13 Oct 15

Personal Readiness:

From a friend and colleague

“At our monthly pistol match last weekend, our courageous (and now unpopular) match director included an optional thirty-round course of fire, exclusively for legitimate concealed-carry pistols. The only requirement was that the gun, and ammunition, used had to be one that the participant carries regularly. He said, ‘Let’s use what you’re carrying, right now, what you would have to rely upon to save your life… right now!’

No ‘match-guns,’ nor ‘race-guns’ were allowed.

Of the ten who participated, only three ‘carry’ guns functioned normally through thirty rounds!

The rest (all semi-autos) malfunctioned continuously, including light hits, mis-feeds, and failure to go fully into battery. These guns had all been carried in a pocket or concealed holster and were all dirty, full of lint and other debris. Some magazine springs were weak.

It was an eye-opener, especially for those whose guns would not function. To a person, they all piously swore, amid their embarrassment, that they cleaned their guns regularly, but that was obvious a self-serving lie. It was also obvious these guns were seldom, if ever, actually fired before that afternoon.”

Comment: Among those who profess to be “gun people,” there are too many “pretenders,” not enough Operators. It is painfully obvious that almost none of these Nimrods ever assiduously train with any kind of serious, carry gun.

“Matches,” as described above, are customarily conducted under quaint circumstances, with play guns and play ammunition.

With the entire world in such chaos, with our civilization becoming such a dangerous place, one would think all American gun-owners would be getting serious about real guns and real training.

Unhappily, nothing could be further from the truth! There is still scant urgency, scant sobriety, scant earnestness associated with most competitive events, and most participants themselves, as we see.

When fatal flaws are exposed, as in the foregoing, instead of honest acknowledgment and repentance, we get feeble excuses and denial.

Genuine personal readiness demands better!

“Every man is a damn fool for at least five minutes every day; ‘wisdom’ consists in not exceeding that limit.”

Elbert Hubbard

/John