Tomorrow's Mailing: I will need to leave the house much earlier than usual tomorrow for a diagnostic medical procedure. Unless I awaken abnormally early, tomorrow's mailing will probably not go out until mid-afternoon. --- A List Member Responds: In response to my comment that the churches who are battling the Minnesota CCW law in court are seeking the right to ban CCW beyond the actual place of worship, a Minnesota-based instructor observes: The churches' issues were the posting requirements (MN signs must meet statutory size, placement, and other specifications) and not being able to ban firearms from their parking lots or other property. While some property is normally a parking lot, it COULD BE used for religious purposes and the law doesn't allow for that. Their position is that the law infringes on their religious freedom because they believe the signage requirement to be unduly onerous, while totally ignoring that the signs are not a de facto ban. The firearm carrier must ALSO be ordered to leave. No violation has been committed if the party in question has been ordered to leave and does so without delay. Of course, this presupposes that anyone is even aware that they had a firearm in the first place. We are not required to reveal whether we have a permit or that we are armed except upon direct question from a licensed law enforcement officer. MN statute specifically allows vehicle storage because parking lots are space accessible to the general public. Some employment rules issues arise that could result in termination, but not prosecution. It is apparent to me that the underlying purpose of this case is to weaken the statute by opening exceptions. They are hoping for legislation from a sympathetic bench. This bunch is about as transparent as most so-called "animal rights" organizations. --- Do As I Say, Not As I Do: ... Activities at that armory and other warehouses help explain how the American military lost track of some 190,000 pistols and automatic rifles supplied by the United States to Iraq's security forces in 2004 and 2005, as auditors discovered in the past year. These discoveries prompted criminal inquiries by the Pentagon and the Justice Department, and stoked fears that the arms could fall into enemy hands and be used against American troops. So far, no missing weapons have been linked to any American deaths, but investigators say that in a country awash with weapons, it may be impossible to trace where some ended up. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/11/world/middleeast/11weapons.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=world&pagewanted=all --- Pancho Villa Guns Sell For Less Than Expected: Three guns linked to Pancho Villa were auctioned for nearly $29,000, apparently less than what organizers expected the firearms tied to the Mexican revolutionary to fetch. "That's the fun of auctions - sometimes you get bargains," said Amy McMurrough, a spokeswoman for the auction, which was held Saturday near San Antonio. The prize of the auction - Villa's Remington single action revolver with his real name, "Doreteo Arango," engraved on the barrel - sold for $18,000. (It was actually "Doroteo Arango.) http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OLD_WEST_AUCTION?SITE=AZTUS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT --- Why Bother?: Federal and Ruger appear to have teamed up to offer a true .32-caliber magnum round, the .327 Magnum, on the latter's SP101 platform. Ostensibly, this is to offer a self-defense equivalent of the .357 Magnum with 20% less recoil. No mention is made of muzzle and barrel-cylinder-gap blast, which is why I no longer recommend magnum loads for self-defense. Also not mentioned is that the .32-caliber SP101 appears to chamber six rounds. (Of note, I have been tentatively recommending the three-inch SP101, chambered in .38 Special, as a current-production handgun to students who express preference for a revolver. I see that this model no longer appears on Ruger's website although they still list the two-inch SP101 in .38 Special and the three-inch SP101 in .357 Magnum.) http://www.federalcartridge.com/default.asp?menu=1&s1=4&s2=6&id=171&brand=5&year=2007 http://www.ruger-firearms.com/Firearms/FAProdResults?function=famid&famid=9&variation=Satin%20Stainless&bct=Yes&type=Revolver --- English Mayor Tries To Ban Rifles In Remembrance Day Parade: Napoleon tried, as did many others. They all discovered that the riflemen of the British Army do not lay down their arms easily - if at all. Nonetheless, Hilary Beach decided to call for 1st Battalion of The Rifles to leave their weapons behind at tomorrow's Remembrance Day parade because she feels they are too "violent"... Miss Beach's plea to the council fell on deaf ears...A Remembrance Sunday cannon salute at the start and end of the two-minute 11 am silence has been banned. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=492612&in_page_id=1770 --- From John Farnam: 6 Nov 07 Cold-Steel "Sharkie" Lynn Thompson at Cold Steel is currently producing the "Sharkie." It is a functional pen, with a screw-on cap. However, with the cap firmly in place, it is thick enough to make a near-perfect Yarawa-stick. I carry my copy in the right, inside pocked of my CCW vest. I can access it quickly, and a crisp strike with it on the back of a bully's hand will cause him to let go, right readily. Follow-up strikes to the jaw, collar-bone, and ear can be even more persuasive! I flew cross-country with my Sharkie last weekend, and TSA never even noticed it. The Sharkie is low-profile, inexpensive, and, like everything from Cold Steel, robust and extremely well made. When you can have in your possession neither a gun, nor a blade, it makes a wonderful companion. Recommended! /John (A yawara is a stick, typically with knobs on the ends, long enough to project beyond both sides of the fist when grasped in the hand. According to choice of technique, it may be shifted so that it projects more on one side than the other.) 6 Nov 07 Last weekend, in concert with several colleagues, I conducted a Close-Range Combatives Course in SC. We spent a day in live-fire drills and a second day in role-playing drills using Airsoft pistols. Scenarios were allowed to "free-play," and students were confronted with hostage situations, car-jackings, and numerous other contacts with VCAs. My observations confirmed what has been observed at the NTI and every other close-range, violent-encounter drill in which I've been involved. Students invariably came to the identical conclusion: When confronted with imminent violence at close range, who (1) aggressively (but precisely) explode off the line of force, without delay, and continue to move aggressively, rarely get shot, and unfailingly inflict lethal wounds upon astonished VCAs. Who (2) move off the line but then stop moving, get shot more often. Who (3) hesitate, dither, or surrender meekly, seldom live through it. A precise, but explosive, counterattack, combined with unrelenting and aggressive movement upsets VCAs' plans so completely that they rarely regain the offensive. Successful students don't let VCA(s) breath. They finish the fight! There is little doubt that the longer you allow yourself to be under the control and domination of a VCA, the more likely you'll suffer serious harm. There are surely risks involved in acting immediately and decisively, but there are even greater risks that attach to doing nothing. When they commence their attack, VCAs are always weakest and most vulnerable. After they gain control over you, they will become progressively stronger as you become progressively weaker. In the end, when you're gagged and tied up, all options will evaporate. You'll perish, wishing you had acted when you had the chance! "Delay in the use of force, and hesitation to accept responsibility for its employment, will always be interpreted as weakness. Such indecision will encourage further disorder, and will eventually necessitate measures more severe than those which would have sufficed in the first instance." - United States Marine Corps Small Wars Manual, (1940) page 27, paragraph (d) Back in the days when US Marines were armed all the time, they served as escorts on trains delivering supplies to remote outposts. These trains were often the targets of bandits looking for an easy score. Standing orders for all Marines so deployed directed that, in the event of an armed assault on the train, all Marines will start firing immediately! It didn't matter what the odds, every Marine fired, without delay. Bandits were thus put on notice that there would never be an "easy score." Whatever happened, whatever the ultimate outcome, bandit blood would be on the deck, without fail, before it was all over. Not surprisingly, armed attacks dropped off dramatically and eventually stopped altogether! A far cry from today's universal "surrender-at-the-drop-of-a-hat" policy, eh? /John 6 Nov 07 Master Grip We train students to acquire a strong, Master-Grip on pistols any time they are handled, as grasping a pistol any other way invariably causes it to point in unsafe directions. Here is confirmation from a student who just returned from New Orleans: "In New Orleans last weekend I went to the French Quarter, discovering, to my disgust, that violently aggressive pan-handlers are more numerous than they ever were before Katrina. There is (still) little to recommend it! I noticed local police moving in on a nearby group of sleazy-looking characters. I did my best to separate myself from them, but I was close enough to see one of the officers confront a suspect and subsequently remove a pistol from the suspect's waist-band. In so doing, the officer put his thumb through the pistol's trigger-guard, pointing the muzzle at himself, other officers, and me. That is when I went from walking to running! I see now why you are so insistent that pistols be handled exclusively via the Master-Grip. The officer in question could have inadvertently shot himself, me, or one of his colleagues. It makes me wonder how many preventable NDs occur every year, for that reason alone!" Comment: Careless gun-handling, particularly allowing muzzles to inadvertently point in unsafe directions, is a plague, even among the ostensibly trained, as we see here. When handling pistols, competent gunmen employ a strong Master-Grip, exclusively! /John 7 Nov 07 Gun-safe maintenance, from a student: "I just found out the hard way that gun-safes are not maintenance-free! Sunday, I went to my fifteen-year-old Liberty Gun-safe, with its S&G dial-combination lock, to retrieve several items. It wouldn't open! The dial turned normally, but no longer had a 'hard stop.' I called the retailer where I had purchased it. He put me in touch with the factory. They were helpful, but after trying thirty alternate combinations they supplied, I still had no joy! I finally called a locksmith. He managed to restore the dial to normal function by striking it several times with a hammer. Whacking was free. Knowing where to whack cost me a hundred dollars! Thank heaven it was not necessary to drill it. Tuesday, he installed a new, electronic-keypad lock. He explained that S&G dial-combination locks need to be serviced every five years. I had no idea! I'm just thankful this little problem didn't rear its ugly head in the middle of an emergency. We live and learn!" Comment: I find electronic-keypad locks easier to use than dial combinations, but they are not trouble-free either. And, an EMP (electro-magnetic pulse) produced by a nuclear detonation may well fry electronic locks instantly. All that secured firepower will be of little use when you can't get your safe open! /John (I find it hard to believe that the periodic maintenance involves anything more than the correct lubrication. I can see where any lubricant that can gum up with time could cause problems. It used to be that graphite powder was the lubricant of choice in key locks.) -- Stephen P. Wenger Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .