Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Sorry for the hiatus...

Lots has been going on.  I'm now a Boy Scout Assistant Scoutmaster, and we had our first camping trip this last weekend!  I never made it far in Boy Scouts, so hopefully I can help my oldest boy get along better than I did.

Classes are still happening.  I've got Shotgun Gunfighting this weekend, then Intro to Defensive Pistol on the night of October 19th. 

My first "official" magazine article has been published in US Concealed Carry Magazine!!!  If you're not a member of USCCA, you should be. http://www.uscca.com/.  The focus is solely on concealed carry, and is a good place to be associated with.

I'll post my review of a couple of Rob Leahy's holsters tomorrow, then some pics from the Shotgun class next week. 

Folks, the world is still a dangerous place, so keep your gun with you 24/7, get trained, stay dangerous.  I'll post some new info tomorrow, also, to keep you up to date. 

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Everyday carry gear (EDC)

OK, we've talked about having your gun with you everywhere you go.  I also realize that carrying a full size fighting gun is difficult, whether it's because of your work environment, the weather, or any other reasons.  There are ways to carry every day, though. 

This is one of my favorite EDC setups.  It's a Smith & Wesson 642 .38 Special double action revolver, wearing a Barami Hip Grip and Tyler T-Grip adapter. No holster needed, goes right into your waistband.  With it is a Bianchi Speed Strip with 5 extra rounds, and a Spyderco Delica folding knife.  If you're legally allowed, there is no reason you can't have this with you damn near 24/7/365.  It isn't hard. 


Goodbye, little buddy...

I had to put down my puppy Zip down 2 days ago.  He came down with parvo, and it just ate him up.  He was only 6 months old, he loved to chase my chickens, wake me up at 4:30am and ride in my truck with his head out the window.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Woman shoots intruders; 1 dead

If you didn't see this, it should make your day!

http://www.tulsaworld.com/webextra/content/2010/crimesite/article.aspx?subjectid=450&articleid=20100716_11_AA110_ByMatt123176&allcom=1


Woman shoots intruders; 1 dead

By MATT BARNARD World Staff Writer
Published: 7/16/2010 2:21 AM
Last Modified: 7/16/2010 5:32 AM

The victim of a home invasion fought off two attackers early Thursday by shooting both in the head, killing one, police said.

One of the intruders, Darreon Carter, 18, died in a Tulsa hospital. The other, Daniel Holman, 23, is in critical condition, police said.

The incident was Tulsa's second deadly home intrusion in as many days.

Capt. Travis Yates said the woman was walking through a dark parking lot about 3:50 a.m. at the Brighton Park apartments in the 4800 block of South Darlington Avenue after a trip to a fast-food restaurant. As she opened her apartment's door, the men demanded money and forced their way inside.

The woman initially cooperated, but when one intruder told her to undress, she pulled a snub-nosed revolver from her purse and shot him, police said.

A struggle for the gun broke out, and her boyfriend tried to help, police said.

Although she took blows to her head, the woman was able to shoot the other intruder. She fired five shots in all, Yates said.

"It seemed to be a courageous act, protecting their home and their life," he said. "They were shaken up, but it was sort of impressive — they weren't hysterical."

Brighton Park typically doesn't see much criminal activity. Yates said there were no immediate signs that the woman knew the attackers.

"We believe that this was totally an opportunity crime," he said. "Somebody saw a woman walking up to an apartment, and they decided to commit a crime, and here we are."

The woman held the wounded intruders at gunpoint until help arrived. Her boyfriend collected two screwdrivers that the men had used as weapons, police said.

Officers found Carter and Holman in the apartment's entryway. Carter was unresponsive; Holman was conscious, but his condition was deteriorating quickly, Yates said.

Medics took both men to St. Francis Hospital, where Carter died. Holman remains in critical condition with bullet wounds to his head and stomach, police said.

Police took the tenants to headquarters for questioning, but Yates said he didn't expect them to be arrested.

The woman's name was not immediately available, and there was no answer at the apartment later Thursday.

Police said two other recent home-invasion robberies also seem to have been crimes of opportunity.

Seeing open doors, robbers entered the home of Stephen Rodolf, near 26th Street and Peoria Avenue, in June and the home of Rabon Martin, in the 1400 block of South Carson Avenue, on July 6, police said. People in each home were assaulted by the armed robbers.

Three suspects have been charged in the Rodolf robbery and assault, and one of them is also charged in the Martin robbery. One of the three suspects, Ryan K. Smith, has not yet been arrested.

Smith, 21, is described as black, 6 feet 3 inches tall and 170 pounds.

Thursday's shootings happened about a day after another home invasion that left a resident dead.

Police said masked intruders ransacked a home in the 600 block of East 27th Place North before fatally shooting Corey Lajuan Johnson, 30.

The assailants, who are at large, made gang-related remarks during the ordeal and took property from the home.

They were black, wore hooded jackets and had cloths covering their faces, police reported.

Anyone with information about Ryan Smith or any of these home-invasion robberies and assaults is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 596-COPS. Tips can also be sent to the Police Department online or via text message at tulsaworld.com/crimestoppers.

The Crime Commission offers rewards for information that leads to arrests, and tipsters can remain anonymous.

She had her gun, and used it to good effect.  Take a lesson, folks.  Carry your gun everywhere, all the time!

Friday, July 23, 2010

Daily carry guns

OK, so you've decided to start carrying concealed.  Let's talk about that for a minute.

You've got to have your gun with you, every day.  You have to know it's there, and not leave the house without it.  You don't get to pick and choose when an emergency will occur, that's why it's called an emergency.  As John Farnam says, "When it's least expected, you're elected!"  Carry your gun, plus at least one reload. 

I strongly recommend you carry a full size, fighting handgun.  I carry a Glock 19 9mm semi automatic, plus 2 15 round magazines.  It sounds like a lot, but if you ever have to deal with multiple bad guys, you want as much ammo on hand as possible.  I've also carried a 1911 .45 auto, and if I went back to carrying one, it'd be a full size 5" gun, with three spare magazines. 

I suggest you carry a backup, or second gun, all the time, too.  This isn't paranoia; anything made by man can break, and I've seen everything out there break or fall apart at some point.  I carry my main gun inside the waistband, in the appendix position, with the holster made by Dale Fricke.  My second gun is carried either in an ankle holster or carried on my belt for a left hand draw.  I really like the Smith & Wesson J-frame, five shot revolvers. 

You need to get out and shoot your guns!  You can't read about it, you have to do it.  50 rounds a week is not unrealistic, and more is better.  Make sure it's relevant training, not just throwing rounds downrange.  Shoot your guns, with two hands and one hand.  Get competent training. 

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Who Needs Guns in Church?

Well, here's one nitwit who still doesnt' get it. We have 'gun control' in the largest cities in the nation, New York, Washington, D.C., Detroit, Chicago. It's worked well there, hasn't it? But his answer, is more gun control. What a tool!


Michael Arceneaux
Contributor

AOL News (July 19) -- No matter what name you call your deity, there's a common theme among religious institutions in the land of Louisiana: You cannot trust your fellow man, not even in the House of God.

Gov. Bobby Jindal signed into law a bill that could easily be mistaken as satire: Concealed handguns are now a go in places of worship.

House Bill 1272, known has the "gun-in-church bill," was introduced by Rep. Henry Burns, R-Haughton.

The new law allows licensed gun owners who are part of a security force to carry concealed weapons into churches, mosques and synagogues.

Those who wish to pack heat while giving praise will have to take an extra eight hours of tactical training each year.

Does that make you feel any safer? No? If it helps, churches, synagogues and mosques choosing to allow concealed carry will have to inform their congregations of the decision.

Perhaps protective vests will finally get sold in the gun aisle at Walmart, too.

To be fair, the bill was not issued as an open love letter to the NRA.

It was presented as a way to give worshippers in "declining neighbors" a means of defense against criminals. More importantly, places of worship will not be forced to allow guns on their property.

Is this really the way to go?

While gun-rights supporters erupted in cheers for Gov. Jindal, a churchgoer in Wisconsin was startled at the sight of a fellow parishioner openly carrying a loaded Glock 9 mm handgun in church.

In response, the police were called. Though the gun carrier wouldn't mention her name, she did tell NBC's TM4J why she carries it.

She said: "I started carrying earlier this year. I'm getting older and fatter and slower and criminals are getting meaner."

Sadly, church violence is not uncommon.

There have been incidents of gun violence in Colorado and New Jersey in recent years. Back in 1980, a teacher by the name of Alvin Lee King III stormed inside a church with an AR-15 assault rifle, a hunting rifle and handguns and opened fire -- killing five and injuring 10.

In an interview with CBS 11 on the 30th anniversary of that shooting, Detective Jimmy Meeks of Hurst Police Department in Texas, who also travels the country teaching church security, argues that there's a certain mentality many religious people need to get over.
More Opinion on AOL News

Meeks says his mission "is helping get churches get beyond the mentality that 'we're safe in the house of God.' It is not a safe house in the mind of the criminal."

It's a sentiment echoed by John Monroe, an attorney for a gun-rights group assisting a Georgia minister suing Upson County to get guns inside his church.

Monroe told the Atlanta-Journal Constitution, "Things happen in church. ... What we really want is the state not to say what can happen in church."

As frightening as the thought of criminals repeating such awful crimes in religious institutions is, I'm more alarmed that none of these gun rights supporters has concluded that if we had more gun control, the psychotic people who brought terror into church never would have had the opportunity to do so.

Though House Bill 1272 was introduced under the guise of preventing violence, I worry that it may ultimately make churches, synagogues and mosques more susceptible to it. Violence begets violence. How many more examples do we need to prove this point?

I understand the urgency for security in the religious community, but I don't believe laws like the "gun-in-church bill" are the answer.

Gun control is.

Here's a more complete list of church shootings over the last few years, and why more people need to have guns in church. Maybe this knucklehead needs to study his history a bit more.

March 8, 2009 - Maryville, Illinois - Suspect Terry Joe Sedlacek, 27, of Troy, walks into the First Baptist Church, and shoots pastor Fred Winters dead, point blank. Several church members are injured by a knife in the struggle to capture after the attack, The suspect also had stabbed himelf, but survived, when his gun jams.

Feb. 18, 2009 - Garden Grove, California - A man walks into the internationally known Crystal Cathedral, hands a greeter a note, then kneels in front of a cross and shoots himself in the head, leaving him dead at the altar.

July 27, 2008 - Knoxville, Tennessee - A gunman opens fire in a church during a youth performance, killing two people and injuring seven.

Dec. 9, 2007 - Colorado - Three people are killed and five wounded in two shooting rampages, one at a missionary school in suburban Denver and one at a church in Colorado Springs. The gunman in the second incident is killed by a guard.

May 20, 2007 - Moscow, Idaho - A standoff between police and a suspect in the shootings of three people in a Presbyterian Church ended with three dead, including one police officer.

Aug. 12, 2007 - Neosho, Missouri - First Congregational Church - 3 killed - Eiken Elam Saimon shot and killed the pastor and two deacons and wounded five others.

Oct. 2, 2006 - Lancaster County, Pennsylvania - Attack by a gunman who killed five girls and then himself, while not a church, occurs at an Amish school targeted a religious site.

May 21, 2006 - Baton Rouge, Louisiana - The Ministry of Jesus Christ Church - 4 killed - The four at the church who were shot were members of Erica Bell's family; she was abducted and murdered elsewhere; Bell's mother, church pastor Claudia Brown, was seriously wounded - Anthony Bell, 25, was the shooter.

Feb. 26, 2006 - Detroit, Michigan - Zion Hope Missionary Baptist Church - 2 killed + shooter - Kevin L. Collins, who reportedly went to the church looking for his girlfriend, later killed himself.

April 9, 2005 - College Park, Georgia - A 27-year-old airman died after being shot at a church, where he had once worked as a security guard.

March 12, 2005 - Brookfield, Wisconsin - Living Church of God - 7 killed + shooter - Terry Ratzmann opened fire on the congregation, killing seven and wounding four before taking his own life.

July 30, 2005 - College Park, Georgia - World Changers Church International - shooter killed - Air Force Staff Sgt. John Givens was shot five times by a police officer after charging the officer, following violent behavior.

Dec. 17, 2004, Garden Grove, Calif.: A veteran musician at the Crystal Cathedral shoots himself to death after a nine-hour standoff.

Oct. 5, 2003 - Atlanta, Georgia - Turner Monumental AME Church - 2 killed + shooter - Shelia Wilson walked into the church while preparations are being made for service and shot the pastor, her mother and then herself.

June 10, 2002 - Conception, Missouri - Benedictine monastery - 2 killed + shooter - Lloyd Robert Jeffress shot four monks in the monastery killing two and wounding two, before killing himself.

March 12, 2002 - Lynbrook, New York - Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church - 2 killed - Peter Troy, a former mental patient, opens fire during Mass, killing the priest and a parishioner. He later receives a life sentence.

May 18, 2001 - Hopkinsville, Kentucky - Greater Oak Missionary Baptist Church - 2 killed - Frederick Radford stood up in the middle of a revival service and began shooting at his estranged wife, Nicole Radford, killing her and a woman trying to help her.

Nov. 1, 2000, Kansas City: The wife of a minister fatally shoots her daughter and then herself.

Sept. 15, 1999 - Fort Worth, Texas - Wedgewood Baptist Church - 7 killed + shooter - Larry Gene Ashbrook shot dead seven people and injured a further seven at a concert by Christian rock group Forty Days in Fort Worth, Texas before killing himself.

April 15, 1999 - Salt Lake City, Utah - LDS Church Family History Library - 2 killed + shooter - Sergei Babarin, 70, with a history of mental illness, entered the library, killed two people and wounded four others before he was gunned down by police.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Will Thousands Of Police Layoffs Unleash Chaos And Anarchy Across America?

Thousands of police officers have been laid off all across America since the current economic crisis began. Thousands more are getting ready to be laid off. So could we be on the verge of a new era of chaos and anarchy in America as crime runs wild and there are just far too few police to respond to it all? That is the message that one blood-smeared billboard in Stockton, California is trying to get across. Paid for by the Stockton, California police union, the message of the billboard is chillingly clear: “Welcome to the 2nd most dangerous city in California. Stop laying off cops.” As state, city and local governments across the United States continue to be devastated by the ongoing economic crisis, budget cuts are becoming much deeper and police forces have suddenly become a very popular target.

Officer Steve Leonesio, the president of the Stockton Police Officers Association, has announced that the police union plans to spend approximately $20,000 on at least 20 more billboards.

Why is the union putting up all of these billboards?

Well, it turns out that Stockton has been considering a plan to lay off 53 police officers in an effort to eliminate a $23 million budget deficit.

But law enforcement in Stockton has already been cut to the bone. Recently, the Stockton Police Department dropped this bombshell….

“We absolutely do not have any narcotics officers, narcotics sergeants working any kind of investigative narcotics type cases at this point in time.”

Do you think drug dealers will be flocking to Stockton after they hear that?

But the truth is that so many of these local governments around the nation are just flat broke at this point.

Even major cities are having to admit that they have accumulated such large debts that they cannot even afford to provide the most basic services any longer.

In Oakland, California the battle over police layoffs has made national headlines over the past couple of weeks. Oakland has laid off 80 police officers, and now the police chief says that there are some crimes that his department simply will not be able to respond to.

In fact, Chief Anthony Batts has compiled a list of exactly 44 situations, including grand theft, burglary, car wrecks, identity theft and vandalism, that his officers will not be available to handle any longer.

What in the world?

Once upon a time in America you could get a police officer to come out for just about anything – including for getting a cat down out of a tree.

But those days are long gone.

Today it is very hard to get a police officer to come out for anything short of murder.

The following is a partial list of crimes that police officers in Oakland will no longer be responding to….

burglary
theft
embezzlement
grand theft
grand theft: dog
identity theft
false information to peace officer
required to register as sex or arson offender
dump waste or offensive matter
discard appliance with lock
loud music
possess forged notes
pass fictitious check
obtain money by false voucher
fraudulent use of access cards
stolen license plate
embezzlement by an employee (over $ 400)
extortion
attempted extortion
false personification of other
injure telephone/power line
interfere with power line
unauthorized cable tv connection
vandalism
Not that Oakland wasn’t already a mess, but now how long do you think it will be before total chaos and anarchy reigns on the streets of Oakland?

But Oakland is far from alone.

The sheriff’s department in Ashtabula County, Ohio has been slashed from 112 to 49 deputies, and there is now just one vehicle remaining to patrol all 720 square miles of the county.

So what are the citizens of that county supposed to do to protect themselves?

Well, when asked about what they should do, Judge Alfred Mackey gave this stunning piece of advice….

“Arm themselves.”

So is that what we are left with?

Is American society degenerating into a “Road Warrior-style” wasteland where we are all left to fend for ourselves?

It gets really frightening when you start considering just how many police are actually being laid off across the United States….

*Acting State Police director Jonathon Monken has announced that the Illinois State Police will lay off more than 460 troopers and close five regional headquarters by this fall.

*Atlantic City Mayor Lorenzo Langford has proposed a plan to lay off 40 police officers.

*The police department in Vallejo, California will temporarily suspend its K-9 and SWAT programs at the end of the month in a move to delay officer layoffs.

*Last year, 18 special police units in Toledo, Ohio - including the gang task force and the mounted patrol – were eliminated or downsized in an effort to replace the 130 patrol officers who were laid off because of a $20.7 million budget deficit.

*Of 315 municipalities the New Jersey State Policemen’s union canvassed, more than half indicated that they were planning to lay off police officers.

*Four police officers in one town in New Jersey were greeted at work this past Monday morning with notices informing them that they will be laid off on August 31st.

*Police in Phoenix, Arizona have been told that more than 400 officers could be impacted by layoffs if “the worst case scenario” plays out.

*Police and firefighters in Flint, Michigan decided that layoffs were preferable to taking a 15 percent pay and benefits cut.

*The city of Maywood, California laid off all 68 of its employees July 1st and is now “contracting out” police services.

*In Colorado Springs, dozens of police positions are going unfilled and the police helicopters were put up for sale on the Internet.

The sad thing is that as local police forces across America are being stripped down or dismantled, many communities are opening their arms wide to increased federal law enforcement “assistance”.

In recent years, we have seen a large number of examples where the U.S. military is being used for domestic law enforcement, which is supposed to be against the law. In addition, federal government agencies are increasingly taking over the financing, training and even command of local police.

But is this “federalization” of local law enforcement a good thing?

Of course not.

Unfortunately we live at a time when almost everything is being centralized under federal government control. Of course this is completely contrary to everything that our founders intended, but most of our “officials” don’t seem too concerned about actually following the Constitution these days.

So what are you seeing in your own local community? Is the police force being slashed where you live? Is crime on the rise?

Time to get prepared, if you're not already.