A Dixie Carpetbagger

It is unquestionably awesome that these two television shows exist [...] but of the gunblogs I keep track of, I seem to be the first mentioning this show… which means some PR weenie seriously screwed up.  — Linoge

It’s embarrassing because I had a draft post done about this and put it to the side.  I suck at that whole “fastest with the mostest” bit…  (cough)

So… erm… there are actually four shows– but it’s treated as one block– and if you watch the intro and exit bumpers for the segments, there are actually six different programs, but two are just short segments.  The four major shows are Practical Tactical, Because Lives Depend On It, What If, and Conceal & Carry School.  Each focuses on a different aspect of self-defense, with a bit of overlap.  For an example, Because Lives Depend On It covers tactics and skills, while What If covers a historical situation and walks the viewer through it, pointing out possible actions an armed citizen could take.

Conceal & Carry School is the interesting one, though.  Take a group of people with wildly varying skill levels, toss them in a classroom and training setting, and then watch them go through the course while covering their background.  It’s interesting watching the different personalities and skill levels mesh– one of the most brash individuals (a tattooed radio DJ) is also one of the slowest to catch up with a drill… which makes for interesting footage.  What’s great is that they have a decent variety of backgrounds, though– everything from the DJ to the Hispanic salon owner who’s been the victim of a hate crime.

But Linoge is right– these shows are promoted so poorly that it’s not funny.  Heck, I wouldn’t even know about The Don’t Be A Victim block if it wasn’t for the fact that I ran across it one Saturday morning.  The same goes for Outdoor Channel’s Wednesday Night At the Range or Sportsman’s Channel’s Lock and Load Thursdays.  Even worse is the fact that the listing for Lock And Load Thursdays no longer contains Modern Rifle Adventures… which was broken out from Guns & Ammo TV to give it more space.  Seriously, Dick Metcalf and J. Guthrie crossing the continent hunting with ARs… and it gets bumped?  Maybe if you had advertised the Allie Brock* episode, guys, this wouldn’t have to be so…

Which brings up the question of what makes a good show?  Most shooting shows have one or two of the things that bring in guys– guns and humor– but they need the third– women.   Some of the shows in these three blocks have great content, but they fall flat on the other two.  Some aren’t so great with regards to content, but they’ve learned that you have to lure the buck closer before you bag him.  Now, I’m not saying that a show would go so far as to have a smart, good looking young woman literally ride in on a horse to replace a co-host mid-season***, but you have to balance education with entertainment– think Bill Nye and Alton Brown.

Hey, better late than never, eh?

*Allie Brock was a guest on one of the episodes.  Elk hunting with ARs, teaching a young shooter… and did I mention she’s a 6′ tall blond?

** Yes, she literally rode in on a horse in her first episode.  In shorts.  Airgun sales probably went up 5% after that episode aired…  Heck, I haven’t fired an airgun in years and I still watch the show…

Bob S. shares a personal story about awareness.  Personally, by about Awareness Point #3, I would have taken action to put distance between myself and the other vehicle… but that’s just me.

Awareness is important because the best way to survive a bad situation is never to get into it in the first place.  Is that guy driving behind you (while perfectly mimicking every speed change and lane change) following you or is he just going to the same place and keeping with the flow of traffic?  Well, take a random turn and find out.  Is that guy eying you in the Quickie Mart sizing you up or just seeing if you’re Cousin So-and-So?  Slip down an aisle and get closer to the clerk… and then wait him out.

*Note: this is a tad freaky.  I chose the title for this post to point out the fact that is you get caught unaware, you get caught, period.  Then I remembered that the title sounded… familiar.  So I Googled it.  First result: Hackworth article.  Second result: recent post by Tam.  It’s also the name of the old FBI training video (Part 1, Part 2) on awareness during an arrest.  Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go file the serial numbers off some more material…

So, lets talk 380 ammo. [...] What do you carry? –Uncle

The words “what ammo for my Back-Up Gun (BUG)” usually start a flurry of comments, the volume of which is only surpassed by a good “Glock sucks/Glock rocks” or “AR-15 vs. AK vs. M-1″ discussion.  (By the way, Glock sucks and you can pry my AR from my cold, dead hands… but can you pass me an en bloc clip?)

With a .380, you’re going to have to make a choice: utter reliability or a chance at expansion.  In the far distant past (say, the late 1980s), the wisdom was that no .380 ammo would go fast enough to expand… so just use FMJ, it’ll feed better anyway.  In the modern era, there’s a bit of choice in .380 ammo… and the hollowpoints expand now!

The problem is that all guns vary.  Just because your buddy uses Magtech 180 grain .40 S&W in his XD, it doesn’t mean you can, too– you must check for compatibility.  Also, that brand new Lightning-bolt Super-Penetration Hyper-velocity  ammo that just came out might not work for you– check it out first.

Case in point, in the comments from above linked post.  Here’s my contribution:

90 grain Speer Gold Dots.

I love ‘em.  I have a supplier who keeps some in stock always (he’s the Speer distributor in my area), they are pretty zippy, and my LCP loves them.  But just a few comments later, Diomed comments:

Since my LCP chokes on Gold Dots, I stick with ball.

Okay, two guys with Ruger LCPs… one LCP works perfectly with a certain round, the other chokes on it.  Now imagine that Diomed was a buddy of mine who didn’t check his gun/ammo pairing, and found out that the two didn’t play nice with each other at a bad time… like in the middle of a self defense situation.  Is ammo expensive now?  Yep.  Is .380 had to find?  Oh yeah.  Was it worth it to put a box of Gold Dots through my LCP to make sure it liked them?  Oh, yes.  (My LCP will feed Gold Dots reliably, but you cannot use the slide lock to put the first round in– you have to slingshot it.  But since I load the same way every time…)

As to why one guns likes X and the other doesn’t… (shrug)  I have no idea.  Maybe Diomed’s LCP has microscopic burrs on the feed ramp.  Maybe the guy who worked on the feed ramp on my LCP made of more pass and polished it a bit.  Maybe the person who took the barrel out of the machine was the first son of the first son of a first son who was born during a solar eclipse.

Oh, and that Magtech ammo I used as an example?  My XD loves to eat it.  So much that the slide unlocks a split second before the pressure fully drops, which causes some wonderful flashes in low light…

I’d love to see a pro-gun group do a parody of this:

“You don’t need a gun to defend your kid… because they should already have one.”

(Scene cuts to little Suzy in a parking lot, BIG BAD GUY about to grab her when she spins around and draws) “STOP!  FREEEEZE!” (Sounds of gunfire are heard)

(Scene cuts to Suzy sitting on her car hood, pointing a revolver at a wounded BIG BAD GUY holding his belly and bleeding.  She’s calling 911 on her cell)  “Hello, 911?  I’d like to report an attempted kidnapping.  Yeah, he’s still here.  Nope, he’s down on the ground bleeding.  Okay, I’ll stay on the line.  Can you have the officers grab something to eat?  I’m starving.  Oh wait, I got a beep, hold on a second…”

——-

Seriously?  You don’t need a (big, bad, scary) gun to defend your kid… because you can get an Amber Alert?  What’s that saying again?  You know, the one about the moral superiority of a murdered rape victim?

(H/T Breda)

One of Weer’d's readers left him a comment on one of his DGU (defensive Gun Use) posts.

Funny story. I tell my GF I want a gun because I follow this blog, but she tells me she doesn’t want me carrying it around her. She argues that pepper spray or a taser would be equally effective. Thoughts?

Weer’d responds here with some videos and facts.  His points, in short: tasers and OC (Oleoresin Capsicum) spray are nice, but they only for cops.  As to why, I’ll quote Weer’d himself:

You see as a civilian I have one dichotomy when it comes to personal defense. Deadly force, and no Force.

Which ties in with something Bob S. wrote:

What level of violence is acceptable when fighting back against a criminal intent on harming me or mine?

I answered in the comments with something I’ll expand here, the “Axe Theory.”

The philosophy of the Soviet General Staff is no different from that of the horsemen (The Magnificent Seven –ed.) whom I had watched riding the desert. `If you want to stay alive, kill your enemy. The quicker you finish him off, the less chance he will have to use his own gun.’ In essence, this is the whole theoretical basis on which their plans for a third world war have been drawn up. The theory is known unofficially in the General Staff as the `axe theory’. It is stupid, say the Soviet generals, to start a fist-fight if your opponent may use a knife. It is just as stupid to attack him with a knife if he may use an axe. The more terrible the weapon which your opponent may use, the more decisively you must attack him, and the more quickly you must finish him off. Any delay or hesitation in doing this will just give him a fresh opportunity to use his axe on you. To put it briefly, you can only prevent your enemy from using his axe if you use your own first.

[...]

Many years passed and I became an officer serving with the General Staff. Suddenly, as I studied American theories of war, I came to an appalling realization. It became clear to me that a modern American cowboy who is working up to a decisive fight will always expect to begin by spitting at and insulting his opponent and to continue by throwing whisky in his face and chucking custard pies at him before resorting to more serious weapons. He expects to hurl chairs and bottles at his enemy and to try to stick a fork or a tableknife into his behind and then to fight with his fists and only after all this to fight it out with his gun.

This is a very dangerous philosophy. You are going to end up by using pistols. Why not start with them? Why should the bandit you are fighting wait for you to remember your gun? He may shoot you before you do, just as you are going to slap his face. By using his most deadly weapon at the beginning of the fight, your enemy saves his strength. Why should he waste it throwing chairs at you? Moreover, this will enable him to save his own despicable life. After all, he does not know, either, when you, the noble hero, will decide to use your gun. Why should he wait for this moment? You might make a sudden decision to shoot him immediately after throwing custard pies at him, without waiting for the exchange of chairs. Of course he won’t wait for you when it comes to staying alive. He will shoot first. At the very start of the fight.

This is why police officers draw their weapons.  This is also why so many people who try to use “less than lethal” force end up in hospitals… or the morgue.  If you have a good tool, use that good tool.  If a guy is attempting to beat down your door in the middle of the night, don’t try to build up to things… go for broke.  After all, he might get phased when you crack him over the head with a frying pan… or he might get pissed off and hurt you.

Remember, most DGUs result in no shooting.  Which of the following is the better scenario:

1. You are exiting a Quickie Mart one night when a rough-looking gentleman in a T-shirt and shorts accosts you for your wallet.  Observing that he is holding a knife, you pull your OC spray and dose him.  He begins to fail about, and then charges you and stabs you.  You end up in the ICU with multiple knife wounds.

2. You are exiting a Quickie Mart one night when a rough-looking gentleman in a T-shirt and shorts accosts you for your wallet.  Observing that he is holding a knife, you draw your sidearm and aim it at his center of mass.  He holds his hands up and surrenders, and you hold him until police arrive.

I know which one I’d rather participate in…

For humor: here’s how scenario one would play out, and how I feel about OC spray.

Ninjas rescue college student from muggers… in Australia.

Muggers thought they had an easy mark, but they made one major error in that they “failed to notice a ninja, Nathan Smith, standing in the shadows outside the dojo. Mr Smith immediately alerted his sensei, or teacher.”

Make no mistake… he wasn’t standing in the shadows, he was waiting there– waiting for his chance to use his skills for good.  The story ends with the muggers running scared from a group of ninjas (did no-one have a shuriken handy?) only to be caught by police.

I wish I had ninja guardians…

(H/T Uncle)

Stand your ground. Don’t fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here.
– Capt. John Parker, 19 April 1775

Many people know a little about Patriots’ Day, and a little about what happened that day at Lexington and Concord.  The full story is both sad and inspiring.

He [Capt. Parker] was in poor health from consumption (tuberculosis) on the morning of April 19. [...] He witnessed his cousin Jonas Parker killed by a British bayonet. Later that day he rallied his men to attack the regulars returning to Boston in an ambush known as “Parker’s Revenge.”   This was his only military action in the American Revolutionary War. He was unable to serve in the Battle of Bunker Hill in June, and died of tuberculosis in September. — Wikipedia, “John Parker”

In the end, I can’t add that much to these events, or their telling.  I’ll close by quoting two poets, one telling this story, one telling a much older tale.

By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April’s breeze unfurled,
Here once the embattled farmers stood,
And fired the shot heard round the world.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Concord Hymn”

Then out spake brave Horatius,
The Captain of the Gate:
“To every man upon this earth
Death cometh soon or late.
And how can man die better
Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers,
And the temples of his gods?
– Thomas Babington Macaulay,
“The Lays of Ancient Rome”

ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ

A sentry gun.  As of right now, it only fires paintballs.  Of course, with a little work, it could fire PepperAmmo… (steeples fingers and begins evil laughter)

Now, the action video!

And in case you’re wondering what the sound clip is when the control laptop fires up, here it is.

“I see you!”  Heh.

(H/T ENDO)

Tam has tips on preparing for emergencies.  It’s something I’ve always done.  (Not so surprising, being the kid of a Depression era child and a kid raised on a farm before rationing was phased out… )  To these tips, I have some to add:

• Your house is bigger than it looks.  You have dead space– behind furniture, unused rooms, crawlspaces, the attic (but please watch the weight), unused cabinets.  Heck, if you have a garage workbench with cabinets underneath you never use, you have tens of cubic feet of storage.  You can put stuff away, just be creative and the space can be found.
• Organize.  Tip 1 doesn’t help if you can’t find anything.  In my house, everything is sorted by type– canned foods, dry foods, liquids, supplies, clothing, etc.
• Hunt around.  There are companies out there that make food designed for long term storage.  There are also companies that make good, cheap water filtration units.  Here’s the UGA guide to what you need.

Now, you don’t have to prepare for Armageddon… but preparing for say, a month without power is a good point to start.  Here is a kit that will feed one person for 60 days.  Two should feed four people for a month, and take up a mere 7 cubic feet of space.  That’s 3.5′ x 2′ x 1′… which is the dead space under a bed.

Alcohol can make you do weird things.  Flirt with barflies, wake up in odd places, even try to perform CPR on possums.

Wait, what?  Dear Lord…  Not to mention that said marsupial had been dead… dead long enough that CPR wasn’t gonna help.  Like I said over at Wyatt’s… mead or ‘shine had to be involved.  I refuse to think about someone drinking both in one night.  (Mead is evil.  I don’t know a single beekeeper– me included– who makes mead… and I know some hard-drinking beekeepers.  Mixing mead and ‘shine would be… disastrous.)  (H/T Sebastian)

Armed citizen shoots axe-wielding robber.  Why include this in a post about drunkards, you ask?  Turns out the guy was trying to rob a junkyard.  No, booze totally wasn’t involved…  Oh, and I found a picture of the perpetrator.