So… apparently there was a shooting yesterday at an intersection I’m at almost daily at the beginning of rush hour.  For reasons still unknown, a misunderstood gentleman with multiple active warrants decided to fire from his car at the car next to him, striking the driver who’s now in critical condition.

This intersection is a few blocks from me.  My bank is at that intersection.  My wife was late to our TaeKwonDo class because she left about 30 minutes after the incident, and got stuck in the traffic back up caused by the investigation.

The area of town I live in is generally considered a nice working class area.  Not the richest neighborhood by a good bit, but an area where folks don’t think twice about letting there kids walk down the street, etc.

Oddly enough, I was just telling someone that there’s no where where crime doesn’t happen, just where the percentages are different.  Just a friendly reminder to keep your eyes open out there.

Doesn’t really matter who wins, does it?

Oh, and don’t be surprised if Putin invades some other country before spring.

In no particular order…

• First off, thanks to Anne from Widener’s for sending me a marketing email that wasn’t just some intern or virtual assistant compiling a list of bloggers’ email addresses and then blasting something out. She actually read the blog and started off her email with a funny comment about semiblogtirement. I LOL’d.

  Widener’s has come out with a Smokeless Powder Guide. I am not a reloader because 1) I don’t have time to reload, 2) I don’t have anywhere to do it, and 3) if I had the time, it would probably be better spent shooting.

  I did take a look at it and I LOVE the pictures. I learned a lot, too.

• The Grendel shoots like a boss. I’m talking like 3/4 MOA.
• I finally bought an AR10. Sort of. LGS had an Aero Precision M5 lower for $199 so I bought it–then the co-worker who tagged along bought one, too.

  I’m a terrible influence, I know.

  This will end up being the gun that answers the question: If you could only take one gun to the zombie apocalypse, what would it be? An 18″ AR10 with a Tac-Con 241 and a Primary Arms 1-8 ACSS scope.

• To paraphrase Glenn, they told me if I voted for John McCain, Americans would still be fighting and dying in Iraq in 2016, and they were right!

• Why would anyone ever need a gun on campus?

• I can’t take credit for this phrase, but it’s too bad the only people who were able to predict this were racists and haters.

• I’m on Instagram now. Mostly it’s 3D printed Jeep stuff and pictures of my kids screaming for no particular reason.
• Speaking of 3D Printed Jeep Stuff, here’s my store. I document my design work on IG if you want to know what I’m working on. Right now the focus is on reproduction Infinity Tweeter Pods. They’re rare, people want them, and they won’t be god-awful expensive to make.

That’s about all I have time for right now.

Presented without comment–the current CNN front page:

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.