The Gun Blogs

Concealed handgun licensees here in the Great State of Texas have been fighting for the right to carry on campus for...quite some time now. As of right now, our best hope is that Governor Perry will attempt to change things during our 2009 legislative session. This is one of the rare times in which I think that meeting every other year is a very bad thing. We're trying to be patient, but...it's getting harder.

With the recent shooting on a college campus in Tyler, Texas, we have no choice but to acknowledge that this type of thing can happen anywhere. Even here in Texas, where more than a quarter million of us are legally licensed to carry our concealed handguns in many public places (except, of course, school).

And then, the University of Texas at Arlington reported that there was an armed robbery on campus. There was also an incident involving a pellet gun.

So: we need concealed carry at Texas schools. Right now, only the criminals have weapons at school. By definition, criminals break laws. You can post all the "No Gun" signs you want, and you can pass all the "No guns at school" laws you want. The criminals are going to ignore all of this. Those of us who follow laws will obey...and by doing so, put ourselves at risk.

This ticks me off because I'm a UT-Arlington student. (I'm taking off this semester, but I'm returning in August.) I have to walk, by myself, across several parking lots. The campus is wide open to anybody who wishes to show up. Cooper Street, which basically runs right down the middle of the school, is a large and public road open to anybody who'd like to drive down it.

And though many of the people who live in the numerous houses near the campus are wonderful, law-abiding citizens...some of them are not. Not every person in the surrounding neighborhood is a good guy or gal. The criminals who live right off campus have very easy, free access to the unarmed students who are in the parking lots and on the streets.

There aren't enough campus police officers to personally escort every student all over the campus. Until or unless we each have armed escorts, we're responsible for protecting ourselves. But right now, legislation and school policies make this difficult. Very difficult.

Because, quite frankly, I have no delusion about what would happen if I were confronted by a criminal armed with a handgun. I have...pepper spray and a folding knife. Oh, yes, those are highly effective against handgun-wielding purse snatchers, rapists, school shooters and other, miscellaneous thugs.

This is not fair. I haven't done anything wrong, but the law puts me at a distinct disadvantage re: my own protection. The State of Texas licensed me to carry a loaded .45 at church, in Wal-Mart, and at the hobby shop. But I cannot carry that same gun to classes. I'm the same law-abiding citizen no matter where I go, but for some reason, I am not worthy of self protection when I'm attempting to better myself through higher education.

The Brady Campaign's "Drop out of school" solution would be a fine idea if it weren't for the fact that I have just as much right to attend college as an anti-gunner's kid does. I earned my seat at UT-Arlington. Wishing to defend and protect myself while I'm occupying that seat does not make me any less worthy of what I worked to earn.

Besides: the anti-gunners still have the right to NOT carry guns. They have a choice. I do not.

The sooner we get campus carry, the happier I'll be.

Is my 'stuff' worth dying for?

Personally, I'd say 'No'. But that doesn't mean I won't shoot you if you try to take it.

You see, for you the value of my 'stuff' is low - just the few dollars you'll be able to pawn it for, or the cheap thrill you get from taking it.

But to me many of those items are precious beyond words, treasured mementos of people, places, and times. That cheap little thing you may take just to laugh at and destroy may be the one and only thing I have left from someone deeply beloved and long gone. That link is worth protecting.

And as to the rest of my 'stuff' you should keep in mind that those are pieces of my life that you're taking. I worked to get those things and no insurance company will ever be able to give me the portion of my life I expended to get something back.

All of that ignores the other, more practical reasons why you're risking your life stealing from me.

You see, I cannot know what your intentions are. You say (now) that you were only going to steal and would never hurt anyone. But you see the problem is that many other thieves are willing to harm my loved ones and I so I have to treat all thieves as dangerous.

Besides, no matter what you intend now, how can I be sure (sure enough to bet my life) that you won't change your mind when confronted?

All in all, the most reasonable thing for me when you try to rob me is to presume that if you're willing to steal you're willing to do additional harm as well and do what I can to protect myself and my loved ones.

Which means I will shoot you.

You don't want to get shot. I hear it's quite painful and, of course, there's a significant risk that you will die.

And I don't think anything I own is worth you risking your life to steal, so please don't put yourself in a position to be killed over something so trivial as my 'stuff'. Get a job and get your own.

Hell in a Handbasket covers the age old question to those new (and not so new) to handgun carry:

Where do I put it when using a public restroom?

Remember what they say, when confronted with THIS sort of behavior, just reason with your attackers and no harm will come to you.

So, after watching this, put yourself in that situation.

Would have you deployed your firearm? At what point?

It's easy (way too easy) to find a biased, ill-informed piece on firearms in the news today. As we head toward a decision in the Heller case, no doubt there'll be more.

WCPO in Ohio does a good, non-biased report on concealed carry in the state. They stick to facts, and get them right.

And, although I like this statement:

We are not going to pass judgement on the law or its politics

it's a shame they had to say it at all.

Via Sebastian comes this piece on carrying a gun.

Here's my favorite:

I don’t carry a gun because I want to shoot someone. I carry a gun because I want to die at a ripe old age in my bed, and not on a sidewalk somewhere tomorrow afternoon.

Like Tam says: I ain't goin out like that

.. we went and got my ladyfriend a Bersa .380 CC. She needed more than the Beretta Bobcat she had been carrying.

No range report yet, but if it's anything like the regular Bersa I had, it'll be a sweet little thang.

As for me, it's either a P3AT or a CMP Garand. Finally found my birth certificate so I can do the CMP thing.

But that is another post.

Via Insty comes this story:

Orlando victims scare off armed robbers with own guns

Here's what caught my eye (emphasis mine):

The men say they exercised their constitutional right to own guns, carried them legally and defended themselves within the state's deadly force law.

"If it's appropriate, people have to defend themselves," said Sgt. Barbara Jones, Orlando police spokeswoman. "It's no different from us using a gun. It has to be justified, and we will, of course, investigate what happened."

Nice to see some cops leave off the "only better", if ya know what I mean.

Working at a gun shop gives me some wonderful oppertunitys to try stuff I otherwish would not have. At time I am very impressed, other times not so much. This time was both, and a learning experince to boot. I took home a brandnew Taurus 650 CIA (carry it anywhere) mine is a .357 magnum, 2' barrel, Double action only. Now I am ussaly a fan of having the option of the single action; however where I to be involved in a gunfight with this gun, I would not be using single action! So I am training myself to shoot double action, as most of the handguns I carry daily are either double action only, or double action first shot. There are rumors that DAO shooting is inaccurate, and diffcult. While it may take more concentration to fire in DA mode this is not a bad thing as it helps us to concentrate more on a consistant trigger squeze.
I like the little 2" revolvers because they tend to be there by my side when not other firearm will quite do the trick. Add to that the performance of the .357 Magnum caliber, and you have yourself a great little combo. I drive a pickup that the desighn of the seats allows me to afix a holster inbetween the drivers seat and the center consul. This is where I prefer to have a revolver. I cannot readily reach my holstered weapon the gun-in-the-seat meathod is wonderful. With the small CIA all I have to do is put the gun in my pocket when I leave the truck, which not only secures the firearm, but also provides me with a great back up gun.
Anyone reading this must note that although these meathods work for me they may not be ideal where you are. I live in Alaska, and it is simply a differant kind of enviroment. We have cold weather, animals, remote wilderness areas, and the usual assortment of drunk, vandals, and criminals. No, the truck never leaves the driveway with out at least one rifle, and one handgun. Here it is dark half of the year so it is impertive that one should learn to shoot a firearm in darkness. I think that this is a must have skill for anyone who takes their personal saftey seriously. If you think about it most crimnals will not attack you in daylight downtown, but add darkness to the picture, and suddenly the other person has concelment.
Constant darkness is one reason why I do not carry full power .357 loads in the Taurus. When testing the gun in darkness the muzzle flash from this little gun was enough to blind me to the loaction of the target for almost 3 seconds. To any of you who have been in a gun fight you will know that three seconds can very well spell life or death. I also know that it is unlikely that an assailant will stop their attack INSTANTLY after my first hit. With that in mind I choose firearms that are able to fire without essesive muzzle blast. So I carry the .38 special +P loads, and a speed loader.
Bullets do not do the shooter any good unless they impact their target. We must test our carry guns first for reliably and second for accuracy. It works. I am not going to tell you that you can hit a gopher at sixhundred meters. I was able to relably hit the head at 25 yrds on a standard size siluette target. long range is not where the real shine is though, its the personla distance shooting that will make or break the gun. I was able with very little practice shoot fist sized groups at 10 yards. These groups where all point of aim.
So on the stevedcross scale of gun testing I would give this little bugger a 6. I would have scored it higher, but there was a problem. This gun willnot work with Cor-bon ammo. I have no ideal why, it just does not work. It works with other ammo of the EXACT same power leval, but not the corbon. Now this is important to remember because had I not tested my ammo I would have been in for a rude supprise had it come time to use it. I will work on this though and let everyone know when I fighure it out. Meanwhile I would advise you not to shoot Corbon in Taurus revolver as I am not the first one to have this problem.
Good luck and stay safe
stevedcross

Rules of Gun fighting

1 Have a gun.
2 Bring your friends who have guns.
3 If it’s worth shooting, it’s worth shooting again, and again, etc.
4 Only hits count. Front Sight Squeeze; Repeat as necessary
5 Any hits count for something.
6 If they are throwing mortars at you, shoot them! (see rule #3).
7 If you can see them you can shoot them; So do it ( personal experince)!!!
8 Proximity negates skill.
9 Always Cheat.
10 If not shooting you should be communicating, reloading and/or moving.
11 Someday, Someone may kill you with your own gun, but they will have to beat you to death with it because; it will be empty.
12 Have a plan.
13 Have a back up plan because the main plan will fail.
14 Flank them, don’t get flanked.
15 Be aggressive.
16 The faster you finish the fight the less chance you have of getting shot.
17 Tactical reload, as soon as possible.
18 Be polite, be paranoid.
19 The only things that matter are you living and them dying.
20 Bullets go through walls
21 Bring extra ammo.
22 Women and children can and will shoot you. Trust NO One!
23 If you do get shot, shoot back, relax, and don’t panic.

This is not original to me, just figured that I would share, pass it along, some I have added from personal experience, but again I am not the first person to say this. Add some of your own, and we can try and get the 50 best or something. So comment and I will edit the list to include good ones.

SO they come out with a new gun and they tout how it is so safe and one of those "safe" features is a loaded chamber indicator. This really annoys me, I mean what really does this do? Have we all forgoten that all guns are to be treated as loaded? If someone (IE not a "gun" person") picks up this gun that does not know the "All guns are loaded" rule, do you really expect them to know what a loaded chamber inticator is, and how to use it?
As for the gun savey population, they should know that the gun is loaded, or at least how to properly check the weapon. Now If you where to say to me that it is for "operators" to be able to feel instantly if their weapons are loaded, well missy let me tell you that I an't gonna belive some little tab to tell me if I have a weapon ready to go into leathel combat. First off those little things can get a little grit on them and then they stay "loaded" all the time. So if the indicator says that there is a round in the chamber does that mean I still have to check it before going out to check something going bumb in the night>?
I belive that it was said that somethings are brilant soultions to non-exitent proplem. This fits in that cadogery. Some Airforces did something simular, in that they painted a false cockpit on the underside of the aircraft. well it seemed like a great idea, until people had an ephiny and said "hey if they are close enough to see it, then they are close enough to not be fooled by it.
As far as gun safety, its really easy. Most Americans memorize many many numbers, phrases, and such in their lives. How had then is it for a persom to learn a few very simplE rules about gun handeling,
1 EVERY GUN IS LOADED!!!!!
2 DO NOT POINT A GUN AT ANYTHING YOU DO NOT WISH TO KILL/DESTROY!!
3 WHEN BEING HANDED A FIRARM FROM SOMEONE ELSE, YOU FIRST CHECK THAT THE WEAPON IS UNLOADED.
So I belive that if a person cannot learn, and abide by those rules, they should be taken to a group home where they help those with limited mental assets.

Here is a list of Campus Leaders for SCCC. Here's a sample:

Tennessee

East Tennessee State University - Jay Adkins
Tennessee Technological University - Andrew Hicks
Tennessee University - Serpent Lucas
Vanderbilt University - Reed Williams

Good luck to these and all the other students who are sticking up for their rights to safety and self defense.

East Tennessee State University campus leader Jay Adkins reports that ETSU has conceded to allow students to carry empty holsters on campus during the Empty Holster Protest.

Info Here

UPDATE - Got a better link. Go thee hence, and read thereon.

This should be interesting:

Empty Holster Protests Coming to a College Campus Near You

Organized by Students for Concealed Carry on Campus (SCCC), a nation-wide "empty holster" protest is planned for the week of October 22-26.

Details here
.

Click on the banner at the top of that page for even more info.

Looks like some schools are already threatening disciplinary action for any students who participate. FIRE better get ready.

It's not like they ever have to face violent bad guys or anything...

Pat Jessamy is an idiot.

This according to Andy Wise at WREG.com.

MEMPHIS, TN -- With a legal handgun carry permit and a clean criminal history, there is no limit to how and where you can kill someone in self-defense in Tennessee, according to a Shelby County judge.

Shelby County Criminal Court Judge Chris Craft says the state's new 'Stand Your Ground' law, which went into effect May 22, not only gives "persons (with gun carry licenses) who are not engaged in criminal activity" limitless power to kill in self-defense, but it also strips criminals of their rights to self-defense, even against other criminals.

The funny thing is, outside of this inflammitory verbage, and the "Stand Your Ground" misnomer, the rest of the article is fairly balanced.

Guess 'ol Andy had to dress it up a bit for the editors, eh?

From Common Folk Using Common Sense, commenting on the line below, comes the Quote of the Day:

There are too many people who are just evil and mean-spirited. They will hurt you for no reason. If more people were packing guns, it might serve as a deterrent.

To which Shamalama replies:

I wish people didn’t have to have a gun pushed into their face to understand this simple concept.

Amen, brother.

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In the Chronicle Review, a publication of The Chronicle of Higher Education, there's a brief opinion editorial by Alan Contreras, the administrator of the Office of Degree Authorization of the Oregon Student Assistance Commission about concealed carry. Contreras, as do I, has a concealed carry permit issued by his county's sheriff. In his editorial Contreras admits that he carries while on the job.

"Some of the people at the colleges and universities I visit as part of my job probably don't know that I carry a gun on their campuses. Now they do," he writes.*

I applaud Contreras' honesty and integrity in making an open statement about his right to carry. At my college, my colleagues know I have a concealed carry permit, and I am clear about my willingness to abide by my schools "no weapons on campus" (except for ceramic coffee mugs) policy, but I haven’t made an open statement to the larger educational community. There is some risk in being open about one's permit. While statistically in my county fewer than one percent of concealed carry permit holders ever have a gun confiscated for misuse, many non-gun owners perceive us as more dangerous than those around us.** While we abide within the law, there are many courts in our society including the court of opinion.

To win in the court of opinion I believe we need to have an ongoing and broad societal discussion about morals and ethics - rights, values and responsibilities - as they relate to use of force and power. As Contreras writes, "there is certainly something macabre about the idea, shown graphically in a cartoon shortly after the Virginia Tech shootings, that we should just let the good guys and bad guys shoot it out. Yet it is even worse to pretend that the good guys and bad guys should be treated as morally equivalent."

*Read Contreras' editorial in the June 15, 2007 edition of The Chronicle Review page B2.

**http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=32260

I'm slowly writing a series of self-defense pamphlets focusing on the use of a pistol as the tool. The rough draft for my first pamphlet, on natural point of aim, can be found here. For information regarding my motivation to do this, or to comment on the pamphlet itself feel free to comment on my blog or e-mail me at selfdefensepistol@gmail.com.