A Dixie Carpetbagger

Sebastian, discussing training versus skill in the shooting world:

Shooting is the same. I can spend an afternoon and give someone enough knowledge to go out and become a safe shooter, and that’s really all training can do. Shooting, and shooting safely, is a skill. Skills must be practiced, over and over again, until they are muscle memory. Firearms training is a good thing, because it can impart knowledge, and help you on your way to skill, just like piano lessons can help you learn how to play piano. But proficiency, and safety in the case of shooting, are entirely up to the person to develop. If you aren’t committed, and don’t practice, you’ll never be any good at either piano playing or shooting.

Colonel Cooper also used a musical analogy to describe this– having the object (guitar, piano, gun) does not make you a proficient user (guitarist, pianist, shooter) of the object.  This is why I constantly remind my gunnie friends that they need to practice, and that if they can’t remember their last training session, they need to have one.

Why?  Muscle memory.  It takes almost a thousand repetitions of an action to make it an automatic action that the brain can do without thinking about it.  As the Wikipedia article points out:

As one speaks, one usually does not consciously think about the complex tongue movements, synchronisation with vocal cords and various lip movements that are required to produce phonemes, because of muscle memory. In speaking a language that is not one’s native language, one typically speaks with an accent, because one’s muscle memory is tuned to forming the phonemes of one’s native language, rather than those of the language one is speaking. An accent can be eliminated only by carefully retraining the muscle memory. It is said that it takes about 740 of the same motions for your muscles to “memorize” the movements almost perfectly.

This is also why just going to the range and shooting is almost useless– you must consciously work on the repetitions until you get it right.  If you are repeating a flawed action (flinching, improper grip, slapping the trigger, etc.), you will ingrain that action so that it becomes automatic.  To paraphrase the old drill instructor’s lament: “Learn to do it right, and you’ll do it right every time.  Learn to do it wrong, and you will screw it up until you learn to do it right!”  In that spirit, use this target the next time you train.  (Okay, so these targets might be more useful.  Less funny, but more useful.)

(H/T Uncle for the targets.)

Via Breda, a producer for a radio law show is learning about guns.  Nice article, and has a very positive tone to it.  I also love the fact that the producer wants to face her fear: “I don’t have a direct relationship with guns, and I think that’s one of the reasons I’m afraid of them. And it’s one of the reasons I want to learn more about it.”

If only more people were like her.  But I do have to highlight one quote and respond to it: “She said she’s not necessarily scared of using guns, just scared of the power they have and how she would react to them.”

1) The converse of power is responsibility.  Hence the four rules and the laws governing concealed carry.  You’ve been given power, and you have to accept the resposibility that goes with it.

2) Everybody reacts to guns.  Physically, even expert shooters blink and twitch during shooting.  Emotionally, we all respond.  Gun control advocates respond with anger and fear, and those inside the gun community react with more positive emotions.  Yes, they’re machines, but who doesn’t ooh and aah over a ’65 Mustang, or a fully restored P-47… or a pre-war Hi-Power?

Spot the three levels of win in this photo.

1) Teamwork.  2) Zombies.  3) Red velvet cake.

The only thing that could make this more awesome would be if the groom was dressed like Tallahassee from Zombieland.  The only negative to this cake is… why isn’t there a pile of spent brass and two empty guns lying at the feet of the Mr. and Mrs.?

(H/T Tam)

You’re a lowly rent-a-cop at a big box store.  You see a big man with a gun on his hip.  He does not have a badge, but you are in a state that allows open carry.  What do you do?

If you said “leave him be,” you would be ethically right, but wrong in this case.  The answer is “you walk up to him and try to grab his gun.”

You just have to wonder what the guard was wondering.  [Morgan Freeman] I’d like to think that the last thing that went through his head, other than the elbow, was to wonder how the hell “a civilian” ever got the best of him. [/Morgan Freeman]

Of course, the Open Carry/Concealed Carry debate rages on.  My thoughts are somewhere between Weer’d Beard’s and Robb’s– I probably wouldn’t OC even if it was an option, but I would like the option, due to the fact that Florida in the summer can be hot.  In 100+ degree weather, with 95+ percent humidity, cover garments are a no-go… unless you really want to stand out.

(H/T Conservative Scalawag)

Via Uncle, a review of the XD45 Compact.

I agree with most of the points the author makes (reliable, cheap, rugged), but I do have to take issue with his “blahs.” The author makes three points as far as downsides to the XD– it’s ugly, has a bad trigger, and is Croatian.

I’d say that for the third design from a relatively new company (about a decade old when they designed the HS2000, which is what the XD was originally imported as), the XD is pretty good. The trigger isn’t perfect, but the majority of people who try it (including me) love it.

As far as being ugly… er, what? Are only pretty guns useful for self defense? Plus, beauty is in the eye of the gunner. Most people who try an XD fall in love with it– I did, and so did Eric. It shoots well, is easier to field strip, and is cheaper than most others. Good, Cheap, Pretty– choose any two.

* Yes, I’m a geek. Next up, I use a Firefly quote for a title.

To a city slicker, a rabid bobcat would be a problem; to a rugged Arizonan frontiersman, it’s an opportunity. Bravo, good sir. Not exactly the easiest (or wisest) way to handle a rabid predator… but better than just letting it roam free, able to infect other animals.
(H/T Firearms and Freedom)

The Good: 91 year old man and his Rottweiler stop a home invasion.

The Bad: The story includes a Google map to his home.

The Ugly: The home owner was naked when he stopped the robbery.

The best part is the condition the robber was in when he was arrested– “drunk and trembling.”  I bet.  I mean, he expected an easy job, get some loot and go.  What he got was a face full of Rottweiler and a naked, angry home owner.

(H/T Uncle)

Blackhawk has come out with a tactical purse handbag. In OD, with a name tag on it. This falls into the “I’d rather be caught dead than with it” category. I thought fanny packs were bad…

If I can’t carry it in a pocket, I carry my European school bag, or my laptop bag.

(H/T Tam)

Homeless man steals ferret.  Employee sees this, and follows homeless guy.  Homeless guy throws ferret at employee.  Ferret (who has been in homeless guy’s pants) bites employee.  Homeless guy gets charged with “assault with a special weapon.”

We must ban special weapons now!  Think of the children!  Blood in the streets!  Tail things that go up!  Multiple bites per squeeze!

Seriously, why not an animal related charge, like allowing your dog to bite a person?  “Special weapon” makes it sound like this ferret was in a holster or something.

(H/T Uncle)

Coffee is the working man’s friend.  Even more so when applied to a mugger’s face.

When I’m out and about, every time I go by a coffee shop, I get a large (excuse me, “venti”) coffee, black.  Not only am I a coffee fanatic, I always planned on using that cup of joe to distract Mr. Bad Guy while I drew– or ran.  Glad to know it works in real life.

Weer’d Beard points out that your eyes instinctively go to something throw at you.  Grocery bag, cup of java, keys, purse… distract your assailant, then use that confusion to your advantage.