Airgun safety

Most gunnies get that you should keep your firearms away from small children (when you're not out shooting with them) or from kids who are not mature enough to be trusted with them while you're away, but consider that your firearm policy should also include airguns.

I was several years younger than these kids and I had access to both airguns and firearms whenever I wanted, but never went out shooting children with them.  It wasn't even a consideration.  Wow!

Don't tempt the savages

Fells testified that the female victim, whom he did not know personally, got out of her vehicle, “came up to me and spit in my face. She was cursing at me."

Fell’s cousin, Austin Morris, whose charges were dropped in this case, stated that the spit landed in Fells’ eye and “was enough to see it drip and run down his face."

The victim was shot in the back by Fells for her stupidity. Before you say it, I'm not condoning what Fells did in any way shape or form; by his own admission he's untrustworthy and deserves his 12 year sentence. What I am saying is that if you don't want to win stupid prizes, than don't play stupid games. There is no reason in the world to spit in somebody's face, and if you do it and don't get shot by some jackass, then you will more than likely get a brutal beatdown at the very least. Same goes for arguing over parking spaces and throwing insults about people's mommas at strangers; you don't know if John or Jane Q. Public is wrapped real tight, so it's best to not provoke the savages.

Fortunately both morons survived this encounter. Hopefully some of this area's more high-strung residents read the article and take the lesson from this and apply it to their day to day lives. I'm sure it's no different in other parts of the country, but folks around here are fed up, and because of that they tend to disregard the "do unto others as you would have them do unto you" and instead resort to all sorts of tactless behaviour. So stop flipping the bird, insulting, spitting, ramming cars on the interstate with your dumptruck, ***ETA: stabbing drunks and fist fighting, and generally acting like you don't have any sense, take a breath or two and calm down, and your chances of getting maimed or killed by a psycho will fall dramatically.

The worst kind of gun owners

If this story is even true, these two morons are the dumbest gun owners on the face of the planet.

Disregarding the extreme amount of gun ignorance (Mosin Nagant being a "Russian M4" and "machine gun"), there's no sense in leaving firearms hung on a nail in plain sight in a crime ridden part of Philly. Lying to drug dealers and detectives to try to fix a jacked up situation puts this story over the top.

Stressed to kill

Chicago has lost its marbles. The gun ban there doesn't seem to have kept guns out of the hands of scumbags, but maybe it can be said that it's prevented them from good marksmanship.

Locks keep out honest people and teenagers

A building two doors over is under construction and police said the suspect used that. He took the tools that were left behind to break through a wall to get inside the seafood eatery. But then he kept going and broke through another wall, police said, to get into another room where he thought the money was.

I'm surprised it took this long for crooks to figure this out. A brick wall is fairly easy to bust through with a sledgehammer, with reinforced concrete being the only serious barrier for criminals to get through. Residential homes are even easier - in VA in the 90's, many homes being built were only required to have plywood on the corners; the only thing separating a scumbag from your nifty watch collection was plastic siding and foam insulation, all of which can be breached quietly with a utility knife. Knowing this, I used to shake my head at builders who would turn around and install solid oak front doors with six pin locks, to say nothing of sliding glass doors and vinyl windows.

Very few structures in this country will keep out a determined crackhead with primitive tools. If you're shopping for barrier security from Lowes and Home Despot, know that it's only temporary at best.

Reality check

So you and your wife are walking back from charity work at the local homeless shelter one night and a thuggish looking scumbag with "FELON" tattooed on his forehead in Arial Bold font jumps out from an alley way 15 yards away, full stop, holding a knife in one hand and a box of condoms in the other. He yells "This is a stickup and a rape and a murder! Give me your wife, your money, and your car keys or I'll kill you both dead with this here bowie knife!!". . . .allowing you ample time to think and draw your sidearm and get into that Isosceles stance you learned about on the range. Scumbag takes a single step offering you the chance to blow him away with your fang-face patriot-ninja-warrior ammo and save the day.

Sadly, lethal force encounters don't usually look like that as far as I can tell. Here is a real example of a lethal force encounter that fortunately resulted in not only no fatalities, but justice served as the scumbag in question went back to prison for the rest of his life ***Warning: Graphic pictures near the end of the thread*** -- My CCW Shooting AAR.

The victim was maimed forever from the encounter, and the scumbag was dumb enough to leave a prominent blood trail from the crime scene to his bed, complete with bloody weapon containing empty shell casings. All in all, though, it could have been a lot worse. The victim was never charged with any crime, got his weapon and personal belongings back (after two years! Yikes!), and mostly recovered. Some of the things that stand out from this story to me are that this is a specific example of a grip safety causing a defensive weapon not to fire at the precise moment it needs to, and also that appendix carry would have not only allowed a more covert draw by the victim, but also may have prevented the scumbag from discovering the empty holster, thus arousing suspicion. Also, even though it wasn't needed in this fight, a spare loaded magazine is definitely something that you should carry.

I post this story because there are armed folks out there -- good people, mind you -- that it seems can't wait to get into a situation where they take out the bad guy and save the day, going home victorious knowing they did the world a service. There are those also who are cluelessly armed and under prepared. This story is a stark reminder of why I try my best to live a life of avoidance, de-escalation, and deterrence in order to not end up in a situation like this one, but if trouble does find me, that I'm prepared and focused.

How did he do it?!?!?

How in the world was a heavily armored gunman able to gain access to a secure facility that clearly had signs preventing said gunman from the premises?

The apparent ease with which James Ray Palmer entered the building -- straight through the front door -- has raised questions about safety even in small county courthouses and prompted a reexamination of security measures there.

Oh. I'm thinking that the Gun Free Zone signs should now be made large enough to completely block access to the front door of courthouses, and should be made out of 1/2" steel plate so that armed madmen cannot wander in and shoot up people in the hallway unchallenged for eight full minutes. That would work in the interim.

A full time solution to prevent armed attacks like this in the future it would probably be to pass laws making it illegal to shoot up courthouses, or to even carry guns in there, and to have armed cops screen and disarm all those who enter the building. . . . . .hmmmmm. Maybe that's not such a good idea after all.

I did note to that he had a CCW and no prior history of violence. It happens.

Even the ladies are doing it

Video footage of a group of teenage girls savagely attacking a woman in Philly. It seems that city has seen the most use of the teen mob attack.

My takeaways from the half of the video that I was able to watch are: 1) the victim noted that she heard the attackers coming up behind her, and said that she is vigilant about being aware of her surroundings; 2) By the time she turned around, the attack was already initiated; 3) She was on the ground immediately.

To address the first takeaway - being aware of your surroundings is paramount to your safety. The consensus is that picking up on an attack and avoiding it is the best option, and will have a better outcome than a fight and/or shooting your attacker(s). With that said, you cannot count on vigilance to always win the day, so be prepared.

On the second takeaway, even if you spot an attack before it happens, you may not be able to prevent it regardless, so be prepared.

Third takeaway - learn to fight on the ground. Most physical fights end up on the ground anyways, and I am as guilty as any about doing my practice shooting while standing. Most of that has to do with where I shoot; I can shoot safely with a handgun or rifle from a bench, but not up at a target while I'm on the ground. Shooting school is where you would learn the techniques. I would imagine that it's difficult to get a gun into play while a group of people kick you in the head while you're on the ground, but it's a probability that could happen, so be prepared.

Also, just because attackers are female does not mean that they aren't capable of inflicting severe or fatal injuries. A girl can end your life just as easy as boy or man, especially when you're on your ass in a parking lot and there's six of em'.

Be careful answering your door

It's disgusting that there are people in this world who do not posses an operational conscience, but considering the state of the economy and how desperate citizens are right now, it's a good idea to harbor some paranoia and take a looksee outside before throwing the door open to whomever knocks.

Smells like teen angst

There's a whole lot of good quotes in this article, despite the content being as unsettling as it is. An example:

“We can’t expect that imposing a curfew is going to stop some 15-, 16-, 17-year-old from bringing a gun to anywhere,” he said at an afternoon City Hall news conference. “On the other hand, we should be able to expect parents not to have their 13-year-old children on the Plaza getting shot.”

That's the Kansas City mayor talking. I don't know anything about who he is or what he stands for, but I think he's right on the mark as far as where the root of the problem lies: parents, get ahold of your kids.

The shootings occurred shortly before 11 p.m. Saturday near 47th and Wyandotte streets. When shots rang out — witnesses reported hearing five or six — James was about 50 yards away. His two bodyguards pushed him to the ground and drew their guns.

“They basically forced me into the flowerbeds by the Cheesecake Factory,” James said.

He was uninjured. But two boys and a girl — 13, 15 and 16 years old — were wounded. A bullet grazed the girl’s face, and the two boys were shot in their legs, police said. None of the injuries was life-threatening. James said all three youths were in stable condition on Sunday.

The mayor got an up close view of what I am now considering to be modern teen violence. As a parent, I would not allow my teenage kids to be wandering about at night in the middle of a plaza crowded with unruly kids and known for violence.

The first notable occurrence was on April 10, 2010, when as many as 900 youths, some as young as 11, converged on the shopping and entertainment district that Saturday night. Police responded to reports of vandalism and assaults. One group of teens robbed and beat a couple from Grandview. A girl in a prom dress was shoved into a fountain. Fights broke out.

In my experience, large groups of teenagers wandering about on their own program will find trouble to get into. When I was a teen, my friends and I would hang out in the woods by a bonfire or at a lake, and it was not uncommon for a police officer to stop by and make sure we weren't causing trouble. I can't recall a time when they were not fair to us, it being a minor inconvenience, and looking back I would expect the cops to make ensure nothing bad was being done.

Circo, the mayor pro-tem, was at James’ side on Sunday as the mayor acknowledged that while more youth activities would give kids more things to do, it was not the city’s responsibility alone. Churches, schools and businesses, also, need to get involved, he said. But most of all he blamed parents for allowing their children to roam unattended late into the night at the Plaza and other gathering places in the city.

“We have a youth problem on the Plaza, but first and foremost we have a parent problem,” he said.

Yes. I agree one hundred percent. If parents really are dropping their kids off into this situation and aren't heeding the blatant notice that city officials are giving to take control of the situation, than they deserve whatever outcome the city decides. If you do not control yourself, you will be controlled - a maxim of law.

There may be more underlying problems that didn't make it into this article, but to me it sounds like the city government is placing the proper folks on notice to get their act together or the city will do it for them. When little Johnny comes home with tales of being violated by the cops while mobbing at the plaza late at night, you can bet the parents will be outraged. Another consideration is that while teens around the country are robbing and assaulting en-mass, armed folks are taking notice and it's only a matter of time before a large group of kids tries to lay hands on the wrong victim.

Checking out that video, the cops are putting people on notice that if their kids are part of the trouble makers, they could be shot by an average joe. Now I think it's deplorable Captain Rhodes calls being armed against violence being a "vigilante", as that is petty statement. As for his cellphone vs handgun comment, and "which one are you going to chose", how about stuffing a cellphone in your holster, sport, and then go about trying to stop a violent scumbag. Not going to work out so well, is it?

He is letting the populace know though that average people are carrying guns and are scared of these mobs of teens. Teenagers are generally not smart enough to see the danger they are putting themselves in, so it's up to their parents to have a sit down with them and tell it like it is. Your kid may be good and all, but things may change when he or she gets into the company of other teens.

***Update: Another Gun Blog has a link to a video/news article about a home owner in Kansas City who was threatened by an angry group of teenagers, and they fled when he came out of his house with a Mosin Nagant in hand. No actual force necessary.

Only in Fairfax

One man may be responsible for stabbing at least five women in the butt, according to Fairfax County police.

The headline "Serial Butt Stabber Sought in Virginia" kinda drew my attention first thing this morning. This type of criminal behaviour doesn't surprise me at all considering that it's happening in Fairfax, which is like the San Francisco of Virginia.

Then again, in once-quiet Fredericksburg, Virginia, some creepo is flashing the ladies at McDonald's, so anything can happen. Strange times bring out strange behaviour.

Lots of 1st person perspective on Philly mob attack

There's a bunch of details here from a dozen victims of the Philly attack a couple of weeks ago. The girl that was injured the worst had to have surgery to repair her shattered tibia; I still call that serious bodily harm. The victims who were physically attacked all reported being punched in the neck and the back of the head, with some of them getting stomped on the head while they were in the fetal position. Also, several of them noted that there was nothing taken from them; in other words, this wasn't a bunch of kids trying to steal their wallet; their intent was to beat people up.

All of the victims tried to run away, but were quickly caught by the teenaged attackers and punched to the ground. The victims were not exchanging words or taunting the attackers; the first blow came from an attacker who ran up from out of nowhere. Interestingly enough, one of the victims had this to say:

Unless you are literally Charles Bronson, you just don’t win fights where you’re outnumbered 20 to 1, even if you have a gun.

I believe that if you had to shoot one of the attackers, the rest of them would most likely run off. That's my guess, anyways. I wouldn't expect a victim would have to shoot every attacker like they were a horde of zombies, especially considering that they're teenagers most of the time.

Two things though are of immediate concern to me as I consider what would happen if I couldn't avoid a flash mob and was attacked. First is that I'm likely to have my kids with me, and we've already seen that attackers have no problems attacking little kids. With all the accounts from these attacks recently, I have every belief that my kids, my family, and I would be seriously hurt or killed in such an attack. My second concern is ending up on the ground in the fetal position while dozens of kids stomp me, and having my gun taken away and getting shot with it. Staying upright and trying to gain some control is paramount, again, if you cannot avoid an attack in the first place.

I don't live in a major city where I would expect a mob attack, but that's not to say that it couldn't happen.

Bitch set me up!

The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree, apparently. Time will tell if this is a once-off screw up, or if he's going to follow in the footsteps of his daddy and become as vile as a man can be.

Mob of teens brutally beats mom holding 4 year old

The attack happened Thursday afternoon inside Folwell Park on Minneapolis’ north side.

Shawnee Twiet says she was in and out of consciousness when the attack happened.

“As soon as I hit the ground, I just started feeling just everything coming from everywhere,” Twiet said. “I mean blows coming from the back of my head. I felt somebody grabbing the back of my hair.”

She suffered a black eye, bruises all over her body and imprints on her back.

This animal-like behaviour is why politicritters push so hard to control everyone's lives; we may think that the majority of Americans are responsible people who do what's right, but I'm thinking that America's majority are made up of a bunch of violent, self-serving, primitive people who pass on their dishonor to their violent, self-serving, primitive spawn.

When the cops and government have to respond to these shenanigans, then they're going to push for more laws and tools to get the job done. If honorable Americans can keep this behaviour from happening, perhaps by simple parenting, I would think that there would be no reason for local government to invent things to keep the savages at bay. At some point a large group of teens are going to make a big mistake during the victim selection process and wind up being "introduce[d]. . . to the fine craftsmanship of Springfield Armory." As unfortunate as that will be, hopefully it will end this trend for teenagers to clump together and kick good people in the head.

More mob attacks

There was a big street brawl in DC, a mob of 75+ teens in Cleveland, Ohio were running around punching people, and in Philadelphia, PA a group of people numbering approximately 100 were running around town assaulting people, breaking one woman's leg.

At some point or another, a youthful mob attack is going to be stopped by someone with an AR fresh out of a Magpul training course, and this behaviour will hopefully be a thing of the past. Considering these attacks have been all over the news in the past few weeks and are well known to be incredibly violent, folks should know what to expect if they're caught up in one. I'm not interested in being the guy on the news who got head-stomped by a bunch of excited kids, and I don't know anybody else who is. The savages need to stop pounding the war drums.

An instrument of criminal intent

We must ban Twitter. Do it for the children!

Called “flash robs,” these crimes are being organized by young teenagers through various social media outlets, most notably Twitter. Police say the suspects select a time and place and enter the store in droves taking what they want and leaving before security or police can catch them.

Interesting. Looking at some of the examples at the bottom of the article, like the robbery in Las Vegas, makes me reconsider carrying a Glock 17. Twenty plus dudes bursting into a small store and getting violent, taking anything they can get their hands on - I wouldn't want to be standing there when it happens with only six rounds of .380 acp standing between me and the crowd.

What happens if they decide that one of the things they would like to have is your wife? Puts things into perspective now, doesn't it? If they are brazen enough to assemble for a mass shoplifting, maybe if a couple of them decides that that is not enough and there's more fun to be had, the rest will be brazen enough to join in.

A special thanks goes out to the fearless investigator from St. Paul telling people that if they are in such a situation, to make sure to be an especially good witness. Nothing in there about surviving the encounter; just pay close attention to the forty people in the store and hope that one of them doesn't take you out for your troubles.

Those videos really make me miss my Glock 20 that I had to sell years ago. Pity.

Crazy people roundup

A shooting victim at the funeral of a shooting victim, in Chicago. Why, there aught to be a law or something to prevent stuff like this from happening. Maybe make the whole daggone city a place that is free from idiots with guns. What a swell idea.

Also, TSA screeners conducting an intense scrotum search found a bunch of heroin on a traveler. Oh wait, did I say TSA screeners? My mistake; it was Customs Inspectors, and they weren't sexually assaulting him when they found the drugs, they were interviewing him. Weird. Who would have known that old fashioned police work would produce results?

And again, hailing from Stafford, Virginia we have a psychotic woman ramming her car into another car, all the while her 1 year old is safely strapped into the back seat. Now this may come as a huge surprise, but the whole incident was allegedly started over a man. Shocking!

Kansas City shows off its lunatics with some parents who were off doing who knows what while their crazy ferret ate the fingers off their four month old. Leaving your kids in an air conditioned car while you buy a lottery ticket is grounds these days for state charges, so these people had to know that it was a bad idea to leave their infant at home alone. With an animal that is known to bite.

Now, as you go about your day, look to your left and your right at all the friendly people you encounter and know that at least one of them is batshit crazy. Pay attention to your surroundings at all times.

Just some good ol' boys . . . .

. . . .never meanin' no har. . .

Sheriff Maj. David Decatur says Douglas Edward Turner went banging on the "victim's" door just before midnight demanding that he come outside. When the man opened his door, Turner came at him with a chainsaw. Turner cut up a handrail but did not injure the victim, who ran back inside and locked the door.

Stafford county heathens just doing what they do best. The moral of this story is never bring a chainsaw to a baseball bat fight. Tell me you knew I was going to say that. Also, if someone is braying on your door at midnight, and you hear an idling two-stroke engine on the other side, it's a safe bet that you can go ahead and back away from the door and call the cops. Hasn't the homeowner ever seen a slasher movie before?

And another thing, I don't know about you, but I qualify a chainsaw as being a deadly weapon, and not just a tool for wounding maliciously; you can bet that this crazy sumbich would have been shot the moment he breached the walls of my house with that thing. If there was one time an AR15 with all the accoutrements could be readily prepared and wielded against a bona fide madman in the process of sawing his way into your domicile at night, it was in this attack, and the homeowner grabs a stick of wood instead. At least he used it well.

Details on the Chicago robbery spree

I did a quick post a few days ago that mentioned the mob robberies in Chicago. Details emerge now on several of the attacks, and I thought one of them warrented some commentary:

In another incident last Saturday evening, Krzysztof Wilkowski, after shopping on Michigan Avenue, was sitting on his scooter a couple of blocks away checking his phone for a restaurant when he got whacked in the face with a baseball.

The very onset of the robbery was initiated with violence, so there was no decision making needed on what the aggressors intentions were. I think hitting someone in the face with a baseball constitutes "serious bodily harm or death," so there can be a solid presumption that things are only going to escalate from there. Then there's this:

At first, he said, he thought it was a prank, but then he looked up and saw 15 to 20 young men approaching. "My first reaction was, 'I'm about to get robbed, what do I do?' " Mr. Wilkowski recalled in an interview.

That would be a hell of a prank. Whenever I've been hit in the face, there's an instinctual reaction in that I'm immediately pissed, even when the hit is from a can of beans falling from a shelf or whatnot. I think it's a natural human reaction, and my primitive ass can't be any different than the next guy. Now, 15 to 20 guys is a major disparity of force, and they are approaching after they have already initiated violence that can cause serious bodily harm -- I think that if I had been the victim here, I would have been able to immediately identify this as a deadly threat. No question. He doesn't mention whether the attackers had weapons, but in this case I don't think it matters:

The 34-year-old insurance company employee from a Chicago suburb grabbed the keys from his ignition and held tight to his phone. A few of the attackers dragged him off his scooter and pulled him onto Chicago Avenue where they punched him, hit him with his helmet and tried to grab his phone.

A group of people taking you to the ground where one stomp on your head or neck can end your life -- that is without question a deadly threat. Add in there that they beat him with a motorcycle helmet. Soldiers and Marines are trained to use their helmet as a deadly weapon, whether it's on their head and being used to head-butt, or if one is picked up off the battlefield and used as a bludgeoning tool, so this is clearly an attack that the victim is fortunate to have survived.

I can't answer the victim's question of "I'm about to get robbed, what do I do?" in this particular attack. I don't ever want to be in a situation where that is the thought that I am having, and I'm sure he feels the same way. Being in Chicago, the victim was no doubt unarmed, which having a firearm would have given him a more advantageous course of action than holding tight to the very object the violent group of men were trying to take when they beat the snot out of him. It also doesn't mean that the victim would have chosen carrying a firearm as an option even if it were legal, but at least it would have been his choice. Lawful armed defense is an option in Virginia, and still there have been attacks on unarmed victims. I'm sure at the time they would have found a handgun to be handy item.

You would be hard pressed to catch me in a Gun Free Zone, as I make it a habit to avoid such places as best as I can. Attacks like this are still relatively rare, but as you can see they still happen. I think avoidance and deterrence are the standard which we should all live by, but if pressed with an attack that can be easily counted as serious harm or death, I won't be the one trying to hold off the crowd with car keys instead of a full-up Glock if I can help it.

Magazine capacity is not just for zombies

Police say the victim parked his scooter on the north side of Chicago Avenue across from Wieboldt Hall when between 15 and 20 men and boys approached him around 8:30 p.m.

One of them threw a baseball at the victim's face and knocked him to the ground, an alert from the university said. Several others from the group punched and hit him several times. The victim tried to protect himself and fought back.

Tried being the key word here, there are effective tools on today's market that would have made the victim's resistance much more suitable to a mob attack. Too bad that such tools are not an option for Chicagoans who wish to avoid the legal system.

Empty handed defense against superior numbers only works in the movies, not really real life, which is why the arguement to "be a man and fight with your hands" instead of carrying a modern defensive tool is a baseless possition to hold.