137 – 24 – 23 = 90

Cleveland police engaged in a high speed chase, that ended in officers shooting the two men fleeing.  This wouldn’t sound to crazy, until you read the number cited in the article. 

• 2 Dead
• 30 Police Cruisers involved in chase.
• 13 officers fire
• 137 rounds (90 of which missed their target)

Yes Cleveland, I think it’s time to re-institute training. And while the use of a vehicle may constitute an attack with a deadly weapon. I am not sure it requires 13 officers to fire 137 rounds. And darn it, miss 65% of the shots fired.

Article
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Shoot First…..questions come later!

Disturbed by the increasing trend in modern police forcing to immediately resort to force.  Here is a perfect example, police gun down double amputee in a wheel chair.

That’s right, the man (who had a case history of schizophrenia) had apparently pinned an officer with his chair, and possessed an item in his hand.  So he was fatally shot.

The item happened to be the most dangerous of weapons – a pen. For we all know the “Pen is mightier than the Glock”.

—

Yes, the man was acting aggressive.  Yes, there was potential need for force.  But was there need for lethal force?  I am highly doubtful of that.  First, most officers these days are equipped with secondary non-lethal force items (baton, pepper spray, and tazers).  Were any of these put into use? They should have been…

“The officers made verbal commands for the suspect to drop whatever he had in his hand, to stay still and to speak with the officers, but the suspect continued to make threats,”

Second, I’ll go out on a limb here and say that there was no reason they should not have been able to restrain this man without the use of their firearms.  There were at least two offices involved per the article. The man was a double amputee, thus largely immobile. Even if one officer was pinned an attempt to grab the man’s hands should have provided both the determination that he did not have a gun, and the elimination of the man’s mobility through his wheel chair.

How hard would it have been for one officer to grab the chair and turn it on it’s back or both officers to restrain the arms. (Remember, this guy is a double amputee it’s not like he could use his legs to run or kick.)

Frankly, you could take any ol’ Joe, Jane, or 10 year old kid and put a gun in their hand and tell them go into a room and if any resistance or defiance is made – shoot!

That’s NOT WHAT WE PAY OFFICERS TO DO, we pay you to go into a room, handle a matter and shoot only as a last resort.  Shame, shame, shame….

I am sorry, but I am gravely concerned by how trigger happy many police departments have begun.  I feel police are merely armed citizens and should be held responsible to the same level as an armed citizen, just more so.  And if an armed citizen did what these Houston area police officers did they would in no way pass muster of self-defense.  So please, anyone, anyone in uniform, explain to me the justification of law enforcement officers to meet a lesser standard in armed conflict than a mere “armed citizen”.

Frankly, if I was a judge in this matter, I would make every officer in that department sit through the NRA’s pistol training courses:

• FIRST Steps Pistol Orientation
• Basic Pistol Shooting Course
• Advanced Pistol
• Basic Personal Protection In The Home Course
• Basics of Personal Protection Outside The Home Course

That would be the bare minimum to ensure that said officers not exceed their authorized role in society.  To the men in blue, I am sorry if this post is harsh, but it’s got to stop. Seriously, I understand you take risks day in and day out, and are underpaid to do so.  But that doesn’t lessen the responsibility and behavior that are required and expected by society.

 

 

 

More evidence NYPD needs better firearms training

NY police officer, responding to a robbery in a fluke incident, shoots the store clerk.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/07/us/new-york-mistaken-police-shooting/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

Granted, the clerk was fleeing and bumped into the incoming officer.  Per the article causing an accident discharge.

#nraam A Must Have

For the past couple of NRA Annual Meetings I’ve gone on about needing a laser based dryfire system.

Alas someone has answered the call. This will be purchased in near future.

The “How Not” of Gun Training

http://www.icanhazgunpermit.com/

Granted the site is satirical in nature. Toward the bottom of the site there is a statement to that effect, expressing the importance of choosing good training.  Which leads me into the real topic of this post.

TRAINING!!!

TRAINING!!!

TRAINING!!!

It can be far to easy for many of us to collect guns, but not collect training.  This is akin to a soccer player buying lots of balls but never going out into the field to grow his skills.

While some advocate a $1 for training for every $1 of a gun. I don’t think that the average Joe is likely to do that. But at a minimum you should have a full course of training for pistols, rifles and shotguns.  By full course, I mean either a week long program or a series of step programs (ie: NRA First Steps, Basic Pistol, Protection in the Home, Protection outside of the home).  I’d also recommend additional training courses at least every 5 yrs – minimum.

That said, you don’t want jut any training, you want good training. Bad training can be as dangerous as no training at all.  There are reports out there of  instructors sweeping their students with loaded guns. Frightful.

The more gimmicks a training center offers, the more leery I am of it.  Take two hypothetical training centers that both charge $1,000 for a week long course.  Okay, so training center A offers a free handgun and training center B does not.  So “A” is clearly the better deal, right? Depends. A handgun is about $400-$500. Is one course really just a $500 dollar program with a gun tossed in to sweeten the deal and entice you? I’d see more value in a training program that included a set of those ear plugs with the sound dampening technology.  Much more beneficial to have all the student’s hearing protected while at the same time facilitating the hearing of the training centers instructors. Wow…that would have merit.  But a freebie that doesn’t really aid in training should make someone question why it’s there. Why it needs to be there.

Don’t get me wrong. Not all freebies are a bad thing. Many ranges/dealers will offer discounts on firearm purchases to those who complete their courses. The idea there being to bring new shooters in, train them, and provide the with a firearm.

I believe there are two keys to good training, they  are the following “quality of reputation” and “personality”:

– research the trainer/training facility, ensure that the instructors have a qualified background and a good reputation (especially for the larger training centers)…remember “Google is your friend!”

– meet the instructor, or chat on the phone. Make sure that you connect with the instructor. Not everyone’s personalities click together. You may encounter a great instructor who’s delivery just doesn’t do it for you. Maybe the instructor is just over-bearing and over-zealous, he might be great for your friend Bob who has owned guns for years, but not quite right for you. Be sure to find someone you can learn from.

NOTE: The parody site is published by Joel Rosenberg  of www.jewwithagun.com, firearms instructor and fiction author.  Author of Everything You Need to Know About (Legally) Carrying a Handgun in Minnesota and Everything You Need to Know About (Legally) Carrying a Handgun in Missouri. That said, I do not know much about Joel Rosenberg except what is included in Wikipedia. But I like science fiction and I like guns. So he scores two points there.

—

H/T to my father for sending me the link.

Basic personal skills to win your next gunfight

GUEST POST

In this post I will be covering what I consider the three most important skills one should posses to increase their odds of winning a gunfight. While this post will be useful to any average Joe law abiding citizen that exercises his or her right to protect themselves and their loved ones, it will be geared more toward the Military or Law Enforcement reader that may find themselves in a prolonged engagement.

When I say prolonged I am talking about a fight that lasts long enough that the individuals involved will be required to not only react to the initial threat but to also make decisions on the changing situation and constantly evaluate the battlefield to gain the initiative. Both sides will run through multiple sources of ammunition and be forced to maintain their weapon and ability to keep rounds going down range.

For some of us our need is ultimately to not only survive but to win the engagement by forcing the enemy or suspect to cease hostile actions through violent actions.

I said WIN the fight, not survive. If I were in the average Joe scenario and found myself faced with a life threatening situation while accompanied by my family, my thought process and priorities would be a bit different than if I were back in Iraq or Afghanistan fighting with fellow Marines.

What I am getting at is; as a citizen with my family, my goal will be to ensure my families SURVIVAL.

On the other hand as a LEO or US Warfighter, we have a job to do, a task to accomplish if you will and simply surviving is not enough and just doesn’t get it done..

Applying the fundamentals of hitting the target is by far the most important skill to have in a fight. Its pretty simple really, no no I am not saying hitting the target is simple, in-fact sometimes hitting the target is extremely difficult even for the well trained. What is simple however, is the logic behind my statement. Us good guys have one thing in common with the bad guys. We are all allergic to bullets and getting hit with one or two or three… is exactly the opposite of what you or the bad guy wants to have happen in the gunfight.

Right now your probably thinking I should get on with it and stop just stating the obvious or your going to click the little X at the top right of your screen. I am stating the obvious because sometimes we need a reminder of the goal. I see and hear about people all the time who have the most tricked out gun, wear the latest gear and train by running around (or standing static) on a range just spraying led downrange and only making critical hits with a small percentage of their shots. To me this type or training is completely counter productive and all they are doing is creating bad habits. So feel free to postpone the ninja training until you are able hit the target consistently. Get the consistent accuracy down first then build on the delivery speed practically and as you speed up I am willing to bet that your accuracy will remain.

I hear the argument all the time about speed versus accuracy and I always say there is no argument. Speed and accuracy go hand in hand. Speed is important but not as important as a hit.

Still not convinced? Still say that speed is more important than accuracy? Then consider this, When is the last time you heard of someone killing a bad guy because they missed him really really fast?

Bottom line, rule 1 – is to hit the target. You just can’t possibly miss someone fast enough to kill them.

OK, so you’re in the fight and you have applied the fundamentals approximately 28 to 30 times while doing your best to get effective hits but considering your current situation (being shot at and having to fire in very awkward positions) the threats are still present. Assuming you are using a weapon that has a 30 round magazine it is now time to perform the second most important individual skill that you will use in a fire fight. Reloads!

There are two types of reloads you will be using in your fight. First there is the tactical reload or also known as condition one reloads. With a tactical reload you are simply keeping a round in the chamber and inserting a fresh magazine so your weapon is as full as possible for the next round of gunfighting.

Next we have speed or also known as a dry reload. Here the shooter is actively engaging the threat and the weapon runs out of ammo forcing you to get the weapon back up and running as fast as possible.

I can tell you from first hand knowledge that running dry in a fight can be either a scary thing or it can be a scary automatic thing. The goal is to make dry reloads second nature but a rare occurrence. I say rare because it is a heck of a lot better to reload when you want to reload vice when you have to reload. Of course in some situations there is no time to conduct tactical reloads, but if you do find yourself in a fight and there happens to be a lull in the action or you are about to make entry into a new room that may contain threats, a fresh mag is going to be much better than an almost empty one.

For the speed or dry reload your goal is to get the gun back in the fight as fast as you possibly can. It is as simple and as complicated as that.

Before we move on to our third skill I will take a second to cover something that I am sure some of you are thinking about. That would be the question of what do I do with my empty or not so full magazines during our two types of reloads?

First of all DO NOT EVER DIE FOR YOUR MAGAZINE but do your best to retain it if it has ammo in it or you are operating in an environment where you cannot replace the magazine for future fights. Now we could go into details about scenario after scenario and what to do in the zombie apocalypse but we are just going to leave it at don’t die for you mag but try to keep it. (there really is no reason to not retain used mags in a tactical reload unless you have to get on the trigger while conducting it)

Lastly, we have the least occurring yet most dreaded thing to have to do in a fight. (if it isn’t the least occurring I think its time to rethink your weapon of choice)

“The loudest sound on the battlefield is the sound of your hammer falling on the firing pin and nothing happening” -me

Clearing stoppages is the third skill we need to master and here are the types we need to worry about the most. Obviously some stoppages are much more common than others so when you are practicing clearing them you may want to spend more time on the most common ones. I have them ordered in most to least common.

• Failure to feed/failure to fire. When this occurs you will hear that loud click of the hammer falling with no big boom after.
• Double feed or brass/rounds obstructing the chamber. Easily identifiable because you can see that two pieces of matter are trying to occupy the same space but Newton says no no no and that makes your gun not work anymore or at least until you fix it.
• A stove pipe is a stoppage that we need to train to clear even though it is a very very rare occurring stoppage.

If you are using a an AR type rifle, have fired a heck of a lot of rounds through your gun and god hates you, then there is a chance you have experienced a brass above bolt stoppage. ( I know God loves us all but this stoppage sucks so bad that Marines call it “god hates you”)

In this stoppages the brass of usually a non fired round will be lodged primer end first above the bolt, and you will have a very hard time pulling your charging handle to the rear. Despite how crappy this may sound or how bad it was when it happened to you. There is a an easy way to clear it and I will tell you how to get it cleared in 3 to 5 seconds on episode 019 of Gunfighter Cast.

(You can think of this as some kind of promo if you like, but truth be told I can tell you with my voice how to clear the stoppage much easier than I can type it.)

I will also elaborate on the other skills I covered and give you some different training techniques so you can be more proficient in these areas.

In summary. There are things that you are going to do if/when you get into a gunfight and you need to train so you can do them very well.

There is an old saying “the more you sweat in peace, the less you will bleed in war”. So get your sweating in now while working on these skills that way when you find yourself in a gunfight, not only will you survive and make it through the fight but you will overwhelm the enemy with uninterrupted accuracy and ensure that the good guys win.

Gunfighter Cast… Out

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By Daniel Shaw
Host of Gunfighter Cast

The Decline of Civilization and the Danger it Poses

We are fast losing the aspects that make a culture civilized. Our moral compasses have lost north. We are seeing a culture that is showing signs of dying.  There are always individuals who have no moral compass – they rape, murder, & steal. But in general the individuals of a civilized culture stand against such behaviors.

However, increasingly we are seeing elements of our culture sit by and witness such events without lifting a finger or even revelling in the deed.  Or defending such actions in the case of Roman Polanski.

Imagine if your daughter was being raped outside a homecoming dance. And as people witness the event, instead of intervening and stopping it, they told their friends. Who told their friends. Instead of people coming to stop the horrendous event they come to watch and be entertained. For two long hours the events transpire.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/28/california.gang.rape.bystander/index.html

In such a decline one can find themselves all alone, even while in the midst of many.  One cannot count on fleeing to others for help. This is why training and awareness is of the utmost importance. Training enables you to respond quickly to a situation and hopefully gain the upper hand to either overpower the threat or flee from it. Awareness helps you to see the threat before it is close enough to engage you – enabling you to flee from it.

***

On a side note Caleb from Gun Nuts Media had a recent experience where his training came into play. Caleb is a competitive shooter. But if you read the account his first reaction was not to draw. Rather he utilized a cup of coffee to gain the initiative from his attacker, then drew.  The point is that part of training is ingraining into your being the ability to react.

http://gunnuts.net/2009/10/26/dont-bring-a-knife-to-a-coffee-fight/

 

 

 

http://gunnuts.net/2009/10/26/dont-bring-a-knife-to-a-coffee-fight/

Dry-fire and Home Defense

Range practice is becoming difficult. Even with ammo prices skyrocketing and the mere absence of common calibers on the store shelves may preclude your range practice as well – even if you’re a pro-gun billionaire who can afford the high prices,

One common training methodology is dry-firing. I have been trying to implement this in my training more. Along with learning my home and it’s potential defenses.

Dryfire is the practice of performing a technique (be it aiming, drawing, reloads, etc) with anunloaded firearm.   The repetition helps to build muscle memory &  improve your technique.  It is highly recommended by experts for those who are wanting to practice and improve their skills as a shooter.

Always, always, check your firearm. Make sure it is unloaded. Then if you are able, place your ammo in a seperate location from where you practice OR lock it up.  This way there is little chance of confusion.

Here are some photos that I took. They are staged as I was using an automated timer on my camera to take the pictures in order to avoid pointing the firearm at anything I do not want to destroy (like a photographer).   But I did the actions so as to imitate the dry-firing I had been practicing involving drawing and re-holstering.

http://www.nugun.org/photos/nugun_2009_04_bedroom/

1.  I would grip the sidearm with strong hand and simultaneously place my weak hand to my chest.
      
2.  Draw the sidearm from the holster and rotate 90 degrees to be pointing toward the target.
   (This is in fact the first position in which one becomes able to fire the gun on target.)
      
3. Move sidearm toward my center and bring my weak hand onto it in order to secure a strong two handed grip.  (This too is a shootable position.)
    
4. Extend arms to preferred shooting position, while keeping sights level and trained on target.

Oakland BART Shooting

If you haven’t heard already, there was a recent shooting in Oakland involving a BART (metro service) law enforcement officer.  The situation is essentially as follows.  A fight or disruption occurred on a metro train. Several men were removed from the train. Most were lined up against a wall.  Some minor resistance was offered by a few of the men.  Later we see one of the men flat on the ground handcuffed.  One officer is on his back and a second has his knee over the man’s neck. Minimal resistance is occurring. When all of a sudden the officer on the back stands up, draws a sidearm and shoots the man in the back killing the man.

This was caught on video. You can see the video here, it’s about 2 minutes into it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKy-WSZMklc

There has been much protest over this incident. And I believe I read somewhere that the lawyer for the officer in question has turned in his resignation.  Rarely do I side against officers in their duty. But in this case, I believe this officer should be charged with manslaughter.  The victim was prone, the video shows him cuffed and held down. He was not thrashing about when the officer shot him in the back.

Now a rumor has been circulating that the officer in question had intended to taser the man. And my first reaction was, how in the world could the officer confuse the two.

I mean, most taser’s I have seen look like this:

However, a little googling revealed that many police officers wield a taser that looks like this.

Now this to me is a clear problem. The above police taser looks as if it’s modeled after a Glock (or other polymer) pistol. Now I can see how if one just instinctually drew and fired what one thought was to be a taser that there is the opportunity for confusion.

The shooter was a new police officer with 2 yrs on the force from what media reports made it sounds like.  And while I do think this incident requires “manslaughter” charges. I do believe that there may be some training and equipment issues to mitigate the sentencing of that charge, if the officer indeed intended to merely taser the victim..

I am of the opinion that the present police style of tasers is ultimately a poor design and should be eliminated. I would recommend a different grip. So as to deliberately distinguish the two arms.  Instead of a pistol style with grip on the bottom and long barrel protrusion. I think a full handle design would be better in the shape of a “D” with the launcher being on the front. This would make it much easier for the hands to instinctually distinguish between the two.

Please pray for both the family of the victim and the law enforcement officer involved in the shooting.

More info on the BART shooting.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/01/08/BART.shooting/index.html

2008 in Review / 2009 Gun Resolutions

2008 in Review:

Firearms Acquired:
– Ruger P-345 (first carry weapon)
– Ruger LCP
– Glock 17 (used)
– Mosin-Nagant (first rifle)
– Ruger Mini-14 Target (first new rifle)

NRA:
– Signed up for the Easy-Pay NRA Lifetime Membership
– Began process of becoming an EVC
– Attended first “Friends of the NRA” meeting.

Training:
– NRA First Steps
– NRA Basic Pistol
– NRA Basic Defense in the Home

Reading:
– The Gun Digest Book of Combat Handgunnery by Massad Ayoob
– Black Man with a Gun by Kenn Blanchard
– Gun Facts
– Common Sense by Thomas Paine

People I Brought to the Range:
– Father-in-Law (already a gun owner, but hadn’t been to the range lately) [1]
– Sister-in-Law’s husband and three young nephews [4]
– Pastor [1]
– Brother-in-Law, Sister-in-Law and her boyfriend [3]
– Co-worker (hunted when younger, had shot, but we went out together and I was able to help improve his aiming – we both have a GP100 6″) [1]

Total of 10 people I brought to the range.

Internet & Culture:
– Started the N.U.G.U.N. Blog
– Did a review for Gun Review Podcast @GRRN
– Attended a “carry” dinner

***

2009 Gunnie Resolutions:

(I am updating these and striking them through as they are achieved)

Acquire the following arms:
– 10/22
– Shotgun
– Others 🙂

Buy a house:
– Then I can buy a safe

NRA Involvement:
– Become the local EVC
– Become authorized to sign-up new members to the NRA
– Help with local Friends of the NRA events
– Sign-up 5+ new members
– Sign up 25 new members (new updated goal)

Personal Training:
– Dryfire weekly
– Compete and do so without errors.
– NRA Personal Defense and/or other CCW course
– NRA Basic Rifle
– Advanced tactical course
– Appleseed Event (I was encouraged to attend one. And seeing as I have little to no experience shooting rifles. I think it’d be beneficial. And it was pretty affordable so I am adding this to my goals.)

Future Reading:
– The Gun Digest Book of Concealed Carry by Massad Ayoob (acquired)
– In the Gravest Extreme by Massad Ayoob (acquired) [Read]
– Principles of Personal Defense by Jeff Cooper (acquired) [Read]
– Dial 911 and Die by Richard Stevens [Read]
– Gun-Proof Your Children by Massad Ayoob (endeavoring to acquire)
– Stressfire by Massad Ayoob (on the list to get)
– The Founders’ Second Amendment: Origins of the Right to Bear Arms by Stephen Halbrook

Other(s):
– Take at least 5 people to the range.

Internet & Culture:
– Further the N.U.G.U.N. Blog
– Do more reviews and auxilliary podcasts for the GRRN.
– Attend at least 2 “carry” dinners.
– Attend a “gun blogger” event.

This post was inspired by MArooned’s recent post here! If you don’t read MArooned’s blog YOU SHOULD!!!  It is one of my favorite gun blogs.