Guns

Interesting conversation

I had a conversation in a bar last night that I found to be interesting. I was sitting in a local beer joint having some wings and IPA with another grad student when the subject of guns came up. He told me that although he is from Illinois, he routinely carries a handgun for protection. That is interesting, I say, because Illinois remains the only state in the USA that does not allow this, and you need a permit to even own a gun, and permits to carry guns are non-existent. He told me that the only way he would get caught is if he had to use that gun to defend his life, and in that case, he would worry about the ramifications then.

Now understand that this particular grad school is not for slackers or troublemakers. The school won’t even look at your application if your undergrad GPA is less than 3.3 and your criminal history is a blank slate. Not only that, without giving any of this guy’s details away, he is a very upstanding guy, and his resume would certainly not place him in the category of ‘troublemaker.”

Gun control has failed as a philosophy. Some folks just haven’t accepted that, yet.

By Divemedic, ago

Handguns

I own about two dozen handguns, give or take a couple. While this is a sufficient number of handguns to give members of the antigun coalitions a heart attack, and have the press talk about my “arsenal,” there are many avid gunners out there that own far more than I. As a concealed weapons permit holder, I find myself carrying a handgun about 80% of the time when I am out of the house. Now many people will say that this is a large number of guns, perhaps even too many, and to them I say: Each one of my handguns fulfills a unique purpose, and was a needed addition to my collection. Each handgun brings to the table some advantages and some disadvantages. Some examples:

Smith and Wesson J Frame: I own a Model 642, a hammerless .38 Special that I find myself carrying a plurality of the time, as it is easily concealable and very lightweight (16.5 ounces loaded). In Florida, it is frequently difficult to find a comfortable cover garment, and I have found that sliding the J frame into a pocket holster in the right front pocket of my trousers or into a Galco Ankle Glove is a very convenient. I even carry this revolver in a belly band while jogging. The fact that it is a revolver simplifies the operation of the pistol and makes correcting a malfunction as easy as pulling the trigger again. The disadvantages to this revolver are: It only holds 5 rounds, reloads take a considerable amount of time, and the sights on this pistol leave a lot to be desired. Accuracy beyond 12 yards is poor under any kind of realistic defensive shooting conditions.

Kimber Ultra TLE II: This Commander sized 1911 in Stainless steel, with night sights and Crimson Trace Laser Grips is the pistol that I find myself carrying most often when cover garments allow. Loaded with Gold Dot 230 grain +P hollow points, I get over 400 foot pounds of .45 defensive power. I carry this pistol in a Brommeland Max-Con V inside my waistband on my right hip, and a single 7 round spare magazine on my left hip. Other times, I opt for a Saddle holster from Andrews Leather. I like the combination of thin profile, accuracy, smooth trigger, and easy concealability that this pistol offers. The disadvantages are that the pistol has a lot of sharp spots on it that seem to either dig in to sensitive skin, or wear holes in my clothes.

I also frequently carry one of the two Sig Sauer P229s that I own. Of the pair, I carry the .357 Sig the most, but I also carry the 9mm frequently. The chief advantage of these pistols is the 13 rounds of .357 or the 14 rounds of 9mm that this pistol can hold. Both pistols have night sights and Crimson Trace Laser Grips. I usually carry this model in an Andrews Leather McDaniel II inside the pants holster, a Saddle style holster, or a belt slide holster.  The chief disadvantage is that the pistol is thick enough that concealing becomes an issue, especially since the grip laser tends to cause my shirt to ride up.

Another pistol is my Sig Sauer Mosquito. I bought this because I needed a .22LR with which to practice, as the ammunition is pretty cheap, but I have found several advantages to this particular pistol that I hadn’t considered before owning one. First, it is great for new shooters, especially women. The noise and recoil are not nearly as intimidating, and the women LIKE shooting it, an important factor when trying to convince new shooters that guns are not as scary as they thought. This particular pistol has convinced at least three formerly anti-gun leaning people to not be afraid of guns, and one of them actually now carries a pistol as a CCW holder. Additionally, some cheaper brands of .22 ammo cause a lot of malfunctions, which is good for sharpening my own skill at rapid malfunction clearing drills.

In short, every gun I have serves a unique purpose, and have never been used to kill anyone, despite what the anti-gun crowd claims.

By Divemedic, ago

Illegal Carry by repo men

In the December issue of the Armed Citizen, there is a report of a shooting where a man repossessing a car used a handgun to defend himself from a man who shot at him. As a life member of the NRA and being a concealed weapons permit holder for over 20 years, I fully defend that man’s right to defend his own life, it should also be noted that the repossession agent was NOT legally carrying a firearm, as it is illegal for a repo agent to carry a firearm while conducting a repo.

See Florida Statute 493.6115(3), which reads:

No employee shall carry or be furnished a weapon or firearm unless the carrying of a weapon or firearm is required by her or his duties, nor shall an employee carry a weapon or firearm except in connection with those duties. When carried pursuant to this subsection, the weapon or firearm shall be encased in view at all times except as provided in subsection (4).

I do not think that it serves our cause to support the illegal carrying of weapons and firearms.

By Divemedic, ago

Head in the sand policy of Osceola County

Florida Law Enforcement agencies have long followed a policy of denying the existence of gangs in the state, even though it is at odds with the opinion of the Florida Attorney General’s office [pdf alert] Florida police agencies say gang members use any information released about the crimes they commit to glamorize their lifestyles and attract new members. The Osceola County Sheriff’s Office generally follows that policy.

That policy, it seems, is failing.Hardly a day goes by when there is not a reported shooting in the Central Florida area, and many other violent crimes go unreported. Due to the long standing policy of ignoring gang related crimes, it is impossible to get an accurate picture of gang related crime in the area, but I can tell you from personal experience that it is growing.

The frequency of gang related graffiti is growing, as is the frequency of gang member sightings. The Outlaws Motorcycle gang has a clubhouse not far from where I live. A couple of friends of mine were recently riding their motorcycles and were stopped by five Outlaws, who told them that no one is allowed to ride motorcycles in the area as a part of any motorcycle riding club, unless that riding club paid dues to the Outlaws. They then demanded that my friends remove the leather jackets, and pay a fine of $50 cash on the spot. Outnumbered 5-2 by armed gang members, they paid.

The Latin Kings have staked out Poinciana as their territory, as well as parts of Kissimmee. The Bloods own other parts of Kissimmee. Saint Cloud has problems with white gangs like the Aryan Brotherhood. Orlando has similar gang and violent crime problems.

Your odds of being a victim of a violent crime in Osceola County are 1 in 100. In Orange County, the odds double to 1 in 50.Obviously, there are things you can do to reduce those odds. Don’t go into bad neighborhoods like Pine Hills (aka Crime Hills), Paramore, McLaren Circle, Waterway Village, and other notoriously unsafe areas. Don’t be a gang member, sell drugs, or engage in other highly risky behavior.

It is more likely that you will be a victim of a violent crime than involved in a car crash or a house fire with a fatality.You don’t hesitate to wear a seat belt, or own smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, and other safety devices, yet the odds favor your using a firearm to defend your life more often than any of those other items.

By Divemedic, ago

Tell me

Jessie Dotson was born in 1975, but his troubles with the law didn’t begin until he reached the ripe old age of 15, when Dotson was charged with disorderly conduct for making threats against his mother as she tried to discipline him. A month later, he was charged with assault after a 13-year-old told his parents Dotson punched him in the face and threatened to “put him in the hospital” if the younger teen didn’t bring Dotson $25 the next day.

The following year (1991), Dotson wanted to beat up his brother, so his mother locked him in a bedroom. Dotson escaped by breaking open the door, and then punched holes in the walls and threatened to kill his mother. He was arrested for disorderly conduct. That same year, the 17 year old Dotson was also arrested for possession of a sawed off shotgun and a pistol.

In 1992, he was arrested again for disorderly conduct because of a fight with a neighbor.

It was in 1994 when he was arrested for committing his first murder and served fourteen years in state prison. Just three days after his release in January of 2008, Dotson pulled a gun on his brother and threatened to kill him over a coat that Dotson was attempting to steal from his brother. The brother called the cops, and no arrest was made.

Dotson went to the brother’s home several weeks later, and shot or stabbed everyone there. Six people were killed by gunfire, including Dotson’s brother and three other adults, Dotson’s two nephews were stabbed and murdered. The nephews were 2 and 4 years old. Three other children, aged 2 months, 6 years, and 9 years, were left for dead after also being stabbed.

Since Dotson was under age in 1991 when he was first caught with firearms, tell me how gun control worked.
Since possession of an unregistered sawed off shotgun is illegal, tell me how registration worked.
Since he was a convicted murderer, tell me how gun laws worked.

By Divemedic, ago

Decision point, part two

Margret Puig Durinick was being attacked by her husband, Christopher Edward Durinick. She ran to her neighbor’s house, and pounded on the front door of the home of neighbor Leo English, and begged for help. That was when the husband shot his wife once from less than 100 feet away. She collapsed in English’s front doorway. English drew his revolved and returned fire, striking the man in the abdomen (not a bad shot for a handgun- 100 feet, at night). The wounded husband returned home, where he killed himself.

Police stated that English’s actions are not what they recommend people do when faced with a dangerous situation, but that he is not being investigated. Morons. A man murders a woman in front of you, and you are now faced with a murderer who is armed with a rifle. He is less than 100 feet away, and has just killed someone in front of you. As a witness, odds are high that you are next. What do the police recommend that you do? I’m sorry, but that has got to be the stupidest thing I have ever heard anyone say.

By Divemedic, ago

Virtual firearms training

Gander Mountain opens their new virtual training range this weekend, the first of its kind in the nation. I took the tour today, and I decided that it is great.

There is an indoor shooting range that is absolutely state of the art, with ranges out to (I think) 75 feet. Calibers up to .300 Winmag can be fired. The live fire is not the best part.

They have a virtual shooting range. Upon entering the virtual half of the training facility, everyone must pass through a magnetometer to ensure that no live weapons or ammunition enters the virtual training area. This is to prevent accidents. There are virtual shooting simulators, and the last thing anyone wants is an ND with a live weapon. The store employees will store your weapon in a locked room for the duration of your time inside the virtual facility.

All of the virtual weapons are Glocks. They are CO2 powered, and when you fire them, they recoil like the real thing. A computer records your hits and misses.

There is a shooting range that uses virtual weapons. It is set up like a conventional shooting range, with shooting lanes and video reproductions of cardboard targets at varying ranges.

There is a 180 degree and a 300 degree simulator that can place you in shooting scenarios like clearing a building, a convenience store robbery, and various other confrontations. Sometimes you are called upon to shoot, sometimes you cannot shoot. When you are in the simulator running these scenarios, there is always a certified firearms instructor with you.

The instructors are all former police firearms instructors, and the prices for the academy run from $40 to $75 per half hour session. considering that there is no time wasted loading magazines, changing targets, or money spent on ammo, this should be a pretty economical training tool. As soon as I go for an actual shooting session, I will report on how it was.

By Divemedic, ago

Back door gun bans

Let’s say that as a government, I want to make it illegal for citizens to carry guns, but a certain founding document and political expediency would prevent me from doing so. Instead I decide that I will create a legal climate that forces others to do so in my stead.

1 I make all property owners legally liable for any shooting that any guest or employee perpetrates against any other guest or employee. That means anyone who is on your property that shoots anyone else, the victim can sue the property owner.

2 You also make the law so that the property owner is exempt from the above situation, as long as the property owner prohibits weapons on the property.

This means that the property owner has been coerced into prohibiting weapons on the property, as there is a large reason to prohibit weapons, and no reason not to. In this case, it is not the property owner’s freely made decision to prohibit weapons, that decision was made under duress.

Furthermore, this decision and legal climate will do nothing to stop crime, while preventing the law abiding from defending themselves. The net result of this would actually increase violent crime, since criminals are now free from the threat of defensive force.

That is the reality of “no guns” policies in America today. Since a property owner would be sued by anyone who is shot, and legally insulated from liability if the shooter violated a property owner’s prohibition on weapons possession, no one can rightfully claim that a no weapons policy of a property owner is a choice that was made free from coercion.

This is why Pizza Hut prohibits its drivers from carrying weapons. They could be liable if an employee shoots a robber, but are held harmless if the driver is killed by an armed robber. There are those who say that the employee could always choose to work elsewhere, but since the law is the law everywhere, there is no real choice. Very, very few employers choose to take the chance of facing a multimillion dollar award just to save an employee that can be replaced with a simple want ad.

By Divemedic, ago

When seconds count

 the police are twenty minutes away. That’s right, this store was being robbed and the thieves were in the store for over twenty minutes, going through drawers and looking for money. The robbers herded the clerk and the customers into the back of the store and made them lie on the floor.Tera Mitchell, the clerk at the store was convinced that the armed criminals were going to shoot her while she was lying helpless on the floor.

Fortunately for Ms. Mitchell, the criminals didn’t kill anyone. This time. Do you really want to trust your life to the armed felon who is robbing you at gunpoint while you lie helpless on the floor? The anti gun crowd will tell you, “Just give him what he wants,” and have you depend on the mental stability and good will of an armed felon.

If I am armed with a weapon, I have a choice. I can choose whether or not I will hand over my wallet. I can choose whether or not to be herded into the back room. I can choose whether or not to watch as the gunman kills others in the restaurant. Or forces the women to strip naked, and cuts the throat of the cook.

People ask me whether or not I would kill someone over the $50 or so that is in my wallet. My answer to them is that the robber is willing to, or he wouldn’t be robbing me at gunpoint. I am not going to shoot to take his life, I am choosing to shoot in order to save my own.

Others tell me that carrying a gun won’t help, that I will probably get killed anyway. Perhaps, but if nothing else, I have at least marked my killer in a way that will help him get caught. He will be the guy that you find somewhere between the scene of my murder and the closest emergency room with at least one 200 grain, .45 caliber hollowpoint lodged in his chest cavity.

By Divemedic, ago

Where do Mexican crime guns come from?

According to the Washington Post, they come from the United States:

No other state has produced more guns seized by police in the brutal Mexican drug wars than Texas. In the Lone Star State, no other city has more guns linked to Mexican crime scenes than Houston.

Of course, that is a bit of a misdirection, as others have shown. However, why isn’t anyone talking about taking the guns away from the US Border Patrol, in light of this story?

A Mexican woman is under arrest after agents at the Andrade Port of Entry discover a stolen gun in her possession.

The 25-year old woman was taken into custody on Saturday after agents at the border discovered the woman had a gun they say belongs to the US Border Patrol.

By Divemedic, ago