1 June 09
Losers always have a plausible excuse for doing nothing. This comment on the last Quip:
âThe description of the home-invasion makes me believe that, even with training and guns, there probably would not been much that these two could have done. By the time he knew he was in danger, there already was a gun produced. With three-to-two odds, and with their guns already drawn, do you really think the victims here could have reacted fast enough to produce a different and positive outcome?â
I donât know, but Iâm sure you wouldnât have, even as these sociopaths demanded you undress and then tied you up.
I can provide countless examples where outnumbered/outgunned heroes acted quickly and audaciously and were ultimately successful in achieving victory, but, to one with a permanent victim mindset, such inspiring illustrations fall on deaf ears.
Only victims are victimized! If youâre perfectly happy with your chosen victim status, little can be done to help you, and, frankly, I donât want you as a student!
Who wait for perfect opportunities, die hesitating.
In the end, weâre all dead anyway. In the interim, others may do what they will, but, for one, theyâre not getting me without a fight, even one with poor odds.
/John
4 June 09
The âSystemâ is not protecting you! This update from the last two Quips:
âIn the aftermath of Sunday’s home invasion, my friends are still badly shaken up. Both now fully realize that gates, alarm systems, security patrols, and a quiet, affluent neighborhood all guarantee absolutely nothing!
They were further depressed when they learned that two suspects who were apprehended shortly after the robbery Sunday, were out on bond Monday morning! This, despite having entered an occupied home armed, threatened and held the homeowners at gunpoint, ransacking the house, fleeing in a stolen vehicle, and leading police on a high-speed chase that resulted in significant property damage. In addition, both suspects already have extensive records of violent, criminal activity.
What a âsystemâ we have, eh?â
Comment: Anyone who believes that our âsystem of criminal justiceâ protects the innocent and prosecutes criminals is a naive fool!
In retrospect, these two unsophisticated victims learned their lesson at relatively low cost. Next time, if theyâre still unprepared, they probably wonât be so lucky.
Itâs a tough, dangerous world. Look after yourself and yours. No one else is, nor cares!
/John
4 June 09
Interesting fact on criminal violence:
While guns and blades occupy the stunted imaginations of politicians and media alike, the greatest number of maiming injuries inflicted, world-wide, are imposed by the shod foot, usually striking the head of a victim already on the ground. Countless have suffered life-altering brain
injuries from this single source, many more than have ever suffered a gunshot wound.
As Operators, we thus need to be aware that the most pernicious threat isn’t always represented by âarmedâ VCAs, but rather small groups of miscreants who, having brought down their quarry, will mercilessly lay boots to him. No glamorous weapons are required, just violent contagion among the mob and the protection of anonymity.
Under such circumstances, we need to remind ourselves to stay in motion and on our feet.
Generations of the worldâs youth have been immersed in âIdentity Politics,â shamelessly taught that violence directed at those outside their âIdentityâ is not only excusable, but is openly encouraged by unblushing politicians who hunger to see those who donât vote for them raped, maimed, robbed, and murdered.
Even America is not immune. Here, unemployed actors openly advocate on behalf of convicted murderers of police officers!
The result is a new wave of amoral, youthful, casual murderers, eager to âpunishâ all who fall outside their political identity, cheered-on by Washington and Hollywood alike. The stage is set for some exciting world history!
Once again, there is no âjusticeâ aside from what is created by the Righteous, on the spot!
/John
8 June 09
Why we instruct students to âArrest the Slingâ during our Urban Rifle/Shotgun Courses. This from an long-time colleague:
âOne of our students discovered, graphically, why we insist on taking the time to âarrest-the-slingâ as they mount on their military rifles. By âarresting the sling,â we mean that the Operator holds the front loop of his two-point sling against the rifleâs forend with his support-side hand.
Adhering to this practice discourages the âpendulum effect,â and also keeps the sling from interfering with the sighting plane and from crossing the muzzle.
As our recalcitrant student raised his rifle to perform a course of fire, his overly-loose sling crossed his muzzle at the moment he chose to break the shot. The sling was, of course, blasted asunder, and subsequently slapped him in the face. He suffered only a few minor abrasions, but the incident impolitely interrupted his train of thought. Fortunately, he was wearing safety-glasses.
In amazed disbelief, resembling a catatonic seizure, he gawked at his rifle for long moments, while standing, motionless, on the X. In an actual gunfight, this episode would have easily proved fatal!
This sort of pragmatic lesson, born from the School of Hard-Knocks, once again, reminds us that self-correcting errors are often benign in there outcomes, mostly due to the benevolence of a Higher Power!
Good results often reinforce incompetence, masked as good technique. Arrogance, as in this student’s case, manifests itself as grandiloquent stupidity (masquerading as skill) until it all unravels.
âI was told the sling is just a holster. I don’t arrest my holster,â said he.
This is what passes for âlogicâ in pre-school. For an supposed adult to be given to such drivel is truly astounding.
… which is why adults are in charge of pre-schools, or at least they used to be!â
Comment: Most of what constitutes our Lesson Plan has been gleaned from bitter experience, over many decades. Sometimes, the True Way is not obvious. Arrogance never fails to make it even less so!
I like students who are assiduous, humble, courageous, open-minded, and who are not afraid of work. The vain, arrogant, indolent, and pusillanimous need not apply!
/John
10 June 09
Police Fratricide
With large departments, and with departments that are spread out over large areas (like state police), fratricide is an sticky issue.
Within small departments, most members know each other personally, but when department membership numbers in the thousands, it is not unusual for officers to spend an entire thirty-year career and still meet other long-time members of the department, for the first time, on their last day of work!
Fratricide rears its ugly head when members of the same department, or other LEOs working in the same area, confront each other with weapons in hand, and at least one is not in uniform. Under these circumstances, LEOs have been mistakenly shot to death, and many others have been mistakenly shot at.
It is a world-wide problem, but only in America do we look to technology, rather than training.
NYPD, in the wake of several high-profile incidents of fratricide, has asked a technology company to design a system whereby âradio-frequency tagsâ (whatever that means) would be installed on police guns. In theory, these tags would allow officers to know where other officers are.
Much is being made of this idea, even though the technology doesnât currently exist, and no officer with more than a week on the job would ever trust such a system anyway. It is reminiscent of the ill-fated, long-discredited âsafe-gunâ technology that was, under the Clinton Administration, miraculously going to eliminate gun accidents. No such âsafe gunsâ were ever produced, nor marketed. The whole ridiculous idea fell into well-deserved ill-repute.
Then, as now, âsafe gunsâ are little more than a wet-dream of leftist techno-geeks, none of whom have ever so much as touched a real gun in their sheltered lives! Time and effort spent on this foolâs errand has been, and continues to be, a waste.
The correct way to address the issues of (1) negligent discharges, (2) unintentional hits, and (3) fratricide is through reinvigorated training. Officers need to be trained as Professional Gunmen who are not taught to be afraid of guns. They need to spend lots of time on the range under the tutelage of professional instructors who insist on sound tactics, suburb marksmanship, and correct gun-handling.
Departments with a casual attitude toward training will continue to have high incidents of gun accidents, even fratricide, until training is given the attention it deserves. The public, and officers themselves, need to insist on it.
No âmiracle-gadgetâ will save them!
/John
11 June 09
Universal Health Care and Slavery, from an MD friend and student:
âWhen people who are not sick begin to demand support groups and therapy sessions (as long as it is all âfreeâ), it will predictably create a â911-phenomenonâ where the whole System becomes hopelessly clogged with non-emergencies.
When government-dictated âuniversal health careâ is implemented by our magnates in Washington DC, we will be instantly awash in two types of taxpayer-funded âcare-providers:â (1) therapists, and (2) support-group leaders. We’ve only to look to Canada and the UK for confirmation.
Surgery, internal medicine, and other legitimate health care will be unmercifully rationed, but not those two.
Why?
Because, when power-lusting politicians offer to sell a pill that can rid people of (1) the pain and inconvenience of living free, (2) dealing with the consequences of personal freedom (personal responsibility), (3) solving their own problems, (4) moving forward, accomplishing and achieving, (5) and pursuing personal victory, most will swallow it whole, without a second thought about the drab, boring, motionless slavery into which they are being permanently inducted.
Despite Western Civilizationâs flowery, self-righteous rhetoric disparaging slavery in third-world nations, we apparently can’t wait to re-embrace it ourselves, because our politicians know and understand that most slavery is voluntary, and most slaves are perfectly happy with their lot and too frightened to aspire to anything more!â
Comment: Personal freedom, it seems, is just too painful for most people, and too dangerous for most politicians!
/John
11 June 09
More comical suggestions from DHS (Department of Homeland Security):
In the wake of yesterdayâs fatal shooting at the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC, a museum industry association has distributed pocket cards and booklets, put together by DHS, describing what to do in the event that an active-murderer finds his way into your life.
Aside from the usual ârun and hideâ advice, this is included:
âAttempt to take the active shooter down as a last resort.â
Unfortunately, there are no specifics on how this is to be accomplished when all employees and visitors are prohibited from being armed.
Employees who have been stripped of anything that even resembles a weapon are advised to âtake them down,â but, of course, there is no description of exactly how the unarmed are supposed to do that!
I canât believe supposedly sane people write, publish, and read, this illogical, incoherent, intelligence-insulting nonsense with a straight face!
In one breath they insist that we peons are too stupid to even own guns, much less bear them. In the next, they encourage us to be heroes in the face of impossible odds!
I often wonder how inclined they are to take their own advice!
/John
12 June 09
Comments on âadvice to victims,â from a college professor at a large, state university:
âJust one year ago, university administrators, and the media, were insisting that we offer no resistance whatever to violent criminals. We were advised to âspeak to the shooter in a calm voiceâ …ad nauseam.
I noticed a stark change in my schoolâs web page within the last six months. Here is the current advice:
âWhen the gunman starts shooting people, you need to make a choice: (1) stay still and hope he doesnât shoot you, (2) run for an exit while zig-zagging, or (3) attack the shooter.
All foregoing options are dangerous, but certainly no more so than doing nothing. A moving target is harder to hit than a stationary one, and the last thing the criminal will expect is to be attacked by an unarmed person.
Any option chosen may still result in negative consequences.â
Iâm sure that last sentence was inserted at the insistence of the universityâs attorney!
While still scrupulously avoiding the subject of being armed and trained yourself and thus skillfully and assertively engaging active-murderers with gunfire, at least our administrators are (reluctantly, Iâm sure) starting to face reality, instead of contemptuously ignoring it, as theyâve done up until now.â
Comment: It is indeed refreshing to see this movement (albeit slight) in the philosophy of those who consider themselves âsocial eliteâ and media stooges who slobber at their feet.
Some are willing to patiently wait for dithering politicians to confront the foregoing and finally get around to addressing the notion that our lives are actually important, and thus make it legal for CCW license holders to carry on campus.
Others of us are not!
/John
13 June 09
Comments on âAdvice to Victims,â from a friend and practicing attorney:
âActually, the entire advisory was probably insisted upon by lawyers. This classic piece of drivel is what I call âweak-lawyer-speakâ
It renders no useful advice, while placing full responsibility for what it euphemistically terms ânegative consequencesâ upon the advisee! This is typical wishy-washy lawyering.
Wishy-washy lawyerly advice goes like this:
âWell, Mr Client, you could do this, or perhaps that, or, then again, any number of other things, and any one of those options can render a âgoodâ result. But, of course, both you and your case may well end up in the toilet, no matter what you do. Or, the âLaw of Unintended Consequences,â might bring about a third, unknown (but probably bad) outcome. Hence, my advice is to do A, B, or C, or maybe even something elseâ
The part left unspoken is that, no matter what choice the hapless client makes, the lawyer is never to blame for ânegative consequences,â and his bill is to be paid, preferably in advance.
Conversely, good attorneys, like good doctors, actually tell the client, in plain English, what he should do and why, without mumbling, paltering, nor sugar-coating. When the client doesnât like what he hears, he may decide to find another lawyer. There is no confusion nor double-talk, and, either way, the client gets solid information he can actually use!â
Comment:
âLife is just as deadly as it looks. Fiction is more forgiving.”
Richard Thompson
/John
15 June 09
On socialized medicine, from a friend and physician:
âI recently returned from Canada, where I practiced medicine for many years until I finally, in disgust, immigrated to the United States. The state of socialized medicine there is now even worse (if such a thing can be imagined) than it was when I left.
The national government created seventeen âRegional Health Authorities,â that pay no attention to provincial boundaries. Each is responsible for âmanagingâ health-care decisions in their geographic area. When it became clear that didnât work, the government responded by creating a health-care âSuperboardâ that dictates to regional boards. Governmentâs solution to messes it creates is, without fail, âmore government!â
The net result has been fewer doctors, fewer nurses, but an ever-expanding army of ignorant bureaucrats, none of whom deliver any health-care to anyone. Hospitals continue to be chronically understaffed, and waiting times for even simple medical procedures has now increased to the point where they are, for all practical purposes, unavailable.
Who can afford it, come to the USA to get done what needs doing. The balance of Canadians tolerate this disaster, even as they watch their own family members languish in pain and die needlessly. They have been indoctrinated by the liberal media who tells them that they, as individuals, are insignificant. Only the government, and those in it, are important.
Americans who look to Canada as a âshining exampleâ of socialized medicine are like investors who buy junk bonds, because their broker tells them, with a straight face, that junk bonds are actually better than blue-chip stocks. Those brokers, like socialists in Washington and the media, are no more than cheap hucksters, talking endlessly about the precious-few good points, while deliberating hiding the multitude of horrifying issues with national health systems like Canada’s.
What ever happened to âfull-disclosure?â
It’s time to shout down these lying con-men. The alternative will be a medical meltdown that defies the imagination. Believe me, Iâve seen it!â
Comment: Is this what we thought we wanted?
/John
15 June 09
On illegal drugs, from a friend and defense attorney:
âIn a South-American country, a farmer looks out from his veranda over his two main crops. On the right side of the rutted dirt, row upon row of coffee plants are growing in the high mountain air. To the left, coca grows in equally ordered rows. Both crops require tending and processing to yield roasted coffee beans on one side, refined cocaine on the other.
Both products are, without fail, transported to the United States. In addition to shipping expenses, coffee requires payment of tariffs, while coca shipments are accompanied by gangs, bribes, threats, public corruption, and criminal violence (to the extent that entire towns in Northern Mexico are âownedâ by drug cartels).
Accordingly, processed coffee beans arrive on US grocery-store shelves at six to twelve dollars per pound. Refined cocaine similarly arrives, via an underground network, at $44,000 per pound!
In general, pharmacological effects of neither coffee nor cocaine, by themselves, lead to violent crime. It is the extremely high value of cocaine that results in criminal activity.
Drug dealers are associated with murder, kidnapping, taking over towns, money laundering, violence against police, territorial conflicts, et al. Drug addicts, in order to be able to afford the habit, commit car-jackings, burglaries, armed robberies, and thefts. Snitches are casually murdered. Mules (animal and human) die of accidental overdoses when balloons, secreted within their bodies, burst.
In thirty-two years of active criminal-defense, I have never encountered a turf-war over coffee!
The price of coke is high, because it is illegal. If our government did not inadvertently support the artificially high street-price of cocaine, cocaine-associated crime would all but disappear!
On the other side of the world, poppies are grown, harvested, and processed into heroin by the Taliban. Their drug-network provides a major source of funding for worldwide terrorism.
Legal availability of these drugs may well increase the number of users and, yes, addicts. Yet today, those found guilty of drug crimes go to prison, at a cost to taxpayers of $30,000/year/inmate. The resulting public health problem, though unfortunate, will be offset by a marked reduction in violent crime and associated costs. There is no perfect solution!
I am among the growing majority of defense attorneys who would happily forego fees associated with drug-crime defense as a consequence of legalization.
Given the choice between having drug users (1) presenting a public-health issue, or (2) presenting a basis for criminal violence, we Americans should opt for the former!
Legalizing and controlling these drugs, above board, will shift the burden of who pays the price from âall of usâ to the people who are actually using the drugs. There is a cost to society either way, but it is a burden to be rightfully born primarily by users, and not so much by the rest of us.â
Comment: Like my friend, I donât give a damn about fools who choose to use damaging drugs for recreational purposes. There is no mystery. They know what theyâre getting into. As Iâve said before, there is no form of slavery more disgraceful than that which is self-imposed. âUsersâ live short, painful, purposeless lives, but that is their choice. I have no sympathy for them!
I just wonder if any more people will become addicted to heroine and cocaine when they are legalized, than were when both were legal. It has not been that long ago!
As with abortion, itâs a sticky issue, with sincere and passionate voices on both sides.
My friendâs view, above, needs to see the light of day, as other views have.
/John
15 June 09
Comments on Urban Rifles:
A good friend just returned from a Patrol Rifle Exercise in the Midwest. After a long phone conversation this morning, we agree on this:
(1) Within twenty meters, no rifle optic is particularly useful. Although, red-dots are much more useful than are magnifying optics at these ranges. Speed is critical! Point-body indexing may well be all that is necessary.
(2) From twenty to one-hundred meters, red-dots are king! Aimpoints, EOTechs, et al really come into their own at these ranges. They are fast and donât overly-restrict your view, as do iron sights.
(3) Beyond one-hundred meters in range, it becomes extremely difficult to positively identify threats without magnifying optics.
(4) Swing-out, magnifying optics, combined with red-dots fill the void, but add significant bulk and bring the optic close to your eye. LaRue swing-out mounts are, by far, superior to all others!
(5) Donât âhuntâ while in your sights, iron sights or optics. You must train yourself to come in and out of your sights quickly. You need to keep both eyes open and scanning continuously, until you perceive a threat. Then, you need to get your sights on the threat immediately, identify it, and neutralize it, all very quickly. Then, come back out of your sights and resume scanning without delay. âLiving in your sightsâ is fatal!
(6) Make use of the prone position any time you can. Get low and steady! It is usually your best bet, except when youâre on concrete. Magpul rubber magazine bases will help bond magazines to the deck. Combined with a Redi-Mag, it will form a tripod with your elbows. Very steady!
Hit first! Hit fast! Stay in motion. Donât let them breath. Watch your six. Donât relax too soon.
Be victorious!
/John
16 June 09
âThe Channel Dash,â 12 Feb 1942 (Thursday)
During the War Years, British military bureaucracy was excellent at cracking German codes, much to the repeated surprise and ire of Hitlerâs Wehrmacht. Unfortunately, the British were, in turn, a little too good at keeping their own secrets. Some secret plans, like âOperation Fuller,â were kept under such tight wraps that the people who really needed to know the details didnât even know about the plan itself, until it was too late!
Operation Fuller was a secret plan to intercept and destroy any German fleet trying to run the English Channel, from south to north. The eventuality was considered so unlikely, the Plan existed only in the minds of a handful of top admirals and generals. It was quite unknown to anyone else!
Germans dubbed their version, âOperation Cerberus.â Once again, Hitler overrode the best judgement of his own staff, as he had in the 1939 invasion of Poland, and, once again, he was proven right!
Two German Battleships, Scharnhorst, and Gneisenau, were sitting, idle, in the French port of Brest, doing little more than attracting unwanted attention from British bombers. It was too risky for them to try to break out into the Atlantic, particularly after the sad fate of the German Battleship Bismark, which was sunk by the British Navy in May of 1941, just nine months earlier.
Hitler wanted both ships back in Germany, before they were inevitably sunk in port. He calculated they could be put to good use in Norwegian waters preventing critical supplies from reaching the Russians. However, to get there, they would have to run the English Channel, right under the noses of the British. Hitlerâs closest advisors considered such a run impossible. But, Hitler knew the British would be so astonished at such an audacious move that they would dither too long before acting decisively. Again, history was to prove him to be spot-on is his under-estimation of British readiness, and âThe Channel Dash,â as it would be forever known, was to assume the dubious title of the biggest embarrassment to the British military and to the Churchill Administration since the Britainâs own âPearl Harborâ off Kuantan on 10 Dec 1941 (just two months earlier) and the subsequent surrender of Singapore to the Japanese.
Early in the morning of 12 Feb 1942, the two German Battleships, along with a number of lesser vessels, eased out of Brest and headed north. The day was selected because heavy snow in England had grounded most British reconnaissance aircraft, and the flotillaâs departure was paradoxically screened by thick smoke, courtesy of a British bombing raid earlier that same morning!
The first hint the British had of what was happening was when radar revealed swarms of German fighter aircraft over the south Channel. Shortly thereafter, the Scharnhorst was positively identified by observers on shore. It had already been twelve hours since the German fleet had departed France, and they were now well within the Channel as the British were, at long last, waking up!
There was still a chance for the British to put together a decisive attack and blunt the German fleet at the choke-point at the Straight of Dover, the narrowest part of the Channel, but excessive dithering, up and down the chain of command. assured that the opportunity would pass with no decisive action. The order, âExecute Operation Fullerâ was finally given, but no one knew what that meant. Nearly everyone was hearing the term for the first time!
German sailors couldnât believe their luck! There were sailing, in broad daylight, within sight of England, and no one had so much as fired a shot.
It was only after it was obvious to everyone that the Germans had gotten away with it and could not be stopped, that a frustrated Sir Dudley Pound ordered a squadron of just six ageing, fabric-covered Swordfish torpedo-bombers to get in the air and attack the Germans. They had no chance of success! It was little more than a Kamikaze mission, and everyone knew it, most of all the heroic Squadron Leader, Lt/Cdr Eugene Esmonde. Spitfire fighters were supposed to escort the âlow-and-slowâ Swordfish bombers, but they never arrived, and Esmonde knew, with the German Fleet already at Dover, he couldnât wait.
Without hesitation, Esmonde and his six planes took off after the German fleet. Scarcely out over the Channel, they were instantly set upon by German FW190 fighter aircraft and AAA from the German ships. All six Swordfish were shot down within minutes. Only one even got into position to launch a torpedo, and it hit nothing. Of eighteen aircrew, only five lived through it, and were subsequently rescued at sea. Of the five, four were wounded. Esmonde was among the dead, and his body never recovered.
The Channel Dash had been an unmitigated, spectacular success! The German flotilla made it through and escaped with no losses. However, the event, though painfully embarrassing to the British, and to Churchill personally, had little effect on the Course of the War. And, as fate would have it, both German battleships were heavily damaged when they hit mines, just as the Channel Dash neared its end.
The British response to the Channel Dash is best described as âslow-motion panic.â Too slow, as it turns out, to be effective. The highly-vaunted RAF, so victorious in the Battle of Britain, never even got involved!
Churchill, doing his best to make lemonade from a lemon, used Esmondeâs heroic and pointless sacrifice to persuade American President Roosevelt to increase aid to Britain.
Neither German ship survived the War. The Scharnhorst was sunk by the British in 1943, and only a few of her crew were rescued. The submerged wreck was discovered on the ocean floor in 2000.
Lessons: In military operations, loyalty and trust have to go both ways! When treated like children, junior officers and NCOs seldom disappoint!
Daring and audaciousness go a long way! Doing the unexpected invariably throws the opposition into a panic.
Western civilization has been repeatedly blessed with selfless heroes, like Esmonde, who leap into battle, never looking back and never hesitating. The world would be a dreadful an boring place without them!
/John
19 June 09
Signs of the times?
We did an Advanced Defensive Handgun Course earlier this week. One of our students is the head of the Governorâs bodyguard detail for a western state. A proficient Operator and experienced Trooper, he asked me about âlow-profileâ rifles!
He is of the opinion that it is past time to arm his Detail with rifles, but âlow-profileâ is a strong requirement.
I recommended that he look at a Robinson Arms XCR, SIG556, and DSA/FAL/SA58, all with folding stocks. With stocks folded on these excellent rifles, they fit comfortably inside a guitar- case or tennis-racket case. Iâve used both ruses many times. So carried, Iâve comfortably transported all three of these rifles into and out of hotels, restaurants, and many other places, with nary a second look from bystanders.
It is obvious to me that many bodyguards, like my student, are reluctantly coming to the conclusion that they must routinely have rifles, as well as pistols, close at hand and ready for immediate deployment.
As world history waxes progressively more exciting, more and more will inevitably come to the identical conclusion, hopefully in the nick of time!
/John
22 June 09
Politicians never change! This from a friend currently in Iraq:
âJournalists over here are a heroic bunch! Many are fearlessly reporting on official corruption in the new government as well as on a host of other unhappy topics. Not surprisingly, most have been the subject of drive-by shootings and bombings. Unfortunately, the best of the lot are getting out of the business!
Nearly all have, understandably, applied to the government for licenses to own and carry guns. Most said applications have been put on indefinite hold. Some have been denied, with no specific explanation. Precious few have been granted.
Typically arrogant âofficial adviceâ is that people who want to carry concealed are âonly increasing risk to themselves.â
Sound familiar?â
Comment: When warned by politicians never to do anything to improve my own lot, but instead to depend upon them for my every need, I, for one, will take my chances depending upon myself!
As Thomas Jefferson warned us, any government powerful enough to provide you with everything you need is also powerful enough to take from you everything you have!
/John
22 June 09
News from Israel, from an American Soldier who just returned from R&R there:
âThe fact that Israel is a country surrounded by terrorism-supporting states was immediately evident upon my arrival!
Israeli citizens are openly armed, routinely, carrying handguns and military rifles, in public. No one cares about being âlow-profileâ in Israel!
I saw lots of Czech CZs and G19s. The rifle I saw carried most by civilians was the M1 Carbine!
Military and Police all carry American-made M4s. Most manual safeties I saw were in the âoffâ position. I donât know if rounds were chambered or not, but I suspect not. In Israel, they like carrying with chambers empty. Finger/trigger discipline was poor!
Security personnel are everywhere, even at entrances to restaurants and hotels.
Photographing police officers and military personnel, and installations, is strictly prohibited.
Service in the IDF is mandatory for all young Israelis, starting at the age of seventeen. I observed many extremely young-looking IDF personnel, men and women, all carrying M4s in public.
Locals I talked with were extremely concerned about what they perceive as abject abandonment of Israel by the USA and its current Administration.â
Comment: Free men bear arms. Let it always be so in Israel, and here!
/John
27 June 09
Kahr P380
I used my copy of Kahrâs wonderful P380 Pistol at a Course last week in WY.
There is nothing not to like!
It has useable sights, and a virtuoso trigger. It is no bigger, nor thicker, than a Kel-Tec/LCP. And, it runs! We cycled several hundred rounds of Cor-Bon 90gr HP and DPX through it, and all went through with nary a hiccup.
I am currently using the P380 as a backup. It fits perfectly in an Uncle Mikeâs pocket liner.
The only real problem I have is getting it away from my wife!
Of all mini-380s currently available, Kahrâs tops the List. Recommended!
/John
28 June 09
DTI Web Page:
On our Web Page (defense-training.com), we now have a quick Google custom search-bar at the bottom of the main page.
This function only searches the DTI site and returns results for the schedule, class descriptions and all Quips, as far back as 1998.
This addition is the result of numerous requests. I trust readers will find it useful for locating comments on specific topics.
Guns and Warriors, Vol II, in book form, will be out sometime in 2010.
/John
28 June 09
Ammunition durability, from a noted Armorer:
âDuty pistol ammunition, where bullets get pushed back into cases after repeated feeding, is a common problem, and there is no real solution, except to shoot regularly!
After many discussions with ATK, Winchester, Black Hills, Cor-Bon, and other large manufacturers of small-arms ammunition, all concur that most small-arms ammunition is intended to be cycled only two times! That includes handgun and rifle ammunition.
After two cycles, expect the bullet to start pushing back.
We must all thus be a diligent and insure our carry ammunition gets inspected and ârotatedâ (ie: fired) regularly. The alternative is facing the distinct possibility of a failure to feed when we really need to shoot someone!
Repeatedly cycling (unloading and reloading, without firing) the same round of ammunition is a recipe for disaster. Be warned!
Adding to the problem:
Here in the New York area, there is no 380 Auto nor 45ACP to be had at stores anywhere. Anyone with a 380 Auto or 45ACP pistol is relegated to imposing upon friends, in order to secure a box here and there.
The situation with 9mm, 38Spl, 40S&W, 357SIG, and 45GAP isnât much better!â
Comment: Who has waited until now to get prepared will have great difficulty indeed!
/John
28 June 09
Rifles for Bodyguards, comments from a friend in the System:
âMany of us here at DOD are currently using rifles, in addition to pistols, while doing protection details, both in-Country and in CONUS.
We used to be limited to some MP5 variant, but weâre now all using M4s. I currently run a high-risk detail on a four-star, and weâre all equipped with M4s.
The problem is, given its design, when low-profile is required, we have to carry our M4s disassembled in order to keep from bearing obvious weapons cases. We still have them with us, but getting them into action quickly is a non-starter!
Most times, weâre in-Country, so profile is not an issue.
We would all like RA/XCRs in either 7.62×39 or 6.8SPC, so we could actually shoot through things! And, the XCRâs folding stock would make rifles, even when in low-profile, fast into action.
In any event, any rifle is superior to any pistol, particularly when threats are, as we increasingly see:
(1) In excess of fifteen meters, and
(2) Increasingly showing up wearing soft body-armor and helmets!â
Comment: Signs of the times!
/John
29 June 09
The erosion of citizenship:
Being a American Citizen used to mean something.
Now, the term is confused, since political affection from illegal aliens is openly, indeed vigorously, courted by sleazy politicians who look upon them as a voting constituency that can be easily deceived, easily terrorized, and their illegal votes easily purchased with occasional scraps thrown in their direction.
By contrast, real citizens are milked white while being literally unrepresented, and will continue to be as illegals flood the nation, with the blessing and encouragement of both major parties.
Driverâs licenses, and all kinds of other official documents are now freely issued to illegal aliens. Such documents are no longer proof of citizenship. They have become a joke!
The progressive degradation of citizenship goes like this:
(1) From Sovereign Citizen to subject. We see this as âpublic servantsâ degrade into âpublic regulators.â
(2) From subject to slave. Former citizens now exist only to serve, and prostrate themselves before those in public office, elected and unelected, although, by this time, âelectionsâ are meaningless.
(3) From slaves to livestock. At least slaves are considered human. Stalin casually starved to death millions he didnât even consider human beings. Human suffering becomes invisible.
(4) From livestock to insects. Even farm animals rate respect and humane care. Conversely, governments are free to exterminate insects they consider inconvenient/nonessential/annoying/pestilent, even use them as involuntary guinea pigs. Certainly not unprecedented!
Keep the foregoing in mind as you are told by politicians, and their media stooges, that citizenship is an outmoded term and that individual rights are no longer ârelevant,â and thus, for example, freedom to own and bear arms is now âillegitimateâ and can thus be legislated/regulated out of existence.
We are in the end-game!
/John
30 June 09
On the Art of Instructing, from one of our Instructors:
âAt our recent DTI Instructorsâ Course, I was asked if there were any books on âfirearms instructionâ that one wishing to teach could procure; a Training Manual for trainers, if you will. My response to this aspiring Instructor was, âThere are many texts youâll find helpful, and I commend to you nearly all of them, but none will contain what you’re looking for!
I went on to explain that the most important component in becoming a good teacher is the amount of time one puts in on the firing line. Nothing hones skills quicker than live students, with live guns, on a live firing-line!
This, of course, was illustrated multiple times during our Class, as each student/instructor was directed to assume command of the firing line and run various drills. This âtrial-by-fire/fly-by-the-seat-of-ones-pantsâ approach generated numerous, glorious emotional bookmarks for those thus shoved onto center stage!
Intense lessons that they won’t soon forget, and nothing that could have been gleaned from reading a book.
Trial-and-error. Curve-balls. Unexpected deviations from the outline. Surprises! This is the boiling cauldron from which the Instructorâs True Voice ultimately emerges!
The best way to become a competent Instructor is to instruct!â
Comment: Now, more than ever, we must have competent instructors. America desperately needs competent Gunmen, not more amateurs with guns.
We already have plenty of those!
/John
