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.

How many times we see in movies and TV that a good or bad guy engages in a shootout from behind a car and the incoming bullets bounce harmlessly off the body with a cute spark indicating a strike?  The image of a Police officer stopping his car, getting off and taking cover behind the door is deeply embedded in the minds of anyone who has seen 2 episodes of any Cop show from the 1950’s till today. Unfortunately physics are a bit more unforgiving and quite more deadly.

This particular vehicle is parked at a range in South Florida where Local Law Enforcement train. I assume (yes i know) that it is being used as training aid and I might say it is a quite sobering demonstration of the property of bullets flying at high speed. The vehicle was the target of different calibers shot by handguns, shotgun and rifle and the result is evident as shown in the following pictures.

The “puny” 9 mm and the .40 S&W had no troubles making their way through the door of this cruiser which pretty much kills that old Hollywood visual staple. But the real butt kicker lays on the nex couple of pictures. Do click on picture for better detail.

As you can see, almost all the most common rounds used in the US were used to ventilate a tad the trunk of the vehicle. But the kicker lays on the next picture.

Yep, those are exit holes on the other side of the car. Even the allegedly less-than-lethal 9mm managed to go through on both sides.

If we ever have the misfortune of having to use a vehicle during an armed confrontation, about the only safe area you could use is behind the engine which possesses enough mass to block incoming rounds.  That is if the person shooting at you decides not to look under the vehicle and aim for your feet.

So, unless you own an armored vehicle, do not make the mistake of believe you are driving an item that will produce cute sparks while deflecting projectiles. Remember: Your average vehicle is about as bulletproof as a Radio Flyer and you will be the bullet stopper in the end.

I am guessing that by now you are pretty much aware of the literal hissy fit that Liberals are throwing about the protesters against Obamacare. The now famous Obama as Joker poster has shocked some to tears and the well expected cries of racism are bouncing of the rafters. Liberal nutjobs are demanding the head of Glenn Beck for comparing Obama to Hitler (and Stalin and Mao) and even Maureen Dowd is demanding that the opposition’s freedom of speech should be crushed. You see, it is all Hate Speech not First Amendment if the criticism does not come from the selected ones in the Left.

You see, this picture is Hate:

But this one is Free Speech as expressed in the Constitution:

This is a gentle and polite political discourse:

But this is just is KKK fearmongering:

People can only deal with so much bullshit. I know my bucket is full already.

Attention Subjects: You are not to contradict what comes from the Government. Your elected representatives not only do not represent you anymore but actually order you to do their bidding forgetting that they work for you. Dissension must be curbed by ridicule (calling it AstroTurf as in fake grassroots) or to denounce it by emailing the White House and snitching on the dissenters. Just to be sure that these disruptors don’t take over Town Hall Meetings with their pesky questions, Union volunteers are now sucking up all available spaces in any room a Town Hall meeting is being held and removing (by force if necessary) those heathens who dare to oppose Obamacare.

Disclaimer: If you find this post offensive, racist and politically contrary against the Exalted One and his political bootlickers, please be free to contact SNITCH@WHITHEHOUSE.GOV … wait, I got it wrong, you must contact flag@whitehouse.gov and let them know that an enemy of the state is deeply conspiring against the Government by using that fishy First Amendment Right.

I read these words in an article by Pat Rogers about 2-3 years ago in a magazine. The first thing it did to me was to put a dent in the desire to obtaining a crapload of ancillary tactical “cool stuff” that I really did not need. The second thing was that made me sit down and figure out what do I really need according to the way I live.  Even though I might drool over the latest tactical fashion statement out of Blackhawk or have the urge to get me a very cool tactical vest with trauma plate and enough webbing to molle a lawnmower, Does my lifestyle and threats actually require it? The answers was enlightening and also made my wife happy because it would not deplete our meager bank account.

I live in South Florida. Heat and humidity are more than plain annoyances: wearing the wrong clothing will send you to the ER with a severe case of heat exhaustion and might even kill you (ask me how I know).  Does it make sense to wear an EOTac denim jacket? Heck no, no matter how many cool and hidden pockets to carry stuff it has. I am a sucker for vests, I’ve been wearing one type or another for 30+ years but considering the weather plus the unstoppable force of the calendar against my body,  I am forced to wear the lightest one I can buy. It does not have all the bells and whistles but I won’t have to pull over every 5 blocks for prompt hydration. I am even about to try a EOTac’s Tropical Sport Shirt and IWB holster because all those times I overdid it under the sun add up and I do not want to end up being berated by the wife while I lay in front of an AC vent and chugging Gatorade or in the hospital being hydrated with a bag full of liquid via needle sticking up my arm. I know I look cool in a bitchin’ tactical vest, but I do not have the desire to look that cool in ICU.

At home I am the typical SoFla (South Florida) guy wearing shorts and flip-flops so that sexy thigh holster in coyote brown not only look weird but it will chaff the hell off my delicate skin.  Solution? If I am not carrying a J-frame in the shorts pocket, there will be a weapon placed within three to five steps of wherever I am located.  Before you cry safety!, I must inform that I have no kids so gun access to minors is not an issue, specially since both cats have no opposable thumbs and have been trained in the Four Rules of Gun Safety. Very few friends ever come over and with one exception, the guns go into the safe while they are around. One gun will be holstered on me for the duration of the visit because Bad Guys will not hesitate to be impolite enough to ply their trade with people in the house.

An honest evaluation of your needs and conditions is fundamental to determine what gear you really need. You might be a young buck with tons of health to spare and a strong back which can withstand carrying an M4 all day, but if you live in any city or suburban area there is a great chance that somebody will see you when you go outside to mow the lawn and call the local authorities.  A sudden picnic with a dynamic entry courtesy of  your local SWAT team is not a enjoyable prospect in anybody’s schedule. If you are an old fart like myself, you are going to get tired soon and start ditching crap or losing your sharpness and attention to your surroundings which are more important than any gear you may carry.

Now let’s be real, if you hear somebody breaking in in the middle of the nigh,  Are you really going to waste time putting on the above mentioned very cool tactical vest with trauma plate with 6 spare mag for your Ugly Black Rifle, 2 sets of trauma kits, hydration bag and pouch for IPod? No, you will grab a secured yet readily accessible long or handgun, perhaps a spare mag, cell phone dialing 911 and you will make a stand in the safe room or your bedroom. No, you are not going to get the chance to use all the 6 pounds of cool gadgets (light, lasers in red and green, ACOG, range finder and bottle opener all in picatinny rails) because it would be the dumbest crap you can do since you bough the Barret .50 caliber rifle to kill the possums in your small city backyard.

So let’s be smart about our gear and adapt it to the reality we live in. Study your most realistic threats and plan accordingly.  We all like cool gear but it must be used in a way it helps our chances of surviving a confrontation.

So I am bored to the gills and looking in Netflix for something to watch under their recommendations when I notice this:

I am not sure what to make of this. Is it a case of search engine software gone stupid or does somebody at Neflix is afraid of hurting the feelings of sociopathic serial killers who, by definition have none? Then again we are talking about an industry that will award an Oscar for best documentary to any “film” from Michael Moore.

Next we will see Cesar Millan trying to fix the bad attitude of Fluffy the Werewolf who goes into a murdering rampage every full moon. I admit I’d unload some cash to watch the PPV and see all 45 seconds of Millan getting his ass ripped to pieces as he tries to leash a lycanthrope and taking him for a walk.

Oy!

I feel I repeat myself and I usually don’t like it, but I will make any excuse necessary to plug this book. I always found the horror genre boring and stupid in the way authors treat their readers. It seems to be engraved in the stone that is the official guidelines to write horror that the human/normal characters are highly mobile screaming morons that will not see what’s coming even though there have been plenty warnings and even then, they seem to resort to a McGyverish solution as last resort but only because they are about the only ones left, the monster is about to kill them, all their buddies have already suffered horrible deaths and they are late for the opening of the Starbucks around the corner.

So I bumped into Larry Correia’s website by chance and read the sample of his book which back then he was publishing on demand (Internet version of selling from his garage) and I got hooked. All horror creations seem to start with some poor soul being killed by the evil monster but in this book the main character decided to kick ass and park the monster on a gas guzzler. The fight is painfully real as you can almost feel every laceration and broken bone as it happens. Hell I could almost smell the blood and rotting body parts as I sped, slowed down and re-read the descriptions. Cherry on top? The good guy actually gets his own crap kicked out and must spend serious recovery time. Not your typical monster hogwash so it bade well as your non-standard horror book. I ordered the book, got it and read it two times in a row in 48 hours and only stopped under direct threat from the wife who demanded her turn with the book.

According to my dear wife who is a true horror freak, the book has the best of the great horror classics and none of the political correctness or dumbness that plagues the genre nowadays. The monsters are really monsters and not tortured souls with some stupid redeeming value or not-so-veiled sex appeal to entice lonesome bored housewives. Basically you do not imagine the lead vampire as a Fabio look-alike dressed in ruffles but bleeding, stinking, blood dripping creatures that need to be put down ASAP. From a male point of view, it answers the question that any guy has asked before “Why the hell they got into that situation without the proper amount of firepower?”. Let’s face it, when you start a book shooting a snub-nose and close it with a five kiloton tactical nuke, you know it is a damn good book. However, iIf you are a metrosexual, you may be disappointed at the lack of hair mousse, facials treatments and the extreme level of violence.

Monster Hunter International is available at most of your local chain bookstores line Barnes & Noble, Books A Million, Borders and of course via Amazon.com.

If you want to know more about Larry himself, check his blog Monster Hunter Nation and he was dragged into Facebook screaming and shooting his Saiga by his fans but he finally seems to be warming up to the idea somewhat.

So, what are you doing here? Go get the darn book!