Straight Forward in a Crooked World

Dark Arts for Good Guys: The Right to Knife pt II

2012-01-19T22:25:00.004-06:00

Everything about fighting starts inside your head.

Gun, knife, or hands. It makes no difference.

The response that begins in your head flows to your hands. That response is strongly aided in micro-planning, or rather the ability to deal and confront in immediate fashion because you have previously trained to do so.

Translation: In the eternity of a whole second a defensive resolution has to be formulated in your head and reproduced at your hands. After that your ability to overcome is dependent upon your ability to reduce the attacker's rate of survival in their encounter with you. This equates to liquidating their body of blood or stopping the transmission of signals from their brain to the appendages.

Damage has to be significant enough to encourage them to break off the attack, lose consciousness, or the use of the arms and/or legs....and it has to be done quickly.

Because in an encounter with violent humans it is generally a hands/brain combination that is your biggest threat, legs and feet being the second (yes dear reader you can still be stomped to death in the 21st Century). Most likely though hands are the problem this is why you hear it preached "Watch the hands. Hands kill."

If you are forced into the position to defend yourself with a knife-in-use this means being on the inside of the "dance space" as the late Patrick Swayze referred to it in Dirty Dancing , "This is your dance space. This is my dance space" (yep).

The Chest & Upper Body

No other portion of the body allows for such an array of significant multiple and viable targets that in a matter of a few short seconds can lead to cascade-like failure for your attacker. Unlike the abdomen the chest has a protective bone structure in the form of the ribcage and shoulder girdle. However unlike the head/skull it is not a vault like structure and is readily penetrable. In fact 25% of all deaths in the U.S. is attributed to chest trauma. The trauma we are looking at here is predominately stabbing.

The slash cut has its place...without question. Where a slash to the surface of the chest cuts muscle and tendons its also stopped from further penetration from bone and a lack of pressure on the knife because the grip angle for a slash is reduced in comparison to a push (read: stab). It's physics.

In the span of one second the average and capable adult should be able to deliver three smashing stabs across a span of nine or ten inches. Look at your shoulder and poke your finger inward every three inches.

Now instead of thinking skin deep, with each poke think was sits in between your finger tip and the skin of your back.

Or you can keep reading.

From the shoulder socket you can severe or atleast lacerate part of the lateral cord; which contains the lateral pectoral nerve, the median nerve, and the musculocutaneous nerve. But as the knife slices nerves it also cuts through multiple layers of muscle tissue and does so regardless of whether you are going at it front-to-back, back-to-front or from the outside of the arm inward. Cuts to the deltoid muscle works in tandem with the the chest muscles, biceps and on down to the forearm. A stab (or multiple stabs) while not necessarily lethal in the short term sense they greatly reduce your attacker's ability to attack effectively.

His mechanical ability to maintain a grip on you or a weapon is now reduced in significant fashion, but so is his ability to rotate the arm and the hand.

Why is this important?

Say for example he has a handgun, a stab here followed by a hasty exit on your part reduces his ability to raise, aim, and fire. The multiply factor is you are also now a rapidly, erratically moving target ever decreasing in size...meaning hard to hit under "good" conditions for him.

The other winning factor in this is if in your fight he ends up down on the ground it makes it difficult for him to push up and get up...not impossible...but the difficult factor is high. All because of a three to four inch deep cut.

Moving inward from the arm several inches a stabbing blow delivered to the chest has a high probability of puncturing a lung. It sounds "meh" to read it but instant deflation of one of the two lungs is almost an instantaneous fight stopper.

The internet experts like to tell you of the raging bull attacker who can't be stopped by multiple cylinders of .357. No one thinks of a 105lb woman with a folding knife deflating his lung that leaves him gasping on the floor like a fish out of water. Yet the reason is simple. Your chest expands and contrasts as you inhale and exhale and since breathing is an involuntary act your attacker is breathing while he attacks you. Sounds stupid right?

Who thinks of bad guys breathing in and out?

In the brief interlude between you slamming a four inch folder into his chest/lungs and pulling it out he has either inhaled or exhaled. One or the other. If he inhaled just prior to your stab you have unexpectedly robbed his body of air as it rushes from his chest. If he exhaled the lung has contracted.

Once a lung has contracted the internal world of his chest takes up that space (or tries to). This inward exerting pressure along with the hole in his chest prevents the lung from re-inflation either fully or parially. No re-inflation means no air.

No air. No fight.

His very own body begins to act like a boa constrictor, with each exhale the body tightens around the lung.

That last third of a second and your third stab wound going towards center mass stands a high probability of a direct hit on the heart. Unlike a slash to an arm or leg, a deep puncture will not stop bleeding from applying pressure alone. Drill the heart and you get severe-crippling pain (ask someone who suffered a heart attack about pain), and blood loss at an increased rate. Since the heart's job is to act as a double pump to collect de-oxygenated blood re-distribute freshly oxygenated blood to the body a laceration to it is "problematic" for the attacker. The body can not get fully resupplied (like any wound with blood loss) and significant trauma means the body can not get the oxygen it needs to aid in lung function and...brain function.

Count one full second while tapping your finger three times.

Three wounds in one second. From you to the bad guy.

Arm function is reduced, ability to breath deteriorating, severe pain in multiple locations+blood loss+unexpected negative impact on achieving goal of attacking victim....

Any attack is going to last several seconds under the best conditions for you. As you counter attack he has to block. If you are attacking the upper chest and head region almost everyone is going to try an raise an arm to block the attack. When an arm goes up to protect exposure also occurs.

You now have a direct line of counter-attack on the arm pit, the elbow, the lungs again, the forearms. A knife in one hand and an empty hand or closed fist allows for a quick barrage attack of slashes and stabs in short order. Hitting the underside of the arm near the arm pit means there is strong likely-hood of cutting open the brachial artery.

It sounds redundant doesn't it. Muscle damage, blood loss, puncture wound.

But do you get it?

Your attacker is human...just like you. When you are armed in one fashion or another you fight less an attackers brawn and more his ability to think through what was supposed to be a short win and is now a rapidly changing lethal encounter.

An attacker doesn't think in a sense of planning a defense. Yet we do. That means we have an elongated plan based upon being attacked and then overcoming that attack.

There is something else. If you haven't picked up on it yet. A knife defense doesn't mean a knife fight i.e. knife-on-knife. We are talking about the honest citizen/good guy taking on a bad guy armed in any fashion and winning.

The utilization of knife work in defense work also will get the internets fired up with statements like "you're gonna get cut". It's just not true that this is a "guaranteed" outcome. A woman in minivan can kill a rapist with a knife and never get cut, a dad grocery shopping on vacation fresh off the beach with a folder can blindside a gunman bent on a mass shooting and prevail physically unscathed. Everyone seemingly obsesses that they will get cut because there is a knife around yet most never seem to think or give more than a passing thought of being shot in an exchange of gunfire. Because in case no one ever told you in a gunfight you're downrange.

Stop trying to predict the future. You will either get injured or you won't.

If you obsess about getting shot or getting stabbed or otherwise killed you won't engage or you will do so blindly, stupidly and wildly. You can't treat your injury until the bad guy is dead, down, or fleeing. Make that happen faster. No one, not me, not you, not the best instructor in the world can guarantee your life...if it comes to a toe to toe fight remember this:

You came into this world covered in someone else's blood you should, in the midst of a violent attack upon you, atleast leave in the same fashion.

Dark Arts for Good Guys: The Right to Knife

2011-12-13T02:36:00.004-06:00

To what extent are you willing...and capable of saving your life? If no gun were available could you ...would you...are readily capable of doing so with a knife.

Would you slit an attacker's throat?

Could you use a knife to filet three inches of forearm off of a rapist, a serial killer?

Can you descend to that primal place of fight at bad breath distance and prevail? In a very real world people are attacked inside of elevators and the ability to escape may not occur until the word “Lobby” is back-lit. Mothers are forced to the floor boards of vehicles and raped in front of the children, adventure seeking teenagers are found beaten and tortured to death with their heads found in creek beds. Grown men are jumped and beaten by teenagers on subway platforms left mangled and crippled for life.

And this happens every-single-day.

Whether you are in the back streets of Kuala Lumpur, NYC ,a remote camp site in New Mexico or in the cubicle at your office park as a gunman walks around shooting people. A knife beats bare hands and, while a big knife is better the reality is when it goes down you're most likely going to have a folder or small fixed blade to work with.

Isn't a gun better?What brand makes the best tac-folder? I heard knives are illegal to use in defensive situations? Don't worry about it. This isn't an argument about which is better, or knife-nerding about why knives are cool.

The situation is this, you are about to lose your life. Save it. Because what you need more than anything is the willingness to engage..to step INTO the fight.

Into a fight......WITH a knife?

Why do you think you practice that 21 foot in one second drill at the pistol range? The dictum is that the average person can cover twenty-some-odd feet of ground in a second and start killing with a knife. Well brother the phone rings both ways don't it. If a bad man can cover a short distance fast and kill with a knife, the average citizen can reverse the role.

Look the human body dies from either one of two ways. Natural causes or trauma. When we talk about knives and bad guys we are talking about trauma. Therefore the idea in self-defense is to create a negative alteration to the attacker's body and...... to their mind. Screw with both of those simultaneously and winning is the by product, because you should never give an attacker much credit in the bravery or the commitment department. The moment they start losing they are in the hole, because they just invested in you or rather who-they-thought-you-were (read: Food).

It's a hard concept for decent people to get around, but for a career criminal they spend the majority of their time devoted to their career...just like you do. A rapist, a serial killer, a spree shooter, general thug doesn't think about getting on with a normal like. Rather they attempt to appear normal so they can operate in the same theater as you and I. Hence the old saying a wolf in sheep's clothing.

You having a bad work day, might mean a ding in the pay check or a reprimand from the boss, or an unhappy client. For the criminal it means getting hurt, getting caught and locked up or getting killed.

How do we go about delivering bodily harm with a knife to an attacker? After all there really isn't a place on the body that can't be stabbed or cut or cause copious amounts of pain so why bother thinking this through? I mean in a fight its going to be blind stabbing....right?

For the same reason we go to the pistol range and do live fire defensive drills, aim center mass or for the head. Because in these regions bullets cause the most destructive damage to the body.

And like that, using a knife for defense has some great areas, good areas and available areas. I won't say bad because lets face it even if someone can function with a knife stuck in the top of their skull it's not “ideal” living conditions for them.

Here is the last thing I want you to remember as we go about breaking down the target areas of the body. Think about it now, occasionally as you read this by stopping and closing your eyes, and when you lay in bed....IT-IS-GOING-TO-BE-A-CLOSE-FIGHT.

Closer than you want....and closer than you may think you are capable of dealing with.

Think of his bare teeth and spit an inch from your nose, his hand gripping a fistful of your shirt, his forearms snaked around your throat.

Worried a bit? Hesitant with that idea? Scared out of your head but don't want to really admit it...that's cool get it out. Now take a minute to close your eyes, wrap your weak hand around his throat, take that thumb of yours and *click* open that tactical folder of yours and win.

Upfront. Stabbing beats slashing for the purposes of increasing a lethal wound quicker. A slash bears a strong psychological bomb. Lance the body and it opens. When it opens things spill out. It also creates a long external but, shallow (relative to how deep you cut) wound area. Blood and muscle are now exposed and there is likely nerve damage but the slash cut does its best on bare skin. Great if your attacker is naked or even half naked. Not so good if he is wearing a down jacket. Though from a tactical advantage the slash-cut to the face (especially above the eyes) is going to be a thin cut because of the amount of bone-to-skin but head wounds bleed bad. Blood in your attacker's eyes is going to keep blinding him until he contends with it. This requires putting pressure on the wound, which in turns requires one or both hands. Thus increasing your target area on him and decreasing his ability to cover his vitals.

The puncture however is what we are looking for whenever we can get it. A ball point pen requires something like 5lbs of pressure to break through and create a puncture wound on soft areas (like around the carotid artery). A knife, especially with a good clean point a pound...maybe two. Go push on a scale and see what that feels like.

But we are not talking about being nice here. If you are puncturing you should be s-l-a-m-m-i-n-g the blade into him with 20 and 30 lbs of pressure. The deeper the wound channel the better. Couple that with multiple stab wounds and the fight changes quickly and in your favor.

Queasy uneasy yet?

Not very politically correct? What do you think your bullet fired from your pistol does?

It creates a penetrating wound that in some cases will go in the front and out the back. Your bullet stabs a hole in the body of your attacker. With a gun you are getting to do it from a distance. With a knife and especially a small one you are doing it body on body contact and you are having to physically manipulate that blade past clothing and skin hopefully glancing or all together missing bone in the process.

Still think you don't need to practice?

THE HEAD

The head isn't that great of target for the knife as it is for the bullet. The skull, which acts as both a vault to protect the brain and to give structural support to the face is dense, hard, and round. All joking aside it's not an unlikely possibility to slam a knife into the cranial vault and find out it's stuck. While a blade in the head is....well odd and obviously dangerous it's not necessarily fatal or even painful (though it could make for a decent handle to grip on while deliver blows with your fists until he stops). There has been more than a couple of people who have walked themselves into an ER with something stuck in the skull.

The vulnerable areas of the head are the face and the base of the skull, which if you look at sits higher than you think. The chin for example can sit more than a few inches below the skulls base by comparison.

So while stabbing and slashing the back of the skull is pointless when compared to other parts of the anatomy, the skull's base is not a bad area to attack. Get below the Occipital region and target the Cervical Vertebrae with stabbing blows or deep cuts and it's light out. Sever the spinal cord here and death is anywhere from tenths-of-seconds to-seconds.

How would that be possible?

Take for instance if you were on your back, your attacker on top of you or your body pinned up right against the wall (think kissing position) with your arms free. Roll/shift your body to the side while grasping the top of his head and pulling it either sideways or over your shoulder and the skull's base/spine is just a few inches from your face. If you can get your arms either around him or above the shoulders you are in. You are also right in the same area as the pharynx. Since this is where both food and air pass through you've got this tiny flap of connective tissue called the epiglottis that closes over the glottis when you swallow food thus preventing pulmonary aspiration. Ever hear those horror stories about drunks being found in the jail cells dead on from choking on their own vomit (as if this post wasn't gruesome enough I know). Well same principal. Stab wounds into this area can cause blood to back up in the throat. If an attacker can't breath he can not fight (you will see this again).

An attack on the face is no doubt traumatic, but not necessarily lethal. Take out the eyes and the attacker loses any ability to target you. Not to mention the immediate reaction of losing sight. His interest in his own dilemma is now greater than his interest in you. The nose is the next decent target and is probably the pain center for the head. It is also home to the Nasal Concha or turnbinates, which divide up the nasal airway. They are responsible for forcing inhaled air to flow in steady , regular patterns. It also acts as a filtration and temperature control center and is the last stop before encountering the cribform plate that separates the nose from the brain. Damage here can be lethal from the immediate impact to the brain in some cases. Regardless, a knife slammed here or a severe laceration where the nose is removed and blood begins actively flowing back inward (and outward) in copious amounts thus making breathing difficult.

The Temporal bone aka the Temple isn't necessarily thinner, but rather flatter. It does make a good point of attack as a knife blade attack from the side is less likely to break or jam and it is also near the Superficial Temporal Aretery (i.e. it's close to the surface of the skin). Either way a knife blow here is just that a blow and any good and solid impact is going to cause disorientation and possibly unconsciousness. This is due to referral shock to the brain not because the area is inherently weak, this is the “punch drunk” scenario. Motor function is disturbed along with the ability to think clear.

The ears are also an area very susceptible to damage. Mind you I said damage, not death, but severe crippling pain. A Ka-Bar LDK may not seem like much more than a shiv but, slide that little 1.5 blade into the ear canal of an attacker and use it's little bent handle like a cork screw and the screaming you hear won't be your own.

The Neck/Throat

No target area (in my opinion) on the body is more ideal than the neck and throat region. It rarely bears any significant cover from clothing and even then generally one layer from either a collar, or mask. And where a lot of areas that “matter” on the human body ,like the brain or the heart, most are protected by bone in one way or another...the throat isn't, the neck not so much. There is a small support system of Thyroid cartilage that essentially acts as a base, and while it is somewhat tough and fibrous it doesn't have the density and strength of bone.

Without question your three best points of counter attack here are the right and left carotid arteries and the trachea (read: wind pipe). If you take your thumb and index finger and open them like you are prepared to pinch something and put them each on the opposite sides of the wind pipe you will feel a soft border on the outside edge of each. That is essentially where the arteries are. Severe and forceful slashes and stabs here stop a fight. Not so much because they cause immediate non-voluntary incapacitation or death like a rifle bullet to the head or a snapping of the neck, but rather they cause rapid blood loss...rapid.

Cutting the trachea creates a back flow of air and blood. Again when an attacker has to fight to get air he can't fight you. He has to choose. The thing about this area is you don't have to work to find one over the other because more likely than not you're gonna hit two out of the three.

You have to be willing to go at it. If you can use both hands....actually use everything. There are no rules that say you can't stab a rapist in the throat while deliver a knee to the groin...or each one repeatedly. If he drops his chin to cover his throat, stab the lower portions of the face and eyes. Or instead of trying to force the head back to open the target area, get a good grip on the back of his head and pull it even lower using his idea against him. His neck area is now tight and fully exposed, and what does the neck do? Supports the head and the throat. Slashes, stabs and cuts here cause structural support problems. Air and blood are again introduced into airways, blood is leaving the body as fast as the heart can pump it out and...you are slicing through neck muscles, nerves like the cervical plexus. Severing all of this creates irreparable damage to shoulder functions.

Since the arm relies on the shoulder and the shoulder relies on the nerves here signal function becomes disrupted. Grips aren't as strong on you, blows less severe. Combine that with an amazing amount of blood loss in short fashion and an inability to breath your ability to escape is almost immediate.

Mind Games

Knife defense is seen as controversial. It's also necessary. Talk to a career police officer and he will tell you about how to defend against a knife attack. Talk to a combat Soldier, a Marine, or someone out of Special Activities where attacking and hand-to-hand combat is about killing and, not detaining and you will find that the ability to use a knife lethally is fundamentally important.

It is easy to say “not me” I'll never need it. The paramount problem I think most people have with defending with anything other than a handgun is one of several things. For starters its a combination of training and muscle memory. You get it ingrained it into your head to draw, aim and fire. Even with taking a good firearms course that really gets into raising your heart rate and reality 90% of your range experience else where is very sanitized. You shoot-you go home.Training creates confidence. Confidence creates reassurance, reassurance creates bravery.

Understand that is not belittling, it's just how it is. The knife suffers from what the gun does not. There is no “knife range” to go to. No target to set up so you can “knife” at it for 50 or 100 rounds. So most people who carry a knife for defense don't get beyond drawing it and presenting it while standing in the kitchen, only to fold it back up or to re-sheath it.

Get in the habit of mentally visualizing an attacker inside of an elevator and launching an quick barrage attack upon you. Or trying to shove you into the back of a van. Oh I get it. You are thinking this part is for the women...cause you know...rapists. True enough. But at some point Bob Levinson, Daniel Pearl, Paul Chandler and only a few other hundred thousand men through out history have been forced into captivity. This isn't a “please come with us kind of thing” it's an shit kicking assault until submission happens kind of thing...and that is just the kidnapping.

Not long back in Boston, a guy was riding a subway with his toddler son. He told the boy to wait “over there” pulled a claw hammer out of his back pack and began slamming a complete stranger while yelling “Allah Akbar!” ...and no I'm not kidding. The man he attacked could have fought back with a knife and won.

In India, where everyone from the West who practices yoga sees this as a “spiritual place”, I stopped an assault that occurred inside of vehicle with a CRKT Hissatsu fixed blade.

The Virginia Tech Massacre, where guns weren't allowed on campus, could have ended in short order if someone with balls and a blade would have chin grabbed the son of bitch and cut his throat.

And that is the reality. It is an incredibly scary prospect for many to step INTO a fight with a knife and kill the bad guy. Some people are cowardly by nature, they have water where there should be blood. Can't fight because they're afraid to fight, afraid to fire, afraid to stab, afraid to resist.

And then there are others who don't fight because they can't think beyond the pistol. If this is you I suggest you stop and reorganize. Because there may come that day where you are vacationing somewhere where your conceal carry permit is broken and as you look out over a beautiful chasm from a suspension bridge taking in the view with your family the guy next to you decides he want to throw people off it...just because.

The end game is this. There is a difference between "feeling safe" and having viable options to safely defend oneself.

We don't talk, train, and fight out of a sense of hatred. We do these things out of love. The love to get home, to see our children raised, our families thriving as a whole. I don't “hate” anyone who is trying to do me harm. But they sure in hell are my enemy and I intend on seeing them dead first if it comes to that. I've come home beaten, bruised, battered, rattled, torn, cut, bit and burned...but I've come home.

I expect the same of you.

The Right to Knife Part II coming soon.

Black Saturday

2011-08-06T12:36:00.000-05:00

Screw Luck

2011-06-30T12:20:00.000-05:00

It's odd that man's oldest tool, the knife, is regulated to bastard status in self-defense.It's focus for study is often seen as after the fact, or in addition to. Yet it is the easiest to obtain, to smuggle and in some cases deploy.

As the saying goes "The man with a knife has a chance. The man with no knife has no chance"....and that goes for the ladies as well.

So get ready to get bloody, get low down and world class &$*#)%# mean.

The Dark Arts for Good Guys series is returning with a few articles on edged weapons of all shapes and sizes.

For The Defense: Is self-defense an absolute right?

2011-06-17T02:22:00.004-05:00

Earlier this week I received a phone call from a colleague asking if I could assist in a legal defense appeal. The Client is doing life+ with no chance of parole for a double homicide/triple shooting....twenty years ago.

My friend had been interviewing his client in the states maximum security prison and recommended that I be brought on (before I even knew about it, so how's that for trust). He was given the green light and we talked as he was on the drive home. Once fee was discussed and agreed upon I made a trip yesterday to request the court record from archives and, had some time to look over it the thousand plus pages this afternoon.

Here is my question for you, for you to stick in the back of your head should you ever get called into jury duty for such a case...and for you to comment on as well. It is this:

Is lethal self-defense an absolute right?

I believe it is. Regardless of your character and though the law actually reads as such it at least in this case didn't seem to care about that. The same circumstances are often brought up in rape cases and if you were to shift the paradigm slightly of "can a prostitute be raped?" that is where this case is at.

Back in the winter of 1990 the Client is in a neighborhood tavern, he begins chatting it up with a young lady and two guys take issue with this at which time a verbal altercation in the bar begins between the three men, but no physical altercation. Finally the bouncer (in my opinion) makes a fateful decision by throwing all three men out together. The Client begins making a B-Line for his vehicle. No talking smack, no "come on fight me" he's leaving.

At this point B-I-Q #1 and #2 give chase and the three men begin full on fighting. The Client goes around 5'7" and 149lbs while the other two are 6ft-6'1" and between 180-200lbs.

The Client states at one point on the stand that he is becoming physically exhausted and can not keep up against his attackers who show no sign of stopping and at one point B-I-Q #2 grabs his legs and lifts him. The Client pulls a snub-nosed .38 special fires twice into one B-I-Q and once into the other. Killing them both.

In an odd twist of fate a witness is also shot, not by a stray round, but rather due to a shoot through round (I don't know what ammunition was used at this point and time) that connects with him some distance away. He does survive and what I have learned holds no ill will towards the Client saying he was just trying to survive.

Yet the Prosecutor asks him during the trial "why didn't you just fire a warning shot..you know to scare them?"

The hullabaloo to the jury was that the fight wasn't fair. The two weren't armed and the Client was. No one on the original defense team felt it was imperative to mention how many people are simply and effectively beaten to death every year.

Self-defense, even in the P.C. rampant 90's, doesn't require the capability to read your attackers mind so that you can gain insight into the lethal/non-lethal intent. And in fact he (the Client) met obligations in trying to flee from the altercation by getting to his car before being jumped and attacked.

The Client would tell you he wasn't exactly an upstanding guy back in the day and one could argue that, that's Karma for you. But Karma isn't law. The law makes no moral exceptions for who has the right to self-defense and who doesn't.

Hence the "can a prostitute be raped" question. Of course she can.

Once years ago I was in a pub with some friends. I had just left protecting my Principal (client) and was carrying my pistol (a Kahr K9 if I remember correctly). One guy in our group (not a friend and high on the a-hole quotient) started talking trash with some other guys in the bar. A moment before it went bad he looked over and said to me "you got my back right?"

"Absolutely" then shook my head no to the other guys. He was a problematic personality and wasn't any friend of mine, and frankly not worthy of waiting next to him for bail. On that note he punches (attacks) a guy in the other group and a fight ensues...for him. We stayed out of it. And we were right to.

Good ol' fashion bar brawl right?

Hardly.

He assaulted someone and at some point in the ass kicking he got had he pulled a gun and shot his aggressors he would have been in the wrong.Even if he was about to lose consciousness. He was the initial aggressor and attacked, they defended.

What? Really?...I mean what about the whole Dark Arts for Good Guys...leave them dead in the street attitude.

Will Smith has one of my favorite lines of all time in Men In Black that goes "Don't start nothin'. Won't be nothin'."

When he swung first he started it. Words can inflame you, but they can't kill you.

My Client on the other hand weighed in on a heated exchange but tried to avoid a fight which didn't matter because he was pursued and attacked.

No one bothered to ask during the trial what could have happened to him had he NOT had that snub-nose. If they had stomped his head in, broke his back and paralyzed him, or pulled out weapons of their own unseen and unknown of before?

While your character may come under scrutiny during a trial the key element is this regardless of your level of saint or sinner-hood. If you are attacked you have the right to defend yourself by any means necessary to preserve your life. Sadly the court room world thinks we live in the Lone Ranger world where we all have to fight fair. Until someone make an app for reading minds the fighting will remain unfair.

Teddy Roosevelt may have said it best with "Don't hit at all if it is honorably possible to avoid hitting; but never hit soft!"

Needless to say it's going to be an interesting summer.

Mindset Always Carries the Fight

2011-06-03T09:09:00.000-05:00

The short of it goes something like this. One Gurka v thirty Taliban when his check point was over run.And he did so alone for over fifteen minutes.

The best quote coming out of the article is from Corporal Dipprasad Pun

"There wasn't any choice but to fight....... I was alone," he said

Go here for the details

You have the right to the 4th Amendment.....well you USE to

2011-06-02T20:08:00.001-05:00

My good pal told me about Indiana no longer honoring the 4th Amendment last week and it was disturbing enough, and I saw somewhere someone official said "but we won't allow this to be abused."

But I was here when I read the following quote that makes you want to jump on the parapet.

“According to Newton County Sheriff, Don Hartman Sr., random house to house searches are now possible and could be helpful following the Barnes v. STATE of INDIANA Supreme Court ruling issued on May 12th, 2011. When asked three separate times due to the astounding callousness as it relates to trampling the inherent natural rights of Americans, he emphatically indicated that he would use random house to house checks, adding he felt people will welcome random searches if it means capturing a criminal.”

Sheriff Hartman has cried foul on this quote and issued a statement on the Newton County Sheriff's web site

On May 16, 2011, I was contacted by a reporter of an internet radio station. Her question
concerned a recent Indiana Supreme Court decision, allowing police officers to make random
warrantless searches. I advised her that I was not clear on that particular ruling; she
then asked how the Sheriff’s Office conducted searches of residences. I informed her that
searches were only conducted with a warrant, probable cause or when an officer is in hot
pursuit. When questioned about the Supreme Court ruling, I advised her that as police
officers, we enforce those laws set forth by our legislative branch. This reporter then
asked about the violation of Constitutional Rights. This State Supreme Court ruling in my
opinion cannot override our U.S. Constitutional Rights and I’m sure this state ruling will
be revisited.

When I was asked about my thoughts on random searches and how people would react, I gave
her the scenario of looking for a criminal or escapee. I advised her that if people were aware
of this situation, they would gladly let you search a detached garage, outbuilding, etc., if
it meant keeping them safe, but this would only be after securing permission.

This court ruling is just open for lawsuits if a police officer would attempt a random search
without due cause. Somewhere in this conversation things were definitely taken out of context.
I'm now quoted as saying the Sheriff's Office will be conducting random house to house searches.

I want the citizens of Newton County to rest assured that no member of the Newton County
Sheriff’s Office will enter the property of another person without first having a warrant or
probable cause to do so. I strongly stand behind my oath to uphold the Constitution of the
United States of America, as well as that of the State of Indiana.

Sheriff Donald E. Hartman, Sr.

Actual court document here

Regardless the sooner this is challenged the better.

Questioning the Glock and Galco Holster Accidental Safety Warning Incident (Updated)

2011-05-29T03:15:00.022-05:00

Like many of you last week I got an email from a buddy about the potential accidental discharge of a Glock 19 in a Galco holster going off by itself.

To see the "official" report you can go here to its tactical's web page showing the incident.

Now before we start let me say this. I'm not an arm chair investigator. I do this for a living and have for over fifteen years. I work very sophisticated and often complicated cases and have done so for major corporations and private citizens alike. I go where the work takes me and where my findings take me, even if that means an unhappy client. So that being said I have no beef with ITS Tactical and while I have a good many Galco holsters this isn't a "Save Galco" campaign either. So this in no way should be construed as an "Us vs Them" situation.

So let's get started.

So the first problem.

The photos are in some cases protected from being copied (post edit: this was pointed out by one reader not to be an absolute case and he was able to copy some photos) And under normal circumstances this wouldn't raise a flag just a company protecting their product. However what does raise a red flag is since when does a company copyright another person's and in this case conveniently an anonymous individuals work ? Claiming it as someone else's but carries their corporate logo? The way a copyright works is that you can only protect your own original work. So the question is who do these photo's belong to really?

Editor-in-chief’s note: We’d like to thank the anonymous individual who came forward with
this important information and allowed us to get it out to everyone here at ITS Tactical.

The Second problem "Anonymous' letter"

It begins with "What the hell was that?!?” she said. It took me a half a second to realize that my gun had just gone off…on my hip…in its holster. My wife and I had just finished breakfast at our favorite café and got into the car.Me being the passenger, I rotated my torso to the left to fasten my seatbelt like I always do. When I straightened again, my Glock 19 discharged, blowing a 9mm hole through my pants, underwear, the leather seat and bottom of the car’s door frame."

Let's stop here for just a moment. Anyone who has had the unfortunate occurrence of having to discharge a handgun inside of a car or room can tell you this, no one needs to ask "what it was" because for starters your ears are ringing and buzzing. Something that goes oddly unmentioned as does that ice-pick in the ear feeling that comes from being the shooter or the closest person the gun during its moment of discharge. Nor does he mention the searing pain from coming into contact with a bullet. Our hero is able to brush all of this aside and report the damage to his car.

An inconsistent statement and an obviously unsafe one:

After ensuring I wasn’t hemorrhaging profusely and didn’t have to make a dash for the hospital, I stayed seated in the car as my wife came around to my door and opened it. I undid my belt and slid the Galco JAK202 Slide Belt Holster, with the gun still in it, off my belt. Why it went off was immediately apparent.

hmmmm he stays seated, examines a wound that is under the muzzle of a still loaded pistol that went-off by-it-self . If the gun went of because he jostled himself around in the car, he felt it was a good idea to look at the wound before making his pistol safe by unloading it?

Then there is the simple aspect of actually seeing his injury to determine how bad he was injured with his gun in the way of the wound. The area of injury would have been pretty substantially covered from his view by the pistol for him to accurately asses this. Not to mention that he was trying to look under his muzzle at the wound with the door still shut.

"I stayed seated in the car as my wife came around to my door and opened it"

Well he was nervous you say. Agreed. Who wouldn't be. But after he is able to assess the "damage" he then endangers himself by again not making his weapon safe by removing it from the very holster that endangered his life to begin with. Instead he again jostles around a loaded gun to take it off of his belt. If a pistol shot you with out your manipulation then it stands to reason that making sure the gun didn't get a second chance to kill you would be paramount.

Who taught this guy gun safety?

The Plastic car seat shrapnel problem:

So let's say for argument sake (as one reader pointed out) that he obviously did not take the pictures of the incident immediately after it happened. That he most likely went home cleaned up and calmed down and maybe even waited till the next day before going back and recreating the scene of the incident.

if you look here

you see the inside of the door jamb where there exists pieces of plastic from the seat frame immediately under the the seat's exit hole and around the entry hole into the floor board. These pieces have not moved and are in a circular fashion of the round passing through?

Pieces that would appear to weigh the same as or less as grains of rice and sand.Very light in weight. Yet they remain undisturbed by the wife opening his door as he says she does.

If we go with the idea that they went home and composed themselves this means the door has to then be shut again with a certain level of air force opposite of the door being opened. And then home where the door is opened for him to exit, most likely shut again, and then opened once more for the photo session. That is if we are doing a bare bones concept of him traveling post shooting and pre-photo session.

This also does not take into account the simple vibration of a car in idle let alone actual driving on a street, any slight jolts from pulling out of a parking lot or into a driveway.

The next is the "blowing a 9mm hole through my pants, underwear...."

as shown here .There are a couple problems here. For starters there is cloth missing from the "blast hole" and the fabric appearing to be deliberately cut in some aspects also lacks any corresponding powder burn. Nor is there any powder burn or embedded powder in the cloth or in "Anonymous'" skin. There is also a significant lack of blood on the skin and blood stain on the cloth around the wound.

Before you tear into me telling me how wrong I am keep reading. Because I conducted my own live fire test and did not get anywhere near the same results. But let's stay on course.

Anonymous continues with "The bullet nicked my hip, but the wound is nothing a bandage couldn’t cover."

Outside of Louis L'Amour novels bullets don't "nick" the don't have sharp edges in travel. Knives do. Bullets bore holes and, had the round made contact with his skin he either would have had a bullet hole or one hell of an Indian burn running the partial course of his leg. How "fortunate" he was to be barely injured where "Anonymous" could treat the wound at home as opposed to say a hospital where all gunshot wounds require a police report and investigation.

He continues with "I stayed seated in the car as my wife came around to my door and opened it. I undid my belt and slid the Galco JAK202 Slide Belt Holster, with the gun still in it, off my belt. Why it went off was immediately apparent"

For all of his "details" he seems to not mention if the slide was open or closed. Or if the spent brass stove piped or cause the pistol to malfunction ... or if it cycled just fine.

I also find it interesting that while he was supposedly humble enough to admit that he knew of the issue but, did nothing to resolve it.

???

You put a loaded pistol next to your body where obviously to you could fire?

"The trusty, comfortable, leather holster I had been using for a year and two weeks had done what a baseball glove does after lots of use; It got soft. This particular holster carries the pistol outside the waistband, but inside the belt. The belt slides through slots in the outer side of the holster. The problem stemmed from the leather on the inner side of the holster getting soft. A crease formed, which eventually was large enough to extend beyond the trigger. Manipulate the gun in just the wrong manner and this crease is no different than a finger on the trigger. Boom."

holster photo link 1

The holster became soft enough where the trigger is but did not become soft and deform in a much thinner area of where the belt slides through causing those edges to curl? Where there is the most torque placed on it?

holster link photo 2

holster photo link 3.

For all of the effort gone into the photos how come "Anonymous" isn't wearing his gun? In Hollywood they call that a continuity error. Maybe that muzzle didn't line up with where the bullet went.....

There is also a small debate that the it would go without saying that "Anonymous" took the photographs of the incident well after he got home, cleaned his wound and settled down from the experience.

So let's look at the test I conducted.

First and foremost understand I did not attempt to recreate the holster scenario. My original suspicions stemmed from the muzzle blast and that is the primary focus.

To replicate the scenario I used a very thin grey t-shirt to act as the underwear over a piece of recently cut walnut to act as hip/leg. Understand the stump was not supposed to replicate tissue or a human leg. This was not a "ballistic" test". Rather I was interested in the cloth being torn by the muzzle blast. The stump as a good size for the top portion of a leg to hold the shirt and pants up, allow me to secure the guns to a holster and belt. It merely had...wait for it...a supporting role.

Next I took an old (10+ years old) pair of knock off desert camo pants that have seen extensive washings over the years so they are not new or in like new condition.

Then I attached a 9mm Beretta 92D loaded with factory Winchester 115 grn hardball into a belt slide holster with the muzzle sufficiently exposed. Yes I realize that the gun used in the alleged incident was a Glock 19. But ultimately for the muzzle blast test the manufacturer is irrelevant with the caliber being more of a primary focus. And barrel length between a Glock 19 and a Beretta 92D is less than a half an inch.

As to ammo "Anonymous" doesn't address what he was carrying but again we are examining muzzle blast and I think you will agree even if he was carrying +P rounds he'd have been hard pressed to have such a dramatic difference.

The following photos are of the pistol being fired in the holster, and very minimal grey powder burn, no ripping or tearing of the pants and a very small and almost unnoticeable 9mm bullet hole in the pant leg. The slide does lock back but there were also no additional rounds in the magazine.

What looks like grey dirt on the pants is in fact the muzzle blast

No ripping, tearing, or "nicking"

The 9mm hole in the pants

UPDATE: GLOCK TEST FIRE SAMPLE

To be thorough I was able to secure a Glock 23 (in .40 Smith & Wesson) to further examine the alleged incident. The point to remember still is that my intent was not to focus on the holster but rather the muzzle blast. In Anonymous' claim his Glock 19 fired "...blowing a 9mm hole through my pants, underwear...."see here.

In the photos below you see where I took a leather belt and placed it between the pant and the green nylon gun belt and allowed for the black belt to be doubled as to represent the two layers of an inside the belt, belt slide holster.

After I examined yesterday's test there was an argument to possibly be made that the holster the Beretta was fired from had the gun setting "farther" from the body than the in-the-belt holster. Though I thought the distance was negligible, you just never know maybe it would make all the difference in the world. Thus leaving the next post with me apologizing profusely.

As the accompanying photos show there is little difference. There is an the photos show, a small hole in the pant from the muzzle blast, but when the pant is pulled away and the t-shirt underneath that represented the underwear is examined there is no damage.

I also question myself as to weather there could be any difference surrounding the incident because he had possibly "carry" or HP ammo where I had used standard ball.

Ammunition in this test was factory 180 grn Winchester hollow point. If a 9mm "carry" round from a Glock 19 was able to blow a hole in Anonymous' pants and underwear then the .40 S&W should only do it better.

So here we go again.

(Above)

Immediately after firing the gun jumped partially from it's "holster". It ejected the spent brass and cycled without hindrance. Unlike the Beretta test I did have more rounds in the magazine to see if the gun would cycle properly. I could have squeezed the trigger and fired another round.

So there you are. Two tests, two pistols, two slight variations on hip carry, from two stair stepped calibers. Damage from the muzzle blast shows a small range of no discernible pant damage to a very minor pucker mark.

Still doubt? Ask this.

If "Anonymous" suffered a significant muzzle blast that tore open his pants, his under wear, and his skin from exposure to the muzzle blast from the side, why then is there only a 9mm size entry hole into the car seat?

Why isn't the car seat damaged in at least in the same capacity as the pant? Since the seat would have taken 100% of the muzzle blast from almost contact range the damage would have exceeded anything delivered from a side blast.

seat photo here

So what if the this test had created a similar result from "Anonymous'" experience would I have published those results?

Absolutely. It was never the idea to prove anyone right or wrong. I had suspicions and wanted to see if the results were anywhere similar. I'm not anti-Glock in any capacity. Nor am I anti ITS Tactical.

Is it still possible that I am just wrong on this. Yes. I've worked in the investigation field long enough to know that there is always those one-in-a-million occurrences and you never ever force conclusions to fit your (my) theory .I think there are some issued of doubt raised in my mind's eye to "Anonymous" story and in two test's the damage wasn't replicated.

But I did find a comment not related to the incident when researching around in the revamping of this post.

In carteach0's blog he reviewed the JAK slide holster. In the comment section of his he responds to one reader with:

"Well, if Galco says it's not suited for the G-30SF, then so be it. They are the experts and I wouldn't doubt their word. I, on the other hand, carry my G-30 SF in this holster without any issues. I do take care not to snag my trigger when holstering the Glock, and I can see where that might be a problem. People take that risk upon themselves using a holster not specifically designed for the pistol."

Again my issue has never been trying to recreate the holster manipulating the trigger but, rather the extensive damage done from the muzzle blast.My intent was not to sell this test as conclusive proof, as someone accused me of. Hell if I'm wrong I'm wrong.

I do think ITS Tactical should have done some very basic independent testing to see if such an incident could pass a litmus test before they participated in a potential liability campaign.

I can also tell you that everyone who carried a Glock is going to be a hell of a lot more diligent in how they holster and I think it was a good gut check for us all to give our equipment once over.

Lastly IF this is true. If he really did damn near shoot himself in the ass then frankly he got exactly what he deserved.

"I can’t say I didn’t know the crease had been formed in the holster".

How you carry yourself

2011-05-28T14:26:00.002-05:00

I don't really ever wade into the whole online forum/discussion thing, and it's certainly not because I think I'm too good for it. Mainly it's because I have my opinions, too busy working, thinking about writing one thing or another, trolling gun broker when I have no business doing so or, yaking on IM with this guy.

But I was reading here on the Breda fallacy the other night about how she carried openly (I'm assuming for the first time) and nothing happened. She wasn't looking for a confrontation she just decided to do it locally and no one noticed. What some might call a nice day.

But one individual took some type of offense in some weird way on a forum that she linked to. The quote goes "Yea, there are people that own guns that would NEVER consider OC unless it was some sort of event. These people have not jumped on the band wagon, they think that the sheep will cause a fuss, call the cops or whatever. At least they are aware and maybe they will be active later. I say to them, grow a set".

?????

First realize were all on the same side here. Second this type of attitude is no different than the always annoying Perez Hilton who chases down people who are gay and living quietly and demands that they come out of the closet. All the while playing Montgomery Gentry's "you do your thing I'll do mine".

But I suppose in this day an age it is simply easier to chastise a total stranger than offer an encouragement.

The first time I open carried in a very public fashion that I can recall was at the rip age of 21 with my beautiful Colt Combat Elite. I was visiting my sister who lived in Arizona and we had all stopped in an Applebee's for lunch. As we are seated I notice two guys openly carrying and peacefully eating their lunch. I looked at my old man and said "I'm gonna do it" so I went out to the rental car and buckled up. It was a very exhilarating non-issue. Later on the same trip I went into a super market in Phoenix openly carrying, after I had checked out and was going out the door the manager came over. He was easily a couple of decades older than me and politely said "Sir we don't allow the carrying of firearms in our store", I had missed the sign on the door (these weren't a common thing to look for once upon a time). I apologized profusely and said that it wouldn't happen again. We parted by telling each other to have a nice evening. I remain convinced that he was not apart of a global conspiracy to disarm me.

So all of that to say this.

If you are going to openly carry your pistol please don't openly carry that chip on your shoulder.

This whole idea of getting into a verbal confrontation with a street cop and tyelling (yes that's intentional) them about our rights doesn't win any friends and regardless what you think that is exactly what this is about. I agree there are far far far too many law enforcement officers who simply do not know the law and have decided that if they tell you "no" that, that is also law. Our job as pro-gun/pro-carry advocates is to win the hearts and minds.

So make sure that this is really about the cause of open carry and not you being an attention whore. Because if you watch enough of the videos you can tell who is doing it for the right reasons and who was told that weren't funny enough for open mike night or smart enough for the debate club.

If you are really committed to making a public demonstration of openly carrying do it right. Don't be a pussy walking around waiting for some poor beat cop who is having a bad day and now gets to respond to a "gunman" (hey he doesn't know till he gets there). Shine those brass balls up and go to your state capital, find out where your representatives have lunch and quietly go sit down at a table near them and have a good time with your pals, tip well and leave
If you are going out looking to make a statement and have it on youtube. Be smart. A-take a shower B- wear something decent. i.e. look respectable.

"This is who I am! Asshole!"

ah...no. It's the clothes on your body.

I love my Lynyrd Skynrd t-shirt and having my shirt sleeve rolled up so I can show off my forearm tat. But a button down shirt, a decent pair of dress pants, and a nice leather holster looks like a class act.

Oh I know you're gonna tell me "well I ain't got no extra money to dress up all fancy Mr. Bodyguard.", uh huh. Sure you don't not with that $800 pistol and that $1,000 dollar AR with the extra $700 in accessories hanging on it. So don't act like you made a wrong turn and just came out of the hills with a flintlock. You aren't there by accident you went to make an intentional statement. Do it well.

There are a lot of folks (myself included) who have been lobbying, donating, and carrying a gun as a private citizen for a very long time and we are very comfortable with ourselves that we don't need to be lectured about "taking a stand". Some of us are very comfortable with our hoploality.

.45 ACP v Grizzly Bear

2011-05-25T18:09:00.005-05:00

A quick update from last year's post (45 ACP Big Bear Medicince ?) . In it I mentioned that a man and woman were hiking in Denali National Park when the woman was charged by a Grizzly that was shot and killed by her male companion armed with a .45 Automatic.

You can read the full article here but here is a quick overview of the situation.

The woman was approximately 25 feet away from the man when the bear emerged from the brush and charged her.
He fired in quick succession seven to nine rounds into the right side of the bear. The bear stopped several feet from the woman and turned back into the brush (where it subsequently died from the gun shot wounds).
They marked the location on their GPS, and according to the tracks of the bear coming out of the brush and returning into the brush along with the spent shell casings match the couples account of the situation. Thus the forensic evidence corroborated.
The bear was injured which may have explained the attack, but none of its injuries life threatening. It was an older male that weighed in at 434lbs.
The couples names have not been released since they in short committed no crime.

The long and short of it is this. Is the .45 ACP capable of killing a charging bear? Yes.

Most people's first choice? No.

Lastly, shot placement, mental acuity, and gun speed all still matter over caliber.

A quick and interesting aspect I found on this website for hunting in British Columbia show the full decomposed remains of a Grizzly. I point to it because you get a good look at the other wise unseen bone structure of these massive bears. Go Here

The Bug Out Bag v The Go Bag (reality, practicality and myth) Part II

2011-05-23T02:01:00.008-05:00

The Bug-out-Bag's portability and maneuverability fails (in my opinion) in one immediate regard.

Water.

The recommended amount of water per person per day is a gallon. A gallon of water roughly equals 8lbs. Three gallons=24lbs.

This doesn't take a lot of things into account.For instance the joy of hot Summer conditions and, that the easiest walking routes are covered in black asphalt. Or that traveling off road can mean climbing hills and, hacking through green under growth. Both will require frequent replenishing of fluids.

Cold Winter brings with it an increased weight of gear overall due to heavy clothing and bulk. Toss in food, guns and ammo, and any personal items and it get damn heavy damn fast.

Though there was an interesting article not too long back in National Geographic about African Aid workers purifiying drinking water by laying out disposable water bottles filled with clear but unsafe water on sheet metal. After six+ hours in the sun the UV light killed live protozoa. (post edit and thanks for the reminder anonymous reader).

Adding ammunition into the mix looks something like this:

A fifty round box of .45 acp 230 grn FMJ weighs 2lbs 4.7ounces, a fifty count box of 9mm 115 grn goes 1.61lbs. Three 30 round AK-47 magazines weighs 4lbs.

Bags also have an funny way of getting outdated or deteriorating. One day you open up your pack and discover your magnesium fire-starter has left a lovely grey film on everything (tip: wrap it in with aluminum foil) or the other bane of a survival kit. The gummy black bastardness of electrical tape over time.

Think all of this Bug out bagging is wrong. Go take your 72 hour kit and stay away for 96 hours. Don't head to the woods go to the shittiest neighborhood you can find in the dead heat of summer, locate and abandoned building and lie low. Then by comparison do a 96 hour drill at your domicile. Shut the power off, shut the water off and hunker down for four days. Either way you come away enlightened.

So what about the whole "Go Bag" concept?

The Go Bag was once defined for me by a former spook-turned-instructor in my formative years of Executive Protection as a professionals personal kit that combines daily use along with contents that may only see use during selected occurrences. This rings true for the SOF Operator, the Patrol Officer, the IT guy, right on down to yours truly. If there is one piece of worth while advice I have learned over the years and it may sound stupid don't pack for comfort, pack for use.

The creature comfort feature is what ends up making a bag unbearably heavy.

Case in point. Once before heading over seas with a client in the dead of winter we were spending the night in New York. The Principal a very corporate casual kinda guy (no ties I was told) and given that we were going to be spending three weeks in India taking a parka for one night seemed stupid. So instead I packed the heaviest wool sweater I had. Did we (and I mean him) decide to walk through half of Manhattan's neighborhoods after dinner in 20 degree weather. Yep. Did I buy a stocking cap from a street vendor in China Town. Yep. Was it freezing cold. Yep. Was I happy two weeks down the road in 95 degrees in Mumbai that I didn't have a parka in my bag. Ye....you get the picture.

Bags will evolve and change over the years as need be. And I actually keep somewhere around four to five bags in a ready, to semi-ready, to three-quarters empty state. The bags themselves range in size from small and medium daily carries to larger ones that may see use once a month. All of them have small shaving and first aid kits, cliff bars, spare batteries, spare knives, and an assortment of needs as the size of the bag increases. While they are not always overly tactical, they are always practical....for me and my needs.

Of the bags I consistently operate from the second and very heavily relied upon is a Duluth Trading Company's Cab Commander (in tan). If you don't have one buy one. It's stays loaded and in the 4runner with everything from a spare coffee thermos and water bottle, knife, picks, maps, compasses, rain jacket, food and so on. The nice thing aside from being within arms reach. If I switch vehicles it's as simple as grabbing it and go.

In the winter I keep a very very upscale winter kit (sarcasm) made up of my cold weather hunting gear, a spare sleeping bag, long underwear, jeans, socks, sweaters, etc all nicely packed in a $10 east German surplus duffel bag (see I told you OD was fashionably pre-war-on-terror). Around Christmas this past winter I received a call from a colleague at 4pm on a Friday afternoon regarding a somewhat dubious missing persons case. The weather was bad, we had just dug out three days prior from a massive snow storm and more was on the way. Since my cold weather Go-Bag was already packed and loaded I had very little in the way of prepping needed other than filling my coffee thermos.

I'm not going to fall into the trap of telling you what you MUST have in your kit, but there are a few things I heavily recommend regardless of size. A decent to very good tactical folder, an LED light of some type with one or two sets of spare batteries. A water bottle. I like a stainless one unpainted, because my thought is should I ever end up where its an emergency situation I can boil water in it over a small fire. A substitute is a plastic Nalgene bottle that fits into one of these. I may have ripped on packing 20+ pounds of water but, I didn't say don't carry any.

One of the best pieces of advice I've ever applied to all of my go-kits is simply a bar of soap, a wash cloth and a hand towel. A Steward (which is more applicable than 'flight attendent')I knew who worked aboard a billionaires private jet remarked that "hot soapy water, a nice soft towel and a clean face and new shirt can literally change your mental ability to work a 20+ hour day". He is very very right. I consider just as important as my night scope to be honest.

The inherent value of a go-kit, is that regardless of your profession, it gives you physical resources for the various demands placed on your professional and personal life.

In one of the more infamous cases where I was very thankful to have a "Go Bag" at the ready was several years back. A buddy and I were out on a morning bow-hunt when my phone began a non-stop buzzing. When I finally answered there was a very panicked stricken secretary on the other end asking if I could be at a local private airport to fly out. Thinking these thing always take a couple of hours to get fully prepped I said "sure, when do I leave?" her response "30 minutes", as I looked at my camo laden self I went rather slack jawed momentarily and said "can we do 45?" she confirmed that would work and that the plane would be held for me (my ego was something stupid for the next several days from that statement alone).

Fortunately I was less than three miles from the airport in question. Unfortunately my "go bag" was about 20 miles away so I did what any single (at the time) professional security spook would do. I called my mom (lest you think that I think far too much of myself not to give this woman the credit she deserves).

I walked on the plane inside of 40 minutes unshaven, head to toe in ASAT camo with five corporate executives all in suits. Waiting and smiling.

The end game is this. A kit should be reflection of you, the inside of your head, and the needs of your daily life. I see my bags in the same light that I do the pockets on my pants, (see Rule 8). Preparedness even on a small level makes all the difference. You learn from it. You'll never have every single specific thing you need, but with a good kit you learn to make things happen and adapt to it as they come.

Because real cowboys ride in the rain.

Up and coming gunsmith

2011-05-19T12:03:00.004-05:00

A hat tip nod to Albert over at the Rasch Outdoor chronicles. He did and interview with a new and upcoming gunsmith named Jeremy Chan who runs his own corner of the blogosphere at nerdgun.blogspot.com .

If you haven't seen it, it's well worth watching

2011-05-18T14:12:00.003-05:00

Well done Martin Short

The Bug Out Bag v The Go Bag (reality, practicality and myth) Part I

2011-05-16T00:38:00.007-05:00

Faced with a half a pot of coffee at 10:30 on a Sunday night and the dire need to finish a case summary of an eight month investigation that is formally being taken over by the Feds; now seemed as good of time as any to blog.

Amongst Internet lore few things spark more debate, discussion and “expert” rambling than the mysterious “Bug Out” or “Go Bag”. Yet lest I split unimportant hairs here, contrary to popular net speak the two bags are not actually one in the same.

The infamous bug out bag is for those situations that have deteriorated due to potential deadly natural disasters or human induced “problems” (like your aerial surveillance plane was shot out of the midnight sky in unfriendly territory and AAA stopped taking your calls over that pesky $55 fee). But if you read many an experts (real and self-titled) opinion of contents it can be somewhat overwhelming and discouraging.

First requirements are fashion (sarcasm) it should be black, coyote, or dark earth in color . Olive drab is sooo pre-Afghanistan (consequently I have bags in all these colors). Second it should have literally the best of everything from a price perspective. From a top of the line M4 with no less than ten mags and ammo to a tactical pistol with six mags, Sure-Fires most expensive and brightest flashlight, spare batteries, and enough food, clothing, and medicine to keep you alive for the next 72 hours.

This goes for every member of the family....yes the dog too.

The problem with this mythic monolith should the feces hit the impeller is that according to the recommended list of contents you realize you need a bug out trunk, not a bag. For a new comer to the area of self-preservation it can all be a bit mind numbing, akin to putting together a tricycle blind folded three hours before sun up on Christmas morning.

But mockery and sarcasm aside, you need to be prepped with a system that is ready. As the Wife, The Dog, and The Mouse have since relocated to Little Farm (still under development) we have seen severe storms come through the area in all kinds of temperatures that by God's grace we have been missed.

A month ago when several tornados ripped through our area, one missing us by 3/4 of a mile, we were again spared but did lose power for ten + hours. I decided to relocate the Wife and Mouse to my folks house for the night a few miles away who still had power, and then come back to watch over the house. Before climbing into the 4Runner to drive them over I put my Remington 870 behind the seat stoked with #1 Buck. Already wearing my .45 she said to me "a little paranoid aren't we?". I explained that she had never seen civility amongst the population break down in the same way I had and if I was being paranoid I'd be wearing a bandoleer of shells.

I say that to say this.

While I don't have any actual bag or bags packed for emergency evac these days like I did when I was single I do have my gear organized and stowed under the basement stairs. My feeling being that this area is tornado and earthquake resistant. It would take a pretty substantial situation for me to feel we need to "bug out". To that end an example would look like a biological or nuclear attack or a substantial natural disaster like Japan 2011 or New Orleans in '05 post Katrina. Something that makes the region either toxic in the health sense or social collapse in epic..epic.. scale.

Despite all of its darkly romantic notions bugging out presents far larger issues than staying put. I have tools, vehicles, defensible structure, multiple firearms, ammunition, reloading capabilities, food, clothing.....resources.I'd much rather stay, live uncomfortable for a time, fight when and if I have to than run-fight-survive.

As we go about structuring Little Farm my concept for this home is that it is also a micro-training facility, an urban farm and a fortified location. Should the need arise that we absolutely must leave we can, but staying is vastly preferred.

Why?

Because I've been there. Skulking through the woods at night, leading somebody out of a bad situation with armed men about wanting to kill you. Shivering in the cold with minimal gear with people who also need part of that minimal gear and who are also in a constant state of panic out of said situation. And that is knowing mentally I need to survive this short time frame to get back to civilization.

Fleeing from it into a vast uncertainty, carrying a 70+ pound bag of gear, food and clothing along with several .45s and a rifle, with the Wife, and a kid who still doesn't have teeth, can't walk yet, let alone do any kind of over-watch. It's going to have to be TEOTW literally.

If you entrench yourself behind strong fortifications, you compel the enemy seek a solution elsewhere. - Karl Von Clausewitz

Part II coming.

The Cannabilism of CCW

2011-04-10T17:56:00.008-05:00

When the Afghans finally forced the Russians out of their country it took little time before the tribes once united in a ten year war fell back to the old ways. Defeating the juggernaut bear with then modern technology allowed clans to began slaughtering each other in a more efficiently.

Today The Wife, my In-Laws, and I were all enjoying some local barbecue when in walked my old childhood neighbor who is a recently certified NRA pistol instructor. He had just finished teaching his first CCW course and I asked him where he went for a range, "Man it's tough. Nobody wants to let you in to their range and when they do they inflate the price because they consider you competition."

I nodded my head in complete understanding. Living in a relatively large metropolitan area anyone who shoots from my neck of the woods can tell you the location of every range, how far it is, and what the range's fees are. Supply simply doesn't meet demand.

Shooting ranges have always been right up there with nuclear power plants for their "Not in my neighborhood" associations. When the infamous "Flood of '93" ravaged the mid-west it led to a number of local ranges being destroyed. One took the insurance money drove 40 miles west and re-opened Benchrest Rifle Club complete with a 600 yard range. Other owners wanted to rebuild but everyone from the EPA to anti-gun municipal tyrants refused to issue permits. After all the Birkenstock 90's was about saving the children, and shooting ranges "obviously" (read: sarcasm first time reader) meant dead ten year olds.

We need more ranges, and not just in that "I want" sense. We really need them. There probably has never been as many first time shooters in America, ever. I can remember when seeing AR at the range was rare and SKSs were common. These days ranges are jammed with waiting lines, black rifles, and pistols and not just old white guys. If you seek "coexistence" and "cultural diversity" you can find it easier at a shooting range than the local Thai restaurant.

The more armed citizens we have the more we need them shooting and honing a lethal skill.
I LOVE shooting and have been at it since I was about eight. I joke that my blood is composed blood, lead, copper shavings, coffee grounds, and IMR 4064. I love it because it teaches me something new everytime, it is a highly enjoyable recreation, a great de-stressing tool, and as I said a lethal skill, all rolled into one.

Some guy over there is waving his arms and telling me "sssshhhh shhhh it's not a leathal skill...it's a gun...not a weapon."

Guns are lethal and they are weapons. Some are reverse engineered for Olympic sport with crazed looped grips and ten pound barrels, but they started out as something else. Manipulation of a firearm is a lethal skill.

So is driving a car.

"but but but not in the same vein" you cry. As a former ten year old who went over the windshield of a 1977 Yellow Gremlin (I didn't look both ways) I beg to differ.

We need more ranges which means we need more allies on local municipal boards who affect land permit issuance and zoning. The more ranges, the less monopoly happens.

Because that is what we are seeing. I don't begrudge anyone from making as much money as they can (okay maybe baseball pitchers I do), but when range owners who run open-to-public ranges and run Conceal Carry courses try to financially burden a fellow instructor by jacking up rates or turning them away I get a little pissed.

"Well were competitors!" Thanks Gordon Gecko, but when you wave that NRA flag on the front door we are also family. And an instructor from the outside who is paying for an hour or two of range time per student has just walked new customers into your door. Because where the instructor without a range sees that student once for training, the same student-now-CCW holder will come back over and over and over to your range. For advice, for ammo, gun rentals, holsters, guns, and (gasp) more range time. After that they bring other friends to shoot, including....wait for it.....new shooters.

I don't know why every range I go to there is always someone behind the counter who can tell you how they came up with the idea of gun ownership and implemented conceal carry all by themselves.

New shooters means strength in the maintaining of rights. New shooters leads to more conceal carry permit holders. More permit holders means more citizens fighting back against rapists, stalkers, and spree shooters.

Besides that if there is one thing I know about working for almost two decades in a specialized field where I have competitors, not all of them last.

"Well those guys aren't professionals. My guys are" says the range owner.

Clint Smith has professionals on his Thunder Ranch range, but I've been to plenty of ranges where the guy behind the counter is working part time for ammo and range discounts (and who can blame him), but ironically may also be in possession of the worst safe gun handling skills. Embroidered Polo doesn't equal a professional, it means employed here.

Am I dogging range owners here?

Yes.

Remember who your allies are. That the best marketing tool is word of mouth, it's what some people call reputation, and you either get a good one or a bad one. Being well funded doesn't mean shit when you have no street cred.

But as one reader reminded me, the coin is always two sided. As an independent instructor coming into a range we have the burden not to act like idiots and self-grandizing gurus. Range owners spend a considerable amount of their money on liability insurance because there is always some jack ass somewhere willing to do something you-tube worthy.

There are always problems in any sub-culture, but the American gun culture is rooted into our cowboy culture I like to think. We stand up to a worthy cause, we value the independent hard work of another person, and we ride for the brand. And for the American shooting community the 2nd Amendment is our brand.

We hang together or we shall surely hang separately.

2011-04-04T22:55:00.002-05:00

There use to be civility and manners in civilization. Today we have "tolerance" which is nothing more than narrow minded insistence.

www.twitter.com/humanintel

Reasonable expectation of privacy......depends on who you ask

2011-03-22T00:15:00.009-05:00

Privacy is a relative thing.

Today we live in a world where in order to do "normal and modern" things ....like communicate (or self-publish) we voluntarily sacrifice some level of privacy. And while we like to think that this is in our hands it really isn't. The decision to give it away or keep it is ours but once we give it out it's no longer in our control.

The use of any electronic communication device is routed through large corporations with government regulation. At any given time hundreds of people on a daily basis have access to anything about you minus your inner most thoughts.

Those crazy kids at the NSA have all of us under constant watch word surveillance, and dig moderately hard enough you can find out a lot about a person right down to the size of their skivvies (seriously).

But Big Brother is not alone.

In my work the coin is two sided; my clientele' ranges from private individuals, large corporations to governments......ah well not governments. Routinely retained to either safe guard an individual and their privacy or gain whatever intel I can ...just take your pick and we'll talk money.

As of this writing I have just finished drafting a proposal and concept for a large legal firm here in the U.S. titled "Enhanced Surveillance Techniques for use in Litigation".

Very legal and modern means of surveillance in the private sector. Ironically what a judge would have thrown out ten + years ago as excessive or extraordinary can be argued as quite normal. I won't say it reduces the cost of an investigation and in some cases increases it, it does make for better means of intelligence gathering with a lower to invisible profile not to mention providing a consistent flow of streaming intelligence versus a guy in a car down the street.

For years I have wanted to incorporate the use of R/C airplanes fitted with cameras to conduct aerial surveillance. Which may seem reaching, but truth is the Miami-Dade Police brokered a deal with Honeywell a couple months back and filed official paperwork with the FAA for unmanned aerial drones to fly over the county.

The first of its kind over a large metropolitan area. However not the first of its kind over rural areas (think outskirts of Denver). What was once limited to Kabul or Baghdad will now be over South Beach. And it's only a few short years before a private firms start picking up on this.

Trust me I ever get the scratch to effectively do it I am.

Oh sure you're thinking they'll never allow it. But if a person can privately own and fly anything from a glider to a Gulfstream there is no real reason an unmanned droned can't be either.

There are several local law enforcement agencies here in my part of the world that have police cruisers fitted with license plate scanners. The system has four cameras mounted on the front and back of the cruiser's light bar and are connected to a computer in the trunk, constantly and automatically scanning some 1,200 license plates an hour on parked and moving cars. Once scanned the system the compares scans with plate numbers of vehicles and vehicle owners who have outstanding warrants (local to national), and those databases are updated daily.

The NYPD? They are now armed with roving surveillance vehicles that uses back-scatter technology to scan people for weapons and vehicles for explosives. Ironically it can't tell you if the person with the SiG on their hip has a CCW or not.

Sure sure but what does this have to do with you.

Every-time we open a new profile on a social networking site, post our cell phone, use twitter we voluntarily give away our privacy. This makes it difficult if you ever are targeted by someone like me to argue that I've invaded your privacy when I can show what two hours internet search engines alone will produce. Not to mention any surveillance done or trash rooted through (by the way you need to recycle more).

A discussion I've been in with a colleague is whether or not putting passive GPS trackers on a target's vehicle is trespassing or invading privacy. And the Supreme Court is looking at this as well. Passive trackers don't tell me anything different than if I was following someone it just does it better. Nothing personal is revealed, these devices don't shoot audio or video, private conversations aren't compromised they just say where a vehicle went, how it got there and how fast it went. Was privacy really invaded? Especially since most vehicles and cell phones now come equipped with GPS that do exactly the same thing.

"YES" you cry.

"I don't know!" I respond.

Can someone live a modern life and maintain their privacy?

My best advice. Be intentional about it.

For starters if its reasonable block public views from your home windows. Drive around your life and see how someone can visually access your home life (think of it as self-surveilled) and then figure out ways to block those views.

If your world is windows, whether its a high rise apartment or glass office building three words of sage advice "White-noise-generator". In laymen's terms: speakers that play static facing a window.

You may think it 007 but, laser listening devices are indeed out there and it requires little more than youtube and a twelve year old with a how-to video up in regards as how to build one.

Think I'm paranoid? In the last decade I've seen these utilized by the opposition in 10-20 retained clients. The sound quality ? Meh, but good enough to get what is needed.

And I'm not alone in this threat assessment. Every new United States Federal building built has specs for white noise generators to cause reverb in all windows. What was once Tom Clancy is now $25, a soldering gun and a Tuesday night in the basement.

All of my personal mail and work mail go to a P.O. Box first. I make it a conscious effort to know all the vehicles that belong in my neighborhood.

I promise I do not own a tin foil hat (they're all been aluminum since 1946 anyway). It's just being conscious about the world around me.

I have clients who are well known and unknown that pay me an annual retainer to route everything from their cell phone bills, set social networking pages up, all the way to handling their apartment leases through my firm.

"good for them, I don't have that kind of cash"

If you don't mind The Man having some involvement most states have what is called a "Safe at Home" program generally run through the Secretary of States office. It's really just a mail forwarding service, but every little bit of backstopping helps.

Make a list of how and where you are publicly profiled and then see what you can do to curtail it. If you simply take down a profile it will still exist out there so go for disinformation. Then examine all areas of your life where you can do better at safeguarding your personal privacy whether it's the back yard to the internets.

Where there was once a social concept to mind your own business in another twenty will be "what do you have to hide!? What was once seen as a fundamental right will be looked at suspiciously and sadly deemed socially "unacceptable" and prosecutors in the future will talk about how we are trying to keep damning secrets to inflame a juries decision.

The more we attention-whore ourselves out the less we can lay claim to our rights of privacy.

Your tolerance won't be tolerated

2011-01-23T00:52:00.004-06:00

I always try to make sure that when I link something, that it holds value, that it presents facts very straight forward to cut through the bullshit.

The video link below is of David Horowitz, a Jewish conservative writer and policy advocate, during a question and answer session. In it a member of the MSA (Muslim Student Association) tries to put him in the hot seat.

It doesn't really work out so well for her.

David Horowitz speaks at the Young Americans for Freedom at USCD

I consider myself pretty world traveled and, when I have tried to tell my liberal friends that Muslims don't want your peace they want your head.Including those who live here. I am scoffed at as a knuckle dragger who "simply doesn't understand".

Those who read this blog and also know me, know that I am no hater. I've eaten in Muslim compounds in Karachi, sat with Sikhs, and hold a general fascination with cultures all over the world.

But I know hate and killers when I see them. And I know how you fight them.

The problem with Islam is that it condones violence except the very very isolated few.

It does.

Oh no doubt every religion has its whack job, but at least the mainstreamers of every other faith in the world distance themselves on TV from the violent voices....except the Muslims.

We have not yet fully experienced what I call "fashionable Muslim violence" here in the States. Yet. But we will. If you are running international terrorist group and you want to recruit killers you look for young people who are angry, who desire to lash out and take life. Kids with deep seated daddy issues.

And I say that with no jest.

I like the fighting of terrorism abroad in their home turf over mine. But we'll eventually have to deal with IEDs and suicide bombers on home soil and when it happens I I wonder if any of the talking heads will demand a complete ban on pencil denators and C-4. Most likely they will say "Why does anyone need steel ball bearings"...but I digress.

Not all tyrants are in government, and not all religions promote peace.

Jump the Shark much?

2011-01-19T18:26:00.002-06:00

2011-01-10T00:13:00.002-06:00

I find it ironic that I know no anti-gun people that would use their 1st amendment voice to protect the 2nd Amendment while, every pro-gun person I know would use the 2nd Amendment to defend the anti-gun persons right to the 1st.

The First Amendment is the singer on stage in front of everyone whose voice can not be ignored, while the Second Amendment is the individual in front of the stage making sure no one kills the performance.

Smart Concealed Carry

2011-01-05T01:06:00.013-06:00

Fundamentally concealed carry is a comprehensive approach to predicting the future. No different than the reason we wear seat belts. One realizes that they live in society and several thousand years of recorded case history points out that not all members of society have good intentions toward everyone else. When we walk out the door there are inherent risks and unforeseeable events in the day ahead that may prove detrimental to your over all well being; therefore you take precautions.

Ironically, hoplophobes are always bent on making the world "safer" while simultaneously being the least prepared or capable of responding to a critical situation (but the first on camera after go figure). They also are the least flexible members of society where by comparison most licensed carry conceal permit holders tend to be more tolerant than often given credit.

We tend to be encouraging and welcoming of people with diverse backgrounds and life style choices who have a desire to learn how to shoot. The anti-self-defense people are intolerant and inflexible with attitudes that are borderline paranoid, classicist, and in my opinion often lack good mental fortitude.

The CCW permit is a state's recognition of the individual's positive mental capacity. To which one who does not hold a permit is hardly in the position to make a case against a weapons permit holder backed solely on generalized and, often inaccurate statements that permits are utilized by the ignorant or irresponsible.

For example. The permit holder has to have a decent to exceptional knowledge of criminal, weapon and transportation law. It matters a great deal to know where and how a weapon can be carried, what other states do and do not hold reciprocity with their state. What the consequences are for stalking, or adult abuse, or being intoxicated with a firearm. What places controlled by the Federal Government allow for concealed carry, peaceable transportation or zero tolerance towards weapons all together.

The hoplophobe is often ignorant in such civil matters and it could be argued that they are actually the more ignorant members of the citizenry.Though I suspect this would only lead to further weeping and gnashing of teeth amongst the elite.

No doubt there are permit holders who are bigots, idiots, sexists but, rarely are permit holders criminals (this can be confirmed through state and federal data bases demonstrating the low numbers of revoked CCW permits nationally). Consequently a large majority of violent protests and riots in the United States going back to then of the end of the 19th century with the labor movement stems from hard leftist radicals.

But I digresses; we do not live in a safe world.

We do not.

Some areas see less violence than others, but all areas contend with evil men bent on hell.

After logging in roughly thirty thousand hours carrying a handgun professionally as a civilian one begins to understand that there is a lot that goes into concealed carry. At best it holds an air of continuing education or a part time job. Our mistake can be that in the art of conceal carry and Personal Defense is assuming that when you receive your certificate and plastic ID card your are highly qualified.Knowing how to shoot and being authorized to carry is not the same as living with and understanding the intricate details of daily life with a handgun.

Surviving and thriving through a gun fight may come down to the time it takes to squeezing the trigger, but if you miss the shift in social dynamics, get caught with your hands compromised all that money you shelled out for guns, holsters, and class will have been in vain.

One: Set your own standard for responsibility.

Put it on the calender and get to the range once every three months (at the least) and qualify to your states standard of expectation for getting a permit. Better still go beyond the expectation. Shoot your carry guns at at a variety of distances and then keep the targets with notations on them.

April 8^th, 2011 ten rounds .38 special 7 yards from Smith & Wesson model 442

April 8^th, 2011 twenty-five rounds .45 ACP 25 yards Colt Combat Commander.

Get an expandable folder and file your targets after each range session. You should be nearly on par with your home states requirement for law enforcement qualification. Don't get high strung about having all your holes fill the size of a playing card (especially if you are new to it). If your level of suck is high and your target reflects it then there is your motivation to do better. It also demonstrates should they ever be called into use your marked level of improvement.The best part is you have a scheduled appointment to go to the range, which is far better than the dentist or oil change.

If your new to shooting and/or your first target for record has a pattern that is minute-of-dinner-table and you get into a self-defense shooting the next week you might be just as wise to burn the damn thing and say nothing to no one about it.

Another area of personal responsibility is that long ago I set up a code system for my brain in contending with keeping a handgun around the home. In a holster means chambered and ready to go. A handgun that is not in a holster is not chambered (on a revolver I open the cylinder), and needs to be manipulated into working order.

Two: Measure out your life

While some threats to our life are random and others are not we generally live under one routine or another. Within those routines are set distances and while the world still preaches that most self-defense shootings occur within seven yards (I still contend that this is changing) you might be surprised to find some very lengthy indoor areas.

The first time I can concretely attest to noticing was on a work place protection detail for an internet firm before the dot-com-crash ten years ago. The floor plan was very modern and open and in three areas existed corridors for 43 yard line of fire.

A few winters ago when I was protecting a wealthy client who was fearful that a hit had been taken out on his life I maintained a two week vigil at his very spacious home. From the kitchen to the first decent form of cover was fifteen yards (again inside).

Lest you think these distances apply only to the rich, the children's area at my church had a hallway corridor of 39 yards with the fire doors closed.

You don't have to have a Rain Man compulsion about it, but its applicable if you carry a firearm in your work place or any day-to-day area to know. Even if it is to good cover (cover not concealment).

Which is worth mentioning as well. Do you actively look at things in your life and say (inwardly) "this is concealment (drywall walls for example) and this is cover (concrete pillars, trash dumpsters)". It behooves you to study what bullets penetrate and what they do not.

Case in point. In a street crime shooting your attacker is likely to have a handgun more so than a long-arm so coverage has some flexibility. Spree shooters show a case history that these murderers have a blaze of glory mind set so there is a high probability that you are going to encounter Rambo who will be armed with a couple of pistols, a rifle and a shotgun.

Sound outlandish? As I am compartmentalizing and studying spree killers multiple firearms are the norm.

My end goal is to get you beyond the seven yard target. Start seeing some of the distances common to your life you'll embrace the idea and set aside the ego of shooting "good targets" at short ranges and stretch things out and start working with your gun...and not against it.

Three: Anatomy 101

We are told “aim center mass” but, do you understand why?

In the simplest of terms gun shot wounds to the lower abdomen generally are not fight stoppers in the same vein as the upper. With the exception of killing a kidney causing rapid blood loss, a fight could last several minutes. The upper chest allows for multiple immediate fight stoppers. A bullet puncture to the lung leaves the target with little or no ability to resupply oxygen to the body, add to it the blood loss that incurs and we get a one-two punch. One round (especially from a service caliber) will likely penetrate through and through. From this we get a potential force multiplier of four when everything goes right. A sucking chest and back wound and, two blood loss locations. Multiple rounds and the rate of destruction increases.

This doesn't take into account if the heart is destroyed. When a bullet smashes through the sternum the heart has to contend with damage from not only from the bullet but bone fragmentation as well.

This forward path of destruction is not over.

Straight to the chest gun shot wounds present potential injuries to the Spinal cord (lacerations, severing, etc.). Shattering the vertebral bones can punctured the spinal cord with a potential result in paraplegia, or full body paralysis below the site of injury to the spinal cord for the attacker.

Removing the actual ability to continue the attack by the aggressor.

The head shot while valuable.... and hittable as a target of potential fight stoppage is not a guarantee. Modern dictum from the arm chair is that a head shot equals death is something like 1/10 of a second. This is talking about a brain shot respectfully. The brain cavity takes up roughly half of the head. Shoot from the nose down and your attacker my lose some teeth but not his ability to fight.

Connect with the cervical vertebrae and death is instantaneous but hitting essentially a violently moving saltine cracker size target is tough.

Four: Turn your gun around

There is no way to deny that this isn't a pet peeve, a valid one, but willfully admitted pet peeve. I'd say this is common amongst new conceal carriers, but when I did my stint in corporate security this was very normal amongst guys who were retired law enforcement.

This method of carry is to place the gun in the small of the back either sans holster or in-the-waistband with the butt facing forward. The problem with this is two fold.

One, the gun is drawn by sweeping its owner. It may sound trite, but Rule 2 of gun safety is never allow the muzzle to cover anything you aren't willing to destroy. Conspicuously and continuously violated, especially with pistols, Rule two applies always under all circumstances

Oh sure I know your not gonna shoot yourself....unless of course you do.

Being involved in a gunfight is more than slightly stressful than you might assume. A negligent discharge when drawing strong side butt reward means at best a round goes into the floor. The worst is it goes into your leg (this happened to George Patton with the 1911 allegedly), but shooting yourself in the leg means you may be down but, not out.

Put a round into your guts from muzzle contact range however and you are your own first and last casualty. Extended beyond that, you just shot the only person able to thwart an attack, thus leaving the attacker to do as he pleases. Whether that is shooting your co-workers or raping your wife.

The second problem is it requires extensive chicken winging getting the gun into action. Should the encounter go into a close proximity fight inside arms reach your aggressor merely has to lock your arm behind your back...because that's where it is.

There is a subsection to this ...call it 2b if you will.

Were you to find yourself in a tight quarters brawl or attack in the midst of drawing the pistol in the conventional manner of barrel top forward butt rearward and your arm was locked low you still have the bad guy's groin or leg being easily targeted. In the opposite direction you are now fighting not to be a target from both yourself and the attacker.

Small things are only small things until they become big things.

Five: Understanding The Tactical Reload

In self-defense circles, IDPA, and the like this is often a hot button topic that in my very very humble opinion is misunderstood. The idea is to fire two to three rounds, then pop your magazine and insert a fresh one, while retaining your partial magazine in the process in case you need it.

You probably will need it ….so leave it in your gun.

The actual idea with tac-reload is to wait for a lull in the fight. A lull is different than dropping behind cover. IF your getting behind cover its generally because you are being shot at. A lull is when things get oddly quiet.

How long exactly? (here come the nasty e-mails) Think ten seconds; one-Mississippi two-Mississippi...... all the way up to ten.

I know you can hit a combat tactical reload in under 1/10 of a second. You know what is faster?

A loaded gun.

My predominate side arm is a Colt Combat Commander with 8 round mags and one in the pipe. If forced to fire off three rounds I still have the same amount of cartridges in the mag as a six shot revolver is starting off with. A modern designed high capacity handgun shooter should really question this mentality.

Why begin disassembling your pistol when you are in the fight of your life?

That guy over there just said “but what about...how do I remember how many rounds I fired?

You won't and seriously don't worry about it. That's why the gun manufacturers were kind enough to add the nice slide lock feature.

Six: Buy snap caps

Everyone will tell you dry firing doesn't hurt center fire handguns. They are right. The gun is fine but you can break the firing pin. I dry fire somewhere around two to three accumulative hours a week and have for well over a decade. I use to fire over an empty chamber. I've also broken three firing pins. Which is considerable considering on two of them I carried day in and day out for at least a couple of weeks before I discovered that my pistol didn't function (read: fire).

*Click* is really something you don't want to here when you expect the gun to go off.

It is worth mentioning (hat tip to tgace and Lead Chucker ) on this re-edit that this tend to be a bigger issue with hammer fired over striker fired handguns. Though the first gun that I broke a firing pin on was an early Kahr E-9 (yes I said E not K ) which is striker fired. Whether it was an early design flaw or excessive dry firing I can't say. I've only ever heard of one Glock firing pin breaking ...and I heard about it didn't see it.

Seven: drop a round from your magazines

The most wide spread complaint you will hear in regards to semi-automatic handguns is that “it's not feeding”.

Some will site a dirty gun or a weakened recoil spring, but more often than not it comes from weak magazine springs. For whatever the reason, and don't ask cause I still don't know even after asking people who make them. The last round in the mag is hell on the spring when compressed for a significant amount of time. This is especially true on high capacity magazines.

Where as drop loading or loading your magazine minus one round is not. For day in and day out I keep my mags downloaded by one. If something comes up, I'm traveling or feel the generalized need for it I take the three rounds that reside in my night stand box and insert them into the mag and go about my business.

I've run various tests over the years on this. Loaded mags, dated them and put in the safe only to be pulled out a year or two later and have the same failure to feed problem (and I use good magazines). The good news is you can easily and relatively cheaply replace the springs all by themselves. Two years ago I replaced six mag springs for $24 from Chip McCormick after twelve years of use.

Another good idea is to rotate your magazines (this is to imply that you have several) I generally rotate in and out of service every six months with a routine cleaning after every range session.

Eight: Wear a very good belt

One that is denoted as a gun belt.

I tried Duluth Trading Company's (great products) heavy duty leather belt but after two years of continuous use it fell apart. My current favorite is a Gould & Goodrich B52 leather pants belt. I just crossed the one year mark with it and it is in fantastic shape. Around $50 (US).

Nine: Wear good holsters

Like everything else in the gun community holsters are one more area where opinions are numerous. The current trend building is to carry police type security holsters, and to each their own. But where I have never had a problem making the transition from one type of pistol to another (i.e. 1911 to DOA automatic or revolver) I can not say the same for holsters.

I've carried enough and am familiar with a variety of handguns that muscle memory assumes control as soon as I get a grip on it. But with a holster your hand never touches it so there is no muscle memory building. May not sound like an issue, but after 15 years of dedicated daily carry it's one where I like consistency.

My belt holsters both in and outside the pant usually rely on tension screws or pinched leather to retain the handgun. The idea most folk fall into is that the strap aids in weapon retention in a struggle (which undeniably it can) but since police officers carry openly their threat is greater as opposed to someone who is carrying conceal.

Should you wind up in the unlikely position of fighting to maintain control of your sidearm it will likely already be in your hand. Conveniently enough you can go ahead and shoot. Thus ending that debate.

Personal preferences as far as holster makers go. I like Galco a lot.

My Jackass rig is very close friend of 18 or 19 years and a variety of countries and assignments.

Shoulder holsters get a lot of very bad press. I think the reason for this is most people wear the holster far far to low where the holster swings (would someone please tell the military this!) Mine rides directly under my arm pit and I like it there thank you very much.

The other advantage for a shoulder rig is going to the bathroom. Gone is the dilemma of catching your pants before they hit the floor with a thud, or sitting with a gun in your hand (I hang mine on the coat hook....and no I've never discharged a round into the ceiling) .

I also have come to appreciate El Paso Saddlery. They have quality holsters for reasonable prices to those of us who prefer leather.

My Smith 442 rides in a Galco S.O.B. (small of back) rig, but after several hours with it on I know its there. Anything heavier than the little snub nose I'll pass. On an up note the little SOB did save me from an otherwise nasty kidney punch on a detail once and it did nothing good for my attackers hand nor wrist.

Ankle rigs.

Where they shine (good ones) are in semi-formal events or situations where a tucked in shirt and no jacket is expected to be worn. Hot summer weddings are a good example. A good rig that is secure passes the dancing test. My Galco (again.....really) has no security strap on it only a tension screw, but I assure you I can do a full and complete hand stand and not have it fall out.

I have also driven across the country on four occasions wearing it for ten and 12 hours at a stretch behind the wheel and never been bothered by its presence. A bad or cheap ankle holster will make you drag your leg like Quasimodo or squint like Jack Elam.

By black it disappears with black socks better than a brown one by the way.

At the end of the day the holster that sees the most use is an old Dillon Leather IWB. Which for the private citizen this is going to be the usual method of carry.

Ten: Be Polite, Be respectful, Be in control but don't be a Pussy.

If you have to engage in a verbal altercation do so with steadiness and surety. Don't mince words with them or apologize. The beautiful thing about the human voice is that its user has volume control.

Use it.

Screaming and yelling looks good in the movies where all the cops swarm in, but when you scream at people you elevate the stress level of everyone involved...and there won't be a swarm of other guns behind you. It's also very very difficult for future potential witnesses to know who the rational one was when both of you are yelling.

And truthfully if you have enough time to delve into a Dr. Phil/Clint Eastwood combination monologue you have time to leave before the shit really hits the fan. And the less you talk the less likely you are to say something stupid.I have found is that the rank and file citizen actually fairs quite poor at confrontations and de-escalation. They either tend to go over board with the tough talk or they come across weak and pathetic. Both can get you killed.

Short sweet, even tones and straight to the point.

Over the top would be “Motherfucker I'm gonna kill you now if you don't put down that gun!”

While just as equally bad is “Can we talk for a minute?”

Any aggressor who creates a situation with brandishing a gun whether he begins to actively shoot or threatens to, needs to be shot.

It is just that simple.

Don't complicate it.

Pull your gun (while going for cover if possible) put your sights on the target and fire.

No talky talk, fire.

A deranged man with a gun who hasn't shot anyone is generally recognized to be within ¼ of an inch as being later identified on the evening news as a deranged murderer with a gun. Shooting a bad man who is armed is preventing murder.

But diagnose the situation even if it requires a mere (or lifetime) of ten seconds. It's important to note that I said BAD GUY with A GUN. With the prevalence of people carrying concealed out there you need to make sure that just because you see a pistol drawn in public that it isn't a fellow good guy reacting to a situation that you may not be seeing.

Currently I am not aware of any CCW law in the country that requires a civilian to issue a verbal command before he or she can fire at an attacker (if I am wrong on this jump in an let me know).

Eleven: ID yourself

I don't carry a badge of any type. In my earlier days I did.

A very nice Blackington one that read PRIVATE DETECTIVE, but my work is a bit more....uh... specialized anymore and to be honest police officers don't appreciate it. I get it.

I worked with a Dade County undercover cop once who told me that if “the shit ever went down” open your wallet and show your ID, that's what undercover police officers do when badge carrying leads to life insurance policies getting filed.

Flashing your wallet open isn't claiming to be a cop it says “please make note I am a good guy”....or they will at least think you have a concussion and be slightly more sympathetic.

To voluntarily carry a handgun amongst the populace is a great and grave responsibility. It is the most serious of social purposes and since it is voluntary we must choose to do everything involving it better.

Lives are at stake.

And not just ourselves or that of the B-I-Q (bad guy in question), but also of any bystander. There is very little room to maneuver legally or ethically that a mother of three was collateral damage when you were forced to fire to stop an attacker.

The short of it is this. Some men are bent on destruction, their end goal is to inflict mental and physical trauma on people, make widows and orphans and take the lives of children from their parents. Know your target, accurately assess the crisis at hand and engage. Men and women who aren't willing to stand up and fight to safe guard life are in the way of those who are.

2010-12-15T11:29:00.003-06:00

After every spree shooting, like the one that just happened in Florida at a School Board meeting, everyone wants to play amateur psychologist and find what the gunman's motivations was.

Here is the answer regardless.

He woke up and decided to be an evil bastard with a gun.

When you encounter an individual whose desire is violence, death and destruction you must meet him on equal terms. While it may seem brave for a man to try and lovingly talk a gunman into laying down his gun and save his life or for an old woman to swing her purse at a gunman it simply is not appropriate.

If you have a gun you shoot him, if you have a knife you make a strategic move to get behind him if you can and put the knife into the back of his skull or kidneys. If all you have is a fire extinguisher you blind him with the spray get out of the path of blind fire and use the canister to bludgeon him to death and leave his head a bloody pulp on the linoleum.

While it may sounds gruesome it is not as bad as a friend, a father, a mother, a husband or a wife not coming home.

Lying on the ground while a gunman walks around shooting people is never ever ever the right thing to do regardless what any police chief says at a press conference. Killing the son of a bitch is.

Stalked

2010-12-02T23:22:00.002-06:00

Of the many situations I work at resolving for my clients, those who are victims of stalkers ranks right up there.

As I am continually gathering, studying and, compiling information on several issues. Of those Stalking in my opinion is the most personal. I have seen men and women and, in one case a child, pursued relentlessly until something is done. One client was harassed for no less than five years by a former co-worker's husband.

Ask any Cop and Victim how frustrating such cases can be. Proof is hard to come by (sometimes) and just like any other bad guy, terrorist, assassin or man eating lion they hold a lot advantages.

Catching and repelling Stalkers is one of those jobs that I hate to love, but I digress....

If you have ever been stalked I would appreciate you sharing your story with me. How it started, where it is at now, what it entailed in you successfully getting it resolved. Or did it ever get resolved?

Maybe it was an Ex, a casual acquaintance, a perfect stranger, a member of the opposite sex, or the same. You would be surprised the number of women who are stalked by other women.

If you would like to share please send it to an e-mail address I have specifically set up for this.

stalked@att.net

Thanks and there are new posts coming.

Carte Blanche Barney Fife

2010-11-24T21:00:00.005-06:00

Sorry I've been "off air" so to speak. There has been a lot going on. The Wife suffering some harassment from a quasi-stalker, a client who's family may or may not be trying to kill her, another client who is a victim to a Ponzi scheme of which I=am actively trying to retrieve his quarter of a million dollars, a move to the new residence, and oh yeah the arrival of The Daughter. So life's been a little out there.

Somethings worth mentioning in this whole new debacle of "aviation security". The Pilots may be leading the way in the fight against this false hope of security. There is a lot to read so let's get to it.

PDF Links worth checking out.

First up. A Freedom of Information request to the U.S. Justice Department's Marshall's Service. The link is a response from the U.S. Marshall's Service General Counsel's office to an attorney for the

"Electronic Privacy Information Center". The response is based upon the wanting to know if the Backscatter body imagers can transmit the images downloaded [naked pictures of you] and, the short of it is...yes they can. I am assuming in good faith that the PDF is legit. Back channel resources assure me that it is, and that the response is from Uncle Same hisself. But hey it's the internets so you know....

Body scanners Disclosure letter August 2nd, 2010

The "other" PDF link
This other link for you tin foilers are the the TSA's requirement specs for WBI (whole body imagers) with a finalized date of September 23, 2008. My point being buried in this the TSA's Office of Security Technology System Planning and Evaluation outlined among many things that these body-imagers

be able to take detailed pics of the human body and transmit them electronically.

TSA Procurement_Specs

Finally I have pasted a copy of Captain David Bates of the president of the Allied Pilots Association (which represents 11,500 pilots) letter to his fellow members. It reads as follows:

Fellow Pilots,

In response to increased threats to civil aviation around the world, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has implemented the use of Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) body scanners at some airport locations.

While I’m sure that each of us recognizes that the threats to our lives are real, the practice of airport security screening of airline pilots has spun out of control and does nothing to improve national security. It’s long past time that policymakers take the steps necessary to exempt commercial pilots from airport security screening and grant designated pilot access to SIDA utilizing either Crew Pass or biometric identification. As I recently wrote to the TSA Administrator:

“Our pilots are highly motivated partners in the effort to protect our nation’s security, with many of us serving as Federal Flight Deck Officers. We are all keenly aware that we may serve as the last line of defense against another terrorist attack on commercial aviation. Rather than being viewed as potential threats, we should be treated commensurate with the authority and responsibility that we are vested with as professional pilots.”

It is important to note that there are “backscatter” AIT devices now being deployed that produce ionizing radiation, which could be harmful to your health. Airline pilots in the United States already receive higher doses of radiation in their on-the-job environment than nearly every other category of worker in the United States, including nuclear power plant employees. As I also stated in my recent letter to the Administrator of the TSA:

“We are exposed to radiation every day on the job. For example, a typical Atlantic crossing during a solar flare can expose a pilot to radiation equivalent to 100 chest X-rays per hour. Requiring pilots to go through the AIT means additional radiation exposure. I share our pilots’ concerns about this additional radiation exposure and plan to recommend that our pilots refrain from going through the AIT. We already experience significantly higher radiation exposure than most other occupations, and there is mounting evidence of higher-than-average cancer rates as a consequence.”

It’s safe to say that most of the APA leadership shares my view that no pilot at American Airlines should subject themselves to the needless privacy invasion and potential health risks caused by the AIT body scanners. I therefore recommend that the pilots of American Airlines consider the following guidelines:

Use designated crew lines if available.

Politely decline AIT exposure and request alternative screening.

There is absolutely no denying that the enhanced pat-down is a demeaning experience. In my view, it is unacceptable to submit to one in public while wearing the uniform of a professional airline pilot. I recommend that all pilots insist that such screening is performed in an out-of-view area to protect their privacy and dignity.

If screening delays your arrival at the cockpit, do not cut corners that jeopardize the safety of the flight. Consummate professionalism and safety are always paramount.

Maintain composure and professionalism at all times and recognize that you are probably being videotaped.

If you feel that you have been treated with less than courtesy, respect and professionalism, please submit an observer report to APA. Please be sure to include the time, date, security checkpoint and name of the TSA employee who performed the screening. Avoid confrontation.

Your APA Board of Directors and National Officers are holding a conference call this week to discuss these issues and further guidance may be forthcoming.

While I cannot promise results tomorrow, I pledge to dedicate APA resources in the days and weeks to come to achieve direct access to SIDA for the pilots of American Airlines. In the meantime, I am confident that you will continue to exhibit your usual utmost professionalism as you safely operate and protect our nation’s air transport system.

The .45 ACP Big Bear Medicine ?

2010-07-24T13:36:00.017-05:00

We often associate hysteria and hype with the hoplophobes, but if we are honest we know full well it exists in the shooting community as well. Perhaps nowhere more predominately than in the mystical world of "stopping power".

My good friend Lead Chucker and I were weighing the merits of handgun stopping power against the big Bruins prior to his family's vacation out west earlier this summer. If there is or at least was good justification for buying a new gun it was to prevent death-by-bear. Ultimately he settled on just packing his XD in .45 ACP and has safely returned back across the plains to suffer the summer heat here in the mid-west.

Without a doubt most in the gun culture would quickly enter into a discourse that the illustrious .45 automatic is less than formidable against Ursus arctos horribilis of the lower 48, and down right suicidal against the Coastal Browns of Alaska. Myself included, but now I have to reconsider such a position in light of evidence that has been proving otherwise.

In late May of this year an incident report surfaced of a backpacker in Denali National Park being forced to shoot and kill a female Grizzly when she emerged from brush near the trail and charged the man's female companion. He drew his .45 ACP and fired about nine rounds into the bear. The Sow then retreated into the brush and park officials later found it located about a hundred feet away, irrevocably dead.

Now any arm chair commando worth his salt will quickly point out that the bear was still able to travel a hundred feet prior to dying. And that had she chose to she could have had ample time to kill them both. That the bear collapsed and died in such close proximity bodes to the fact that severe internal trauma took any potential fight from it.

So the fact are this; We know the bear suffered significant and fatal trauma in a respected short distance, that it was killed by several, albeit well placed rounds of .45 ACP.

What we do not know from the reports was how long it took the bear to expire and what type of .45 ammo was used.

Case #2

This was not the first report I am aware of where a Coastal Grizzly was killed by the .45 automatic. A friend of mine and hunting companion has a brother who resides in Alaska's Northwest Arctic Borough year round. Five or six years ago he told me that his brother had killed a large Grizzly on a Caribou hunt, to the extent it was up for consideration for a state record (it did not qualify despite it's size for a few reasons). Since Grizzly bears are not common these days in my area of operation the interest was peaked immediately. I asked what he shot it with. My friend said "I think a Glock .45 or something. A .45 handgun".

While my friend is an avid hunter he is not a handgun shooter by any stretch of the means, so I thought perhaps the story had gotten a little bigger on the road.

A year or so later the Brother had come home for a visit, and my buddy asked if I would mind taking them to the range to do some shooting. I jumped at the chance, as this would allow me to investigate this "bear" story further.

And it turned out to be true. The brother and some friends of his who are part of an Indian tribe were out hunting Caribou. "Carl" was using a .243 for the Caribou and had a Glock 21 on the front of his pack on a snowmobile. The Bear was an unexpected arrival/opportunity and realizing that the .243 would not provide sufficient penetration to the Bear's vitals he opted for the .45.

At that point I wanted details, and in a basic context this is what I was told.

That the Glock had been loaded with hard cast lead +P rounds from Buffalo Bore and that he had shot the Bear from a distance of about 6o yards. When I inquired as to how many rounds he fired in order to anchor the bear, he said a full magazine and that he reloaded a new magazine but did not have to shoot it. Given that this was a few years back and the Glock 21 came into prominence during the '94 Assault Weapons Ban I do not know if a full magazine meant ten rounds +1 or 13 rounds + 1.

Granted there can be an argument made that the Bear was shot under hunting conditions and not from aggressive and attacking self-defense stand point. Hence the reason for the two comparisons.

So what does it all mean?

Is the .45 ACP the new kid on the block for big bear stopping?

Hardly.

However, we all must begin realizing is that new developments in this modern age of ammunition are changing previous held beliefs and results. And that the magical one-shot-stop mindset has to die out. Multiple well placed rounds on target against an aggressor, two or four legged, is ultimately the real solution to the problem.

For the Defense: Phoning it in

2010-07-06T10:26:00.014-05:00

In the moments immediately following a lethal self-defense fight there is an existence of perverse intimacy.

No firearms instructors ever talk about it. That is the reality of being in the same room, the same parking garage, the same empty backwoods trail as your attacker dies and bleeds out because you have done this to him. His life having either left him or is leaving him as he struggles, kicks, moans and dies. It is a dark moment on anyone's life. You may be alone, you maybe with your loved ones, or a completely innocent by-stander, either way, there you are.

There are conventional rules of engagement for the good guys, though they are for the most part unwritten. The first is that you call 9-1-1 and that you stay where you are.

Once while working a kidnapping case in a very rough borough in mid-western city my local contact advised me to make one of two choices should I find myself in a gunfight. The first was to have all my brass wiped clean of fingerprints and get out of the city as fast as possible. Kidnapped victim or no Kidnapped victim. The second was to call the police tell them I was involved in a shooting and that I was driving myself to the hospital due to chest pains. I was advised not to stand pat because the local drug lord owned all the cops that would be responding and, my life expectancy would be precisely: zero

In the end I resolved the situation without a round fired and lived to tell the tale, never having to use my pre-laid decision.

Conventional dictum, rattled off very fast and passed over far too quickly goes something like: "shoot-to-neutralize, reload, threat assess, call 9-1-1 and wait for the Calvary to come pick up the trash".

The problem can lie with the Calvary. And while I may ruffle a few feathers understand it is not my intent, nor is it to make nefarious accusations. Don't read it as such. When officers respond to the scene of a shooting they bring with them some predisposed items. Some is training, some is life, regardless when the first couple of Cops arrive they have to contend with the fact that:

everyone with a gun is a bad guy until verified otherwise
things are probably not as they are claimed
their personal safety is at risk since they know at least one person has willingly pulled the trigger.
their partner's safety
regret over eating that thing they ate they wished that they hadn't
unanswered questions at the scene that revolve around a very violent situation
insert life here

The point is this while you are looking at the dead man in the hallway whose chest just stopped rising and falling forever your life as well is forever changed. And the only "for better" part is that you are still alive.

For the first responder it's another day on the job (at best). And when they arrive maintaining the integrity of the crime scene is not as important as making sure any threat is dealt with. The honest cop will tell you that there are more than a couple of idiots on the force that they they have to contend with. The know-it-all, the over-eager, the unprofessional lazy tool, the anti-gun, anti self-defense jerk that the rest of them hate working with.

You may now be working with him as well.

I know of one case where the Cops responded to a father shooting his daughter's abusive ex-boyfriend in the front yard. The Ex-BF showed up drunk with a gallon of gasoline and began dousing the front yard. They also found later that he had several guns in the car and it was thought he planned on shooting everyone as they came out.

Dad responded to the arsonist by killing him via several well placed 9mm rounds to the chest. Everyone saw it as a clear cut case of self-defense.

The local Prosecutor however was bothered by the fact that the shooting took place outside the home, coupled with the fact that two shell casings were missing. In his infinite wisdom the Prosecutor decided that the father must have picked up two of the casings for one reason or another. Charges were filed against him for tampering with a crime scene.

The reality was, a Rookie wanted a souvenir from his first "crime scene" and took two of the spent rounds. Fortunately he fessed up.

What if he hadn't.

There also exists another problem. Should the Bad-Guy-in-Question not be dead the Paramedics are surely going to arrive and try to save him. In doing so a crime scene may get changed. Blood smeared, brass kicked, couches moved, cars made to be backed out of the way.

All well intentioned, but changed. Changes that may, and to be fair, may not hamper your plea of self-defense.

I once witnessed this personally. Walking down the street late in the evening of the Urban environment I lived in when I was single I witnessed two males come out of a club in a bloody fist fight. All was not what it seemed. One was empty handed and the other had a busted bottle and was attempting to slash him, and succeeded pretty well in doing so. When the sirens began wailing he dropped the bottle in the street near the curb. Surprisingly it didn't bust. That is until the ambulance arrived and pulled on top of it. Evidence was crushed. Literally.

My lingering thought was this. What if that had been me and I had been forced to shoot him. I could then only rely on my claim that he had a weapon and witnesses that surely would have included his friends. What then?

The Point.

There is nothing illegal about you taking pictures of the crime scene. Period. The Defense (you) has a legal right to collect and maintain evidence as long as the evidence is not in and of itself illegal (think: unlicensed automatic weapons, illegal drugs, etc).

Therefore your new best friend maybe that little phone in your pocket with the camera.

Unusual, unorthodox yes it is. Some may question that this shows a disturbed state of mind to willingly take pictures of the deceased, but you have to realize that pictures are going to be taken. If its out on the street or in a public location you can rest assured the new media in a chopper somewhere is going to have aerial photographs (which you may also want your lawyer to subpoena). They just generally don't show it on the evening news out of decency these days.

I would point out if I were retained as an Expert Witness that the defendant was extremely sober minded and was very well educated in the matters of self-defense and had read case after case of over zealous Prosecutors going after "Victims".

If your pictures correlate that of the police then it reinforces your position.

However, should you find yourself at the mercy of a Prosecutor who cries murder you have the very first photos of the crime scene when it was you and the attacker prior to anyone else showing up and possibly altering the crime scene, unintentional or otherwise.

This establishes doubt against the the Prosecution's case in both the Judge and Jury's mind. Doubt is what wins in court.

It is generally accepted in court that the Defense is not required to provide Inculpatory (points to guilt) Evidence or Exculpatory (points to innocence) Evidence. The burden is on the Prosecutor, or in the case of a wrongful death suit the Plaintiff's attorney.

If you find yourself in an altercation that has not gone physically violent, but is escalating, take the Perps picture of him screaming threatening, etc. If you can, turn on your phones "voice memo" recorder and get a sound bite of his threats, his ranting, etc. Should you be forced to enter into a lethal encounter against the B-I-Q photos prior to it demonstrate that you were going to call the Police and give them the criminal's photograph of him for future use in his apprehension. What we all essentially know in the world of defense is that you are going to defend yourself far more in life with words that you ever will with a weapon. Having a sound bite and/or a photo that you are trying to de-escalate the situation or at least not the aggressor in the circumstance is a feather in your cap.

You want as many feathers as you can get.

Use your intellect that God gave you. And think about this long before you find yourself there. Training of any type starts in the brain first and having a plan (Rule 13) will help you implement it when the deal goes down.

Call 9-1-1 and report it, THEN take the photos. You don't want your Attorney to present them as evidence and the other side point out that the time stamp on the photos is three minutes earlier than your call to the LEOs. It makes you look creepy and perverse.

Don't take five thousand photos (again points to creepy) take five maybe a dozen if time allows for it. This will greatly depend on the response time of the Cops. I would advise taking pictures from where YOU were when the feces hits the impeller. Also known as POV (Point of View). As horrendously morbid as it sounds I would take a picture of the attacker especially if he is not dead. Your goal is to maintain integrity of the crime scene that paramedics could potentially disturb. It simply is what it is.

Take whatever your photos you can or need before the Police arrive. At the sight of the first flashing light. Stop....stop taking pictures. You don't want an Officer on the stand later saying "when I walked in the Defendant was taking photos of the scene. Remember me mentioning the creepy factor, it's worth mentioning again.

Don't play amateur detective if there is some extraordinary amount of time between your 9-1-1 call and the arrival of Law Enforcement. Leave everything alone. If the perp is alive, Don't Talk with Him.

Don't.

Don't move, touch, disturb or breath hard on anything you NEVER alter the crime scene to make it more favorable to you. This is the very reason you are taking your own photos. You don't lie to defend your integrity.

In the end. Keep your mouth shut about taking pictures. This is to be shared with your attorney and your attorney alone. No one else. Don't saddle up along side the responding Officers and say "yeah I got some pictures as well." Because at that point your phone just became evidence in whatever way the Governing powers see fit to use them.

The justice system here in the United States is an adversarial one. In theory at least, and the defense is supposed to meet the Prosecution on equal ground. Resource against resource, argument against argument and strength against strength. It is what ensures that the system works properly. Your Defense attorney (and your bank account) has an overwhelming fight against the broad and powerful resources of the State. You are simply trying to close that gap.

New Article Series : For the Defense

2010-07-01T13:18:00.005-05:00

Recently I had a conversation with a defense attorney, who explained that a client had, in self-defense, shot and killed a would be attacker.

As it was explained to me they were going to have a difficult time defending this case of "well aimed" over kill". Because apparently the Non-Victim had admirably performed a text book Mozambique Drill.

The local Prosecuting Attorney saw this as somehow nefarious and, felt it in everyone's best interest to press charges.

A lengthy diatribe on my part ensued as to why and how this was not an "assassin's maneuver" as the Prosecutor had claimed. What disturbed me the most was not the Prosecutor's angle, but rather the Defense attorney's ignorance. The firm-in-question is considered the "Go-To" defense team in the mid-west. When I had finished explaining why the client had done everything in text book fashion she said "REALLY!?".

Where the "Dark Arts for Good Guys" series has always been about surviving extra-ordinary circumstances in an atmosphere of lawlessness the new series "For the Defense" will examine practical insight into surviving the scarier fight.

The Court room.

Dark Arts for Good Guys: Drive Like You Mean It

2010-06-28T11:59:00.020-05:00

Somethings in life that you just don't mix. Drinking and Driving, Free-Style Swimming and Great White Sharks, and Shooting and Driving.

Hollywood has made much out the driving and shooting scenes in the action flicks. Automatic weapon fire, Good Guys and bad guys leaning out the window slinging lead.

There is nothing naturally inherent about driving a car. It is a learned skill. Just like shooting.

And if you are in the drivers seat you bear one responsibility. Driving.

Whether you trying to escape from a hostile crooked government or a gang of armed kidnappers, time and distance are your current best friends.

The greater the distance from the “Kill Zone” the longer your life expectancy increases. The problem of course can be compounded if the “Kill Zone” is also mobile.

If distance is your friend, speed and maneuverability are its kissing cousins. Mashing the pedal to the floor and reaming out tachometer may increase your speed, but there is also a likelihood of losing control of the vehicle.Running away from bad men who seek to do you harm is far more intense than running late for work.

Getting killed, injured, wrecked, and/or arrested does you no good. Control of yourself means control of the vehicle. That dire run to Zagreb and that “friend's plane” is the most important thing in your life and if the E59 is riddled with traffic you better know how to bob and weave outside the lines to get there. Good speeding, braking, and driving are a premium.

Lane width tends to run a universal width of 9-12 feet, in most developed nations that have things like paved roads, highways, and expressways. The average automobile is around six feet wide. This gives you plenty of room to maneuver. And by maneuver I mean go between the lanes, between the vehicles and over the lines, and do it with surprisingly little cosmetic damage to the vehicle...if done right.

Whether you call it, the Slip & Slide, Drunk Uncle Charlie, or as a French guy I worked with called it “balancer le bébé” at the end of the day its Offensive (not Defensive) driving. Like eating barbecue spare ribs in public, if you are more worried about offending those around you than you are with concentrating on whats in front of you don't bother to start.

The white lines on the road are like fences. Good fences make good neighbors, so when you break the natural flow and order of the system you are going to freak the "peoples" out in a big way (except for maybe India). So expect plenty of brake lights, horns, yelling. In some cases the vehicles ahead of you, if they are paying attention to the rear view mirror, may try to block you. And lets face it, its reasonable. In their shoes you would do the same thing.

Not wanting to be killed by the maniac on the freeway is perfectly natural, so in turn they will also make room for you.

Either way you are going to leave a path of destruction in your wake on some level. And to a certain extent you want this.

Decisions made behind the wheel have to be deliberate every-step-of-the-way. Because while you are conscious of the extreme measures you are going to everyone else is going to see chaos. And chaos travels fast.

At 40 MPH you are covering 60 feet a second. At 80mph 120 feet a second. Reaction times get significantly decreased. So its a kin to playing Death-by-Chess, because you have to be at least one move ahead.

Drivers slamming on their brakes, swerving to avoid the "^%$(*@# Idiot" driving down the center lane will cause mass concern, panic and wariness. How far you have to keep running your escape and evasion tactic will be determined by who your pursuers are, and of what value you hold for them.

If you are attempting to out run and out drive a couple of crooked Geral De Policias I wish you the best of luck. Work in those certain "quiet status'" overseas operations long enough though and sooner or later the pooch will get screwed and everyone with a badge and a gun may be chasing you. Even if you are trying to do the right thing.

If your pursuers are criminals that are not moonlighting their pursuit may not be quite so lengthy.

You might as well expect to ding, dent and crinkle the paint on the car but what you will be surprised to find is that 98% of the damage done to the vehicle is going to be to the sides. And since your vehicle will be rubbing and grinding against the sides of other car you are not going to get structural damage by and large.

You do however want to keep your tires away from their bumpers. As I can attest to personally. Tires that get under or hooked to a bumper is going to blow it. And while you can run a long way on a flat tire, you are not going to do it quickly and maneuverability of the overall vehicle is gone. If you have copious amounts of trunk space or other cargo area and your pursuers are right behind you, a good slam on the brakes may disable their vehicle for a number of reasons.

If you go this route before you nail the brakes, brace your body (neck to). Yeah I know some people will tell you just go limp so your body isn't injured. Its also a really good way for your brain to slam into your skull from copious neck and head movement. Its the reason NASCAR drivers wear helmets and neck support.

Overall the better route is to keep your car in the best condition as possible. If you need to keep the traffic around you and behind you in a state of confusion short bursts of excessive speed with the lighting up of the brake lights will do wonders to bring traffic to an effective jam.

Either way if the course of the day led to this being a solution to you getting home alive in an all or nothing scenario. Drive like you mean it.

Returning soon

2010-04-28T09:20:00.003-05:00

Geez who runs this blog anyway.

In the next few weeks there are more "Dark Arts" postings coming. Two concerning defensive driving, an interesting application for extension cord use, and a study on human anatomy and how the body dies from trauma.

Another related but untitled as such post to the "Dark Arts" series is understanding and deciding on equipment when bugging out....realistically and very practically speaking.

Farther on out past that I am working on a year long gun study project called "one year-one rifle: The .357 Magnum Lever Action".

As always thanks for reading Straight Forward in a Crooked World.

And remember if the bad men come be their worst nightmare.

Get on your knees and Aim

2010-02-20T11:31:00.018-06:00

In the world of "concealed & carry" and self-defense with handguns there is an well perpetuated axiom that if one is forced to use their handgun in self-defense that it is likely to occur under the following conditions:

less than 5 rounds fired at seven yards in low light conditions.

Whether the very old statistical data is true or not it has created some very significant problems in the CCW world (imho). One is that it inbreeds laziness on a certain level. To the extent that even the gun manufacturers have caught onto this given the current crop of 0oz plastic .380s with non-existent sights.

We have in the gun-carry culture become so focused on ourselves that many of us would rather not be "inconvenienced" by carrying a full or medium size handgun. Steel, plastic or otherwise.

Over reliance on tiny back up guns as primary pieces on a regular basis, combined with the vast majority of our ammo being expended at the 7 yards range is that it creates inherently bad habits. Sub-consciously we place self-imposed limitations on our fighting ability. Telling ourselves ahead of time through this prediction what the fight is going to be, usually with statements such as “Oh I'm just running down to the _______”.

In truth the least talked about, the least trained for situation is contending with a mass shooter. Yet, in no small irony it is usually the main motivator for people seeking out a CCW permit. If we are going to go up against a well armed aggressor we need to be prepared to fight and kill him (or her), and do so accurately.

Going to the range and expending a few magazines at short distances in no way prepares you for this.

Work in Executive Protection even a short amount of time and you realize very quickly that there is general problematic area you are going to have to deal with should the feces hit the impeller.

Other people. Innocent other people.

We (as the good guys) are responsible for the terminal resting place of every round fired from our weapons. Shooting and wounding or killing an innocent individual while you are attempting to kill the M-S-I-Q (Mass Shooter In Question) is not only unacceptable but will likely lead to your facing of a jury pool.

Our shots fired at a M-S-I-Q can be farther than you think and through a narrower gap. Next time you are walking to the office coffee pot or taking your kids back to Sunday School pace off the distance from one end of the hall way to the other. It's most likely not seven yards. Given some hallways in modern homes shots could be over ten and fifteen yards.

Mass Shooters are generally well armed with everything from high capacity rifles and/or handguns to pipe bombs. What they lack in skill they make up for in an abundance of firepower. Ourselves on the other hand will generally be less-than-adequately armed with a pistol and hopefully at the very least a full spare reload. So we need to be better trained than that of the aggressor.

There are a few fundamental things we need to understand when returning fire with “the peoples” running and fleeing as an attack occurs. Our reaction will be just that. A reaction.

Be realistic in understanding that in such a scenario that as loud as gunfire is, it can also be very readily muffled inside of a building and distorted to the point where your brain decides that it must really be something else.

Your first encounter in a mass shooting situation may be seeing a fleeing panicked crowd and over hearing “GUN!” before you identify who the M-S-I-Q is.

The second thing you realize is that time is on your side... to a degree. You won't necessarily have minutes but you will have seconds. So use your time wisely and most importantly develop and implement a plan.

A plan?

Yes a plan. We're not talking about laying siege to Tyre rather K.I.S.S. as dad said.

Get to cover. Cover being something that will stop incoming bullets. Despite all of those heroic images you have in your mind you stand a pretty damn good chance of getting shot when guns pointed in your direction start going off.

Three, Get on your knees and aim.

Dropping into and shooting from the "California Prayer" position aids in concealing your position from the M-S-I-Q. Because even bad guys threat assess.

Getting low also presents your targets vitals better and since people trying to flee or hide from a roaming gunman will either crawl into the fetal position, lay down or crouch run, lowering your position puts your muzzle and target generally above other people.

In the likelihood of a missed shot your round stands a better chance of being lodged into the upper portion of a wall.

On the bad guy's anatomy you are given an upward angle on the head and better exposure (albeit small) to the throat. But this also allows for bullet connectivity to the Cervical Vertebrae and the Clavicle area. Not to mention the Carotid arteries.

Shots placed into the torso will angle slightly upward. And upward means a longer wound channel. Longer wound channel means more blood loss and increased chance of lung deflation. A bad guy focused on trying to catch his breath means he slows down. His focus becomes less on shooting and more on breathing. It also makes him a more stable target.

Shooting from a low knee position also places the lower abdomen and crotch area in a direct line of sight. This means lots of soft tissue damage AND more importantly better access to the Femoral and Deep Femoral arteries. The targeting of this area if you are shooting a heavier caliber handgun round also means straight on availability to the hip bones. Not even the most PCP laden gunman can will broken bone to work or support the rest of the body.

For yourself shooting from cover, prone or from your knees may also mean having the opportunity to shoot from a rest, and you need to get every advantage you can in order to do one thing.

Win.

Armed in society means a greater responsibility. You have removed yourself as merely a gun owner and placed yourself on a voluntary pedestal. We all need to shoot, train....and be armed accordingly.

The fight will always be what it's going to be. Not what you want it to be.

Because someday you may be facing down a terrorist driving a bulldozer with your pistol like Israeli citizen Yaki Asael did in July of 2008.

Gear Review: Luminox Watch

2010-02-05T16:00:00.008-06:00

Open any gun magazine, sporting catalog or watch any spy/special forces genre action movie or tv show and at some point you're gonna see the subtle product placement of a tactical watch on the heroes wrist.

Nothing new to this really. James Bond through the decades has worn Rolex's, Omega's, and Breitlings. Clive Cussler's character Dirk Pitt has worn and orange faced Doxa dive watch for years. Even Jack Bauer (or maybe more so) with his character wearing the hundred pound MTM tactical watch that has “a light on it that can be seen a mile away”.

Actually I once owned a Rolex President for 45 seconds when a Principal I was working gave it to me by mistake at a Christmas party. I realized the mistake immediately and handed it back to him and said “couldn't I have a nice Parazzi 12 gauge instead”.

The funny thing about watch companies is they have to go out and find someone to endorse it, pay them large sums of money to get the reputation built. After all everyone has to start somewhere.

But the story of Luminox (Latin for light night) Watches is a vastly different one than that of its competitors. Necessity being the mother of invention after all.

In the late 1980s business partners Barry Cohen and Richard Timbo (Richard-Barry Marketing Group) were actively looking for proprietary technology that could push them out and ahead of the competition. And like dedicated hunters they found their prize treasure on a trip to Switzerland in the form of a small Swiss watch firm. The relatively obscure Swiss company had created a then unknown and unique illumination technology for watches that relied on micro gas lighting as opposed to heat or battery power to illuminate watch hands.

Barry recognizing the immediate potential for solving one of life's simplest realities, degenerating eyesight, saw a market for older aging eyes. Without missing a beat they negotiated an exclusive deal for the use of the new micro gas technology in North America. And with that the world's most luminous watch was born.

But birth doesn't equal success. Soon enough the newly formed Luminox Watch Co realized that they were a small unknown firm in the world of reputable Swiss watch makers. A life boat bobbing in the shipping lane as it were. Then in 1993 something fortuitous happened. One of those once in a lifetime golden egg opportunities came knocking at their door. The U.S. Government.

Actually it was a little known representative of the Government, Procurement Officer (read: scrounger), Chief Nick North of SEAL Team 5. North explained that the SEALs were in need of a self-sustaining illuminating watch for night missions and having heard of their little known Luminox Watches asked if they could build the SEALs a new dive watch for.

Obviously when the best of the best knock on your door you answer. And nine months later in 1994 the first Navy SEAL dive watch was launched.

Then in 1999 a call came from Edwards Air Force base. The bombing pilots loved Luminox watches. What they didn't like was that they were wearing a “Squids” watch. The USAF asked if Luminox would make them their own model.

How do you say no to that?

Instead of making a model for the Air Force Luminox talked with Lockheed Martin to acquire licensing rights related to some of their more unique aviation properties. If you ever wondered what watch F-117 Stealth Fighter Pilots wear now you know.

So how does a Navy SEAL designed watch and a major U.S. Watch manufacturer get tied in here at SFICW?

After ten years of wearing (and abusing) my stainless Kenneth Cole Chronograph I was in dire need of a new watch. I specifically realized this on a very dark night this past July working in a mosquito and tick infested stretch of woods trying to gather intelligence for a new client. No moon made it dark enough, a heavy canopy of leaves made it a helluva lot darker and occasionally these nights out and about gathering intel can be hourly sensitive. So I had to do this hunker down -pull out SureFire-close eyes-bulb down-heat watch method to keep on my time target.

By the drive home at 5am my ten years of nostalgic feelings towards the watch were gone. The search for a new mission ready watch was on. I pulled out catalogs, looked on-line, for applicable watches. By now you're thinking buy a “Timex” dude. I hear you. Honestly. I'm not an image whore to be honest, but I am a hard-use gear whore if there is such a thing.

I looked at a couple of the new “tacti-cool” watches out there being hawked by some actors. As soon as I saw the $1000+ price tags I was looking else where. I looked at the MTM “Warrior” watches. Was the on-board light idea intriguing?

Yep.

But the must charge once a month/ not leave said charger in an airport-hotel-basement was not.

I then remembered a conversation I had a little over ten years ago. I had spent the weekend with some overseas contractors running some training drills, one of them was a former Navy SEAL. One evening at dinner I noticed his watch and asked if it was a Luminox. He replied that it was. When I asked him how well he liked it his response was "Best ******* watch I have ever owned." The watch was dinged and worn but worked flawlessly. Who would want anything else.

So I called Luminox's Director of U.S. Operations, Max Robertson, and told him my beef with the competitions over priced watches, and what I needed from a watch. With out missing a beat Max recommended the the Luminox Black Ops 8401 with black face. I thanked Max for his time and placed my order.

A week later and a half hour before walking out the door to go camping for my birthday with friends, Bill from FedEx dropped off my new watch. Talk about perfect timing from a watch company.

So five months, two seasons, a couple of trips, some shooting clinics and hunting seasons later what are my thoughts?

A fantastic watch.

I like the heft and styling, it is definitely masculine, and the bright green dials and numbers are fantastic when you are laying in the tent during deer season and don't have to fumble for a head lamp to see if you have three hours or three minutes before you get up and meet the cold blackness of morning. The other brilliant idea is the orange illumination for 12 O' Clock. It may not sound like that big of a deal but if the watch is off your wrist and on the desk top in a dark hotel room it can be hard to tell exactly what time it is. The orange dot allows for immediate perspective.

How is that made possible?

Implanted tritium undergoes what is called beta decay. This is a release of electrons which causes a phosphor layer to fluoresce. When being manufactured a length of borosilicate glass tubing has its inside surface coated with a phosphor-containing compound and filled with radioactive tritium. The tube is then fused with a CO₂ laser at the desired length. The borosilicate is relied on for its strength and resistance to breakage. In the tube, the tritium gives off a steady stream of electrons due to beta decay. The particles excite the phosphor, and hence you get the emitting low and constant glow to the watch hands.

Or so I've (cough) read elsewhere.

The other thing I have personally come to like (and you don't have to have a Luminox for this) is the rubber wrist band. Laugh if you want but I have worn a fixed stainless clasp band on my two previous watches for twenty years. Now having the option of being able to wear my watch on the outside of a winter jacket or wet-suit, instead of fumbling with gloves to push clothing back is a nice option to have.

If you are looking for a rugged, hard use watch that you can take anywhere and do damn near anything to Luminox is probably the way to go. Because after all you must be doing something right as a company when the Federal Government allows you to laser engrave the Special Warfare insignia on the back of your watch.

Not for the faint of heart

2010-01-20T13:37:00.002-06:00

Since the Dark Arts for Good Guys series started I have striven to paint an accurate picture of what social meltdown looks like en masse.

Sometime back I ran across VBS.TV put out by Spike Jonze. They are currently running an 8 part series on "the vice guide to Liberia". While its not for the faint of heart it is well worth if you've never seen first hand an apocalypse situation. Because dear people of earth they do exist, and it can happen anywhere.

Which is why Dark Arts got started to begin with. I encourage you to watch it and put it in your own context of understanding and remove the "oh it won't happen here" mindset.

The Vice Guide to Liberia

In one man's opinion

2010-01-05T12:16:00.004-06:00

When Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted the in-flight bombing of Northwest Flight 253 on Christmas day the immediate fall out was a demand for mandatory backscatter X-ray machines in U.S. airports. On the counter side of the coin privacy advocates have continually argued that this type of technology not only violates personal privacy but may prove to be the end privacy as we know it.

Aviation Security officials have responded that if we are to be secure in our travel that we must all be willing to sacrifice some personal liberty for “safety's sake”. The problem is that the air travel situation in this country is an amazing first world nightmare. Airlines are constantly in a poor financial state year end and year out. And it seems five years can not go by with out one major air carrier seeking protection from bankruptcy.

There is the constant problem of planes being late, passengers stranded on board for hours, and additional fees for having the audacity to pack luggage. Add to it the ineffective bureaucratic and politically correct nightmare of federally controlled aviation security. The band-aid on the band aid solution of treating the cancer that is terrorism.

I will contend immediately that I am not an expert in aviation security. However, one must realize that the security issues that passengers contend with prior to boarding airplanes is not in itself aviation security. Rather it is access control, and when done effectively it is also target hardening. The second thing we must remember is that terrorism is theater.

Whatever the body count is at the end of the day whether it is a suicide bomb in Falujah or the attacks on 9/11, the concept is to use fear, dead bodies, and streaming television to grind the target audience to a dead stop. To the point that everything stops. Whether it's the fruit market or the financial one.

Fourteen years in the private security industry I have at times been retained by various corporations to conduct physical security auditing in order to look for holes in their already implemented security procedures. The first thing I tell them is that every system has points of failure, but this does not necessarily reflect that the entire system is in and of itself a failure. The second thing that I do is let them know that between two sets of dates I will attempt to physically breach their security.

When weak and vulnerable areas are exposed the clients will almost immediately request the latest technology to solve the problem, and in some cases technology is the answer.

However there is no such thing as a 100% solution in the world of security. And like any other ongoing fight adapting to the situation is the key to finding, and then exploiting your enemies weaknesses. And that is precisely what is being done to us. Because to some we are the enemy they are fighting.

The problems, and there are many. Begin with feel good politics. You can rely on technology only so far, but ask any security professional for a real answer in preventing terrorism in the skies and they will tell you profiling.

We have demonized this word on the already too large alter of political correctness. If you say profiling then automatically it is insinuated that you mean “racial” profiling. In truth what Hollywood calls profiling and the media demonizes the F.B.I. calls “criminal investigative analysis”. Which is in effect the third wave of investigative science.

The first wave, developed by Scotland Yard in the 1800s was the study of clues left by the criminal themselves, the second wave is the study of the crime itself. Whereas the “third” wave is the study of the criminal's psyche.

Profiling (in my own opinion) suffers from its own prejudices within the criminal investigative community. For instance, when the Beltway sniper was shooting people the F.B.I. “Profilers” believed they should be looking for a white male who was disgruntled against the U.S. Government and was also a gun rights advocate. They further felt that he may be apart of a larger group (militia) and that this may be part of a domestic terrorism program being delivered.

Analyst were shocked to discover that the Belt Way Sniper was in fact a pair Muslim black males. The ring leader John Allen Muhammad when finally caught stated that he was waging a “jihad”.

This is not to say that profiling is a failure. Quite the contrary Ted Bundy and Gary Ridgway (the Green River Killer) were caught through criminal investigative analysis. So we know that “Profiling” does in deed work, however one must keep an open mind about the unknowns they are investigating. Local law enforcement also needs to step out of the dark ages and embrace the fact that not only are we in a war, but that it is not just a military problem to contend with overseas. And so do rank and file civilians.

The problem we face with this new backscatter 3d imaging in that not only is it still in its early years, where we can not be sure of what health implications after long term and prolonged exposure. It also is one more “thing” that leads us to become complacent, lulled into a false comfort where technology begins to replace the intense hard work of criminal detection.

While backscatter technology can inform the screener that a person has something in their pocket that is non-metal in nature it can not say whether it is hand sanitizer or fertilizer, or C-4.

The fact of the matter is we already have some of the best bomb detection “technology” available to us, that would lead to more job opportunities and long term employment. It has an amazing rate of success, is able to give an immediate profile with no prejudices inherited to its system. And for every new scanner placed in an airport ten-twelve explosive detection “systems” could be deployed. I am of course talking about K-9 bomb detection units.

It would put more man power in the airports, provide long reaching job opportunities in every way from breeders, trainers, educators, to officers/handlers. Yet since it isn't “new” or “glamorous” we won't pursue it as an idea

If the United States was committed to fighting the war-on-terror-in-the-skies posters of wanted terrorists would line the numerous bare walls in airports giving people a heads up to be on the look out for these suspected individuals. This would be akin to the highly successful television series America's Most Wanted (as of the date of this writing has led to the capture of 1,099 individuals).

Instead we have a nebulous “no fly list” of suspected individuals which according to Homeland Security's Michael Chertoff only contains the names of 2,500 people while the ACLU contends that the number of individuals suspected and listed to varying degrees actually numbers around one million. Including persons who have criticized the TSA publicly (bloggers included).

The time as come that we must realize that while the rank and file TSA agents have a difficult job, we need to do away with the men an women in nice blazers and clip on ties and replace them with well trained highly motivated armed men and women in BDUs. It is also time that we employed our National Guard on the exterior of our airports and began giving them mass education in civil liberties.

Someone needs to lead the charge to turn our airports into money making business enterprises instead of bureaucratic city controlled chaos. The result would be efficiency, profitability, and security. Imagine if Lee Iacocca ran Laguardia.

As presented to us now, the powers that be have no intention of making air travel any safer (or more convenient for that matter) only a politically correct appearance of doing something. Unless of course the idea is to frustrate the terrorists with delays and inefficiency.

We need our elected officials to step up and stop this continual interruption of free commerce by delaying business persons who need to move about the country in order to restore our economy and end this concept that it is better to inhibit the personal privacy of all rather than offend the sensibilities of some.

Because the last time I checked the war out there that continually comes to our soil from the air is not being waged by old women in orthopedic shoes and five year olds with apple juice containers. It is being waged by Muslim Extremists who seek to kill, murder, destroy....and terrorize.

A loss in the fight

2009-12-31T12:32:00.004-06:00

The AP has learned that seven CIA officers and/or employees have been killed in a suicide bomb attack on FOB Chapman in the near Khost City (in the Khost Province).

While Hollywood and conspiracy theorists like to paint C.I.A. "agents" (which they are not called agents btw) as evil, the truth is that they are some of the hardest working men and women in the game. They endure hearing publicly about their failures that are well known and allow their victories to be credited to other people.

I am deeply saddened to hear about this. It's a horrible way to start the new year. We often as a society elevate our men and women in uniform to a hero status, and we are right to do so.

However their job would never go wheels up if it were not for those who work behind the scenes sometimes months and years in advance to build relationships, cultivate assets, and gather viable intelligence.

We have suffered a horrendous lost and tonight families and colleagues will mourn the loss of loved ones that won't be returning home. Sadly it is unlikely that this will be little more than a beep on the nightly news radar as the world will just have to know what piece of clothing some celeb failed to wear as she got out of a car to go celebrate the New Year.

Too big of a toolbox ?

2009-12-29T11:10:00.003-06:00

When I started writing the "Dark Arts" series I knew that it would set some people on edge, and understandably so I suppose. And I knew there would be detractors and critics, which to be honest I'm okay with I've got a rather thick hide.

So it came as no surprise when one reader pointed me to a forum where one of my recent posting was being discussed. One gentleman who conducts Self Defense training took um-bridge with me personally (ironic since he doesn't know me and lives in another state) and my advice simply because he had never "heard" of me (whatever that means).

I found the statement somewhat quizzical, yet for all of his critiques there was one statement I found to be a little ridiculous.

It went something like...."some of these guys like to overburden their students with so many tools that the toolbox is too heavy to carry. When I teach I focus only on the basics."

???????????????????????????????????????

Well that's a first.

I will say this about the gentleman who takes disagreement with me. He is an actual trainer and a member of the law enforcement community and by all appearances highly respected in his area of the world. So he's not an arm chair commando. I would also point out that I don't make my living as a trainer, though I am a certified pistol instructor and plans are in the works to develop various training seminars through the company that I own and operate. But my line of work delves into a different area than his.

Let me point to another instance.

Over the summer I attended a morning conference on Church Security over in Illinois, after the murder of the Reverend Fred Winters back in March. The panel was made entirely of law enforcement officers which held a variety of opinions. Panel members where mainly small town police chiefs and most agreed that ultimately in a mass shooting that members of the church would be the first responders to the crisis. Given Illinois anti self-defense laws their were questions concerning what weapons could be legally carried and used.

One local police chief went against the grain of his fellow panel members and said

"you have to remember that this is a law enforcement matter and it is for the Police to respond to. I know you all want to carry a gun, but let me say this as a Chief of Police I don't even let my wife carry pepper spray nor do my teenage children. Any so called self-defense weapon can be taken from you and used against you and they simply aren't worth the risk."

It was an arrogant and disgusting statement.

For someone to say likewise that you can be over burden with to many tools is.....well absurd, because frankly I have yet to find in Sun Tsu's Art of War any quote that reads "stick with the basic levels of training and your campaign will go ok."

Fundamentals are important, but they are the building blocks to further our mindset. We all (myself very included) should always be striving to learn more, train more, think and out think the bad men of the world.

I hope that I never on this blog or in my life come across as someone who thinks he invented the concept of self-defense or outside the box thinking, rather I see myself as a life long student to a school of thought which can only be graduated from by dying.

The irony of it is we live in a world where we over burden ourselves with worry to the point we are told by blue screens in our homes to just take a pill to solve the problem. Yet most of us know that tackling your problems straight on and seeking to defeat them is far more effective than popping legal dope.

Because on Christmas day while most of us were opening gifts and stuffing food into our mouths a vacationing Dutchman was tackling some Nigerinan Farouker (that supposed to be a take on fucker) and preventing him from killing a plane load of people.

There still remains no requirement for being a victim, one doesn't even have to take a physical exam.

Executive Order -- Amending Executive Order 12425

2009-12-28T16:13:00.005-06:00

I like to think that I make a concerted effort to avoid politics here on SFiaCW but sometimes some things transcend politics and threaten our sovereignty. And I think this is one such thing.

This link takes you straight to the White House press release for verification purposes.

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

December 17, 2009

EXECUTIVE ORDER
- - - - - - -
AMENDING EXECUTIVE ORDER 12425 DESIGNATING INTERPOL
AS A PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION ENTITLED TO
ENJOY CERTAIN PRIVILEGES, EXEMPTIONS, AND IMMUNITIES

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including section 1 of the International Organizations Immunities Act (22 U.S.C. 288), and in order to extend the appropriate privileges, exemptions, and immunities to the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL), it is hereby ordered that Executive Order 12425 of June 16, 1983, as amended, is further amended by deleting from the first sentence the words "except those provided by Section 2(c), Section 3, Section 4, Section 5, and Section 6 of that Act" and the semicolon that immediately precedes them.

BARACK OBAMA

THE WHITE HOUSE,
December 16, 2009

I link and directly post the quote because I like to remove rumor where I can. The gist of it is that interpol agents are exempt from any investigation let alone prosecution

Originally this came from Reagan, but the great Communicator said in his original order that Interpol Agents were held to the same legal standards as any American Law Enforcement official. This amedment by President Obama gives Interpol Agents diplomatic immunity.

Here is the skinny you should remember on this. While our minds immediately go to international agents lurking about you have to remember that Interpol has American agents working for them as well. This means American Agents can arrest, detain, and in effect hold a license to kill American Citizens and simply walk away. The U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights bear no place in any of it.

Yet our and I mean "our" law enforcement community is constantly ham-stringed and thrown under the bus (or jail) by their own brass.

Clyde Middleton may have said it best with

"What does this mean? It means that we have an international police force authorized to act within the United States that is no longer subject to 4th Amendment Search and Seizure. The "property and assets of [INTERPOL], wherever located and by whomsoever held, shall be immune from search, unless such immunity be expressly waived, and from confiscation."

INTERPOL, an international criminal police organization, is now poised to reside above the United States Constitution - in a place of sanctity beyond our FBI, CIA, DIA, and all other criminal investigatory domestic organizations.

President Obama has just placed our Constitutional rights under international law.

And you thought the PATRIOT ACT was spooky.

12/7/1941

2009-12-07T23:10:00.002-06:00

Proof that Gun Control Does NOT Work

2009-11-30T10:10:00.003-06:00

Cop Killer had lengthy rap sheet.

Gear Review

2009-11-25T11:11:00.000-06:00

The Galco Stow-N-Go

Dark Arts For Good Guys: Think Fast!

2009-11-24T10:42:00.008-06:00

There is a problem we (society in large) face in trying to thwart,fight,and kill the badmen of the world.

As the "Good" we have concluded that there is unofficially mandated fair play and ethics into trying to fight off those who commit evil.

When I teach on how to defend against mass shootings I tell my students that they have to get their head around shooting an attacker in the back. And turn the targets around for them to do so.

Being in a prolonged gunfight with multiple attackers is not the same fight as with a home invader. You shooting a man in the back as he runs for the front door is at best manslaughter. Understanding that firing into the back of a gunman as he walks around executing people lying on the floor is called tactical advantage and justified. Just as it is for any S.W.A.T and HRT Sniper.

The same holds true for taking a hostage. We have ingrained into our heads that those who take hostages are the bad-guys and the hostage the victim. Always.

This-is-not-true.

There is a point when fighting against and resisting multiple attackers that taking a hostage can save your life.

To be clear. I am not talking about Sally from Accounting or someone's nephew named Nathan.

Rather one of the perpetrators themselves.

On the afternoon of March 22, 1999 Cyndy Vigil (then 22yoa) fled from the mobile home of David Parker_Ray in Elephant Butte, New Mexico. For three days she had been held in captivity, repeatedly raped and tortured until she had the opportunity to escape. When she burst into the kitchen of Darlene Breech's home screaming for help she was naked with the exception of a padlocked collar around her neck and four feet of logging chain dangling behind her. She had escaped by stabbing Cindy Hendy (Ray's accomplice) with an ice pick.

In the summer of 2008 a gang of attackers numbering around 20 brutalized and stabbed a family riding the Saint Louis Metro Train as they returned from vacation from the airport. This became the starting point for roving attackers sometimes numbering close to 100 people mostly made up of teenagers and young adults (again not all of them male).

We have to realize that there may come a point and time when you are simply out matched, outgunned, out numbered or out maneuvered. Surrender is rarely a good option and retreating can be cut off.

Granted in a situations like a train station against a roving gang and being armed when shots are fired most of the perpetrators will flee. Dwindling the number of committed attackers. But take the same mob during something like the LA or Paris riots and the pack mentality dominates.

Facing an armed gang with any gun whether its a 19+1 Sig or a five shot Ruger is over whelming. And in a tooth and nail fight there is one thing you can bet on. Not all of your rounds fired will kill or even severely wound.

Sorry but in the real world there is no one shot/one kill ratio. Though from a tactical standpoint you would be better served putting at least one round into as many attackers as opposed to wasting multiple rounds on a single target.

But what about a smaller and more perversely intimate situation. You're a wife and mother of three who earlier in the day was camped with your family near a nice lake when you were coxed over in a false panic to a truck by another woman asking to help her baby inside. In an instant you are now the victim of a demented sadist couples' kidnapping.

Wake up because they do exist.

In fact now more than ever we are seeing women act as very willing co-conspirators with their male counterparts in criminal activity most noticeably kidnapping and rape.

Regardless of the situation there may be a moment when escape is possible but a flat -out-running-flee is unlikely without being over taken by your pursuers.

When Cyndy Vigil escaped from David Parker Ray's infamous "toy box" she did it by stabbing her female kidnapper with an ice pick and running. Ray was at the time gone, but what if he had been there and the right opportunity to escape still presented itself, but was likely to be short lived as she would have two pursuers to communicate and cut off her escape.

What if in the midst of a mob attack you are low on ammunition or have only a knife or the proverbial pointed stick. Yet you have managed to wound a nearby assailant that is with in arms reach?

While the thought of reaching an grabbing a shirt collar of the guy who moments ago was about to kill you and using him for cover and emotional counter balance may seem morally deplorable to many. I would offer up this single solitary thought:

Who started the crisis that you now exist in?

My point is not simply to raise the moral question but explain the motor skills to do so. There is nothing complicated or magical about taking a hostage you simply have to do it.

For clarity in this exercise the term "Hostage" in this post refers to a previous attacker whose world you have seized control over in order to escape from the ordeal at hand.

A wounded hostage is better. Pain robs the brain of clear thinking and lowers the level of resistance, as does fear.

The use of pressure points is also helpful but not necessary. It is also key to remember when using pressure points not to over use or maintain steady and constant pressure on any one place. The body adapts to the pain. However hitting a pressure point hard for several seconds then releasing for a couple of seconds then bouncing on it again intermittently causes the nerves to become confused and thus they can not adapt to the blow they are being dealt.

However the simplest and best course of action is a fist full of shirt collar or hair that allows you to keep your B-I-Q/Hostage in front of you as a shield. If you are taller, stoop to get behind them. If they are taller than you once you have control of the head, collar, hair or ear just pull in the direction you need to go. Up-Down-Left-Right it doesn't matter.

Control the head and the body is forced to follow.

If you are armed don't stick it out in front of your B-I-Q/Hostage where it can be taken from you. Rather put it right at the base of the skull or locked in behind the ear. No one regardless of how fast they are can beat weapon on skin contact in time to prevent injury.

If you are armed and your message of being free to leave by fellow attackers is not being delivered a pistol round fired next to the ear of you B-I-Q/Hostage and into the group of attackers should speak a little more clearly and act as an impromptu force multiplier in the realm of psych war fare.

Because if you haven't caught on yet that is exactly what this is. Psychological War Fare at its most basic level.

Armed with only a knife, ice pick sharp stick, again the base of the skull or slightly inside the ear should give you all the control and undivided attention you desire. The loss of a little of your B-I-Q/Hostage's blood again conveys the seriousness of your mindset in wanting to be let go from your current circumstances.

If you're worried about the legal ramifications after the fact call Massad Ayoob or F. Lee Bailey and see who they recommend for the Defense.

Frankly if its your first thought it will probably be your last as well.

Because in the very real world there are men and women working as Contractors where Al Qaeda still kidnaps and saws peoples head off.

There are women who are kidnapped off the streets and locked in basements never to be heard from again only to turn up buried in a back yard in Ohio.

When you doubt the severity in which you think you need to know how to fight back in this world to save your life go read "Slow Death" by Jim Fielder or "Inside the Mind of a Serial Rapist" by Dennis Stevens, Ph.D or "Profiles in Murder" by Russell Vorpagell.

They are good reminders that there is evil that walks the street and sometimes they come in pairs, or more.

Man or woman. Alone or together. Getting out of the frying pan is on you first, because ultimately You are the First Responder in your crisis.

Vetted?

2009-11-06T22:43:00.007-06:00

My plane leaves in a few hours and I'll be off the grid for a bit, so my apologies for not further exploring this.

But it does appear that Major Nidal Hasan was in fact participatory as an adviser for the Presidential Transition Team.

For the sake of transparency it should be noted that the task force was started seven months before the November Election.

The article (hyper-linked below) is from The George Washington University's Homeland Policy Institute titled "Thinking Anew-Security Priorities for the Next Administration" part of the Presidential Transition Task Force from April 2008-January 2009.

Nadal's name is on page 29 and he is credited as a "Task Force Event Participant"

Homeland Policy Institute Presidential Transition Task Force

Guess I've got my light reading for the plane ride.

Be Safe out there.

Real Quick

2009-11-05T12:41:00.001-06:00

I apologize for the severe delay between postings. The whole Dark Arts for Good Guys series stems from a mid-summer slow down in my consulting work and since my mind runs a million miles an hour most days and I found myself sitting on my hands I needed something constructive to do (idle hands and all that).

Fall arrived and people apparently began having problems in their lives and I'm back at it. But the other half revolved around after writing Non Permissive Environment Pt I I was struck by writers block for part II. To the effect that are twenty something rough drafts of it floating around on my hard drive.

But the writers block seems to have departed (I hope) and work is not at DefCon 30 so postings "should" return to normal. Including that elusive part II.

Thank you for your continued encouragement in writing here and hopefully you enjoy the latest post below.

Matthew

Change your mind and the rest will follow

2009-11-04T16:43:00.005-06:00

On a regular basis I am interjected into the lives of others. Often enough this comes from when their life hits the fan so to speak. Occasionally I have the time to train others in shooting and what we would generally recognize as self defense. Having myself gone through a fair amount of training in many different aspects there is one thing that I have noticed that escapes most instructors.

To systematically ingrain into students to think positive and to react in a manner that invokes a positive/winning/I-will-feed-you-your heart attitude.

And while it may seem obvious it is not a given teaching method. The truth is it's very easy for all of us to focus on the mechanics of drilling,drawing, and defense that we don't think WIN.

hmmm I hear snickering.

Think for a second of this scenario whether you are a man or woman.

You come home late at night through the front door, pull the key out of the lock, and walk to the other end of the house. Something doesn't seem right and you look back behind you to see a 6'5" 230lbs male in a ski mask with a 10 inch bladed knife between you and the door.

Before you go into that clearing of the holster of that gun you may or may not be wearing. Break down your own personal mindset here.

The initial sucking in of air and "oh shit" is completely allowed because we all (a-l-l) get caught off guard in life but the next response should be in your head should be:

"GO!"

and by "GO!" I mean you need to have a mind set of being able to Go-straight-at-him with a total intent on leaving him dead on the floor. Whether you are a man or a woman.

There is a prevalent thought in the defense world that you need to turn and put distance between you and him. So prevalent that this is an acceptable response both amongst instructors and even legislators where we have become ingrained that our first obligation is to flee. Mention the concept of "counter attack" and the defense attorneys begin sweating.

The entire concept of fleeing from an attacker can be appropriate at times. Sometimes you are simply out matched-out gunned-out maneuvered. In Executive Protection "fleeing" is a doctrinal part of protection work. However there is also the point where sometimes you are left with no other option than to fight.

The moment you flee from anything it is incredibly difficult to then stop the flight signals in your brain and turn them over to fight. That's not just conceptual that chemical. Once adrenaline and the flight response kicks off in your head you damn near have to manually over ride it. Combine this with a society that systematically tells you to flee, or have zero tolerance policies for self defense and we are left with sheep dead in the streets.

This is why members of the armed forces, police and firefighters go through boot camps and academies. They see a potentially lethal situation and run towards it with the entire mindset of defeating that which aims to kill.

Some of this has also become subconsciously ingrained into the Defensive/CCW/Shooting Community. At least in a couple of ways that I see it (personally).

One is simply the caliber debate.

We have given far far to much credit to Ed Sanow and Evan Marshall (respectively) in that the concept of the one shot stop is interesting "science" however it is certainly not an applicable one.

The far reaching consequences of the one-shot-stop business is that it makes us question our equipment and think we aren't using enough gun. The physical fact is a .32 ACP does not make as large of a hole as .45 ACP, but six or seven bullets into the body of an assailant is going to either have a lasting effect or an effect that will end his life very soon.

True enough we've all heard the stories of how the .380 entered someones face and skirted under the skin and came out the other side doing no damage. What I can guarantee is that you have never read of an account of seven .380s doing that.

Don't worry about your "caliber" of choice near as much as whether or not you can make all of your hits count and that your equipment is reliable...

And that you have a plan when it is not.

Which may mean when your Glock's magazine fails to feed properly you dump it and go to your spare magazine that you carry (right?). Or that you pull your Sure Fire flashlight and one handed opener knife and make ready for up close work.

For all the debate surrounding pistol calibers no one questions a rifle's ability to make a supposed “one shot stop”.

The 5.56/.223 in the extremely popular M4 configuration being used by our troops has a relatively low reputation in CQB where Operators are having to put three and six shots into an enemy.

Yet as one SpecOps guy I know says “so you just shoot again. Whats the problem?”

So return back to our Ski Masked Attacker in the home with his bare bladed knife.

He is the living nightmare we have all read about, the guy who is laden with PCP and soaks up round after round of .357 Magnum.

Are they out there? Sure.

Are they common? No.

Case in point. I very recently had a client find herself backed into a corner armed with a Snub-nosed Smith & Wesson .38 Special (loaded with Glaser safety slugs). She had never fired the weapon, didn't want a gun in her home and yet when the time came she fired once into the very very large body builder typed attacker. The bullet striking him where the foot meets the leg.

One single round.

He fled/drug himself from her house and collapsed in the street where police found him.

"Come to the nightmare that is me."

Talk about a winning mindset. This is where your head should be. Where YOUR confidence should be. Your gun, knife, baton whatever is simply the tool. The weapon is you.

There is one thing I instituted for myself along time ago in dealing with everything from potentially violent encounters to verbal confrontations to even shooting sessions at the range. It is the simplest confidence booster for bad situations. it's free and it works.

I smile.

Not a big toothy Burt Lancaster smile, but I grin inward and outward. I raise my head up and whether its at the paper target in front of me or a stalker that has been haunting my client, I smile.

I do so because it reminds me that I am capable, the equipment that I carry is reliable.

The bad men who roam the world are not the Boogy man. Cut them they bleed. Shoot them they die. They have nothing on you other than whether you allow yourself to be mentally beaten from the start.

When the feces hits the impeller (and it does constantly in life). You are the motor to the fan. You either shut down or you speed up.

Speed up.

incoming

2009-10-08T13:52:00.001-05:00

currently working on part II of non permissive enviroment, and should be posted later today. My apologies for the recent delays in posts.

True Story

2009-09-17T16:06:00.003-05:00

The original email was sent to Sheriff Glenn Boyer on Thursday, August 27. Below is the citizen's email followed by Sheriff Boyer's response.

I tried to call you earlier this morning, but was unable to obtain your extension from the voice mail system as I was not sure of your first name or correct spelling of your last.

I was inadvertently in this procession as I was leaving work on 270 from Creve Coeur and proceeding on Hwy. 30 West. I have some issues and complaints. I called the Sheriff's office last night, but the officer in charge would not speak with me. His name was Corp. Curtis. I am in no way complaining about your officers. I, however, was not treated very fairly when I called last evening because I wanted a ticket/complaint/or at least a slap on wrist for the people involved. Let me explain:

1) This procession should never have been held during rush hour traffic! Hwy. 270 is dangerous and people drive way too fast and there is too much traffic. This soldier's certainly would not have want his family hurt on the interstate taking him to Cedar Hill. People were dead-stopping on the interstate even though the procession was in the far right lane, the other three lanes just stopped. There were many near accidents and possibly were after I drove through. I was in the 2nd to left lane, no way obstructing the funeral procession.

2) I exited off on Gravois (30 W), far right lane. Your police officers went in the left lane to stop any additional on-coming traffic so the procession could exit off 270 into the LEFT lane of 30. Again, I was in the right lane. The St. Louis County officer stopped and turned around at Weber Hill to return on 270 after the procession passed.

3) The road was not closed. (Only for president as far as I know.) Again, the road was not closed. Your officers only had the left lane blocked/closed for the funeral. All other traffic by MO law can proceed as long as they do not interfere (weave in and out )with funeral procession.
Let me say, that I did not know what was happening. I knew the did not have Kennedy coming to STL, at least not yesterday. I was at work all day. No news. Nothing reported on the traffic on the radio driving home.
Anyway, two of these dirty, nasty, renegade, who knows what motorcycle men that were escorting the procession proceeded to stop in front of me in the right lane on Gravois. I had to stop in the middle of an intersection. They proceeded to scream and yell at me about respecting this soldier, etc. One of them climbed off his motorcycle and came over to me and stuck his head in my car continuing to scream at me. I asked him what this was for and he told me I needed to stop as the officers had the road blocked and show some dang respect. #1, the road was not blocked, the funeral was in the other lane. #2, I am proud of our country and sorry for the family, but they had no idea where I was going or anything else. I could have a child at day-care, I could have been sick and racing to the bathroom, I could have a sick parent waiting for me, etc., etc.

#3, They are not law enforcement and had no right to stop in the lane on Gravois and they had no right to scream at me and intimidate and threaten me. If I would have had my pepper spray, I would have used it on this nasty man! He is just a big hoo ha that is not even related to this soldier. The other man did not get off his scooter, but was along side of my passenger window screaming.
I left an abusive husband 1 1/2 years ago and I did not need this intimidation. I was livid and shaking!!

My son is a deputy sheriff in another MO county. I respect police officers. It was not their fault as they were busy with traffic, but I called to make them aware of what was going on during this thing. The St. Louis County officer saw it but of course he was out of jurisdiction.

However, I called last night and your office asked me if I knew about this soldier. Again, I am sorry about him, but I am a taxpayer. I got a speeding ticket a few months ago and paid the fine. I do not deserve to be treated like this. I wanted to let the officer know how these men were acting. Also, they were driving into the turnarounds on Hwy. 30 and then back onto the road. the funeral was much further ahead. One of them nearly got hit by me and other people almost hit him and another as well. I wanted to lodge a complaint about them why they were still there, but no one in your office would take any information or do anything.
This was not a military funeral, even though it was a soldier. There were not military vehicles. It was a funeral and the road was not closed, the lane was closed, I was in the other lane and again, these nasty men had no right to do this and I would have liked them to get a ticket!
I am sorry for the soldier and his family but you cannot let these motorcycle renegades do this. They could have caused several accidents and I really wanted them arrested. If they had any respect for the soldier they would have dressed better and not looked and acted so scuzzy.

Thank you.

From:
Glenn Boyer/JEFFCO
Date: 08/31/2009 02:05 PM

Subject: Re: Fw: Re: Funeral Procession - Yesterday p.m.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear XXXXX:

Yes, you do deserve a response and I am willing to give you one.

I would like to say that I am sorry for the inconvenience we caused you during the funeral procession of Sergeant 1st Class William B. Woods, but I cannot do so. I would ask instead that you take a moment of your time to take into consideration the scope of the event. Your very right to complain was the reason Sgt. Woods fought for his country and ultimately gave his life; thus making the ultimate sacrifice for you and your family.

Let me introduce you to him. After high school, Sergeant Woods entered the Marine Corps. After his contract was up, he joined the Army, where he became a Green Beret. He comes from a long line of military members in his family. His Uncle is a Vietnam Veteran and two of his grandfathers were World War II Veterans. His job in the Army was one of the most dangerous jobs - he was a sniper looking for the bad guys to stop before they killed or injured one of our soldiers. He has numerous decorations to include the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.

He grew up in Catawissa and was best known by his middle name, Brian. He enjoyed the outdoors, playing sports, and skydiving. He had a wife, Elizabeth, and two daughters, whom he loved dearly. He was a soft-spoken, level-headed young man who was proud to serve his country no matter what the risk. Now, I did not know him, but I wish I did. I am quoting from newspaper articles written about him.

At the young age of 31, he was shot during an engagement with Taliban forces in Ghanzi , Afghanistan . He died of his wounds in Germany on August 16, with his family by his side. He did not choose the time of his death, nor did he choose the time his remains would be brought back to his home in Catawissa. He just did his duty. He was quite a young man.

While you were being inconvenienced in your car on your way home, there were soldiers just like Sergeant Woods carrying 100+ pounds of equipment in 120 degree heat, up some mountain or in the middle of some desert. They will shower out of a helmet liner if they get the chance. They will eat a cold meal of MRE's; something most people would consider garbage. They cannot text their family or friends, or go to McDonalds, or watch TV. They can only continue the mission and look out after the guy to the left and right of them. They don't complain because they know they volunteered. The only thing they ask is that we do not forget the sacrifices they have made.

One of the dirty "big hoo ha" bikers, as you call them, was Brian's uncle, a Vietnam Veteran, like myself. We were not treated with a homecoming. We were spit on and called baby killers by a misguided public. Brian's uncle was giving him the respect that he, himself, never received when he came back and I, for one, am proud of him for doing so.

You say that your brother is a deputy in another Missouri county. I am sure he would be proud to escort the casket of a fallen solder, the same as he would that of a fallen officer. I am also sure he would not agree with your complaint about being inconvenienced.

My mother recently passed away. She was a World War II Veteran, serving the U.S. Army. She would say, maybe you should pick up Sergeant Woods' ruck sack and carry on where he left off. Then you could see first hand what it really is to be inconvenienced.

Per your request, I will forward your complaint to the Prosecuting Attorney's Office for his review. It is my personal opinion that your complaint is self-serving and without merit.

Sheriff Oliver "Glenn" Boyer

Dark Arts for Good Guys: Non Permissive Enviroment Part I

2009-09-15T01:03:00.008-05:00

Sometimes being morally right and legal do not coincide. Especially abroad.

Killing in self defense (or in some cases just physically harming the attacker) can find you on the wrong side of the law. And if you are arrested you may be executed (at best) or kept jailed indefinitely (at worst) in a foreign prison. Involved in a post violent conflict over seas can leave you in the sticky spot of either notifying the local constables or getting the hell out of dodge.

It may sound cowardly to up an flee, but you need to weigh your options immediately. I have a standing policy with my clients when traveling abroad that if I become involved in a use-of-lethal-force situation the next stop is the airport in many cases. Yes it can depend on the country, the political climate, witnesses, etc. no doubt. But when you are left standing over one or two dead attackers from a street situation you have to make a judgment call immediately that can in many respects change the course of your life. And the right call can be leaving without dialing the country's equivalent of 9-1-1.

The moral and ethical mindset we are given today has to be re-examined and realistically face doing a potential 180 turn. We are told if we shoot and kill we then call the police. And we understand why. We did the right thing, the law is on our side. That is here at home.

But Gaijin you ain't at home.

Once you make that call to the police and you give your name that's it. You can't undo it. You can flee the immediate area and have a limited amount of time (say 1/2 hour in a major metropolitan area) to make the case that you were over whelmed and in fear for your life. Obviously in a rural area you may have more time. But once your name is in the system and they realize you're a foreigner they are going to want to ask you a few questions. In the modern world you're passport photo is going to go out and your name on the hot list of "please call if found attempting to leave the country".

If they don't have a name or even a decent description you still have some freedom of movement. One option may be to go to the nearest U.S. Embassy, if that is not an option and the country you are visiting has the death penalty head for the French Embassy. The French generally do not hand over people facing potential execution, and there are more than a couple of Americans facing charges here living freely in France.

Or you run.

While bribery can get you out of a lot of bad situations there may come the point where the better use of your money is to try and get yourself smuggled out of country.

It's not easy nor is it cheap. And never discount a country's capabilities in tracking and finding or the technology they use. You may see chickens and vintage Reagan era motorolas being carried around by the Polizea, but get made and you'll be surprised who just had your picture pop up in their e-mail with an "FW" in the subject line.

So if the ticket counter at Aéroport International de Tunis is no longer an option you need to look into transpo via the black market.

Hmmm Fodors and Hidden Planet don't have an index for that you're thinking. No they don't, but the key to proverbial black market is only a phone call away.

Prostitution is the key into the underground market. Where there is prostitution there are drugs and human trafficking. This means smugglers and off the books transportation. It may make your skin crawl just thinking about it, but ultimately it is about how bad you want it. The conceptual steps are simple. They just are not easy.

Remember this isn't about using the drugs, the prostitutes, etc rather you are going to weave through this world to back to yours.

But one has to go about this in a smart fashion of course. For instance we're not talking about street walkers, but rather the upper echelon of call girls and "professional" escorts.

The reason to avoid the street level hooker and her pimp for the initial contact is due to a combination of factors. Sure they have access to people, but everything here is low level. You need to by pass this. Low level criminals are unpredictable and low level organizations may on some level be infiltrated by cops, crooked or undercover (or both). If you are a wanted man (or woman), you may have higher value than they do, so it is quite possible to find that you've been sold out to broker a deal or plea bargain. These are not the best and brightest bulbs in the pack after all.

Go higher and the organization structure is better run and has an over all higher value than you that needs to be protected. Think of it as a mutual draw. You don't really care about their world and they like the color of your money (which you better have plenty of).

The best way is to get into the nicest hotel possible, it doesn't have to be the Corinthia in Budapest but something that a $500-$2,000 an hour escort will show up to. If you're not sure how to go about this (getting the girl) request that the concierge come to your room. If you're in any hotel worth a damn a good concierge is more valuable than a duffel full of hardware, because they have heard it all and their job is to do the impossible. So requesting a contact for an "escort" will be a walk in the park.

If he can not give you a name and number for an agency off the top of his head you either aren't tipping enough....or you aren't tipping enough. He's not a priest he/she is a facilitator who gets things done. More than likely they will say "let me see what I can do" and leave you. Sometime later your phone will ring if he doesn't bring the information to you. In many cases the concierge will pass along your name and room number and the escort service will contact you directly.They will in classic fashion ask what type of girl are you looking for.

Since sex isn't your end goal here it really doesn't matter, but to alleviate suspicion give them particulars. This doesn't mean her waist to chest ratio necessarily. Some professional escorts are quite well educated and charming. Some clients are looking for arm candy others are looking for someone who can be a well spoken "trophy wife for the night" (complete with wedding ring). So pick your flavor. Personally, go for one that is well spoken and educated since you may have some explaining to do.

The thing you have to remember in traversing into such arenas is that no one is your friend here. Never confuse someone who is friendly for someone who is a friend. If they're taking your money this is a business arrangement nothing more. Trust will of course be relative, because at some point if you are doing this right you're gonna go against your mother's advice and get into the car with a stranger.

coming next Non Permissive Enviroment Part II

Dark Arts for Good Guys continues this week...

2009-09-07T21:02:00.003-05:00

with "non permissive environment part I".

How to get across a Border when you're wanted in the unpopular sense of the term.

voicing your concerns

2009-08-23T21:09:00.003-05:00

In the Self-defense community there tends to be two unofficial schools of thought. That an individual should either avoid or non-verbally deter a situation before it starts or go straight to a full bore gun fight. We tend not to talk about the weird middle ground where walking away may get you attacked and the situation doesn't constitute the drawing of a firearm on your part. I suspect this lack of discussion stems from one of two points of instruction.

One is the police officer who also teaches CCW classes on the side. Typically he/she is use to large amounts of conflict and confrontation on the job. Yet they bear one distinct advantage over the civilian. They have the law on their side automatically, and they have the benefit of rolling back up. Understand this is not a side glancing judgment on my part, rather a police officer's confrontation with an unruly-to-violent individual ends in the arrest. Rarely can a miscreant confront a police officer in a highly aggressive manner and not end up in the back of a squad car.

Meaning: both parties are not mutually deterred by the other.

The flip side of the coin is a civilian instructor who may work in the firearms industry at a local store and is an avid gun enthusiast.More than likely his/her experiences with hackle raising situations-to-confrontation-to gunfight/shooting is either rare or non-existent. This is not about their experiences being inferior, just different.

Focus too much on gun-on-gun resolution we take a valuable tool out of the tool box, our verbal skills and a calm demeanor. If you can't be verbally calm and mentally collected in a verbal altercation, I promise you, you are not going to shine on through when it comes to a gunfight.

Having to engage against a verbally aggressive person who for all appearances is not physically violent requires being smart on your part. One be polite and two be firm. These two are separate but equal. Being polite in a verbal confrontation isn't you being a coward. Rather quite the opposite. The capability to remain polite, unapologetic and firm shows who is in control of the situation.

Being rude or insulting doesn't show that you are strong, it simply points out your lack of decency, capability or both (i.e. you are an asshole just like the other guy). Likewise its not appropriate to be "nice" either. Being nice and apologetic in a bad situation says that you are soft. This is just as unsteady as being rude, and unnecessarily aggressive.

If your BIQ (bad guy in question) is screaming and yelling at you and you respond in kind you just lost all tactical placement in controlling the situation. Because now you have no other levels on the scale to go. Once you're in a screaming match and throwing around threats, YOU either have to get physical or run. And frankly if you're screaming and yelling too. It's your fault.

Conversely being too nice you set yourself up on losing ground mentally. Start off apologizing and backing down trying to de-escalate the situation by blaming yourself appears weak or unprepared and left racing to find the appropriate level of response.

Look like food you will be eaten.

Think Cooper's Condition Colors. Its the verbal equivalent of white and red with no yellow. If you're a hot head and can't control your temper you're likely the same guy who flashes his pistol during rush hour when he gets cut off (yeah its rare...and yeah it does happen). Yet the person who has no self-respect AND a CCW permit will forever doubt themselves of whether or not its the right time to engage unless someone else starts the shooting first.

For a number of years I had the benefit of protecting a very wealthy bachelor who enjoyed night clubs and bars and was always surrounded by beautiful women. At some point an intoxicated individual or a few of them would inevitable decide they resented my Principal's presence and his ability to “take up all the girls”. Some protection agents can go their whole careers and can count on one hand the number of verbal altercations they've had. I could expect several a week.

I had to remain professional and confident and not lose my temper. The same applies to you.

If we look at what causes our tempers to flare it is generally the result of taking something personal. Some cases its perfectly justified, but on the street it's not.

Why?

Ask yourself this. Does the overly verbal BIQ actually know you?

If some one calls you “a mother fucker.” You need to realize that in this day and age its more slang than insult, but are you? If you are not then its rather a moot point. If you are then he's right and you need to seek help.

Once early on in my career a very disgruntled individual was yelling some things at a Principal of mine as we walked out of a very nice restaurant (money does not equal class by the way). I maintained my vigilance throughout the situation until she said “fuck you and your fag bodyguard”. My temper flared. I didn't react in anyway other than a nasty look, but a couple of minutes later as we drove off in the Suburban I realized that it was meant for shock value and response, nothing more.

Don't get lured in by words.

Some people go around looking for a fight and they look for non verbal indicators from everyone else to see who to select. Its that simple. Sometimes you get picked, not because you look weak, in fact it may be because you look like a challenge.

If they start it, you end it, but be smart about it. Stay steady in your pitch of voice, maintain eye contact, watch the hands, and say things to them like “Sir”.

In a potentially violent situation don't ask them to do anything. Instruct them.

Don't make open ended statements like “this is the last time I'm telling you.....”. Because then you are faced with what to do when they do, whatever it was they were doing, again.

Don't fall into saying “I will kick-your-ass.” instead respond with a calm toned “do you have five grand for bail money?”

Once with the aforementioned Principal we were in a bar and a intoxicated individual was mouthing off and eventually walked over to our area. I placed myself between him and my Principal, the BIQ a little over arms length away. His threatening tone was blather but that didn't mean he could be ignored. I noticed a knife clip sticking out of his pocket and said “Is that a Benchmade?”, he gave me this cross-eyed look for a second and I continued with “yeah yeah yeah it is, I carry an Elishewitz Stryker myself”. The man stumbled over his words for a second and I said to the bar maid “hey get this guy a beer” then turned around and said “Seriously, nice blade man. Hey gotta get back to work though. Take it easy.” He beemed and said thanks went back over to his buddies and there was no more problems.

For $2.75 I avoided a physical altercation, police reports, and a potentially liable situation for myself and my Principal.

My client's friend, an out of town executive told me later that I handled that very smooth I simply said that I get lots of practice. And I still do.

I get it in the car, in the shower, waiting in line. It's called "the What If" game. I constantly look at situations around me and think "if this individual responds this way I will in turn do this." I then think of any other scenario that could happen and problem solve may way through. Everything from an irate person in front of me to multiple gunmen walking in.

Instead of practicing some witty remark to say if you ever have to pull your gun, work on what to say in order to prevent it.

Think it through and break your statements down. Are they feasible? too long an tongue tying? inflammatory?

Its not about memorizing the right thing to say, its about practice. Just like going to the range.

Practice serves to make you familiar with what you are doing and to build muscle memory so you know the appropriate response, and...to build confidence. Bad guys don't wear t-shirts with bulls-eyes on them, that we all know. However it's nice to know that you can put a magazine or two through an ever increasingly ragged hole at the range.

People watch. When two people interact poorly and you witness it, think how you would have reacted initially, then stop think it over and think how you could have desolved it. Maybe it's by ignoring them all together, or maybe its by responding firmly and calmly.

Why is this so important. Because you may face a guy who is unarmed while you are carrying and he may be willing and very capable in hand to hand fighting where you are not. And you not being capable in that arena doesn't necessarily mean you have the right to lethal force.

Play the what if game, study your appropriate level of verbal response anywhere. Given that people are people you certainly won't lack opportunity.

Do your damn duty!

2009-08-20T21:59:00.002-05:00

I was visiting here (a very good blog by the way if you don't frequent it) and he posted a link on jury duty.

I went into the comments section to post my thoughts when I read another blogger's comment about not getting paid to serve and what he thought was an otherwise waste of a day.

It causes me no small amount of anger when I hear of people doing their best to avoid jury duty in general.

It's especially irksome when it comes from fellow Concealed Carry License holders or others who like myself who have strong conservative leanings and will go to great ends to write and talk about the sacrifice of our soldiers and tell us their feelings towards Liberty and Justice for All.

How many blog posting have we all read where a fellow CCW holder was either involved in a justifiable shooting (or was simply and rightfully carry their arms) only to find themselves arrested and charged and headed for court. Civil or Criminal. The comment sections are filled with angry rants towards Law Enforcement, the Prosecutors and the District Attorneys. Yet never at the jury.

How many times have you uttered the phrase "WELLLLL I'd rather be judged by twelve than carried by six!".

Given the current judicial climate in this country I'm not sure I would rather be judged by twelve. Especially when I hear of fellow gun owners and conservative activist not wanting to be "inconvenienced".

What if you found yourself on a jury where a man was being sued in a civil trial for shooting and killing his attacker, and now the dead criminal's family was suing for wrongful death. What if because of you a concealed weapons permit holder who has extensive knowledge of firearms, self-defense tactics and the like were able to delouse scare tactics (read: An evil plastic gun that holds 17 rounds of deadly 9mm) brought on by the Plaintiff's attorney.

Go read the ordeal of Harold Fish and then tell me how nice it was that you were able to skate out of jury duty.

What if because you failed to do your duty a fellow citizen who is innocent had to leverage their home and retirement in order to pay for legal fees.

As I sit at my desk and write this post I am looking at a pile of file folders and manila envelopes from this client's case that appeared on 48 Hours Mystery over three years ago. I strongly encourage you to watch the episode called Dream Killer and then pay particular attention to the interviews given by some of the jurors. Because the easily swayed may one day also be judging you.

Having testified in dozens of court cases and sat in the jury pool I can say this about the American Justice System. That when we as the backbone of society, both morally and financially fail to do our civic duty we leave it to the bummers and the dregs to weigh the future of those who sit at the defense table praying for Justice.

Dark Arts for Good Guys: Break on Through to the other side

2009-08-19T20:12:00.017-05:00

One of the best weapons for getting out of a crisis isn't necessarily a gun. A decent size vehicle, even one that may not run so fantastic has more versatility and overall practical use than a pistol...not that you can't have both of course.

Faced with breaching a road block made from stationary vehicles a car makes a very serviceable battering ram. But like everything, there is a right way and a wrong way. Do it the right way and you not only surprise everyone, but you may also disable a few of the bad guys cars along the way. It just won't won't be in show room condition afterwards.

Do it wrong and you're gonna have a bad case of whiplash from the impact and a bloody nose from the airbag for the next thirty seconds until someone rearranges your school girl beauty with a magazine full of copper.

So first things first: Hands on the wheel. Just like the old man said, hands at ten and two or at nine and three.

Why?

Should the airbag deploy while you ram through the barricade your hands are going to be knocked away from the steering wheel in approximately 60-80 milliseconds after the first moment of vehicle contact. When your hands are at 10/2 or 9/3 they get knocked back and out of the way, but not into you. This allows you to quickly recover and get back on the wheel.

If you hands are in the 12 O'clock position when the airbag is you're going to break your nose, probably some fingers and maybe your face altogether. Why? Your hand is between the rapidly deploying airbag and your face. And airbags impact with some 200lbs of force, so instead of getting a face full of polyester goodness you get your own fist flying at you like Mike Tyson.

This applies on the beltway just as much as an evac out of Panama.

Your Fist+Your Face+Physics=Not good.

Ram through a barricade correctly and there is little likelihood that your airbag will actually deploy. Airbags are designed to open in frontal and near-frontal collisions that are of a severe nature. Think striking a parked car of similar size across the full front of each vehicle.

So how fast do you need to be going when you hit the bad guys cars to break through?

Between 35-45 mph is best when you make initial impact. Once you ram keep on the accelerator to force your car through and push the barricading cars to the side.But what keeps the airbags from going off?

If you try to ram the center of a broad sided car for example you displace too much force over too wide an area (essentially fighting the entire weight and body of the other car). This is where the airbag sensors read as you essentially hitting something akin to a brick wall and deploy.

The other car will move, but not out of the way. And along with deploying the airbags, it may also disable your engine temporarily or permanently. Preventing you from getting out of the kill zone and leaving you at its door step.

However you can force barricading vehicles out of your way, you just have to aim for the right targets.

General rule of thumb: Aim your car's headlight for the center of the tire of the car in front of you.

The reason it's unlikely airbags deploy here is because while it may look like you are trying to move two cars out of the way, you are actually only forcing away 1/2 of each car, and thus they are movable.

In most cases the people who set up road blocks are not use to having them breached, so they tend to park cars front to rear. Generally, its the rear of cars that are the lighter half and they will move first and farther out of your way.

As you approach a barricade at around 50 or so feet out brake and drop your speed to around 40 mph but no lower!!! At the moment right before impact floor it and stay on it, even though your mind is going to want to brake at the moment of impact. I can not stress this enough..... Don't!

You need every bit of inertia to force your way through and keep going.

At impact the other cars will start moving out of the way. Since these vehicles are stationary there will be resistance, hence the holding down of the accelerator. Tires are going to be squealing (yours) and metal crunching and grinding (everyones), but they will move out of your way.

As you force your way through the cars may try to momentarily drag along side. This won't last more than a split second. If you are fortunate and these are the bad guys only vehicles you may luck out and blow out one or two of their tires in the process.

You are creating an open wound the barricade that allows you and anyone else behind you to follow.Push on through and get out of the kill zone.

Your car may cough an sputter but, as long as its moving you keep moving until it quits or you are a safe enough distance away to abandon it.

The key things to remember:

Hands are ten and two or nine and three.
Headlight is your front sight, center of the tire is your target.
Approach at about 50-55mph
Brake to 40ish mph at about 50 feet out
Accelerate right before impact and all the way through
Do not brake
Do not brake
Pray

Special thanks to Matchbox for their five pack for $5.00 in making this posting possible.

Failure to Comply

2009-08-11T10:23:00.003-05:00

Last night the Wife and I went to our local gym to work out and as I rolled into the weight room I saw a bright pink flier on the community bulletin board that read :

WOMAN'S SELF-DEFENSE COURSE

It's being offered by a gal who titles herself as a thirty-year martial artist, and gave a brief course outline. All par for the course stuff, but there were two things that left me shaking my head. One was a cute little Charlie Brown/Lucy-esque cartoon at the bottom with the girl standing over the boy while his head swirled from being knocked out.

Seems innocent enough.

The other was "How to be more aware of your surroundings and avoiding dangerous places!"

I don't know the instructor, nor her course so this is not intended to be a "puff my chest out piece" about what I know over her. But there are weakened, albeit good intentions, set sub-consciously into the flier.

I had the opportunity last week to see a guy get cut off in traffic and proceed to verbally berate the driver now five cars ahead of him. A few minutes later we ended up at the same drive up ATM. When his turn came he allowed a guy to walk up behind his car and wait while he did his transaction. From the review mirror he was looking an craning in his neck to see where the guy on foot was, which was less than ten feet away. For all of his earlier traffic bravado he didn't have the gumption to break societal politeness and tell the guy on foot to back away from his car.
Understand this isn't about yelling and screaming, but about looking at someone who is rapidly invading your personal space and telling them to walk away.

I'm a follower of Christ, love my God, but I also know that a flat even toned "Back the Fuck Up." does wonders in situational avoidance.If you can't handle a verbal confrontation with the average person on the street you're gonna lose the real fight.

And when the real fight happens it is going to be bad, and by bad I mean violent.

We are taught early on and reminded as adults constantly that violence is bad and that it never solves anything, and that no one wins in a fight. This is simply untrue. In fact it is horribly untrue. This is the result of political correctness infesting everything. It skews how we set and train our minds to win.

Violence does solve problems.

Reactive violence can and does routinely stop evil offensive violence. When you are left (regardless of your sex) on the ground and fighting to win to keep your life violence is the answer...and it is the only answer. And you should not apologize nor back peddle for that.

Don't allow yourself to be drawn into the false expectations of some protective incantation like "...and I hope I never have to use it". No one in court will ever ask "and why didn't you ever tell people 'I hope I never have to use it'". If you're worried about your character ever being referenced in court then you should be concerned about how you conduct yourself in daily life and the measure of your character as a whole. Not some silly phrase useless phrase that can lead a moments hesitation when the crisis starts.

Using violence to save yourself is an intense experience and while we know that a condition white mindset sets you up to fail so can a condition yellow mindset if you don't know how to move beyond it and into the fight itself.

For far too long we have taught statements like "be aware your surroundings" and "avoid dangerous areas".

Those who sat on the planes that crashed in the World Trade Center were very aware of their surroundings. They were on a plane that had been taken over by terrorists with a bag of peanuts in their lap. And the rest of the populace is beginning to understand that dangerous places include going to church and the gym.

Some live in areas of increased danger, like the inner city and the majority of those who dwell there are working class folks trying to make do. Perhaps you can afford to make statements like "I would never live someplace where I can't sit on my front porch for fear of being shot.", but others can not. Neither could the folks who settled this land. Pioneers of this country lived in fear of Indian raids and having their scalps taken. Blacks in the south lived in fear of having their homes set on fire.....and their churches bombed.

Former NatSec Advisor and Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice talked openly about living through the 16th street Baptist Church Bombing in September of 1963 and how her father (a pastor) and other men patrolled the streets at night with shotguns prepared to defend themselves against Night Raiders of the Ku Klux Klan.

The simple reality is we live in a world where single moms may have to leave the safety of their homes in the middle of the night and go find the errant teenager who hasn't come home at 2am. Telling her to avoid dark parking lots doesn't do her any good.

The Wife's job is not only located in a "bad area" but she also works with several dozen juvenile offenders...some of them sex offenders. Her feel good, do no harm school of social work feelings of ten years ago no longer exist.

The fight never will be what you want it to be, and you should train accordingly. Shooting tight little groups at seven yards with that pocket gun doesn't prepare you for the first time someone slams a fist into the side of your head and knocks you to the ground.

You can make a cushy statement like "well you never should have gotten in that predicament".

Nice statement. My profession is being paid to think and to be aware and I can tell you that everyone gets caught off guard, simply because we are human and human factors come into play. Always. You need to learn to react instantly when you are caught off guard just as much as you need to learn to read the signs of a rapidly escalating situation two blocks away.

The suburbanite mother who is loading kids and groceries into her mini van at 2pm on Thursday needs to learn to react when her thinking about seat belts on a car seat and the bread in the bag are interrupted by a would be rapist delivering a hard right to her face. Followed by trying to drag her into his mini van.

I don't care that she got a bruised face near as much as I do that no one ever taught her to pull a Spyderco Endura out of her waist band and slam it into the side of his face and back.

We must learn to understand both in society and the courtroom that when an individual is in place of brute force that they must fight/attack in order to win. Because at some point the defensive must become the offensive. In combat there is no such thing as a defensive attack, there is only a counter attack. A badman must....must be beaten back so far and with such intensity that he either flees or is killed.

If you can't handle the thought of your clothes covered in someone else's blood from fighting them off or a body laying dead in your kitchen after he has come to kill your family..and you. Then its time you made some harsh real life decisions about that little pistol you like to carry around and the consequences that come with it.

Dark Arts for Good Guys: When No One is Coming

2009-08-05T15:00:00.006-05:00

There may come a point when you learn that no one is coming to help. Not from out of or in town. No local security spooks or your mother. Sometimes its because there is no money. It can be as simple as that, sadly enough. Other times (think Katrina) due to weather, communications can break down or can be completely absent.

And there you are.

Alone.

Being left in the wind can drive you into a panicked state. Or.... it can be liberating.

In a live or die situation there can be an amazing clarity received, burdens that can be lifted, because here there is only one thing. Live.

Mentally, you apply a liberal dose of Rule #25 and you do what it takes to keep it.

So if you're cut off and the Calvary ain't coming then you go to them. That means getting mobile. Sooner or later you're just going to have to, and better to go by your own volition.

While there is never a clear cut answer to anything a mob or civil unrest does to a city, there is one thing you do know. Mobs are made up of individuals who at some point get tired and hungry. The day before they were leading a normal life just like you, so they aren't exactly rested up for the big event. Lulls have to happen at some point. They may not last long or be as quiet as you hoped for, but they will happen (usually a couple of hours before dawn). Don't be disillusioned into thinking that peace is restored its just a gap. And it maybe the gap before the real show starts. Be ready for it, and have your people ready to go.

Tell them to be ready to roll out when you and (a buddy) get back to the hotel.

Where are you going???

Stealing a car is not as difficult as you might think.

Backed into a corner where this becomes the only option to flee from a social meltdown the likely hood is that no one will care...or even notice.But you need to go about it intelligently. While there are several ways to go about hot wiring vehicles the two following are what I know work, thus I pass them along to you....for educational and nuclear meltdown purposes only. I could include a disclaimer here I suppose, but its implied. Besides with roughly over 1.2 million stolen cars (inside the U.S. alone), there aren't any big secrets here.

But understand where you are. Your about to commit grand theft auto so it better really be do or die. Because brother if its not, Bangkok has some real swell shit holes for jails and you can't dance, and you don't speak Thai (or muay either).

So.

Rule 1 in obtaining vehicles without pre-approved permission. Stay away from something that is going to be missed (read:noticed). Trying to make down a muck-racked road with chickens all over in an E-Class gets you noticed (these don't float in lakes by the way). Where as a dented and scratched plain tan '91 Isuzu trooper found all over the world goes less noticed.

Think economy line vehicles (regardless of age). 1992 Cadillac DeVilles had integral key chip technology. So even older cars of luxury class can be a little more difficult to fire up. Base/Entry level vehicles are just that and tend to have fewer security features (if any) on them.

Work trucks, vans, shuttle buses, and taxis tend to be a little more loose in the ignition switch area from constantly being turned on an off. The same holds true for fleet vehicles and rental cars. They also tend to be more reliable than the average beater on the street, because of having in-house mechanics. Not to mention rows and rows of options.

Tow trucks sometimes have a book of master keys inside, not to mention tools, with the only thing separating you is a piece of glass. The nice option about this, is that it enables you to switch (and ditch) vehicles as need be.

Its worth mentioning that if you are moving a large group of people it maybe worth it to steal a shuttle bus or van for a few reasons. One is that it enables you all to stick together. They are also heavy vehicles that have good ramming potential (but a little more prone to being top heavy). Should you get caught by the the local police its a little easier to plead your case that you all are running for your lives (its as good a time as any to let those hysterical people cut loose with the crying too) and trying to get out. Yelling thank you over and over and telling him that he has saved you all doesn't hurt either.

And should it all go south and everyone get thrown in jail at least you won't be lonely.

The Second method is a little more involved, but a cordless drill a few smaller sized bits, a large and medium size flat head screw drivers should get you going.

They idea of forcing a flat head screw driver into the ignition and using it as a key to turn on the car is (allegedly) feasible, however if there are pins in the lock your hand isn't going to generate enough torque to break them and fire it up. In some cases though the cylinder can be popped out using a large flat head and then used to turn over the ignition (specifically a beautiful Black Jeep Cherokee 60th Anniversary Edition stolen on the same day Johnny Cash died, but I've moved on).

So as not to waste time position the drill on the keyhole about 2/3 of the way up and drill in about the length of a key. This destroys any lock pins and makes the key switch able to be turned on and off without a key. If the vehicle has pins in the ignition switch it has 2 sections of pins, followed by a spring, so drill it more than once, removing the drill each time to allow the bits of the lock inside to fall into place. Put the screwdriver in the same way you would a key (it doesn't have to go in deep because the pins are already broken) and turn.

It can also take any where from 1-10 minutes depending on your level of skill and luck. If it's not happening move on to the next vehicle, and then the next till you get one fired up. Once you are moving check the fuel level and if you don't have a full tank get one. Figure out if it takes gasoline or diesel too. If there aren't any petrol stations around you can always siphon gas from another tank (gas theft seems tame at this point doesn't it).

Get back to your people, get them loaded up and head out. Whether its to the border or the airport. Don't move any faster than the situation dictates. If you're fleeing driving fast is understandable, but otherwise keep it business as usual. Driving normal keeps you calm(er) and doesn't draw undesired attention.

When the time comes to ditch your vehicle reconnoiter the area (specifically airports and secured areas) for surveillance cameras. The last thing you want is to have your face matched with a stolen vehicle. Granted if the country has gone south its doubtful anyone is paying attention, but you need to maintain vigilance.

It will keep you sharp, alive and committed to rule # 25.

Dark Arts for Good Guys: Where there's smoke

2009-07-31T21:00:00.010-05:00

Despite what you may think about evacuating out of a city that has erupted into chaos there is actually a lot of waiting. Hours of it. The world is crashing down. Except where you are. Down the street people just like you are running for their lives while you sit in your room on the sixth floor drinking coffee. Waiting for the right time to bug out.

While thoughts of leaving the room under the cover of darkness hoping to knock someone with a gun in the head with that crowbar may dance in your head, the odds aren't in your favor.

That doesn't mean be idle. When you are outgunned you have to out think them. Thinking tactically is constructive. It keeps your mind from running wild and going into a panic mode. It also gives you a creative outlet to incite fear into your enemy. There comes a point when your defensive thinking has to become offensive thinking. Sometimes that is with a gun, but first and more often its with your head. A defensive mind set tells your soul "just let me live" a mind positioned in offense meets an enemy head on in the fight. That's called strategy.

Even when you are unarmed you can still cause fear in your enemy. In a terrorist attack on the general population everyone is a target. You want to make the bad guys go and attack someone else, either out of fear or from being to difficult to access.

This is what we call hard targeting.

The reality is people are going to die in the chaos from bad men.That is the unfortunate reality of evil. It doesn't really ever change its mind, only direction. You have to change their direction.

Suicide bombers are often portrayed as martyrs for their cause. The bravest of their sect willing to sacrifice their own lives. As a leader you don't send your best and brightest off in a vest full of C4 and ball bearings. Rather (like any cult) you look for the poor, the weak, the outsiders who have no purpose (canon fodder). Telling them that their families will be better off financially and they'll be Valhalla for the sacrifice.

Just to be sure after the vest is strapped on its not uncommon for someone to shoot a needle full of heroin into their arm to keep them calm (and a remote detonator handy in case any thoughts of self preservation kick in).

Self preservation comes from fear and everyone.....everyone experiences fear, self doubt and anxiety. Whether you are just a guy trying to get things done overseas or a Quarterback trying to win the Super Bowl. You focus on the task at hand to get you through and minimize any unnecessary risks that can lead to the getting killed. Regardless of who you are.

Bad guys are no different.

Terrorist as a whole maybe inflicted with bravery for the cause (or the riot) when they are in a pack where they can feed off each other. Isolated most are not brave rugged men, but twenty-somethings (or younger) plagued with doubt and insecurity. That doesn't make them any less dangerous, just unsure of themselves. You have to feed on the insecurity.

You're not trying to get them to flee the city, but you can deter them off your hotel floor and possibly the hotel even if you're not armed.

With the exception of firemen and a few other certifiable crazies who run into buildings to save lives, no one wants to die in a fire. If the un-shaved kid in the ski mask, camo jacket and carrying a banged up assault rifle looks up the stair well or down the hall and thinks the building is on fire, and that the infidels are going to die anyway he's probably not going to see a reason to get trapped in a burning building. In third world countries plenty of people die in building fires and its a terrifying prospect for anyone.

So if camp fire smoke will make you close your eyes and turn your head, a hallway full of big white smoke will make you run.

But you don't have to set the building on fire to create smoke. Smoke can be created in pretty substantial amounts from field expedient smoke "bombs" out of ordinary materials found in the hotel, if not your room.

Ammonium nitrate is a white crystalline compound (at room temp) found in fertilizer and explosives. Its also used in Instant Cold Compress/Cold packs you see sitting on the shelf at Wal-greens next to the ace bandages.

The cold pack has granules of Ammonium Nitrate rolling around inside along with a separate small pouch of water. When the ice pack is needed the bag is hit against something hard breaking the water pouch inside. The mixture creates an endothermic reaction (absorbing heat), forcing the packets temperature to fall to around 35 F for 10 to 15 minutes.

The same ammonium nitrate can be used to create a very billowy smoke "bomb".

Cutting open the main bag with out breaking the internal water pouch pour the crystals into a dried ice bucket (or mop bucket from the maintenance room usually located near the elevator).

Next add just enough water to the granules to get them to dissolve into a solution.Once the solution has dissolved take and fold individual pieces of newspaper into squares just big enough to fit the bottom of the bucket. You should be able to soak 3-4 folded sheets easily. Keep adding folded sheets of newspaper until the solution is completely absorbed and your sheets thoroughly soaked. Let the folded pages soak in the bottom of the bucket for ten minutes or so.

Next remove the sheets one at a time and lay them on a hard, flat, dry surface to dry. This will take a while but you can speed the process up by lightly (lightly) using a hair dryer or if the bathroom has a heat light, lay them on the floor with the light on. The sheets will be very fragile when wet so treat them with care.

After they have completely dried you are going to want to fold each page in a one-two inch fold from the top down until you have a kind of flat tube. Do this to each one. In order to keep the tube folded together you can either use tape or string (shoelaces or line from the curtains will work here), tightly together. You want to leave enough paper on the ends that the paper can easily be lit with a light or a match to get it burning/smoking.

Remember the goal here is to start smoke, not fire, so you can put a roll or two (or more if need more smoke) in the now dried ice bucket in the hall or stairwell and light them. Even if the bucket is plastic the burning paper shouldn't melt it (and its the least of your concern anyway), but if you must, put a wet towel under the bucket on the floor.

If your evac is by chopper off the hotel roof let your pilot know that you'll "pop" smoke to ID your position.

Its about using tools in a tool box to win. Winning is getting home. In a dire situation you can obsess over wanting or wishing you could have a gun, but there comes a point where you have to accept that its probably not going to happen. That's not to say give up. Be willing to out think and out move. If your mind can't get passed your finger on an absent trigger then you're no better set to get home than a suicide bomber. Mindset wins the day.

p.s. making "stuff" requires experimentation to get "it" right. Just like shooting.
Practice & experiment consistently.

Dark Arts for Good Guys: Flight Plan

2009-07-27T10:33:00.017-05:00

When the brain kicks into the Flight or Fight response (i.e. from an environmental stressor) your sensory cortex sends a signal to the brain stem. The instant your brain kicks out of homeostasis and into high gear, your alertness to the situation and the environment are more attuned than previous.

The longer or more intense and prolonged the situation is causes activation in the sypathetic region of your autonomic nervous system (This is how adreneline gets dumped into your system).

When this occurs your body physically responds in several ways. Pupils dialate, digestion of food in your stomach slows down or stops, there is an acceleration in your heart and breathing rate. Skin can go pale, flush or bounce back and forth. The mind and eyes get tunnel vision. This is why we threat scan. Rotating your head left to right pulls you from this and can save you from being blind sided.

The same holds true for not having a good plan to get out. While it may be very exciting to rush from the hotel and into a waiting car out front yelling "gogogogo!". To do so with no plan is tunnel vision.

If you find yourself in the middle of an attack fleeing is a good thing. It doesn't make you a coward, it makes you smart. You fight when you have no other option or it aids in your flight. But ultimately you have to realize this is someone else's problem to deal with in the bigger sense.

So how do you go about fleeing in a smart way. Unless your under immediate attack stay where you are and think it through.You have time. You may not have five hours, but you probably have a half an hour to an hour to brain storm and plan. In many cases longer.

The other thing you are going to have to do is lead. You may think its a given, but its one of the single biggest components missing in a crisis. When the shit has hit the fan there is no room for democracy. One person must lead and direct and the others must follow.

CCW classes teach about using shooting tactics and techniques, clearing holsters, and repeating the worn and increasingly untrue statement that most shootings happen at night with less than five shots fired inside seven yards. Very few are teaching students how to lead their people and/or families out of harms way.

Hang with me on this, because the immensity of leading a group, regardless of who they are in your life (co-workers or family), out of an extended hostile environment is far more important than the weapons cache you have in your room.

Someone is going to have to delegate and willingly assign tasks that may get people killed. As much as you might envision yourself in all sorts of heroic deeds it will take everyone working to get through it. If you are too much the people pleaser or don't want anyone hating you, your left with two choices, get someone else to lead or grow up.

Grow up.

Leading people out of a hell hole requires you to be smart, mentally strong, and willing. It also requires you to start learning how to do that before the shit hits the fan. Hollywood likes to show the meek man or woman suddenly rising to their feet from the corner telling everyone to shut up and listen and they suddenly are empowered with leadership skills. That is make believe.

Not sure.

Learning to lead is no different that learning to draw from a holster, going to the range for practice, or taking a martial arts class. You're not going to find out in a gunfight that you have these inherent skills for handgun shooting. Or that after years of dedicated couch potato'ing you can run a seven minute mile "because you have too". We train for reasons. Those reasons are to learn to do what it is we can not.

So what's the first thing you do as you look out from your hotel room at a newly battle scarred city and back at your co-workers? Realizing that you are all facing a local Armageddon?

Order room service.

Get everyone together and create an improtu command center. Set someone with the task of getting food and drinks together. Both for the immediate and the prolonged. Food reassures and calms people down. Subliminally it tells people that eating tonight means there is another sunrise coming and tonight is not their end. You also don't know when you may eat again.

First unofficial rule in Executive Protection: Eat whenever possible.

The second order of business. Remove anyone who is in the midst of panicking from the planning area. Even if its just to the next room. I simply can not stress this enough. People on the edge of losing or already losing it spread their panic onto everyone else.

IF you allow it.

Don't.

It may sound harsh, but if you have to pick them up and remove them do it. Don't be abusive, don't scream, just remove them from the room.

Frankly these types don't provide solutions, they talk too much, put everyone on edge, and they soak up valueable time talking incessentnly and crying. Crying and screaming amidst a crisis is a monumnetal waste of time and energy.

I was once forced to duct tape a "client's" mouth shut to keep us both alive. It may not be an easy thing for you to do, but the whole prolonged ordeal is going to be full of things that aren't easy to do. Adapt.

Next assign (competent) team leaders. General rule of thumb. One leader for every five people. Why? Because that is the usual passenger size per vehicle. Should one car become separated in transit, they have leadership in place, reducing time in the "whose in charge in this car" panic conversation.

Get people working. If phone service is available get someone tasked with finding drivers (security spooks with combat driving experience is the best route), but as the city crumbles fore-hire-security will become less and less availabe and you may have to make do with what you get.

Assign someone to get maps of the city and if possible correlate with google-earth, and the television. Use all three to get square on where the worst of the trouble is and then work on navigating around it or out of it as the situation mandates. If you have nothing get on the roof and physically look for fires, flashing lights, smoke, and listen for gunshots. If Jaish-e-Mohammed are gunning down the peoples in the street its best to avoid them as much as possible.

If your final mode of transportation out is by plane learn what the security threat is to the airport. The last thing you want to do is spend seventeen hours fighting, running, ducking and hiding your way across a city to discover the airport is shutdown.

Most people never pay attention to it, but cities generally have two airports. The one you came in on and the one that the wealthy fly out of. Even small towns and villages have "airports" that maybe nothing more than puddle jump launchers, but they can get you out of the newest global hot spot for danger. Personally, stuck in the middle of a coup or terrorist attack I'm heading for the small private airport that isn't a target and probably doesn't have the military crawling all over the place.

There is also that "third" airport option that we'll look at in a coming article. That is the smugglers airport.

Have everyone get packed and be ready to move out. Surprisingly, you may actually be able to take everything you brought and bought out with you. You also want a "bug out" bag in everyone's lap as they ride. If you are forced to abandon vehicles everyone has their essential kit with them.

The point that has to be stressed here again is that, you aren't to do everything for everyone. The Wife and I have been married for four years and I still open her car door for her whether its going to the gym or a nice evening out. However, she is also an adult who is responsible for herself and in the midst of a crisis I expect her to function as such.

If you are forced to go down the hallway and around the corner with that Skorpion 61 jutted out front ready to shoot down those who oppose you, Sally from accounting can follow behind. But she's more than capable of being eyes at your six o'clock.

Julia Child may have authored seventeen cook books and made one hell of a soufflé but she was also in the OSS in WWII.

If you're in a place where you must hire drivers get them up to your command center (make sure they speak English) and have them go over the routes and get their input. If the say the routes are no good, ask them why. Specifically.They may have legitimate reasons for changing your plans, but ultimately they probably aren't as invested in getting you to the airport or border as you are. If they want to go different routes have them mark it on the map. Because the probability exists that your driver can get killed or bail out of the car the moment things get hairy. Take the drivers with you and inspect the vehicles yourself. Make sure there is air in the tires and the tank is full (not kidding), and that they are big enough.

Once your drivers are with you and you've gone over routes keep them with you. Tell them they are to only speak English (in as much as possible) and minimize their contact with anyone else outside your group(i.e. no chitty chat on the cell phone). You don't want them hand delivering you to the local chapter office of the Revolutionary Armed Forces (it happens all the time in Columbia and Mexico).

Should your driver get killed, leave, or simply freeze when the shooting happens, you are going to have to drive for some short period of time from the passenger seat. Hand on the wheel and foot over the console.

Its not hard just weird, and if you're here its the least "weird" thing that has happen so far.

Be flexible and understand that once moving all plans will shift, move or sometimes all together collapse. Its frustrating and maddening if you aren't willing to adapt as things happen.

Things will happen.

Thoughts on planning your Routes. Because you should plan more than two.

Coming Monday July 27

2009-07-24T00:16:00.002-05:00

The Dark Arts for Good Guys Series continues with: FLIGHT PLAN

Strategic decisions for leading and evacuating.

Dark Arts for Good Guys Series: Fight & Flight pt II

2009-07-20T20:51:00.027-05:00

There can be difficulty in illustrating the point of how bad total social melt down can be, with you stuck in the middle. The best advice in this area I can give you is to watch the movie Black Hawk Down that depicts the Battle of Mogadishu.

<--photo of the U.S. Embassy bombing in Nairobi, Kenya 1998

Don't watch it from the line of sight of the soldier or the war lord, but rather the people ducking for cover as they run across the street in the back ground. Cause friend that's you.

To start with know where the U.S. Embassy or Consulate is in whatever country you are going to. It sounds like a given, yet its surprising the number of Americans who travel and assume there is an Embassy nearby.

To put it in perspective, Indonesia has two American stations, one is The Embassy in Jakarta and the other is the Consulate in Surabaya. However, Indonesia is comprised of 17,508 islands, of which 922 are permanently inhabited. Sooo there can be sometimes a bit of distance between you and soil-away-from-home.

Prior to and throughout your trip check on-line with the Over Seas Advisory Council. Not just the country you're in, but any additional ones that you are planning to visit. The OSAC issues press releases for each country, and advises its citizens abroad of everything from deteriorating political climates (ex: this spring in Madagascar) to city specific areas to avoid.

If you find yourself in need to evacuate and don't know how and are too far from the Consulate or Embassy. Call them.

Seriously.

Tell them you need contact information for local English speaking security services.

Companies like International S.O.S. , will provide you with estimates for out-of-country-extractions to local ex-pat English speaking security types (Mercs) to escort you to the airport.

Social disruptions vary, and no place is safe. Just like here at home. When rioting and looting broke out after Hurricane Katrina the entire Gulf Coast was on high alert. This didn't affect anyone in Missoula, Montana.

So it can be a regional problem and not a national one. If you're in a foreign country on business or pleasure and social break down ensues in the area and you have business elsewhere move up your time table and go. But let's say the shit has really, really hit the fan (that's why you're reading this anyway).

Car bombs are going off. Tanks and uniforms are in the streets fighting Molotov cocktails tossing teenagers with AKs and ski masks. Unarmed and in need of readily available self-defense measures means one thing.

It's time to go shopping.

Ask the Concierge or front desk where the local hardware store is as well as any local sporting goods store. Its important to remember that you want anything you can get. And it will probably fall into one of two categories: Bladed or Blunt.

This is about makeshift weapons. Most (save maybe the U.K.) have things like bush knives, machetes, pangas etc. If you can't get long bladed weapons buy a few cricket bats. Look for something with reach that is lethal. Buy butcher knives, steak knives and the like. You are also looking for a hammer, crow bar, flat head screw drivers (extra large and medium size), and sharpening equipment or files. Duct tape, and if possible a decent cordless drill and bits (remember this part as you will see it again in another up coming article).

One other thing. Always...always pack a decent high lumen flashlight like a surefire , a l.e.d. headlamp and extra batteries for both. Power outages are common all over the globe under normal conditions. Even in the five star hotel you are in. Local bad guys will always bomb the electrical sub-stations first (terrorist incite terror) to cause black outs. Bet on it.

Cardboard and duct tape can make for field expedient in-the-waist-band knife sheaths (complete with belt loop) to stove that butcher knife or extra large flat headed screwdriver in. Your Hula girl or Ex-Officio button down short sleeve shirt will cover the handle.

The nice thing about being an American overseas, no one (cops included) think about America touristas walking around with butcher knives in their pants.

One travel writer said that you can carry a hard plastic bic pen with the end snapped off at a rakish angle for a discreet weapon and walk down the street well armed. Hmmm no thanks, if I have to pick between pen and concealing a steak knife, I'm picking the knife every time.

In the tropics and the islands there is one thing you can find: A Dive shop. Where there is Scuba equipment there are knives and spear guns.

Roll your eyes if you so choose. But let me remind you of this. Some where lost in your DNA are your ancestors. Shocking but true there was some blood lineage version of you in the times of Caesar (and farther back). Until the prevalence of firearms came about man fought with knives, swords, spears, and arrow. They either lived or died, and you are no better than they are.

Laugh if you like, but you are the same one who would say "better a .22 in your pocket than the .45 left at home." When you have neither its either bare hands or get nasty.

Personally I'll take nasty.

If you have nothing, something beats that.

The good hotels to the outstanding ones have in each hallway two on the fly weapons. Fire Extinguishers and Fire Hoses.

A firehose? Really?

The normal range of pressure for a firehose is between 8 & 20 bars (or 100 to 300 psi), they can also have a burst pressure range of 83 bar (or 1200 psi). This pressure level is capable of breaking in weaker brick walls. If water can knock a hole in a wall what do you think it will do to human skin at twenty feet. So its more than capable of knocking down a bad guy with an AKM.

Three people can operate a hose. Knock your bad guy down and keep him there and send one man off hose to retrieve any and all weapons and reloads. The two men operating the hose can direct flow as necessary.

Give no quarter.

Recover the weapon and kill them right then and right there.

Its not pretty, but you can either finish that fight there or let them run back and get friends, and your going to have to fight them again with increased numbers. Minimize your threat.

If you obtain a gun remember that the weapon is hot. If its foreign to you and you can't figure out the safety mechanics Rule 3 (keep your finger off the trigger) is your safety. Look for additional weapons from pistols to grenades and spare magazines and take them. This isn't a house shooting in Burbank and you don't know when it's going to be over or where you will be. More than likely its just getting started. Retreat to the room and take stock of the newly acquired gear.

If its an automatic rifle it has a safety and a lever or button that removes the magazine. If a magazine goes in, it has to come out. If it shoots it has a way of not shooting.

Its called Dark Arts for Good Guys for a reason.

They started the fight and you best end it, because if you don't they will.

It's not about politics or religion its about the law of the jungle, which is to say every man for himself.

Like travelers in the Oberoi in Mumbia did last year or the Virgina Tech Massacre the year before you have one of two choices. Either lie down and die or stand and make a fight. That is it.

Its not a "nice" thing to say and in all honesty regretfully true.

Thirty-two people were murdered and more wounded by one s.o.b. at Virginia Tech, because of the hundreds of people who saw Seung-Ho Cho walk by them no one, not one, fought back.

Holing up in the room waiting for the door to be kicked in so you can stand unarmed between a gunman and your family is a senseless and cowardly way to die. Frankly. It is pathetic that your entire life (and that of your family) led up to the moment of being slaughtered because you (and they) did nothing to prevent it.

I would rather my life end in a fight in the hall or doorway with an empty and dented fire extinguisher than found in pieces on a blood smattered hotel wall and bed with my wife, while the gunman walked to the next room and did it again.

he ain't talking about me: En masse evacuations in the last ten years

Dark Arts for Good Guys Series: Flight & Fight Part 1

2009-07-17T10:56:00.009-05:00

I woke up this morning to the headlines "Suicide blasts at Jakarta Ritz".

The headline hit home.

My second thought was of the attack on the Oberoi Hotel in Mumbai last year by members of Lashkar-e-Taiba . I had spent a few nights there in 2007.

But my first thoughts were of the Spring of 1998 and the Indonesian 1998 Revolution that centered around the resignation of President Suharto .

For two weeks in May that year, I was part of a small contingent of guys that were on 24 hour stand-by to do emergency evacuations for ten American paper mill executives on two Indonesian Islands.

The U.S. based company was trying to assess the particulars of getting their men out of the country in the most efficient manner (read: cost effective). If memory serves I think the cost thrown at the company to extract their men by us was $2-$2.5 Million dollars.

After day in and day out of green lights and red lights the operation was ultimately scrapped.

The Client said they felt like the situation was easing up in Indonesia and that their men in country should be able to get themselves home.

Six of those men did. Four did not. They were hacked up and/or executed on some jerk water island in the South China Sea. As I later found out the families of the left-for-dead were suing for tens of millions of dollars. I'm sure in retrospect that $2.5 looked cheap.

The fact of the matter is this. Regardless of where and why when the shit hits the fan its going to probably be up to you to get yourself (and anyone with you) home. Or at least out of the kill zone.

"Ridiculous" you say. "I'm in my hotel room right now in the Republic of Freeistan and can see the U.S. Embassy from my window. Its just over a mile away, and I ran a mile in seven minutes this morning on the hotel treadmill."

If rioting breaks out between you and the embassy getting there might be tough. If a civil war breaks out good luck. Especially if you're an American.

Why?

Regardless of what you think or who you are, right now in world history the U-S of A is the biggest kid on the block, With that comes the burden of being blamed for everything wrong.

But there is also something else you should realize.

Behind every coup and riot there are literal conductors to these orchestras of disaster and war. And since every leader wants international press coverage for their cause they riot and wage war in front of the American Embassy.

No one is going to let you yell "time out" so you can stroll in the very front gate they are trying to tear down. In fact they may ask you to be their guest at gun point.

The international airport that is also just a few miles away is the other big target. Again, big targets =big press coverage. Bad guys use things like youtube, myspace, facebook, and Fox News to get attention. Because like you they are fighting for their survival, good, bad or otherwise.

Now that KR&E Insurance policy you were advised to get doesn't seem so ridiculous. In it there are usually provisions that say for this much $$ we will send in men with guns to get you to a private airport and out of the country, negotiate your return, etc. But you or your boss thought it was absurd. After all this was just supposed to be a five day spearfishing trip in the Caribbean.

The sun has gone down, and your on the roof of your hotel by the pool listening to the crackle of automatic weapons fire and the wailing of sirens. The signal to your iPhone is cutting out, and you're relatively certain the news feed from CCN reporting two streets up just showed soldiers gunning down the citizenry. This was supposed to be paradise, now its a free for all.

So you have to improvise and start thinking hard, mean and fast, because you and your co-workers or spouse and the kids are alone, and you've got a Swiss Army knife. That carry conceal permit in your wallet doesn't have reciprocity in the South Seas and your SiG 250 and AR-15 are back home in the basement.

So how do you get out? What do you pack? How can you improvise weapons to get better weapons? How do you steal a car to get to the airport or the border?

Flight & Fight Part II: Bugging out and Arming up....

Dark Arts for Good Guys Series: Bribery part II

2009-07-15T11:01:00.007-05:00

Preface: This series is leading in a direction. Stepping stones so-to-speak. Its ultimately about you having to get yourself (and maybe others) out of a singular bad situation or a situation that is escalating (think traveling abroad and experiencing total social collapse even if its only for a short time).

Sometimes rules go out the window. Sometimes rules no matter what prevail, but you have to step outside of those rules to prevail.

Bare in mind I said prevail, I never mentioned not being scarred (mentally or physically) from the situation or paying the consequences for your mis-deed regardless of your honorable intention to do nothing more than "Get Home."

But that is what this series is about: Getting Home

Bribery often denotes the thought of cash, and usually lots of it. Traveling with excessive cash can be problematic. For one, there can be the lack of it. Some of my clients could easily get a wire transfer for $100,000.00. I'd have to put my house up for it.

So like always you have to think outside the box. Let's start small and look at what you do have.

Equipment and Gear.

Once in Pakistan surrounded by a wide array of AK-47s, AK-74s, Tokarev Machine pistols (and even a Springfield A3-03 ???) my hosts became completely enamored with my ASP airweight baton. I simply had something they didn't. My $65 baton had increased value.

Once while flying out of Guadalajara I got stopped by a Federale at the airport. My sin was trying to board the plane (this was prior to 9/11) with my very new (two weeks) Spyderco Military folder. He looked over the knife and asked what I did for living and I explained and he nodded his head, and said he would need to "detain" me for a bit. He closed the knife and flicked it open again.

And then he made his mistake. He grinned ever so slightly. I knew I had him.

So I very innocently grinned gave two open palms and gestured that he could have it. He nodded and then walked me through security.

Its akin to the mountain man and indians parlaying on a blanket in the Snake River valley in the 1820s.

Minus the gory details I once ended up over 100 miles away from my vehicle on an investigation here in the states. Short on cash and in a small town I needed to get to the train station 30 miles away (sounds like a math question doesn't it). I made my way to the local gas-n-sip for a couple of teenagers with a pickup truck and offered my 1st generation night vision scope ($120) for a ride. I had a long five hour wait at the train station, but I got there thanks to them.

A GPS in Bangalore or a set of Motorola family band walkie-talkies might get you that much needed boat ride up the Usumacinta River .

Where you and I can go on-line and get anything we really want from Brigade Quartermaster or Cabelas...or even Eddy Bauer other people can not. People in developing countries often have resources or resourcefulness but are more usually than not cash poor. Again, even those in official capacities.

Bargain fairly, and don't be insulting. But don't get taken either. You may think he's India's version of a hill-billy but he's probably a shrewed bargainer because he does it daily and you shop at Target with a debit card.

Depending on where you are also spells out the advantages you might have. In hill country where towns let alone cities are miles and miles away, you might trade your GPS for one thing and graciously include the batteries already inside. But those spare quality AAAs in your bag might get you a meal, and the instruction manual is worth something else (you need to read something on the plane anyway).

Seriously batteries in back-water towns around the globe may be around in Hadu's trade hut, but they are not the first class Duracell Extended life ones we generally use.

So the next time your light off for the territory ahead back some "trade" goods. Buy an extra $35 plastic Sure-Fire flashlight (maybe even leave in the package), it may bail you out of that "mistake" or get you a better room.

Next: Fight & Flight

The Dark Arts for Good Guys Series: Bribery

2009-07-13T10:40:00.011-05:00

According to Black's Law Dictionary bribery is the offering, giving, receiving, or soliciting of any item of value to influence the actions of an official or other person in discharge of a public or legal duty.

And it goes by many names, Baksheesh in Africa, Mordida, dash, spiffs, "fines", tea money, "processing fees", cadeau, payola, gifts, etc. For the morally uptight who don't travel the world, you think "not me." Well Ned Flanders let's just recognize that the rules of the world were set up before you got there, and not everyone loves Jesus like you and me.

Currently one of the biggest and most and acceptable forms of bribery occur in over seas adoption. I'm not talking about illegal child deals, but rather actual government officials and real legitimate orphanages. The current rate of "extended paper work fees" in Guatemala run between $5000.00 and $10,000.00 and China's go from $10,000-$20,000.

For the sake of this article let me preference this, as a general rule of thumb we are talking about outside the United States. Bribery in the U.S. isn't necessarily rare, but you won't find bribery acceptable amongst the road cops and highly advise against it.

Some fees are straight up. When I flew into one middle eastern country and we went through customs there was a $20 processing fee for Americans.

The thing you have to get past your own virtues.

If you're trying to change the world, good for you. You've got your Master's degree and you voted for Hope and Change. But people (including low level government types) are literally starving in that poor country you've come to "save". That sawbuck you would use back home for a McDonald's value meal might infact buy some poor smuck's family something more than rice to eat, or medicine for his kids ear infection where the free health care wait is six months.

So how do you deliver on the bribe to that unshaved patrol man after your fender bender in Mexico, or carrying that Makarov with no permit in Tanzania?

Never discuss dollor amount. Don't say "so how much to make this go away."

EVER.

You don't start flipping out a wad of bills until he says stop.

This is as much about social palaver as it is about the bribe. Its also about you learning to be submissive, polite and keeping your potentially ugly American mouth shut.

Did I mention polite.

A good way to read the officer's intentions and level of honesty or corruption is when he arrives, if he talks with you and tries to resolve the problem first. That's good. He's open to talking and listening.

If he arrives cuff's you, begins beating your ass and won't let you talk. Shut up, go to the station and maybe you'll have better luck with his boss.

You'll be greeted with a scenario such as "I have to take you to the Polezia station to resolve this." Then he may pause for a moment. Your response should generally be something to the effect of asking if there is a way to take of the problem here and now so you both can be on your way. Because after all he is an important officer of the law and has better things to do with his day than deal with a dumb American like you.

One favorite is "Yes of course. You are the man in charge here. Thank you for being so reasonable (even if he's not). Obviously there is a fine involved here for my mistake. Can I just pay it here?"

Watch for hesitancy, and give him a moment to consider it. Look innocent and dumbfounded and keep quiet. If he says no immediately I wouldn't encourage pushing it. But if you want to try say something to the effect of " well I just figure I have to pay this fine for my mistake regardless and I was hoping I could just take care of that here. You wouldn't know what the fine is by any chance do you?"

Yes, for the most part I repeated my statement there.

Letting the other guy think he's smart and you're stupid is key here. He already has the authority, making him feel intellectually smarter can save you from a trip to the station, a beating or both.

It's also wise to pull out a smoke at this point and light up and offer him one.

But you don't smoke.

Neither do I, minus the occasional cigar. But I never, ever.......ever.....travel without cigarettes.

Marlboro's usually.

A smoke can open a door that would otherwise stay closed, get you an ally or a look out. Smoking establishes camaraderie and makes you a working class stiff just like him.

If language is a problem indicate that you are in a hurry and show him your passport, plane tickets, official papers (lots of stamps and seals are a good thing to have) with a single bank note of currency tucked where he can see it.

The key here is...have cash. He's not going to amble over to the ATM or Bank of Venezuela with you.

So how much?

Well it depends on the situation of course, but surprisingly most people get in trouble by offering too much money to too small of fish. He gets suspicious that he's being trapped. The flip side is you've just insulted a big gutted and slovenly captain that you thought was a patrol man by not offering enough.

I didn't say it was easy. There is an art to it.

A fake traffic stop (speeding when you weren't, stop signs that weren't there, headlights that work just fine but the officer insists didn't). These are a good sign of pay on the spot fines. They generally go for $5-$15 (U.S.)

Real traffic violations go for $20-$50

Serious Traffic violations (Drunk driving, racing, excessive speeding, etc) $50-$500

Serious Car accidents, no one killed, but injuries $500-$1,000+

Accidents where fatalities are involved. Along with Judges, police chief's, lawyers, and prosecutors $2,000-$10,000+

Those dirty bad things you've done (running guns, drugs, prostitutes, etc)? Get a lawyer and ask him how much the bribes are going to be (expect in the excess of $10,000-$50,0000). (Source: WMDP)

But there are also gangs and bandits to consider. Which is more safe passage than bribery since they are not officials.

Every country is different, and on this I couldn't be more serious. So do some research. In one country the best way to bribe is still with the U.S. Dollar. But in others (like Cuba) bribing a local constable with American cash can get him executed for being in possession of the Great Satan's $. So go with local currency that will keep you and him from getting lead poisoning in the back of the head.

IF you get in country and don't know. Go to the bar.

Seriously.

Hit up the ex-pats and local journalists (not foreign journalist. These dumb-asses copy everything from the local journo's). Give the bartender a smoke and ask where the locals go. Or contact the local U.S. Mission or embassy and ask where is a good spot to find the ex-pats.

The key to bribery is simple. You are simply greasing wheels to facilitate services that would otherwise be denied, restricted or delayed. If you don't mind waiting or being told no and turned away keep your money.

If nothing else, the next time you walk into your favorite exclusive restaurant without a reservation and they say its an hour and half wait slide the girl in the slinky black dress a ten spot and get seated in fifteen minutes and be the hero of your party.

I once paid (no joke) a $100 for a pepperoni pizza at 12:25am New Years Eve in Key West because my Principal and his girlfriend where starving. The line was literally out the door and around the block of the little walk up pizza joint. I strolled past the line looked at the manager and said "I'll give you $100 for the next pepperoni pizza out of the oven". He looked at me and said "done."

Of course advice on this blog is for entertainment purposes while you're at work and supposed to be doing that other thing.

Dark Arts for Good Guys Series

2009-07-02T11:44:00.004-05:00

When you exist in a world that is relatively stable and law and order are the rule, it is easy to sit back and condemn the actions of others if you have never been there. To most Americans the thought of bribery is immoral and is a bridge that won't be crossed.For others who operate in a "different" climate you have to learn to adapt and think outside the box in an immediate fashion. Missionaries and Mercenaries all over the globe understand this, as does anyone who works covertly.

The first time a roadside soldier or police man in a poor and rural area tells you that your paper work is not in order and he's going to have to detain you. Its probably time to grease the wheels a bit. But there is an art and a protocol to bribery. Too little its a problem. Too much and you may have a much bigger problem.

So often we refuse to learn and utilize information that is other wise deemed immoral or just wrong. However there can be places and time when such knowledge can not only be useful but life saving.

Let me illustrate a point.

Several years ago I spent some time with a drug addict. He had among many things been addicted to prescription pain killers. As we talked he told me that he chewed the pills instead of swallowing. When I asked him why he simply stated that the drugs got into his system faster.

Flash forward. I occasionally have experienced food allergies with fruits here and there. On one particular occasion I had eaten a slice of fruit at a party and within minutes my lips began to swell and my arms itched. I was able to readily locate some antihistamine pills, and as I took it I chewed them up and let them rest in my mouth a moment before washing it down with water.

???

See here's the thing. Most tablets have a time released coating on them, often this is to help prevent making folks nauseous from putting too much into their system to fast. By crushing the pill I by passed 45 minutes to an hour of waiting for the itching an swelling to go down. With in 15 minutes everything was back to normal.

So what do you do if your traveling in a foreign country, and wake up the next morning to find that there are soldiers in the streets and overnight there is a civil war? Suddenly that easy trip to the airport that is 200 hundred miles away and near the U.S. Embassy is now a non viable option? Tourists and innocent people are being slaughtered.

How do you get out of the country?

How do you get from point A to point B so that you can get out of the country?

How do you make, make shift weapons to either defend yourself or get better weapons?

This is what is coming in a series of articles I'm writing called:

Dark Arts for Good Guys.

Why it does not matter

2009-06-30T09:23:00.005-05:00

I got in a conversation last night with a couple of guys. The guy I didn't know had just bought a mid-size Glock .40. The guy I knew said Glock's were waaaay over rated and he wouldn't own one. At the time he said this I was handling the new Glock. I looked at him and said "really?" feigning stupification. He gave a smug "ppppf yeah."

So I asked if I could shoot him with it.

He declined.

I mean if its a waaay over rated gun it shouldn't hurt him then right.

A year or so ago a younger buddy of mine decided to purchase his first handgun. He decidedly said he needed an H&K USP compact. When I asked him why he said "that's what Jack Bauer carries."

blink blink

Now the funny thing is alot of us roll our eyes, but we have to give anti-gun hollywood some credit to selling guns. One of my first guns lusts ever was the Beretta 92. Because in the 1980s this was the gun of Martin Riggs and John McClain (Lethal Weapon and Die Hard). Elmer Keith may have been responsible for inventing the .44 Magnum but it took Clint Eastwood to put the Model 29 on back order in the 1970s.

But back to my young friend.

He ended up with a Beretta PX4 Storm in 9mm. He was very fond of the gun until one day he mentioned owning a gun to a co-worker who was not a gun owner. They asked what did have and he said "a 9mm Beretta.", an unimpressed "oh" was the response.

Suddenly he was concerned he bought a bad gun. I laughed said he bought a fine one and Lead Chucker and I even got him to an IDPA qualifier.

Jeff Cooper who was a supremely wise man cut a lot of influence in my teenage years and I was gonna be a 1911 man, and I am. But only to a point as previous posts indicate. Cooper despised what he called the Crunchenticker pistols (ala DA/SA), and later on said the Glock was "ok" but no serious pistolero would really carry one.

So here I go.

It doesn't matter.

H&K, Glock, Smith,SiG, Beretta, Kimber, Para, Colt none of it matters.I've grown weary the supposed arguement, especially by those whom qualifications are probably questionable to have the opinion of what is the "best" gun.

LeadChucker went to a good one or two day training course a year or so ago and learned alot. But the instructor told how SiGs were shitty guns and that Glock was the only way to go. Chucker's a smart guy and is able to disimilate on useful and nonuseful information. But frankly that kind of instruction raises my hackles.

The first time I needed a gun to save my life from a stabbing (and now reflecting back I wonder seriously about a rape) was while out hiking when I was about 18. He had a cheap survival knife, I had a cap and ball (and primed) .36 revolver.

He didn't scoff at the fact the gun's design was 130 years old, and I was thankful that black powder handguns were legal for minors to have in Missouri. And I still am thankful to that little gun in the back of my safe.

Never ever apologize for the gun you have. I think you should buy great quality no doubt.... if you can.

So what DOES matter.

Well for starters, it should go bang every time. If it doesn't find out why.95% of the time when semi-autos jam someone says "bad gun". Bullshit. Bad magazine spring, after that, it's probably grit. Or in need of a new recoil spring. Yeah even non 1911 shooters eventually have to replace them if you shoot enough.

What else?

It should be accurate. Accurate as in, if you put it in a Ransom Rest and fired it at 25 yards all the holes in the paper would fit inside the facial area of a target. After that its up to you.

And last but not least, buy what appeals to you. If that means squirreling away a little cash for a little longer so be it. You won't wake up the next morning a more well endowed or less endowed in your maleness (if your male) because of your purchase. If you're a gal it will make you a little more sexier regardless of what you bought.

The best gun is what you have.