▶ How to Win a Gunfight – Shoot a Gun – Shooting For Survival FBI Training Video – YouTube.
Guns.com posted a link to a pretty cool YouTube video today. It’s a late 60s early 70s training video from the FBI. There are those who would dismiss advice from the old days but, there’s actually some amazingly relevant info. Take a look…See if you learn anything.
-Gary
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
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;
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
“On Tuesday, July 30, 2013, police were called to the Trillium Theater in Grand Blanc Township (Michigan) on a report of a man wearing a bulletproof vest (BPV) and in possession of a gun was in the theatre. Cassidy Delavergne was found wearing a BPV and in possession of a gun as he sat among theatre goers. Delavergne was held for a mental examination after his arrest.
The police located Delavergne as he was watching a movie. Delavergne did not outwardly threaten any of the movie goers. The oddity of an armed individual wearing a BPV among a crowd of people required a quick and prudent police response to circumvent a potential. As the police approached Delavergne, he identified himself to be a federal agent and produced a fake CIA ID badge.
Delavergne was taken into custody without incident. He was in possession of a 9 mm semi-automatic firearm and 34 rounds of ammunition. This led to a search of Delavergne’s car, where an additional 111 rounds of ammunition was confiscated.
Of greatest concern is that Delavergne is licensed as a Michigan concealed carrier. His arrest is based solely on a federal offense of possessing fraudulent government identification. Charges were not filed against Delavergne for wearing a BPV when he was considered armed and dangerous. Once processed, Delavergne was released on a bond.”
Now, this can be viewed as either A) a tragedy prevented, or Nazi Thug Cops harassing a man who has committed no crime and is exercising his rights.
Well, what do you you folks think? Should cops have responded? Should they have left him alone until he acted out? No crime had been committed when they responded. So, should they have even responded at all? (Remember, the ONLY crime committed was providing false ID, which only occurred after the police response.)
This is the problem I have expressed on the air about folks who simply want to “prove their point” about gun rights. Every fool that walks around with his gun displayed for the SOLE PURPOSE of filming the inevitable police response is clouding the future police response to someone who may very well be an active shooter about to begin. I can only assume that the suspect in this story exposed his pistol for all to see, otherwise, how would they have know to call the police? Unless Michigan is open carry friendly, which I do not know off the top of my head…
In Texas, is it legal to own/wear body armor? In most instances, yes. Is it legal to carry your pistol? With a valid CHL, yes. Is it legal to carry your rifle around? In most cases, yes.
But know that the police will probably be called if someone sees a gun, and the police will respond, and the police will probably treat you as a potential threat because they can not read your mind. They only know there is a “man with a gun” call being dropped. If they say, “well, carrying a gun around IS perfectly legal” and slowly respond, and it turns out to be an active shooter, lives are lost. If they respond fast and treat you as a potential threat, the worst that usually happens is bruised egos and the gun owner sues the cops… You could either end up with another Aurora Theater tragedy or another Mark Worley / CJ Grisham type incident. I wish cops were perfect. I wish cops could predict who is harmless and who is harmful. But we can’t. Should cops be polite and professional when confronting armed folks? Depends on the situation.
I know everyone has rights. I am pro second amendment, pro CHL, pro standard capacity magazines, pro AR rifles, pro ordering ammo online, pro gun in general and pro self defense. I just ask folks to look at the “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation you place the police into by walking around in some type of open carry. You have the right to do so, just be aware of what actions may result.
You tell us… Did the Michigan police handle this properly? Was a tragedy averted? Or, were this man’s rights violated?
-Jason
Chicago prepares for new concealed carry gun law – Yahoo! News.
Predictably, the anti-gunners are screaming there will be blood in the streets as Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn decides whether or not to sign the bill that ends the last concealed carry ban in the country. News flash folks, you already have blood in the streets! Chicago is among the most violent cities in the country and has been since the Prohibition Era. Like Washington D.C. before them, Chicago and most of its surrounding communities enacted bans on handguns and most modern long arms beginning in 1982. It is well known that you must have a valid Firearm Owner IDentification (FOID) card just to buy ammunition in the state of Illinois. One must pass a background check to get said FOID card. So even with all of these measures in place, it would seem that denying law abiding citizens the right to own guns has done little to help.
-Gary
