Concealed Carry Report

August 28th, 2009

Dear Friend,

Make sure you have a box of tissues at your side when you read this week’s feature story, written by our very own Kathy Jackson.

This story is exactly why we all need to be armed.. at all times: Because evil does exist.

A young woman is jogging, exercising her body and her dog, and enjoying nature.

A man is stalking her, intent on committing unspeakable trespasses against her, and then killing her slowly.

Who deserves to live, if it must be one or the other? Do you want to know what I think?

I believe an innocent, Good human life is more valuable than a corrupted human life. I believe that some humans are too far gone, and that if what you are about to read seems like “…fun…” to anyone, then they deserve nothing more than to be met with a .45 ACP slug. Several of them.

You will not like this story, but as an armed citizen, you will be reassured that you are making the CORRECT choice in going armed. By being an armed citizen, you are making this world a better place.

I want to thank you for that, and I want to ask you forward this story to everyone you know. Everyone needs to understand WHY we do what we do.

This One’s for Meredith

“…she almost got away…”

BY KATHY JACKSON

Today, I remember Meredith Emerson, a strong and healthy young woman who was struck down in the prime of life even though she desperately fought against her attacker. Rest in peace, Meredith. God knows you earned it.

I never met Meredith Emerson. The news pictures show her to be a beautiful young woman — strong, vibrant, alive. You can see her posing with her dog, smiling for the camera. She looks like a joyful sort of person. We know she was outdoorsy, that she was independent, that she could take care of herself. Could she take care of herself?

Like most healthy young women, Meredith thought she could. She cared about her physical ability to defend herself so much that she took martial arts classes. And although she loved to be alone in the outdoors, she rarely hiked without the company of her large dog.

That’s not why I remember Meredith.

I remember Meredith because the horror that struck me, after reading the news accounts of her death, followed me for days. I was so angry I literally shook from the emotion. And of course I cried. Who wouldn’t? A strong and healthy woman, struck down in her youth by a violent predator, a shark among human beings. No, not a shark. Sharks are — mere animals. What happened to Meredith was evil, pure evil far below anything an innocent animal could achieve.

Shall I retell the entire gruesome tale? I’d rather not. Let us repeat only the important facts, mercifully blurring over the details.

Meredith Emerson went for a hike one beautiful day. She was young, in her early 20’s. She was in good health. She’d had training in the martial arts, and knew how to take care of herself. And she took her big dog, Ella, with her on her hike.

She should have been safe.

But on that hike, she met a … words fail. She met something so evil it defies description. She met wickedness masquerading in human form. Gary Michael Hilton was 61 years old. He briefly befriended Meredith, spoke to her. For a short spell, they hiked together. But, he told police later, Meredith soon outdistanced him and he fell behind.

Could her intuition have been working, even then? I suspect it was. I suspect she walked with him briefly, out of … not fear, but wariness. A desire to dispel the creepiness of the first encounter. And I believe she walked away from him for the same reason. I think her alarm bells must have been ringing, so she deliberately forged ahead and away from the unwelcome contact.

According to later interviews, he had already selected her to be his prey.

Hours later, she returned along the same trail. Surely by now the man had gone away, she must have thought.

He had not.

While she hiked, he had armed himself with a baton and a knife. And when she returned, he attacked her.

She fought. She fought like a wildcat. “She wouldn’t stop,” Hilton later told investigators. “She wouldn’t stop fighting. And yelling at the same time. So I needed to both control her and silence her.”

She did disarm him successfully, just as she’d been taught to do. She knocked the knife out of his hand. She knocked the baton away. This petite, martial-arts trained young woman fought with everything she had. And she disarmed him. They rolled away from the baton and away from the knife. Barehanded, she fought him.

She almost won.

Almost.

Almost….

Almost is not good enough.

Four days later, he finally finished killing her. Months later, her attacker returned to the crime scene, to tell the story to the officers who had arrested him for her kidnapping and eventual murder. She almost won, he said.

“She was doing everything she could to stay alive,” Georgia Bureau of Investigation Director Vernon Keenan later told reporters. “It’s not something you can train for. Instinct kicks in … She nearly got the best of him. She’s very much a hero.”

She almost got away.

Almost.

This is just another sad news story of a pathological creep overpowering a young woman, raping her, and finally killing her. It happens every day in America, in towns and cities, in state and national parks, and on private property. It has happened in your neighborhood — if not this year, then last year or the year before.

Just another serial killer, without pity and without remorse.

Just another innocent victim whose mangled body was found in the woods.

Just another beautiful, vibrant soul snuffed out to give a few minutes’ sick pleasure to a man who had no soul of his own.

The day after I heard the news, I was talking to a friend, a liberal friend. My friend asked why I was upset. I told him I’d been listening to the news, and couldn’t get over the story of Meredith Emerson. He asked me what had happened to her, so I told him.

“The thing is,” I told him, “the thing is, she was young, strong, healthy. She had martial arts skills. Her big dog was with her. She fought with grit, determination, bravery. She fought with him everything she had. She did all the right things … ”

My friend said slowly, “… but the attacker had a gun?”"

No, I replied. The attacker did NOT have a gun. He didn’t need one.

So what’s the lesson? “Give the attacker what he wants”? Oh no. What the attacker wanted was to kill, to deliberately and gruesomely slay, this vibrant young woman. What he wanted was to watch her suffer and struggle, to watch as her life slowly ebbed away, to take his sick pleasure from her helplessness, her pain and her death. Should this sociopath simply have been given what he wanted? Gah! That’s not the lesson.

The lesson certainly is not that martial arts are useless. For every Meredith, I can point to dozens of women in slightly less-desperate circumstances, who did successfully fight back using empty hand techniques, and who survived and prevailed because they had the physical skills they needed in order to escape their attackers. Only a short-sighted man or a fool would tell his wife, his daughter, his girlfriend or his sister that she is so helpless there’s no sense in even trying to defend herself if she is caught while unarmed. If someone you love is ever caught in a horrific situation as Meredith was, I hope she uses at least as much determination and intelligence as Meredith did in her efforts to survive and escape.

And I hope she makes it.

So what is the lesson?

Here’s one part of it. Women need to be taught that fighting back can make a difference and that you should never ever just give up. Women should know that they are not, by nature, incapable of defending themselves, no matter what the “women can’t…” brigade might tell them. Most of us can benefit from martial arts training, sometimes to an amazing degree. In part this is because the self-confidence the physical training gives also often provides its own protection during the prey selection process. From an early age, girls should be taught that if they are attacked they should use every ounce of strength, guile, savvy, and grit that they can summon to get away. The physical skills to do this are beneficial and should not be neglected.

Teach your daughters well. Teach them to protect themselves. Teach them how to escape from a grab, where to strike, how to use misdirection, why sometimes it is necessary to fight back. Teach them to defend themselves with every ounce of their strength, every smidgeon of guile and deception they can concoct, and — above all — teach them to never, ever, ever give up. And … teach them one more thing, the final lesson.

For Meredith’s sake, teach your daughters that there might come a time when a larger and stronger attacker can overpower them, when their physical skills are not enough and when their natural intuition has catastrophically failed. In the gravest extreme, they may need a gun to defend themselves. And in that final and desperate place, only a gun will do.

***

Kathy Jackson is the Managing Editor of Concealed Carry Magazine. A handgun instructor at the Firearms Academy of Seattle, she takes special pleasure in teaching women how to shoot. She and her husband have five teenage boys and live in Washington state.

Notes:
Quotes from Hiker Fought to End for Survival; Confessed Killer Tells Investigators a Georgia Hiker Fought to the End to Survive athttp://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=4505249 and from reports in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s website at http://www.ajc.com

USCCA Laugh of the Week

BY CHAIM’S CARTOONS

“I only wish I had this stuff 10 years ago…”

Last month I sent you a link to a complimentary program I felt every USCCA members should own. It was created by a hand-to-hand close combat expert named Tim Larkin. The feedback on it has been phenomenal. In a phone call, one guy called it “a life changing experience.” Here’s what he wrote directly to Tim Larkin (he asked to remain anonymous and we’ve respected that wish by deleting his name).

——

“I can honestly not thank you enough for giving USCCA members the huge discount on your Human Weapons ‘package’ deal.

“I have trained most of my life to survive. I’ve taken multiple survival classes (you know, being dumped out in the desert with absolutely nothing and having to live for a week). I took firearms training classes as soon as I was old enough to own one and I’ve taken practical self defense courses, mostly emphasizing on getting it over with as quickly as possible. I’ve worked with Marines all my life so I’ve had advantages other civilians have not had. I’ve also taken medical classes, EMT certified, you name it. Being prepared is something I take seriously. The safety of my family and myself I take very seriously.

“But this mega pack of materials is amazing. The practicality, straight forwardness and focus of the material is fantastic. I have always wondered why so many instructors insist on teaching things that have absolutely no practical value in saving my life or the life of another. Why fill student’s heads with crap. We are only going to retain so much in a true life or death scenario – so give people the best possible odds of winning. The rest is fluff and gets people killed.

“Your information is just so valuable - I have already had many of my friends and co-workers purchase the set.

“As I emailed Tim Schmidt of USCCA - I can only hope that all the money, time and effort that I continue to put into this program is completely ‘wasted’ (ie, I’ll never need to use it).

“Your concept of ’break things inside people so they don’t work anymore’ honestly is so, I don’t even have words for it, unbelievably simple. For the life of me I cannot understand why that isn’t at the core of every training class I’ve ever taken. I’ve heard it said other ways with a lot of fluff around it but it is a straight up truism. All of my firearms training - that was the point of it. Just that simple. From that axiom everything can be built.

“I feel like a lot of my training has been complete crap and I also feel like it is so damn obvious I am annoyed at myself for not realizing it before. After reading your book I know why I didn’t realize it but still, it isn’t a pill that’s easy to swallow.

“A while ago I was put on the disabled list that severely limits the amount I can train. I have to take every opportunity I can to keep pushing myself but I have to do it in a way where I am not making things worse for myself. The material that is in this program is a major help to me. Some things I simply cannot do, others I can adapt to my situation. What is important is that I now have better tools to use and a better understanding of how to use them and when. I hope that I can one day attend one of your classes.

“So - thank you. I only wish I had this stuff 10 years ago and was ahead of the curve instead of catching up.”

(name withheld for confidentiality reasons)
-USCCA member

If you missed it last month, here’s the link again:

=> http://www.targetfocustraining.com/uscca <=

Coming Up On Armed American Radio

The Official Voice of the USCCA

BY MARK WALTERSWow, what a next few weeks we have shaping up on Armed American Radio! The program is gearing up for its fist TWO hour broadcast on September 13th and the syndicators are hard at work bringing AAR to a city near YOU.

Coming up on the next broadcast, Dr. Bruce Eimer rejoins the show to discuss some very fun and informative topics. We’ll delve into his area of expertise, the revolver, and get answers to some of the most asked questions as well as all kinds of fun CCW info.

Also, the first 2 hour show is shaping up to be a GREAT one! Check outwww.armedamericanradio.org for more information on the happenings at the hottest new syndicated radio program to hit the airwaves.

V Sharp Xtreme Edge

USCCA Gear Review

BY CODY ALDERSON

The new Xtreme Edge is so new it’s not even on the market yet, but it’s supposed to be soon. It has some key features that set it apart from the Classic V Sharp that I use to sharpen my blades. I don’t have the final word yet, but I would suspect that this model will be available at a lower cost so that even more consumers can enjoy the easy way to get a good working edge on a blade.

The key word here is “working.” Warthog’s V Sharp line of sharpeners is designed to get a sharp working edge on blades quickly and without any hassle or complex sharpening rituals. Simply run the blade through the sharpener following the instructions, and the blades come out ready to go to work with a nice sharp edge.

The frame assembly of this unit is plastic. Remember, that’s not a bad thing. Many of the guns we concealed carry folks lug around have polymer frames. Polymer is just a fancy way to say plastic (for the purists: yes I know that plastics are polymers, but not all polymers are plastic). Anyway, the plastic frame is a good move from Warthog Sharpeners. It makes sense from a materials and manufacturing perspective which equates to savings that can be passed on to the end consumer.

Another good thing about this unit is slide-on diamond hones. Each hone rod can hold two diamond hones so the owner can have two grits available for immediate use. The hones are available in 300 (course) grit, 600 (medium) grit, and 1000 (fine) grit. A really good thing about the Xtreme Edge is that a screwdriver is no longer necessary to switch the angle of the hones. The Xtreme Edge adjusts to four positions to produce sharpening angles of 17, 20, 25, and 30 degrees depending on what type of blade is being sharpened. Just use your hands to pop the hones in or out, or to turn them over to use the steels or another grit of diamond hone.

The springs feel a bit beefier on this unit; providing more resistance during the sharpening strokes. The spring tension is also adjustable on the Xtreme Edge. I like that. My Classic V Sharp sharpened my knives without any problems at all, but I always did wish that there was a bit more resistance on the Classic V Sharp. Now I can adjust the tension to suit my preferences using the Xtreme Edge.

One other design feature that I am glad to see on this newest V Sharp is an adjustable blade guide. It is important to maintain a straight up and down angle of the blade one is sharpening when using any V Sharp. The edge of the blade needs to maintain a constant position so that the sharpening angle stays as perfect as possible.

This is done by maintaining contact of the blade against the blade guide throughout the whole sharpening stroke. However, there are some blade shapes that make this a bit difficult without a blade guide that is adjustable. The blade guide on the Xtreme Edge adjusts for tapered blades and wedge-shaped blades easily.

The Xtreme Edge is a freestanding unit with a rubberized base built into the frame. There is a gripping spot on top of the frame to hold the unit in place while sharpening is in progress. Not having a wooden base that needs to be attached separately during manufacturing is also a cost-saving feature that gets passed on to you and me. And I’m all for saving a few bucks.

What makes the V Sharp brand of sharpeners so effective is that a constant angle is maintained on both sides of the blade at the same time with each stroke of the blade through the sharpener. The user doesn’t need to get a PhD in honing just to get a keen working edge on blades, whether those blades be knives in a kitchen drawer, knives used for filleting the days catch, knives used for skinning and butchering wild game or store-bought meat, knives used for utilitarian purposes, or even knives for self-defense.

The V Sharp is the easiest and best knife sharpener I have ever used. I don’t have to fool around with it, I just run the blade through it and the blade gets sharp. Plus, I don’t have to keep ripping away good steel off of my blades every time I sharpen them. Unless I’ve really messed up the edge, I can get the edge back by just running the blade over the steels. The steels realign the edge bringing back the sharp that I like without removing any steel from the blade.

I don’t have a price on the new V Sharp Xtreme Edge yet, but I will let you know as soon as I know. It is manufactured in South Africa by Warthog Blade Sharpeners. South Africa makes sense. After all, where do most of the diamonds come from? Diamonds, in this case, can be a man’s best friend too. (Sorry, dog!)

Comments? I’d love to hear from you!
E-mail me at: cody@uscca.us
Follow Me on Twitter

Quote of the Week

“Resistance to sudden violence, for the preservation not only of my person, my limbs, and life, but of my property, is an indisputable right of nature which I have never surrendered to the public by the compact of society, and which perhaps, I could not surrender if I would.”

-John Adams, Boston Gazette, Sept. 5, 1763,reprinted in 3 The Works of John Adams 438 (Charles F. Adams ed., 1851).

USCCA 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!

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

The Very Best Shotgun and Ammo… ?

… for nothing but home defense?

In my home, I have an interior hall that’s maybe 4′ wide and 15′ to 20′ long that leads from my living areas back to my bedroom. [That is not a very long hall as you know...]

If I bought a pump or other shotgun to keep by my bed [my headboard is against the wall facing the hall, and the bed faces away from the BR door] to splatter some BG all over my hall if he was headed to my BR in the middle of the night…

1. What specific brand and model do you feel I should consider?

2. What specific gauge and specific ammo should I get for it?

NOTE: I am not a hunter or clays shooter, likely never will be, and except to take the SG to the range and practice, it will never leave my home…

NOTE2: I live alone, so accidentally injuring an innocent party in my home while ventilating a BG is not an issue…

I would want an SG I could pick up, halfway-decent aim down the hall, and waste a BG hopefully with one blast. More shells would be there if I needed them, so a double-barrel shotgun is not really what I would want. And BTW, I can repair the walls or ceilings if necessary, so that is also not an issue … …

Thank you for your suggestions and advice -

PS — A couple of the guys at the range here suggested a Judge

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

I am now big-time chicken farmer…

Just finished up my latest project. I am the new daddy to 12 little chickens. Hope to start getting eggs in about 5 more weeks.

Video of the Week

John Stossel Links Gun Control to Higher Crime Rates

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 Self Defense Story

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!

August 15, 2009

Houston, Texas

From:KHOU

Clerk armed and ready for robbers, kills one

Life can change in a second. It can also end. Cell phone store owner, Javid Iqbal saw both on Wednesday afternoon, in just 17 seconds.

“It is a part of my life that I will have to remember all of the time,” Iqbal recalls.

It was amazingly fast. Security video released to 11 News showed Iqbal behind the elevated counter, when the would-be robbers rush the store.

Two men with bandanas covering their faces, the leader gun in hand, vaulted over the case.

But in the five seconds that it took, Iqbal was already around the corner in the back, gun in hand.

“I see that guy come in the back pointing a gun. I just started shooting,” Iqbal says.

The two men were just inches apart, arms and guns extended. Iqbal fired three times, hitting 34-year-old Bryan Thorn.

Both robbers tried to flee after shots were fired, the second (still unidentified) man made it out, but Thorn did not. He collapsed dead in the doorway.

Iqbal said he could only think about the three most important people in his life, “I was thinking about my family; my little girl, my wife, my father,” he said.

All of them were within six feet of the shooting in the back of the store.

“My little three-year-old girl was in the store playing on the computer. The first thing wasn’t mine. I have to save my family,” Iqbal said, recalling the 17 seconds he will never forget.

This isn’t the first time. This store’s prior owner back in 2005 was also the victim of multiple robberies. One of those resulted in a shootout, which was also captured on video.

Not long after that, the owner-who was held up by three men and was not hurt- would sell this store to Iqbal.

Iqbal went on to do great business; but not all for profit, sometimes it came at a price. In all he’s been robbed four times, but no suspects were ever caught.

That is why his wife forced him to buy a gun and learn how to use it.

“Four robberies? Now I am not going to go through that again. All this happens. I have to take a stand somewhere,” Iqbal says.

The store is now open again after the shooting. His customers are standing with him.

“What if a stray bullet would have hit their daughter or hit his wife? Oh I’m sorry? For $20? Come on man,” said Carl English, who was in to pay his cell bill.

The store is still open, but Iqbal doesn’t know how long that will remain. He is now looking for a new, safer location.

Iqbal said that being robbed four times in a little over a year is all that his family can take. They are planning to move on soon.

Closing Thoughts

Dear Tim, I read one of your articles where a man had put another hand gun on layaway. I didn’t know that it was possible to layaway a handgun. Can you tell me what retailers allow you to do this? Thanks, Karen
Karen, you bet! Most local gun stores have policies that allow you to “lay away” a gun on certain terms.

Sometimes you have to put a minimum amount of money down on the gun to keep it on layaway every month, until you pay it off. For example, at one local gun store here, you can keep a gun on layaway for as long as you’d like, as long as you pay a minimum of $100 per month on the gun.

Other times, you only have to have it paid off within a certain time frame- ie, within six months.

I hope this helps!Do you have a pressing concern? Use the ‘Ask Tim’ contact form found at this page to let me hear your advice. Just use the graphic below!

I was driving on the freeway the other day, following closely behind a black Mercedes Benz. In the lane to our left, next to the Mercedes was a maroon Buick. Apparently without looking, the Buick began to merge over. The driver in the Mercedes didn’t start waving his arms- he didn’t start honking- and he didn’t unnecessarily slam into the Buick.

He simply reacted perfectly- I saw him look to his right, and he merged onto the shoulder at the same speed as the Buick was merging into him, all the while gently tapping on his brakes to let me know that he was slowing down. I gave him plenty of room, and once the Buick was completely in his lane, he merged back on, in front of me.

While some people might fall into a panicked series of swerves of corrections, this driver handled a bad situation perfectly- I don’t think we even lost 10mph.

My point is this- THIS is the essence of the Armed Citizen. We don’t take things personally, we just see what needs to be done… and we do it. The driver in the black Mercedes could have retaliated. He could have been offended that this guy would merge without looking- but he knew that getting upset wouldn’t help him avoid an accident.

Stay safe, armed citizen- and enjoy this week’s Armed American Report!

Dangerous Animals of the Americas: The Grabby

“…it has gazelle speed, rhino strength, lion claws, grizzly teeth…”

by Tim Thorstenson

One night I couldn’t sleep (note to self: do not eat Chinese buffet at 9 PM), so I turned on the radio and learned about the “chupacabra”, a nasty critter that supposedly prowls Central America. From what I could gather, it has gazelle speed, rhino strength, lion claws, grizzly teeth and a proboscis the size of a two-bore black powder barrel that it uses to suck the guts out of its victims.

Then I found myself with an odd thought. If chupacabra did indeed exist, would it behoove us to understand them?

There is a natural tendency among sensible people to avoid understanding things that are annoying, evil, or useless, especially since what is meant by “understanding” has been so badly corrupted. For instance, soft-soap documentaries allege “understanding” as a goal when they present evil old men like Fidel Castro and Yassir Arafat as nice old grandpas. Efforts to “understand” criminals paint them as the unfortunate victims of psychological complexes, social pressures, and bad toilet training. But PROPER understanding can be very useful, and we must not reflexively avoid it. If there were indeed chupacabra, would we not want to understand them if it could help us protect people?

Now don’t tell the overnight radio folks, but I’m a bit suspicious about the chupacabra. However, it has some relatives that are definitely real. One is known as gunnygrabius decepticus — more commonly called a “grabby” — and it is as fascinating as it is dangerous. Let’s see if understanding the grabby a little better can help us protect its victims:

While the grabby shares many similarities with its cousin the chupacabra, there are also interesting differences. For instance, grabby attack is almost never immediately fatal. Sadly though, victims are left with a chronic vulnerability to certain annoying ailments — like getting robbed, burgled, assaulted, stabbed, shot, raped and murdered. Somehow, this susceptibility has never been linked to grabby attack. The Centers for Disease Control should do a study. Also in contrast to the chupacabra, the goal of a grabby is to suck the brains, rather than the guts, out of its victims. Oddly, however, most of the victim’s guts usually get sucked away too. The after-effects on the victims have been widely reported in the scientific literature, and the interested reader is referred to the research of Professor John Connor in particular. Our focus here is the grabby itself.

To do some grabby field research, we want to find them in their relaxed, natural condition, so protests and political rallies are not the best places. We can instead go to one of the five-buck-a-cup coffee joints, where they are also abundant but in a restful state. Here we go:

As we sneak up behind a fake palm tree and focus our binoculars, keep in mind that first goal of grabby observation is to see what they think of themselves. And what we find is that they fancy themselves open-minded, free-thinking and tolerant to a diversity of opinions. Self-appreciation about these points is almost palpable in the air. Having made this note, a little further observation reveals an irony: grabbies often tend to be rather closed minded about purely subjective matters of personal taste like art, movies, music and fashion. They may not come out and say it, but they do tend to look down on people who do not share their preferences. Anyone with the audacity to suggest that he likes Folgers better than a mocha-espresso-latte-thingy which tastes like hot Hoppe’s No. 9 (and costs as much as a burger and fries) will probably receive a self-assuming smirk of cultural superiority from every grabby in earshot.

It is equally fascinating to observe their views about objective matters. But before we do, there is something to be aware of that is so obvious to us that we never think about it: when an honest human says something about an objective matter of fact, the statement is intended to mean something specific. Duh. If a firefighter says “turn right to get to the exit” or an electrician says “the red wire is electrified”, we have plain-spoken statements intended to have certain meaning. In matters like these, the open mindedness and free thinking preached by grabbies are not necessarily appropriate. In fact, it can get people killed.

As we consider grabby-thought, it is also useful to note that the Constitution and Bill of Rights contain exactly the same sort of literally intended statements. Unfortunately, such a sensible attitude (which the grabbies would call “narrow minded”) makes it logically impossible to construe something like the Second Amendment as meaning anything other than what it says, and this is very inconvenient for the grabby. So, the Second Amendment says “yes” and the grabby wants it to say “no”. What’s a grabby to do? Watch carefully.

Obviously, people must be made “open-minded”. The clear answer to the objective question may be “yes”, but if people’s minds can be opened far enough (until they tear something, if necessary), perhaps they can be convinced that the answer is actually “no”.

Are you with me so far? In a way, I kinda wish you weren’t. Actually, as weird as it is, the thought process we have seen so far is fairly easy to understand: the grabbies are closed-minded when they should be open-minded and open-minded when they should be closed minded. Make sense? No, Thank God, but we can still understand it.

But if we sneak closer for a better look (shhhhhh . . .), things get even stranger: if the grabbies REALLY applied open-mindedness to the Second Amendment, then they should also be open-minded to the viewpoint of, say, Antonin Scalia, should they not? Hmmmm . . .

Oops! We’ve startled them. And as they run away, what we see is that the grabbies are really only using open-mindedness as a sort of cheater-bar. They allow (even demand) its inappropriate use just long enough to flip things upside down, but then they immediately prohibit its further use. The red light becomes green in their minds just long enough for them to slip through the intersection. But once they are through, nobody else had better try the same stunt! In other words, it is OK for the “living, breathing document” to inhale, but then it had better hold its breath.

As we slip out from behind the palm tree and quietly exit the coffee shop, please realize that our observations, though essential, are useless by themselves. There are lots of people out there who believe lots of strange things. The overnight radio folks ponder chupacabra, yeti, aliens and UFOs. Some people wear tinfoil hats to ward off the Martian brain signals. Yet, unless they become violent, these folks really do not pose a great danger to society.

The difference with grabby-thought is that the general populace falls for it. But why do they do so? There are a number of reasons — lies, deceptions, dishonesty, abuse of statistics, and so forth. All these explanations are true. But they miss the deepest one of all; people’s inability to consistently distinguish the objective from the subjective. People who would never in their lives grab the red wire willingly do so here because the grabbies have convinced them that “the electrician’s warning was only his opinion and you should be free to develop your own”.

So, how do we protect people from the grabbies? Well, we are back to a previous column (see Concealed Carry Magazine, Nov/Dec 2007): when you talk to non-gunners, drag the objective/subjective idea out into the conscious light of day and make them think about it. We spend a lot of time telling people what is wrong with WHAT the grabbies think. I would suggest that we also need to put some effort into explaining what is wrong with HOW the grabbies think. Some grabby field research, as unpleasant and unnecessary as it may seem at first, is the thing that provides us the tools we need to do so.

Tim Thorstenson is a chemist by education. His goal is to inform readers of the scientific aspects of self-defense to allow a better-informed evaluation of the available tools and information. Contact him at timthorstenson@yahoo.com

USCCA Laugh of the Week

by Chaim’s Cartoons

Coming Up On Armed American Radio

The Official Voice of the USCCA

by Mark Walters

Coming up this week on Armed American Radio meet the folks at Galco Gunleather for the first segment of the show to talk about holster options, products and carry methods. Great stuff from one of America’s premier holster manufacturers…THEN for the remainder of the hour, I have the privilege of introducing you to Mr. George Hill, the Mad Ogre himself, The BlogFather, gunwriter, trainer, and public enemy number one of the prairie dog community in Utah. You can check out George before the interview at www.madogre.com Don’t miss the unique and brutally honest answers from the man who was blogging about guns before the word blog existed. Tune in LIVE in the Atlanta Metro area on Intelligent Talk 920 WGKA at 8 pm, LIVE at 5pm in Reno, Carson City and Sparks NV at 99.1 FM Talk-The station with Nevadatude, or catch us delayed in Anchorage on KBYR at 8pm local time Sunday’s and Saturdays on Mountain Talk 97.1 FM in Mountain Home Arkansas at 8pm. You can always hear us LIVE at www.920wgka.com at 8pm eastern. Don’t miss Armed American Radio this week (new stations coming to the affiliate lineup soon). For more information please visit www.armedamericanradio.org ! AAR is gunradio at its BEST!

Columnist-Contributing Editor

Concealed Carry Magazine

“The Ordinary Guy”

United States Concealed Carry Association

Host-Armed American Radio-Intelligent Talk 920 WGKA-Atlanta

Visit me at:

www.theamericangunfighter.com

www.armedamericanradio.org

BE A PATRIOT!

A Galco Holster & A Blackhawk Holster

USCCA Gear Review

by Cody Alderson

Okay, the two holsters are in two entirely separate classes, but I wanted to tell you about both of them this week since they both fit the same gun. I particularly like the belt holster from Galco, so let me tell you why. I’ve had a Smith & Wesson Model 669 9mm since the late eighties. I think I bought it in 1989. I’ve owned two holsters for that gun in the last twenty years. One is a duty holster and the other one is an old Gould and Goodrich leather pancake-style holster.

I still like carrying that S&W 9mm, but the old holster I use for concealed carry is getting a bit long-in-the-tooth. It is a holster that is molded to the shape of the gun instead of being a holster designed to fit a bunch of different guns of the same class. For me, that’s really the only type of holster that I like in leather. Being twenty years-old, I wasn’t able to find any new leather holsters fitted specifically for it until I happened upon one at Galco.

I was actually looking for another holster type when I happened to notice that there were holsters available for my S&W 669, during my search on Galco’s website. I was really surprised to find that there are brand new holsters still being made for my gun so of course I had to get one. I wanted a pancake-style holster with a thumb break, just like my old Gould and Goodrich holster, but this time I wanted it in brown instead of black.

Just like other Galco holsters that I own I was not disappointed with the quality of this new one at all. Just look at how nicely it fits my old gun. This holster is their F.L.E.T.C.H. High-Ride Belt Holter model. The boning, or shaping, of the holster to the gun is perfect. And if you have ever owned any new leather, whether it be a saddle, jacket, belt, or holster, you know how nice new leather looks and feels.

Here’s a picture of my old Gould and Goodrich pancake holster. Still serviceable, but it’s wearing out.

The thumb breaks on each holster are shown in the next photo. Both are sturdy set ups designed to last a long time. The new Galco holster appears on the left, and the old holster’s thumb break is on the right.

In addition to how well the new Galco holster fits my old 9mm, the other markers of a good holster are present as well. The leather looks and feels perfect, the color is deep and rich, the stitching is perfect, and the edges are rounded and polished. I thought that I would have to order a custom holster for this old gun to replace my old pancake-style one. But who needs custom when quality like this is available right now from Galco?

If I hadn’t come across this holster at Galco, my choices would have been a universal type of holster made to fit compact autos the same size as my old S&W 669, or try to find a custom holster maker who had a mold of a 669 that they could make me a holster from. Then if I was going custom, I would have to wait weeks or even months, and pay a princely sum for a holster to fit an old gun.

Take a look at some close-ups of this quality holster from Galco that is available for only $86.00.

Do you have a gun that you are looking to holster? New one or old one, it doesn’t matter. Whatever you have, I highly recommend that you go take a look at what Galco has to offer before you make your final decision. I hear people who say that they have a box full of holsters for each gun they own. Well, I don’t. I take the time to do the research and get exactly what I want. I have never been disappointed by any holster from Galco. Visit their website at www.usgalco.com

Blackhawk Inside The Waistband Holster

This holster is of the universal fit type for guns the size of my Smith & Wesson Model 669. I’m not a fan of inside-the-waistband holsters, but this one is made to stay in place. The belt clip is sturdy and stitched well to the material of the holster, and as can be seen in the photo, it has a shape that will grab onto the bottom of the wearer’s belt.

The outer material holds onto fabric like glue, and the inner material is slick allowing for a quick draw of the weapon. Although I prefer retention style holsters such as pancake-style with a thumb break, many others do not wish to have any retention devices on their holsters. Holsters such as this inside-the-pant style (ISP) that Blackhawk refers to them as, only retain the gun with pressure caused from the wearer’s waistband and belt.

This holster offering from Blackhawk is well-made and start at $12.60 for this model. It is available at www.blackhawk.com

Comments? I’d love to hear from you!
E-mail me at: cody@uscca.us
Follow Me on Twitter

A Must Read…

USCCA Exclusive

Dear Tim,

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!

Quote of the Week

“Nothing is unchangeable but the inherent and unalienable rights of man.”

-Thomas Jefferson

USCCA 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!

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

Armed American Radio Interview Last Night

Last night I had the opportunity to interview Ms. Nikki Goeser who has appeared on a number of media forums about the murder of her husband including Cam and Company and Buckeye Firearms Forum.

Nikki was disarmed by the state of TN by not being able to take her CCW gun inside the bar she was working that night with her husband. Within hours her husband was murdered in front of her by a crazy whacko who PAID NO ATTENTION to TN law and carried HIS gun inside.

TN law has since been changed albeit too late but changed nonetheless to allow CCW holders to carry in bars and restaurants.

Please take a listen to it on the AAR website at www.armedamericanradio.org and hear her heartbreaking story. Nikki is the newest member of USCCA after today and needs the support of everyone here. If after listening to her story you have any ideas on how we can support her as a group, please let me know and I will pass the information to her.

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

Need help! Wife says..NO guns!

I now have my concealed carry permit and nice semi-auto pistol and she won’t let me at least keep it accessable at home even at night in case I would ever need it. We are a Christian family and she continues to say that God has always protected her and family and that He will continue to do so. I pray she is right but she fails to recall that BAD things happen to GOOD people! Also, that it is great to have a gun and never need it but NOT GOOD to need it and NOT have it! I read on another thread that it is best to have a third party help educate the wife rather then she and I to continue to argue over this topic. I pray God will send just the right person into her life to accomplish this. Hey, if she does not want me to protect her and the family, that’s one thing but to say I cannot protect my own life is a different story! For now I am laying low but it can’t go on like this forever. All suggestions are welcome!

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

So, tell me about alternative hunting/defense weapons

Longbows, crossbows, blowguns, slingshots. Primarily for hunting, secondary use as defensive or special-purpose weapons.

For use in long-term survival, to compound bow mechanisms hold up well? Can they be fixed easy when they break? For ‘normal’ bows, recurve much better than standard longbow type? Optimum pull to take up to medium-sized game? (Define medium sized game in your eyes, please.) Crossbows…what about crossbows? Effective range comparison to longbows? Bows very quiet when fired?

Slingshots…effective range? Good for hunting small game or not? Recommended models? Want heavy-duty stuff, it’ll have to last who knows how long. Can you fire things like crossbow bolts from a slingshot with any hope of effectiveness?

Blowguns…any use at all? For what? Optimum reasonable length? Effective range? Serious possibility or mall ninja wet dream?

Anything else in the way of alternatives come to mind?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Video of the Week

Seventy-one year-old Bob Basso playing the part of Thomas Paine, and presenting an open letter to the president.
Open Letter to President Obama

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 Self Defense Story

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!

July 28, 2009

Grant Pass, Oregon

From: KTVL News 10

Homeowner Shoots, Kills Bear After it Climbs Through Window

A Grants Pass man woke up in the middle of the night, and came face to face with an intruder. That intruder was a bear, and the man jumped into action.

Everett Skinner was awakened by his daughter in the middle of the night. Skinner grabbed his shot gun.

“I shot him once with the gun and that didn’t bother him” skinner explained. “I put a third shot into his mid section and he was still growling and roaring” said Skinner. It took three more shots to finally put the bear down.

The bear eventually collapsed dead. Ironically, Skinner explained the bear died with his head next to a picnic basket. Skinner says it was all over in about a minute. He says the bear had run out when the two saw each other, and is sorry that he had to kill the bear, but says it had to be done.

Closing Thoughts

This week, I have a few words to share with you, from a USCCA member. This guy does a great job summing up how I believe we ALL feel. You’ll love this:

I am neither a paranoid nor an insane nor an insecure person. Nor am I a law-breaker, an alcoholic, nor a drug user.That’s why I have a concealed carry permit issued from my home state. I carry my NAA .22LR MAG mini revolver each and every time I go out.

I am ready to accept the responsibility of my actions if and when the time comes to defend myself from an attack from any low-life who might want to prey upon me or any member of my family, if it be in my home or out in public. Self-preservation and self-protection is every law-abiding, responsible american’s right. Exercise that god-given right. Respect your fire-arm for what it can do for you.

Carry your concealed weapon low and out of sight. Walk with confidence with a smile on your face knowing that you are ready and willing to protect yourself if need be. Your chosen-carry weapon can save your life.

Why then isn’t there more armed american citizens willing to except the truth that an attack from a predator can happen any where at any time?

Do you have a pressing concern? Use the ‘Ask Tim’ contact form found at this page to let me hear your advice. Just use the graphic below!