Greetings Sheepdogs,
"Don't have a gun? Buy one.
Don't know How to use it? Learn.
Don't believe in guns? Get ready to hide behind someone who does."
-- Charlie Daniels
Table of Contents:
Software --
Prevention
Mindset
Situational Awareness
Safety
Training
Psychology
Practice
Intervention
Strategy
Tactics
Techniques
Postvention
Aftermath
Medical
Survival
Education
Legal
Instruction
Hardware --
Gear
Intelligence --
Signals Intelligence
Cryptology
This and That --
"No freeman shall ever be debarred the use of arms."
-- Thomas Jefferson
*************************************************************************
***** ***** ***** Prevention ***** ***** *****
Things you can do to avoid the lethal force incident.
Table of sections:
Mindset
Safety
Training
Psychology
Practice
“To those who have fought for it,
freedom has a flavor that the protected will never know.”
― P. McCree Thornton
*************************************************************************
Carmella Rose and friend
------------------------------ Mindset and Attitude --------------------------------
Figuring out the correct way to think.
“Your character is what you do when no one is looking.”
-- Thomas Jefferson
"What Criminals Know That You Don’t" by Alex Ooley
Hat tip to Greg Ellifrtiz.
Excerpt:
". . . according to Bureau of Justice Statistics survey data,
less than half of violent crime is ever reported to law enforcement."
"Only about 3 percent of all violent victimizations and property
crimes ever result in a prison sentence. Clearance rates hover
around 15 to 20 percent for property crime and roughly 40 percent
for violent crime, and clearance doesn’t mean conviction. Many
cases end in diversion, plea agreements, or minimal consequences."
"The inmates showed striking consensus, and they weren’t
evaluating victims by size, dress or apparent wealth. They were
reading gait, stride length, weight shift and arm swing. These
indicators signaled vulnerability more reliably than anything else.
Subsequent research using point-light kinematics confirmed it.
People form accurate assessments of vulnerability from movement
alone in under 2 seconds."
"For rape specifically, armed resistance is the most effective
deterrent to completion and does not increase physical harm to
the victim. Research also shows defensive gun uses frequently
occur without a shot fired. The presence of a firearm alone can
stop a crime in progress."
“The Man in the Arena”
by Theodore Roosevelt (1901-1909), 26th President of the United States
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how
the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have
done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in
the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who
strives valiantly; who errs, who comes up short again and again,
because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who
does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms,
the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at
the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and
who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so
that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who
neither know victory nor defeat.”
"The Hard Lesson About Mouthing Off That Most Learn Too Late"
by Target Focus Training (Tim Larkin)
"Shut up!"
"Treat everyone as if they were 6 seconds away from a shooting spree."
"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
“They trust silver to do the work of swords.”
-- Lars Brownworth
"Danegeld" by John Farnam
“As long as there are human beings about, there will never be peace.”
-- Charles Bukowski
"Survival is a mindset, not a skill set."
-- Greg Shaffer
"Principles for the Armed Lifestyle" by Citizen-Defender (John Murphy)
Excerpt:
9:54 / 16:00, "Make Pre-decisions"
[This is critically important. If you've already made the decision that when
X happens we immediately execute Y, you can move much faster than the
enemy. It's always the decision that takes time, not the action. You've practiced
the action a thousand times, so your execution is fast. You haven't practiced
the decision, because ever situation is different and often surprising. So, it's
a hard thing to "practice". -- Jon Low]
John's story of failing to execute Y (fixing the holster) when X occurred
(screw fell out) was harmless. In combat, it's tragic. And it never gets analyzed
because nobody wants to be seen as blaming the victim. So you must
understand (without experience) making pre-decisions and do it. Because you
don't want the experience (you cannot tolerate the experience, you cannot
survive the experience). As my father would say, "No second chance."
15:17 / 16:00, "Decisive Departure"
Get the hell out of there.
"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
“When you can’t kill, you are always subject to those who can,
and nothing and no one will ever save you!”
-- Orson S Card
"The Thick of It!" by John Farnam
Excerpt:
"Operators must always be in a position to look after themselves,
and those in their care."
‷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
If you think the courts and parole boards will keep violent criminals in prison to
protect you and society, you are delusional.
"Marine veteran helped take down Cambridge shooter that shot two people"
by WHAS11
Hat tip to Eric Davis.
The bad guy had a long violent criminal record. The courts and parole boards
do not consider it their job to lock up violent criminals. They think their job is to
release violent criminals. It is important to understand their mindset. So you are
not taken by surprise. It is important to operate in reality. Because reality doesn't
care about your misconceptions.
"An unarmed man can only flee from evil and
evil is not overcome by fleeing from it." -- Jeff Cooper
"Your life is as good as your mindset." -- Nicola Cavanis
"Fairy tales do not tell children the dragons exist.
Children already know that dragons exist.
Fairy tales tell children that the dragons can be killed."
-- G.K. Chesterton
‟If violent crime is to be curbed, it is only the intended victim who can do it.
The felon does not fear the police, and he fears neither judge nor jury.
Therefore what he must fear is his victim.
It is high time for society to stop worrying about the criminal,
and to let the criminal start worrying about society.
And by "society" I mean you.”
-- Col. Jeff Cooper, "Principles of Personal Defense"
"Be so focused on watering your grass that
you don't have time to check if someone else's is greener."
-- Nicola Cavanis
‟Fear is an instinct. Courage is a choice.”
-- Rear Admiral Joseph Kernan, U.S. Navy
"The line between everyday life and sudden violence is thinner than most realize."
-- Tim Larkin
“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
*************************************************************************
Carmella Rose
Some girls like snails.
------------------------------ Situational Awareness --------------------------------
How to avoid being taken by surprise.
"Always stand on principle, even if you stand alone"
– James Madison
Lack of situational awareness.
Video of bad guy running through security check point.
Isn't the security officers' job to stop such persons at or before the check point?
The law enforcement officers shoot at the bad guy in the back after he has
already passed the check point. No one at the check point attempts to stop him.
Everyone is taken by surprise.
No report of the bad guy being hit by any bullets fired by the LEOs. But,
the video shows a lot being fired.
Excerpt:
U.S. Attorney Pirro released video allegedly showing the
White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner gunman
charging past security.
Citing Fox News report and video,
"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
"Self-Defense for the Mature American" by Attorney Joey N. Hamby
Excerpt:
"While it may be very inconvenient to walk away from a situation
just because it feels a little off, that action may save tremendous amounts
of grief later on."
"Jeff Cooper's Color Code exists to help you get your head
around the need to kill someone in the immediate future."
-- John Hearne
---
Jeff Cooper's Color Code of Mental Awareness
UNAWARE - of what's going on around you. (White)
AWARE - of who is around you and what they are doing. (Yellow)
ALERT - to a POTENTIAL threat and taking action to avoid the threat. (Orange)
ALARM - by a REAL threat and taking action to escape the threat,
which might include shooting to PREVENT the attack. (Red)
COMBAT - front sight, press. Shooting to STOP the attack. (Black)
---
The colors are meaningless, requiring a level of indirection.
So you should use meaningful words instead. So the student doesn't
have to decode the meaning of the color. Using insider jargon is WRONG!
---
"Jargon Does not Equal Expertise"
-- Rick Billington
"An officer may be forgiven for losing a battle,
but never for being taken by surprise."
-- Jeff Cooper
Zugzwang is a thing. But with situational awareness, you can avoid it.
*************************************************************************
Islamova Kseniia
Well, that's not going to work.
------------------------------ 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.
"You Don’t Need to Be Strong – You Need to Be Ready" by Karen Hunter
Excerpt:
"Too many women believe self-defense is only for people who are athletic,
aggressive, young, or physically powerful. That mindset alone stops countless
women from ever building skills that could save their lives. In reality, you do
not have to be athletic or in peak physical condition to be dangerous."
"It's easier to stay out of trouble than to get out of trouble."
-- Claude Werner
Stay in your car! Drive away. Ram the other car if you must to move it
out of your way. Ram the end away from the engine. Ram at 20 to 30 miles
per hour to avoid disabling your car.
"Defense of a Third Party – Double Trouble" by Claude Werner
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent came upon the scene and shot at
the good guy. Fortunately, the GBI agent was incompetent and didn't hit the
good guy. The GBI agent failed to positively identify the target. The guy shooting
is NOT automatically the bad guy. Competent operators understand this.
Competent operators don't rush to shoot, especially when they have not witnessed
the incident from inception.
Always use a holster to hold your handgun, because lack of a holster is
evidence that you are the bad guy. Because bad guys never use holsters,
because a holster is evidence of possession. And bad guys are prohibited
from possessing.
"You are not responsible for negative reactions to your boundaries."
-- Nicola Cavanis
"VIDEO: Texas Father Kills Man Attempting To Steal Car, Kidnap Infant Child"
by Docent
Primary source,
"Texas father shoots carjacker attempting to steal car" by FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth
Multiple family members were in the car, including an infant.
It doesn't matter in the least that the carjacker was not in his right mind.
Media loves to say shit like that to avoid confessing that the bad guy was evil,
and thereby acknowledging that evil exists. "Oh, he wasn't evil. He was just
a victim of society."
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.
Never wear high heels when out and about. Because you can't run in them.
You can't maneuver in them.
---
"Are You a Soft Target?" by Steve Tarani
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
Excerpt:
All of these can be distilled into three classifications of common soft target
indicators most likely to garner the attention of a predator:
1. If you appear physically, mentally or otherwise weak.
2. If you appear unaware, little or no situational awareness.
3. If you appear to be alone, vulnerable and/ or exposed.
It’s okay if you may appear weak or unaware or alone. It’s okay if you may
appear to be any two of these, but if you appear to be all three of them — alone,
unaware and weak — then you look like food to the hungry predator.
"Safety is something that happens between your ears,
not something you hold in your hands."
-- Jeff Cooper
"In Soviet Russia Victim Robs YOU" by Active Self Protection
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
"Gut feelings are guardian angels."
-- Nicola Cavanis
"You brought a gun to the fight. That doesn’t mean it’s YOUR gun.
The gun belongs to whomever can keep it. Think about that before
intervening in other folks’ problems. When is the last time you practiced
your in-hand weapon retention skills?"
-- Greg Ellifritz
---
When was the last time you practiced your in-holster weapon retention skills?
Have you taken a class to learn such techniques?
-- Jon Low
---
". . . if the assailant has a gun, it may actually be the easiest
gun for you to access, if you know how to take it from him."
-- Stephen P. Wenger
*************************************************************************
Islamova Kseniia
------------------------------ Training --------------------------------
Figuring out the correct tasks to practice.
"Calluses are a status symbol that money can't buy."
-- Jim Beaumont
Care enough to continue your training.
"The Benchmark Battery: A Simpler Path to Long-Term Success"
by Matt Robertson
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
Excerpt:
"The most visible metrics are often the least useful, and,
The things that matter most are hard to measure."
"Such tricks lead to higher scores through “solving the test”
rather than actually improving your abilities."
"Goodhart’s Law says that when a measure becomes the goal,
it ceases to be a good measure."
"You need a way to gauge if you’re actually making progress,
or just staying busy."
"Don’t anchor yourself to your best run. Anchor on what you can repeat."
"Never believe anything you read or hear.
To figure out what’s best for you,
experiment until you have no doubt."
-- Brian Enos
"Competency Based Training" by Leo H.
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
Excerpt:
Self-Image and performance are always equal.
This means your performance will never exceed the level of how you view yourself;
to improve your results, you must first change your Self-Image.
“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.”
– Vince Lombardi
"Without discrimination,
you're going to shoot the wrong person really fast."
-- Paul Howe
A 4 or 5 day course (8 to 10 hours a day) is not optimal.
Better would be --
Seven 3-hour classes in the classroom with real guns and dummy ammo,
with at least one sleep cycle between classes.
Followed by four 5-hour classes on the range for live fire exercises,
2 hours in the morning, 1 hour lunch and lecture, 2 hours in the afternoon.
Ya, I know this is logistically impossible for many students and schools
for many reasons.
When the student feels they were "drinking from a fire hose", that is not
a compliment to the school. That is an indication of a badly structured
curriculum. The student is deceived into thinking that he is getting his money's
worth. But, he's not.
You need training because:
You don't know what you don't know.
Much of what you know is false. [If you don't believe this,
you have an attitude problem and need to fix yourself. -- Jon Low]
It's good to the have the answers before the criminal tests you.
-- Claude Werner (paraphrased)
If you are more than a second or two away from your firearm during
a home invasion, it is likely too far away. Carrying a firearm on your
person while at home is often more effective and reliable than staging
multiple guns around the house.
-- Brent Wheat and Roy Huntington
Ansatz is a thing. And the better your training, the better your guesses / estimates.
Email from Tom McHale --
After borrowing a lot of guns for testing over the years, I've landed on
three things that separate the great ones from the merely OK.
1. Fit and finish, do the mated parts actually line up.
2. Trigger feel, smooth or gritty, predictable break or mushy mess.
3. And tolerances, especially lockup, which is where things get really interesting.
I ran an experiment with a Smith & Wesson M&P that proves the point.
Factory configuration shot fine for a service gun, three-inch groups at 25 yards.
Then I fit a semi-fit Apex barrel tightly to that specific slide. Same shooter,
same gun, almost every load now under one inch. That's what tolerances really do.
"What Makes a “Great” Gun?
Part 1
A Reality Check Beyond Brand Loyalty"
by Tom McHale
Excerpt:
I did an experiment with a Smith & Wesson M&P semi a few years back.
The factory configuration shot just fine for a service gun. At 25 yards, from
a good rest, the pistol would produce 2.5 to 3.5” five-shot groups from 25
yards. Certainly, other pistols will shoot smaller groups than that, but 99%
of shooters can’t shoot that well freehand anyway, so it’s a bit of a moot point.
[No, it's not a moot point, because errors (standard deviations) are cumulative.
With additional errors the group size gets bigger. -- Jon Low]
"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
"Are You Prepared for THE Gunfight?" by William G.
"Ineffective and potentially dangerous, point shooting should be avoided
at all costs and aimed fire employed in any lethal-force scenario."
-- Massad Ayoob
"Training & Gear for Active Shooter Response" by Jeff Gonzales
Excerpt:
"Readiness begins with preparation long before an emergency."
[How do you get into shape in preparation for the incident?
You start exercising 10 years ago and continue every day. -- Jon Low]
"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
*** Extremely Important ***
"How A Walmart Robbery Lesson Can Save Your Life" by Tim Larkin
Immediately attack the enemy's brain. Don't attack the weapon.
"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
Athlete: How can I get in shape for the up coming event?
Coach: Start exercising 10 years ago and continue every day.
Athlete: But, I can't go back in time.
Coach: So?
Moral of the story: If you ask the wrong question, you won't
get the answer you're looking for.
"In reality, we are training for an unknown event, against unknown threats,
by developing as many known skills as possible."
-- Jeff Gonzales
"Having a gun is important.
But knowing WHEN to use it is even more important."
-- Greg Ellifritz
"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
"Shoot sooner, not faster."
-- Matt Little
“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
"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
“The world is filled with violence. Because criminals carry guns,
we decent law-abiding citizens should also have guns. Otherwise,
they will win and decent people will loose.”
-- James Earl Jones
"Proper training ingrains the proper responses.
Repetition is the mother of all skill. With skill comes confidence.
With confidence comes the ability to think under pressure and
make sound tactical decisions."
-- Tom Givens
“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.)
Simple is faster. Simple is more reliable. So, simple is better.
"Before all else, be armed." -- Nicolo Machiavelli
"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
"Superior judgment trumps superior skills." -- Dan Millican
*************************************************************************
Kirstin Kruka
Little Red Riding Hood
------------------------------ Psychology --------------------------------
“Training deals not with an object,
but with the human spirit and human emotions.”
--Bruce Lee
‟What the "Shower Test" Says About Your Life - Jimmy Carr”
by Chris Williamson
Excerpt:
"Life is self assignment."
"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
"Be stronger than your strongest excuse."
-- Nicola Cavanis
*************************************************************************
Isabella Erickson
Notice the pupils.
------------------------------ Conferences --------------------------------
Attending classes and conferences is required for growth.
There is nothing worse than teaching obsolete shit. Because your
students don't know any better.
"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
Gun Owners of America is advertising
National Women's Range Day 2026, $125
Sig Sauer Academy, 223 Exter Road, Epping, New Hampshire
Saturday, June 6th, 2026 A.D.
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Wine & Cheese Social, $50.00
Security Operations Summit 2026, $150.00
July 23-25, 2026 A.D.
With hands-on pre-event options on Wednesday, July 22nd!
Southeast Christian Church
920 Blankenbaker Parkway
Louisville, KY 40243
Bullets & Bibles 2026 (The registration fee is a tax deductible charitable donation).
Friday, August 21, 2026 A.D. – Sunday, August 23, 2026 A.D.
Hosted at Living Water Ranch, north of Manhattan, KS.
Food and lodging included in registration price.
To register,
If you have already pre-registered,
The Guardian Conference, $800
September 18th - 20th, 2026 A.D.
in Oklahoma City, OK.
Gun Rights Policy Conference, Second Amendment Foundation, $25
September 25–27, 2026 A.D.
in Dallas at the Westin Dallas Fort Worth Airport hotel.
Click on the link to book a hotel room for $159.00 per night.
Rangemaster Tactical Conference
Friday-Sunday, April 2-4, 2027 A.D.
Dallas Pistol Club; Carrollton, TX
*************************************************************************
Isabella Erickson
Image, reflection, shadow.
I tried doing that once in Computer Graphics class at College of Charleston.
Do you think AI can do that?
------------------------------ Classes --------------------------------
Attend classes so you know what the best practices are.
DTI Urban Rifle - 1 Day, $550.00
6 Jun 2026 - White House, TN
DTI Defensive Shotgun, $550.00
7 Jun 2026 - White House, TN
DTI Urban Rifle / Defensive Shotgun Combo, $850.00
6-7 Jun 2026 - White House, TN
Gateway Instructor Development Course (Nashville), $ 450
Sat, Jul 11, 2026, 8:00 AM CDT – Sun, Jul 12, 2026, 6:00 PM CDT
Firearms Pharmacy, 705 Briskin Lane, Lebanon, TN
Rule #4, Round #2, & the Monkey:
Preparing to Counter the Active Shooter with a Handgun
When: July 16th, 2026 | 8:00 PM ET, 7:00 PM CT
Where: Online Webinar (Approx. 90 minutes)
Cost: $5 (Free for Guardian Nation Members)
Intensive Pistol Skills, $ 495
Sat, Aug 22, 2026 – Sun, Aug 23, 2026
8:00 AM – 5:00 PM CDT
Royal Range, 7741 Highway 70 South, Nashville, TN, USA
Gunsite – 250 Defensive Pistol, $2,135
Royal Range, Nashville, Tennessee
Monday, August 24, 2026 - Friday, August 28, 2026
Duration: 5 Days
Prerequisite: None
Ammunition: 1000 rounds ball (ball means copper jacketed round nose bullets)
available for purchase on-site.
The student will also have to purchase approximately 1 box of Simunitions
from Royal Range for the indoor simulators.
Protective Pistolcraft Instructor, 5 Days, $ 1350
Mon, Nov 2, 2026 – Fri, Nov 6, 2026, 8:00 AM – 5:00 PM CST
Last Resort Firearms Training, 4220 Gravel Pit Road, White Hall, AR, USA
This is the 3-day Firearms Instructor Development Course and
the 2-day Advanced Firearms Instructor Course given in 5 days.
Taught by Tom Givens, Tiffany Johnson, Aqil Qadir, and John Hearne.
No prerequisites. Includes a night shoot and much more.
Tom is retiring at the end of 2026.
The following are in random order. I list them because I have taken a class from
them and thought well of the class, or because someone that I trust recommended
them.
Last Resort Firearms Training (Ed Monk)
Agile Training and Consulting (Chuck Haggard)
Thunder Ranch (Clint Smith)
Classes,
ConcealedCarry.com (Jacob S. Paulsen et al)
Project Appleseed
Agile Training and Consulting
Gunsite Academy
Lee Weems
Massad Ayoob Group
West Coast Armory North
Active Response Training, Greg Ellifritz
Rangemaster Certified Instructors
Map of Rangemaster Certified Instructors
Dustin Salomon
KR Training
Kari Grayson
Citizens Safety Academy
Carry Trainer, Mickey Schuch
Paladin Training, Inc.
Citizen-Defender, John Murphy
Defensive Training International, John Farnam
Rangemaster, Tom Givens
Trident Concepts, Jeff Gonzales
Apache Solutions, Tim Kelly
Harris Combative Strategies, Randy Harris
Mead Hall Range & Tactics, Bill Armstrong
Two Pillars Training, John Hearne
Mike Seeklander
Claude Werner, The Tactical Professor
Tatiana Whitlock - Training in Context
NRA Instructors and their classes.
‟Training is NOT an event, but a process.
Training is the preparation FOR practice.”
-- Claude Werner
*************************************************************************
Femka Abinet
------------------------------ Practice --------------------------------
How to get proficient at that task.
“Training deals not with an object,
but with the human spirit and human emotions.”
--Bruce Lee
"Dry Fire for HK Pistols: Every Tool and Technique Worth Knowing"
by Riley Bowman
Excerpt:
"The Trigger Always Resets Forward
On many striker-fired pistols, pressing the trigger without cycling the slide
leaves the trigger stuck to the rear. Not on an HK. The trigger returns to
the full forward position every single time — whether the striker has reset
or not. That means you can get a complete trigger stroke on every press,
which has real value for the kind of practice I'll describe in a moment."
"The Paddle Release
If you're on a VP9 or similar, you're probably working with a paddle-style
magazine release. That's worth deliberate practice time. You can activate
it with your trigger finger, your shooting thumb, both together, or your
support hand. Figure out what works with your grip and your gear, and
then rep it. Don't just let this be something you work out for the first time
under stress."
"Fully Ambidextrous Controls"
"The more valuable drill is what we could call the “mush drill.”
You press through the trigger with no click — just resistance and a
trigger that keeps returning to full forward, which is exactly what
HK's reset behavior allows. Then you press again. And again. Fast."
[This can be achieved on any semi-auto pistol by propping the slide out of battery
by a certain amount. Every pistol is different, not just every type of pistol, every
individual pistol. So you will have to experiment to find how far out of battery
you must prop the slide in order to get it to return to a forward position after every
press. Yes, it can be done. You just have to carefully adjust the position of the
slide to achieve this action. -- Jon Low]
Riley mentions some very expensive tools for dry practice. But as he says,
you don't need them. You can do all your dry practice with just your unloaded
pistol. Better to spend your money on expert training.
"Remember, growing may feel like breaking at first."
-- Nicola Cavanis
I was doing exercises with my weapon mounted light (WML) in the dark.
I was using my support side thumb to actuate the light switch on my WML.
The light would not turn on. The lever seemed to be jammed. It would not
move. The problem was that I was pressing on the housing of my WML,
not on the switch. Something to practice. Need to get this straightened out
immediately. And did so.
[Never use your trigger finger to actuate the WML. Lots of documented
cases of officers attempting this and firing their pistol. Task Overload Confusion.
If you don't understand or don't believe, take Chuck Haggard's class. Don't
be that guy.]
"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
"Be careful what you practice.
Because you will do in combat whatever you have practiced,
no matter how ridiculous."
-- "Shooting in Self-Defense" by Sara Ahrens
"Good habits and skill beat luck every time."
-- Sheriff Jim Wilson
‶Practice is the small deposits you make over time,
so that in an emergency, you can make that big withdrawal.″
-- Chesley Burnett Sullenberger, III
"Why are the little things called little things?
They are everything."
-- Nicola Cavanis
"People rust faster than equipment."
-- John Hearne
"Remember, the day you plant the seed is not the day you earn the fruit."
-- Nicola Cavanis
“Willingness is a state of mind. Readiness is a statement of fact!”
-- Lt. Gen. David M Shoup, USMC Commandant 1960-1963
"Your speed [in mastering the art and science of your discipline] doesn't matter.
Forward is forward."
-- Nicola Cavanis
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit.”
-- Aristotle
"Maybe you can't achieve it in one day.
But you can achieve it one day."
-- Nala Knight
*************************************************************************
Ella Langley
***** ***** ***** 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. Generally speaking, you want to escape.
“How do you win a gunfight?
Don't be there.”
-- John Farnam
*** Extremely Important ***
"How A Walmart Robbery Lesson Can Save Your Life" by Tim Larkin
Immediately attack the enemy's brain. Don't attack the weapon.
"You win gunfights by not getting shot."
-- John Holschen
"Never let fear decide your fate."
-- Nicola Cavanis
************************************************************************
------------------------------ Tactics --------------------------------
Maneuver and fire in support of your strategy to escape.
Sometimes you must close with the enemy and destroy him with fire and close combat.
"You often don't know where the bad guy is who is shooting at you."
-- Phillip Groff
"Getting Shot HURTS" by Active Self Protection
Raising hands is NOT surrendering. The bad guy did not drop the guns
that he was holding.
Ya, the bad guy was moving away. Ya, the bad guy was shot in the back.
Retreat is not surrender! Retreat is a tactical maneuver.
If you're using a long gun, use your sling!
The female deputy first responder shot the bad guy without hitting any
innocent bystanders in the background. BRAVO!
“People shoot you because they see you.
They see you because you let them.
Don’t let them see you.”
-- Clint Smith
"Cover VS Concealment: 30,000 Incidents Expose The Myth" by Jacob Paulsen
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
Excerpt:
How many times have you seen a bad guy or gal fire through concealment
to hit the good guy or gal?
John Correia's answer, "ZERO." (in 30,000 videos of real shootings
that he analyzed)
“Fortuitous outcomes reinforce poor tactics.”
-- Chuck Haggard
“No possible rapidity of fire can atone for
habitual carelessness of aim with the first shot.”
-- Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States,
"The Wilderness Hunter", 1893
"Real fights are short." -- Bruce Lee
“When you’re in the dark, stay in the dark;
when you’re in the light, light up the dark.”
-- Stephen P. Wenger
*************************************************************************
Ella Langley
------------------------------ Techniques --------------------------------
Ways to execute a given task in support of your tactics,
especially when disabled or under stress.
"Grip first, then press."
-- Mike Seeklander
Excerpt from "Defensive Use of Firearms" by Stephen P. Wenger
Regarding the role of trigger poundage and length of travel in placing shots
in the legs of assailants, a list member who reports having trained thousands of
students – mostly to qualify for California carry licenses – and an admitted
Glockophile shares his observations:
"The heavy trigger pull of DA revolvers promotes jerky finger behavior.
When DA/SA pistol shooters such as a Beretta 92 or a Sig Sauer 226 start
shooting, the first double action shot is frequently significantly low because
the shooter is not familiar with that long pull and rarely practices it.
The Glock trigger, particularly the competition 3.5/4.0 pound trigger, does
not result in jerky fingers as much as the revolver long heavy triggers.
Caliber choice such as .40 S&W or .45 ACP is another matter and can
frequently result in jerky fingers. The reaction [!] to recoil is involuntary
and unconscious."
(He and I have had repeated discussions of this over the years. He views
it in terms of jerking the trigger while I have seen it mostly as a push in
anticipation of the imminent recoil. Personally – and I accept that I'm in a
minority in this regard – under stress, I'm more likely to anticipate when
pressing off a single-action shot than when “rolling” a DA trigger. In either case,
the key word is “familiarity.” I know that this list member has seen a fair
share of what John Farnam calls “agricultural shooting” – planting bullets
in the ground a few feet in front to the target, even with students firing his
beloved 9mm Glocks, because the only times that they shoot is when it's
time to apply for license renewal. [Familiarity with the trigger stoke is easily
attained and maintained, without the distraction of recoil, with safe dry fire.])
-- Stephen P. Wenger
"Use only that which works,
and take it from any place you can find it."
-- Bruce Lee
When you look at things far away, the lines of sight of your two eyes are parallel.
When you look at things close to your face, the lines of sight from your two eyes
cross at the object you are looking at. Which may create double images, or false
images, or combine dark lines into large dark blobs in low light conditions.
In low light conditions, only your rods work. Your cones are inoperative. So,
everything is in black and white (sometimes, not even shades of grey, just black
and white, depending on your vision, your age, your general health, etc.).
So objects that don't reflect light appear as black (absence of something being there,
no matter how solid and real the object is, or if the background is white, the black
blob appears to be something / someone up close to you). The center of your field
of vision is saturated with cones and very few rods. So, the things you are looking
directly at have very low resolution. If you want to see them more clearly (with your
rods), you will have to look to the side of the object, or above or below the object.
In low light conditions, your pupils are fully dilated to allow in as much light
as possible. Since your visual aperture is maximized, your depth perception is
minimized. You can't tell how close or far away the object is. You will feel that
it is very close to you.
Your left field of view from both of your eyes is processed by the right hemisphere
of your brain. The right field of view from both of your eyes is processed by the
left hemisphere of your brain. And then, the hemispheres communicate to create an
image that you can understand (hopefully). But if the images conflict, your brain
won't be able to deconflict them. (So, if the bed sheet or your hair is obscuring the
vision of one of your eyes, your brain might not be able to deconflict the images.
Because they are just too different.)
If something has startled you out of a deep sleep, you are not operating optimally.
Combine these effects and you can easily see a large dark object close to you
(which you could mistake for an intruder), when in fact, when you focus out to
infinity, step back, and look around, and get your wits about you, there is nothing
there (in a best case scenario, in a worst case scenario it's a loved one sleep walking).
It would take an expert witness with a lot of expertise to explain this to a jury.
Such expert witnesses are extremely expensive and extremely difficult to find,
especially difficult to find one sympathetic to you shooting someone in self-defense,
defense of others, or accidentally shooting a loved one. (Extremely difficult in an
urban jurisdiction. Such jurisdictions are, generally speaking, saturated with flaming
anti-gun, anti-self-defense liberals.)
Be careful.
[There is a large psychological section of the report that I cannot report to you
because the attorneys consider it sensitive. So, I am not giving you a complete
picture. I just report this as a cautionary tale. -- Jon Low]
"Whatever you leave alone is perfect." -- Brian Enos
"Speed Reloads
Tactical Considerations" by Richard Mann
Excerpt:
"When everything is considered the concept of a speed reload during a
gun fight is, well, ridiculous."
"This movement on realization of a non-working gun might be something
you want to incorporate into your training, so why do we not see this in most
defensive handgun training schools? It’s simple really, if you are working with
a group of shooters on the line and they are conducting speed reloads —
managing their ammunition on their own — you cannot have them running
around all over the range loading their pistols because it would not be safe
and someone might get shot. In most training schools that’s considered a
bad thing. So, instead, students just stand still and reload. It’s not enough
to tell students they need to move when their pistol stops working, and it’s
not enough for you to think that’s what you’ll do."
---
Greg Ellifritz's comments --
Richard puts the concept of a speed reload into a context I hadn’t really
thought about before. If you run out of ammo in a gunfight, a quick reload
might be lifesaving.
With that said, should you spend hours and hours drilling so that your
reload is really fast? I would argue the answer to that question is “no.”
The number one cause of needing to reload is missing your target. We all
have limited practice time. I think you’ll get a better return on your time
investment by training to hit the target more reliably than you would if you
spent the same amount of time trying to shave 1/4 second off your reload.
-- Greg Ellifritz
"The foundations of your grip are established
before you even draw the pistol from the holster."
-- Tanner Denton
"Surreptitious Draw 101: Master the Invisible Handgun Pull"
by Massad Ayoob - Facts and Firearms
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
"In my strategy the footwork does not change.
I always walk as I usually do in the street."
-- Miyamoto Musashi
Email from Tim Larkin --
If someone pulls a weapon on you, what is the first thing you look at?
If you said "the gun" or "the knife," you’re already behind the curve.
Most self-defense "experts" will tell you to grab the tool. They’ll show
you fancy disarms and wrestling moves designed for a gym floor. In the
real world, against an asocial predator, that’s a great way to get yourself
killed.
The gun isn't the weapon. The person holding it is. If you focus
on the "tool," you are ignoring the "system" that is trying to destroy you.
I’ve analyzed thousands of violent encounters, and there is ONE specific
shift in focus that determines who walks away and who doesn't.
I posted a clinical breakdown of a close-quarters encounter that proves
exactly why your current training might be failing you.
Stay Safe,
Tim Larkin
"The Real Threat Isn't What They're Holding" by Tim Larkin
---
Train yourself to immediately gouge the eyes of the attacker,
if someone attacks you with our without a weapon. No thought,
no decision, just immediate action. It doesn't matter that you
succeed or not, this will give you time to get to your gun.
"Ineffective and potentially dangerous, point shooting should be avoided
at all costs and aimed fire employed in any lethal-force scenario."
-- Massad Ayoob
"Concealed Carry Corner:
Should You Carry The Same Position Every Time?" by Matt E.
Hat tip to Docent.
[Hick's Law, which I believe to be true, says the fewer decisions you make,
the faster you go, and the fewer options that you must choose from in each decision
the faster you go. So being able to present your pistol without having to remember
where your pistol is, is faster.
If you want to carry a back up gun (BUG) in a more convenient place on your
body in addition to your primary, that's fine. But you will likely revert to your
primary in a high stress situation. That's your habit. That's why we train, to engrain
good habits. Don't contradict your training. It's bad for your mental health. It
causes neurosis.
-- Jon Low]
"The secret is applying extreme force with the pinkies and
working your way up the rest of the digits."
-- Jeff L. Gonzales
"It's not daily increase but daily decrease - hack away at the inessentials!"
-- Bruce Lee
". . . 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"
[Never shoot faster than you can see. Never shoot faster than you can think. -- Jon Low]
“What’s the number one reason for reloading?
Missing the target!”
-- Claude Werner
"I can always do nothing more consistently than I can do something."
-- Ben Stoeger
*************************************************************************
Ella Langley
***** ***** ***** Postvention ***** ***** *****
Suggestions on how to treat your wounds or the wounds of your loved ones.
Suggestions on how to avoid prosecution, conviction, and prison time.
Suggestions on how to avoid the civil law suit and judgment.
Table of Sections:
Aftermath
Medical
Survival
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Aftermath --------------------------------
You must be alive to have these problems: criminal and civil liability.
“When you can’t kill, you are always subject to those who can,
and nothing and no one will ever save you!”
-- Orson S Card
"The Thick of It!" by John Farnam
Excerpt:
"Operators must always be in a position to look after themselves,
and those in their care."
“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
"Legal Concepts: What to Say and What Not to Say to the Police"
(Massad Ayoob and Marty Hayes)
by Armed Citizens Educational Foundation
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
1. Establish the active dynamic, what did the bad guy do that caused you to shoot him.
2. Indicate that you will file a complaint and testify against the bad guy.
3. Point out evidence.
4. Point out witnesses. (The underlying assumption is that the witness is not a friend
of guy you just shot, not a member of the bad guy's gang.)
5. Invoke your right to counsel. (And stop talking.)
“Your understanding and consent are not required
for someone to take your life, kill your loved ones,
and destroy all you hold dear.”
-- William Aprill
In the right hand column of this web page, click on "Never Talk To The Police"
or use the address,
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
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Medical --------------------------------
"The shorter the fight, the less hurt you get."
-- John Holschen
“When you can’t kill, you are always subject to those who can,
and nothing and no one will ever save you!”
-- Orson S Card
"The Thick of It!" by John Farnam
Excerpt:
"Operators must always be in a position to look after themselves,
and those in their care."
"If you prepare for the emergency,
the emergency ceases to exist!"
-- Sherman House
Email from Joe Shahoud --
I was having lunch with my buddy Tom yesterday when he told me the
stupidest story ever. Last month he was out in the Tennessee backwoods
shooting with friends. They were hours from any hospital having a blast
with different guns.
Then I asked him the question that made his face go white.
"Did you guys bring a trauma kit?"
His answer? Nope.
I couldn't believe it. Here's a guy who won't grill without a fire extinguisher
nearby. He wears safety glasses to trim his lawn. But when he's handling
firearms in the middle of nowhere? No trauma kit.
Look, I'm not trying to be your mom here. But accidents happen. And when
they do, you want to be ready. We spend hundreds on ammo and thousands on
guns. But we won't drop 50 bucks on something that could save a life? That
seems backwards to me.
If you shoot on private property or remote ranges, grab a basic trauma kit.
https://www.mountainmanmedical.com/product-tag/outdoors/
Throw it in your range bag and forget about it. [It's not enough to have a
trauma kit. You need the training to use the tools in it. -- Jon Low]
And stay clear of Amazon for this. They carry nothing but cheap garbage
from China that will fail.
Hopefully you'll never need it. But if you do, you'll be glad it's there.
Talk soon,
Joe "safety first" Shahoud
P.S. Know someone who shoots without a trauma kit? Forward this to them.
They might thank you later.
Tactical Emergency Casualty Care Course - NAEMT Certified, $495.00
Tracey Mendenhall | VP of Operations
(Life Saving Ninja)
DEFEND SYSTEMS
+1 (615) 480-7758
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Survival --------------------------------
"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
"Are You a Soft Target?" by Steve Tarani
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
Excerpt:
All of these can be distilled into three classifications of common soft target
indicators most likely to garner the attention of a predator:
1. If you appear physically, mentally or otherwise weak.
2. If you appear unaware, little or no situational awareness.
3. If you appear to be alone, vulnerable and/ or exposed.
It’s okay if you may appear weak or unaware or alone. It’s okay if you may
appear to be any two of these, but if you appear to be all three of them — alone,
unaware and weak — then you look like food to the hungry predator.
"Survival is a mindset, not a skill set."
-- Greg Shaffer
“When you can’t kill, you are always subject to those who can,
and nothing and no one will ever save you!”
-- Orson S Card
"The Thick of It!" by John Farnam
Excerpt:
"Operators must always be in a position to look after themselves,
and those in their care."
‟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
"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
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
--Benjamin Franklin
*************************************************************************
Elizaveta Genich
***** ***** ***** 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
On my way home from Knoxville to Nashville along I-40,
I stopped at Buc-ee's to use the bathroom and get snacks.
On display was a children's book,
"Buc-ee Goes to School" by Katherine Aplin
ISBN: 978-1-63763-460-8
It's a story about Buc-ee the beaver's first day at school.
The teacher (an owl) understands that the children are
anxious. So she teaches them autogenic breathing.
Just as we learned in firearms training. Four count inhale,
pause, four count exhale, hold respiratory pause, repeat as needed.
I was surprised. So I had to buy a copy and send it to my grand kids.
Concerning the AR-15 platform. (Ten years ago.)
"Pat Rogers Final Speech" by aclphoto
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
This was the final speech that legend Pat Rogers ever gave.
It was at the Great American Outdoor Show in 2016.
Excerpts: (paraphrased)
Historically, AR-15 type platform capable of 4 minutes of angle.
Standard ammunition is capable of 4 minutes of angle. So shooting
out of a machine rest, you could have as much as 8 minutes of angle.
The human is capable of 16 minutes of angle in realistic combat situations.
So, in combat you could have as much as 24 minutes of angle.
The modern rifles from good manufacturers can hold 2 minutes of angle.
In production since 1963 and still in production.
Ergonomics is more important than accuracy.
No lubrication and lots of firing, the gun starts getting sluggish or breaking
down at 90 to 100 rounds. But if lubricated, it will run forever. Lubricants
to use if you don't have anything else: suntan lotion, butter, Vagisil, saliva, urine.
The benefits of cleaning the gun is that I can inspect the gun at the same time.
Looking for parts that will fail.
Bolt lugs may crack at from 6000 to 10,000 rounds.
Extractor and spring will need replacement at 10,000 to 15,000 rounds.
Replace action spring (recoil spring, buffer spring) at 10,000 to 20,000
rounds.
With a 10 inch barrel the service life is 6000 rounds. The longer the barrel
the longer the service life. With short barrels, you should be using a piston gun.
Buy ammo and magazines. I you don't, you're an idiot.
Does a telescopic sight help you shoot better? No. It only helps you see better.
If you have a rifle, but no training, you are a liability, not an asset.
⁕ Maintain your habitual association with the gun.
Dry practice!
Sights and trigger are the two things you need to hit the target.
I don't use CLP because it's got a lot of bad stuff in it. I use Slip 2000.
"Growth in Youth Shooting Sports Signals Bright Future for the 2nd Amendment"
by Guy J. Sagi
This is why it is so important for you to keep your children out of the
government schools. They are all controlled by the teacher's unions,
which are Democrat organizations.
"Georgia mom questions 8-year-old's suspension over a LEGO creation
that resembled a gun" by Chase Houle
Hat tip to Stephen P. Wenger.
"Locked & Loaded for Justice" by Patrick Diedrich
Excerpt:
“Video does not speak for itself,” emphasized Dr. John Black,
a forensic video and use-of-force expert. He explained that smartphone
footage — which jurors often treat as objective truth — is actually subject
to numerous distortions. Camera angles, frame rates, lens warping, and
the two-dimensional nature of video can make actions appear faster or
slower, closer or farther, than they actually were. A punch that looks
unprovoked on camera may have been a response to a threat occurring
just outside the frame.
But Ed Monk’s guidance was far more nuanced than simply “shoot back.”
He emphasized that responders must be able to guarantee every bullet hits
its intended target — a standard he called “100 percent hit.” In crowded public
spaces, he noted, interior walls offer no protection, and every missed shot or
bullet that passes through an attacker could strike an innocent person.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Gun University
"Defensive Use of Firearms" by Stephen P. Wenger
Get on his emailing list for his newsletter,
Greg Ellifritz's reading list,
American Rifleman
and American Hunter
are now online free of charge.
Practical Eschatology
2nd Amendment News & Articles
Citizen-Defender, John Murphy
YouTube.com channel
Blog posts,
Rangemaster Newsletter, Tom Givens
Active Self Protection, John Correia
"My Gun Culture" by Tom McHale
Quips, John Farnam
Active Response Training, Greg Ellifritz
Make sure to check out the Weekend Knowledge Dumps.
The Tactical Professor, Claude Werner
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 --------------------------------
“Laws are made for men of ordinary understanding and should, therefore,
be construed by the ordinary rules of common sense. Their meaning is not
to be sought for in metaphysical subtleties which may make anything mean
everything or nothing at pleasure.”
— Thomas Jefferson (1823)
"The Real Reason the Left Wants Gun Control" by Nick Freitas
---
"The Purpose Of An Organization is What It Does:
Brady, Giffords Law Center, and Everytown" by Docent
Excerpt:
"Calling armor dangerous because it can stop a bullet is a confession
that the anti-gun movement is not merely interested in disarming citizens.
It wants citizens easier to hurt."
Gun Law Database
"I [John Lott] co-authored an op-ed with New Hampshire State Representative
Samuel Farrington (R)—the primary sponsor of the state’s Campus Carry bill—for
the Union Leader, New Hampshire’s largest newspaper. News coverage rarely
highlights this point, but mass public shooters have repeatedly stated in their
manifestos that they deliberately target “gun-free zones.” In the piece, we
examine the various concerns critics raise about allowing adults to defend
themselves on college campuses and show that, as in much of the gun control
debate, these supposed risks simply never materialize."
---
[The purpose of gun-free-zones is and always has been to create unarmed
victims for armed criminals to prey upon. Because the sheeple will not demand
their God given right to self-defense. Rather, they will demand that the government
"do something" to protect them. We conservatives know that the government has
never been able to protect the citizens. We are aware of U.S. Supreme Court
rulings saying that the police / government have no duty to protect the individual
citizens. -- Jon Low]
"Build A Reciprocity Map:" by Concealed Carry, Inc.
In Los Angeles, home invasion crews will be released 2 weeks after being
arrested. If they are ever arrested.
But you will be prosecuted if you shoot them. Welcome to L.A.
"Firearms are second only to the constitution in importance,
they are the people's liberty's teeth." -- George Washington
"The ATF Just Pulled The Rug Out From Under Gun Control" by Colion Noir
Robert Cekada the new Director of the ATF is eliminating rules that hurt us.
---
"ATF New Rules: What You Need to Know" by Liberty Doll
“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
"Don't Shoot Too Late" by Shawn Vincent
Excerpts:
"Firearms instructor Steve Moses tells his students,
“You need to be looking for reasons that you don’t have to shoot this person.”
To avoid firing at an attacker after neutralizing the threat, Steve says,
“You need to stay dialed into what the other person is doing. You need to be
looking for their reaction so you can assess and adapt.” "
"John Farnam, founder of Defense Training International, sometimes serves
as a use-of-force expert in self-defense cases, and he has seen prosecutors argue
that defenders who fired multiple times used excessive force.
“The picture they’re trying to paint,” John says, is that the defender “carefully
fired a shot, and then fired another one, and then another when they were not
necessary.” He warns,
“Some people don’t know how fast a modern pistol can be fired.” "
I don't know why Shawn Vincent and others keep doing this.
"That pause concerned the prosecutor’s office also, and after a three-week
investigation, State Attorney Bernie McCabe filed manslaughter charges.
A year later, a jury found Drejka guilty."
[That is completely misleading. You can view the security camera
footage on YouTube.com. There is no pause.
It was Drejka's two hour rant recorded on video and audio (and available
on YouTube.com) in a police station without an attorney present that caused
his arrest and conviction. Before that, the responding officers declined to
arrest Drejka because it was self-defense. A couple weeks later, the county
Sheriff declined to press charges against Drejka because it was self-defense.
The "investigation" found that Drejka had acted in self-defense, so no charges
were preferred (correct usage of the word "preferred") against Drejka.
The reason Drejka was arrested and convicted is because he ran his mouth
for 2 hours. Only after that were charges preferred by the prosecutor.
-- Jon Low]
"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State,
the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed."
-- Second Amendment, Constitution of the United States of America
"Dean Keller Case Brief" by Shawn Vincent
"Jerome Ersland Case Brief" by Shawn Vincent
"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
"The Federalist: The Real SPLC Scandal Is Their Use By The FBI" by Docent
“When you will not fight when you can easily win, without bloodshed,
and when you still will not fight when victory is sure and not too costly,
you may well come to the moment when you will have no choice but to
fight with the odds against you, and you have only a small chance of survival.
There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when there is no
hope of victory, simply because it is better to perish as warriors than to
live as slaves.”
-- Winston Churchill
"Gun Control Groups Argue Hunting Rifles Not Protected Under 2A"
by Liberty Doll
"The Window of Justification Part 3: Shot Too Late
When the window of justification closes" by Shawn Vincent
The bad guy can turn away from you much faster than you can stop firing.
It would take an expert witness to explain this to the jury; Massad Ayoob has
done so many times. Shooting a person in the back can be completely justified.
Retreat is not surrender. Retreat is a tactical maneuver. So shooting a retreating
bad guy in the back can be explained. Does your attorney understand this?
Probably not. Can you afford an expert witness to explain this to your attorney
and the jury? Probably not. That's why you must educate yourself, so you can
educate your attorney. That's why you must have a self-defense insurance
policy that actually pays for expert witnesses, in full, up front. Nobody will
work for you and then bill you later. At least the competent ones won't.
Of course, if you have a legitimate insurance policy or attorneys on retainer,
they will know all of this and will have competent expert witnesses in the stable
ready to go.
Of course, if you can afford a powerful, politically connected attorney, he
will cause the prosecutor to decide to dismiss the case. That's what you're really
paying for. I know what I'm talking about. My attorneys were able to convince
the prosecutors and courts to drop all charges in my state (New Jersey) and
federal cases. And this was in the days before self-defense insurance policies
existed. Fortunately, my parents sent me to good schools, so I had friends /
classmates who referred me to powerful politically connected law firms that
could make things happen. If you didn't have God's blessing to be born in such
a family, you still have the insurance policy option. We are fortunate to live in
such times.
"Punishment Update: Prosecutor Learns Her Fate After Using Fake Case Law"
by Megan Grout, Criminal Defense Lawyer
Corrupt prosecuting attorneys using artificial intelligence to write
"ATF Publishes Details of Major Gun Rule Rollbacks" by Jake Fogleman
---
"Breaking down each of the ATF’s 34 new rules" by Open Source Defense
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
"ATF Moves to Expand Protections for Traveling Across State Lines with Guns"
by Stephen Gutowski
" ‘Stressful and traumatic’ |
After sober DUI charge, retired FBI executive calls for change in Tennessee"
by WVLT News
There are literally thousands of these cases in Tennessee. Because the TN legislature
appropriated funds for DUI arrests. So the LEOs make the arrests to get the funds.
So, now TN is getting lots of false positives, while the true positives have gone down,
statistically speaking, because the law enforcement agencies get the money for the
arrest and don't need to return the money if the charges are dismissed. So there is
no down side for making a false arrest. False DUI arrests are much easier for the
officer than real DUI arrests. Arresting sober law abiding citizens is always easier
than arresting intoxicated belligerent criminals. So why not?
"Martin County man sues sheriff's office after a database error leads
to 14 days in jail for a felony" by Meghan McRoberts
Hat top to Stephen P. Wenger.
This is why you must have a legal insurance policy. Who the hell is going to
donate to his Go Fund Me account?
Kjell Rosenberg's Facebook.com post --
Can a foreign national who is legally visiting but not emigrating use a
firearm while in a class setting?
*************************************************************************
------------------------------ Instruction --------------------------------
"Remember,
the students who require the extra effort
are the ones who need us the most!"
-- John Farnam
*************************************************************************
----- Instructors -----
"You must teach skill sustainment as part of training."
-- John Hearne
Gateway Instructor Development Course (Nashville), $ 450
Sat, Jul 11, 2026, 8:00 AM CDT – Sun, Jul 12, 2026, 6:00 PM CDT
Firearms Pharmacy, 705 Briskin Lane, Lebanon, TN
"You don't have to memorize formulae.
Because you can always derive them from first principles."
-- Sven Hartman
"Your curriculum needs to be recent, relevant, and realistic."
-- Austin Killmer
"The limited time you spend with students
may be the only training they ever receive!"
-- John Farnam
“The most valuable resource that all teachers have is each other.
Without collaboration, our growth is limited to our own perspectives.”
-- Robert John Meehan
“The student’s purpose is to expand their body of knowledge and social network.
The instructor’s purpose is to help the student achieve the student’s goals.”
-- Amy Schwartz
Colonel Robert Lindsey to his fellow trainers:
"We are not God's gift to our students.
Our students are God's gift to us."
“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
“Qui docet, discet.” (Who teaches, learns.)
-- American Society of Law Enforcement Trainers
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
"A false path will always be tensely, angrily, violently defended
by those it has deceived, because those who are so easily deceived
are ever too arrogant to repent.”
-- Instructional axiom
************************************************************************
----- Students -----
"Thinking is the hardest thing a person can do.
That's why so few people do it."
-- Henry Ford
“Train, Practice, Compete
are the key elements in the development of humans.”
-- John M. Buol, Jr.
"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
“It may seem difficult at first but everything is difficult at first.”
-- Miyamota Mushashi
"It's better to be wrong than to be vague."
-- Freeman Dyson
*************************************************************************
----- Andragogy (as opposed to pedagogy) -----
‟An instructor should not expect any learning to
take place the first time new information is presented.”
-- ‶Building Shooters″ by Dustin Salomon
"Growth is uncomfortable because you've never been there before."
-- Nicola Cavanis
*************************************************************************
Daria Zefir
[I remember Irishka telling me that she only made it in the
casinos in Ankara, Turkey because she had long slender legs.
Nothing wrong with taking advantage of God given assets.
-- Jon Low]
------------------------------ Gear --------------------------------
And the safe storage thereof.
"Lubing Your GLOCK in … 3, 2, 1 Easy Steps" by Jeff "Tank" Hoover
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
Excerpt:
"Too much oil is worse than not enough. Excess oil mixes with unburnt
powder, dust, dirt and other demons, making a thick slurry, eventually hardening,
to the point making your gun inoperable."
“Your car is not a holster.”
-- Pat Rogers
"FN PUREVIEW Holographic Pistol Sight" by Adam Borisenko
Excerpt:
"Traditional red dots use an LED emitter to bounce light off a reflective,
curved lens back into the shooter’s eye, creating the reticle. Conversely,
holographic sights use a laser diode and a holographic grating to project
a 3D image of the reticle towards the target on a flat lens."
"MSRP of $750."
"There are no dangerous weapons, only dangerous men."
-- Robert A. Heinlein
"That Carjacker Shot Dead In Texas? He Was An Illegal Alien" by Docent
Excerpt:
"The article adds that the father fired more than 10 rounds at Ramirez."
---
[The point is that if the father had had a revolver, he would not have been able
to solve the problem. No, he would not have had time to reload a revolver. If you
think you can reload a revolver during combat, you're delusional. If you think
you can present a second pistol during combat, you're delusional. The video of
this incident clearly shows that only a semi-auto with standard capacity magazine
would have been sufficient to shoot the bad guy until incapacitated. That's just
reality. Never argue with reality. ("High capacity magazine" is a propaganda term.)
-- Jon Low]
---
The purpose of a high capacity magazine is NOT to let you shoot more;
it is to let you reload less.
-- Tom Givens
"10 Steps in Choosing a Defensive Folding Knife" by Michael Janich
Hat tip to Greg Ellifritz.
“Mission drives the gear train.”
-- Pat Rogers
"Three-Dot Sights Suck and This is Why . . ." by Paul Markel
Hat tip to Docent.
[I concur. -- Jon Low]
"Three-Dot Pistol Sights: Just Say No" by Chris Baker
Hat tip to Docent.
"Why are the little things called little things?
They are everything."
-- Nicola Cavanis
"Picking Your Pistol: Four Mandatory Traits Of A Carry Gun" by Richard A. Mann
Excerpts:
Ease of Carry & Concealability
Then, assemble your options accordingly.
Reliability
Fortunately, most modern pistols from reputable manufacturers are very reliable,
but you might discover that you do not interface with a certain pistol very well
and that lack of a smooth interface can cause stoppages. You might also find
out a specific pistol—no matter how trusted the model—has reliability issues.
Shootability
If, from 5 yards, you cannot put five shots into a 5-inch circle in 5 seconds with
your chosen pistol, it might very well be the wrong handgun for you.
Effectiveness
. . . a particular cartridge might generate a recoil impulse that makes the pistol
unshootable for you.
Choose the largest caliber cartridge with the fastest velocity that you can
comfortably manage and shoot well, in a pistol that you can carry and conceal
reasonably easy.
[I disagree. You should choose the most massive bullet in your given pistol
chambering. Muzzle speed is not your primary concern. Mass is correlated
with penetration. Speed is not. Penetration determines terminal ballistics.
(Ya, I know the term "muzzle velocity" is commonly used. Velocity is a vector.
Speed is a scalar. So, I'm using the correct word.)
-- Jon Low]
Jon Plyler's Facebook.com post --
. . . I picked up [my pistol] to do some dry fire and noticed, every time I press
the trigger and drop the striker, the dot blinks off momentarily, then comes right
back. Obviously this is not good . . . tried it with and without magazine, same
issue. Subsequent trigger presses without dropping the striker don’t cause the dot
to leave. Tried physically striking the optic and couldn’t replicate the issue. It’s
been a little while since I’ve picked up this gun, but never has this issue previously.
---
Michael Branson's reply --
It's your battery. With the passage of Reese's Law last year the battery
manufacturers have to incorporate several steps in order to minimize the
chance of the battery being eaten by toddlers. One of these steps is a
"bitter coating" around the battery that tastes bad, so the toddler will hopefully
spit out the battery before swallowing it. The coating is interfering with the
contacts and creating intermittent power. In your wristwatch or grandpa's
hearing aid it doesn't matter that much. In optics, it'll cause reticles to blink
even in dry fire. Try to rub the bitter coating off with some very fine sandpaper
or quad zero steel wool, and then reinstall it and see if the issue subsides.
. . .
I made a video touching on this recently. Caleb Giddings at Taurus has also
made a video about it.
[I had to take a brass wire brush and brush both sides of my battery to get
it to work in my sight. -- Jon Low]
"What Makes a “Great” Gun?
Part 2
Range Time"
by Tom McHale
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Ammo sources:
(1000 rounds of 45 ACP, copper jacketed round nose bullets,
whatever the cheapest they got at the time, 14 May 2026 A.D.
Total including shipping and taxes.)
Unlimited Ammo
($519.90)
Target Sports USA
($580.05)
GunMag Warehouse
($492.07)
SGAmmo
($497.16)
True Shot Ammo
($500.87)
The Mag Shack
($519.98)
If you know of any others, let me know.
Parts sources:
Numrich Gun Parts
Wolff gun springs
*************************************************************************
Daria Zefir
"I'm not a model."
Indeed.
***** ***** ***** Intelligence ***** ***** *****
Always cite open source. There is always some conspiracy theorists who has said
what you want to say. Quote him. Everyone will understand.
From Soldier Systems Digest --
** SOF and Cyber Leaders Testify Before Senate
------------------------------------------------------------
Leaders from U.S. Special Operations Command, U.S. Cyber Command,
and the War Department testified on the posture of each combatant command
and their defense authorization request for fiscal year 2027 and the future
years defense program during a hearing before the Senate Armed Services
Committee in Washington, April 28, 2026.
Testifying were: Derrick Anderson, assistant secretary of war for special
operations and low-intensity conflict; Katherine Sutton, assistant secretary
of war for cyber policy; Navy Adm. Frank Bradley, USSOCOM commander;
and Army Gen. Joshua Rudd, National Security Agency director and
Cybercom commander.
Video Link: DVIDS, April 28, 2026, 1 hour 40 minutes.
Statement for the Record, Senate Armed Services Committee,
April 28, 2026, PDF, 16 pages.
The US led the development and employment of drones for decades,
but they were sophisticated and expensive during systems more akin to
reconnaissance and attack aircraft than smart artillery shells. Today, we
are playing catch up as commercially available drones are modified for
warfighting tasks.
www.thecipherbrief.com/america-fighting-wrong-drone-war
Despite rhetoric from both sides on the political front, the US and UK
military continues to work closely with one another to enhance interoperability.
These standards will eventually be adopted across not only NATO but with
other key partners worldwide such as Australia and New Zealand.
"CIA Kill Team Caught Hunting Cartels in Mexico" by Cappy Army
"Why Vladimir Putin REJECTED Jeffrey Epstein's Secret Demand"
by Michael Franzese and John Kiriakou
The important stuff is at the end.
---
"Ex-CIA, John Kiriakou Opens Up About the CIA’s Deep State Ties and
Political Influence"
by Carlos Watson Conversations
Interesting take on the traitors. John Mark Deutch. Remember the Deutch Rule?
This is the opposite of Intelligence, and so included in the Intelligence section.
More evidence that the legacy media and Hollywood lie to you.
They are propaganda organs, not news, not entertainment.
"At Stossel TV:
The FBI and Media Don’t Tell You How Many Lives Guns SAVE.
Elon Musk Tweeted out the Video!"
And like the NRA and the SPLC, the FBI is corrupt to the core, falsifying
data to advance their agenda. Makes you wonder why Kash Patel hasn't fired
them. It's extremely difficult to fire civil servants.
Propaganda.
"Ex-CIA Agent’s [John Kiriakou] Thoughts on Charlie Kirk’s Assassination"
by Tucker Carlson
"Two U.S. Flagged- Commercial Ships Sail Through the Strait |
How Does the Military Convoy Ships?"
by What's Going on With Shipping?
Hat tip to Sidney Ontai.
"Edward Snowden Is In Huge Trouble Today" by WOW
Snowden was not an NSA employee. He was a contractor.
He wasn't a whistle blower. He was a traitor. Who got a lot
of our people killed.
The whole wife story is false. The real girlfriend in Hawaii
was a nice kamaaina who had the sense to break up with him
and would never have followed him to Russia.
The Japanese emperors used similar techniques to keep the
"valued guests" under control. Encouraging / forcing them to
marry and have children, and then keeping their families at court.]
Even in "documentaries" there is propaganda. Shaping the
narrative.
The Truth About Blackwater: "Everybody Got Killed!"
by Mike Ritland
Excerpt:
17:40 / 23:41 to 21:47 / 23:41.
[My son told me a similar story. His unit had figured things out, where to go,
where not to go, how to handle situations; street smarts in theater. When their
replacement unit came in, they briefed the new guys. But the attitude was wrong.
The new unit did not follow the instructions from the incumbent unit. And they
all got killed. Bad leadership. -- Jon Low]
"Former FBI Agent Reveals the True Corruption in the Bureau |
Andy Stumpf and John Shipley" by Cleared Hot Clips
"Can a quantum sensor detect your heartbeat from 60 km away?"
by Veritasium
Veritasium doesn't think so either.
"Democrat Mayor Pleads GUILTY of Being a Chinese Spy &
Kathy Hochul CCP Staffer Gets ARRESTED!"
by Brian Maxwell - Real Politics Podcast
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Institute for the Study of war
The Dispatch
Strategy Page
"The Merge"
Breaking Defense
Intrigue
1440
29155
Global Recaps
Timber Sycamore
Ground News
Soldier Systems
Executive Order 12333
*************************************************************************
***** ***** ***** Signals Intelligence,
Ground Electronic Warfare,
Cyber Warfare,
(sometimes Air Electronic Warfare too) ***** ***** *****
Always cite open source.
"A free people ought not only be armed and disciplined,
but they should have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain
a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them,
which would include their own government."
-- George Washington
Artificial Intelligence really sucks.
"Everytown using AI to strip away our Second Amendment rights" by Lee Williams
Hat tip to Stephen P. Wenger.
Using AI to made any decision is the act of a moron. Believing anyting AI tells you
is an act of criminal stupidity.
"LINUS TORVALDS WAS RIGHT ABOUT MICROSOFT
BUT NOBODY LISTENED . . . " by Innovation Uncovered
"The Alibaba AI Incident Should Terrify Us - Tristan Harris" by Chris Williamson
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Breaking Defense has a weekly newsletter, "Networks & Digital Warfare" at
Crypto-Gram by Bruce Schneier
2600
Soldier Systems
*************************************************************************
"CELTANNIA - (LOREENA MCKENNITT - THE OLD WAYS) Extended version."
and my favorite,
"Loreena McKennitt - The Mummers' Dance"
***** ***** ***** Cryptology ***** ***** *****
Always cite open source.
Cryptosystems are considered "arms" by federal law, ITAR,
International Traffic in Arms Regulations. That means cryptosystems are
protected by the 2nd Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Never let the
government infringe on your right to keep and bear cryptosystems, to
include home made cryptosystems, to include sharing cryptosystems with
others.
"Never memorize anything. Rather, study it until it becomes obvious."
-- Norman Christ
Good to see so many of your recognized / remembered / figured it out.
Yes, there is an ordering that maps (-∞, ∞) to [+0, -0].
Consider the Kelvin temperature scale (absolute temperature scale) in a
system with finite degrees of freedom (infinite number of particles).
Temperature is define as the change in entropy divided by the change in
enthalpy. (Technically, the temperature equals the partial derivative of the
entropy with respect the the enthalpy, holding all other variables constant.)
When all the particles are in the lowest energy level, the temperature is
+0 (cold zero).
As you pump heat into the system, the particles move into higher energy
levels. The entropy increases as the enthalpy increases, so the temperature
rises in the increasing positive direction.
As you pump more heat into the system, the particles are uniformly
distributed in all of the energy levels. That is infinite temperature, +∞ = -∞,
because the entropy has maximized.
As you pump more heat into the system, the particles move into the higher
energy levels. Entropy is decreasing as the enthalpy is increasing, so the
temperature goes negative. When all of the particles are in the highest energy
level, the temperature is -0 (hot zero).
You may have seen this in your thermodynamics class or your analysis class
or your non-Euclidean geometry class.
"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
"Red & Black Knights (extraordinary result) - Numberphile"
by Neil Sloane
"Amazing Chessboard Patterns (extra) - Numberphile"
by Numberphile2
"You don't have to memorize theorems.
Because you can always derive them from first principles."
-- Sven Hartman
"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
"Computer science has nothing to do with computers or science."
-- Donald Knuth
"All that we don't know is astonishing.
Even more astonishing is what passes for knowing."
-- Philip Roth
"Premature optimization is the root of all evil."
-- Donald Knuth
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences (OEIS)
"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
*************************************************************************
*************************** This and That **********************************
"Deep Purple - Woman From Tokyo ft. Jon Lord" by Deep Purple Official
"What's Hidden Under Antarctica?" by Cleo Abram
The purpose of war is not to die for your country.
The purpose of war is to ensure that the other guy dies for his country.
— George S. Patton
"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
"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
"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
*************************************************************************
Clara Luise Jensen
************* Psychology **************************************
"Choosing to suffer." by Orion Taraban, Psy.D.
Wednesday, May 6th, 2026
A person's past is not an excuse for their present behavior. This is as true
for yourself as it is for those you're in a relationship with. While compassion
is a virtue, it is important that we do not fall into the trap of understanding –
for the good of all involved.
It's actually fairly easy to demonstrate why this is true. For every person,
who grew up with an alcoholic father and who uses his past to justify his
own drinking, there's another person who grew up with an alcoholic father
and who uses his past to justify a sober life. That is, for every person who's
identified with his past, there's another who is counter-identified with the same.
By the same token, people can go through very similar circumstances and
end up in very different places. Trauma is actually something that we continue
to choose. In most cases, the pain of the triggering event has long since
dissipated, and the wound is kept fresh in order to justify current behavior –
usually some form of withdrawal into character armor. Over time, this can
lead to identification with the place of the victim, which enshrines the
“stuckness” of trauma as a dimension of personality.
This week's behavioral experiment:
How might you be benefiting from remaining unhealed? Consider alternatives.
Warmly,
Orion
"7 Books That Destroyed Everything I Learned at Columbia"
by Pens and Poison by Liza Libes
Excerpts:
Nazism is Communism in a different disguise.
If the writing is clear, the writer is intelligent. If the writing is obscure,
the writer doesn't know what he's writing about. [Deep truth. -- Jon Low]
Psychology of Soviet Communism. Psychology of Totalitarianism.
You've got to read people you disagree with. [Deep truth. -- Jon Low]
************* End of Psychology section*********************************
Clara Luise Jensen
"The truth does not change according to our ability to stomach it."
-- Mary Flannery O'Connor
Morality.
John Conlee sings "Old School"
Merle Haggard & Willie Nelson "Okie from Muskogee"
“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
"Caroline Munro Singing Tar And Cement"
"In 1967, Munro, who had sung in her church choir, released her first single,
a breathy ditty called Tar and Cement, recorded at Abbey Road. Her backing
band was Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, better known as Cream,
alongside the future Yes guitarist Steve Howe."
Work smart, not hard.
Semper Fidelis,
Jonathan D. Low
Email: Jon_Low@yahoo.com
Radio: KI4SDN
Celine Bethmann
This one might be hard to find, so let me give you the file name,
645920965_18384041239158308_3601123778223071506_n.jpg.
Forty five digits, that's a lot of information. That's 10⁴⁵ states. Let's see,
10⁴⁵ = 2ˣ
Solving for x we get,
log₂(10⁴⁵) = log₂(2ˣ)
45 • log₂(10) = x
45 • log₂(2 • 5) = x
45 • [log₂(2) + log₂(5)] = x
45 • [1 + log₂(5)] = x
45 + 45 • log₂(5) = x
45 + 45 • 2.3219... = x
149.4867... = x
So, we've got 2^[149.4867...] bits of information.
^ means exponentiation.
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