Concealed Carry Report

In case you missed it last week, I had a couple HUGE announcements!

1) Our new Armed American Report blog, where all the emails I send out will be archived for easy reading: ArmedAmericanReport.org.

2) Our very own radio station! Since last week, we’ve added our broadcasts to iTunes as pod-casts, which you can subscribe to and download at the Armed American Radio station: ArmedAmericanRadio.org.

Now, this week I have an Armed American Report for you that is like a seminar on gun lube. Lubricating firearms is a mystery for some and almost like a religion for others. Today I present to you some varying opinions on the subject from an article by Grant Cunningham, forum posts from our own subscribers, and a review of a great product by Cody. When educating ourselves about anything, it is imperative to get good information and real-world experience from those in the field. We have all that covered today and a lot more. Enjoy!

== USCCA Laugh of the Week ==

See all of Chaim’s Cartoons at his website:
http://www.chaimcartoons.com/

“SHOOTING AND FIGHTING:
THERE IS A DIFFERENCE”

“…No, it’s not crazy…it’s STUPID….”

by CR Williams

I have a friend who lives up north of me. Young fella. Likes rifles. Has an M14 he’s particularly enamored of. Carries a pistol, a Glock of some sort, daily. But you can tell he really doesn’t think about it as much as he does the rifles.

I’ll tell you how I know (aside from because of our ongoing discussions about rifles–another essay about that later). About two weeks ago, he said this to me in a message:

“Man did you know that I’ve NEVER practiced drawing from concealment? Nope… not even one practice draw. Pretty crazy, eh?”

Now, I know he practices shooting with the pistol. He’s said as much. I’m pretty sure he practices more than I do, ammunition supply permitting, and I’m almost certain that he dry-fires more than I do. I would not be surprised if he was a better shot than I was, given that I don’t practice shooting as much as I think he does.

Still, even if I had remembered that, my answer to him, would have been the same as it was:

“No, it’s not crazy…it’s STUPID.”

Fortunately, I responded to him before I thought about it, because if I had thought about it before I responded, I would have gotten angry–like I did after I sent the response and did have time to think about it–and if I had been angry when I wrote back, then I would have risked not getting the point across to him properly, that point being…

IT’S NOT ABOUT SHOOTING - IT’S ABOUT FIGHTING.

Understand, please, before we go on… History is full of cases and examples of men and women who did nothing more than obtain a weapon, whether it was a gun or a knife or a pointed stick, set that weapon aside and never picked it up again until the day they used that weapon to successfully fight off an attack. There are, I have no doubt, thousands upon thousands who have not thought of fighting until the very moment when they realized that they had to, and then without training or experience, that’s what they did, and successfully. There is no question of that.

A question I do have, however, is how many others who obtained the same kind of weapon and set it aside later died because they did not know how to fight with it. How many more good people would we have?–how many less evil people would there be?–if only some of them had gone beyond just running a few shots through to test it, or beyond standing and shooting at a target every so often. How many would have lived if they had understood in time that there’s a difference between fighting with a gun and shooting a gun?

I wonder… I wonder…

And don’t get me wrong, either–you need to be able to shoot before you start learning to fight with a pistol…or a rifle or a shotgun, for that matter. When someone is trying to kill you, it is a Good Thing to have the sight picture, master grip, trigger control, and other fundamentals set down as automatically as possible. To have the best chance of winning the fight, you have to go through the basics–how to form a fist, how to set your foot for a kick, how to grip the knife, how to work the trigger on the pistol so you can get the sight picture back after the last shot, things like that. It helps to have a workable grasp of the techniques. You don’t need an absolute mastery, just the workable grasp. But you do need them.

And you need to understand that those techniques are not the same thing as fighting.

You can put two shots into a circle the size of a quarter from twenty yards away.

That’s shooting. That’s not the fight.

Can you put two shots into the heart of a man ten yards away, aiming a gun at you, screaming murder, you shooting one-handed as you run or jump ten feet to where you can get your car’s engine block between you and the bullet that he’s about to fire at you?

That’s not just shooting. That’s the fight.

From the holster, you can put the first shot in the A-Zone of an IDPA target twenty feet away in less than 1.25 seconds by the timer.

That’s shooting. That’s not the fight.

Can you drop your newspaper, draw from under your buttoned suit coat, and start pumping rounds into the person that announced their psychotic break by screaming and pulling a knife as they charge at you from thirty feet away before they get in edge’s reach of you? Can you do that even as your body naturally and desperately and automatically tries to put the newsstand or the park bench between you and the screaming psycho? And what if you’re sitting on that park bench when the attack starts?

That’s not just shooting. That’s the fight.

You need to know the difference. You need, like my friend does now, to realize the difference. And like my friend has started doing now, you need to train for the fight and not for the shot.

It could be important.

It could be the difference between living and dying for you.

And if that difference is not important…what is?

“Coffee and Miracle Lubricants
THERE IS A DIFFERENCE”

by Grant Cunningham

Coffee is one of those vices in which I do not indulge. Not from any religious objection, mind you - it’s just that I can’t stand the taste of the stuff. I admit to loving the smell of brewing java, but coffee is one of those things that smells a whole lot better than it tastes!

Stay with me, I’ll get to the point.

A number of years ago I knew a district sales manager for one of the major coffee companies. (Coincidentally, his first name was also Grant. Obviously a man of superior intellect, charm, and modesty.) Grant told me that the coffee brand with the largest market share at that time was Folgers, due largely to their “mountain grown” ad campaign.

He commented that the campaign was so much hot air, as all coffee was grown in the mountains - but people had been conditioned to believe that since a) the mountain environment was desirable, and b) only Folgers was grown in the mountains, therefore ac) Folgers was the only coffee to buy.

Yes, the mountain environment was desirable, because without it there would essentially be no coffee, but no - Folgers wasn’t the only coffee which was grown there!

His story came back to me this week when I received yet another email from what was obviously a salesman for one of those multilevel marketing (MLM) “miracle lubricant” scams. One of the consistent claims by all such snake oil concerns is that their product “bonds with the metal at the molecular level”, that it is a very desirable thing to do, and only their product does so.

Think “coffee.”

Reality time: all oils bond with metal at a molecular level, because that’s what oils do. Were there no molecular attraction between oil and metal, the oil would simply slide off of the surface to which it was applied. Not drip off, not ooze off, not pour off - slide off with absolutely no trace of itself left behind. No film or residue, not a single atom of the oil would remain. Absolutely nothing.

Of course, that doesn’t happen. Apply any oil to a piece of metal, then turn the metal upside down; the excess oil may drip off, but a layer of slippery liquid is always left stuck to the surface. That is molecular attraction - bonding, if you will - at work.

Those who wear glasses know how difficult it can be to completely rid lenses of even a drop of oil; there always seems to be some that stubbornly refuses efforts at removal. This is because there is a molecular bond between the oil and the material from which the lens is made, and the same thing happens when oil is applied to metal.

Molecular attraction is why the water in your coffee is in liquid form, rather than the elemental hydrogen and oxygen from which it is made. It makes metal alloys possible, and is why lubricants - all of them - work. The companies which claim their product “bonds with the metal at the molecular level” are simply saying that their oil does the same thing that all other oils do.

Admitting that fact wouldn’t sell much oil (or coffee), would it?

Grant Cunningham is a nationally known gunsmith who specializes in repair and customization of double action revolvers. He also writes a popular blog dealing with a wide range of self defense and shooting topics. Grant can be reached via email at info@grantcunningham.com or through his website, www.grantcunningham.com

Review of Sentry Solutions
Armorer’s Kit, Marine Tuf-Cloth & Tuf-Glide

written by Cody S. Alderson

USCCA GEAR REVIEW

The subject of lubricants and corrosion preventatives still causes controversy in this modern age of science and technology. We have the hard core side who are sticklers in pointing out that there is nothing that is really new. We also have the avid consumers who just about fall in love with every new product that has fancy advertising. And we have those set in their ways who insist on using products not ideal for lubrication and corrosion protection of firearms.

My take is that some old lubricants and corrosion preventatives are better refined and formulated with more effective synthetics as technology advances. A better machine or method that makes the effective substance purer makes it better. These better machines and methods come along over time. This can make an older class of product much better. I still shy away from products not specifically designed to be used on my firearms.

We want our guns to never rust and to perform flawlessly with every press of the trigger. After good design along with quality parts, manufacturing, and assembly, we have lubrication. Some guns such as Glocks run with hardly any lubrication, and some others, as a few black rifles still in production, need to be run nice and wet with lots of lube. Either way, we gun owners need to have some method of lubricating the moving parts of our guns where they come in contact with bearing surfaces, and we need to apply a corrosion-inhibiting material to stop the never ending threat of the gun’s metal being eaten away. Even for guns with parts made out of so-called stainless steel, the stainless steel is much more resistant to corrosion than plain old high carbon steel, but it can still corrode.

Taking a look at the shelves in the gun stores that hold all of the fancy cleaning products, we are met with a dizzying array of options. It used to be we saw Hoppes No. 9 and 3-In-1 Oil on the shelves of the hardware slash tire slash sporting goods slash gun stores of my youth. Places like Western Auto. Remember them? Then WD-40 became popular as a lube for just about everything. I’ve used it myself on some gun parts without having any problems, but I clean my guns regularly. However, there can be problems that arise with some of the older lubricant products or products not really meant for guns such as WD-40.

Older oil-based lubricants can literally gum up the works of modern firearms. Some newer firearms are made to tighter and much closer tolerances that are sensitive to gunk and grime. Some of the old oils and greases were slick enough to get a stubborn action to move or keep a good action moving, but they would attract and hold just about any kind of dust, dirt, grime, and grit. Maybe that would be okay for guns such as some old rattle-traps that I have shot in the past. Most of us have probably owned or still own a few guns that have parts fitted so loose that they rattle if they are shaken.

There are also the problems of the carriers that get the older lubes to get to where we want them to go. Carriers get the slick stuff of whatever the main lubricant is from the container or rag to the item being protected. Carriers may stay on the item for a long time or may evaporate immediately. The problem is a carrier that, when evaporated, leaves behind a thick varnish like substance that is sticky instead of slippery. Some lubricants have ingredients that will evaporate or dissolve at different rates, which end up leaving behind a sticky varnish-like substance instead of the slippery lubricant that it was when first applied.

Then there is the single product that is supposed to work on every part of the gun. I don’t agree with that because parts that are under pressure when moving need a lubricant that will stay in place as the parts squeeze against or slide against one another as where the slide contacts the frame rails on a pistol. This is a good spot for a grease type of lube. Now for the trigger mechanism, I want a fine particulate lube that won’t gum up the parts like a grease would.

I’m a fan of super slick lubricants that can be applied in a dry form, as well as be applied to the surface with a carrier that is made to evaporate and leave behind only the lubricating material and not any sticky gunk. For some applications, I prefer lubricants combined with a modern carrier that does not contain oils or silicone. What I like best about dry lubricants for firearms is that carriers can be modified to suit the need of the part that is being lubricated.

A dry lubricant can be applied in some instances to parts in its dry form, such as on the inside of a barrel or on the action of a trigger. A wet carrier can be added to get the lubricant into some tight places, or maybe I might need a carrier that has the viscosity of grease to keep the lubricant right where I put it. This is one area where Sentry Solutions lubricating products shine.

Sentry Solutions makes lubricating products that are based on Molybdenum Disulfide. Probably a few of the readers who are Vietnam Vets remember the slick dry lubricants that were preferred to keep their weapons working. Good old Moly! Well, Sentry Solutions has an updated version of Molybdenum Disulfide dry lubricant. They also make Tuf-Cloth and Marine Tuf-Cloth that contain proprietary ingredients in a mineral spirits carrier.

I understand why a company will use the term “proprietary ingredients” but it also scares me a bit. Coke doesn’t advertise their formula, but I can read most of the ingredients that are in the can by looking at the label. That part that says “natural ingredients” can mean a lot of things. In today’s market where cheap knock-offs are being made overseas and unloaded on American consumers, I do understand a company’s need to keep some things under wraps. Still, I would like to know what the ingredients are that make up both the lubricants and rust inhibiting properties of the Tuf-Cloth, and the other version that has more rust inhibiting ingredients— the Marine Tuf-Cloth.

The good thing is that the ingredients are declared by Sentry Solutions to be non-toxic after the mineral spirits carrier dries. This comes up as a concern when a knife is coated with the product, and that knife is used to prepare food. Sentry Solutions advises to wipe or wash the blade before such use, and then use the Tuf-Cloth or Marine Tuf-Cloth on the blade again when convenient. My dad who was born in 1913 and passed away in 1985 would use his old Barlow knife to cut his fish from his fish dinner at the old Kmart diner in Washington, PA. He used to use 3-In-One Oil on everything. I couldn’t tell you if it is non-toxic or not.

Below are before and after photos of an old pair of lineman’s pliers where I shined up one handle a bit with some sandpaper then rubbed the section to the right of the red mark with Marine Tuf-Cloth before soaking the handle with a mix of salt, vinegar, and water. After I soaked the handle, I put the pliers outside overnight on a paper plate. Just a few hours later there was rust forming on the untreated part of the handle. You will notice a tiny spot on the treated side. This is where a thick glop of my salt, vinegar, and water solution stuck.

Right away just with a simple test on an old pair of already rusted and pitted pliers, the product proved its worth. I used the old pliers because I’m not messing up any of my guns for you guys and gals no matter how much I like you.

As for the Molybdenum Disulfide in Sentry Solutions other products, it works at temperatures from minus 65 degrees to plus 650 degrees Fahrenheit. Working well under temperature extremes is a trait of the stuff. Being slicker than a snotty doorknob is another trait if you’ll pardon the analogy. Using the Tuf-Cloth for corrosion protection and the Molybdenum Disulfide for lubrication is a great combination for guns as well as many other products.

As I said earlier there is a reason that Sentry Solutions shines as a product. Shines as in being a bright idea. The super slick Molybdenum Disulfide is available with different carriers which make it perfect for use on firearms. Their Armorer’s Kit contains a Tuf-Cloth for rubbing down surfaces, and it is easy to take with me in it’s resealable pouch. As the mineral spirits carrier is used up in the cloth, one can add more odorless mineral spirits to recharge the carrier, or a bit of Tuf-Glide can be used. A wetter cloth gets more lubricant onto the item being protected.

Tuf-Glide can be precision applied with its needle tip applicator. It is great for other things besides firearms. I have it on my workbench to lubricate and protect my fishing reels and just about anything else that has moving parts that I want to keep the rust away from. I like how it is designed to stay on the item that I put it on.

That’s where the bonding questions come up for me. The advertising for Sentry Solutions mentions bonding of its products to the metal surface, and other products use words such as molecular bonding. Lubricants can be removed with solvents unless there is some secret that I just don’t know about. Coatings can have a built-in slipperiness to them that can protect the metal underneath. The bonding of a lubricant to me is the stuff staying where I put it on the gun or other item I am lubricating. Then if the bonding resists being easily removed, it is better. If the product stays where I put it, doesn’t easily come off, and protects the items moving parts from wear, or in the case of corrosion inhibitors it protects against corrosion, then I’m happy. Sentry Solutions stays in place and does its job, but there are different carriers for different needs.

For example Sentry Solutions Hi-Slip Grease lubricates, stops rust, and resists being washed off. The Molybdenum Disulfide is in a grease type of carrier so it stays where I put it, and it only takes a tiny amount to do the job. It is best for high load-bearing surfaces, such as where the slide meets the frame rails on a pistol, or anywhere where a super slick lubricant is needed and needed to stay put or be used under load. Got a firearm that has Titanium rubbing up against another metal and you want to prevent galling of the Titanium? This is the product to use.

Sentry Solutions BP 2000 powder can be used on triggers or as a bore treatment. It is the Molybdenum Disulfide in dry powdered form. The particle sizes of the dry powder are sub-micron in size. It gets to where it needs to go and makes the parts nice and slippery. Smooth-Kote is the Molybdenum Disulfide in an isopropyl alcohol carrier. The alcohol allows the powdered Molybdenum Disulfide to be easily applied to parts, and the alcohol evaporates leaving behind the slippery lubricant without any sticky gunk.

The Armorer’s Kit also contains a pair of Nitrile gloves, cotton swabs, alcohol swabs, pipe cleaners, cloth patches, application brush, and some large and small foam-tipped applicators. Everything a gun owner needs to slick up, but not stick up their guns. But what makes this version of Molybdenum Disulfide as a lubricant better than the old stuff?

Well, it is the purity for one thing. If I’m going to spend money on a quality lubricant to protect my expensive firearms, I want it to be what I’m paying for. I don’t want to be under the impression that I’m putting Molybdenum Disulfide on guns to have it be Molybdenum Disulfide with impurities in it that could be anything. Maybe even something abrasive that defeats the purpose of using a good lube in the first place. That’s where trust in a company’s claims come into play, and Sentry Solutions has a good name.

I must say that since Sentry Solutions has proven its products superior performance to U.S. Navy Seal Teams, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Navy, New York Police Department, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, it is good enough for me. It’s nice to know that I can use modern products to protect a hundred year-old shotgun or a new pocket pistol.

The Sentry Solutions lubricating products that are in the Armorer’s Kit can also be purchased separately. The Kit retails for $39.95. I can treat a bunch of guns with the amount of product in the Kit. Compared to the retail prices of lubricants and corrosion protection offered by some other products, this is a great deal. If you don’t want to get all of the items in the kit and maybe just want to try out the powder on your triggers or bores, then get the BP-2000 Powder that retails for $8.95. Maybe you just have blades you want to protect? Then get the Knife & Tool Care Kit which retails for $24.99.

We all get stuck in our ways of doing things, sometimes to the point of our own detriment. I personally know some fine folks who are great people, but set in their ways. It’s tough for them to try something new. I’m that way myself for some things too. However, I am always continually trying to learn things, and I’m willing to change my mind when new information comes along.

The basic ingredient of Sentry Solutions dry lubricant comes from our ancient Earth. It is being presented to us now in a form that we can use to protect and lubricate our fine firearms no matter how old or new they are. The stuff works. Try it for yourself. I’ll be using it on everything from my new Ruger Mini-14 to my old S&W Model 669, and everything in between.

Check out all of Sentry Solutions products at www.sentrysolutions.com.

I would like to hear from you. Email me at: cody@uscca.us. Twitter me.

I am not writing to ask a question, I am writing to say thanks for the Beat the Ban. I thought I was ahead of the curve, but only realized I had been putting off buying what I may need and what I really wanted before the Obamanation takes place. I wanted to beat the ban.

I was going to joke and say your Beat the Ban cost more than 17.00 dollars, hell I bought a Saiga 12 Shotgun overpaid but got it anyway and to 2 RRA AR15s at retail cost due to having a gunsmith relationship. I also bought some fantastic 5.56 ammo and over 2k rounds of practice ammo.

My next purchase will probably be an SKS or AR47. I have read a great deal more about my rights to arm myself and to protect my country from a threat.

Thanks for placing me ahead of the curve and your book only cost me over 2800.00 dollars in guns and ammo. Well lets just say it was a good investment in my family’s future! Best to you and your family and may you continue with success and great health.

-Mike P.
Proud USCCA Member
Proud Member of the NRA
Proud American!

This is a DIGITAL PRODUCT on PDF and MP3, so you get this timely information instantly delivered to your inbox, so you can Beat the Ban ASAP!

== USCCA Members-Only ==
Forum Highlights

Every paying website member has complete access to the USCCA forum, which is constantly being accessed by members sharing information, knowledge, insight, and fun. With well over sixty-thousand posts and growing by the hour, this is one heck of a valuable resource!

If you have never logged in but are a member, visit THIS location to watch help videos, including how to find out your username and/or password!

Lubrication: What do you use, how do you use it, and why?

Over time lubrication has become more sophisticated. Previously, it seems, it came down to “oil or grease” and maybe graphite. Now, we have Teflon, Molybdenum disulphide (Moly), and graphite. This stuff is suspended in all manner and type of oils, greases, and who knows what else. The delivery options seem more varied now too with most things being available in cans, syringes spray containers, etc.

My own lubrication schemes are somewhat set now:

1-When temperatures are moderate (shirtsleeve) and dust isn’t an issue I like the oil and grease approach.

2-When it gets downright cold or really hot I like to have moly conditioning (the moly has been deposited on and worked onto the metal surfaces) on the metal sliding surfaces. A moly treated surface isn’t temperature dependant like oil or grease is. A very light coat of some kind of preservative oil (I like Breakfree LP for this) is necessary to keep rust at bay, especially if the humidity is high. Moly has no significant rust prevention properties.

I know graphite will work but have never used it so far in firearms. Graphite doesn’t mix well with oil or grease. From my perspective, once I’ve worked the moly into a surface – i.e. coated it with moly containing oil or grease and worked the handgun to get the moly plated onto the surface – and removed the carrier oil or grease, leaving the moly behind plated onto the metal surface, I can later add oil or grease onto the surface without regard to any moly that’s already there. It doesn’t evaporate or get “worked out of” or “off of” whatever it’s put onto which makes it a good “insurance policy” against temperature extremes. So the firearm has “all season” lubrication.

The only issue I have with moly is that it sometimes “works too well” at reducing friction for my tastes. I therefore hesitate to put in on a trigger as it may well make the thing too light and is very hard to remove from a surface it’s been worked into. As well, when putting it on slide rails I’ve often found myself installing a higher weight recoil spring, etc., to offset potential slide battering.

I don’t sell any type of lubrication and have no commercial interest in any company that does.

************

Gun lube 101 - Part 1

Introduction

Firearms enthusiasts are the targets (pardon the pun) of some of the most misleading advertisements regarding the proper lubrication of their guns. The purpose of this article is to give a background on basic lubrication concepts, the technology behind them, and some guidelines for selecting lubricants based on facts, not hype.

Before going further, let’s make something perfectly clear: with a very few obvious exceptions, firearms lubrication isn’t terribly difficult. Compared to many more common objects, guns just don’t make big demands of their lubricants! That’s right, firearms pose no actual “extreme” situations with which a lubricant must deal. There are thousands upon thousands of 100-year-old-plus guns out there that are functioning - just fine, thank you - on a diet of “3-in-1″ oil.

However, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t something better! This article, it is hoped, will help you determine just what “better” means to you.

Let’s start at the beginning…

Why lubricate something? First, to prevent wear and second, to promote a certain level of performance. To put it more clearly, what we’re trying to do is to keep parts from rubbing directly on other parts, and to make the interaction of those parts as smooth as possible.

As it turns out, those polished surfaces that rub against each other aren’t all that smooth. Looking through a microscope, even the most highly finished metal surface still looks like a forested hillside - with all kinds of huge voids, depressions, and valleys. Imagine, then, what happens when that surface meets the surface of it’s companion part! Not only does the combination become difficult to move, but the tops of those trees get broken off - that’s how wear starts at the microscopic level.

That’s why we lubricate those surfaces. Lubrication works in a couple of ways: “hydrodynamic” and “boundary”.

Hydrodynamic lubrication is essentially when the parts ride on the film of liquid (or semi-liquid) lubricant; the lubricant fills all of the voids, and the film itself serves as a buffer to keep the surfaces apart.

This works really well, except when a load is applied and the lubricant is squeezed out of it’s space between the surfaces. When that happens, the surfaces grind together and wear. What if we added something to the mix - something that was a bit more “solid” than the lubricant, which wouldn’t be easily squeezed out? Well, that’s just what “boundary” lubrication entails - adding small pieces of more-solid material to serve as a physical separator between the surfaces, keeping them from tearing each other to pieces.

The solids that provide this service are known as “anti-wear” or “extreme pressure” (AW/EP) additives - solids of microscopic size that are mixed into a lubricant, in order to maintain a protective boundary (get it?) under load. “Moly”, a generic term for several molydenum compounds, is one example; others include sulphur compounds, zinc, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE, aka ‘teflon’), zinc diakyl dithiophosphate (ZDDP), phosphors, boron, antimony diakyl dithiocarbamate (and it’s derivatives), and many more. Each of these has certain properties that the skilled tribologist (lubrication scientist) will balance to achieve the optimum lubricant for the application.

Regardless of the physical characteristics of the product, lubricants are a “package” - the primary lubricant plus boundary additives, thickeners (as in greases), and other things (tackifiers, pour point depressants, detergents…the list is endless and chock full of chemical names I can’t begin to decipher!)

My exaggerated interpretation of the primary lubrication states.

Read Part 2 HERE.
************

== Video of the Week ==

USCCA VIDEO OF THE WEEK

== “Tim-spiration” of the Week ==

USCCA PHOTO OF THE WEEK

All Photos of the Week are taken from Mr. Oleg Volk’s
website: http://www.a-human-right.com/. It is a
FANTASTIC site. Please check it out!

USCCA QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Sometimes a good quote will inspire or motivate you. Sometimes, they’ll just put a smile on your face! Here is the quote for this week…

“So as we set out this year to defeat the divisive forces that would take freedom away, I want to say those fighting words for everyone within the sound of my voice to hear and to heed, and especially for you Mr. Gore. From my cold, dead hands!”

-Charlton Heston

Self Defense Story OF THE WEEK

Every day, thousands of Armed Americans use their firearms to preserve human life. Let this section of my newsletter serve as a record of this fact!

“Shootings Found to be Self-Defense”

Spartanburg County, South Carolina deputies determined that a man who shot two people Monday night outside his residence was acting in self-defense and charged the two men on Tuesday.

Daniel Scott Byrd, 22, of 115 Keith Street, Greer and Josh Duncan, 24, of 207 Church St., Wellford were each charged with one count of assault and battery.

Byrd’s stomach was grazed by a bullet and Duncan was struck in the buttocks during a fight Monday night outside a Keith Street residence.

Larry James Pruitt Jr., 41, told deputies that a group of people were causing “a bad ruckus” outside his home and he asked them to keep it down. Pruitt said Byrd and Duncan then came into his yard and began choking and assaulting him. Pruitt said he pulled a revolver from his pocket and fired several times, then ran into his home, reloaded his gun and waited for deputies.

Multiple people who said they witnessed the incident told deputies Pruitt was truthful about what happened. When the deputy arrived, Duncan and Byrd were still on the ground outside of Pruitt’s home.

Closing Thoughts

Have you ever heard of a website called “wikihow.com”?

It’s similar to “Wikipedia” (an online dictionary that is written and maintained by the community), except it specifically pertains to “How To” articles.

There’s not a ton of gun stuff on there unfortunately, but there ARE a few highly valuable articles.

One of the best that I’ve come across in a long time was one called:

How to Do Basic First Aid

The short article gives a great summary of very basic first aid, but the value is in the links that you find toward the end of the short article, such as “How to Stop Bleeding”, “How to Treat Shock”, How to Treat a Spinal Injury”, and “How to Treat a Gunshot Wound.”

As an aware person who carries concealed, we’ll stand a greater possibility of having to deal with this kind of thing.

The basic first-aid article begins like this:

“Basic first aid refers to the initial process of assessing and addressing the needs of someone who has been injured or is in physiological distress due to choking, a heart attack, allergic reactions, drugs or alcohol or other medical emergencies. Basic first aid allows you to quickly determine a person’s physical condition and the correct course of treatment. You should always seek professional medical help as soon as you are able, but following correct first aid procedures can be the difference between life and death.

Note: Much of this article deals with first aid for life threatening situations in which the victim is unresponsive. Many of these steps will not apply in situations where you already know the problem or the extent of the harm to a person. In that case, you should search for the specific article, or skim this one to find more information on addressing particular conditions.”

Go here to read the rest of the article:
http://www.wikihow.com/Do-Basic-First-Aid

Be safe out there!

Tim Schmidt
USCCA Founder
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Member Renewal Info

I have two HUGE announcements for you today!

First, Armed American Radio: Yep, the USCCA has launched our official talk radio show! It’s hosted by our very own ‘TheOrdinaryGuy’ aka Mark Walters, and it’s everything and more that you would expect from the United States Concealed Carry Association.

We’ve got two episodes under our belts, and Mark’s already had some top-notch guests on the show, including Massad Ayoob, Ed Stone, myself, Kathy Jackson, and Gila Hayes.

This Sunday night, he’s having Dick Heller and Dane vonBreichenruchardt on- the two men behind the famous Heller Decision- you won’t want to miss this one.

You can read all about Armed American Radio, the special guests, and download podcasts of previous episodes at the official site: http://armedamericanradio.org/

Okay, the second big announcement is this: We’ve finished construction on a new home for the Armed American Report!

As you know, we’ve been storing past issues of the Friday Armed American Report HERE, but the site needed a serious update. Not only that, but I get a ton of requests for archived copies of the Armed American Report emails from during the week as well.

So, ArmedAmericanReport.com was born…

The site is still under a bit of construction, and I plan on going back and adding a ton of back-issues… but here it is. I hope you like it!!

www.ArmedAmericanReport.com

== USCCA Laugh of the Week ==

See all of Chaim’s Cartoons at his website:
http://www.chaimcartoons.com/

“Interview with Susan Reifenrath
A New Gun Owner, New Shooter, and Going
For Her Concealed Carry Permit “

“…learning defensive shooting is a different animal
than learning target shooting…”

by Cody S. Alderson

Susan drove an hour to meet me for her first lesson at the gun range. It had been raining cats and dogs, the river at the end of my yard is going to moderate flood stage in just a few hours, and my wife and I may have to bug out. It’s still a good day in that I get to teach a new shooter the basics of personal defensive shooting. I called Susan on her cell phone so neither of us would have to get out of our vehicles in the pouring rain. I told her to just follow me and to keep an eye out for the turns so she could get back to the highway.

As we started to drive out into the country where the gun range is, I remembered that cell service was just about non-existent out there. She was right behind me though, and I’m not one of those guys who makes it tough for someone to follow when traveling in tandem to a destination. I’ve got a relative that will speed through the yellow lights and not wait for me when I’m trying to follow them. They just suggest for me to drive faster, and stay closer.

Arriving at the range, Susan had to move her car over a bit due to the gigantic puddle that was just outside her driver’s door. We got out of our vehicles, grabbed our gear, and headed for the door trying to not get a good soaking from the rain. I carried everything in an old yellow plastic toolbox that I decided would make a great container for carrying stuff to the range, and she had an old canvas bag. I was glad to see a student who didn’t fall for all of the bells and whistles that can go along with owning a gun.

We get inside and she starts to unload the contents of her canvas range bag on the big wooden table where we were getting set up to learn the basics before shooting. She pulls out a little black box with a Kel-Tec P-3AT in it. Not my choice for a first-time gun owner. I have a PF-9 and that little gun she had made the PF-9 look big. I could barely get three fingers on the grip. There was nothing there for my pinky. It just dangled there not being able to offer any support on the gun, and I don’t have big hands.

I’m thinking that this is going to be interesting. I’m giving a crash course in defensive shooting basics to someone who has driven a long way in the pouring rain, and their gun choice is one of the last ones I would have chosen for a day of learning. But hey, I can adapt if the student can. Fortunately, Susan has very tiny hands. She is small in stature, and the tiny little Kel-Tec looked like a normal size gun when she held it. That was a plus and reminded me that shooters are all shapes and sizes.

I asked her why she picked that gun out of all the choices available to her. She told me that she bought it at my favorite gun store. So then I’m wondering why they would have recommended it to her. Apparently during discussion of what kind of plans she had for the gun, she indicated to the salesman that she would be carrying it. Now I recommend on-the-body carry as opposed to holster purses and other such accouterments for women. So with Susan being of small stature who indicated that she wants to carry the gun, the salesman knowing that it should be carried all of the time where it’s legal to do so, the recommendation then wasn’t all that bad.

The little P3-AT is tiny enough to disappear in a pocket on a pair of jeans, might be a little obvious if carried in the pocket of dress slacks, but can also be tucked away inside-the-waistband with a suitable holster. I’ll be sure to mention as many options for carry that I can think of, and she will be armed with information to help her choose what’s best for her needs. Right now, we needed to concentrate on the basics of safety, loading and unloading, and maintenance.

I started out with the very basic information, not assuming anything. Susan told me that she had shot a gun a few times as a kid, but was by no means a regular shooter. I started out with Keep Your Finger Off Of The Trigger Until You are Ready To Fire The Weapon, and I repeated it all day long. I know the NRA doesn’t really like the word “weapon” being used. That’s okay for their training sessions, but I was teaching personal defense shooting that could very well result in someone’s death.

In a personal defense situation where a gun is used to defend life, the main idea is to stop the person or animal who is trying to rape, maim, or kill you—to stop the threat. Pulling the trigger on a criminal may very well result in the criminal dying. Making a mistake can result in the defender or an innocent bystander dying. The gun is a weapon. And even though we would be shooting at paper targets today at the range, the intent is to learn how to shoot to stop a threat to life and limb.

She got it right away. I prefaced some of the hardcore truths of defensive shooting with a statement that some of this stuff is going to sound grisly. It should. It’s a very serious matter. I didn’t know how she felt about ever having the need to use her new gun to save her own life someday. I can ask someone if they think that they would be able to use a gun to defend themselves, but their answer isn’t a guarantee of performance in a real life-or-death situation. It’s actually a question that the person learning defensive shooting needs to answer for themselves.

I explained to Susan that this is just the beginning. I told her how that she will default to her level of training if there ever comes a time where the gun is needed to save her life. I explained how she will not suddenly get better during a bad situation, but will fall back on what she has already learned. She understood.

I wasn’t familiar with the disassembly of the P3-AT so I read that section of the Owner’s Manual. Before I showed her how to field strip the gun, I taught her about ammunition. We looked at her .380 rounds, and some of my 9mm and .45 ACP rounds. We went over Full Metal Jacket ammo of which she had a nice box of 50 rounds of American Eagle .380 90 Gr FMJ. She also had a box of 25 Hornady Critical Defense that she was going to be carrying in the gun. I explained how the hollow points worked and what that tip was for on her particular ammo.

I told her how we could function-check the Hornady ammo in her gun with a few rounds, but how I strongly recommended to shoot a couple of hundred of whatever carry ammo she wanted to use in the gun just to be very certain there weren’t any hiccups of proper functioning of the gun and ammo combination. I didn’t expect any with a modern gun and ammunition, but I’m a better-safe-than-sorry kind of guy.

I don’t have the space here to go over every detail of the training session we had on that rainy day, but I want to impart an idea to everyone who reads this that learning defensive shooting is a different animal than learning target shooting. Of course the basics of safety, grip, and a few other things can be carried over into both disciplines. However, defensive shooting is training using a paper target to be able to get hits center mass on a living breathing target that is trying to rape, maim, or kill you. Target shooting is getting the bullet to go through the bull’s-eye of a target that isn’t trying to kill you.

At the firing line, I asked her if she wanted me to shoot the gun first. Many new shooters with a new gun are really nervous about that first pull of the trigger. Some students just can’t do it. I had a student start crying at the firing line. The student wanted desperately to take a bold step toward assuming personal responsibility for personal safety, and not relying on someone else to be there to save the day. That student pulled the trigger after some more patient coaching. It was a psychological event of crossing a line in the sand more than fear of the tool (the gun). When that student did pull the trigger firing the first shot, if the paper target was a criminal then that criminal would have had a hole right through his left lung.

Susan told me to shoot the gun first. That’s normal and expected so I did. The little gun didn’t bark as loud as I expected it to. I thought that the little 8.3 ounce gun would want to move all over the place as I shot it, especially since I could only get a three-fingered grip on it. I got that normal whack in the face from the pressure wave of the muzzle blast as felt in an indoor range, but it wasn’t bad. I hit a bit low at my initial training distance of 21 feet.

It wasn’t the gun. It was me. Kel-Tec has those loooooooooong trigger pulls on their pocket pistols. Subsequent shots put me back where I wanted to be on the paper, and later shots using the tabletop for support I was able to stay inside of two inches at 7 yards. Once again I’m thinking that this is a poor choice for a new shooter, but I figured I would wait and see.

Susan was a bit surprised at what the gun looked like being fired, and how that pressure wave of the muzzle blast felt indoors. I assured her that the recoil was much less than what I was actually expecting. A few days before her training day with me, she had fired a little .22 Long Rifle from North American Arms. Once again, not a good choice to expose a new shooter to. She didn’t like the recoil of that tiny gun. And not only has she chosen to own what is usually considered an expert’s gun, and has already fired another expert’s gun, she fired that .22 not wearing any hearing protection. She told me how her ears rang for some time afterwards. I explained to her about the possibility of instant deafness from exposure to gunfire. The possibility of hearing loss in a life-or-death situation is an acceptable risk, but not acceptable for training sessions.

Maybe the reader is seeing a pattern here. Any of the things that have already had gone wrong with Susan’s experiences with guns so far could have turned her off of guns forever. That’s why it’s important for us experienced shooters, when taking on the responsibility of being either an amateur or professional instructor, to be patient and teach sound fundamentals. Hearing and eye protection are fundamentals that should never be disregarded as well as caliber choice for the first time shooter. As a child, if my dad would have had me shoot a .44 Magnum before I got used to the .22 LR Colt Pistol and single shot rifle, things may have been different. I remember being nervous the first time I shot a shotgun. It was a 28 Gauge. I’m glad it wasn’t a 12 Gauge loaded with barrel scorchers.

I was concerned about Susan shooting the little .380 because even though I thought the recoil was minimal, that doesn’t mean that a new shooter with basically zero handgun experience will perceive the same thing. It is important for an instructor to assess everything that they possibly can about their student before putting a loaded gun in the student’s hands. When I think the student is ready to shoot, I put just one round in the gun. I learned quickly a long time ago that a full magazine in an autoloader is not a good idea. I had a student fire a gun, and start to turn toward me out of surprise and inexperience with their finger still on the trigger. Once again, I learned to not assume anything.

It was her turn to shoot now. I had one round chambered in the .380 with an empty magazine. We went over the grip, stance, front sight, and how to work that Kel-Tec trigger one more time before I gave her the okay to fire. She fired the gun, and I reminded her to take her finger off of the trigger. Everything was good. She looked a little shaky, and described it to me using the word “squeamish” but I didn’t ask her for her definition of the word.

Only one problem. The whole target was still intact. No holes in the cardboard or paper. I watched the muzzle end for movement at the end of the trigger pull just before the sear broke, and didn’t notice any exaggerated movement so we went over sight picture again. I had determined in pre-instructional assessment that Susan was going to be a right-handed shooter, but is left eye dominant. After going over sight picture again, we loaded and shot another round. On paper! Good job, I told her. One hundred percent improvement on just the second shot fired. That is quite an accomplishment.

She got to shoot a lot more, and was loading her own magazines after the second round was fired. As with most students, her on-target performance degraded a bit as the magazine worked its way toward empty. New students usually do not have the muscle conditioning to maintain grip, stance, sight alignment, and trigger control for a full magazine on their first day. The first two shots might be dead center and the third one on might get a bit worse.

She did well. I’m big on a student knowing how to adequately disassemble, clean, and reassemble their firearm so we went back to the table to break out the cleaning kit she bought with the gun. She remarked about the solvent smell, but only to mention that it smelled strong. That stuff is like cologne to me. Maybe Hoppes Number 9 should be a fragrance. Susan’s cleaning kit was from Outers.

I broke out the Rem Oil and cotton swabs. I explained how the good old Q-Tip will be her gun cleaning friend, and that Rem Oil was just a personal favorite of mine over the years. She scrubbed all of the surfaces clean, and asked me if she had to clean the gun every time she shot it. I told her that I do, but not everyone does. I explained that I also use the cleaning time to inspect the gun carefully for any problems. I may need the gun to save my life someday, and I certainly want it to function flawlessly on that day if it ever comes.

I asked Susan a few questions about her new gun experience so she could let all of the readers know in her own words a bit of her motivation for purchasing gun, and how her first training session went.

ME: You just bought a gun a few days ago. How long have you been thinking about buying a gun?

SUSAN: About a year.

ME: If you were to write a list of reasons why you wanted a gun, what would those reasons be?

SUSAN: For protection, fear over not being able to purchase or having difficulty purchasing a gun in the future. Something that I have wanted to learn to do.

ME: What is your number one reason out of those you mentioned?

SUSAN: For protection.

ME: Have you fired guns a lot of times, or could you basically count on one hand the number of times?

SUSAN: I could count on one hand the times I fired a gun and that was probably when I was about 12 years old on a camping trip.

ME: Are you going to get a concealed carry permit?

SUSAN: Yes, not to always carry it. Maybe sometimes, and for easier transportation.

ME: How is your level of interest after your first training session? Do you want to learn more?

SUSAN: Yes I feel that I’ve only scratched the surface.

ME: What was the final motivating element that had you purchase your new gun on the day you did?

SUSAN: I wanted to purchase one and it was the last one of its kind in stock at the time. It was much smaller than the Makarov but more fire power than the .22 Long Rifle.

ME: Even though training to do a new thing can be tedious, did you have fun shooting anyway?

SUSAN: Yes, it was not knowing what to anticipate at first that was unnerving. I believe that you truly need to know what you are doing and be cautious of handling.

It’s a good thing to help someone become significantly more self-reliant when it comes to defending one’s own life. Hey, we call it SELF-DEFENSE, don’t we? It’s a pity that there is even a socio-political argument about the basic human right to protecting one’s own life. That’s what the current United States gun arguments come down to. Great Britain banned the guns and their predators started to use knives to commit their crimes. The next “logical” step in the political minds there was to exert governmental control over knives. The progression is obvious to me—the next thing to be banned will be sticks and stones. It demonstrates to me that the core of the argument is the desire to completely deny the individual in a society. To take away the rights of self.

Susan wanted a gun for her number one reason of protection. She’s at the beginning of a road of self-reliance that goes way beyond a single tool that effectively facilitates the protection of self against predators. Maybe she will never explore the psychology of gun as expressed in pro-gun and anti-gun sentiments. Maybe she won’t ever be an activist working to protect the Second Amendment of our Constitution as written and intended. But she will be much better prepared to stop a predator bent on raping, maiming, or killing her. And that’s how it should be.

Review of NiteSiters Stick On Sights

written by Cody S. Alderson

USCCA GEAR REVIEW

A reader told me about NiteSiters and how it might be a viable option to improve the sights on my Kel-Tec PF-9. I contacted Dave Presley who owns the company to see if the sights would work with my gun. I know the little pocket gun doesn’t have great sights for the simple reason of it being an up close and personal weapon, but I still wanted at least a bigger and brighter front sight dot if nothing else.

My NiteSiters arrived in a short time. Included in the little zippered bag that contained the product was a cotton swab, an alcohol soaked pad, instructions, and a little knife blade and toothpick to aid in installation. The actual NiteSiters sights arrived as four dots and four strips of photo luminescent material backed with an industrial adhesive.

Installation was straightforward and was easier than I thought it would be. A crucial step for installation is prepping the surface where the sights will be stuck on the gun. All traces of gun cleaning solvents and oils need to be removed. The instructions recommend using a kitchen cleanser like Comet on the end of the cotton swab if the sights are plastic or very oily. There is a concern of solvents, especially ones containing silicone, that may have penetrated the plastic of plastic sights.

It appears that is the issue that I was having with my installation of the NiteSiters. I couldn’t get good adhesion, but I must fully admit that I’m not careful with solvents when cleaning a gun and have actually used solvents to clean gunk out of the depression where the white dots are on my Kel-Tec. Carrying a gun in a pocket invites all kinds of dirt into the tiniest crevices of a gun. I probably have too much solvent absorbed into the plastic to get great adhesion on my gun.

I used a hairdryer for thirty seconds as the instructions noted to aid in setting the adhesive, but it didn’t help. I use Rem Oil which does contain silicone, so that is most likely my problem getting the NiteSiters to stick solidly in place on my Kel-Tec sights. The instructions indicate that the adhesive bond is at its best after 72 hours. If you are more careful with solvents than I am, or if you haven’t soaked your sights over time with stray Rem Oil, you may have better luck with the NiteSiters.

The photo luminescent material glows very brightly after being exposed to light. Check out the photos below where the first one is a photo with flash, and the second one is a photo of the same product setup without flash in a dark room. The NiteSiters were exposed to a few seconds of light from my SureFire L4 LED light.

I did like how bright they were in dim light, but the level of brightness tapers off too quickly for my old eyes. Dave Presley also has DaySiters which are a fluorescent type of stick on sight. I probably would prefer that type over these photo luminescent NiteSiters. Here’s how the glowing NiteSiters look on the gun with the second image without the NiteSiters dots.

It’s important to maintain the sight alignment to keep your point of impact the same. The NiteSiters stickers on my Kel-Tec are much bigger than the recessed painted dots already in place on the gun’s factory sights. I choose to use a round sticker instead of one of the bar shaped stickers on the front sight. The size of the sight stickers are much better than the small inefficient factory sight dots that came with the gun. They are much easier to acquire quickly. If the things would stick solid on my sights I would be more than happy to keep them there, but I must have an overabundance of soaked in silicone that won’t scrub off.

The sights didn’t fall off as the gun was being carried in my pocket in a Desantis Nemesis pocket holster, but I’m not inclined to put full faith into having them there when I may need them. The PF-9 in a Desantis Nemesis has the rear sight exposed right where the NiteSiters stick on. The front sight is protected inside the holster.

Also with the gun being carried in a dark pocket, the photo luminescence tapers off significantly as time goes by. If you charge the dots to a nice bright level before you put the gun in your pocket in the morning, you are not going to have enough glow in the evening to make the sight dots usable. However, the fluorescent colors of the DaySiters would be a great improvement over the plain vanilla tiny white dots that are on the sights of some of these pocket guns.

The use of NiteSiters and DaySiters isn’t limited to just pocket guns. You can stick them on just about any rear or front sight that needs a bigger dot for older eyes to see. They might also be less inclined to move around on a gun that stays in a drawer rather than a pocket even if there was an adhesion issue. And with both dots and bars, the user can set up his sight picture just the way he would like it to be.

It’s a great idea for a product. Maybe with some further experimentation with adhesive options, or a better way to remove silicone and solvents from existing sights, they would work out better for a solvent slosher like me. Starting at $11.98, one is not out big bucks by giving them a try, but I must admit that I don’t see the value for the price.

Check them out at www.nitesiters.com

I would like to hear from you. Email me at: cody@uscca.us. Twitter me.

I am not writing to ask a question, I am writing to say thanks for the Beat the Ban. I thought I was ahead of the curve, but only realized I had been putting off buying what I may need and what I really wanted before the Obamanation takes place. I wanted to beat the ban.

I was going to joke and say your Beat the Ban cost more than 17.00 dollars, hell I bought a Saiga 12 Shotgun overpaid but got it anyway and to 2 RRA AR15s at retail cost due to having a gunsmith relationship. I also bought some fantastic 5.56 ammo and over 2k rounds of practice ammo.

My next purchase will probably be an SKS or AR47. I have read a great deal more about my rights to arm myself and to protect my country from a threat.

Thanks for placing me ahead of the curve and your book only cost me over 2800.00 dollars in guns and ammo. Well lets just say it was a good investment in my family’s future! Best to you and your family and may you continue with success and great health.

-Mike P.
Proud USCCA Member
Proud Member of the NRA
Proud American!

This is a DIGITAL PRODUCT on PDF and MP3, so you get this timely information instantly delivered to your inbox, so you can Beat the Ban ASAP!

== USCCA Members-Only ==
Forum Highlights

Every paying website member has complete access to the USCCA forum, which is constantly being accessed by members sharing information, knowledge, insight, and fun. With well over sixty-thousand posts and growing by the hour, this is one heck of a valuable resource!

If you have never logged in but are a member, visit THIS location to watch help videos, including how to find out your username and/or password!

Holster and Dresses

First let me say I am one of those women other women hate. I am 5 ft 6 in. and weigh about 115 lbs. I don’t have a secret. I don’t exercise. I eat whatever I want. But that makes carrying very difficult because even buying larger size clothing doesn’t help much as every curve, lump, gun shows!

History: I have been carrying about 2 years I guess. I started out with a fanny pack because I didn’t want to off body carry but had no idea where to start holster wise. I then bought a smart carry. It works with minimal things because of my size. Yes I have put it low left every which way to try to make it work. It also didn’t always stay in place because with a skirt or dress there is nothing to confine it to one place. I tried other things with even less success. For about a year now I have been using a thigh holster because it is the only way I have been able to conceal well on my frame. However I am afraid it is not good on my circulation with that pressure constantly on that main artery running down my thigh.

I am on a venture to buy new clothing…but that takes time and money! I wear dresses/skirts 99% of the time. Wearing it on my hips takes a cover garment. No amount of larger shirt hides it on my small frame. I have to wear a jacket or vest. I am considering wearing under my arm. Have considered the compression shirts but the problem comes in accessing the gun in a dress. Again here new clothes would be helpful but takes time to re-wardrobe.

So I need dresses/shirts/skirts that allow easy access and holster ideas for carrying on my small frame in dresses/skirts. Suggestions?

Machelle
************

Gunfight in the dark

Having told my story of a defensive shooting in a previous post, I have tried to think of how my experience can help you prepare to defend yourself and your family. Been there, done that, means sometimes we’ve been to the school of hard knocks, and those lessons usually stick.

Prior to the shooting, I had practiced often and my natural pointing from muscle memory and repetition helped keep my shots on target. After reading Tim’s “Imagine-a Gunfight in the Dark” by R K Campbell, who said,”too many shooters never practice in dim lit conditions…”

I thought about a technique we used in Martial Arts training in years past. When doing a prearranged kata blindfolded, or with lights off, you finished facing the wrong direction, until you practiced the moves enough, until you “felt” where you were.

The same holds true for shooting, and you only improve your odds of getting off good hits when you KNOW how if feels to shoot in dark conditions. Night sites, of course, are a plus. I challenge you to find a way to practice low light live fire with an instructor, as it may be dark when you find YOUR situation happening.
************

== Video of the Week ==

USCCA VIDEO OF THE WEEK

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCllbnrNkNU

Note: I’m sorry- it wouldn’t let me ebmed this video, but I still wanted to share it!

== “Tim-spiration” of the Week ==

USCCA PHOTO OF THE WEEK

All Photos of the Week are taken from Mr. Oleg Volk’s
website: http://www.a-human-right.com/. It is a
FANTASTIC site. Please check it out!

USCCA QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Sometimes a good quote will inspire or motivate you. Sometimes, they’ll just put a smile on your face! Here is the quote for this week…

“I declare to you that woman must not depend upon the protection of man, but must be taught to protect herself, and there I take my stand.”

-Susan B. Anthony

Self Defense Story OF THE WEEK

Every day, thousands of Armed Americans use their firearms to preserve human life. Let this section of my newsletter serve as a record of this fact!

“Man Shot Dead Attacking Neighbor”
by CANDACE J. SAMOLINSKI of The Tampa Tribune

“Robert J. Metz made it a point to know most everyone in his neighborhood, beeping his car horn whenever he drove by anyone who was outside.

If somebody was building something, the 47-year-old construction worker was there to offer advice and often lend a hand. But his happy-go-lucky demeanor masked a mental illness that was slowly consuming Metz, relatives say.

Maria Pittaras, 28, was something of an enigma in the neighborhood. She moved to the Turtle Lakes subdivision at the Pasco- Hillsborough counties line about a year ago, just around the corner from Metz and his wife, Carolyn, Pittaras’ father recalls.

Neighbors didn’t see her outside much; she did most of her real estate-related work from home. She kept her yard immaculate and occasionally entertained friends with outdoor barbecues, neighbors say.

Pittaras and Metz weren’t friends, but their worlds collided early Wednesday morning. Pasco County sheriff’s deputies say Metz donned a mask and crept into the woman’s bedroom, awakening her with a knife to her throat.

She managed to grab her gun from her nightstand and shot the intruder; he died almost instantly. Sheriff’s officials later determined the shooting was in self-defense and won’t bring charges.

The violent episode, the first of its kind there, has divided a neighborhood already grappling with increasing property crimes. But the young woman’s father feels no ambivalence.

“I gave her that gun for protection. She is a good girl,” said Spiros Pittaras of Palm Harbor. “She feels terrible about this. That man’s mental problems are finished … hers are just beginning.”

“Sometime before 2 a.m., Metz donned a dark mask and gloves, grabbed a knife and crawled into his neighbor’s home through a window,” sheriff’s spokesman Kevin Doll said.

Metz crept into the bedroom as the woman slept, jumped on top of her and held the knife to her throat. She grabbed her .38-caliber pistol and fired two shots, striking Metz in the neck, Doll said.

Somewhere around that time, Carolyn Metz awoke with a start and found herself alone in bed. She looked around the house, then wandered outside, relatives say. When she saw the sheriff’s patrol cars, she knew something was terribly wrong. More than an hour later, she learned her husband was dead.

Those closest to Robert Metz say they witnessed his gradual slide into a nightmare of manic depression over the last few weeks. They watched helplessly as he stopped taking his medication and his personality changed. Relatives, who didn’t want to be identified in the newspaper, said he likely was in the grips of his mental illness when he went into Pittaras’ home.

Still, many neighbors find that explanation hard to believe.

“Why would a married man with kids pick that particular house?” Maurice Sanders asked. “There has to be more to it than anyone is saying. He was the nicest guy in the world and wouldn’t hurt anyone. Maybe he was just trying to scare her.” Others say Pittaras did the right thing in shooting Metz.

“I’m shocked something like this happened in our neighborhood,” said Steve Bridges. “It just goes to show that you never really know people. If you enter someone else’s house in the middle of the night, you are definitely taking your life into your own hands.”

Metz’s family, which includes two grown children who live out of state, gathered at his home Wednesday to share in their grief.

Pittaras also is struggling to come to terms with the shooting, her father said.

“She’s a big girl and she will have to decide if she wants to go back to that house,” he said. “This is a terrible thing to have happened. Anyone, especially women, should understand why she had to do what she did.”

Closing Thoughts