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Monthly Archives: September 2012

A Piece of Advice

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Never tell a guy who’s over 6 feet tall, weighs 300lbs, open carrying a firearm who’s familiar with explosives and wearing a kilt, “Hey Nice Skirt!”

 

IMAG0367

It’s not a skirt dumb ass, it’s a frickin’ kilt!  Besides, do you like cancer!?  Because if you hate the kilt, you love the cancer!  In the words of The Oatmeal, Kilt Love good, Cancer Bad!

So here’s the deal.  My kilt came in late this year but alas there are many other awesome guys worthy of your support, well in the running, and there are extra incentives for your donations.

So head over and donate and support the blogger of your choice.  Prostate cancer hits home in my family and KTKC is most definitely a worth cause and I shall participate next year… To prove I’m not kidding, I’m teaming up with the bloggers above to produce a video for next years fund drive.

Kilted To Kick Cancer

Quote of the Day–220ST

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What a fucking drama queen.
Try doing it over again with a duty holster duty belt and body armor like a LEO.
They act like a police qualification course is suppose to be the pinnacle of marksmanship.

220ST – Post on AR15.com Thread

[It appears he is probably the one that also posted a comment here.  My initial response can be seen here but I had a realization this morning.

From the point of view this video was done for it doesn’t freaking matter.  Obviously this man is deaf so I will write out what I stated at the beginning of the video.

This came about because a reader of his blog said the LAPD qualification course would be beyond the realm of capability of most non-law-enforcement shooters.

I don’t wear an LEO duty belt, body armor, every day so why the hell should I have to qualify with it?  The whole thing came about because of the reaction of someone who supports gun control.  She argued that the police meet a high standard of marksmanship and that we wouldn’t be able to match it.  I matched it, in my everyday carry gear.

Being a man of my word though, if you have a pile of duty gear you don’t want and are willing to donate to the cause, I will shoot the course again.

Further, there’s not running involved in the course so the extra weight doesn’t matter, the most is limited mobility, except there is only one stage that requires a draw so even then that doesn’t really matter

I do love AR15.com though, it does provide hours of entertainment and reminds me why I don’t usually bother with forums.

nice ND at 2:19 – notarpole

What ND?  It may have been a mike but it wasn’t an ND.  ND would have been over the berm or around the 180.  Try again there sparky!

Why do 90% of the people who make youtube videos involving guns have to have unusual choices in hair style and dress.
Don’t wear sunglasses or hats when talking to the camera, especially big sunglasses and Australian cowboy hats. The only thing he was missing was a duster and I bet he owns it.
Is that no-sideburn beard to keep his chin warm?
At least he’s well spoken. Dude is dressed for radio interviews. – Lomshek

At which point a couple people join in with Spartacus-boy’s rant.  I wore the hat and glasses because it’s easier than trying to find someone to do camera make up to take the glare off my head (I am bald, not by choice) and face.  Sorry my facial hair isn’t what you would like either, didn’t know I needed to call out for your approval.  Guess next time I’ll just wear a ball cap, aviators, a wife beater, and trim completely down to a goatee.  Sorry I didn’t want to have facial hair like everyone else in the world regularly has.  Pardon me for offending you!

At least a friend had my back:

Fucking fashion police.

Now there is one post that did get my attention:

First I will say that most cops suck at marksmanship
Second, that was not even close to the LAPD qual course and they are not using approved LAPD duty gear or firearms. –500SWshooter

If this wasn’t close the LAPD course of fire, please supply me with the latest version in the comments.  As for LAPD duty gear and firearms, see the comment above and the goal.  The argument is that every day shooters, who don’t regularly wear LAPD duty gear while carrying, couldn’t pass the course.

That said, I live a block from an FFL, send a duty arm to him and send me the duty gear and I’ll run it.  Put up or shut up.  If you’re willing to put up, contact me.

Overall though I was pleased to see the AR15.com thread for the most part other than the few outliers was positive and many were correcting others pointing out what the actual purpose of this exercise was.  -B]

Police Qualification Standards, Debunking the Myth

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So Joe talked about it at the beginning of the month.  I did as Ry suggested and put some extra effort into the video this time around.  It isn’t professional quality by any means though my skills are improving.  It was new unfamiliar software and there were tons of little features I wanted to play with.  I’m getting better with Adobe Premiere, next is After Effects.

So let me start off with a rehash of what we did and why we did it.

Last January a reader on Joe’s blog commented about the LAPD qualification being exceptional and that since they have to qualify every month it’s stringent.

Joe and I weren’t able to find a detailed description however she did and linked us to it. Joe then set about making stages.  You can find the stages here and here.  At this point we had everything we needed to run “a bunch of beer guzzling, uneducated hillbillies“, many of them were the same as before, through the course and see how they did.

Now Joe noted earlier that we had a 90% pass rate for those who scored above 60% and he’s right.  We did have a 90% pass rate at that score level, which is for qualifying in the dark.

Three people were just under the 70% mark, which is the LAPD pass requirement for daylight.  There however is another difference I couldn’t easily cover in the video.  You see the LAPD uses automatic turning targets for their qualification course.  For them it is impossible to have a scoring hit after the time limit is exceeded.

We didn’t have that option, instead we had to fall back on USPSA rules and penalties for shooting a fixed time course of fire.  What this means is that any shot fired after the second buzzer carries with it a penalty of -10 points.  Note the highest possible score for a single shot is 5 points.  So if you make up that shot the best you can do is be down 5 points if you hit an A.

This becomes a serious issue with single shot strings because most likely you will only fire one shot after the buzzer.  You have no extra shots to even out the debt and you just continue to decrease the score.  To give you an idea of how quickly this adds up, 5 penalties will result in a failing score.  So if you have trouble with the 2 shots in 2 seconds and are right on the edge, there’s three penalties.  Couple that with 4 misses on top of that and congrats you have failed.  It doesn’t even need to be full misses, just the aggregate non Alpha hits can add up and shove you under, especially if you’re shooting a minor caliber instead of major.

I know that at least 2 of the three failures had penalties for exceeding time limits, I would need to get the raw score sheets to see exactly how many there were for each shooter.  Though I suspect given their scores, if you change the penalty to -5 from -10, IE subtract just the best possible hit and just turn that shot into a mike, the three in the 60% region would most likely pass.

I think this quote from Tam puts it better than I could.

 I have yet to run across a standard LE qual course that couldn’t be passed by anybody who could stand flat-footed, aim at the ground, and hit it.

In twenty years of being in the firearms industry, I have had the opportunity to see LOTS of police officers shoot. Those that are good are generally good because they are also firearms enthusiasts and sport shooters in their spare time. Most cops aren’t.

In other words they are good shots in spite of being trained and certified by their department, not because of it.

Yup, that’s about how I felt about the LAPD course after I shot it.  Next on the list though is shooting the bonus course.  I’m not sure exactly when I’ll be able to do that but I’ll draw up the stages and may do it over a couple matches.  Doing it all in a single match makes for a lot of “standards” and much less puzzle solving.

SSCC #414 – Eldorado Illinois

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A dog, confined within his own yard, was shot and killed by an Eldorado, Ill. police officer who had mistakenly arrived to the wrong house to investigate a report of a stolen ladder.

Best part was, the dog was chained up.  Hey officer, you want a clue how to not get bit by a chained up dog?  First, go to the right damn house.  Second, stay out of the reach of the chain of the dog.

Then you wouldn’t have to worry about the dog attacking you, and on top of that you wont look like an incompetent moron.

Unsurprisingly this happened in Illinois instead of out here in free America.  The reason being is in Eastern Washington, North Idaho, and Montana, shooting a man’s dog is a great way to get shot yourself.  Shooting the dog here is like shooting a member of the family and is considered a hostile act.  Shooting my dog gives me every reason to fear you as you just deployed lethal force on my property against my family.  Any cop that needs to do that is merely LAZY and doesn’t want to do his damn job.

Lastly why was the officer going to the back door and not the front door?  Again, another fantastic way to get yourself in trouble both with the home owner and their pets.

State Sponsored Criminal #414: Officer John Doe

Because cops are allowed to kill any animal they want any time they want.  The key is they just need to say that it tried to attack them.  Doesn’t even matter if it’s in a cage with a kid behind it.

SSCC #413–Massachusetts

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A state trooper who accidentally shot his neighbor in Norton last year was cleared of any wrong doing, but that is not sitting well with the victim.

Why would I so willingly add this to the count?

Blair was walking her dogs on New Year’s Eve in the woods behind her Norton home when her neighbor said he mistook her dog for a deer’s tail. He fired his rifle and hit Blair, shattering her pelvis.

…

Environmental police recommended the trooper be charged with careless use of a weapon, but earlier this week the courts dropped the criminal complaint.

And he got to keep his hunting license too.  Like that would happen to any of the rest of us peons.

State Sponsored Criminal #413:  State Trooper John Doe

Because cops can be negligent with firearms all they want, they’re anointed after all.

via Jay G

The 2nd Amendment Foundation and You

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So I got an email from my friend Ray Carter at the Second Amendment Foundation this morning.

Unbeknownst to me there was a Kick Starter drive started for a film that is dear to our cause.

There’s 14 days left in their drive with a goal of $65,000 dollars.  Yeah times are tough on wallets, but you know what it’s also only going to get tougher for our right to keep an bear arms.

There is no question that California is dead center in the fight to keep an bear arms.  Every time I’m around other gun owners and the subject turns to our rights, inevitably the subject of California’s draconian laws comes into play.

If you have 10 bucks, kick into the bucket and you’ll get a digital copy of the film.  Hell, at just 50 you get a DVD and a crew T-Shirt.

How serious does the Second Amendment Foundation and Calguns Foundation consider this project?

The Second Amendment Foundation and the Calguns Foundation have each contributed $5,000.00 to get this project off the ground. 

Let’s get this project completely airborne and complete their goal.  This is something that definitely needs to be spread around.  Tell your friends, tell your relatives, make this happen, it isn’t just California in trouble.  California is merely the front line. 

SSCC #412–King County

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Decisions by the sheriff’s Shooting Review Board have displayed an "absence of serious deliberation and explicit reasoning," says the 70-page report prepared by Merrick Bobb, the head of a Los Angeles-based consulting firm who is considered one of the nation’s leading experts on police accountability.

Remember this is regarding investigations of people who already get the benefit of Qualified Immunity.

State Sponsored Criminal #412: King County Sheriffs Office

Because who needs to do a through review when deadly force is used?  It wasn’t their loved one’s they shot right?

Quote of the Day – A Girl and Her Gun (9/19/2012)

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The most dangerous thing about these people is that they want to affect our minds. They want to convince us that we do not matter. That we have no value. That if we were truly decent and caring people we would care more about the man trying to shove parts of his body into you or me by force than our right not to have that happen.

A Girl and Her Gun – You Have Worth

September 19th, 2012

[I find it interesting that our opponents arguments are exactly as A Girl points out more and more.  There is little to question about the way our opponents view criminals and the law-abiding.  Their views are that the life of the criminal is worth more than the person who is being violated.

How sad is it when their position in the argument is that you should let the criminal violate you and then the state will give him “due process”.  I don’t think he really understands how the legal system works.  Due process isn’t a method to argue against self-defense.  Due process is a legal term to protect the innocent from the force of the state.  Due process only applies within the realm of the state.  A criminal does not get entitled to have a jury vote thumbs up or down before their victim can fight back.  The victim is a one man jury and the state will apply due process on that one man jury.

What does this mean for criminals?  It means that if a criminal tries to kill someone, the victim can try to kill them right back.  In the eyes of the law and due process, the victim will be justified in their actions while the criminal will not.

Never mind that the particular individual who brought about this argument failed reading comprehension 101.  As I told A Girl yesterday regarding his commentary on “due process”:

WTFO? I think I just killed brain cells trying to make that supposedly logical leap…

It is unbelievable how willfully our opponents voice their distaste for the law-abiding while embracing, defending, and supporting criminals. -B]