Category: Safety

For your contemplation.

The Need for Combative Skills as a Handgunner

I can’t tell you how many times I have heard the same outrageous quip: “I would just shoot’em.” Or, equally troubling, “I carry a gun so I don’t need to fight.” This will ruffle some feathers, but if you carry a gun so that you don’t need to know how to fight, the gun is a talisman rather than a tool. The operative word in “gunfight” is fight, not gun. A firearm is only a force multiplier, a tool to more effectively accomplish a given task. In the world of violence and personal protection, relatively few tasks fall into the scope of where the firearm is justifiable in use. The gun should be a tool in the overall defensive toolbox, not the toolbox. Unfortunately, many gun carriers lose sight of this and focus too heavily on the particular tool.

Continue reading “”

Root of Mass Shootings Pandemic Is Not Gun Access

Growing up in rural South Carolina on my family’s farm, I developed a love, appreciation, and, most importantly, a respect for firearms.

To this day, I remain a collector of firearms and a supporter of the American right to keep and bear arms as enshrined in the Second Amendment. I was taught that safety is paramount to gun ownership, so I have always encouraged responsible gun ownership and use for all Americans.

With that being said, I have noticed a disturbing trend in our country: an ever-increasing number of shootings and gun-related deaths.

And while the quick response from some, namely the left-wing mainstream media and liberal politicians, is to ban weapons and become more restrictive, it appears to me that we have serious mental health and poverty issues contributing to gun violence. I don’t believe that banning guns will result in any significant decline in shootings attributed to these two categories.

In the United States, since January 2021, we have had 195 mass shootings, with 245 people dying and approximately 731 wounded, according to the Mass Shooting Tracker.

While it’s important to acknowledge that there is not a universally accepted definition of what constitutes a “mass shooting,” these numbers are staggering. They are some of the highest numbers in the industrialized world.

Let’s contrast 2021 with when I was growing up, when mass shootings simply weren’t a problem. I believe that this is the direct result of the era and the family structure: Parents were involved in their children’s lives and children were taught discipline and respect.

By and large, members of my generation were raised in households with two parents, and we were taught how to deescalate and talk things out when problems arose. Today, that no longer seems to be the case.

We have a moral and social failing in our country that has caused an increase in mass shooters, predominantly young men. One has to pause to think about what’s different today from 30 or 40 years ago. It certainly isn’t guns, because it’s harder to get guns today than it was in the past, when you didn’t have to go through nationalized background checks. When I was growing up, you could purchase a firearm with no questions asked, yet we didn’t see so many mass shootings.

America’s young men are struggling with mental health issues or are broken and living in poverty with single mothers struggling to survive. Many of them are clearly crying out for help, and we owe it to them to listen.

Continue reading “”

BLUF:
Compared to nearly the entire rest of the world, people in the United States have retained the ability to choose to be legally armed or unarmed. Most people in the USA want to keep the option. Nearly all the rest of the world does not have it.

The Case for More Guns, Learn to Think Like The Sheep Who Chose to Be Unarmed

U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)- People in the gun culture often express amazement about people who want them disarmed. They ascribe the desire to hostility and malice. It may be true for a minority of those who actively wish for a disarmed population.  A significant number, likely a majority, have made a voluntary decision to be unarmed.

It is important to know your opponent and to understand their motives.

Three years ago, this correspondent wrote an essay on how to understand people who want a disarmed population. It was popular but did not appear on AmmoLand News at that time.

I have updated the essay for current conditions.

There Is An Easy Way To Understand People Who Wish You To Be Unarmed.

It takes a little discipline. You may have a little mental discomfort, but it is not particularly difficult.  For the ability to understand the other side, assume you have deliberately chosen to be unarmed.

Choosing to be armed is more difficult. It requires action. It requires training. It requires an investment in money and time. You think about unpleasant realities and plan for unpleasant possibilities. You devote time and money to be armed. A higher level of responsibility is required.

Once you internalize the decision to be unarmed, arguments on the other side become understandable. The voluntarily unarmed people we are attempting to understand are those who have moved from the decision to be unarmed, to the policy statement “guns are bad”.

Guns are Bad
Guns are Bad

Armed people have a power advantage over unarmed people. People do not want others to have a power advantage over them. It makes them uncomfortable. To prevent this, the voluntarily unarmed often want everyone else to be unarmed.

Continue reading “”

WaPo/ABC poll: Enthusiasm drops for gun-control legislation — but why?

Context matters, and so does polling consistency. The Washington Post/ABC News poll taken in 2018 after the Parkland mass shooting demonstrated a peak of enthusiasm for gun-control laws, 57/34. Three years later, that has shifted sixteen points in the gap, 50/43. So what happened?……..

So why has there been such a loss of enthusiasm for gun control? We’d know better if the WaPo/ABC polling units committed to proper interval polling on public opinion, but it’s likely due to the Democratic embrace of ‘abolish/defund the police’ sloganeering and a sharp rise in crime, especially violent crime, over the past year. If we’re abolishing or rolling back police departments, then self-defense becomes even more crucial as crime rises. Democrats are trying to argue two entirely contradictory points at the same time — that only cops should have guns, and that we shouldn’t have cops……….

6 out of 11 states that have gone from No/May Issue to Shall Issue/Permit-Less Carry since 1999 have seen their murder rates DECREASE in the years they allowed concealed carry

Source spreadsheet

The point being that there being no correlation between concealed carry and gun violence, which is significant in that it undercuts most of the rationale behind those people who want gun control.

Oklahoma bill signed into law to protect drivers who strike protesters

On Wednesday, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt signed a bill into law that will provide more protection for drivers who unintentionally injure or kill protesters while fleeing from a riot.

On April 21, Stitt signed House Bill 1674 into law, effective November 1, 2021.

The new law states that:

A motor vehicle operator who unintentionally causes injury or death to an individual shall not be criminally or civilly liable for the injury or death, if:

1. The injury or death of the individual occurred while the motor vehicle operator was fleeing from a riot, as defined in Section 1311 of Title 21 of the Oklahoma Statutes, under a reasonable belief that fleeing was necessary to protect the motor vehicle operator from serious injury or death; and
2. The motor vehicle operator exercised due care at the time of the death or injury.

House Bill 1674 also makes unlawfully obstructing a roadway a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $5000.

Rep. Kevin West, who authored House Bill 1674, explained why he created the legislation.

“Last summer, during the height of violent riots that were sweeping the nation, resulting in loss of life and millions of dollars in property damage, a motorist in Oklahoma traveling with his wife and two school-aged children was surrounded by aggressive protestors in the roadway,” West said. “The protestors beat at his truck and threw things at it, scaring both him and his family. The driver was severely chastised for trying to hurt the protesters and he even faced the possibility of criminal charges for his actions in attempting to evade the protestors. This measure would clarify a motorist’s rights in a similar situation going forward. It also would clarify punishments for rioters acting illegally to impede traffic or seeking harm of other individuals during the course of a riot.”………..

 

3/4 of States Are Now Stand Your Ground; only 12 Are Duty to Retreat

I wrote about this several months ago, but several states have gone stand-your-ground since then—Ohio, Arkansas, and now North Dakota—so I thought I’d repeat it.

[A.] The “duty to retreat” is something of a misnomer (though a very common one); it’s not actually a legally binding duty (the way a parent has a duty to support a minor child, or a driver has a duty to exercise reasonable care while driving). Rather, it’s a provision that, under certain circumstances, failing to retreat from a confrontation will effectively strip you of your right to use deadly force for self-defense.

Continue reading “”

‘I never expected I would touch my gun’: Dad pulls CCW gun to protect family in Westroads shooting

OMAHA, Neb. — A metro area dad said the choice was easy to grab his concealed carry weapon and protect his family as gunfire erupted at Westroads Mall Saturday.

“My daughter is getting baptized next weekend so I wanted to get a nice special outfit for her baptism,” Scott Tafoya said. As Tafoya was trying on a suit in Von Maur Saturday, his wife and two daughters went upstairs to shop.

He noticed commotion and saw people running. One man made eye contact with him. “I looked in his eyes and he yelled, ‘Shooter,’” Tafoya said. He took off upstairs to find his family. As he did, he grabbed his gun. His wife told him she heard gunfire.

“Every indication said our lives were in danger and I was going to do everything in my power to make sure we got out of there OK,” Tafoya said.

He’s a legal conceal carry permit holder, even though Westroads Mall is a weapon-free zone.

“I knew that if I ever pulled that out it would truly be a life and death situation and I would deal with the consequences later,” he said.

As Von Maur employees shuttled shoppers into a bathroom, he stood guard.

“I said I have a permit, I’m legal,” he said. He said he stood near the escalators to draw any threat away from where his family was.

“Everyone else on the third floor just got added into that because the best way to keep my family safe was to make sure nobody with ill intentions came up that escalator.” In that moment, he said he didn’t feel fear, but something else. “I was sad. Because I wasn’t expecting to, if it was real I didn’t think I was going to come home,” he said.

Tafoya said he took the bullets out of his gun and walked toward police with his hands up as soon as they arrived.

“I unloaded my weapon, I put it back in the holster where it was very visible that the slide was locked open. I put my permit in my hands and my hands above my head,” he said. He said police allowed him to leave without facing any charges.

“I don’t condone anyone breaking the law. I made the decision that was right for my family, and I stand behind it. I may still get in trouble for it, if I do, it was worth it,” he said.

Tafoya said gun-free zones put people at risk. “I do not want to be carrying a weapon ever. It’s not comfortable, I don’t like it, I wish there was not a need for it,” he said.

Tafoya said he’s been a permit holder for around four years.

“I never, never ever expected to ever touch my gun. But, I’m exceptionally thankful that I had it,” he said.

He adds this won’t discourage him from going to the mall. Westroads Mall said it will have a weapon sniffing dog on premises for the time being.

Asian Americans Create Gun Group as Ownership, Hate Crimes Rise.

A new gun group hoping to educate Asian Americans about gun rights and gun safety in response to rising hate crimes launched on Monday.

Asian American and Pacific Islander Gun Owners (AAPIGO) aims to provide training and representation to a demographic often overlooked in the conversation on guns. They have scheduled their first meet-and-greet range day for May 2 in Livermore, Calif. And they have already signed up 25 people for an informational course on how to apply for a California gun-carry permit followed by a group application drive designed to bring awareness to the rising threat of hate crimes against Asian Americans.

Racist attacks on Asians surged in 2020, with one report putting the figure at nearly 3,800 incidents and the Los Angeles Police Department reporting the rate of hate crimes against Asians more than doubling. Simultaneously, alongside other Americans, Asians began buying more guns. A gun dealer survey conducted by the National Shooting Sports Foundation found the number of Asian customers jumping 46 percent in the first half of 2020.

Now, AAPIGO wants to train those new Asian gun owners and equip them to protect themselves against racist attacks.

Continue reading “”

Riots are not “protests”
Then again, when they’re ‘social justice protests‘…………..

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signs ‘anti-riot’ bill that grants civil immunity to drivers who hit protesters and protects police budgets from being cut

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed an anti-riot bill into law on Monday morning that’s aimed at protecting law-enforcement agencies and cracking down on protests that turn violent.

“I think it’s really remarkable if you look at the breadth of this particular piece of legislation,” DeSantis said during a news conference before signing the bill. “It is the strongest anti-rioting, pro-law-enforcement piece of legislation in the country. There’s just nothing even close.”

Florida’s Senate passed the bill last week 23-17, with only one Republican voting in opposition alongside Democrats.

The law, which was designated HB 1, includes a number of measures that crack down on protests in Florida.

It defines a “riot” as a public disturbance involving three or more people “acting with the common intent to assist each other in violent and disorderly conduct” that results in injury to another person, damage to property, or danger of injury or damage.

The law grants civil immunity to people who drive into protesters who are blocking a road, prevents people accused of rioting from bailing out of jail until after their first court appearance, and increases penalties for assaulting law-enforcement officers while engaging in a “riot.”

It also penalizes local governments that interfere with efforts to stop a riot and allows law-enforcement agencies that face funding reductions to file objections.

In a statement to NBC News last week, DeSantis said the legislation “strikes the appropriate balance of safeguarding every Floridian’s constitutional right to peacefully assemble, while ensuring that those who hide behind peaceful protest to cause violence in our communities will be punished.”

But critics say the legislation, and similar bills in several other states, are part of crackdown efforts after a summer of social-justice protests nationwide, according to Pensacola News Journal.

Heavy or Light Bullet Grains for Self-Defense? Considerations and Recommendations

It is very important to evaluate and use the correct bullet weight or grain for your particular handgun purpose and application. Several factors and the inter-relationships among bullet grain, muzzle velocity, muzzle energy, penetration, expansion, recoil, and terminal ballistics for any specific load and handgun affect a shooter’s results and accuracy.

Continue reading “”

Oklahoma Senate passes bill protecting drivers who hit protesters blocking roadways

A bill meant to protect drivers who hit protesters during the course of fleeing a riot passed the Oklahoma Senate on Wednesday.

House Bill 1674, which passed through the Senate by a vote of 38-10, would increase penalties for blocking roadways while also providing immunity to drivers who kill or injure motorists while fleeing the scene of a riot in fear for their lives, according to the Associated Press.

The bill comes in response to an incident in Tulsa, Oklahoma, last year in which a driver in a pickup truck drove through a group of George Floyd protesters blocking an interstate and injured several protesters. The driver, whose family was in the car, was not charged.

“The kids cowered in the back seat because they feared for their lives,” one of the Republican sponsors of the bill, Rob Standridge, said. “That’s what this bill is about.”

According to the bill, it would become a misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine for protesters who block a public street.

Democrats took issue with the bill, specifically with how the legislation’s language defined the word “riot,” wondering aloud if “peaceful protesters” could be targeted.

Gun Safety Classes Sees More People Looking to Learn

[Pennsylvania] After spending eight years in the military, Leroy Learn Jr. decided to come back to Erie and open Learn Defense Industries in North East. He saw the lack of education when it came to gun handling, and the basics of learning how to use a firearm. With his experience in the military he knew how quick a situation can become dangerous. Learn is a certified instructor by the NRA Simulations and Taser. He teaches classes on self defense, and basic pistol training. Learn says the in the last year he’s seen more people buy guns and are looking for ways to properly handle a firearm.

“Unfortunately, with the Coronavirus and the riots really picked everything up with the fear that came along with those it was an absolute boom in people just wanting to contact us and talk to us about it,” says Learn.
During the last year we’ve seen firearm sales skyrocket, with more people looking to buy and learn how to handle a gun. Learn says he saw the need for basic training when it comes to firearms, and especially more training when it comes to the law.

“If you have a lethal encounter and you act outside of the law, you’re still responsible for your actions you perform. That’s why in our basic pistol course we spend so much time going over the law because there’s a lot of law out there, and if you don’t know what it is, you can go to jail for being the victim of a crime,” says Learn.

Not only does Learn teach the law but he also is showing people the proper way to handle a firearm. With more people looking to own and learn how to use guns he says he’s seen more new gun owners come to classes.

“I have so many and they just purchased a fire arm because it was the only fire arm to purchase in the store at the time and they had to have the gun right then and there. Then they come to class and the firearm doesn’t function the way they want it to,” says Learn.

Learn says knowing the proper way to handle gun could save a life, but it could also help you feel more confident in everyday situations.

“I would say the best thing about it is that it gives you confidence. I see several people come into the class and they don’t feel confident around it or feel confident just going for a walk or they just feel afraid about something so it gives them confidence,” says Learn.

Learn says this is the best thing you can do if you’re looking to get a firearm and keep up on your self defense skills.

“If you don’t practice with it you will lose what you’ve been taught but if you get that basic knowledge, and you sit there and go okay I got that now I can go and continue my training for myself and then go and get more advanced training when I feel confident enough for that later more advanced training,” says Learn.

Abusers and oppressors will rejoice the death of the Second Amendment

As a group of House Democrats pushed the presidential action on gun control, a group of House Democrats are pushing the Senate to vote on House-passed gun control bills. In either case, the result would be dangerous and make Americans more vulnerable. When the right to keep and bear arms is suppressed by a government, the doors to oppression and abuse are opened. I know, because I’ve seen it.

Hardwired, the global human rights organization I founded, fights against the oppression of religious communities of all faiths in countries around the world. Among these countries is Nigeria, where Fulani herdsmen have been waging a war against Christian farmers for the past decade, but in recent years it’s grown much worse. The Fulani herdsmen are attacking farmland throughout the region to force Christian farmers out of the area and take over their land. The attacks typically increase in the spring and are carried out with AK-47s and machetes.

In Nigeria, the law does not permit citizens to own firearms. As a result, the Christian farmers are sitting ducks. They have no recourse.

Not only will their government not protect them, their government is preventing them from protecting themselves. Herdsmen attack entire villages, burning churches, killing pastors and worshippers, kidnapping and forcibly converting young children and destroying homes, business and crops.

And the Nigerian government is not only silent, it is complicit. The illegal sale of weapons in Nigeria is a global concern but it ignores the real issue. The government is not only to be condemned for their silence about attacks on Christians, but also for their apparent complicity in leaving the Christians defenseless.

As a result, the conflict in Nigeria’s Middle belt states continues to worsen.

As Benjamin Franklin famously said, “Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

Continue reading “”

This will leave North Dakota as the only state where only residents can carry concealed without a permit.

WYOMING TO ALLOW NONRESIDENTS TO CONCEAL CARRY WITHOUT A PERMIT STARTING JULY 1

CASPER, Wyo. — Starting July 1, both residents and nonresidents alike will be able to conceal carry in Wyoming without obtaining a special permit, provided they can legally possess a hand gun in the United States.

Governor Mark Gordon signed House Bill 116 into law on Tuesday which will give nonresidents the ability to conceal carry without a special permit once the new law goes into effect July 1, 2021.

Wyoming residents are already able to conceal carry without a permit if they are legally allowed to possess a firearm.

In Colorado, They’re Cracking the Code on Gun Control: It Doesn’t Work

U.S.A. –-(AmmoLand.com)- Writing over the weekend in the Denver Post, George H. Brauchler—former district attorney for the Centennial State’s 18th Judicial District—wrote something that might be considered blasphemy among anti-gun politicians and gun prohibition lobbying groups.

Brauchler was discussing mass shootings in Colorado in a story headlined, “Gun laws may prevent some crimes, but mass shootings isn’t one of them.” He mentioned shootings dating all the way back to Columbine High School and included the carnage at the Aurora theater in 2012. His summation boiled down to this:

“But linking current federal and state legislation to preventing horrors like Boulder is mere political opportunism. We must continue to work to keep firearms out of the wrong hands, but we must also recognize that we cannot legislate away evil.”

Almost simultaneously, CPR was reporting that gun owners in the state “are gearing up to oppose any new proposed restrictions, despite the fact that the most controversial proposal has not yet been introduced.” The story quotes Mario Acevedo, a Denver novelist “who is both a Democrat and a gun owner.”

“Acevedo does not think new gun laws provide the solution,” the story reveals. “He said data has convinced him that gangs, drug trafficking and mental illness are the drivers of gun deaths, not firearms.”

Perhaps this excerpt from the story says it best, quoting Acevedo:

“Colorado passed the universal background check and the high capacity magazine ban that was done under the premise that it was going to prevent mass shootings. The state passed the red flag law, the ERPO [Extreme Risk Protection Order] that again was done on the premise of preventing mass shootings. And it didn’t.”

Colorado has seen its share of trouble over the past 20-plus years. But at least some residents are realizing what many in the Second Amendment community have been saying for years is correct:

Gun control doesn’t stop people from committing mayhem because those determined to harm other people will find a way to do it.

Continue reading “”

More Guns, Less… Suicides? In 2020, That Was The Case