -- Bruce Lee
"A prudent man will not rely upon hip shooting at distances greater than seven yards,
the practical limit of fast gunmanship."
Bill Jordan
---
"Ineffective and potentially dangerous, point shooting should be avoided at all costs
and aimed fire employed in any lethal-force scenario."
-- Massad Ayoob
"You often don't know where the bad guy is who is shooting at you."
-- Phillip Groff
"Before hostilities are opened, never make a threatening motion without carrying
it through. It may trigger your opponent's reflexes and you will find yourself left at
the gate. On the other hand, even if he starts first, there is a good chance that he will
hesitate. You keep a-coming and maybe you can take advantage of that hesitation
and catch up enough to get there first. It doesn't pay to give up."
-- Bill Jordan
"The shorter the fight, the less hurt you get."
-- John Holschen
"Don't let your face or eyes give away your intention. If you can't depend on a dead
pan poker face remaining that way, smile! Then make your move and carry it all the
way through. If force is required, use enough to do the job, use it first and without
hesitation."
-- Bill Jordan
“People shoot you because they see you.
They see you because you let them.
Don’t let them see you.”
-- Clint Smith
". . . 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"
"Without discrimination,
you're going to shoot the wrong person really fast."
-- Paul Howe
Learning and practicing tactics against multiple assailants is reasonable because
according to the
"2021 National Firearms Survey"
by William English, PhD
48.8% of incidents had a single assailant.
51.2% of incidents had multiple assailants.
I have a copy of the document and would be happy to send you a copy.
Email your request to Jon_Low@yahoo.com
I don't know why I can no longer find it on the internet. It hasn't been retracted
or anything like that.
“Fortuitous outcomes reinforce poor tactics.”
-- Chuck Haggard
Things done right. PIT maneuver.
“When you’re in the dark, stay in the dark;
when you’re in the light, light up the dark.”
-- Stephen P. Wenger
"Be stronger than your strongest excuse."
-- Nicola Cavanis
‟Fear is an instinct. Courage is a choice.”
-- Rear Admiral Joseph Kernan, U.S. Navy
"Having a gun is important.
But knowing WHEN to use it is even more important."
-- 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
---
". . . 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
---
When was last time you practiced your in-holster weapon retention skills?
Have you taken a class to learn such techniques?
“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.)
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Techniques --------------------------------
Ways to execute a given task in support of your tactics,
especially when disabled or under stress.
"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
"Faster Reloads" by Ben Stoeger
---
Yes, you must correctly index the magazine while it is still in your pouch, so that
you withdraw it in an indexed position. (There is a lot more necessary detail than
what Ben mentions in this short video. Please take a class to learn how to index
your magazine correctly and why you should do it that way, and how to load your
pistol correctly and why you should do it that way; and how to do it firing-side-hand
only, and support-side-hand only. Ya, you might never need such a technique in
your life time, but you might.)
"Don't have gear that you're fighting."
That's why we take training. We find out what works and what doesn't. And if we're
smart, we change or modify our gear, so that it works for us, not against us.
"I don't think that's important anymore."
Being able to change one's mind to improve performance is CRITICAL!
Institutional inertia causes armies to lose wars as surely as it causes individuals to
lose fights.
"Let go of those kinds of ideas."
That's why Ben is at the top of the game. He understands what is important and
what is not. Stand on his shoulders.
"Noise" is extraneous motion. Noise is inefficiency. Noise slows you down.
---
Reload in under a second? I can get close left-handed, because my right hand is
more dexterous; and manipulation of the magazine is much more important than
manipulation of the pistol (clearing the concealment garment and getting the
magazine out of the pouch). I can't even get close when doing it right-handed,
and I am right-handed. Because my left hand struggles clearing the concealment
garment and pulling the mag out in an indexed position. That's just my present reality.
But I know it. You must know your reality, otherwise, you'll convince yourself
of all kinds of false things. Delusion is a common state of being. But not for you.
Because you're smart. So you'll win the fight.
"It's not daily increase but daily decrease - hack away at the inessentials!"
-- Bruce Lee
When placing your support side hand to guide yourself down into a prone position,
turn your hand so that your thumb is pointing down, not to the side. That way your
elbow will bend outboard, preventing you from jamming your arm or shoulder.
Thanks to John Farnam.
“What’s the number one reason for reloading?
Missing the target!”
-- Claude Werner
"Skills Check: Triggering a Response
Learning to hone your timing, visual process and trigger control
can take your shooting skills to the next level."
by Steve Tarani
Excerpt:
Flash: Slap the trigger all the way through (rapid).
Float: More precise (careful), but still all the way through.
Focus: Pause, prep, press (precision all as one fluid motion).
"Grip first, then press."
-- Mike Seeklander
"3 For Flinching! Tips to Iron Out That Flinch
Flinching at a loud sound and recoil is a natural response,
but you can overcome it. Here's how."
by Mark Fike
---
All autonomic nervous system responses (including flinch) to the report
(BANG!) and recoil (momentum) are defeated by the "surprise trigger break".
By not letting your brain know exactly when the pistol will fire, all responses
to the firing will occur after the bullet has exited the muzzle.
The "trick" is, DO NOT intentionally fire the shot. Rather, align the sights
with the target, take the slack out of the trigger, and increase pressure on the
trigger. Don't fire the pistol, just increase pressure. Eventually, the pistol
will fire. But because you did not intentionally fire the pistol, your flinch,
push, jerk, etc. will happen after the bullet exits the muzzle; and probably
after the bullet hits the target.
"Use only that which works,
and take it from any place you can find it."
-- Bruce Lee
There is a lot of wrong stuff on the internet.
The reason you always rack the slide is because sometimes the slide locks back on
an empty magazine and sometimes it doesn't. You must always use techniques
that work in all situations, not just the pristine conditions of your air conditioned
indoor range.
It's the difference between those who understand that strange things happen in
combat, and those who don't.
"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 works for you.
---
"The foundations of your grip are established
before you even draw the pistol from the holster."
-- Tanner Denton
Mechanical malfunctions are avoidable with correct inspection and replacement
of worn parts. Inspection is done while cleaning your pistol. Cleaning is done after
field stripping your pistol. You, the user, should only be field stripping your pistol.
Leave the disassembly of your pistol to a competent gunsmith. Otherwise, you
may lose small springs and other parts. In a worst-case scenario, you will incorrectly
assemble your pistol causing the pistol not to function as designed.
If you lose a small spring that is part of a safety mechanism, you probably won’t
be able to buy a replacement spring. The manufacturer will require you to ship the
pistol back to them so they can install the replacement spring. How would I know that?
---
A Type 1 pistol malfunction is a failure to fire, which occurs when pressing
the trigger makes a click instead of a bang. The solution is Immediate Action,
which means:
1. Tap the magazine base plate at the bottom of the grip to ensure the magazine
is locked into the pistol.
2. Rack the slide to chamber the next cartridge from the magazine.
3. Assess the situation.
If you were taught, Tap-Rack-Bang, that’s just WRONG! Never let shooting
the pistol become an automatic part of any procedure. The shooting must always
be a separate intellectual decision. Otherwise, you will be shooting faster than
you can think, which may lead to tragic consequences.
Shooting on every presentation from your holster to the target is a training scar
that will get you into trouble. If you testify at trial that that was how you were
trained, it’s not going to go well for you. Because that is obsolete training.
---
A Type 2 pistol malfunction is a failure to feed (a cartridge into the chamber),
which occurs when pressing the trigger does not cause a click (dead trigger).
Immediate Action will clear this malfunction. Do not analyze the symptoms to
decide what to do. If the pistol does not fire, immediately execute Immediate
Action.
If the Immediate Action does not work, as will be obvious because the slide
does not operate properly, you will immediately execute a type 3 malfunction
clearing or a reload. A type 3 malfunction clearing will automatically fix an empty
magazine problem. So training yourself to automatically do a type 3 malfunction
clearing will cost you little more time than an emergency (reactive as opposed to
a proactive) reload. Training to immediately execute an action is much faster than
stopping to analyze. Because conscious thought is much slower than automatic
motor programs.
---
A type 3 malfunction is a failure to extract (the spent case from the chamber).
The symptom is a dead trigger, as with a type 2 malfunction.
This is not a double feed. Modern semi-auto pistols will not double feed as
some semi-auto rifles will. Double feed means that two cartridges have come
out of the magazine and the bolt or slide is attempting to insert both into the
chamber at once.
A type 3 malfunction is where the extractor claw has not grabbed the rim of the
spent case or slipped off the rim of the case, and the slide has moved backward
without pulling the case out of the chamber. So when the slide moves forward
under the force of the recoil spring, it attempts to insert a new cartridge into the
chamber, but the chamber is already occupied by the previous cartridge’s case.
The solution is:
1. Lock the slide to the rear. (If you can rip the magazine out of the magazine well
without locking the slide to the rear, you don’t have to do this step. But, you need
to experiment to see if this is possible with your pistol and magazines.)
2. Eject the magazine. (Let the magazine fall to the ground, as it may be the problem.)
3. Rack the slide until the chamber is clear. (If the extractor claw is broken, this might
not be possible. If the extractor spring is broken, this might not be possible.)
4. Load the pistol.
---
The primary cause of malfunctions is weak magazine springs. Check your mag
springs when cleaning your mags, which you do after every use of your pistol, which
is often and regular. Replace your mag springs when they don't feel stiff and strong.
"Why are the little things called little things?
They are everything."
-- Nicola Cavanis
". . . Only after your reflexes are so disciplined that you instinctively draw and
point the gun with one smooth, fluid motion should you attempt to increase your
speed. And then let the increase be gradual. Never sacrifice smoothness for forced
speed. It is a snare and a delusion. You think you are drawing faster but the smooth
draw with no wasted motion is always best. And you will find that in time you will
have that speed without straining. Your hand will unerringly cuddle the grip, your
trigger finger will find the trigger and start its pull, and the gun will fire at the very
instant it is on the target."
-- Bill Jordan
---
Some instructors teach that shooting fast is inherently different from shooting
slow. They teach that you only learn to shoot fast by shooting fast, by pushing
yourself to shoot fast. They are WRONG. Bill Jordan is correct.
"The nagging thing about my shooting" by Ben Stoeger
Subtle nuance.
"Solidifying Your Trigger Press" by Erick Gelhaus
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
Excerpts:
"Can you set your semi-auto pistol for multiple dry presses? Yes.
This can be done cheaply and easily by retracting the slide slightly
and inserting a wire tie or a small piece of cardboard between the
breech face and the barrel hood. Bringing the pistol just out of battery
gives you the ability to get multiple presses."
"Avoid the inexpensive, plastic dummy rounds at all costs.
Use those made with metal." [Your extractor claw will quickly
rip the rims off of the plastic cartridges. -- Jon Low]
"Current students of this craft are fortunate to have many trainers who
bring a depth of experience and knowledge to their classes. Several of them
are nearing the time when they will no longer be teaching. If you want
exposure to their material, you should hurry up and take a class from them."
---
I was using ETS magazines in my SA XD in practice. Two of them cracked
at the mouth. I sent them back and they replaced them with three magazines.
All three cracked during the last Guardian Conference. I notice that they now
make them with metal around the mouth.
*************************************************************************
*************************************************************************
***** ***** ***** 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 contents:
Aftermath
Medical
Survival
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Aftermath --------------------------------
You must be alive to have these problems: criminal and civil liability.
“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
"THE MOST EXPENSIVE MISTAKE AFTER A GUNFIGHT"
by Gabe Suarez
Meat starts at 7:57.
Very few of us could pass for an intelligence articulate 1st world person when
suffering from the debilitating stress of a lethal force encounter. Your heart is
going to be pounding so hard you won't be able to hear. So, good luck following
Gabe's advice.
I had to escort an thug off the property of the Jewish Community Center in
Nashville at gun point. My blood pressure was very high. My pulse rate was
high. My respiration was irregular. All out of my control. I had to consciously
force myself to stop talking when interacting with the responding officer.
I informed the officer that we had a trespass waiver on file with the Nashville
Police Department and asked them to arrest the thug. The police officer told me,
it was just an internet prank and let the thug get back in his car and drive off.
That is reality.
In the right hand column of this web page, click on "Never Talk To The Police"
or use the address,
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
“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
Tactical Emergency Casualty Care Course - NAEMT Certified, $495.00
Tracey Mendenhall | VP of Operations
(Life Saving Ninja)
DEFEND SYSTEMS
(615) 480-7758
“Your character is what you do when no one is looking.”
-- Thomas Jefferson
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Survival --------------------------------
"Survival is a mindset, not a skill set."
-- Greg Shaffer
"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
"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
*************************************************************************
*************************************************************************
***** ***** ***** Education ***** ***** *****
Table of contents:
Legal
Instruction
Gear
*************************************************************************
"You will never get smarter or broaden your horizons
if you're unwilling to learn from others and read."
-- Becca Martin
Active Self Protection, John Correia
"My Gun Culture" by Tom McHale
Quips, John Farnam
Active Response Training, Greg Ellifritz
The Tactical Professor, Claude Werner
Rangemaster Newsletter, Tom Givens
American Handgunner Magazine
Tactical Science
International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors
Alien Gear blog
Shooting Classes Blog
"Cogito, ergo armatum sum." (I think, therefore armed am I.)
-- John Farnam
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Legal --------------------------------
“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
Some instructors teach, do not draw your pistol unless you are justified in shooting
the bad guy. I don't think that is correct. If you wait that long, you might be dead.
Your attorney can later argue that you were justified in drawing your pistol, but the
situation changed, so you did not need to fire, so you did not fire (because you are
a reasonable and prudent person). Remember, neither the police, the prosecutor,
the judge, nor the jury were there to witness what happened. And eye witness
accounts are notoriously unreliable.
[For example, the Gospels are eye witness accounts. Did you notice that the
genealogy of Jesus is different in the two Gospels that give a genealogy?
Not just that one is in chronological order and the other is in reverse chronological
order, but that the names are different. The genealogies don't match. Oh, did you
never notice that? Haven't read very carefully, have you? Or did your pastor explain
it away or dismiss it out of hand?]
So, what really counts is the physical evidence and your attorney's narrative
(consistent with the physical evidence; that's why it is so important to keep
your mouth shut).
Sometimes a defensive display of fire power is sufficient to stop the attack.
The NRA teaches in their Personal Protection course (before it bifurcated into
Personal Protection Inside the Home and Personal Protection Outside the Home)
that a competent presentation to the ready will cause the bad guy to flee 90% of
the time. That 9 out of 10 times. John Farnam teaches that the enemy will flee
29 out of 30 times.
Whether or not defensive display is legal in your jurisdiction is open to
interpretation of the statues and case law. Whether or not the prosecutor will
prosecute you for a defensive display, is up to the political whims of the
prosecutor (and which way the political winds are blowing, and of which
special interest group the bad guy belongs). But that is a concern of your attorney
on retainer. Your only concern is surviving the incident, and your loved ones
surviving the incident. Maintain your priorities, keep things in perspective.
As Audy Kimura says, "Break leather early. Don't rely on your quick draw."
"Fifth Circuit Withdraws Anti-2A Ruling" by Liberty Doll
"BREAKING: 5th Circuit Court of Appeals Withdraws Flawed Suppressor Decision"
by Guns & Gadgets 2nd Amendment News
The "can" was an oil filter.
"FPC LAWSUIT UPDATE:
Fifth Circuit Withdraws Flawed Suppressor Decision in FPC-Backed Challenge to NFA"
"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
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Instruction --------------------------------
"Remember,
the students who require the extra effort
are the ones who need us the most!"
-- John Farnam
*************************************************************************
----- Instructors -----
"The limited time you spend with students may be the only training they ever receive!"
-- John Farnam
Excerpts from "How To Bake π" by Eugenia Cheng --
Perhaps you didn't have to do math investigations, but perhaps you had children
doing them, and you were helping them. But you were trying to help them without
actually doing the investigation for them. That is the meta-problem -- instead of
solving a problem, you're trying to solve the problem of getting someone else to
solve the problem. Teaching is a bit like that, because you're not just telling people
answers but trying to get them to find the answers. It's one level removed from
answering the question yourself. Teaching teachers is another level of abstraction.
And who teaches the people who teach teachers?
---
“The most valuable resource that all teachers have is each other.
Without collaboration, our growth is limited to our own perspectives.”
-- Robert John Meehan
So perhaps the answer to Eugenia's question is we instructors teach the people
who teach the teachers by writing in books, blogs, and correspondence by emails;
by publishing YouTube.com, Rumble.com, etc. videos; and by teaching classes
because some of our students will go on to teach other students.
“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
Many instructors use timers in the training of their students. And if you're
performing qualifications, a timer is necessary for objective standards.
I choose not to use a timer in my introductory / beginner Defensive Pistol
course. I find the timer has a strong psychological affect. The timer changes
the student's focus from perfection of form to racing to beat the clock.
When I take my students to IDPA or USPSA matches as part of the
Defensive course, I tell my students to solve the problems in a tactically
correct manner. Which means fairly slowly compared to the competitors
racing to win the game. One will notice that many of the competitors are
shooting faster than they can think. Which is only possible if the scenario
is known and choreographed. If you rehearse a sequence of actions in your
mind by visualization, you can perform it much faster and more smoothly
than if it were surprise after surprise, requiring analysis and choice. Which
is what happens in real world combat.
---
"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
Colonel Robert Lindsey to his fellow trainers:
"We are not God's gift to our students.
Our students are God's gift to us."
When teaching your courses, you don't have to proselytize. Simply living your
faith and loving your students, caring for your students, will satisfy Gods command
to make disciples. Because all leadership is by example. Set the example in all
you do and your students will recognize you are a Christian. It will pique their
interest in following our Lord.
“Qui docet, discet.” (Who teaches, learns.)
-- American Society of Law Enforcement Trainers
“He who dares to teach must never cease to learn.”
-- Richard Henry Dana
"Every time I teach a class,
I discover I don't know something."
-- Clint Smith
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
"You must teach skill sustainment as part of training."
-- John Hearne
"You don't have to memorize formulae.
Because you can always derive them from first principles."
-- Sven Hartman
[So teach principles, not formulae.]
"Thinking is the hardest thing a person can do.
That's why so few people do it."
-- Henry Ford
It takes a lot of thinking to write a cogent curriculum.
*************************************************************************
----- Students -----
"It's better to be wrong than to be vague."
-- Freeman Dyson
[If you are wrong, the instructor can correct you. If you are vague, no one can help you.]
"Failure is an indication that someone tried to do something."
-- Ingersoll
"Growth is uncomfortable because you've never been there before."
-- Nicola Cavanis
"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 -----
‟An instructor should not expect any learning to
take place the first time new information is presented.”
-- ‶Building Shooters″ by Dustin Salomon
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Gear --------------------------------
And the safe storage thereof.
“Mission drives the gear train.”
-- Pat Rogers
Information wants to be free.
"Holster Safety Checklist:
4 Must-Have Holster Features (And Why Most Fail the Test)"
by Matthew Maruster
"The cross draw holster is an invitation to disaster. Its position is even more
convenient to an opponent than to the wearer."
-- Bill Jordan
"Handguns: Reliability vs. Liability" by Tamara Keel (pistol magazines)
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
Excerpt:
"Lifesaving equipment is not a place to save a buck."
---
You don't need to buy new magazines when the springs wear out. You can buy
replacement springs. I usually buy Wolff springs either from Wolff or Midway or
Brownells or etc.
"But Ruger won't sell me replacement springs for my magazines. They insist
that I buy a new magazine."
That is despicable. Wolff sells Heckler & Koch magazine replacement springs
that will fit your Ruger magazines. Email me for the list of which springs fit which
magazines. Wolff won't say, but I will. Or, ask your gun buddies. A lot of people know.
"Stockpiling Ammunition: A Thorough Approach" by Justin
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
My suggestions for ammo sources:
Target Sports USA
Magazine Warehouse
Freedom Munitions (remanufactured ammo)
SGAmmo
Of course, if you can afford the up front investment, ammo is cheaper by the pallet.
A lot of the guys at Military Systems Group would buy that way, hopping on a company
order.
The tortoise and the hare? If you have the self-discipline, buying a box every pay day
will get you there eventually.
"Sig is run by bad people" by Ben Stoeger
Sig P320 affidavit. And letter from Sig to police departments.
“Your car is not a holster.”
-- Pat Rogers
*************************************************************************
*************************************************************************
***** ***** ***** Cryptology ***** ***** *****
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.
"Pattern Collider" by Aatish Bhatia
"Why Penrose Tiles Never Repeat" by minutephysics
Psuedo-random generators (algorithms that run on computers) will repeat.
Long but finite period.
Random generators (as Hotbits, counting radioactice decay) will never repeat.
No period. By definition and entropy (2nd Law of Thermodynamics).
Quasi-periodic don't have very high entropy, are generated by algorithm,
but never repeat.
Do you see how you can use this in your cryptology?
"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
Nicola Cavanis
Sorry. For those who missed it, you match the name to get the Instagram account, then you match the picture to get the file name, which in this case is
446468154_969829454591884_2340218219487292558_n.jpg,
and then you use the file name.
Ya, I know. Sometimes Instagram is nasty and you have to download the directories
to get the picture files. Put on your big boy pants.
Sometimes it's in the foreground, sometimes it's in the background, sometimes it's
in the color, sometimes it's in the bits, sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes
you're the bug.
If you think low paid government bureaucrats are smarter than you, you're a fool.
The purpose of the classification system is to hide the fact that they are orders of
magnitude less sophisticated than you. I'm impressed with myself for being so polite.
"Never memorize anything. Rather, study it until it becomes obvious."
-- Norman Christ
"Terence Tao on Andrew Wiles proving Fermat's Last Theorem" by Lex Fridman
Objects indeed. Hard to object to anything in a proof when no one understands
the objects that the author is manipulating. If the proof is wrong, it may be decades
before anyone can demonstrate what is wrong.
"Computer science has nothing to do with computers or science."
-- Donald Knuth
Excerpts from "How To Bake π" by Eugenia Cheng --
---
In order to build a machine to do something rather than doing it yourself,
you have to understand that thing at a different level. It's like giving someone
directions. When you walk somewhere you know well, you don't really think
about exactly what streets you're walking on, or which way you're turning and
when. You probably go somewhat instinctively. But when you're telling
someone else how to get there, you have to analyze more carefully how you
do it, in order to explain it. . . .
Something similar happens when learning a language. When you learn it
as your mother tongue, you don't really think about how it works - you pick
it up from the adults around you instinctively. Then when you're an adult and
a foreigner asks you to explain some aspect of the language that is confusing
them, you have to go back and analyze how you speak, in a way you might
never have done before.
---
There is a joke that if you're at a math research seminar you can ask an
intelligent-sounding question even if you don't understand anything, by saying,
"Can this be generalized to higher dimensions?"
---
In 1999 a lawyer, Sally Clark, was wrongly convicted of the murder of her
two baby sons. The conviction was largely based on "expert evidence"
provided by the pediatrician Roy Meadow. . . .
[Euginia's essay is too long to expert for this blog posting, but you should
look up the case.
The point is that Dr. Meadow was incompetent with probability theory.
Which was outside his field of expertise.
-- Jon Low]
Sally Clark's conviction was overturned, but not until 2003, by which time
she had already spent three years in prison for double murder. She never
recovered from the trauma and died of alcohol poisoning four years later.
[Do you think Dr. Meadow or the prosecutors or the jurors or the defense
attorney were ever held accountable? Don't be a fool. Dr. Meadow has
actually testified in other cases (at $7000 per day plus round trip air fare,
hotel, rental car, and per diem) because opposing counsel was too
incompetent to look up this case to impeach the doctor.
-- Jon Low]
"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
"Degrees of Freedom, Actually Explained -
The Geometry of Statistics | Ch. 1 (#SoME4)"
by Sam Levey
"Premature optimization is the root of all evil."
-- Donald Knuth
"Terence Tao on Grigori Perelman declining the Fields Medal"
(career path is the interesting thing)
by Lex Fridman
Full interview,
"Terence Tao | UCLA Connects: Bruin Talks"
Excerpt:
"AI (artificial intelligence) is a very flawed technology."
"You don't need to memorize theorems,
because you can always derive them from first principles."
-- Sven Hartman
Because you can't always see what you're looking at.
"All that we don't know is astonishing.
Even more astonishing is what passes for knowing."
-- Philip Roth
"The Most Mind-Bending Paradoxes in Math and Physics" by Up and Atom
Moravec's Paradox, no, evolution is not necessary to resolve the paradox.
Cavalieri's Widthless Lines, uncountable addition of zeros can give a non-zero sum;
countable addition of zeros always gives a zero sum.
Russell's Paradox, the set of all sets is not a set, it is a class.
The Time Reversibility Paradox, time is reversible, entropy is not.
Ah, rigor in YouTube.com.
"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
*************************************************************************
***** ***** ***** Signals Intelligence,
Ground Electronic Warfare,
Cyber Security,
(sometimes Air Electronic Warfare too) ***** ***** *****
"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
"I Chased This Strange RAM Error . . . But Discovered Something Worse"
by Parts-People Dell Laptop Experts
Have you ever done this sort of analysis?
"Whoever previously attempted the repairs knew that this was a switch."
Information on many levels.
"I'll have to check the sche[matic diagrams]."
Copy and pasting into Microsoft Notepad will do the same thing.
Wipe out everything except the character codes.
Breaking Defense has a weekly newsletter, "Networks & Digital Warfare" at
Crypto-Gram by Bruce Schneier
2600
‟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.”
-- Col. Jeff Cooper, "Principles of Personal Defense"
*************************************************************************
***** ***** ***** Intelligence ***** ***** *****
"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, U.S. Constitution
Intel report from Israel.
“The Blitz” by John Farnam
"Milei authorises sale of semi-automatic and assault weapons to civilians
New presidential decree reverses decades-long restrictions, in place since 1995;
Changes follow earlier moves to ease gun ownership rules."
Hat tip to Stephen P. Wenger
"Iran's AI Fail" by Global Recap
What's wrong with this picture?
"Victor Davis Hanson:
Israel-Iran War Will ‘Be For Naught’ if the Regime, Nuclear Program Survive"
by The Daily Signal
Hat tip to Sidney Ontai.
"The FBI Covered Up China's 2020 Plan To Help Elect Biden"
by Docent
Primary source,
"The FBI Was Ordered to Destroy Evidence of China’s 2020 Election Plot to Help Biden"
by Matt Margolis
This is why original video and audio are so essential.
"Why the RAT Changes Everything – Air India 171 Update"
by Captain Steeeve
"The Moment Shawn Ryan Knew He Was Done with the SEAL Teams"
by Tucker Carlson Network
"Democrats ASSASSINATED by Tim Walz APPOINTEE Vance Boelter
SPARKING National PANIC!"
by Brian Maxwell - Real Politics Podcast
"Claim: The Secret Service Didn’t Actually Kill Thomas Crooks"
by Tucker Carlson Network
"That's a lot of incompetence."
"How Israeli Commandos Hit Deep in Iran" by Cappy Army
The Israelis destroyed the Iraqi nuclear facilities, then the Syrian facilities,
now the Iranian facilities.
"There was no cloud cover." So satellite and aircraft images were excellent.
Have you noticed that the Israelis get in and out of Iran competently, but the
U.S. FBI has agents in Iranian prisons, captured over the years (decades). What's
wrong with this picture? Deep state bureaucrats are inherently incompetent.
Show notes,
---
BREAKING: Israel ASSASSINATES Top Iran Nuclear Scientists,
Missile SLAMS Tel Aviv" by TBN Israel
"Deep Intel on Ukraine's Bold Drone Strike into Russia"
by Ward Carroll
---
"Ukraine's Latest Attack Shows the CIA is Working With Zelensky Behind Trump's Back"
by Tucker Carlson Network
"The CIA doesn't tell this White House a lot of things."
---
"Don't Be Fooled By the Latest Propaganda About Iran's Nuclear Program"
by Tucker Carlson Network
I don't find Jeffery Sachs credible. Do you?
"Blackwater CEO EXPOSES Most Corrupt Politicians Destroying America | Erik Prince"
by Julian Dorey Daily
“Frankly, simple autonomy, simple algorithms, a little bit of AI sprinkled in.”
— Maj. Gen. Joseph Kunkel, head of the Air Force’s force design,
on what they learned in the Combat Collaborative Aircraft (CCA) so far,
and not requiring complex algorithms. Keeping the autonomy relatively
simple is a key part of building and fielding the drones faster.
Hat tip to the Merge.
"The Ten Warning Signs A huge change is coming"
by Ted Gioia
Hat tip to Docent.
Docent's comments --
"The Ten Warning Signs: A huge change is coming" by Ted Gioia, The Honest Broker.
The author believes that our knowledge system is collapsing, citing the following ten signs:
(1) Scientific studies don't replicate.
(2) Public distrust of experts has reached an intensity never seen before.
(3) The career path for knowledge workers is breaking down—and many
only have unpaid student loans to show for their years of training and preparation.
(4) Funding for science and tech research is disappearing in every sphere and sector.
(5) Universities have lost their prestige, and have made enemies of their core constituencies.
(6) Plagiarism is getting exposed at all levels from students to
corporations—and all the way to Harvard's president. But the authorities
just take it for granted.
(7) AI is imposed everywhere as the new expert system. But when it hallucinates
and generates ridiculous responses, the authorities (again) take this for granted.
(8) Science and technology are increasingly used to manipulate and exploit, not serve.
(9) Scandals are everywhere in the knowledge economy (Theranos,
Sam Bankman-Fried, collapsing meme coins, COVID, etc).
(10) We hear constant bickering about “fake science”—from all political and
ideological stances. Nobody talks about “true science.”
By Docent at June 14, 2025
"Did Marine Commandant Lie...Again? Ep136" by Sentinel 🇺🇸
I have thought that General Eric Smith is a liar for a long time.
Be careful. This is true.
Many of our former colleagues work for them. SigInt, Comm, Cyber, etc.
Why? Because they pay better than Uncle Sam. Salary, pension, fringe, etc.
If I weren't a Christian, I'd be seduced by the constant stream of smoking hot chicks.
Clean too, no VD. Got to keep your high value employees happy.
"Money for nothing and your chicks for free."
Be careful.
"Good habits and skill beat luck every time."
-- Sheriff Jim Wilson
The Dispatch
"StrategyPage"
"The Merge"
Breaking Defense
Intrigue
1440
29155
Global Recaps
Timber Sycamore
Ground News
I have photographic evidence, someone once loved me.
Though she won't talk to me today.
*************************************************************************
***** ***** ***** Religion and Politics ***** ***** *****
"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
"Anarcho-Tyranny!" by John Farnam
"ATF Budget Good News for Gun Store Owners?" by Cam Edwards
Hat tip to Stephen P. Wenger.
No more genital mutilation of children in Tennessee.
"Tennessee’s Ban On “Gender-Affirming” Medical Treatment For Minors
Upheld By Supreme Court Thanks To Conservative Majority"
by Paula Gomes
"Great News: SCOTUS Upholds Tennessee Law Against Transing the Kids"
by Emmy Griffin
Truth.
"Fetterman enrages Dems with Trump post" by Fox News
"Data reveals shocking effect self-deportations have had on wages" by Fox Business
Meat at 9:33.
Motherhood changes libtard into conservative.
"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it."
-- Mary Flannery O'Connor
Reggie
*************************************************************************
Rest In Peace
Frank Brownell
President, CEO, and Chairman of the Board at Brownells.
Frank passed away in Grinnell, Iowa on June 18, 2025.
"Remembering Frank R. Brownell III (1939 – 2025)"
Hat tip to Stephen P. Wenger.
Rest In Peace
JB Hodgdon
Co-founder of Hodgdon Powder Company
"Honoring JB Hodgdon: Hodgdon Powder Co-Founder and 2A Advocate Dies at 88"
by Luke Cuenco
Hat tip to Stephen P. Wenger.
Sleeping is my job and I'm really good at it.
Some people are born with the talent.
Wish I had known this before meeting my 2nd ex.
Suicide of men, not depression, not mental illness, lack of connection.
It's good to live in Florida.
There is no such thing as a Christian woman in divorce court.
This has become relevant to us.
Truth.
Losing weight.
“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
The Warrior's Prayer
Dear God,
Please give us discernment to distinguish
friend from foe from innocent bystanders.
Give us clear vision so our aim is true.
Give us calm so we execute correctly.
Give us spiritual maturity so that we stop the attack
without excessive force, without revenge.
Amen
Semper Fidelis,
Jonathan D. Low
Email: Jon_Low@yahoo.com
Radio: KI4SDN
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