Category Archives: Responsability

Practice, Practice, Practice.

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Here in South Florida we have the chance of shooting IDPA at least three times a month with Florida Keys Shooting Club in Key Largo (cutest little range you’ll ever seen and they hate me when I say that) and with Tropical Sport Shooting Association which is the club I belong. I am tasked with the score keeping duties for the club and that gives me an unique perspective on how the shooters are doing.

We have shooters of all levels. From the ones that just picked up a gun for the first time to some really amazing practitioners that will leave you scratching your head in amazement.  Even though the local ranges run the physical gamut from crappy to downright useless for action shooting, Roger the mentally twisted Course Of Fire Designer manages to come up with challenging set ups that will include shooting from every conceivable position and none of them comfortable. About the only time we shoot behind a Bianchi Barricade is while we shoot the Classifier, other than that we get to shoot from non-standard cover that include leaning walls, sidewalks, vehicles, etc. plus lots of shooting on the move.

What I have been noticing while scoring is the low amount of points down our shootings are getting. For those not in the sport, IDPA is scored not only on the basis of speed but also accuracy. Making cute little holes in the wrong areas penalizes you by adding seconds to your total time. Also shooting the wrong target or a designated No-Shoot will increase the penalties.  I am pleased to see that our shooters of all levels are doing a great job keeping the rounds on the appropriate areas of the target while moving, kneeling, walking and laying prone.

I wanted to make a point because I had Tivoe’d a new series with a famous Hollywood action actor that is also a deputy sheriff in the South. One of the episodes has him training a fellow deputy for his upcoming firearm qualification. The deputy qualifies on a static range by the skin of his teeth and the target looked like it was used to catch shotgun pellets shot by somebody with a caffeine overdose 40 yards away.  Unfortunately most police officers do not shoot their firearm but in two events: the day of their quals or the unfortunate day they are forced to use it in the line of fire.  The former is not practice enough and the latter is too late to do something about it.

If you are in Law Enforcement, you know that your sidearm is a life-saving device. You have the personal responsibility to be trained and “practiced” to a level that will give you a fighting chance in case you need to use it and also in the safest most accurate way so bystander lives are not threatened by your actions. It is imperative that you do good practice with it and as much as possible. About 10 years ago when I got somewhat serious about firearms and started with IDPA, there was an institutional mindset among LEOs that they did not need to practice or to engage in silly competitive games because, By God! they are trained Cops with Guns and will out-shoot any darn civilian out there. More than one LEO who dared to come shoot a match, left the range humbled and furious when they could not even begin to compare themselves with the lowest scoring of the darn civilians. Many never returned and the lesson was lost on them and us. Fortunately the mindset changed and we see more LEOs coming to shoot and improving greatly on their craft. Many have brought others to practice and as eye opening moment to make them see that quals every six months or every year are not the solution.  They also learned that those civilians with guns are not “the enemy” and “Right Wing Fanatics” or “Domestic Terrorists” that White Shirts or politicians kept mentioning but just regular folks that competed with guns and are Law Abiding and respectful of the Constitution not that different than themselves.

So, if you are a LEO take a chance and join any shooting discipline you think you may like. There is actually no downside to it. Trigger time is always well spent even if it is just shooting the bull with like-minded people.

Compliance is futile?

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We’ve been told by the experts that the best course of action when robbed at gun point is to be submissive and comply with the criminal’s wishes and that we would be spared from harm. Somehow the Bad Guys seem not have received that memo. Down here in South Florida, we recently had a rash of armed robberies targeting gold-bearing victims and the victims were shot even though they were compliant with the criminal’s threats.

“I mean, if you’ve already got the chain, why do you have to go and shoot somebody, somebody who’s got a baby in their hands?” said Cathy Garcia, the victim’s mother-in-law.

So, even though the victims complied and got bullets holes for their compliance.  The Bad Guy chooses the weakest moment possible both physically and mentally: while the victims are handling their kids. Experts will be quick to point out that we should not do anything harsh because the kids are present and we really don’t want them to get hurt, but the criminal(s) shot anyway! Compliance did only not work, but put the kids at risk!

And as ususal, a picture is worth a thousand words:

Photo by Oleg Volk

Chicago Hope.

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Not everything out of Chicago this year has been bad. Being ornery to what they’ve been told by all the experts, Women in Chicago are buying guns for self-protection.  And demonstrating once more that they are smarter than us males, with the gun they are getting instruction on how to use them and how to defend themselves. Women being responsible for their self defense are smart and sexy in my humble opinion.

The Brady Bunch must be having a conniption.

Gun Control: The theory that a woman found dead in an alley, raped and strangled with her panty hose, is somehow morally superior to a woman explaining to police how her attacker got that fatal bullet wound.

Get the Rambo out of the training.

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I know the economy sucks and people have less disposable income to do things like attending a good school to improve their shooting skills. But that slump in economy should be an opportunity on itself for the half-business-smart instructor. Where am I going with this? Instructors, you’ll get more clients if you stop scaring them.

If you go through the many articles and ads in the trade magazines, you will see that almost every school offers itself as the ultimate bang-bang-I-will-get-you-ready-for-the-sandbox training. The boldest them of all promise you intense physically-involved demanding training “because your life depends on it” well, maybe so because after making me run a mile with a shitload of gear in the middle of the summer, you better have air rescue on tow because I will probably fall down with a heart attack.  I am pretty sure that 90% of the people wanting to get some advanced firearms training balk at the idea of being the guy who collapsed in a class of cool-looking-muscle-ripping operators and decide it will be best to stay home and stain the deck. And yes, I am one of them. Plus, I would consider a waste of time and money to train on Tactical Responses to Caravan Ambushes in Somalia when my biggest threat would be a band of marauding critters coming to plunder my neighborhood after a hurricane. And I really have no desire to know about the 10 clues to detect VBIEDs on the road to Basra or Kabul when what I need is the 5 points on how to detect and avoid being carjacked on my way to WalMart. To summarize: Average Joe does not need to be trained as a contractor going overseas, he needs training on the specific threats he or she will find on everyday America.

So why not do the smart thing and train people on what they need instead of what is fashionable?  Speaking of fashion, Can we put hold on the Tactical Gucciflage apparel and accessories? If you are a Contractor, SWAT member or Operator, OK go crazy and train with as many gadgets and accesories you think you may beed. But if you are Joe Schmoe, I doubt pretty much you will be at home watching Dancing with the Stars while wearing a full Combat Armored Vest with trauma plate and 23 MOLLE-attached pouches with everything from a GPS to locate the mines of King Solomon to a inflatable Emergency operating room with anesthesia included. We need simple gear oriented to the home owner or the urban dweller (Country folks, sorry but Cabelas’ catalog has you covered and then some) and in other colors than olive dram, marpat, army digital and coyote tan.

So Instructors, to summarize: Make a simple class for your average overweight, back damaged, beer bellied urban guy.  Pistol, Rifle & shotgun. From basic firearm operations to hardening & defending the home and surviving vehicle attacks. If somebody can come up with some basic evacuation preparations and drill, it would be a gift for the ages.

And a class is done.

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I guess it is now official: I am a firearms instructor. Two friends from my former job took the plunge and were willing to get the Basic Handgun class. They are expecting to go into Law Enforcement and they were smart to realize their handgun skills were somewhere between none and Black Hole vacuum.

I have to admit it was fun. I do need to polish a couple of points but I feel good about the support material I had prepared… hell I even admit Power Point is a good thing to use as guideline.  Time in the classroom just flew. I had to force myself to keep an eye on my watch for the breaks and not to overwhelm the students with a constant barrage of info. And let me tell you, after a decade and a half of studying, you will have a crapload of info to share. The trick is to decide what info do they need and what they can assimilate then.

Not a bad day at all.  Now gotta find me some more victims students. He He He.

Securing your weapons.

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I just finished some state-mandated training in firearms and the old thought of you always learn something whether is how to do it or how not to do it is very true. One of the things I learned is that some people take securing their firearms a tad too cavalier which is to say, they don’t. I will not go into specifics but there is no reason for anybody to leave a weapon unsecured or barely so. The amount of options to properly secure a firearm in almost any situation is plentiful, affordable and with a good level of security.

I am not endowed with a high paying job (actually I am ‘in between jobs’ at this time) but my firearms are safeguarded. The system is not top of the line, Houdini-proof, fire resistant to the flames of Hell for eternity but your average thief will have tough time trying to break in and steal the guns.A bit of research can provide you with the best level of security according to your budget. Remember: you do have a sizable investment in guns, may it be a $500 Glock or a $5,000 AR-clone with all the bells and whistles. Invest in security wisely. With that said, I am gonna focus on the budget-minded gun owner that does not have a vast arsenal or a vast budget but still wants to properly secure his or her handguns.

Handguns at home: If you are only in possession of handguns, your best bet is a small safe. And no, the night table with a lockable drawer is not a secure location for your handgun and the same goes for that “secret” place in your attic, basement, under the bed or old shoe box in the closet. A quick search in the net brings a great variety of small document boxes & safes and from stores like Walmart to Cabelas. But I recommend buying without actually examining. One cannot appreciate craftsmanship on a website so it is imperative that you take the time and actually go to a store to check them out. Stack-On and Homak make great pistol safes in price ranges starting well under $100. In fact, the Stack-On Medium Personal Safe With Electronic Lock can be bought at WalMart for $68 and is big enough for several handguns and even documents.  Small safes are a great for handguns only if you properly bolt the darn thing.  Invest in long lag screws, epoxy, more screws and whatever else you can imagine to make life almost impossible for a burglar.  If by any chance you happen to know somebody in the hotel liquidation business, you can get your hands on a hotel room safe for almost peanuts (usually under $50) and it will be big enough for guns, ammo, laptop and may other things. I personally own one and right now it has 2 handguns, 5 magazines, and about 500 rounds of ammunition in boxes and still has plenty room to spare.

Handguns in the car: Securing a weapon in a vehicle is and it is not easy. I am still amazed that anybody would consider leaving a handgun in the glove box, center console box or just under the seat. The issues with securing a handgun in the car is comprised of space, ability to access the gun and our desire (or lack of) to modify the inside of the vehicle to accommodate the box and risking depreciate its value at trade-in or selling time. A simple solution is Center Of Mass Gun Safe. The COM Safe are one-gun, well built safes that come with a 3 foot long security cable that can be looped or secured to any hard point inside your car. The COM safe comes in three flavors: Lock & Key, Combination Lock (both under $40) or Biometric Lock ($180) and they can even be used as airline/TSA approved gun containers for air travel.

Please remember this: there is no 100% secure method to keep the guns out of the hands of a determined burglar if he has time and tools. Our best bet is to make it difficult so he must invest time that does not have and force him to choose a softer, faster target. Thinking otherwise is just fooling ourselves.

There is one more layer of security that you can use to protect your handguns and it is the one between your ears. I already mentioned that a safe that is not properly installed is rendered useless and the same applies if you leave it open or visible to anybody. Securing a handgun is not only to protect it from burglars but also to protect your loved ones and even curious visitors that should know better but still have the stupid need to irresponsibly manipulate a gun. If you have kids, keep the safe locked at all times. If you have visitors, do the same. At the end of the day you are the only one responsible if a firearm ends up in the wrong hands and hurts people. Be safe and keep everybody around you safe.

Pajamas with MOLLE.

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I just got off the phone with a fellow IDPA shooter who spent three days at Blackwater shooting till he dropped. My buddy is just a civilian who enjoys sports shooting and has guns for that purpose and self-defense, period. Unfortunately he had to deal with a couple of Civilian Armchair Commandos also attending who tried to indoctrinate him in the black arts of Bullshit Tactical Shooting and have him change is ways that were not “tactical enough” for the commandos.

First, some definitions: A Civilian Armchair Commando is a regular guy (as opposed to Operator or LEO) who spends time and money attending assorted shooting academies in order to become Walker Texas Ranger or Jack Bauer and equips himself with the latest and best operator gear in the market . He also expels amazing amounts of carbon dioxide telling everybody how they will react and kick the ass of any Bad Guy with the skills he acquired during his many pilgrimages through all these centers of shooting instruction. This is what I call Bullshit Tactical Shooting or believing that you as a civilian dictate the what, when, where and the outcome of a deadly force encounter.

In case you haven’t learned yet, let me spell it for you: We as Civilians do not get to choose the what, when, where and the outcome of a deadly force encounter. It is thrown on us by the Criminal who decided that a) You look like a soft target, b) He needs monies or some sort of instant gratification you can provide and c) thinks he can get away with it. A Civilian does not read minds, feel intentions or has supernatural powers or NSA electronic surveillance that will tell them that a Bad Guy is about to attack. And if by chance you get to know you are about to be attacked, the best thing to do is to get out of there! Who in his right mind will want to dance in front of a hail of bullets?  I am not a bulletproof super hero so I will exit stage left if given a quarter of a chance to avoid the situation. We are also bound by law not to be the aggressors because no crime has been committed. A Civilian will and can only react when there is imminent fear of death or grave bodily harm as stipulated in the law. If we don’t heed to this precept, we ourselves become the Bad Guys.

So, when I hear a Civilian Armchair Commando explaining in full detail about the tactics he is going to use, the super-duper equipment he will have and the dozen of magazines loaded with the latest magical man-stopper rounds, I feel the urgent need to laugh in his face. First because I know this idiot has never faced a feces-runnin’-down-your-pants situation and secondly because I can see this guy actually buying (if they were available) a set of pajamas in MARPAT with MOLLE and a whole bunch of attachments and weapons carrier to use in case the Bad Guy attacks while he goes to the fridge for a midnight snack.

We are not in a war zone so we cannot walk the streets armed with a rifle hanging from a sling and a sidearm on a thigh holster. Even at home we don’t (at least the sane majority do not) wear a MOLLE vest loaded with mag pouches, bowie knives and trauma kits or rig the doorbell to a claymore mine because you don’t know if it is the UPS guy delivering a package or an AlQeada terrorist trying to kill you. We do take the precautions, set the equipment according to our mission, capabilities and legalities which are the ones of a civilian encountering your run-of-the mill Bad Guy in the street or trying to break into our homes while we are inside.

The same apply for “Tactics” during a Deadly Force Encounter and that is to say, What frigging Tactics? The only Tactic is to pray to God you don’t get shot and for the other guy to stop being a threat. If you think you have time yo sit down and design a cohesive and invincible strategy when an attack is happening, then you better have you Life Insurance paid up and hope that the beneficiary will enjoy the monies for your hide. Some people still do not get that training is nothing more that the gathering of tools to be used instinctively in case of emergency. These tools (Mindset, Marksmanship and Gun Handling) are to be practiced over and over until they are deeply embedded in our brain and muscle memory so they are used without hesitation, without the need of retrieving them from the file cabinet of our brain; in other words, they become the instantaneous reaction to an aggressive, deadly and unlawful stimulus against you or your loved ones.

Rant Over, carry on.