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Last Sunday I participated in my first IDPA match. It’s something I’ve been wanting to do for a while, and I finally decided it was time when I out shot everyone else in the NRA instructor course. Like I said then, “[t]hat’s probably because all I practice is slow, aimed hits at a known distance against a stationary target with no stressors present.”

I headed down to the match with oddball and New Shooter Drew (who, by the way, has logged over 6,000 rounds since he shot a pistol for the first time 8 months ago–what’s your excuse?) as my entourage. I had four goals. In order of importance, they were:

1. Don’t shoot myself.
2. Don’t shoot anyone else.
3. Don’t get disqualified.
4. Don’t come in last place.

I’m happy to report I met all four goals. Sort of.

See, there was a match and a classifier. I came in second to last (of 25) in the match, but I was the worst performer in the classifier. I actually told the Safety Officer, “I swear I’ve shot a gun before today.”

I want to blame the poor performance on the fact that I was running a Glock 23 instead of a larger 9mm like a Glock 17 or an M&P9 Pro. Several times during the day I entertained the thought of buying a new pistol, but I think the real answer is just to get better with the one I have been carrying for years.

Although I do hear that the kool-aid is delicious.

How many times have self-defense advocates joked about the “he was good boy that wasn’t doing anything!” stories the families of recently-deceased criminals always seem to tell? Or that they were “trying to turn their life around” when they were shot while trying to rob/rape/assault someone? Hell, we call them choirboys on a regular basis.

The only* difference between those stories and George Zimmerman’s story is that the family of Trayvon Martin got traction in the media. And they did that by being dishonest about Trayvon (using old pictures, etc) and flat out making things up about Zimmerman. The local and national media were all to eager to help.

What’s to stop that sort of thing from happening again? Do you think it is less likely to happen in the future, based on the media reaction? Media loves a narrative. They also hate gun owners generally, and permit holders specifically. Expect to see a lot of “Echoes of Trayvon Martin seen in [local self-defense shooting]” stories over the next year or two.

When it’s all said and done, Zimmerman will be this decade’s Richard Jewell (you mean the guy who bombed the Olympics?) or Bernie Goetz (that’s the guy who opened fire on a bunch of guys on a subway because they were black, right?). I just hope he gets to live to sue Al Sharpton.

*Now, you can argue that Martin would still be alive if Zimmerman hadn’t gotten out of his car, and that’s probably true. But Martin would still be alive if he hadn’t attacked Zimmerman. Any of the stories in The Dead Goblin Count could be framed in such a way.

Went to a gun show this weekend and an IBM make M1 carbine tried real hard to follow me home (stupid broken A/C on my car stopped it).  Instead, a full-sized Bersa Thunder 9 Pro decided to jump at me and not leave me alone until I did the paperwork.

As the name implies, it’s a 9mm.  It came with 2 17 round magazines, a trigger lock that is still in its shrink wrap, and… that’s about it.  This thing is at the price point where they stuff ’em into cardboard boxes instead of nice hard cases.  If you’re interested in the spec rundown, all that can be found on Bersa’s website here.

One thing that I noticed immediately was that the grips feel great.  I think it’s because they went with actually contouring the grips some instead of the current trend of “oh, you think it’s hard to hold on to? MOAR STIPPLING!”  Oh, it definitely has that.  Thanks to using wrap around polymer grips over the aluminum frame, there’s stippling on the back of the grip and they did the standard groves on the front.

Then there’s the trigger.  This was something that I couldn’t really try at the show because the shows around here have apparently started requiring dealers to run zip ties through their guns in a manner that stops the slide/bolt/whatever from closing.  The double action trigger on this is insanely heavy.  I don’t have a way to actually measure it, and my google-fu is failing me (although, I did find that the previous model to this had a 10lbs trigger pull).  I will confidently say that I would be completely confident in carrying this pistol with a round in the chamber, hammer down, safety off.  That thing ain’t getting yanked by accident.

The single action is much, much better.  It’s still a little heavy, but not nearly the “OMG, I’m getting a workout!” heavy.  It’s got very little slack in this mode and the distance between fired and trigger reset in miniscule. I’m going to guess that firing this pistol quickly and accurately after the first (double action) shot is going to be fairly easy.

Doing some dry fire practice, I tried balancing an empty 9mm case on the front sight.  I was able to keep it on there more times that not in double action mode, but the casing danced every time the trigger broke.  The casing didn’t budge when I tried single action.

The other controls are fairly straight forward.  The magazine release is where you would expect it.  The slide release and safety are both ambidextrous.  The frame mounted safety is also a decocker, which is a little different than what I’m used to (the only other frame mounted safety I own is a 1911).

Considering I  paid under $400 before taxes and background check, this looks like a pretty good purchase.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to get to the range soon, try it out, and report back as to how well it goes bang.

Mississippi State Student shot and killed in his a dorm.

MSU is my Alma Mater. It is both illegal and against policy to have firearms on campus (though when I was there, the campus police would happily store your guns for you. Lots of students would go hunting before 8AM classes.)

Just as I remembered, the article states that to get to where Sanderson was shot, you had to pass through three access-controlled doors and walk past security.

The three shooters got in and out with no problems and are still on the loose.

It’s almost as if campus security is just window dressing.

I don’t fault the campus police, here, nor the Starkville cops. The Highway Patrol has a station less than a mile from here, too. You literally couldn’t have a larger police presence given the resources at hand. Response time was less than one minute.

But none of that mattered.

In the end, you are responsible for your own safety, unless someone legislates that ability away from you.

UPDATE: Two suspects have been arrested by US Marshalls. Drug related, and the victim in this case did 7 months in prison in 2010 for a couple of felonies. Shoulda followed Tam’s advice.