Tag Archives: Armed Citizen

It is a sure sign the government is messed up when the NRA backs the ACLU!

Posted on by
Reply

NRA backs ACLU spying lawsuit over gun registry fears | Fox News.
We hear nearly all challenges against the President and his administration being dismissed as little more than fear mongering by bigotted old white men. Well, the ACLU is about as multi-racial, multi-cultural, and multi-ethnic as it gets and most people consider it a largely liberal organization.  Imagine how strange it is then, that the NRA, an organization that is decidedly on the other end of the political spectrum finds itself in agreement with the ACLU and even signing on in support of an ACLU suit against the President they supported for election?

Gary

Obama promises mayors unilateral action on guns…Part Deux

Posted on by
Reply

The Washington Times is reporting that Obama has promised more unilateral action on guns. I can only guess this is a distraction meant for those with short attention spans and fleeting memories. That or some poll told them to stir the pot so it didn’t look like they’ve given up on gun control ahead of November elections.

Obama’s previously announced executive orders were really a non-issue. The either reiterated policies that already existed or were pathetic attempts to placate those demanding action without any clue what “action” meant.  Still, the war isn’t over and the smart kids recognize that we’ve got another major fight coming.  It may start with the gun trust issue mentioned a few days back but, that remains to be seen.

BOHICA!

Police: Baytown teenager shoots two suspects involved in home invasion, killing at least one of them | abc13.com

Posted on by
1

Police: Baytown teenager shoots two suspects involved in home invasion, killing at least one of them | abc13.com.

Seems like a preferred alternative to having your kid hide in a closet, hoping the burglars don’t find him while he waits for the police to arrive.  Granted the “kid” in this case is 18-years-old but, as a parent, you should be able to make the call on whether or not your child is mature enough to be left at home with access to firearms. That’s a statement that may not sit well with everyone but, it my opinion.

-Gary

Always be ready and whenever possible, be armed…

Posted on by
Reply

 

video platformvideo managementvideo solutionsvideo player

I drove past the scene of this incident on my way home from an indoor IDPA match and dinner with a half-dozen shooters last night. Somehow, it just didn’t look like a traffic accident as indicated on the TX-DOT electronic billboards as I pass through the area. The large percentage of police vehicles relative to other emergency vehicles and no wreckers in sight might have been a giveaway…May be.

In all seriousness, this is not the first time this has happened and it won’t be the last. The next incident may not be a mass shooting per se. It might “just” be a robbery. And while there is no guarantee that being armed would have changed the outcome for all, it might have changed the outcome for those who got shot and those who died if they and they been armed and trained. To me at least; having a plan and having the option to meet and exceed by 1, the level of force of your assailant, would be better than being shot in the back as you ran down the street.

I am sure that as soon as the bad guys were gone, someone was able to call 911. In the meantime, they robbed the store and they robbed the patrons inside. The police, for all their hard work and dedication to the profession, could not and did not protect anyone in this store. It simply is not possible for them to do so. The point lurking here is the same one preached by every gun advocate…You are on your own. When the fecal matter hits the spinning impeller; that problem, whatever it may be, is yours to solve until help arrives and there is no guarantee that help is coming anytime soon. Call 911 on a truly busy night in any major city and you’ll see what I mean. Sometimes, as the old Public Enemy song says, “911 is a joke.”

-Gary

Picking your next CHL instructor

Posted on by
1

On our last show, we had a caller with an excellent question that we totally fumbled. Why that was can’t really be explained other than to say no one’s brain was engaged at that moment in the studio. At issue was, how do you know whether or not you’re going to a good (properly accredited and competent) concealed handgun license(CHL) instructor?

Well, let’s start with the basics. All CHL instructors in Texas are certified by the Department of Public Safety in the materials required for CHL class. And until very recently, that certification alone was all that DPS required to teach a CHL class. However, this was based on an incomplete interpretation/enforcement of the law.  Going forward, that has been corrected. At issue was the fact that law specifically states that to be a qualified handgun instructor, one must;

  1. …be certified by the Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education or under Chapter 1702, Occupations Code, to instruct others in the use of handguns
  2. … be a person who regularly instructs others in the use of handguns and has graduated from a handgun instructor school that uses a nationally accepted course designed to train persons as handgun instructors
  3. …or be certified by the National Rifle Association of America as a handgun instructor.

This has in fact, always been the law but, it hasn’t been enforced. DPS is correcting that going forward and requiring that all instructors and instructor applicants have or otherwise obtain at least one of the above certifications.  The good news is that most CHL instructors have long carried these certifications but, some may have allowed them to lapse and will have to renew to maintain their current accreditation as a CHL instructor.

In my case, I have been previously certified an NRA Basic Pistol/Rifle Instructor, formerly a Hoffner Certified Tactical Handgun Instructor, and an assistant instructor for Defense Training International with John Farnam among other things. As I’ve been focusing on USPSA/IDPA competition and my own personal training rather than teaching in recent years, I’ll admit that I let some of these lapse since I wasn’t spending every weekend in a classroom.  But, I will be renewing my NRA Pistol Instructor and CHL instructor certifications at a minimum this year as demand for my time as an instructor has increased.

So what makes someone a “good” CHL instructor besides these basic requirements?  Does one have to be a cop, soldier, or snake-eating, certified bad-ass? In a word, no.  A long time ago, a shooting instructor told me there are three kinds of people involved in any profession or activity.  First, there are “performers.”  Those who display a very high degree of proficiency but, they aren’t necessarily good at sharing their knowledge with others…Many performance artists fall into this category.  Then you have “teachers.”  Those who may not be able to perform an activity with the utmost grace/proficiency but, they are competent with a knack for breaking a concept into its base elements and offering that information to others in a comprehensive manner to help them perform at a high level…(think Bela Karolyi, the famous olympic gymnastics coach). And finally, there are people who can perform and teach at a high level…These people might be the golf pros at your local golf course, for example. Ideally, you’d want your instructor to be the latter but, at a minimum, you want him to be a good teacher.

Beyond the basic certifications I mentioned earlier, this last concept is difficult to discern without actually interviewing your potential instructor and/or asking for references. Good instructors are more than happy to provide references if asked.  Some instructors are staff/resident instructors for your local range. More often than not, this means the person has already been vetted by the range owner.  No range owner wants an instructor who is causing customers to leave in tears, scared, or feeling they didn’t get their money’s worth out of a class.

On a final note, there are some red flags that may not by themselves be automatic disqualifiers but, they may indicate you could do better. Beware of the instructor who is “giving away” a CHL class far below market price.  Right now, that’s $75-$150 per person for a first time CHL and $45-$85 for renewal.  An instructor who is THE in house instructor for an range might be able to offer a cheaper class.  The $59 class at famously advertised at a local range is an example of a staff instructor being cheaper than the market rate but, this is the exception rather than the rule. Also beware of the instructor who, other than CHL, has no other association with shooting or the firearms industry.  This would be the hairdresser/minister/shoe-shine guy who moonlights as a CHL instructor and has no other previous background related to shooting. At the other end of the spectrum is the phony tough guy who claims to be something he’s clearly not (i.e. a colonel in the US Navy, part-time US Marshall, Mossad, SOF-Delta, super-secret ninja squirrel, etc). And in the end, if it feels wrong, it probably is wrong…Your instructor should inspire confidence and understanding, not fear and ignorance.

-Gary