Nov. 12th - New NRA Instructor Rating!

Nov. 12^th

Well last weekend I earned another instructor rating with the NRA.

Up until now I’ve been credentialed to teach students Basic Firearm Safety, as well as the NRA pistol course.  Now I can teach you skills you hopefully never need to use:

NRA Personal Protection in the Home.

I was a little dubious about this class.  Self defense encounters are typically unmanageable affairs often at extreme close quarters.  For the National Rifle Association to codify certain “dos” and “don’ts” seemed a bit like writing the rules for how and when a river is going to flood.

Nonetheless, I’ve never been one to claim that too much training is a bad thing.  So this last weekend I spent sixteen hours in a classroom and at a live fire range learning how to deal with the unthinkable.

First off….the class was fantastic.  TJ, my NRA Training Counselor at AllSafe Defense in Orange California did an exceptional job of preparing us on how to teach our courses, as well as some of the underlying dynamics of the subject matter itself.

The NRA breaks down defensive strategies to two areas : Personal Protection in the Home, and a second class of Personal Protection Outside the Home.   This second class is really intended for people that have made the decision to get a concealed carry permit, and the class serves as the mandatory training requirement for most jurisdictions across the country.

Personal Protection in the Home encompasses a broader student base.  Many people live in jurisdictions that prohibit the carrying of concealed weapons.  Thereby making use of a firearm for personal protection outside the home illegal.  All Americans enjoy a recognized fundamental right to use a firearm for home defense though, and by and large the most common firearm used for home defense is a pistol.

Now I should pause and state that the use of a firearm in someone’s home defense strategy plan is an intensely personal decision.  Frankly it is not right for everyone, and most importantly, the willingness to use that firearm must be developed well before the actual need arises. 

Debating the spiritual and emotional consequences of stopping a human threat with lethal force during the encounter is totally unacceptable.  That decision should have been completed before the firearm was ever purchased.  Some people are fundamentally unprepared or refuse to use lethal force to end a threat scenario.  That is not to be read as a negative.  It is what it is, and the self-analysis is to be respected. 

As many of you know I am a hunter.  I believe that we are genetically predisposed to hunting or gathering, much as some warriors and police officers will confide that they believe that people are inclined to be sheep or sheep dogs.  (Well….they can also be wolves as well.)

I would never try and convince a non-hunter…someone predisposed to gathering...that they “need to hunt”.  Much as a gatherer will have little success in convincing me to pack away my rifle and only eat grains.  We are just predisposed to a certain mindset, and must respect that predisposition.

But we must acknowledge it! 

If you are not prepared to use lethal force to protect you or your family, why the hell are you going to use a gun in your self defense plan?

Now, many of you know that I am quite the fan of live fire drills.  And this class afforded me the opportunity to test out my shooting prowess in a unique method…..timed rapid fire drills. 

The theory here is that in a life or death situation it is incumbent on us to put as much lead into our threat until it stops being a threat.  Normal range safety requires us to limit our shots to one per second.  A normal threat fire scenario might require five or six shots in a second, while moving in low light! 

Tactical drills like this on a live fire range is first and foremost a hell of a lot of fun. 

Secondly, it can be an eye opening experience.  For someone who prides himself on accuracy there is a concept called “defensive accuracy” that is difficult to wrap ones brain around.  Defensive accuracy means shooting well enough to put all your rounds on a 9inch plate at about 15 yards.  If your holes are touching each other, (something I normally strive for when shooting) it means you are shooting too slow.  Our live fire portion of the class demanded speed from us, as well as consistent defensive accuracy. 

So, kudos to the NRA, and to TJ at AllSafe for helping me become a Personal Protection in the Home instructor. 

My pedigree continues to expand!

Nov. 9th...The Election Aftermath

Nov 9^th

Well we are now election + 2 days.

I rarely discuss politics, save my usual rants about the 2^nd amendment or obvious political corruption…issues that should transcend partisanship.  Like religion, sexual orientation, or a preference of dogs to cats these are deeply personal issues.  What I write will neither motivate a change in belief amongst my readers, nor seriously bolster one who agrees with me. 

Frankly I’m just not that good.

That said, I will disclose that I voted for Romney.

I did not vote for him because I salivated over his economic plan.  He ran as a “business man” and frankly I’ve been intimately involved with “big business” for the last seventeen years…what I’ve seen does not fill my heart with tremendous resolve.

I did not vote for him because of his position on social issues.  Other than saying he would not stop a woman from buying a condom….what the hell “social issues” were involved here???

I didn’t even vote for him because of his stance on the 2^nd amendment.  The party platform was the most pro-second amendment platform in history, but Romney’s own record on gun rights is checkered.

I voted for him because I seriously don’t like people telling me what to do, and I felt…well still feel… that the chance to push government apparatchiks away  from my life had a better chance under a Romney administration than under another Obama administration.

Well….that is over with now.

The majority here in California also voted to confiscate the wealth of minorities.  Yep….you read that right.  Not racial minorities, but rather, economic minorities.  It seemed perfectly reasonable to allow one large group of constituents to confiscate through force the property of a smaller group of constituents. 

Interestingly there were no provisions made for going after the minority constituents when they decide to flee the state and set up shop somewhere else.  What to do then???

Yes the 2^nd amendment took a blow.  How it manifests itself we must wait and see. 

That said my paradigm has shifted, and in some sense possibly elevated about the American people.  52ish percent of the population voted to make sure that the goodies taken from the other 47is percent keep flowing too them.  What’s worse is that the majority has become collectivists.  They think of themselves as free thinkers, but they are not. 

They are conformists.

They have accepted a lifestyle where others demand behavior from them, and they have acquiesced….after all the Mandarins from above think the “right” way and therefore must be correct in their executions. 

We saw this disaster manifest in the Cultural Revolution in China.  In a sense it is coming to pass here in the States.  It didn’t end well there, and I fear it won’t end well here.

One passing ray of hope though….

John Locke articulated a political philosophy which watered down went something like this:  Each of us is born Sovereign.   Completely free and in control of our destiny.  To make a society function efficiently and ensure that others don’t use brute force to take our stuff and enslave us we slice off a tiny portion of that sovereignty and place it in trust with our government.  Their control over us is limited to that tiny slice we willingly surrendered.  If the leaders attempt to expand this sphere beyond what has been enumerated the covenant is broken and the power reverts to the individual to await a new legitimate government in which to once again place our faith.

The President offered two things to the masses: Social freedom, and economic slavery.  They couched Romney as offering the opposite…though as I mentioned earlier that was probably a bit unfair. 

What history teaches is that slaves are not content to remain slaves.   They are destined to through off their yoke of oppression.  Will the 47ish percent break their chains soon?

I don’t know.

It might take awhile, and self recognition may motivate the majority to see things in a new light too….eventually.

That said a catalyst might speed things up:

Margaret Thatcher said that socialism is fine until the other guy’s money runs out. 

What will the majority do then? 

Oct 16 - Field Dressing and Skinning

Oct  16 - Field Dressing and Skinning 

Tools of the Trade!

After my last posting about my deer hunt I was asked to post a blog detailing the skinning process from start to finish.

Now the smart way to do this would be to post pictures to allow my “visual learner” readers to follow along with the process.  Unfortunately, I never bothered to document the process with pictures so I’m going to have to ask you all to indulge me and follow along as best you can.  If I confuse you I apologize….send me an email at slieberman03@gmail.com and I’ll do my best to clear up any misunderstandings!

First….let’s talk about tools:

You need a knife, a sharpener, a hack saw and some way of hoisting the beast to make your work easier to perform.  (Actually the hoist is more of a luxury…you can easily do all this work on the ground….and I’ve done it that way before….but if you can hang your game you will find that this whole process works a lot easier.)

Ok…so let’s start out immediately after the shot has rung out, and your game has just been converted from a free creature of the wild to your own personal property.

The first thing you need to do,  as quickly as possible, is remove all of the internal organs of the animal.  This is essential to protect against meat spoilage, and helps to do two things:

1) Reduce the amount of acids that can effect the quality of the meat.

2) reduces to weight of the creature and makes it easier to drag out of the field.  (There is an additional benefit as well…the forest creatures will love the free meal of iron rich tripe you leave behind for them!)

So….how do we cut this thing open?  First turn the game on it’s back, or side, and spread the hind legs as far apart as possible.  Now using your ultra sharp hunting knife insert the blade around the anus and cut a circular incision around the entire sphincter.

Now isn’t this fun?

Next find the sternum.  With a light sweeping motion of the freshly sharpened blade, create an incision from the sternum down to the anus.  Be careful not to cut too deeply…you want to gently split the skin keeping the internals intact.  I have seen hunters use a gut hook to literally “unzipper” the skin….I’m not a big fan of this as too often the gut hook nicks an intestine and the resulting bile creates a mess.

Once the organs are exposed it’s time to get dirty.  Grab hold of them and pull them out! If the incision you made around the anus was deep enough and through the colon should come out as well.

If you did this right you should now have a steaming pile of gray on the ground next to you.  You should also have exposed the diaphragm still inside the beast holding back the heart, and lungs.  If you shot the animal correctly there is a good chance that they have been liquefied, and your next step is potentially very messy.

Using your knife cut out the diaphragm, now CAREFULLY reach inside with your left hand (assuming you are right handed) and feel around for a hard tube near the inside of the throat.  This is the windpipe and the esophagus.   Now with your right hand take your knife and reach up and cut that pipe.  This is kinda hard since you will not be able to see what you are doing…just be careful not to hurt yourself.

Now that the pipe has been cut put your knife to the side and scoop out the internals.  The animal is now field dressed….the next step is either to drag it out of the field or  to skin it right there.  We will assume that your going to get it out of the field and will be doing the skinning job at home.

Ok…so now your home and you’ve dragged your deer into the back yard or your garage.  You could do the skinning process in your front yard but for obvious reasons I don’t recommend it.

If you have the ability to hoist the animal that will help tremendously. 

Cut an incision in each hind leg right below the knee joint between the bone and the Achilles tendon. The cut should pass completely through the leg and allow a hoist or hook to go through it.  Now, using a rope and some buddies, lift the game up and tie it off so that the game is hanging upside down with the butt about shoulder level with you.

Now….using a newly sharpened knife make a slight cut just below the hooks all the way around the knee.  (Do this on both knees).  You should not see any blood….what you should see is the bright white of the dermal layer.  Next cut an incision up the leg towards where the anus used to be.  (Again….do this on both legs.) 

With that complete, pull the fur on the leg towards you and sweep the knife lightly under the incision points.  The skin should immediately “pull” from the body.  Start at the highest point and work down.  So…you start at the original incisions near the hooks and slowly work towards the butt.  Once you’ve arrived at the butt you can now start pulling the skin down over the back of the animal. 

Do this work slowly!  The inside of the skin should be white.  If you see red chunks of meat hanging onto the skin you are going to fast and need to slow down.  (If you want to keep the hide you will need to go back once it is off and remove all of that meat).

When you have the skin down past the stomach grab a hacksaw.  This is now the time to saw the pelvic bone in half.  Again start at the anus and work down.  Once the bone is split, the entire animal should open up even more.

Ok..back to skinning.  Continue pulling the skin down the body.  By now the skin should be hanging down over the head.  You will need to work around the shoulders and find a point on the front legs to make a similar “ring” cut as you did on the hind legs.  This allows you to slip the skin off around the shoulders and begin peeling it away from the neck.

Once you have the skin down around the top of the neck it’s time to grab the hack saw again. 

Time to saw the head off! 

This is usually surprisingly more difficult than you would think.  Just stay with it, the saw will eventually cut through and the neck.   Once this is complete the head and the skin (now called the “cape”) will fall to the ground.

Now is when I usually take a hose to the carcass and remove any dirt or hair that was accidentally left on it. 

This is also the time I remove the non-edible parts of the legs…(the parts where we did not bother to skin). 

Ok….so now we have a huge carcass hanging on a couple of hooks looking like something you would see in a butcher shop.

Grab a couple of large bins to hold the meat, and let’s do some initial butchery!

Take your knife (sharpen it again) and start cutting away along the shoulder.  The joint for the shoulder should come out easily.  Place both shoulders in the bin. 

Next, reach inside the carcass and remove the tenderloins that run along the inside of the spine.  Once those are out remove the meat that runs along the back on the outside.  These backstraps are the best!!!

Finally take off whatever neck meat you want, and lastly remove the hind legs.  (When you do this the stripped carcass will fall to the ground.)

And there you have it!  A fully stripped and processed game animal!

Oct. 15th - Second Successful Deer Hunt!

Oct. 15^th

Often times a repeat of an event leaves a lack of luster.  The original experience stands as a benchmark that rarely is overcome.  With the passage of time, memories tend to sweeten, and what was originally pleasant is thought of as ecstatic.  That in and of itself is not a bad thing.  Like the pain of child birth the discomfort vanishes, and the only the glory remains fixed in memory.

Hunting and hunting stories are a lot like this.  The whole concept of an oral history tradition comes from hunting.  (Along with it, the resulting inaccuracies of history and the coloring of the transcript).  When the story slams up against a second chance to relive the experience the result is typically disappointment. 

With this knowledge I prepared to leave for my annual Southern California deer hunt.  A hunt that I had finally experienced success on, the previous year.  The memories of bagging my first California buck after five years of trying still bounced around in my head as a vividly as yesterday, and I was not eager to spoil the “perfection” of that event.

Rather than spike camp as I had the previous year I decided instead to wake up early…really early….and head up to my little hunting area about an hour before day light.  Oct. 13^th was opening day for General Rifle Season and I knew from a previous scouting trip that there were deer present….how many remained a mystery though. 

That mystery cleared up pretty quickly. 

As I drove up to my usual place, I passed two bucks literally standing in the road.  One a nice youngster, the other a mature buck.  It was dark, and I am ashamed to say that the first thought that crossed my mind was how I could shoot one of these guys on the spot  and justify 1) illegally shooting from a road, and 2) illegally shooting before the season officially opened up. 

(Deer season begins at first light on the second Sat. in the month of Oct.  First light is defined as enough natural light to safely identify a buck.  This was not first light….it was about 5 am, and completely dark out.  The only light that was present came from the head lights on my truck ….not exactly “natural”.)

Fortunately my ethical dilemma solved itself.  The bucks ran off.

I drove to my usual parking spot and geared up for my hike to a predetermined blind.  I made sure to also take my shooting sticks this year.  Last year I made a 175 yard shot from the kneeling position.   The shot was true, but I didn’t like the risk I had to take in making it.  This year I would have sticks…just in case.

I found the same nice rock I sat on last year.  There were more chaparral bushes around it this time,…that worked…it gave a little bit more concealment. 

There I sat quiet for an hour as I waited for the sun to work its way up on the horizon. 

About 6:10 I started bleating. 

This is a mimicked sound of a fawn in distress.  The idea is that a buck in the area will come to investigate. 

Sure enough, after a couple of bleats I saw a deer pop up from the canyon and start cautiously making it’s way towards me.  I grabbed my binoculars.  It was still too dark for me to accurately identify if it was a buck or a doe.  I raised my rifle and acquired the deer in my scope.  Still too dark.  I was sure I saw antlers on it…but I could not be 100% sure.  Damn it!  I started calling too early.  This had to be a buck!  But ethically I just couldn’t shoot.

It came with in 25 yards of me.  Now the sun was cresting the horizon and I was relived that I had not shot.  She was a doe.  I bleated again and she strained to see where the “fawn” was in the bushes. 

Well…this might work out.  A doe might serve as an enticement to a buck about to enter the sexual frenzy of the rut.  It is still a little early for the rut…but hey…you never know!

Sure enough, about 15 minutes later as the doe continued to casually feed in front of me I saw a beast of a buck charging towards us about 600 yards out.

I glassed it with my binoculars and almost had a heart attack.  Our deer in Southern California are small.  Antlers and also pretty small, never really exceeding small forks over the eyes.  This guy approaching was huge…and his antlers were down right respectable!

Not a bad buck for Southern California!

I watched as he approached and started to prepare myself.  Suddenly he disappeared behind a small hill.  I raised my rifle and prepared for him to come out on the far side.  Two minutes later it stood majestically in  my scope…a perfect left shoulder presentation, 90 yards away. 

I shot, and he went down.

This deer was “perfect”.  This deer hunt was “perfect” too.  Artemis had smiled on the poor fool again…two years in a row.  While the first hunt had taught me about perseverance….this one taught me about patience and ethics. 

I had two chances to “do the wrong thing”.  One, when I encountered the bucks on the road on the drive in.  Second, when I could have ignored the mandate to “know your target” and illegally shot the doe.

When I did see the buck, I could have fired immediately..(and probably missed)…rather than waiting for the buck to close the distance.

So here he is, right before I started skinning him.  This picture gives a better shot of his antlers.

So now the freezer is full for another year…and my memories will continue to “improve” until next years adventure!

Chaney and her 9mm

Oct. 5^th

A week ago I took my youngest daughter Chaney to one of our monthly Safari Club meetings.  She loves going to these things and hanging around a bunch of hunters and listening to their stories.  The upside for her, since she is an eleven year old kid (and a girl) she is treated as a mini-celebrity whenever she shows up. 

We hunters have an ulterior motive in making her feel as welcomed as we do.  We want her to hunt!  More specifically we want her to grow up and continue hunting.  She is the next generation to go afield, and she is a female to boot.  This is a demographic we desperately need to nurture and increase.

At the conclusion of our meetings we hold a raffle.  We start with a firearm that is donated every month as our “grand prize” then subsequent ticket winners get to choose prizes ranging from T-shirts to knives.  This raffle also included free range passes to a local shooting indoor shooting range. 

Well…Chaney won.  Not the gun (unfortunately), but she did score the free range passes. 

On our way home she asked when we could go.  Now Chaney is quiet the rifleman (well…”riflegirl”) but she has never shot a handgun.  I explained to her that we could go anytime we wanted to, but that the range is really more of a handgun range.  We really can’t shoot high powered rifle there.

She thought about that for a millisecond and said, “That’s ok….I want to learn how to shoot a pistol”.

Ok then.

Chaney the "riflegirl" with her bison she took with a Winchester Model 70 chambered in 30.06

So…a couple of days later we headed over to the range when I got home from work.  I had told her that I would start her off on a .22 pistol (very light recoil) and then, when she felt she was ready I would move her up to the 9mm.  (My concealed carry gun is a Sig Sauer 239 chambered in 9mm.  I felt that this would be an appropriate gun for her because it is big enough to absorb some of the recoil, but not sooooo big that she wouldn’t be able to hold it properly.)

Before we left the house I went over the fundamentals of pistol shooting….grip, stance, breathing and the functionality of the firearm itself.  She handled it well,…but I could see trepidation in her.  She was nervous,…but determined to work through it.

When we got to the range I rented a .22 ruger and we headed to our lane.

She loaded up the .22 and began taking shots at the paper target 25 feet away.  After the first shot, and the fear of the unknown dissipated, she began plinking away with delight.  Now it was time to move up to the Sig.

Again I saw the trepidation return.  She was determined to shoot this larger caliber, but she was clearly nervous.  Other shooters were shooting around us, so she had become instantly familiar with the noise that 9’s 40’s and 45’s make…and frankly they are pretty damn loud…especially when discharged in a building.  Still she loaded up the magazine of the Sig and prepared herself mentally for the first shot. 

For those of you unfamiliar with the Sig…the pistol is a semi-automatic Double Action / Single Action firearm.  What this means is that the first trigger pull requires a full press of twelve pounds of pressure.  This is a lot…and the travel of the trigger is pretty long too…but the action of pulling the trigger causes the hammer at the back of the gun to travel backwards then when it reaches it’s full arch to fall forward and slam the firing pin causing the gun to go “bang”.  The gas expansion of the cartridge in the chamber then forces the slide back…expelling the spent cartridge, forcing the hammer back, and then chambering another round.  Now that the hammer is back, the second trigger pull is a “single action”…pull the trigger and the hammer just falls.  This second (and subsequent) trigger pulls now only require three and a half pounds of pressure.

So…Chaney concentrated…pressed the trigger, and put her first round in the center of the target!  She shot a second time and placed the bullet about 4 inches from the first.  Then…without me coaching, she raised the gun slightly and did a third round in the “head” of the target.  Then she calmly looked down her sights waived the gun back and forth in a scanning motion then looked at me for direction.

I was stunned.  She performed a perfect “failure drill”.  (Two shots center mass, and a “failure” shot in the head.  Then the scanning for additional threats). 

“Where did you learn how to do that?”  I asked incredulously

“I’ve watched you shoot dad….I just figured that is how you do it.”

Hmmmm….children do pay attention to your actions apparently.

So…after burning through another hundred rounds or so we packed up and headed home.  

Did she enjoy shooting the pistol?

Well…based on her incessant demands on the way home to check our calendar and set up anther time to go back, and her asking me if she could get a semi-automatic for Christmas, I would say yeah…she enjoyed it! 

NRA Pistol Instructor

Sept. 25

I have evolved!

For years I have been training people to shoot….(usually ad hoc and without a standard curriculum.) I’ve always thought I’d done a fairly good job of it, and frankly my classes have been limited to new shooters or those with very little experience. 

Those that have wanted more advanced training I’ve passed along to a training academy that offers specialized advanced scenario course offerings.

Well….that same training academy offered to take me to the alter and make me legitimate!

See…one of the downsides to informally teaching people to shoot is that my legal liabilities are completely exposed.  As you know I have a real problem with being exposed!  To remedy this the NRA offers a chunk of liability insurance to those individuals that possess NRA Instructor Certificates.  That, and course materials that make the whole teaching thing a little more systematic, and frankly professional.

(Besides, being able to say “I’m an NRA Pistol Instructor” just kinda sounds more badass then “Yeah...I shoot a lot so I guess I’m competent to teach you)

So…the training facility I use decided to offer an NRA Instructor Certification class.  Now….these trainers are primarily Law Enforcement, Military, or Security Operators.  They do teach civilians, and do an exceptional job of it, but their main function is expanding on the talents of their fellow operators. 

A couple of interesting things:  First off when you are at a tactical range that is populated by spooky ex-special forces guys preparing to go back to Crapistan and do unmentionable things, you get to see some pretty friggen cool stuff.  The coolest though is the people themselves.

I had the chance to sit down and talk with a young man who just recently left the British SAS.  (For those of you who don’t know, the SAS is similar to our Navy Seals).  I asked him if the training he acquired in the UK relied on different fundamentals then what is offered here in the US.

His answer was interesting…..He said that in the UK where gun ownership is for the most part non-existent most service personnel pick up their first firearm when they enlist in the military.  As such their shooting skills are waaaay behind those of us that have been shooting since we were kids.

At the same time, while our US shooters may be more technically proficient our bodies don’t get the same attention.  Our diet and exercise patterns either bulk us up too much to be useful on the battlefield, or we just don’t bother with exercise at all and “let our bodies go to rot”. 

He has a point….our dedication to mastering marksmanship seems a bit misplaced if we are too exhausted to keep our sights on target.  On the other hand, in the US civilians…and again I’m only focusing on civilians…exclusively shoot defensively.  We really don’t need to have the body of marathon runner to chase down a target because, …well…it’s just not our job to “chase down a target”.  We hire guys like my Brit friend to do that for us!

At the end of the weekend I had passed my test, shot a whole ton of lead down range, and even became the Range Safety Officer for a while on a tactical range.  (Ok….just got to say being a RSO on a hot range is pretty friggen cool!!!)

So, now I’m not just that “guy” with a bunch of guns that is willing to teach you to shoot…..now I’m that “guy” with a bunch of guns that is also an NRA Instructor who is willing to teach you to shoot.

Pretty cool!!!  

Sept. 19th....Do I need a Gun?

Sept. 19^th

“Do I need a gun?”

That was a question posed to me by a neighbor who knows that our house is, … well…let’s just say “well armed”.  He was concerned about the upcoming presidential election and thought that it might be wise to buy a firearm now rather than risk not being able to buy one later.

Fair enough…..

Politics aside….there will always be movements to ban firearms, or to loosen the restrictions on owning them.  That is simply not something that is ever going to go away.  The decision to own a weapon…be it a baseball bat, a knife, or a handgun is an intensely personal decision and one that should be made independent of the political whims of the electorate. 

That said….as Col. Cooper once said (paraphrased) “Owning a gun does no more to make you a shooter than owning a piano makes you a musician.” 

This is a fundamental truth. 

Whims of product design or tactical methodologies will change and evolve until men become angels and put down their arms.  They have for the last 6000 years and I see no indications that we have reached the End of History and the Last Man. 

Weapons systems will change, some for the better some for the worse, good and bad ones will be abandoned, crappy and good ones will remain.  It just is the way things are.

In the world of shooting though, what "works" usually does tend to stay around for a while, while the truly ludicrous goes out of fashion relatively quickly.  The Colt 1911, one of the most ubiquitous handguns on the planet, has not really changed for over a hundred years.  Same with the 30.06 cartridge. 

So…with everything “tactical”…with zombie ammunition and targets all the rage….what are the fundamentals we should keep in mind as we ponder “Do I need a gun?”

Well…first of all….are you prepared to use it?

Going back to Col. Cooper….There are many people that have a grand piano in their living room that acts  more as a piece of furniture than a functioning musical instrument. 

Look…here is the brutal truth: are you the type of person who is simply not prepared to engage an enemy…(and when I say enemy, I mean someone who has violated the law and is in the process of threatening you with deadly force)….with the a counter-offensive, explosive use of lethal force?  No?  Then you probably are not a good candidate for gun ownership. 

Or a baseball bat for that matter.

On the other hand….when you peer down into your soul and come to terms with the fact that you are prepared do what it takes to protect yourself and your family we arrive at the second fundamental….YOU NEED TO PRACTICE!!!

Firearms competency is not a factor of the weapon.  For the purposes of this discussion we will assume that all firearms you potentially have access to go “bang” when you pull the trigger. Actually stopping a threat under extreme stress with a targeted round….well…that is another story. 

If you have come to the conclusion that you are prepared to use lethal force to protect yourself you have to always keep in mind that your primary weapon system is YOU.  The gun,..the knife, the baseball bat….those are just force multipliers increasing the amount of pounds per square inch that resist an on coming threat.  If the gun is not readily available, the chair…or the remote control, of that cup of coffee is. 

But let’s focus on the gun.

I mentioned that you need to practice….and to practice well…and consistently….you need to enjoy the practice.  The reality is that the chances of you being involved in a life or death struggle with an assailant are thankfully low.  Spending hours at the range…and a fair chunk of money…does seem a little ridiculous unless the actual practice is a form of entertainment.  You won't go unless it is fun, and it won't be fun if the gun you own is difficult or painful to shoot.

So….  “Should I buy a gun?”

Well….my answer is in turn a question:  “Would you use it, and will you practice?”

If your answer is yes to both, then it’s time to head to the gun shop! 

Sept. 11 - The Future of Firearms Training

Sept – 11

Food has a unique ability to taste “better” when the initial impression is apprehension.  I am not entirely sure that Escargot tastes as good as I think it does…what I do know is that it tastes a hell of a lot better than I expected it to. 

So it goes with most things.  A movie or novel met with prejudice that is overcome exceeds the value of the same experience whose greatness was anticipated.

This naturally leads us to Firearms Simulators.

Years ago I participated in evaluating a Fire Arms Training Simulator or F.A.T.S. system.  The experience was less than enthralling.  While the argument can be made that the technology at the time was less than “cutting edge” the experience over all was more entertainment the educational. 

So with a healthy amount of skepticism I traveled to Tempe Arizona to meet with the folks at Virtra.

Virtra is a firearms simulator manufacturer.  Their product is primarily dedicated to Law Enforcement and Military, but civilians…especially CCW holders can benefit from the experience. 

First impressions:  on a scale of 1-10 the simulator ranks a 12 with an footnote of  Holy @#$@! That was  @#$@! Incredible!!!

Ok…the details:

Virtra makes a number of simulator products, but on my visit I trialed the “300” a totally immersive interactive simulator that “wraps around” the student and creates a “real world” environment.  When I say real world….I mean real world….think Holo Deck from Star Trek,  The student has a stage on which to operate of roughly thirty square feet.  Directional speakers create the absolute feel of being immersed in a training environment.  Multi- option scenarios controlled by an operator watching the action directs the student on a number of threat scenarios. 

One point that needs to be mentioned: these scenarios are NOT computer generated….they are filmed with live actors running multiple options.  An operator/instructor follows the student along as they engage the scenario and based on their actions the operator keys events that manifest in the simulation. 

As I mentioned these scenarios are developed for LEO and military.  They are hyper-realistic and…well…not for kids or the squeamish.  When a suspect or target is shot by the student they see the  results of their actions in vivid sometimes gory detail.  Failure to engage has consequences too….and both visually and emotionally they can be devastating.  In running a hostage rescue scenario I flat out missed a suspect holding a woman hostage.  I won’t go into details here about what happened in the scenario, suffice to say I had feelings afterwards bordering on PTSD.

They also have developed practice ranges that run on the simulator.  These are equally outstanding without having the stress inducement of a live fire exercise.

Two additional points:

1)    The bad guys shoot back!  Students have the option to wear an electric shock device that can be triggered by the operator if a student is “shot” or simply because the operator is a sadistic monster and wants a laugh.  My operator was a consummate professional…I however was not….while being appalled at the resulting carnage of a head shot I performed on a bad guy I was “shot” by another perp that had taken cover behind me.  (remember the structure of the simulator is completely immersive so threats can come from all directions.)  The “shot” hit my kidney and knocked me to the ground.  I was able to fight through it and neutralize the threat, but it hurt like a son-of-a-bitch!

2)    The guns!   This is the really cool part.  You do not use toy guns with this simulator.  You use real guns!  In my case a Glock 22 and later I used an M4 Carbine.  The guns are retrofitted with laser barrels to “mark” the hit zones on the screen and CO2 magazines replace the original magazines to provide recoil when the trigger is pressed.  More over, the computer monitors the discharge of the weapon and broadcasts an ballistic “noise” through the speakers.  (which can be turned off if you have a new shooter who is being introduced to firearms and you don’t want to scare him off with the rapport.).  The recoil feels like that of a 9mm pistol and the sound is so well timed you really have a suspension of belief.  When I walked off of the simulator I really had felt that I had been in an honest to God gunfight.

So…in the end do simulators have a place in a shooters training?  Before this experience I would have said “no..live fire can never be replaced”.  After this experience? I would say I am a convert.  In fact as a new convert I preach the Gospel the loudest!  This is….without question…and with unmitigated enthusiasm….the best training tool I have ever seen for anyone who owns or carries a gun!  Bravo Virtra! Well played!  

Sept. 2nd- Archery Deer Hunt

Sept 2^nd

I am a hunter. 

I am also a rifleman.

I am not an archer.

That said, each September in California the deer season opens early for archers, and well…I guess I’m a hunter first.

I have a compound bow and on practice targets I can be pretty lethal.  Truth to tell I have taken game with it in the past, usually rabbits in the back yard, and an occasional coyote has fallen to my bow.  Nothing replaces the crack of a rifle though.

Our new sales director at my work is a big time archer, and has I must admit, infected me with the possibility of finally taking a deer with a bow.  This year I decided to give it a chance. 

Armed with my deer tag, and a brand new set of arrows I headed up to my usual haunt to see if luck would be with me on opening day.

Archery hunting and rifle hunting are very different.  First and foremost, the distances are narrowed considerably with an arrow.  Most archers take a solitary position….usually in a tree stand and either call in a deer, or wait for one to wander on by.  Target distances are usually in the twenty five foot range, though some good archers can comfortably take a deer out at seventy five feet.  I’m good…but not that good…I need to keep my shots in the 25 foot range.

There is another type of hunting though…and in the hills of the Cleveland National Forest where there just are not that many trees we have the “spot and stalk”.  This is pretty much exactly what it sounds like.  We take a high position.  Using binoculars we scan for deer, and when we find one we begin a long and arduous process of closing the distance for an ethical shot.  This method was the one I intended to use on my evening hunt on the first day of Archery Deer Season.

Things did not start off well.  First…it was hot.  I mean really really hot!  At my hunting site (which is at 2500’) the temperature gage in the truck read 95 degrees.  Deer just don’t like to move in this weather, which meant if I was going to be successful at all I was going to have to jump one that was bedded down.  I’ve done this before, but it is not easy and is less a thing of skill then dumb luck.

Secondly…since I have to get in really close camouflage is really important.  Deer don’t see colors so having a color scheme that matches the surroundings is not particularly important.  What they do see is movement, and they see large solids really well.  Especially solids like arms, and faces and hands.  So….in 95 degree weather, I’ve got to wear covering over just about every square inch of skin.  Since I’ve got to do some serious moving around I need to bring water with me as well.  This goes on my back in a camelback backpack and adds to the over all weight I’m carrying….in 95 friggen degree heat!

Well….I won’t keep you in suspense…I did not see any deer.  Did see dear sign though…scat and tracks that were less than 24 hours old.  The deer are there,….but they just were not cooperating with me today. 

But…..even though the hunt was not “successful” in the traditional sense, it was immensely rewarding.  First and foremost I was outdoors!  True it was miserable in the heat, but nature’s furnace is still a function of nature.  Secondly, this was not just a singular hunt….it was a scouting mission as well.  There was deer sign there!  I will be back soon…..next time during rifle season!

For what it is worth….on the drive home I saw three deer on private land, and when I got home and took the dog for a walk, Gretchen (my dog) busted three bucks in the state park next to our house….six deer in one day…all on land I’m not allowed to hunt, and no deer spotted where I can….sigh.

Artemis does have a sense of humor.

Aug 20th - A Sad but Necessary Proposal

Aug. 20th - A Sad but Necessary Proposal

Some of you are not going to like this blog entry.  For that I make no apologies.  Sometimes some things just need to be said.

Many of you have emailed me to ask me my opinion of gun control in the wake of the recent shootings in Colorado and Wisconsin.  Curiously not one has asked me about the alleged shooter in DC that opened fire on a conservative think tank because he “disagreed with their views”….his words, not mine.

I don’t blame you for not knowing the details about the DC shooter….he doesn’t fit the criterion of a good villain…he is a self proclaimed liberal….and most of the media is having a tough time figuring how to deal with that.

I have purposely kept silent on these tragedies for a little while to allow some of the emotions and hyperbole to die down.  There were more than enough pontificators taking up air time to fill the vacuum.  I saw no reason to add to the din.

That said….some observations:

First….you might be surprised to know that mass casualty disasters at the end of the gun is a fairly recent phenomenon.  Prior to the recent use of firearms to commit mass murder, psychotics employed a far more efficient tool to exterminate large swaths of humanity…..fire.

Yep…the weapon of choice of the deranged throughout history has not been the gun or the sword….rather it has been a confined area and bundles of burning straw. 

Forensics not with standing…prevention of future tragedies is of paramount concern.  Much has been made of preventing firearms from falling into the wrong hands.  By and large this seems like common sense….who wouldn’t want guns being kept out of the hands of a psychotic?

But what about that nasty straw?

If someone is prevented from obtaining a firearm are we to assume that their murderous tendencies will just simply vanish?  I doubt it.  Furthermore, if someone shows up at a gun store wearing a tin foil hat and ranting about the government it is highly likely that they will be having an intervention with the police before they walk out the place.  The point is….the one’s that appear crazy are usually not the one’s you need to worry about.

So….prophylactic measures aside.  (As we all know, sometimes the condom breaks)…how to prevent future atrocities?

Many of my fellow commentators always like to point out that when the government confiscates the weapons of it’s citizens and reduces them to subjects things usually turn out badly.  I won’t go into the gory details of this…most of you already know the story.  Hence to say Cambodia, Germany, Armenia and southern Africa have a lot more graves filled with the bodies of the defenseless, than those who were capable of resisting through force of arms.

But here is where I differ with my fellow pontificators:

I’m not sure I really believe anymore that is was the object of confiscation that lead to some of my ancestors demise, or those of other decimated peoples. 

No….it was the not the taking of the gun….it’s what was left of the person after the gun was taken.

People robbed of their independence become by definition dependants.  Dependants…well…depend not just on authority, but on a system of authority for their survival.  We might modify our bodies to imitate the ideals of the Greek Gods, but at the superficial we choose to stop.  We become wealthy by participating in the system.  We feel safe by grouping ourselves within the collective.  We outsource our protection to those that wear a uniform, and yet we know…instinctively know… that their job is by definition remedial.  They cannot logically stop a tragedy before it happens.  It is even doubtful they have the ability to respond to a tragedy rapidly enough to  prevent loss of life.  They are there to at best put an end to the carnage, or investigate the devastation and find the culprit.  This is the same if the tragedy is the result of a 9mm or a chained door and lighter fluid.

So here is a modest proposal:

Nationally, locally,…we release the demon of "victim" from our psyche and become the aggressor.  When confronted with unimaginable horror most people flee.  Some people find bravery and try to protect others.  Few are willing to unleash hell on the monsters that threaten us. 

We must, as a society be willing to shed our humanity when faced with barbarity.  It matters not if the insanity that motivates the perpetrator is fed through ideology, religion, or psychosis.  When they execute on a plan to end the lives of innocents, the innocents must become combatants.  And do so with extreme prejudice.

This does not necessarily mean only happy endings.

When a monster attacked a place of worship in Wisconsin one brave soul went operational and attacked the attacker with a butter knife.  He sadly perished, but his actions confounded the attacker and gave scores of others the chance to escape.  Good…but not good enough….what would have happened if those that ran had instead went after him with butter knives, chairs, and the soles of the shoes?

Sometimes to reclaim our humanity if the face of unimaginable evil we must shed it temporarily to send that manifestation of evil back to whence it came.  

No…gun control is no more the answer to preventing future tragedies as banning spoons will prevent future obesity. 

What we need as a society, is sadly far more aggressive.     

Aug 5th- Whispers from Artemis

Aug 5^th

An perma-adolescent chick with a bow and a hunting dog...my kinda muse!  Thanks Artemis!

As I have gotten older I have begun to realize that hunting…all aspects of hunting…are far more encompassing than I had ever realized.  The irony is that the first flicker of this understanding took place on another more bucolic battle ground….the golf course.

Years ago I was in Texas playing a round of “customer golf” with one of my suppliers.  The gentleman in the cart with me was at the end of his long and storied career.  He was an export manager for Chevron Chemical.  I on the other hand was just at the beginning of mine.

He was a nice older man.  Slim and quiet.  He had grown up in the oil fields of west Texas and was a cowboy who years ago traded in his spurs for oxfords.  He wore the regret of that decision in the deep creases on his face.  He had made sacrifices for his wife and grown kids and had understood the magnitude of those sacrifices, but refused to dwell upon them.  Decisions had been made, and that was that.  No use dwelling on the past.

He was also a fairly good golfer.  Not great, but a hell of a lot better than me…and since I was, in a sense at least, his customer he was doing his best to let me keep my score as close to his as possible.

I was still young, and (foolishly)  thought I had a chance in mastering this game.  Each blown putt or sliced drive was welling up in me with anger and embarrassment.  I slumped back to the cart and the Old Man decided to give me some advice:

“Ya know Steven, Ya probably heard that Golf is kinda like life….”

He paused to light up a cigarette before driving us down the fairway to find my ball.

“That’s only partly true.  Golf is like life distilled to its most basic parts and placed on an artificial plane.  Golf aint like life…. it’s the way people with messed up lives would like life to be…simple, with a defined task and limited authority.  Ethics are needed, but among friends can be discarded.  You can learn a lot from golf, but not too much.  When you leave the 18^th hole that round is over and there is nothing left to do but wait till the next.  I like golf….learned a lot about people watching them play…but in the end golf is golf…now you wanna really know about yourself, or someone…take them afield and go hunting!”

I smiled and tried to understand what the hell he was talking about.  In the end I only knew I was frustrated with the knowledge that I just did not have in me what was necessary to make a little white ball do what I wanted it to do.

Well, I never had a chance to hunt with the Old Man.  He retired many years ago and from what I understand moved back to his original home in West Texas.  Probably gave up on golf and switched back to hunting varmints.  Someone told me that he loved to call in Coyotes. 

What he said to me though did begin to really make sense, as I got older and more involved with hunting. 

Golf is “life distilled”….Hunting is life “with everything added”.  Hunting also does not end when the bow or rifle is put away.  The power and grandeur of  a life afield follows us hunters everywhere, and Artemis whispers at us always…reminding us that we are always on “the hunt”

Yesterday I drove with my wife up from Los Angeles to Northern California for a little mid-way visit with our daughter who is currently at an academic summer camp at Stanford University.  She probably would have been just fine staying there for the entire time without being bothered by us…but she is our youngest, and damn it….I was missing her.  We decided to pull her out of the program for a couple of hours and take her to dinner.

On the way up we were crossing the Tejon pass…a semi-mountain pass that acts as the gateway from Los Angeles into the Central Valley of California.  After stopping to refuel we jumped back on the highway and there….right after the on ramp were three large bucks!  A pre-rut bachelor group just hanging out five feet from thousands of cars zipping by at 70 mph.  They had really good genetics too.  I was moving too fast to count the points, but they definitely were in the respectable class…and might have been in the OMG!!! Class. 

My wife did not see them until I started screaming and pointing.  I noticed the other cars were being driven by drivers who seemed oblivious as well.  Only one other car slowed down and I could see in my rear view mirror the driver and the passenger trying in vain to get a look at the deer.

When they ended up passing us on the left I saw a Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation sticker in the rear window….fellow hunters…of  course they “saw” the deer.

This is the point.  We hunters are never not afield.  Artemis lives by our side and constantly tells us to keep vigilant.  We have evolved (or “devolved” depending on your perspective) into environmental participants.  We are always on the hunt.  And the hunt helps to define us as who and what we are.  We are ethical not because we hold onto a set of values.  We are ethical because we are lethal, and the universe demands we hold these strong ethics.  On the golf course if we forego our moral code we have a meaningless score…afield there are far more cataclysmic consequences. 

The Old Man and I never had the chance to hunt together…a shame...I think I would have learned a lot from him.  He did however teach me something very valuable about hunting, and he did it from a golf cart on a private country club.

You just never know where the next lesson is going to come from.