I'm back

Hey I have been gone for awhile and been very busy, However I have some down time now so I will start publishing again soon. If you have any requests for topics that you would like me to write about please let me know.

A business proposition

"I'd like to make you a business offer.

Seriously. This is a real offer. In fact, you really can't turn me down, as you'll come to understand in a moment…

Here's the deal. You're going to start a business or expand the one you've got now. It doesn't really matter what you do or what you're going to do. I'll partner with you no matter what business you're in – as long as it's legal.

But I can't give you any capital – you have to come up with that on your own. I won't give you any labor – that's definitely up to you. What I will do, however, is demand you follow all sorts of rules about what products and services you can offer, how much (and how often) you pay your employees, and where and when you're allowed to operate your business. That's my role in the affair – to tell you what to do.

Now in return for my rules, I'm going to take roughly half of whatever you make in the business each year. Half seems fair, doesn't it? I think so. Of course, that's half of your profits.

You're also going to have to pay me about 12% of whatever you decide to pay your employees because you've got to cover my expenses for promulgating all the rules about who you can employ, when, where, and how. Come on, you're my partner. It's only "fair."

Now… after you've put your hard-earned savings at risk to start this business, and after you've worked hard at it for a few decades (paying me my 50% or a bit more along the way each year), you might decide you'd like to cash out – to finally live the good life.

Whether or not this is "fair" – some people never can afford to retire – is a different argument. As your partner, I'm happy for you to sell whenever you'd like… because our agreement says if you sell, you have to pay me an additional 20% of whatever the capitalized value of the business is at that time.

I know… I know… you put up all the original capital. You took all the risks. You put in all the labor. That's all true. But I've done my part, too. I've collected 50% of the profits each year. And I've always come up with more rules for you to follow each year. Therefore, I deserve another, final 20% slice of the business.

Oh… and one more thing…

Even after you've sold the business and paid all my fees… I'd recommend buying lots of life insurance. You see, even after you've been retired for years, when you die, you'll have to pay me 50% of whatever your estate is worth.

After all, I've got lots of partners and not all of them are as successful as you and your family. We don't think it's "fair" for your kids to have such a big advantage. But if you buy enough life insurance, you can finance this expense for your children.

All in all, if you're a very successful entrepreneur… if you're one of the rare, lucky, and hard-working people who can create a new company, employ lots of people, and satisfy the public… you'll end up paying me more than 75% of your income over your life. Thanks so much.

I'm sure you'll think my offer is reasonable and happily partner with me… But it doesn't really matter how you feel about it because if you ever try to stiff me – or cheat me on any of my fees or rules – I might break down your door in the middle of the night, or threaten you and your family , seize all your goods and even throw you in jail.

That's the offer Amerika gives its entrepreneurs.
And the idiots in Washington wonder why there are no new jobs…"

This was taken from a friend of mine over on another website and I thought that I would share it as it makes sense.

Weakness in America

"Our Country won't go on forever, if we stay soft as we are now. There won't be any AMERICA because some foreign soldier will invade us and take our women and breed a hardier race!"
LT. GEN. LEWIS "CHESTY" PULLER, USMC

This quote was made my a military legend many years ago. Chesty puller was awarded 5 Navy Crosses for valor and there is not a doubt in any Marines mind today that he is one of the finest Marines to ever live. He made this quote almost as if he could see into the future to where America is at today. I don't forsee an foreign force invading per se but what I do see is America giving herself away to the rest of the world and making herself weak to appease the rest of the world and make them happy.

It sickens me to see the squalor and disgusting levels that our country has allowed herself to fall to. When HALF of the country pays taxes to support the other half, because they either do not, can not, or refuse not to work because it is EASIER to ride the system for everything that they can get out of it. Social Security was designed to be a supplement to what people had saved over thier lifetimes NOT an actual retirement account. 

America has become a country full of a lazy and selfish attitude towards everything that does not benefit one's self. What happened to the days when a man went out of his way to hold a door open for a lady, or the days where if a man attempted to hit or otherwise harm a lady, he was beaten and driven out of town as a lesson to any other person who would atempt such a thing?

Combat Mindset and Self Defense #7

This is my 7^th post on Combat Mindset and Self Defense.

I have received this question in many variations over the years that I have been carrying and it is, “why do you carry your pistol Condition 1? (Round in chamber, safety on).

My answer is simple, the fewer weapon manipulations that I have to conduct prior to firing the fewer chances of malfunctions, stoppages, and less time before lead is headed downrange. This invariably brings up the next question “Do you think it is as safe to carry a round in the chamber especially when your hammer is cocked?” My answer to this is a little more complex

If I carry my pistol Condition 3 (mag inserted, NO round in chamber, hammer down safety off the 1911’s safety does not engage unless the hammer is to the rear) then I am not ready to engage in a moments notice and I have to rack the slide to chamber a round which invites failure to feeds (FTF) and other malfunctions. Also if I am already hit before I draw my weapon I may not have the use of both hands to chamber a round which will then cause me to have to rack the weapon off of my belt or off the edge of a hard surface, all of which takes a lot more time to get my weapon ready.

All recently manufactured pistols have some sort of built in safety function in them and they are designed to be carried condition one with a round in the chamber. Many people do not feel comfortable carrying their weapon in this condition as they cannot feel safe knowing that there is a round in the chamber. To me this just means that they do not trust themselves usually due to lack of practice on their part. I have spent the last 5 going on 6 years carrying all my weapons in combat, Condition one and would never feel safe unless it is in this condition. Your primary safety is in between your ears and if you follow the 5 safety rules you will never have a problem.

The five safety rules are as follows.

1.      Treat every weapon as if it were loaded

2.      Never point a weapon at anything you do not intend to shoot

3.      Keep your finger straight and off the trigger until your are ready to fire

4.      Keep your weapon on safe until you intend to fire

5.      Know your target and what lies beyond it.

If you follow these 5 simple rules you will never have a negligent discharge or shoot someone that you do not want to. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AN ACCIDENTAL DISCHARGE!! The only other type of discharge of your weapon other than a planned or negligent discharge is caused by the complete failure of the weapons safety system or in the case of automatic weapons a cook off where the round pre-ignites due to the residual heat of the barrel due to prolonged and sustained firing.

Combat Mindset and Self Defense #6

This is my 6^th post on Combat Mindset and Self Defense. In my previous posts I have primarily focused on firearms as that is primarily what I know. I live, work with and love firearms, and I practice as often as possible to maintain my proficiency with them.

Knives are a viable alternative for self defense and I maintain profanely with them as well, however for me they are a last resort before I have to fall back to strikes and kicks as in my opinion only a fool goes to a knife fight in the first place.

I do not practice disarmament techniques as I see them as a simple way to get myself killed by a more skilled or stronger opponent and with all knife and disarmament techniques that require you to be with in the lethal radius of the edged weapon that is being used against you. I do have one pistol disarmament technique that I practice regularly as it is simple, quick and effective for any one of any size, however I do not recommend it as in my opinion, for the reason anyone that has crossed the line of pointing a weapon at me or my wife has made a very poor life choice that, if I am given the chance, will hasten the end of said life by accurate gunfire.

Having a weapon for self defense does not make you effective. Practice makes permanent and if you do not practice with your weapon of choice you are simply carrying around the tool of your own death. Either your weapon will be used against you by your assailant(s) after they take it from you or you will attempt to use it and miss or have a malfunction that you do not know how to correct giving them the opportunity to kill you as easily as if you had no weapon in the first place.

As I have said in earlier posts you have to square away within yourself your natural propensity for violence and lethality and if you cannot find it within yourself to kill someone else even in self defense or in the defense of others that you love then DO NOT bother carrying a weapon as it will be simply taken from you and used on you or your loved ones after you fail to pull the trigger.  

It is incredibly vital that you realize the mess and smell caused by killing someone. It is not like the movies in which a person gets shot and they immediately drop or the hero gets shot 5 times and blown up and still walks away. Even if a person is shot in the heart they can still function for 15 seconds at least, that is 15 seconds where they can still kill you.

You need to settle within yourself that no matter the outcome of the fight, whether you live or die you WILL kill the person assaulting you or the ones you love. If you live in fear of losing your life then you will not be effective in defending yourself or your loved ones. The lyrics of a song that I heard on my first deployment to Iraq really hit home with me. “The wounded man shall say to his assailant, if I die you are forgiven, if I live I WILL KILL YOU!! Such is the rule of honor”. What I took from this is that no matter what happens to me I will kill or “stop” the threat to myself or my wife whether I die doing it for if I don’t that person will survive to do it again and again to other less prepared individuals (i.e. SHEEP).

Combat Mindset and Self Defense #5

In this 5^th installment of my posts on Combat Mindset and Self Defense I am going to cover a scenario with you that should show you why having situational awareness and a tactical posture all the time is so important and this scenario can be modified to fit pretty much anywhere along with a corresponding pistol shooting drill that I developed while training in a Protective Services Detachment (protection of important people like movie stars, state governors, and even musicians) course in Kuwait to go along with it.

            The scenario is as follows: You are exiting a building with your wife, the building could be a grocery store, your house, or pretty much anywhere, she is walking on your weak side (i.e. the side of your body that you don’t use to write with), probably holding your hand or your arm (because hopefully you are still in love and normal people in love do these things) ;). And you notice upon  exiting the building and walking for about 5-10 meters, that there are 3-4 young males quickly approaching you and you begin to feel a little uncomfortable with the fact that they are all staring at you and your wife as they close the distance with you. When they are approximately 20-25 feet away from you they begin to pull weapons of varying types from under their jackets and you realize that their intent is to rob or hurt you and your wife. WHAT DO YOU DO!?!?!?! The weapons can vary with the scenario but the purpose of this scenario is to get back inside the building under some form of cover and to protect your wife or other person with you at all costs.

The first thing to usually happen unless you train her otherwise is that your wife will panic and unintentionally cling to your arm, which is why it is so important that she always walk on your weak side of your body so your gun arm is free to complete your draw stroke. (it would probably be a race between me and my wife as to who can get their gun out first and as she is a better shot than me I really have to hurry to get it out and get a couple of hits before she does).

            There are several ways that you can take here and the first being you use your weak hand to grab the front of your wife’s shirt and pull her behind you while you draw and engage while simultaneously back peddling towards the door. This is the least preferred as it just makes the two of you a nice big target and rounds that hit you can still pass through with enough velocity to kill her as well. Also it is a lot of movement and many chances to trip and fall.

            The second method and more preferred is to push your wife away from you and sidestep away from her at the same time to open up distance between you and hopefully draw the attention to you and away from her (at this point she should be running back inside to get cover and call the police). As your sidestepping away you should be drawing your weapon and engaging the threats in order of the precedence of the threats imposed by their various weapons (i.e. a knife at 30 feet is not as much of a threat as a pistol or a shotgun that is closer) take the biggest threats first and shoot until you know you scored a good hit and then shift. You can always come back to re-engage the threats if you see that they were not totally incapacitated by your hit. Speed and accuracy are both very important here but accuracy is always more important. Remember that typically the bad guys will most likely try to run away once they see you are armed and ready to defend yourself, however this is not always the case. Also never stop moving once you have committed to action as a moving target causes anyone shooting at it to constantly shift their aim to hit you. It is also necessary to point out that you should be practicing drawing and shooting on the move.  

            Remember that once you commit to action there is no turning back and whether you live or die will depend on your violence of action. You never rise to the occasion you simply fall back to your level of training.

Combat Mindset and Self Defense #4

This is my 4^th installment of the posts on Combat Mindset and Self Defense. In the previous posts I have covered marksmanship, the actual definition of combat mindset as it applies to self defense, and lightly covered knowing your house from a tactical standpoint. In this post I will cover home invasions and things of importance that you will need to take into consideration when planning your home defense.

            First off when planning for home defense, I assume you have already gotten the poor idea of “This won’t EVER happen to me” out of your head. Home invasions are a fact of life now and the trend of home invasions, while the target house is occupied, is on the rise. The reason for this startling change of events is simple. Thieves have figured out that when the homeowners are home so is their wallet, checkbook, and jewelry ect. Not to mention if it is someone that is after more than your possessions, i.e. they want your wife, the best time to hit you is when you and your loved ones are at home in your comfort zone, where your guard is least active, especially after dark in the evening after you have had a nice big dinner and are lounging in your comfortable easy chair watching TV.

 There are no official home invasions statistics due to the fact that these are usually characterized under robbery, rape, assault ect. The best estimate though is that every year this variant of robbery accounts for 11% of incidents of theft that takes place in the United States. This is a startling figure as 11 out of 100 incidents of theft involve an occupied home being forcibly entered and robbed typically with weapons of some sort. Some other statistics taken from www.articlebase.com show that 1 out of every 5 homes will have a home invasion at some time.

Some of the more common ways for someone to break into your house includes posing as a delivery man, an utilities inspector, or someone looking for donations, also there is the obvious one where they just kick down your door (which is the one way that I prefer for them NOT to get into my house since I will not only have to clean up their blood from everywhere after I have shot them, I will ALSO have to fix my door which will piss me off). Here are a couple of simple ways to foil the first three methods. Have a chain on your door engaged before you open it and ask for official identification, if you are not expecting a package or an inspection call the company that they are from to verify that they are legit. Package delivery service persons are trained to show their ID upon request even to your peephole on your door or simply leave the package on your doorstep upon request. One of the major DO NOTS is for you to swing your door open all the way immediately upon hearing the knock.  Follow the above steps will have huge impacts upon your safety. If they kick down your door then you can assume that they are not there to chat or borrow a cup of sugar, so deadly force then becomes applicable if you feel your life is in danger.

Some people may call me paranoid but I have never really cared what people think, and that is why I always carry my weapon around the house with me. Every one that comes over to my house knows this and seems to be comfortable with it, and if not, well it IS my house after all. I refuse to be a victim, or have harm come to the woman I love, and in a violent home invasion there probably will not be time to grab your weapon and defend yourself, so instead of paranoid I prefer the word PREPARED. The way that I think about this is simple, how would I feel if something did happen and I wasn’t prepared and as a result my wife was hurt or even worse? I owe it to her to be as prepared as possible and if you have children then you owe it to them as well. Violence of action will carry the day in whatever precarious situation that you are in. Knowing within yourself that you have the capacity to kill to ensure the safety of yourself and your family is the singular most important thing in preparing for home defense. If you have not resolved this within yourself then the firearm that you possess will just be a liability to yourself and your family, no matter how much you train with it.

Combat Mindset & Self Defense #3

This is the third installment of my combat mindset and self defense posting. In this posting I will cover different shooting drills and situations where each one will be useful.

The first drill that we are going to cover is the controlled pair. Basically what this drill comprises of is two shots with two separate sight pictures. What this means is simply that you aim and fire your first shot then recover from the recoil and aim and fire your second shot. This drill is useful for making multiple accurate hits usually at an extended distance such as down a hallway, or across a larger room, or at a small exposed portion of a target. This drill typically takes approximately 1.5-2 seconds to fire. This drill is useful as a drill to get you used to quickly aiming and firing your weapon, and builds upon the next drill which is called the hammer pair. This drill should sound like “tap pause tap”

The hammer pair, also known as the double tap, is simply aiming once and squeezing the trigger twice rapidly. What you want with this drill is for both you your shots to impact within two to three inches of each other in less than one second in order to facilitate what is known as hydrostatic shock. To explain what this is, picture having a bucket full of water that you drop a single rock into. The ripples move out from the point of impact and hit the walls of the bucket and bounce back. Now picture dropping two stones into the bucket rapidly and the ripples cross and disturb the whole surface of the water violently. This is what happens when two rounds simultaneously impact close together in the human body as the human body consists of 80% water. It causes massive trauma, and with a lighter caliber pistol, this is often necessary to provide the instant incapacitation desired to end the assault upon your person.  This drill takes a lot of practice to be able to accurately and effectively engage with this at anything beyond very close range. Another note on this drill, the heavier the recoil with your pistol the harder it will be to perform a tight drill. This drill should sound like this “taptap”

The failure to stop drill, also known as simply the failure drill or Mozambique drill, consists of a hammer pair to the chest and a single shot to the head or pelvic area as quickly as can be performed in 1.5-2 sec. It should sound like “taptap pause tap” which is the hammer pair to the chest followed up with a second sight picture for the headshot. This drill is just a follow on to the previous hammer pair drill and you would perform this drill if the target that you engaged did not stop, hence the name for this drill. This drill is relatively hard to do on a moving target, however an easy way to do it is to simply ride the recoil up and squeeze the trigger for your third shot as your sights cross the throat area of your target.

My personal favorite is the box drill and is used for multiple target engagement. Multiple target engagement is when you are confronted by one or more hostile targets and you begin engaging them in order of greatest threat.  You fire a hammer pair to the chest of each target and then a head shot to the last target then working your way back over the targets reassessing and reengaging as necessary. Start with only two targets and practice the hammer pairs then headshots. It should sound like this “taptap pause taptap pause tap pause tap”. A total of 6 shots for 2 targets. If you use a revolver realize that you will be empty at this point and need to reload.

 

Combat Mindset and Self Defense #2

There are several ways to improve your combat mindset, the most basic of which simply making yourself walk with your head erect, and observe as much as possible. This does not make you paranoid, this makes you AWARE. This is the first step into getting the proper combat mindset that you need to defend your home and loved ones.

 The second step is to arm yourself with a carefully selected weapon that fits your needs, budget, and situation. When it comes to self defense and the defense of others, there is no set price to pay for that defense, however there is no need to go out and buy the most expensive weapon that you can find simply because it is the most expensive. What you need to look for is suitability, which includes how the weapon fits you, how well you can use this weapon, the probable lethality of this weapon that you have chosen, and most importantly the reliability of this weapon. It is necessary to point out here that ammunition selection is important as well. If you do not have the knowledge or the ability to decide what will work best for you, than you can simply choose to use whatever ammunition that your local police department has chosen to carry as they will have done much more exhaustive testing on it and all the other types of ammunition than you will ever do, and if you do have to shoot somebody in self defense then that is one less thing that the prosecutor can use against you in the courtroom, if it comes to that.

The third step to being self capable is to get quality instruction on the functions and safeties of that particular firearm. This does not only apply to yourself but also anyone else that may end up using it. Once you have done this, spend some quality time at the local square range getting used to the weapon, make this a family event if possible, get everyone that may use this weapon some trigger time, and ensure you drive the five safety rules into them and yourself as you do this. Also use this time to see if your method of employment, be it a holster of some sort, or simply leaning a shotgun against the wall of your bedroom, is viable and not more hindrance than useful. Practice all the basics of marksmanship, reloading, and your malfunction and stoppage drills.  

Once you have practiced all of this and have a good foundation in the basics, move on to more advanced drills such as hammer pairs, failure to stop drills, and my personal favorite, box drills. Practice shooting and moving, utilizing cover, and reloading and shooting under pressure. All this falls under training like you fight and is the fourth step in becoming adept at self defense. There are documented cases of police officers who were trained on the range to empty their expended brass from their revolvers into their hand, and then put that brass in their pockets so it did not end up on the range floor. Some of these same police officers after a gunfight found brass in their pockets, and they had no idea how it got there. They had taken precious seconds in a gunfight to put that brass in their pockets instead of just dumping it on the ground. This is an example of what is referred to as Habit of Action. If you do something often enough for long enough it will become a subconscious action and you will do it without thinking about it. Make sure the actions that you practice like this are the right ones. You want all the basics to become a habit of action because the first thing to disappear under stress is your fine motor skills that are necessary to pulling the trigger, finding the slide release button, or the magazine release.

 When you are back home and have a little down time practice moving through your house with your weapon, learn your house from a tactical standpoint because you will possibly have to defend it at some point and time and you should know it as thoroughly as possible. Practice moving through it with the lights out, from room to room, and see what furniture will present an obstacle to yourself or someone else in your house that may or may not be friendly. Practice dry firing your weapon, reloading it, and even employing it from different places in the house such as your bedroom, the living room, and even the bathroom. The people breaking and entering into your house to steal and possibly cause death or serious bodily harm to you and you loved ones will not wait until you are in a defensive posture and ready for them, they will come at whatever time suits them best.

Your Combat Mindset and Self Defense #1

           
In my world of fighting, firearms, and warfare, I have discovered the importance in the meaning of the old adage, “Train like you fight”, and it has been driven home very deeply within me. When I  first that I heard that ‘salty’ one combat deployment Lance Corporal tell me that a few days after I got to the Fleet Marine Force in Hawaii I thought it sounded cliché, I mean that’s what Marines are supposed to do right?  Until I got into combat in a little town called Karma a few minutes outside of Fallujah, Iraq and realized that no training will totally prepare you mentally for close-in combat. The training that we receive is the best in the world, and the U.S. military as a whole is the best trained and equipped military to ever walk the face of this earth, the whole act of “pulling the trigger” on someone is over-rated as being a life changing event. I would postulate that it’s not the act of actually pulling the trigger, but seeing the aftermath of that deed that is the life changing event.  This is the crux of the matter that we are about to discuss. In home defense, training can only take you so far, you have to be willing and able to not just point your weapon at someone, but be willing to actually pull your trigger and send them to wherever it is that they are headed. This is called your Combat Mindset.

     Proper Combat Mindset is simply being ready to kill if necessary, and with a violence and lethality that will shock your opponent(s) with its ferocity. When you are defending your home and loved ones, nothing less is acceptable. People in today’s society tend to shy away from accepting the natural lethality that is bred into our nature as human beings. We did not become a dominate species only because we are smart, but also because we have a pre-disposition to kill. The people that cannot accept this are commonly referred to as sheep, and they rely on the people that HAVE accepted this fact of life, commonly referred to as sheep dogs, to keep the wolves of life at bay for them. This is fine with me as long as they do not try to hinder me from doing MY job as a sheep dog. Those that have also accepted this responsibility need to be aware of the sheep around them that need to be protected. These sheep are characterized my the subservient way that they walk around the streets of life, with their head bowed, with no situational awareness as to what is going on, and not meeting the eye of passersby as if  they are afraid of what they might see if they do. A prime example of  these sheep are the sheer number of people who are hit by cars each year while they are walking across a road. If they simply observed what was around them, they would see or hear that car that is about to hit them, and not walk out in front of it. When something bad happens to these sheep, they are typically shocked into inaction which sadly often results in their untimely death.

In the next post of  "Your Combat Mindset and Self Defense" I will cover how to properly arm yourself and train to defend yourself and your loved ones.

5.56mm rounds

Well I just pulled the trigger on a 200 round purchase.. 200 rounds of M855 green tip for $87. Also I have a purchase for the new SOST rounds that the Marine Corps just adopted for Afghanistan pending the arrival of next paycheck. When I get home I will run a side by side test for everyone and try to get some terminal ballistics and reliability performance data. I am in the process of building my "war reserve" and am allotting about and average of $1-200 a month for ammo purchases. If anyone has ammo they dont want for cheap feel free to contact me as I am always looking to purchase 5.56mm (NOT .223!!!) 9mm (for the wife), and good ole American  .45ACP. If anyone needs links to cheap ammo feel free to hit me up as I have a few that aren't very well known.

Gun Control....

1. Banning guns works, which is why New York, DC, Detroit & Chicago cops need guns.

2. Washington DC's low murder rate of 69 per 100,000 is due to strict gun control, and Indianapolis' high murder rate of 9 per 100,000 is due to the lack of gun control.

3. Statistics showing high murder rates justify gun control but statistics showing increasing murder rates after gun control are "just statistics."

4. The Brady Bill and the Assault Weapons Ban, both of which went into effect in 1994 are responsible for the decrease in violent crime rates, which have been declining since 1991.

5. We must get rid of guns because a deranged lunatic may go on a shooting spree at any time and anyone who would own a gun out of fear of such a lunatic is paranoid.

6. The more helpless you are the safer you are from criminals.

7. An intruder will be incapacitated by tear gas or oven spray, but if shot with a .357 Magnum will get angry and kill you.

8. A woman raped and strangled is morally superior to a woman with a smoking gun and a dead rapist at her feet.

9. When confronted by violent criminals, you should "put up no defense - give them what they want, or run" (Handgun Control Inc. Chairman Pete Shields, Guns Don't Die - People Do, 1981, p. 125).

10. The New England Journal of Medicine is filled with expert advice about guns; just like Guns & Ammo has some excellent treatises on heart surgery.

11. One should consult an automotive engineer for safer seat belts, a civil engineer for a better bridge, a surgeon for internal medicine, a computer programmer for hard drive problems, and Sarah Brady for firearms expertise.

12. The 2nd Amendment, ratified in 1787, refers to the National Guard, which was created 130 years later, in 1917.

13. The National Guard, federally funded, with bases on federal land, using federally-owned weapons, vehicles, buildings and uniforms, punishing trespassers under federal law, is a "state" militia.

14. These phrases: "right of the people peaceably to assemble," "right of the people to be secure in their homes," "enumerations herein of certain rights shall not be construed to disparage others retained by the people," and "The powers not delegated herein are reserved to the states respectively, and to the people" all refer to individuals, but "the right of the people to keep and bear arms" refers to the state.

15. "The Constitution is strong and will never change." But we should ban and seize all guns thereby violating the 2nd, 4th, and 5th Amendments to that Constitution.

16. Rifles and handguns aren't necessary to national defense! Of course, the army has hundreds of thousands of them.

17. Private citizens shouldn't have handguns, because they aren't "military weapons'', but private citizens shouldn't have "assault rifles'', because they are military weapons.

18. In spite of waiting periods, background checks, fingerprinting, government forms, etc., guns today are too readily available, which is responsible for recent school shootings. In the 1940's, 1950's and 1960's, anyone could buy guns at hardware stores, army surplus stores, gas stations, variety stores, Sears mail order, no waiting, no background check, no fingerprints, no government forms and there were no school shootings.

19. The NRA's attempt to run a "don't touch" campaign about kids handling guns is propaganda, but the anti-gun lobby's attempt to run a "don't touch" campaign is responsible social activity.

20. Guns are so complex that special training is necessary to use them properly, and so simple to use that they make murder easy.

21. A handgun, with up to 4 controls, is far too complex for the typical adult to learn to use, as opposed to an automobile that only has 20.

22. Women are just as intelligent and capable as men but a woman with a gun is "an accident waiting to happen" and gun makers' advertisements aimed at women are "preying on their fears."

23. Ordinary people in the presence of guns turn into slaughtering butchers but revert to normal when the weapon is removed.

24. Guns cause violence, which is why there are so many mass killings at gun shows.

25. A majority of the population supports gun control, just like a majority of the population supported owning slaves.

26. Any self-loading small arm can legitimately be considered to be a "weapon of mass destruction" or an "assault weapon."

27. Most people can't be trusted, so we should have laws against guns, which most people will abide by because they can be trusted.

28. The right of Internet pornographers to exist cannot be questioned because it is constitutionally protected by the Bill of Rights, but the use of handguns for self defense is not really protected by the Bill of Rights.

29. Free speech entitles one to own newspapers, transmitters, computers, and typewriters, but self- defense only justifies bare hands.

30. The ACLU is good because it uncompromisingly defends certain parts of the Constitution, and the NRA is bad, because it defends other parts of the Constitution.

31. Charlton Heston, a movie actor as president of the NRA is a cheap lunatic who should be ignored, but Michael Douglas, a movie actor as a representative of Handgun Control, Inc. is an ambassador for peace who is entitled to an audience at the UN arms control summit.

32. Police operate with backup within groups, which is why they need larger capacity pistol magazines than do "civilians" who must face criminals alone and therefore need less ammunition.

33. We should ban "Saturday Night Specials" and other inexpensive guns because it's not fair that poor people have access to guns too.

34. Police officers have some special Jedi-like mastery over handguns that private citizens can never hope to obtain.

35. Private citizens don't need a gun for self- protection because the police are there to protect them even though the Supreme Court says the police are not responsible for their protection.

36. Citizens don't need to carry a gun for personal protection but police chiefs, who are desk-bound administrators who work in a building filled with cops, need a gun.

37. "Assault weapons" have no purpose other than to kill large numbers of people. The police need assault weapons. You do not.

38. When Microsoft pressures its distributors to give Microsoft preferential promotion, that's bad; but when the Federal government pressures cities to buy guns only from Smith & Wesson, that's good.

39. Trigger locks do not interfere with the ability to use a gun for defensive purposes, which is why you see police officers with one on their duty weapon.

40. Handgun Control, Inc., says they want to "keep guns out of the wrong hands." Guess what? You have the wrong hands.
If you think about it... most of these are totally true..

my thoughts on home defense weapons

Home Defense Weapons:
 I will refer to them in this posting HDW.

   When you settle on a weapon for home defense you should make it a habit to practice with it as much as possible, at least as much as you practice with your CCW (concealed carry weapon), as you will be relying on this weapon and your skill with it when you wake up suddenly to that strange bump in the night.Always remember that  PRACTICE MAKES PERMANENT and the more you practice the right things to do the easier it will be to accomplish them when you're bleary eyed and half asleep reaching for that weapon beside your bed to defend yourself and your family from whatever evil is threatening. There is no such thing as muscle memory, but instead, HABIT OF ACTION that comes from constant repetitive practice.

Some common HDW's and their pros and cons

  First and foremost we have the 12 Gauge shotgun. It comes in several varieties the most common of which are the pump action, double barrel side by side, and semi-auto. Some other types that are not as common are the double barrel over/under, single shot break open, and the bolt or lever action. The shotgun is a very intimidating weapon to be on the wrong end of, but can also be intimidating for the other users in your household, especially if they are small framed or not very strong. 12 gauge shotguns are very versatile in the fact that with the simple change of a barrel (on a pump action) you can go from a HDW to a hunting weapon and go hunting then come back home and switch the barrel back to the shorter HDW profile.
   Pump actions tend to be the more favored of all shotguns for a HDW due to simplicity of design, number of rounds held, lightweight, and ease of use, and they tend to be cheaper in price as well. With a semi auto you are not manually cycling the action so the chances of a weapons stoppage arise, and they are typically more expensive.
   When using any weapon indoors the over penetration and complete miss factor come into play, you need to be aware of your target and what lies beyond it at all times inside a house, especially in an apartment building. One way to help mitigate this is to load up your shotgun with bird shot and a relatively tight choke as the bird shot loses velocity rapidly but at across-the-room distances is actually VERY deadly due to the tighter choke pattern, and will put a very big hole in someone. Most common mistakes in choosing loads are slugs and heavy buckshot due to over penetration, and in the case of slugs you are limiting yourself to one projectile to each pull of the trigger and you therefore limit your chances of getting a hit each time you pull the trigger.

The Pistol/ Revolver:
    This type of weapon is probably the second most common type of home defense weapon as people are working on limited budgets and cannot readily afford two seperate weapons so their CCW assumes both roles.
   The Pro's to this are, weapons familiarity due to the fact that is carried every day, relatively high magazine capacity, quick reloads if they become necessary, usually very reliable, and they can pack a pretty hard punch.
   The Con's to using a pistol. It is inherently harder to hit a target with a pistol as it is a long gun due to many factors, some of which are, short sight radius, only one grip that is held by both hands (as opposed to a long gun where your foward hand provides more muzzle stabilization), and a shorter barrel. Pistol rounds are relatively low powered and semi-auto pistols have more of a chance for a malfunction, although recently semi-auto pistols have become much better. Revolvers are much more reliable but slower to reload and only hold 5-6 rounds at any given time.
The final type of home defense weapon that we will discuss here is the rifle.
The most common rifle's for home defense are typically AR15 or AK47 variants. The AR15 is a good idea for those that have spent extensive time in the military with the M16 variants due to the commonality in the operating systems and all IA/RA (Immediate Action/Remedial Action) drills. The AK47 variants are very reliable and shoot pretty much all the time and require very little maintenance or upkeep. They also fire a larger round and this has several obvious pros/cons one major con is over-penetration. An AK47 will punch a 7.62 round through a railroad tie and keep going, so imagine how many interior/exterior walls that will penetrate. 

In summary you, no matter your choice for a HDW  it should be:

• Utterly Reliable
• As powerful as can be managed by everyone who may have to use it
• Relatively inexpensive as opposed to a match weapon or some specialty weapon.
• Easy to Maintain

Always remember that ANY HDW is better than no HDW, you owe it to your family to own and be profficient with one, because whenever seconds count the police are only minutes away.

Weakness

I hate weakness .
Weakness breeds like an infestation of termites in an old house. Look at our politicians and government, what happened to the strong ,take no shit from anyone, government that we used to have 50-60 years ago..

 I will tell you whats happening, the Greatest Generation got back from WW2 and raised their children upon the lessons that they learned the hard way throught the Great Depression and combat in WW2. Their children had no such life altering experiences in their youth and when it came time to raise their children they decided that they didnt want to raise them up right,  like they were raised, because it required too much effort and they wanted things to be "better" for their children then what they had when they were younger, so they gave in to their children's every whim bought them all the toys they wanted, held them to no standard what-so-ever when it came to education, morals, or work ethic. Now everyone sits back and says "why is everything like it is now", why is crime so high, why are our children so fat and stupid, why is our government so weak and slow to act.. BECAUSE THEY ARE OF THIS WEAK GENERATION THAT I MENTIONED. They have had everything handed to them and have had to work for nothing, and when something goes wrong they dont know how to accept responsibility for their actions.  Welfare is a good example.. whatever happened to the "He who does not work does not eat" principle that our very country was founded upon? For a democracy to work everyone has to pull their own weight..  it should not fall on a select few to shoulder the burden of society. I dont know how many times I have seen people who are on welfare driving around in Cadillac Escalades with 26" rims and a $5-6K sound system that cant afford to feed their own families that they so IRRESPONSIBLY brought into this world. It is sad that I am speaking of my own generation in this manner but it is true and it is time for everyone to wake up and see the truth.

IDIOTIC GUNSHOP WORKERS

So my wife went to a certain gunshop in the Va Beach area the other day looking for a new concealed carry holster that was designed with females in mind, the elastic bellyband holster that would allow her to carry on body and still be compatible with most clothing choices. The worker there proceded to follow her around the gunshop like a creep for about 10 minutes before actually offering to help... (granted I am blessed with having a very beautiful wife, but seriously dude??)  then when he finally asked if he could help her find something, she told him she was looking for a bellyband holster for her Smith and Wesson M&P 9mmC. he told her that first he told her that her gun was TOO BIG AND TOO MUCH GUN FOR HER!!! and that she should think about getting a kel-tec .380... hmmmm  I have seen my wife consistantly stack a whole pistol magazine worth of holes on top of each other on a target at 15+ yards after a draw stroke ...then he went on to say that he used the belly band holster for 4 years and it sucked and he wouldnt recommend it for any one.. I have several comments on this last statement... first if it sucked so badly then why did he use it for FOUR WHOLE YEARS.. secondly since it was designed with females in mind ( and they typically have a very different body type then your average male) of course its not going to work very well for a man.. Third, I wonder if he got his holster to color coordinate with his bra and panties...  REMEMBER THE FIRST RULE TO A GUNFIGHT: ALWAYS BRING AS MUCH GUN TO THE GUNFIGHT AS YOU CAN COMPETENTLY HANDLE. I have heard many people that were in a gunfight wish that they had a bigger gun but I have NEVER heard anyone wish that they had a smaller one..
The moral to this story is always research what you are looking for and never go into a gunshop and expect to get sound tactical advice from a salesman.. there is a reason that he is just a gunshop worker... 

Proper Shot Placement Ensures the Lethality Of The 5.56mm

SHOT PLACEMENT

I have received several questions lately about the “killing effectiveness” or “killing power” of standard issue 5.56mm M855 Penetrator ammo. I have several thoughts and facts on this but first lets take a step back and look at the history of the 5.56mm from its inception.

            The M16A1 ,which is the first U.S. service rifle in any serious quantity to fire the 5.56mm round, was adopted back in 1963 and became an across the board standard issue weapon by 1969, which then of course made the 5.56mm the standard issue round at that time.

There were several requirements for this new round which included the ability for the round to penetrate both sides of a standard U.S. issued steel helmet, body armor, or a 0.135 inch (3.4 mm) steel plate and also be able to retain a velocity in excess of the speed of sound at 500 yards (460 m), while equaling or exceeding the "wounding" ability of the .30 cal carbine but with less recoil and a higher magazine capacity. What “Wounding Ability” simply means is the ability of the round to cause a serious wound at any given range. The 5.56mm was not designed ,as many believe, as a killing round per say but as an incapacitation round that was light, fast, and controllable on full auto. When the round was designed the prevalant thought was “ if you shoot someone then it will take several people to carry them away” that is 3-4 MORE enemy thereby occupied with something other than killing you, and the smaller the bullet is that accomplishes this then the lighter it will be and the more we can carry, making each individual U.S. military member theoretically capable of stopping and destroying the combat effectiveness of an ENTIRE INFANTRY BATTALION. Sounds good right?  Unfortunately with most countries that we have recently found ourselves fighting with, the combatants do not typically stop and care for the wounded like the U.S. military does, and the round may cause a wound, but not total incapacitation, which as recent studies of combat have shown, can allow the enemy to keep fighting for some time afterwards possibly even returning the favor to the person who shot them.

The 5.56 mm cartridge can kill very easily and very well, but it requires shot placement and it is said that in some places that  “there is not time to aim when your getting shot at”.. well I personally can discredit that theory, because every time that I had to pull the trigger on my weapon in combat I had time to aim.. or I took time to aim.. What it comes down to is not the power of the round but of shot placement, and the training and intestinal fortitude that it take to properly aim under stress, instead of panicking and spraying rounds everywhere in hopes of getting a hit.  A wise man once said “ a .22 to the heart is a quicker death than a .50 to the hand”. In many cases insurgents were said to have been shot in Iraq “like 10 times man and he didn’t go down” until some one came up with a M240B and put ‘em down. When the body was checked, do you know how many 5.56mm holes were in them? In most cases NONE!! Just because you fire 10 times at someone DOES NOT mean that you hit them that many times even at close ranges.

    At longer ranges the 5.56mm is very lethal due to the fact that it retains its velocity out to 500-600 yds and when it hits, it fragments, DOES NOT TUMBLE, inside the body of the person hit, the round was designed to yaw in soft tissue which means that the round starts to tumble but, due to its speed, it breaks up starting at the cannalure of the round before it ever gets a chance to actually tumble. This is not always what happens though, as perfect no angle shots are rarely taken, and with angle of impact comes deflection of trajectory. Again proper shot placement will win the fight 10 times out of 10.
    The 5.56 mm round is actually known to be more lethal at ranges past 100m  due to the inherent velocity of the round at very close distances and the fact that the round is not completely stabilized in its trajectory until about 100m, which can cause the round to prematurely fragment upon striking an object, be it the intended target or something else. You will not typically get the penetration that you desire in the target at close distances, however the benefit to this is overpenetration and complete misses can usually be mitigated by something as thin as a sheetrock interior wall and almost always by an exterior wall.
     The 5.56mm  is a very accurate round, and I personally have made consecutive hits on a man sized steel target at 720+ meters in the sitting position with an M4A4 w/ RCO. Will the round be highly lethal at that range?? Probably not, but as my Platoon Sergeant said, "No one likes to bleed and the fact that you are making hits at that range is going to highly discourage them from coming closer and will help insure tatical redirection"(i.e. retreat). The 5.56mm  has a very high velocity as well, the trade off to this is the fact that the relatively lightweight projectile rapidly bleeds off energy upon striking an object. Picture attempting to drive a railroad spike with drywall hammer as opposed to a sledgehemmer. You can do it, but it will take more hits to typically drive the spike with the light hammer, unless you are trying to drive the spike through a sheet of plywood or something softer with less density. Which not only exemplifies the fact that shot placement is key with this round, in the fact that you dont want to try to penetrate body armor or dense bone with this round, but that it may take a few rounds to actually put a bad guy down for the count. You want to place your rounds in soft areas like the "T-Box", which is the area of the face formed by the nose and the eyes, or the thoracic cavity which is located in the chest.

    All in all the 5.56mm as performed as required and designed, while many would like to see the military switch to a heavier round, many of those advocating a switch aren't even experts with this round in this weapon, so why would we spend the money to switch to a heavier, more expensive round, that has more recoil, and that may or may not even work better when they cant hit what they are shooting at now with a light round with little recoil.
   

A few quotes from Clint Smith and Col. Jeff Cooper

“The 1911 remains popular because it’s an efficient tool. In more than 30 years of experience, I’ve met more competent, serious gunmen who carry 1911’s than those who pack any other handgun. They are professionals – policemen, government agents and others who carry handguns daily because the know their live may depend on it…Me? I’ve carried a 1911 every single day for the past 20 years. It’s a very comforting gun to have at your hip. It offers a good, consistent single-action trigger pull and is wonderfully dependable. Because the 1911 is basically a defensive handgun, I’m not concerned about tight groups. I don’t bother with expanding hollowpoints that could cause feeding problems. For absolute reliability, I shoot only high-quality ball ammunition. That big .45 slug doesn’t have to expand to be effective.”

"If you’re not shootin’, you should be loadin’. If you’re not loadin’, you should be movin’. If you’re not movin’, someone’s gonna cut your head off and put it on a stick."

"If you carry a gun, people will call you paranoid. That’s ridiculous. If I have a gun, what in the hell do I have to be paranoid about?"

"Every time I teach a class, I discover I don’t know something."

Gunfights:
"It’s real different when the bad guy shoots back. It doesn’t mean you’re going to lose, it just makes the story more interesting afterward."

Carrying a double action 9mm automatic pistol for protection is like playing golf with a tennis racquet. You can do it, but why should you?"