Uncategorized

Police have other priorities

Florida passed a law allowing teachers to be armed. Not one single school district has done so. Most have simply paid to have police officers stationed in every school. A couple have opted to hire dedicated armed security guards. Both of these options cost money, but are less than ideal.

For example, putting armed police officers in school. Here is a story about a school resource officer who saved residents of an apartment complex from a fire. First, the reason that he saw the fire was that he was late for work. Then the time spent actually working the fire and rescuing people. All of this time means that the school, which is paying to have a police officer there to protect students, was left unguarded and without protection. Of course, one could say that the threat to life safety at the fire outweighs the duty at the school, but this line of reasoning makes me wonder just how often this excuse is used to justify leaving the school defenseless. 
After all, if a nearby fire (which is not primarily a police department function) justifies the police in being elsewhere, what other events do so? A car chase? Shoplifting? A nearby robbery? The number one priority of police is their own safety, in case you forgot the images of police hiding behind carloads of families in that Miami shootout. The police commenting on that shootout even admit that their safety takes priority over the safety of the public. 
Their number two priority is catching criminals. Saving the lives of children come a distant third to that. The SRO at my school said that he was against arming teachers because anyone on campus who is armed should be accompanying him in his quest to find and catch the shooter. I pointed out that, as the last line of defense for the students, an armed teacher should lock themselves in the classroom with their students and defend that classroom full of kids and leave the elimination of the threat to the cops. He laughed at me. 
This isn’t a criticism of the officer. This is a criticism of the refusal to arm the one group of people who are there, on the scene, and have a vested interest in defending the lives of school children. After all, as a teacher, my fate and the fate of my students are the same. I have skin in the game, and defending my own life also ensures that I am defending the lives of my students. 
Where is the line drawn? Arming teachers would solve every one of these. The teacher isn’t going to be 
By Divemedic, ago

About Facebook jail

One of the businesses that I own is a paying advertiser on Facebook. In order to manage my PAID advertising, I need access to my Facebook accounts. I was released from Facebook jail for exactly one day, and then received a SECOND ban, this one for 30 days. This is unacceptable. I know that a large company like that doesn’t care about me and my small company, but effective immediately, I am cutting all ties between my business and Facebook. Not one more dime. 

By Divemedic, ago

Unrealistic expectations, not racism

There is a story in Central Florida news media about a man who studied “hospitality management” in college and is complaining that he cannot get a job that pays him what he wants to be paid. I used to interview candidates and was responsible for hiring people, so I want to try and figure out why he can’;t get a “career.” Let’s start by taking a look at his qualifications:

First, his resume (pdf warning) and cover letter (pdf warning) have multiple grammatical and spelling errors.
Education:
He has a two year degree in hospitality management that he earned 18 years ago. Two year hospitality degrees are a dime a dozen in hospitality focused Central Florida. The college that he went to is out of business, so no way to confirm his degree or education.

Let’s see what his experience looks like:

He mentions being in JROTC and says that he dedicated 3 years of his life to the “core.” JROTC is a high school program, and it is spelled “corps,” not “core.” I wouldn’t mention this any more than I would mention being in the high school chess club.

While earning that two year degree, he worked as a cook and waiter at an assisted living facility.

After graduation, he claims to have taken over as the “supervisor” of Yvonne’s Southern Cuisine for the next four years. That restaurant had poor Yelp reviews before it went out of business ten years ago.

That’s it for hospitality management. He then went on to be a driver for a trucking company that owns exactly one truck. He worked there until the place went out of business. Maybe he was the owner?

In fact, he worked at five different companies in less than three years and claimed to have supervisory duties at three of them.

This guy can’t get a “good job” that pays more than $10 because he has no real education, certifications, or experience. The fact that there is no record at all of the real estate company he claims was his employer for the past two years, and the three jobs he had before that lasted only a couple of months each makes him look like a poor employee.

His resume just doesn’t make me want to hire him for anything other than an entry level position. He needs to be more realistic. The comments on that article claim that his inability to get a job is because people are racist.

By Divemedic, ago

A friend and I got shot today

An old Navy buddy of mine sent me an email today about an incident that happened at the range where he lives in Michigan. He was on the firing line when he felt a burning pain in his shin. He looked down, and pulled this out of the fabric of his blue jeans:

I was at the range and there was a couple shooting in the next lane over. They obviously were inexperienced shooters and didn’t know what they were doing. I felt an impact to my face and the RSO called a cease fire. It appears that they had an ND and shot the divider between lanes. The bullet fragmented at a piece of it hit my safety glasses. The RSO made everyone was OK, and the new shooters were only allowed to continue after a second RSO was called over to personally supervise them.

By Divemedic, ago

Is HIV deadly force?

If a person tells you that they have HIV while they are trying to bite you a lethal threat?

The standard is a five part test, according to self defense attorney Andrew Branca:
– The person claiming self defense (you) must be innocent (didn’t start the fight)
– You must have tried to avoid the fight
–  The lethal threat must be imminent
– Your use of force must be proportional

I really don’t want to turn this into a discussion about the first four points. The one I want to focus on is the point that makes this situation unique: the last one. If a person is attempting to bite you while claiming to have a deadly disease presenting a lethal threat? Would using lethal force against such a person be proportional? In other words, if a person is threatening to give you AIDS by biting you, would shooting them be legally defensible?

What say ye?

By Divemedic, ago

They learned nothing

Yesterday, a 17 year old central Florida high school student was caught with marijuana and a loaded handgun while attending a sporting event at a high school soccer game. It was an away game, so it wasn’t at his school, but rather an away game at a nearby school.

It is a Federal felony for anyone to have a firearm within a school zone unless they fall under a number of exceptions, none of which applied here.
It is a third degree felony in the state of Florida for anyone without a CWP to have a firearm on school grounds.
It is a third degree felony to carry a concealed firearm without a CWP.
It is a felony to possess marijuana on school grounds.

So was the student arrested? No. In fact, the incident occurred before 10 p.m. and the teen was at home, sending out posts on social media that same night. 
Was he suspended? Not as of today.

Schools lose funding if there are too many suspensions and arrests in a school district. Schools, not wanting to lose that sweet, sweet funding, often overlook criminal behavior so that their statistics look good. I am sure that we all remember this was why the Parkland shooter and Travon Martin never got in trouble before they progressed to big boy crimes.

It appears like our schools have learned nothing from the MSD shooting.

By Divemedic, ago

Microdot

As I said in my previous post, I am in the middle of trying to convert to using a microdot sight for my EDC. The sight is a Holosun 507c. I mounted it on top of my Smith and Wesson M&P9c using a Trijicon RMR mount that fits in the rear sight dovetail. Installing it was difficult because I could’t press it using my sight tool.

Right now things are going well, but I am having a couple of issues. First, the good news. Here is 15 rounds at 15 yards on a B29 target:

I did that while firing about two shots per second, but I am guessing at the time. That brings me to my first problem: No timer yet. but I am waiting on the delivery of a MantisX.

My second issue is that the time from draw to first shot seems slow. This is caused by having to hunt for the reticle. Once I find the reticle, followup shots are fast and easy. What I think is happening is that I have to stop indexing the pistol as if I was looking for my front sight. It feels like the pistol is pointing too low when I initially present to the target. I think dry fire will fix that.

Still, I absolutely love this sight. It feels like I am faster and more accurate. The answer to my first problem is a timer and the answer to my second problem is practice.

By Divemedic, ago