Home Defense Thoughts..

Brigid shares her thoughts on home defense.

Work has a prohibition against firearms while working, it also has a prohibition against firearms in personal vehicles while parked on company property. That being said, as soon as I'm in the door after a shift, I'm out of uniform, and wearing at least some kind of firearm around with me. My general thinking goes like this: When the chips are down, I am going to KNOW where my gun is, 100% of the time.

Will you?

My house has an alarm, and we're good about keeping the house locked even when we are home. The dog is only 40lbs, but she sounds real menacing when she needs to. That all being said, the true protection in the house comes from me always having a firearm ready to go, and within easy reach. It's such second nature anymore, that I feel naked when it's not the case.

Always...

...carry a gun!

It's a lighter burden then regret...

and remember, the life you save may in fact be your own.

North Texas Tactical Combat Handgun 1

So, all finished with class, and safe and sound back at my residence in TX.  I'll give a detailed account of what we covered in the next few days, but for now, a general list of comments.

-What the hell happened to the 80 degree day we had yesterday.

-Pay Up. And as a reward, he's a legal liability waiver...

-Awareness Color Chart

-OODA loop (no, not the loop de loop)

-Carry a gun regularly = 90% of your waking hours :)

-Things may not always be as they appear.  People standing around with hands in their pockets, be careful, they may just have a plan to kill you (which could very well include having a J-frame snubby in that pocket)

-Pistol will either be indexed down range, or holstered.

-Front site. Press.  Front Site.  Press. 

-Draw.

-Failure to stop drills DNE 2 to the COM and 1 to the head.  Address the body, and then address the head.

-Wait, you want me to do what now?  Sit down and shoot the target with my ass on the ground? OK.

-Now laying flat on my back!?!?!?  OK, we can try that too.

-You shouldn't see shoeleather when you're looking through the sites.

-1,2,3,4,5,6 drill.

-Move and Shoot!

-SCAN!

-FINGER!

-Walrus story (which I'll tell you is kind of cool, but you have to attend a class to find out what it is!)

All in all, a very very worthwhile day, and if you can possibly make it up to see these guys, well worth the time and effort!

Daily Carry Gear

So Breda was nice enough to throw up a post about the stuff she carries each and every day. I also remember seeing a meme that floated around the blogsphere a couple of months back about what gets carried every day, so I figured I'd participate.

First of all, this is a picture of the stuff I carry each and every day when I'm at work (this stuff is carried all day, every day on the jobsite.) Unfortunately, work prohibits the carrying of firearms on the jobsite.

Starting from the bottom left:

Cell Phone (Palm Treo - Verizon Wireless)
Texas Key Ring (has the keys to my apartment, and office at work)
Cell Phone Case
Camera Case
Truck Keys
Digital Camera (Nikon CoolPix)
Small Notebook
Pen
Surefire E1b
Leatherman Multitool
Emerson CQC-7B w/ Wave
Wallet

When I'm not at work, I have the following stuff:


From the bottom Left:

Cell Phone
Wallet
Cell Phone Case
Texas Keys
Truck Keys
Leatherman Multitool
Small Notebook
Pen
Springfield XD45 Service (in a Brommeland Max-Con V)
Backup Mag
Emerson CQC-7B
Surefire E1b

--Jim

San Antonio Blog Meet Aftermath!

While I was at the blogmeet yesterday, I made reference to this cartoon, although apparently no one else who was there had ever seen it. I'm posting it so that they can enjoy it.

Now that everyone has read that and had a good chuckle, I should come clean and say that I have at least one of each (Glock and 1911) and like them both, probably equally.

Like I mentioned on Friday, I drove down to the blogmeet the night before, and met up with SpeakerTweaker for dinner at Biff Buzby's Burgers, which actually had a car show going on, even though it was the middle of February (gotta love Texas). The GPS unit I had indicated that there was a Dunkin Donuts in the area, so I planned on going there for breakfast.

I got up early Saturday AM, and headed for DD's, only to find out that it was no longer a DD, but was instead a local place. Ended up going directly to the range, and got there at about 8:30, even though the range didn't open until 9AM. Tweaker showed up between 5 and 10 minutes later, and Murphy was just a little bit after him. Before the range opened just after 9AM, there were at least 15 cars waiting to use the range.

We decided to hit the pistol range first, and settled up with the range. We had two lanes, and a total of 10 pistols (after 10% showed up.) Many stories were shared, much shootie goodness was enjoyed by all, and the range was packed. There was a CHL class going on, at least one police officer practice on the range, and numerous parent with children around. In addition, there were some people being introduced to shooting for the first time.

The total pistol collection that was evident on site:

• Kimber TLE II/RL
• XD45 Service
• Glock 19
• Ruger 22/45 Mk. 3
• Ruger Single Six
• CZ-52
• CZ-85
• Glock 22
• NAA Mini in .22mag
• Colt Lightweight Commander

And at a guess approximately 1000 rounds were fired through the various pistols throughout the course of the day. Both Speaktweater and Murphy got a kick out the .22LR rounds I'd brought, that have next to no recoil (they won't function a semi-auto).

After we finished on the pistol range, we moved over to the rifle range where we were shooting at 50 yards. Between the four of us, there were five rifles and a 9mm carbine.

• Sig 556
• AR-15 (M4gery)
• Bushmaster Gas Piston Carbine (AR-15)
• Mosin-Nagant
  
• Henry .22LR
• Kel-Tec Sub 2000

We had an exceptionally good time, considering that neither of the AR-15s on site was previously sighted in. We fixed that with Tweaters, but somehow I managed to forget the instructions for zeroing my EOtech, so it still shoots a little high and to the left. The grouping was nice though :)

At one point we were approached by a guy asking what the fascination with AR-15's is, since they "are made just for killing people." I jumped in with the argument that I know bunches of people who hunt with them, but what I really should have said was that us owning our AR-15's protects his right to own his deer rifle. Wasn't quick enough on the thought processes though. I was however quick enough to point out that there are more accessories for the AR-15 family of rifles than there are for any other gun platform out there.

It was a mighty good time, unfortunately it had to end far far too soon. 10% ducked out when his wife sent him a text message from the car saying "it's time to go." It was after 1PM before I realized how late it was getting, and that I had a long drive ahead of me, so I bid a fond farewell to Murphy and Tweaker, although they decided to pack it in about the same time.


After leaving the range, I headed back to the College Station / Franklin area, by way of Double Shot Liquor and Guns, located in Schulenburg TX. The shop seemed to have an awesome selection of liquor on sale, and a back room with several dozen firearms, and they have a drive through. How cool is that! Amongst the other stuff they had in the back room, Double Shot had a GSG-5 and at least one AR-15, which is always nice to see. The staff was very pleasant, and gave me a free coolie for beverage cans. Definitely a place to check out, although their selection for firearms was certainly not the greatest.

I also stopped off at Champion Firearms in College Station, and picked me up a new Surefire X300 for my pistols! All in all, a wonderful day, and the only way to make it better would have been to have more people join us. Unfortunately, it turns out that Sabra could've made it, but realized she wouldn't know how to meet up with anyone. Next time we'll have to make some signs up for the tables we are shooting at.

Muphy shares his thoughts up here.

10% has his views and report over here.

Last, but definitely not least, SpeakerTweaker writes out his experiences.

Thanks guys, for an awesome day!

Pictures will be put up as soon as I get them from Tweaker (I managed to forget I had my camera...boo hiss.)

Teaching People to Shoot Update

Update to my post over here, and on the main page of the blog.

By way of Captain and a Crew of One we find that Mulligan over at Do Over is keeping up with this list of people willing to introduce new people to the shooting sports. I left my contact info asking to be added to the roster.

UPDATE: I've been added.

--Jim

Why I Carry A Gun

This particular comment has been discussed around the blogsphere many times. The answer always varies slightly from blogger to blogger, and I'm hoping to share my opinion on the matter.

Simply put, I carry a firearm for the defense of myself ands my loved ones. I don't want to take the place of the police, but I think that part of a citizens responsibilities is to have the ability to protect him/herself from a violent offender until the police arrive.

As far as how I carry, I usually carry on my right hip either IWB or OWB. Usually it's a leather holster, although I do occasionally use a kydex holster. I always carry at least one backup mag, due to the fact the something like 90% of semi-auto pistol failures are due to a magazine failure. The backup mag is carried on my left side behind my cell phone holder.

Other stuff I have with me whenever I leave the house includes a cell phone (obviously). I also carry two knives, a tactical folder and a Leatherman multitool. Finally, I have a minimum of at least one Surefire flashlight. There is usually a second Surefire not very far away. I use all of this stuff almost every single day in my day to day working.

Now, for the good stuff: meaning what firearms do I carry. When I first started carrying in IN, I was carrying an HK USPc in .40, carried in a CTAC holster. I've moved on to an XD45 carried in a Brommeland Max-Con V or a Glock 19 carried in a Brommeland Max-Con V or Def-Con V. I also have a Ruger LCP for times when I simply can't conceal a larger pistol.

Later, I'll talk about the mentality that goes with carrying a firearm on a day to day basis.

Politically Incorrect

I've always hated the idea of being politically correct. I understand why it is necessary in this day and age (translation: to keep myself out of trouble) but I don't enjoy having to do it.

With that all said, please enjoy the following politically incorrect (at least in this day and age) picture.

For those of you who aren't aware, that's a Bushmaster AR-15 with 30 round PMag and an EOtech HWS and a Glock 19 with Crimson Trace laser grips, a Glock light, and a 33 round Glock mag.

Both are a TON of fun to shoot.

New Toy

Put this sucker on lay-a-way just after Thanksgiving (I'd already bought 3 new toys that weekend.)

Paid it off this weekend.

Will take it to the range on Saturday or Sunday for sure.

Kimber Custom TLE II / RL wearing a set of Crimson Trace Front activated laser grips. I can't wait to shoot it.

I won't tell you how much I paid for it, but I will happily say that it wasn't in the gunshop and available long enough to earn a pricetag.

What's in my pockets!

EE posted a question and answer from Ellie that I thought was pretty cool, so I went ahead and stole it from her:

Ellie asks: What do you carry in your pockets at work?

I'm going to go ahead and break this down into four different sections, because the items change depending upon where I am. Two are EMS related, and two are every day life related. I don't run EMS as a profession anymore, and don't get to spend nearly enough time on the ambulance every week. But I remember those days. OK, here we go:

At Work:
On my belt: Cell Phone (personal) (left side), Cell Phone (issued) (right side), Radio (sometimes) (left side)
Right Back pocket: Usually a pair of gloves, although occasionally a hand tool of some kind (crimps come to mind), also a notepad when in the field.
Back Left: Wallet, and Surefire E2e if my pants do not have a cargo or carpenter pocket.
Front left: keys, change, etc.
Front right: Pocket Knife, occasionally a pen
Cargo Pockets: Usually at work I'm in just plain jeans, but sometimes I have carpenter or cargo pants on. In that case, the Surefire light gets moved to the right side cargo pocket if applicable.

Not at work:
On my belt: Cell Phone (personal) (left side), handgun (right side, concealed), spare mag (left side)
Right Back pocket: Empty
Back Left: Wallet.
Front left: keys, change, etc.
Front right: Knife (see above)
Cargo Pockets: Surefire - usually wear carpenter pants off the jobsite.

When I still lived in NJ, I had two main methods of dress for riding the ambulance. I wore both, depending upon my mood, and the particular look I was going for.

The more casual look that I often used around the squad house consisted of jeans and a job shirt. I would carry everything indicated above, except for the handgun (yeah... try carrying a handgun in NJ and see how you like the results....). Also added to the belt, 24/7 in NJ was a pager, and a glove pouch. They went on the belt as part of getting dressed in the morning, and came off at night when getting ready for bed. In addition, I carried a pen in my jobshirt pocket, and usually a patient information pad in my right rear pocket. Finally, I also ALWAYS wore boots, usually 8" side zips.

Whenever I rode the truck, I made sure I had a radio. Two distinct reasons for that particular trait. On one instance, while riding as a volunteer, I managed to get left at a bad MVA scene by myself, with a jump bag and a radio. The other two guys on my crew took the critical patient to the landing zone to meet the helicopter. I was on my own. The other reason I always carry a radio, is I've learned that stuff goes downhill too quickly sometimes, and that's not the time to be running back to the truck to call dispatch (did enough of that as well.)

While dressed casually and riding on the ambulance I used an FDNY style radio strap from RadioTech. The strap rode comfortably, and allowed me to take the radio and stuff off and hang it on a chair while not on a run.

For a more uniformed, and some would argue, professional look, I usually dressed in a polo shirt and EMS cargo pants, or Dickies, 5 pocket pants (the ones with the cell phone pocket on the right leg). Pen was carried in the neck of the golf shirt.

For this uniform, if I was planning on doing EMS (as opposed to a transport shift), I actually wore a police style nylon duty belt (yes, go ahead and laugh), that had everything I could ever possibly need on it. I carried 4 sets of gloves, L, nitrile, a pager, a cell phone, a radio, a tool holster (shears, mini-maglight, leatherman), and a Surefire 6P flashlight for lighting my way.

If I was wearing cargo pants, my right pocket had shears and 2 pens on the tool loops, and a patient info pad in the pocket itself. If I was wearing the Dickies pants, I had the info pad in the cell phone pocket. I carried the stethoscope around my neck (yes I know it's a no-no), or in my left cargo pockets, depending on specific situations.

When I would work a transport truck for 12 hours, I'd carry a duffel bag with the following: a change of uniform, a windbreaker (also made a nice rain jacket), a flashlight, spare batteries, a window punch and a spare knife. I also usually had a paperback, and some kind of study material.

Yeah I used to carry a ton of stuff, but most of the stuff I carried, ended up being invaluable at least once!

--Jim