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For the past couple years, I’ve taught a self defense class at a summer camp at a local university.  It’s one of those academic camps that could be considered “summer school for smart kids.”

As I was getting ready for class last week, one of the other instructors (I believe he was teaching iPhone photography) was sitting in a chair outside his classroom waiting for the door to be unlocked.  He casually asked me “so, does that stuff work as well as a gun at a distance?”  (as he makes “chop socky” moves with his hands)  I returned admitting that I have yet to figure out how to throw a rock at 1200fps.  We ended up talking about the prices of ammo, and lamenting that the days of truly cheap .22 are behind us.  I was kind of hoping that that would be the end of it.

Sadly, this week, he continued to make comments about it.  At one point, he basically straight up stated that he didn’t need to know anything, because he had a gun.  I asked him how confident he was in deploying the gun if the bad guy was already a foot or two away, or if the bad guy had already grabbed him.  He didn’t really have a good answer for that.  I also pointed out that we were currently on a college campus in TN, where carrying a gun is a felony.  Again, no good answer.

I’ve run into this attitude before, and it always annoys the heck out of me.  Just as there are anti-gunners that treat guns as a magical talisman of death, there are gun owners out there that treat their carry piece as a magical talisman of protection.  Sorry, but it’s just a tool.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s a rather good tool, but it should be one among many in your tool bag.

If you carry a gun for protection, I would recommend adding some form of open hand defense to your training.  There are martial arts that don’t require you to be in excellent shape.  In fact, the ones that are probably the most immediately practical for self defense typically don’t involve a lot of running/jumping/etc.  And if you don’t, that’s your option, but don’t scoff at those of us that do.  Honestly, it’s up there with those that scoff at you for being paranoid and wanting to carry a gun.

That reminds me… it’s been too long since I’ve been to a gun class.

A few days back, I met up with some friends at the range.  Fun was had by all.  His girlfriend was taking the second half of her carry class (the range session), and we decided to hang around until she finished and get some dinner.

We decided to hit an Italian place in the Vandy area.  Naienko (my wife) decided to join us, but was at home and had to catch up with us.  Of course, she was at home, and it would take her a little longer to get there.  We went ahead and grabbed a table, and let the guy at the host station know that we were waiting on a 4th person.

When Naienko showed up, she asked the host if he knew where we were.  She started to try to describe us, and the host asked her “did one of them have a gun?” (one of us was open carrying)  She started to say “oh, they probably all do,” but managed a “yes” instead.

For those that don’t know the area, the neighborhood around Vanderbilt University is one of, if not the, most liberal areas of a pretty liberal town.

There were no shrieks of terror.

At least one of us was positively identified as carrying.

We ate our dinner in peace.

During a serious discussion with my wife about guns (she’s not anti, but she’s not one of us), she made the comment that she thought it was funny that the Black Lives Matter folks tend to also be the ones currently screaming for us to ban guns.  After all, they don’t trust the police, because they’re racist, but the only folks that should have guns are the cops.

I swear I did not prompt her on this point in any way.

*I show off one of my latest knife purchase*
“Damn, Oddball. How many knives do you need?”
“How many magazine do you need?”
“… good answer.”

After my post about the instructor I will not trust proved to be popular, I figured I’d document a student that we should all attempt to imitate.

If you don’t know, I’ve been studying Tae Kwon Do (among other arts) for a number of years, and I’m now one of the instructors at my studio.  A couple weeks back, we had a high school student decide to join our school.

After his first class, he was kicking and punching a heavy bag, and while his form was… lacking… he definitely looked had he had done this before.  I asked him if he had a pre-existing background, and he told me that he had “self-studied” for about 3 years.  This is where things usually take a turn for the worse.  I’ve run into a *lot* of teenage/early 20’s guys that have “picked things up on their own” (or worse, went to an MMA gym where the instructors don’t know what they’re doing), and are convinced that they know everything.

This kid was the complete opposite.  I gave him some pointers on actually twisting his hips and “punching with his feet” for his jab-reverse-hook combos, and he instantly recognized that his strikes were significantly more powerful.  Equally, he was eager to take my advise on improving his kicks, and found similar results.

Sadly for me, he decided to take the Hapkido class instead of TKD.  I’ve talked to our Hapkido instructor a few times about him, and he’s reported that the kid has been a great student in his class.

We need to remember to be like this new student whenever we’re training.  Even if you normally do things a different way, try the instructor’s way, you might find out that they know what they’re talking about.  If nothing else, when you’re training at home/on the range by yourself, you don’t really get the same kind of feedback that someone watching you can give you.  Chances are, you’re doing things that you shouldn’t without realizing it.

A little while ago, I found out that a friend of a friend was a pistol instructor*, and he offered to give me the handbook he uses in class to see if I’d like to train with him some time.  I read through it, and, well, I wasn’t impressed.  Nothing in it professed anything I considered dangerous, but there were several things that either made me scratch my head (ex: only use ball ammo), or was severely out of date (ex: .45ACP has far superior “stopping power” than 9mm or .40S&W).

I politely passed, but did sign up for his newsletter, and there was more of the same.  Some of the info was good, some of it was out dated, and some of it made me scratch my head.

Of course, then he posted some stuff that made me actually email him and tell him “no, this is wrong because x, y, and z.” (in this case it was the old “violent video games and movies cause violence” BS)

His response?  “I don’t necessarily agree with what is in my handbook or newsletters.”

…

The handbook and newsletters that *he* wrote, and he’s the only one that controls.  And no, there weren’t any comment along the lines of “I’m not sure I agree, but so-and-so says…”

I responded telling him that I have issue with him presenting things as fact and telling people to act on this information.  Especially if he “doesn’t necessarily agree” with that information.

He then responded with a rather lengthy email stating that he believes that his students are smart enough to figure out what’s truth and what’s not, blah blah blah.

Here’s the thing.  If you’re going to act in a position of authority (such as firearms instructor), you should do your best to spread good info.  Are you going to always be right?  No.  We’re human, and sometimes *we’re* given bad information, but do your best.

This also means defending your statements/actions.  Of course, I would prefered for him to say “oh, I hadn’t thought of that/done the research.  You’re right, I’m wrong,” but I would have accepted “nope, I believe I’m right on this one, because…”  I would still think he was wrong, but at least he would be defending his position.  The “I don’t necessarily believe what I write” pretty much tells me that your training, everything you write, and everything you say is useless.

If you don’t consider yourself to be a trustworthy source of information, why should I?

*He’s a small time local guy.  No reason to publish his name here.  If you’re local to me, and are concerned that you may be looking at taking his class, contact me privately and I’ll tell you.

Just need to say that if you’re in the need for a well built and good looking custom holster, or need a gun shop in the Oak Ridge, TN area, I’d recommend Dennis at Dragon Leatherworks.  Not only does he have good prices (his baseline custom holsters are about what you’d pay for baseline mass produced stuff), but he just worked with me on a problem with a purchase that was completely my fault.

(by the way, this means that there should be more actual content in the near future)

I’m sure most of you know about the guy that got shot for waving a gun (which turned out to be a BB gun) around at the US Capitol last week.  Turns out that the man was a “minister” from my neck of the woods, and our local paper ran a front page article on him this past Saturday.

The article details a life that would be unbelievable if it was fiction.

So, if anyone tries to prop him up as a “Responsible gun owner,” you can tell them that he had a BB gun, not a real firearm, and had a long history of mental instability, up to and including being declared innocent of “inappropriate correspondence with a minor” due to insanity and was institutionalized for a short time.

Problem:

The 12lb AR (which is down to a more reasonable 9lbs lately) is losing its spot as the home defense rifle. It’s being replaced by the 300blk sbr I built last year.

The sbr has a Hogue free float tube that had been given to me several years ago but had been sitting in my parts bin ever since.

I am a firm believer in “every home defense gunshould have a light” but the old Hogue tubes don’t have any attachment points.

Solution:

I have digital calipers, design software, and a 3d printer.

An hour later…

Cost me about a dollar in material and electricity, and took about ten minutes to design. No, it’s not a permanent solution. No, it probably wouldn’t do very well in a sustained firefight.

But man, that’s cool.