It seems a lot of people on our side of politics are downright amazed that the Main Stream Media and Left Wing Political Pundits are putting the blame of the ISLAMIST TERRORIST failed attack in Garland on the organizer of the Mohammed Cartoon event. Supposedly, they are the great defenders of the First Amendment and should stand for any kind of protected speech, no matter how foul.

And you’d be wrong.

You see, they are not for the First Amendment as it is stated, they are not for Freedom of Speech as we all know it, they are for Freedom of Their Speech. Not the same thing.

Not only they are for Freedom of Their Speech, but for the cessation and punishment of any contrary speech that may defy it. They are the self-appointed Rulers of the Thought: They are perfect in their politics which will bring about peace, equality and a better world. Any opinion that does not match their tight set of instructions must be erased.

They realize that there are many out there that have not seen the Light They Shine yet, so they are trying to educate us by telling us we are wrong when we assume Freedom of Speech should be at the same level of Freedom of Their Speech. They come on TV or write editorials explaining about hurt feelings and Trigger Warnings and how, in the name of being a good human, you should self-censor and avoid others to be emotionally damaged by your dirty opinions. Do it for the Children, do it for the college girls that have been taught that a compliment is equal to rape. Do it for the minorities they kept under their wing, not only stifling their culture, but making them third class citizens, every jour. victims.

They see themselves as saviors. They will save us from ourselves, anything you say will be used against you in your Hate Speech Trial and they get to decide what is Hate Speech at any given second during such trial.

They are True Believers in that they are Right and you are to either shut up, or they’ll find a nice little hole where they can drop you and make you disappear.  It is their core, there is no guile in it, no double talk, no contradictions, no conspiracy.

And fighting fair with them is like trying to contain The Blob with a chain link fence. So let’s not do that.

This thing about unarmed fight being somehow “sporty” and “without serious consequences” is possibly one of the biggest load of crap ever. Your opponent may not have a ‘weapon’ as conventionally perceived, but there is something around that can be used.

I was never a hand to hand fighter when young and at my age and condition now, it would be suicide for me to engage in that kind of altercation. Avoidance, Deterrence & De_escalation are my guiding principles.

Your number one philosophy for personal security should be a life long commitment to avoidance, deterrence, and de-escalation.

Avoidance: The act of avoiding or keeping away from (Three Stupid Rule.) If you can safely retreat from the encounter, by all means do so. For instance, if you are out for a walk and feel threatened or intimidated by an occupant of a car, you should retreat in the opposite direction that the car is traveling.

Deterrence: The act of discouraging someone from taking hostile action against you by being aware of them and their possible intent.

De-escalation: The act of decreasing in intensity. To not let your ego or emotions get the best of you, to refrain from escalating the problem into more than it already is. As a CCW you may need to back down from non-life threatening, argumentative encounters in order to not allow things to spiral out of control.
When these things do not work, then and only then may you need to show or use the gun. Just because we are carrying does not mean that we need to use the gun. You want to do whatever is reasonably possible to avoid using the gun. But when your well researched, well thought out “line in the sand” has been crossed you need to act without hesitation.

And that is why we carry.

Part of the problem is that it is hard to keep up with the new people being added to the list all the time. Last year, agents conducted 7,573 investigations and seized 3,286 firearms. At the same time, 7,031 gun owners were newly flagged. The state has hired 18 additional agents to bolster its 33-person unit, and has been trying to staff up more.The results so far are simply not good enough, say Republican members of the state Senate, who note that 40 percent of the $24 million has already been spent. They are seeking an oversight hearing to investigate where all the money went and why the backlog is still so large.

Source: California discovers it’s really expensive to confiscate people’s guns – The Washington Post

If  my numbers are right, the State of California spent 9.6 million dollars to confiscate 3,286 guns. That comes to $2,921 per gun, that is Custom 1911 or Daniel Defense AR prices for maybe Glocks or even Hi-Points carbines!

Dear California’s Department of Justice, I have an idea: Send the violators a letter saying you are willing to pay…let’s say $1,500 per gun that has to be confiscated anyway. You tell them to come to any police station, surrender the guns and they will be issued a voucher redeemable at any bank for the value of the bounty. Right there I cut 50% of your expenses.

You are very welcome.

The photographer requested the pics to be removed. Apparently telling women how not to be victims is somehow unpalatable to her and her followers. I am a polite chap so I did and click here to see my reply .

My approach in shooting the portraits was to create a community experience. I set up open calls for women and female-identifying individuals to have their photographs taken holding whatever made them feel most safe walking home alone.

Source: Photography — Taylor Yocom

And save the whistles for a party.

Now, good for you for at least thinking about not being 100% victim and have at least the mental willingness to fight back. Now the bad news: You are doing it wrong. Good news: It can be fixed. Here are my thoughts. You can take them or leave them and asses them as anything else you get out of the Internet: With a huge grain of salt.

You need a weapon, belay that: weapons, plural. I won’t go into getting a firearm because most “places of higher learning” will not allow them and will get medieval on you while they may turn a blind eye on other weapons. It is also your responsibility to stay within the confines of the law. Make sure that whatever I mention below, is legal where you live. That onus is on you, not mine.

Before I go any further: whatever preparation or tool you decide to take, keep it to yourself. Do not advertise you are carrying the means to defend yourself. people do not need to know, many run their lives on envy and will snitch on you. And we don’t want a potential bad guy to come up with a counter technique that renders your protection useless, right?

Now, pepper spray is fine as long as it is a good brand and not a keychain accessory.  yes, I went ahead and poo-pooed on the other half of the pictures. Exception made for the two ladies carrying the Kimber Pepperblaster which is a darn good product. If your pepper spray came from a gift shop or gas station, chances are not only it won’t perform as needed but it may already be degraded by age. You can bet an Honest-to-God-My-Face-Is-Melting from a reputable online police supply like Galls. They come in spray, stream and foam, investigate what each means with their advantages and disadvantages applied to your lifestyle.  And above all remember: They may not work after all if the attacker is under the influence. Remember I said above you need weapons, plural?

Strike weapons: Anything that can be used to inflict pain and damage via strike is always good. From the simple Monkey Knuts keychain to the ASP p 12 collapsible baton, tools that can be hidden without much effort. A good tactical flashlight can be used both as a distraction device and impact weapon whenever is dark. Buy the ones made of aluminum and with a rating of 200 lumens and above. They are not cheap, but a good dose of light to the eyes of an attacker at night will cause him pain and blind the crap out of him. And you can use the light (specially if it has cannelures) to beat him on his face hard enough to make him re-evaluate his options. If they can’t see, it gets harder do hurt you.

Knives: here we are getting to an area as close as guns in the area of being punished by Administration for violating the rules of subjugation.  But knives have an advantage over the weapons above: If you are already in full contact with your attacker, the knife requires less energy and movement to inflict harm.  Knives come in fixed blades and folding blades (and these you need to make sure the blade locks open so it does not fold when you need it) and there is an amazing variety of them in the market. Although full size Bowie knife would probably be a game-ender in most cases by just displaying it (That ain’t a knife. This is a knife) the reality is that you will need something on small and concealable. One type is what they call the Neck Knife as it is carried under clothing around the neck with a lanyard. I would probably choose the smallest fixed blade I could find and use properly.

Next are the folding knives. And I am not talking about your traditional Red Swiss Army knife or your great-grandpa case that requires the use of both hands to open it, but knives that the blade can be extended with one hand. There are different ways knife makers approach this as you can see in this video. Most, if not all come with a clip to secure the knife inside a pocket or to your waistband and many good knives (Kershaw & Spyderco) are being sold under $40 in places like WalMart.

What else? Get training, specially for baton and knife. In fact, you’d probably find a school that carries both. Check Security Officer Schools also for baton training. That does not mean you should be unarmed till you get the training, but your performance will be better with training.

The hardest thing you will need to train on is your defensive mindset. We are good people, we do not like to inflict pain or damage anybody and that is the way to live. But when your life is being threatened, you cannot afford to think that way. You don’t pull back your punches or stabs and you do not give the attacker ” a chance” because you are not playing a sport but defending your body and life. There is this little book from the 80s titled Principles of Personal Defense by Col. Jeff Cooper, it is politically incorrect (Cooper was the epitome of un-pc) by standards held by many today, but it is the best resource you’ll ever have to start developing a self-defense mindset:

A victim who fights back makes the whole business impractical. It is true that a victim who fights back may suffer for it, but one who does not almost certainly will suffer for it. And, suffer or not, the one who fights back retains his dignity and his self-respect……But many men who are not cowards are simply unprepared for the fact of human savagery. They have not thought about it (incredible as this may appear to anyone who reads the paper or listens to the news) and they just don’t know what to do. When they look right into the face of depravity or violence, they are astonished and confounded. This can be corrected.

Stay Safe.

PS: If somebody tells you not to arm yourself because the weapon can be used against you, do me a favor and use him/her as training dummy. Get your prefered tool and ask him/her to attack you and then inflict enough pain so they never say that stupidity ever again 😀

A central Florida woman who says her boyfriend was holding her and her children hostage sent a secret message asking for help in an online pizza order.Highlands County Investigators told NBC affiliate WFLA a Pizza Hut in Avon Park received an online order for pizza Monday afternoon from Cheryl Treadway. Under the comments section, Treadway wrote a message asking employees to call 911. The employees alerted police.

Source: Central Florida Mom Held Hostage Uses Pizza Hut App to Call for Help | NBC 6 South Florida

I forget who said it, but he was right:

The Mind is the weapon. Everything else is just tools. 

Bad guy taken to jail. Innocents unharmed. Two thumbs up.

MDA has a new website and a video starring Melissa Joan Hart to address the issue of securing guns. I guess after being beaten over the head about their self-titled Gun Safety Advocacy, they figured “Hey, we should actually like, put something out there.” And they still manage to screw it up in about 30 seconds.

We begin the usual blabber of guns are bad and yes you have a right but no you don’t (responsibilities!) and we follow with Mr. NYPD on Loan To Moms, a Beretta, a gun lock and a small gun safe, looks good.

Next, NYPD Officer unloads the Beretta. Still fine.

Next, he places the magazine inside the safe…

And locks the safe? Huh? So, what happens to the gun?

Ohh, the cable lock…about time too.

And that is it. I guess the gun stays OUTSIDE the safe.

So either MDA is going to provide a safe, a gun lock and a cop to every household, or somebody again did not do its homework by interpreting the “secure your gun and ammo in different places” in a rather bizarre manner.  I can give you the double redundancy of having the cabled gun inside the safe, but locking the ammo and leaving the gun out? Oy!

By the way, there is not even a mention where you can get the cable lock or the gun safe. Helpful indeed, makes you wonder if they just did that section of the video for appearances’ sake…nah, they wouldn’t, would they? Does the cop come with the safe?

But wait! There is more! Remember the maxim “Liberal can’t do math”?

And now the Negligent Podiatric Discharge:

So, 1.7 million kids live in homes with unsecured guns and that leads to 100 of them getting killed a year. That comes about 0.006% of all the kids in alleged danger by living in a household with a loaded & unlocked gun. Not to say that 100 deaths do not matter, but 0,006 percent seems to be safer than going out to the McDonalds in the family car, well in fact it is since accidental deaths by vehicles ages 0 to 14 were 1,345 in 2013 according to the CDC (page 22).

Next they tackle Teen Suicide and mental illness. and they were doing fine till I heard “When it comes to young teens, the presence and availability of a gun in the home, may be a more significant risk factor than psychiatric illness.” Wait…What? So, if the kid is mentally sane but touches a gun, he will kill himself because gun? And that is even worse that if he had a mental illness? Oh dear lord.

And I stopped there. There is about a minute and 20 seconds left, but I had already developed heartburn.

I need another Tagamet.

“The amount of energy necessary to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it.”

—Alberto Brandolini

Hat Tip to Nick G.