Hell in a Handbasket

One of the recent Emails that I received asked me to recommend an off-the-shelf, commercial defensive cartridge for their autoloader.

This wasn't unusual in itself, but my reader was rather demanding. You see, they not only wanted me to tell them which cartridge was the absolute tip top best so far as performance, but it also had to be absolutely no-excuses-accepted reliable as well!

Hmmmm. Tricky, that.

Before I discuss what I said in the reply Email, let me go off on a tangent for a moment. You see, I hate hate hate endorsing a particular product. This isn't because I'm holding out for the big money from the firearms manufacturers, as I don't think any of them realize that I even exist and are not about to make an offer.

Instead, it has been proven time and again to me that one size or solution never fits all. I would be doing my students a grave disservice if I pointed to one specific caliber, firearm manufacturer, or make of handgun and said "THIS is the only thing you need, EVER!" Not only that, but I am very wary of anyone who does so. If they aren't getting paid to push a particular product, then such statements show a brand loyalty that probably blinds them to any faults in their favorites.

Anyway, it does so happen that I could answer the question put to me by my reader.

Continue reading "The Most Effective AND The Most Reliable???" »

In the post below I discuss how the Japanese fencing style known as kendo has enjoyed an inflated reputation of late, just as a katana is immediately considered by many to be more deadly than other sword designs.

I came across a YouTube clip that shows someone employing kendo techniques against a fencer who uses a European longsword style. Note how the longsword, because only one hand is used to hold the weapon, is not only faster on the strike but also has more angles that can be used to hit your opponent, so the European fencer manages to land more hits. But also note how his strikes are weaker than those landed by the two-handed kendo style, so the Japanese fencer would have a better chance of injuring his opponent through armor.

Last week I wrote about an incident in England where a good Samaritan came to the aid of embattled police offices by using his katana against the gang of criminals that were attacking the cops. Milo, a British fencing expert, was kind enough to mention the post on his own blog.

His own post is worth reading, particularly since he mentions that a sword was once the main sidearm for some police forces in the past. Clickety clickety.

But what I'd like to focus on for the rest of this essay is a comment someone left at Milo's post, a comment that showed an extremely high regard for Japanese samurai swords.

"A katana's too much: there is almost no outcome of a swordfight with that sword which is non-fatal, or at least permanent, maiming, and accompanied by life-threatening blood-loss."

Other people who commented pointed out that a katana was not inherently more deadly than any other sword, just as the Japanese fencing discipline of Kendo is no more effective than any other fencing style. But it is certainly understandable that someone should come to this conclusion, considering how both are held up in the media as the ultimate of sword based fighting styles.

I've written about this before, but I was discussing unarmed open hand martial arts at the time. Even so, the debate between martial arts enthusiasts as to which discipline is superior can be bitter indeed.

Continue reading "Mine Is Best!" »

Back in January of 2007, a couple of detectives in England were in over their heads.

They came across a gang of five guys who were breaking in to a house. The detectives identified themselves as police officers, and attempted to take the criminals into custody. But the perps figured out that the cops were unarmed, and the fight was on!

Two unarmed detectives against five guys who had chains and hammers. Things looked grim, particularly when one of the gang became curious as to what the cops had eaten for breakfast and produced a knife to help him find out.

But then help arrived in the form of a nondescript private citizen wielding a cheap samurai sword. "Leave him alone, he's a police officer!" he yelled, and charged the gang single-handedly. He fought bravely, if not particularly well, and managed to inflict a minor wound on one of the burglars. Criminals being a cowardly and superstitious lot, the gang broke and ran. The detectives managed to tackle and bag one criminal each, but by the time they had subdued their respective catches the good Samaritan had slipped away.

That guy had balls as big as churchbells, and I don't just mean that because he went toe-to-toe with a swarm of ne'er-do-wells. While self defense is not illegal in England, or at least it isn't technically illegal, it is against the law to use anything designed as a weapon to defend yourself. Local Detective Inspector Peter Bent stated "It needs to be said we cannot condone vigilantism or people running around with swords or weapons. It will be up to the Crown Prosecution Service whether they see his actions as justified or going beyond reasonable force."

He could charge straight at a gang of armed desperados without a moments hesitation, but the guy with the sword could see no other option than running and hiding after the dust settled and the cops were back on their feet. I don't blame him one bit.

The police launched a manhunt to see if they could smoke him out, and I have no idea if they ever managed to find out who had drawn steel to defend their lives on that day. Something tells me that the cops on the street, when told that they had to find an average Joe who had saved two of their own just so he could face the courts, merely went through the motions and really didn't put too much effort into the search.

I'm telling you this because I was over at Milo's, and he says that unregistered samurai swords are now illegal in England. You have to jump through a bunch of hoops to prove to the state that you have a "legitimate reason" to own one.

Many American gunbloggers have noted that the media and other pro-gun control types become hysterical when discussing firearms. They like to infer that owning a gun is similar to petting a coiled cobra, as both will leap up and kill without warning when you least expect it.

I leave you with this English news article which proves that the British are going through the same thing with knives. Notice how the focus of a newspaper is "preventing youngsters from getting involved in knife culture" by sponsoring a weapon amnesty program. People could turn in their infernal devices to the police without fear of arrest, and someone actually gave them a cheap samurai sword that was sharp!

Judging by the extreme fear they show when confronted by a wall hanger with an edge, the police over there are having trouble recruiting anyone which doesn't swoon when confronted with the very idea of a sharp piece of steel.

Inspector Peter Knights, of Hartlepool Police, said: "I am delighted to see a weapon of this nature has been surrendered. All too often we see items such as this used and abused by people which leads invariably to serious injury or death."

Guys, I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

(Cross posted at The Chicago Boyz.)

I first came across Tim Power's time travel fantasy novel The Anubis Gates 25 years ago. It is incredibly rich with original ideas, and I have mined the book over the decades for inspiration concerning Call of Cthulhu games that I would run.

There is one idea that I have never used, though.

The central protagonist in The Anubis Gates is being sought by the bad guys because he has some information they need. Fearful lest they capture and torture him, he uses a scarf to tie a pistol around his neck with the muzzle firmly pressed under his chin. The plan is to threaten to kill himself and take the info to the grave if they try any funny business.

I was strongly reminded of that act of desperation and despair when I saw a post over at The Firearm Blog.

I was surprised when I saw the picture, but I was even more surprised to find out that this isn't some sort of joke. Click on that last link to read all about it, and leave a comment if you are so inclined.

So far as my own opinion is concerned, words fail me. But you can probably guess that I don't think it is a good idea.

A number of the spam messages I just deleted were touting the delights to be found at a specialty pr0n site. This time around, they were advertising "Huge Proboscis Girls!!"

Either there was a problem when someone with questionable skills in English tried to translate something erotic, or else it is a horror that even I cannot face!

Still, I have to admit that I'm somewhat curious. Just how do they, you know, .....

Like Groucho once said, I'm tempted to take them up on it just to find out what they are talking about.

A few days ago I noticed a bad smell in the house. It was kind of midlewy, just like old gym shoes that had been left to ferment in a warm, damp place for a few weeks.

I had been out in the yard for the past few days, clearing brush and sweating away. Must be my shoes, I thought, so I bought a new pair yesterday.

But that didn't take care of the odor. In fact, I noticed that it was even worse today. It still smelled like moldy feet, but there was now a pretty noticeable understench. It was like fish that had gone bad.

The smell flashed me back to the time when I was working for the police. I couldn't figure out how a worn out street whore had managed to break into my house and hide in my living room!

Continue reading "What in the Name of All That is Holy is That Smell???" »

It has been awhile since I've posted about odd firearms, and it is about time to address the lack.

I was browsing through this excellent site and came across yet another gun that was marketed specifically to cyclists in the 1890's. This time it isn't a revolver, but a single shot handgun with a very long barrel.

(Please click on all pictures to see if there is a larger image available.)

The site features guns that are in the private collection of a Belgian firearm enthusiast, and he says here that this particular firearm was marketed under the name "Velo Dog". I have written about the Velo Dog before, but that was a revolver chambered for a rather anemic and small cartridge of the same name.

The handgun pictured above was chambered for something called the "6mm bosquette", an antique cartridge that I'm having trouble finding any data about.

Continue reading "A Cyclist's Gun" »

In this post, I gave some advice to amateur firearm instructors who made blanket offers to introduce new shooters to our hobby. Mostly Genius, author of Brillianter, left a comment....

"...I think that a private citizen going to the range with another private citizen (as opposed to 'professional instructor') you are probably safe. Somebody can try to sue you for just about anything, being successful is another matter."

That is certainly true, and I'd agree if it was actually casual. If someone simply let it be known amongst their family and circle of friends that they were willing to take them to the range and introduce them to the shooting sports, say.

But Breda, the blogger I picked out as a specific example, has upped the bar by advertising her intent on her blog. Let us take a look at what she has prominently displayed in such a public place...

"INVITATION: If you are a woman who has never shot a firearm, regardless of your position on the right to arms, and if you live near or visit the northeast Ohio area, I'd like to invite you to go shooting with me! I will provide the arms, ammunition, targets, safety equipment, range fees and instruction. All you have to do is show up."

What happens if someone she doesn't know, never met, calls her up out of the blue and says "I read your blog and want to learn how to shoot?" Because a reasonable person could assume that this is exactly what she wants just by the wording of the invitation on her sidebar.

Just as an aside, it is also possible that she could get into trouble if she refuses to teach a man, since her invitation is specifically for women alone. It isn't very likely since she lives in Ohio, and I am not as concerned about it as I would be if she was living in a more Liberal state like California where civil discrimination court cases are seen more sympathetically. But she is implicitly stating her intention to exclude half of the population simply because of their sex! There is no doubt that I would be pilloried if I excluded women from my charity course, for example, and rightly so.

The point being is that amateurs who advertise professional services assume some of the risks of a professional. The problem is that they have no idea what these risks are because they are, after all, amateurs.

Mostly Genius makes the point that the risk is extremely small because Breda probably won't have much of a chance to take strangers to the range, and the odds of any one person trying to take advantage of a kind hearted Samaritan are rather low. This is true on two levels.

It took me literally years of work to build up my own reputation to the point where people started to seek me out in order to take advantage of the charity course. I doubt there will be too many people who take advantage of Breda's fine offer, if for no other reason than they are unlikely to hear about it.

The other point, that it is unlikely for any one student to actually file against Breda, is also something I agree with. But I note that Breda and her husband just got their concealed carry licenses. It is extremely unlikely that they will find themselves in a situation where they will have to rely on lethal force to save their lives, yet they are preparing for that moment anyway. Why not prepare for the remote chance that someone will decide to file against them?

The NRA grants a measure of protection from frivolous lawsuits, as long as their instructors use their materials and follow their lesson plans. (I should know, since I'm a fully qualified NRA instructor myself.) It doesn't cost all that much more to become an instructor than it would to hire a lawyer to draft a liability waiver, although it does take a greater commitment of time. But acquiring credentials and leaving the amateur status behind is certainly one way to protect yourself.

Personally I would like to see every single shooting enthusiast be willing to help bring new shooters into the fold, and I admire Breda for her efforts and would provide support if she asked. This certainly isn't a criticism of her intentions, just her methods.

I found an Email in my tray a few weeks ago.

"I was wondering if you could train me and my soon to be 8 year old son!"

Oh, hey, sounds like a paying customer for a change! Now all I have to do is reply with my rates and...

No, wait! A 7 year old kid? What?

I didn't want to scare off a potential sale by writing back with my initial reaction, which was along the lines of "This is a joke, right? You must be an anti-gun reporter trying to find ammunition for a negative op-ed on self defense instructors. Well, screw you!" Instead I wanted to be polite and find out just what was going on.

So I wrote back, expressing surprise that my prospective client would want a child so young to learn the safe ways of handling a firearm. They replied in a few hours with....

"I thought this was boxing/ martial arts! Sorry and thanks!"

To be frank, I am sort of insulted that they confused my do-or-die, never-give-up course with a tame and low impact McDojo which would be deemed appropriate for a very young child. But at least they were polite enough to reply to my query instead of simply ignoring me out of embarrassment.

Because I know the question will come up, I think the proper age to teach a child about firearm safety is entirely dependent on the maturity level of the kid. Firearm safety is a responsibility, and there is no telling when a child will develop mentally and emotionally enough to handle such a responsibility.

That means it is up to the parents to decide when to introduce their child to the shooting sports, and it is entirely their responsibility to teach safe gun handling to their own kids. I wouldn't do it for all the tea in China, mainly because the liability issue is horrifying.

I notice that a few of the bloggers on my blogroll also offer to introduce people to the shooting sports, even strangers that they have never met. (There used to be more, but Breda was the only one I could find.)

Tell me, has anyone given any thought to getting sued?

My advice is to hire a lawyer to draft a liability waiver, and have every one of your students read, understand, and sign one. This will cost a few hundred dollars for the lawyer's time, but it will be worth every penny if some bozo decides that they would like to help themselves to single one of your possessions. And, whatever you do, don't rely on some generic liability waiver that you find on Teh Intertubes, and don't try to write one yourself!

Now, it is possible that some of you are wondering why they should spend the cash. After all, it isn't often that you will be called upon to teach someone, and it is extremely unlikely that they will be strangers. You wouldn't expect to need a liability waiver if you take a friend or family member out to the range and put a loaded gun in their hands, right? They wouldn't sue you in the case of injury! Besides, why spend all that money when it is you who are doing them a favor by teaching them for free in the first place?

I had a big explanation all ready, typed out and everything, just waiting for me to hit the PUBLISH button. But then it occurred to me that there is little I could say to convince you of the wisdom of my position you didn't immediately see that I was giving you some good advice.

And it is good advice! Maybe even the most important advice you will ever get if you decide to teach gun handling skills to a stranger.

Remember! Hire a lawyer. Get professionally drafted liability waiver. Have your student sign liability waiver.

There's other stuff I could pass along, my young Padawans. Like how you should require your students to give you photocopies of two of their legal ID's, and how you should get a police report to see if they have ever been convicted of a felony before you let them get anywhere near your guns. But that is something I will save for another post.

There are certain things that a hairy-scary self defense instructor isn't supposed to admit, that they skipped some milestones in the long and sometimes bitter struggle to achieve manly he-man macho studmuffinism. But I'm about to drop a bomb, bare my soul, and let the cat out of the bag.

You see, I'm just not that good with a rifle.

Oh, I'm okay, I suppose. But it is on the low end of okay. Anyone who spends even a moderate amount of time on developing their long range, reach-out-and-touch-someone skills would sneer at my own pathetic fumblings and declare them complete shite.

People who are not involved in the shooting sports would be puzzled about this. After all, it isn't as bad as being born hideously deformed so that I will never be able to find a woman who could bear my touch.

Those who are involved with the shooting sports would scoff at such an attitude, and point out that there is always plastic surgery to improve my looks while lack of aptitude with a rifle is a permanent disability!

But it isn't as bad as all that. You see, I certainly do have the ability to sight a rifle effectively, I just have let those skills atrophy. ("Blasphemy! Sinner unclean!" is heard off in the distance.)

The vast majority of my students choose handguns for defense, the legacy of close to 100 years of movies and 50 years of TV where the hero ignores more effective firearms in favor of the lowly pistol. I do manage to convince about five or ten percent of my students to give shotguns a try, however, so at least a few of them will be well served if they have to take up arms to save their lives. But so far a total of three people have wanted to learn how to use a rifle. Three people out of close to 18 years and 700 students. It has been about 15 years since I went to the outdoor range and managed to fire off more than the bare minimum of rifle rounds needed to just get comfortable.

With all of the time spent on handguns, with a very few sidetracks to use a shotgun, it is no wonder that I will have to train my hands to once again know the ways of the rifle.

I'm filling your eyes with this tale of personal heartache and woe because of this post by Chris, who I have heard is fast becoming a skilled rifleman in his own right. His big complaint seems to be that rifle manufacturers are putting out long guns that are set up to accept a scope mount, but which do not have any simple iron sights at all. This, as he colorfully expounds, is the next best thing to an abomination against God and rifleman.

His final paragraph sounds like he is talking to me personally....

"These things being said I have a little advise for the beginning rifle shooters. Start small with an experienced shooter; learn the fundamentals with a .22 it is cheaper to shoot and more forgiving on your shoulder than picking up a .308 and trying to put 100 rounds down range. Next learn all of the standard shooting positions: prone, sitting, kneeling, and off hand."

I already have a Ruger .22 autoloader. I wonder if Chris wouldn't mind heading out to the range when I have some time so he can give me some pointers?

This has been floating around Teh Intertubes for some time now.

Is the joke that there is nothing there to see? 'Cause I just don't see anything but trees and some grass.

I was talking to the gaming group a few weeks ago about a movie I had come across entitled Running Scared. They immediately admonished me for missing out on this film from 1986, which was a violent buddy cop tale starring Billy Crystal and the late great Gregory Hines. They wanted to know how I could have avoided coming across the film on one of the endless replays on cable back in the late 1980's to early 1990's.

But I wasn't talking about that film. I was referring to the movie of the same name which was released in 2006.

This seemed to endlessly confuse my buddies. Is the new film a remake of the original? Was Billy Crystal involved? Surely it was at least a cop buddy movie!

They had a hard time accepting the fact that the new movie might just have the same title, but it has absolutely nothing to do with Mr. Crystal's prior magnus opus. While the 1980's work was a comedy held together by a plot that called for the occasional gun fight, the most recent film is a depressing and violent gangster tale.

Another reason why the 2006 movie might be labeled as "depressing" is due to the fact that it is gawdawful. We're talking about a really, really bad movie here, folks.

Continue reading "The Guns of Running Scared" »

Theo has found a really odd music video featuring Russian airborne assault troops. At least, that is what those blue berets they are all wearing indicate.

Watch it for less than a minute to see some really odd training exercises. The comments left at Theo's indicate that the turnstile obstacle course is so Russia can overrun Disneyworld!

So far as a video is concerned, it is not half bad for a 1980's era big hair band video that you might have seen on MTV back in the day. If this was made recently, it shows that the Russians are far behind us in both military technology and popular culture. No wonder they want to invade Disneyworld!

Anyway, I came across this motivational poster for Russian special forces, called Spetsnaz.

Mulliga has found an amusing little film concerning the atlatl, the dart thrower that Stone Age people use to harvest game.

The only person in the short film is a career academic, and he is pretty good until the last minute or so. That is when the hippie just can't resist slathering on the social commentary.

"The bow and arrow is associated with agriculture, and the rise of organized religion, taxes, everything we hate about modern life"!

Organized religion is something we hate about modern life? We hate agriculture??? Sure, if you are a hippie...

Some might say that I'm being too hard on ol' Bob. After all, his bio says that he is a former Marine! But I also note that it admits he got into trouble when he tried to trade rifles for drugs while still in uniform, and his domestic partner runs an "organic herbal supply company".

Another indication of the hippie disease is how they will jack up the price of hand made crafts for the suckers while still complaining about modern life, mainly because living a "sustainable lifestyle" costs an arm and a leg. ("I'll barter 30 dead squirrels from my back yard for an atlatl, all of them preserved the traditional way by being dumped in a bucket of salt for a month without the benefit of evil modern conveniences like refrigeration. What? You want cash?") Take a gander at the price list for Bob's atlatls.

I say hippie.

I've been thinking lately....

Last year, just about the time that the weather turned cold, I started to feel sick. Nothing terrible, just tired and achy with an upset stomach. Think a low level flu.

After a few months I noticed that it would flare up on the days when I was teaching the self defense class, which isn't all that surprising since I have to get by on one hour of sleep on those days. To keep awake and alert I'd slam down gallons of caffeinated soft drinks each week, and grab a few fast food meals full of starch and sugar and fat every day that conducted a class. It is no wonder that my stomach was bothering me, the only mystery being why it took this long to start to complain. It certainly is no mystery as to why I'm way overweight, and why I can't slim down no matter how hard I try.

I'll be 44 years old in three weeks. Mother's Day. The sand runs out of the hourglass for us all, and it looks like my body is trying to tell me that all these sleepless days and bad food might just be starting to do some real damage. There isn't anything wrong now, or at least nothing permanent, but what happens if I ignore the warning signs? It seems to me to be a good idea to quit before a stroke, heart attack, or ulcer forces the matter.

So I've been asking myself: Where is a good place to stop?

It is tough to say for sure, but it looks like I'll be teaching my 700th student some time around the end of the year. That would also mean that I've been doing this as close to 18 years as to make no real difference. I would have liked to get to student 1,000 because it is such an impressive number, but that would take an additional 8 or 9 years. I'm not sure that I would last that long if I kept up the pace.

The majority of my students suffered through some pretty horrible experiences, and most of them were rather jittery and nervous when we would meet. It was extremely satisfying to see them gain confidence as the realization dawned that they wouldn't have to go through something like that again. I like to say that they were afraid of the dark before they learned how to defend themselves, and afterwards the dark was afraid of them!

700 is probably enough. I could do worse in the legacy I leave to the world.