Well I am back

More or less after getting a hectic Christmas behind us,  finally had time to get out and about.  Went to McAllen for a follow up plus vaccines for  my youngest son and visited a large nationally known sporting goods chain that opened up last year.   I was really surprised to see them having a good selection of Taser Internationals C2 civilian model.

For folks that are not familiar  with Taser’s , they represent a high tech non lethal force option.  All Tasers can act as stun guns, but also allow the user a stand off capability by discharging two barbs connected to two wires that in turn transmit the current onto the assailant.  As non lethal force option go, it is not cheap having a retail price well above $300, plus requiring a background check by Taser before the product is ready to use.

Pros:  Another tool that gives people more options for self defense.  A known product to criminals, not all want a repeat performance (some may be able to fight off the effects and they know it).  Makes it easier for people that live in criminal empowerment zones to defend themselves (until the same corrupt politicians ban them).   Not dependent on user skill even a low level of training can result in effective use.  Depending on local laws may be easier than carrying pepper spray or a handgun.  (is it brandishing if some one sees your taser? )  May be legal to carry in locations that prohibit firearms or knifes.

Cons:  High initial investment.  DOES NOT WORK AGAINST LETHAL THREATS!!!! If you are assaulted by a goblin with a gun, that taser is just not cutting it.  The less than lethal threat CAN be handled by less than lethal options, but deadly force should be met by deadly force (or a very clean pair of heels, running is not a bad option if you can manage to not get shoot or stabbed in the back).  Too much hype on part of the manufacturer leading to overconfidence by the users of the device.  It is a very high tech stun gun, not the hammer of  Thor.  You might be the one that uses it on that 5% of the criminal public that can fight the ride, then what?

Getting on with classes, the Dec 26 class was canceled, but I will be teaching this coming Sunday.  If you need to be there let me know.

All person interested in self defense and crime prevention should be following the  kidnapping saga still ongoing as I write of Ms. Marroquin. Please pray for her safe return and that no more innocent people are victimized by this one man crime spree.

Before I go muchas thanks to Mr. F at Sports Authority on Ware Road who gave me the idea for the Taser write up. Thanks and hope your new house works out great!!!

Still here

Both kids got sick, no time for posting. See you in a bit.

Can you feel it?

Touch is a very human ability.  Our hands are shaped in such a way that using tools such as the keyboard that I type this on is very easy. The efficiency of five fingers for doing so many different things is astounding.  Our mathematics are base 10, which some folks ascribe to human having 10 digits to count on.   Touch makes our daily life a multi faceted smorgasbord of sensations, from a babies smooth cheek to the ranchers hands of iron from years of hard work.

In the world of the CHL touch plays a part of many of the things that we should be doing.  The idea of being able to silently and discretely recognize our gear by touch and get ready for that problem in the night with no light whatsoever is very worth of consideration.

Many criminal confrontations happen at night, with no warning.  You might be at home or outside far away when trouble calls.  At the very least we all should have the ability to silently find our weapon and light, load or reload if necessary and fight back with little or no lighting.  What I am required to teach is the bare minimum of what is really needed, the rest of that training has to be acquired elsewhere.   A CHL is not sufficient in my mind without more training and more equipment to back it up.  Two very necessary pieces of gear are a good tactical type flashlight and a spare reload for your handgun.  Pepper spray is also good to have, in fact during the day not carrying a flashlight to allow the carry of pepper might be a good trade-off depending on your lifestyle.

Yet all this gear by itself is useless unless we can properly employ it under stress.  Here is where our hands with their tactile ability come into play, and where we can gain an edge over our attackers.  Let me give you some ideas as to how to train your tactile senses to make the most of them when needed.   Understand that all training is to be done with dummy non-firing ammunition, also understand that under stress fine motor skills degrade to the point of failure.  Everything you do should be geared toward gross motor skills.

Learn to reload your handgun in the dark.  You do have spare magazines handy right?  Use the fact that your hands will find each other, and learn what is necessary to properly orient and load your weapon.  Almost all magazine carriers have the bullets point back when carried on your left side  When you grab the magazine with your left hand, the back of it will be facing you as you bring it up to meet your other hand.  Use this to your advantage, and train until you can load on demand.

Learn to dress in the dark.  If forced into a confrontation with an intruder, having your gear set on your pants with shoes ready to go will make it easier to repel the attack.  Running around a house that may have broken glass on the floor barefoot is a surefire recipe for disaster.

Teach your family what to do- quietly.  Have a plan and a designated room to meet in case of trouble in the house, have another plan in case of trouble at the mall etc.  Be proactive in your planning and always assume that trouble will occur at night or in limited visibility.  Not all problems are criminal in nature.  Do your loved ones know what to do in case of a fire alarm at work or at the store?  Can they use a fire extinguisher?  If facing criminal attack what options do they have?  Can they use your weapons to defend themselves?

Learn to fire and hit with your weapon at night.  The very good site pistol-training.com has this tutorial.   It is an excellent write up on how to set up your training and gear for shooting at night with a handgun.

Sometimes we have no choice but to defend ourselves under very difficult circumstances.  During those times that some of our senses our next to useless proper training will enable the other natural tools of our bodies to come forth.  Can you feel it?

Another class, another target holder shot.

Up date later, title says it all.  (customer left a bit of himself behind too!!!)

Update:  We had a good class, one of my students had a bit of blood drawn  by the slide on the kahr K9 that he was using (my loaner gun).  One band aid and we are good to go.  Another target holder shot, this time on the right side, that is why I made them out of PVC.   I am very impressed with the high quality of students that attend.  Lots of good questions, and lots of knowledge that gets spread around.   All in all, a good class.  My next class is Dec. 26 if you need to be there let me know.

Support your local gun dealers

I finally had a chance to pay a visit to Gladiator Guns and Ammo located east of Roma on highway 83 (about 9 miles).  I needed to run an errand toward that side of the county and stopped by.  I was impressed by the well stocked gun selection and the considerable amount of  “extras” that not every one stocks.  Pepper spray, gun lights, night vision, holsters, wow!!

I bought a ncstar tactical light for my g22, I will give it a test run on Saturday.  Results will be posted here, but the light itself works fine, it uses a cree led which throws a a very white beam.  The light is powered by the now common cr123 battery and fit the rail on the glock perfectly.  Gladiator Guns can be reached at 956-848-5007.

I have had a long and very good relationship with TrueValue hardware’s gun store and many of the people that are there are good friends of mine.  They are now the longest lived gun store in the county, and still have a formidable (and growing) selection of ammunition and sporting guns.  They now have some archery supplies and I swear that I saw a blackpowder gun in the rack a couple of days ago.  TrueValue can be reached at 956-849-1322.

The point of this post is to point out the relative scarcity of retail gun dealers in our area.  By my count there are only two brick and mortar dealers in the whole of Starr county, the other gun dealers that used to work out of Rio Grande City seem to have gone strictly Internet. (and their site is currently down)  The only way that us gunnies will continue to have local opportunities is for us to actually spend our money here.  If you need to buy a new gun for yourself or as a gift, give your local dealers a chance.  I think that you will be pleasantly surprised.