My wife was at work today at a mandatory staff meeting. They were going to be doing some team building, setting up team goals, and in general introducing management to the staff.

My went to sit down and managed to crush her finger in the moving parts of the folding chair. Instant pain and blood.

Being a trooper, she snuck off to the restrooms, cleaned up the bleeding, bandaged her finger from her IFAK. She reports it was “a lot of blood.” When she got back to the staff meeting, they were doing a team build exercise that required a bunch of standing and sitting.

She decided it wasn’t a good idea to do it. Her supervisor noticed her not participating and asked why. My wife told him that she felt a little woozy. Like she might faint.

Staff noticed my wife turning white, rushed and got her to the floor safely and her head on padding. No clunks. No head bangs. She did pass out/faint.

EMS was called, she came around to EMTs doing their thing. EMTs asked if she wanted to go to the hospital, but they didn’t see anything that required an ER visit. Told her about the local urgent care.

She declined the ambulance trip. Her supervisor sent her home. Which actually meant that I went to get her and youngest child drove the car back.

That’s the end of the setup.

We got the wife into see her doctor. X-Rays done. No broken bones. But she needs the finger splinted. The X-Ray doc wasn’t in to read them, so she was sent home to wait for a call.

At home, we dive into the “comprehensive” medical kit to grab the SAM finger splints. No joy. The medium and large are there, along with the wrap and everything else required. No small splints.

We next hit up the hiking FAK. It is smaller than the comprehensive but still more complete than IFAKs Sure enough, it has the medium and large SAM splints, no finger splints.

Ok, I’m getting irritated. I grab my EDC bag. This bag has an IFAK in it with blowout support. It is not “just” a blowout kit, as it has single dose medications and band-aids and the like. It has a C.A.T. on the top of the kit and an Israeli bandage in the side pocket. Both quick access. The SAM splints are right there. In medium and large.

At that point, I just gave up. Did the Popsicle stick splint, picked up the real deal from the local CVS. Her finger is properly splinted now.

And I have two sets of 3 on the way from Amazon.

The damaged finger was in the in-between space. It wasn’t big enough to be part of my standard inventory process. It wasn’t so small that all the kits had the right gear. It was in the evil Goldilocks zone.

To be clear, if this had been an “emergency” I would have just cut a finger splint from one of the larger SAM splints. That’s an excuse for why I didn’t notice the missing finger splints.

The splints were used when a friend really messed up her thumb. The SAM splints were the only thing that gave the right support, comfortably. We handed her the 3 or 4 we had on hand and expected the replacement. The replacements never showed up.

There is a great deal of thought that goes into our medical kits. They are designed to ramp up. The IFAK on my ankle is not there for anything except blowouts. Stop the bleed, plug the hole, get the victim transported.

The next step-up has more. While the ankle kit has a SWAT-T style of Tourniquet, the blowout kits have CAT TQs or equivalent. ALL name brand and all from a reputable supply house, NOT Amazon.

The next step-up is the car kits. Above that is the group hiking kit. Finally, there is the house kit.

Each step adds more capability and more duplicates. The house kit has a box of gloves instead of the one or two pairs in the smaller kits. It has bottles of OTC medications instead of single dose packets. It has the suture kit and the gear to make a semi sterile work environment.

Am I qualified to use all of that gear? No. Do I know people who are capable and qualified? Yes.

Mary Travers, of Peter, Paul, and Mary told a story about going to Russia with a tourist group. One of the guys in the group approached her and asked, “Should I bring my guitar?” He didn’t intend to offend her by assuming she would be singing songs with them, but wanted to offer. Mary said “sure.”

They make it to Russia and the group is having a fun night and the singing starts. Guy hauls out his guitar and goes to hand it to Mary. She looks at him and says, “I don’t play guitar.”.

She didn’t play guitar, neither did the guy. He just assumed she would be able to use the tool he brought to the rumble.

There are things that are in my kits that I don’t know how to use. That’s fine. If there is somebody that can, I have the tools. There are a remarkable number of highly trained medical people that don’t have the medical gear I have on hand. They know that they will just go to the office/hospital and the gear will be there.

I also have the manuals on how to use these things and the practice gear. If I have to, I’ll learn damn quick.

So go take the time to inventory your medical gear. Replace the batteries while you are at it. Test that all the battery-powered things still function. Compare that list with what you think is in that kit. Update the list to what should be there and restock.

If there are meds that expire, make sure you replace the expired meds.

Then put a reminder to do it next year, this same time. And every year thereafter.

Oh, when you find gear that is expired and needs to be replaced, that is a good time to use the expired gear for training purposes.

I thoroughly enjoy songs that tell a story. Unfortunately for you all, that means bluegrass and country. Either that or I’ll have to torture you with musicals.

The version from the album:

And an extra:

I found this musical accidentally.

When I write about cases, legislation and events, I use the term “state” or “the state” to represent the Government. It doesn’t matter if it is the federal, state, or local government. It doesn’t matter if it is a rule promulgated by an agency or a city ordnance. In all cases, it is still “the state” that is doing it.

When we discuss cases, we speak about the case and the court’s opinion. We speak of Heller, Bruen, or Caetano we know the opinion. We might even know which Supreme Court Justice wrote the majority opinion.

Do you pay attention to the lawyers that are arguing the cases?

You should know Paul D. Clement. He argued McDonald and other 2A cases, and won.

Alan Gura argued Heller and won the biggest Supreme Court case for the 2A ever. Bruen was more about slapping down rogue courts and spoon-feeding the inferior courts how to handle 2A cases.

If you go look at west cost cases, you will find the firm of Michel and Associates with Carl D. Michel arguing for us.

It is highly unlikely that you have heard of J. Matthew Wright. He is the counsel of record for the Rahimi case.

He is ably assisted by Jared Guemmer, Jason Hawkins, Kevin Page, Rachel Taft, T.W. Brown.

They all work for a gigantic entity. Guemmer is part of the Federal Public Defender’s office of Oklahoma. The rest are part of the federal public defender’s office of Texas.

That’s correct, the federal government lawyers are arguing against federal government lawyers.

And the Public Defender’s are doing a great job.

After I posted my truck mess, one of the commenters pointed out that it might be the case that you only have what is on your person in that instant.

They are correct. That is one of the reasons I have so many first-aid/stop the bleed kits.

For example, the LBV for my office area is a Condor Recon Chest Rig, in black. It comes with the AR mag pouches built in. It adjusts to “fat” and it is fast and comfortable to get into.

To that, I add one of my blow out kits. I need to add pistol mag pouches to it, which would require me to decide on a SHTF pistol. I like my 1911s. Likewise, I’m uncertain if that’s what I would be carrying in a situation where I’m wearing my LBV.

My normal EDC is actually pretty good. I mentioned much of what I have on my person. I forgot to mention two things:

Two days of my prescription meds and ear plugs.

Dxhycc 6pcs Waterproof Aluminum Pill Box Case Bottle Cache Drug Holder Keychain Container Color Random

Amazon.com: Dxhycc 6pcs Waterproof Aluminum Pill Box Case Bottle Cache Drug Holder Keychain Container Color Random : Health & Household

There are many of these available from all the usual places. They are lightweight, waterproof and can be attached to things to keep them from being lost.

I believe this is the size that I have, which holds a pair of the squishes into ear, earplugs. The number of times I’ve used them when not shooting is surprising.

Much of my EDC is like that. I didn’t know I wanted that capability with me until I had it.

My silly example is going around my office and pulling all the staples out of beams, columns, door and window frames, and doors. Those little stable nubs always bother me and I would scratch myself from time to time. When I started carrying my Leatherman and later my Gerber, I would just pull them when I found them.

Regardless, it is worthwhile, in my opinion, picking some of these up. The different sizes can be used for different fun things.

Normally, I would spend time analyzing a filing. This particular filing is by the Appellants/Plaintiffs (good guys). It is a good history of DC gun infringements over the last decades.

(1100 Words)

It has been a good week overall. We got some great news out of a local court in Massachusetts regarding honoring out of state permits to carry.

It is really great news. About a half dozen of the people I watch have talked about it as well as J.Kb.

One point, it is an “as applied” ruling. In any court opinion, the court can rule on how something applies to the plaintiff/defendant OR they can rule on the law. In this case, the court ruled that their finding only applied to the defendant.

This means that if J.Kb were to travel to Mordor and was investigated by the authorities and found to be carrying under his New Hampshire license, he would have to go through the same type of trial. Until the Massachusetts courts knock down the law, this will be the case.

It is still wonderful news.

The Rahimi case is getting attention in all the usual places. You’ll be hearing more about it as it will be the next big Second Amendment case heard by the Supreme Court.

Sometime in the next month or so, the good guys will have to have all of their briefs in. That will be easier reading. In looking at all of this, I might actually attempt to write a brief for the case… I am not sure how that will go.

The comments are open, feel free to be commenters.

The Rahimi case has brought out all the normal infringers, along with a number of lesser known groups and people. They filed numerous amicus curiae briefs. I had intended to do a brief look through them all. Nope, no, forget it. Too much pain. What follows is a sampling of the first few, along with a couple of others I found interesting. Most of the text came from the table of contents. Take it for what you will.

(2300 words, mostly theirs)

If you want to go read these yourself, they are all on the Supreme Court’s webpage under the Rahimi case.
https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/22-915.html

American’s Against Gun Violence

1. Bruen’s “text and history” test, applied in Rahimi, relied on two deeply flawed assumptions
   1. Both Bruen and Heller are based on the false premise that the text and history of the Second Amendment established an individual right to own a gun
      1. The “well regulated militia” clause refers to the right to possess and use firearms in connection with militia service
      2. The “keep and bear arms” clause refers to a right to possess firearms if needed for and in relation to military activities
      3. The Second Amendment did not codify any right inherited by English ancestors because no such individual right to own firearms ever existed
      4. The drafters of the Second Amendment knowingly did not include language to provide for an individual right to possess firearms for self-defense
      5. Heller and Bruen improperly departed from this Court’s interpretation of the Second Amendment
   2. Bruen’s framework is also improper because it compels a foregone conclusion and perpetuates the myth that gun ownership is important for individuals’ safety and self-defense
2. Heller and its progeny “threaten the breakdown of law and order” as Justice Breyer warned in the Heller dissent
   1. Gun related deaths have been significantly increasing since Heller
   2. Gun ownership conveys a greater risk than benefit
   3. Gun related deaths in the United States far exceed those of any other high-income country

American Medical Association

Read More