Concealed Carry Report

November 20th, 2009

Dear Friend,

Brace yourself for a great issue of the Armed American Report: If you’re new to the idea of carrying concealed, our feature article this week is for you. No matter who you are, you are going to LOVE the gear review- let’s get started!

Practice Carrying Concealed: An Interesting Perspective

“…Start packing without the mental discipline, and you will fail the ‘ALWAYS’ test….”

by David Woodbury

Editor’s Note:

This article by David Woodbury is aimed toward those who have not yet reached a point of confidence to carry concealed even though they have a permit to do so. It is better to build up one’s confidence even if one has to practice carrying a concealed mock weapon (if legally permitted in your area). No need for emails about how temporarily carrying a mock or empty weapon is useless. Never carrying at all due to lack of confidence in one’s abilities is permanently useless.

It bears repeating: Practice handling and shooting your gun before you need to use it. But if you’re going to carry concealed, practice CARRYING before you actually do it.

Always Deciding to carry concealed presents some interesting and important mental challenges. Besides always staying in practice, so you are always as safe as you can be in a crisis, there are many more demands on you, all of them preceded by the word “always”. (And there are scores of other demands preceded by “never”, but those are the ones we hear all the time.)

ALWAYS know where your gun is, both when it’s on your body and when it’s not.

ALWAYS know whether it’s loaded, when it’s on your body and when it’s not.

ALWAYS know whether it’s locked (or whether the safety is on, depending what type of hardware you’re packing).

ALWAYS know how you can sit, stand, walk, and run so it won’t bulge or “print” on you.

ALWAYS know how close you are to other people and whether there might be someone close by who would give you a spontaneous hug or a friendly pat in the wrong place.

ALWAYS, always, always.

These are things — and I could add many more — that you cannot forget, even for a moment.

Permit Today, Pack Tomorrow. Yes, you can get a concealed carry permit and then immediately begin carrying when you’ve never, or seldom, done it before. But to do so requires a level of mental discipline that most of us don’t possess the moment we start. You will make mistakes if you do it that way. Start packing without the mental discipline, and you will fail the ALWAYS test above. So I’m here to offer a handful of suggestions.

A. Before you ever carry a loaded firearm, carry a single cartridge

Do it before you ever get a permit. Start with one, and see whether you can say positively that you are aware every moment where it is. Where is it while you’re in the shower? While you’re at work? While you’re at the Post Office or in church? Where is it when the clothes you just wore are in the washing machine? If you slip up and someone finds out that you have it, so what? You can explain it any number of ways, and you don’t need a permit.

Then carry six at once, or whatever number would fully reload your magazine or your cylinder. This may be more important a skill than you think, because even though the idea of carrying a lone bullet is to make you accountable for carrying a firearm later, you’ll also want to figure out how to carry extra ammo once you do start to go around armed.

(I’ve found that the little Tyvek sleeve the bank gives me for my credit card holds six round of .38 or .357 neat and flat.)

B. Carry a toy gun

In the side-street toy shops you can still buy a near-life-size plastic revolver or a squirt gun shaped like a semi-automatic. Try carrying one of these concealed for a few weeks. If it’s longer than your real gun, cut it down to match. Or, if it’s just too weird to carry plastic, cut a notch out of a bush or small tree (or carve a block of wood) to something vaguely resembling the dimensions of the gun you may one day carry, and carry the piece of wood for a few weeks first. If someone finds out you have it on you, again, you can explain it any number of ways.

If it’s not your intention to carry a concealed firearm but, say, a tactical knife for personal protection, then modify this suggestion to something vaguely resembling the size and weight of that equipment.

A FÉG 9mm beside a squirt gun. Photography by David Woodbury.

A Rossi .38 special beside a notch from a cherry tree cut to approximate the gun’s size.

C. Carry an empty gun

Once you are comfortable with the feel of carrying and the discipline needed to keep it concealed and safe, there’s still a quantum mental shift from concealing a piece of harmless metal to concealing something that is instantly deadly. Carrying empty gives you the complete feel, but not the feeling. Once you start carrying for real, you’re making two monumental adjustments: You need to get past the self-conscious stage with the real hardware, and you need to reckon the gravity of the choices you can now make. Notice I didn’t say you have to do both at the same time.

To get past the self-conscious stage, carry empty but on alternate days for a week or so. Do it one day, then think it over and adjust your habits the next day. Then carry empty for a week, maybe with the ammo in a pocket somewhere.

The quantum mental shift doesn’t come with the permit. It takes weeks of training in the military. Putting on the uniform the first day doesn’t do it. It’s accepting that every day, because of the choices someone else makes, you’re ready to take a life. (And, as has been said in these pages so many other ways, if you’re not ready to take a life, then you shouldn’t be packing.)

The Consequences: Even though I’m a Registered Maine Guide, even though I’ve hunted for 40 years, even though I’m an Army veteran, even though I’ve been a security manager (unarmed), even though I have long owned firearms of several types, I didn’t make the transition instantaneously once I started packing a few years ago. I was accustomed to open carry as in hunting: slipping the safety off and on as I moved about, unloading in the open before re-entering a vehicle, and so on. When I’m armed for hunting, it’s right out in front of me where I’m acutely aware of it and open to the world at the same time. And no one where I live gives any thought to seeing someone alongside the road lugging a shotgun or rifle.

But I didn’t start out doing A, B, or C. Why? I just thought I was already so handy and safe with firearms that packing heat would be natural. And because of that assumption, here are a few things that happened to me once I began carrying daily.

1. I forgot that the gun was on me. I had eventually found a way to carry that was so comfortable I didn’t have the slightest discomfort to remind me it was there. The day it happened, I’m sure no one saw anything, but before I was sure I had to think about everywhere I’d been for the couple of hours that I had forgotten about it.

2. I dropped it in public. The way I carried at the time, in an unbelted holster tucked in my pants at the small of my back, it left me vulnerable to slippage when I exited a vehicle. It had shifted in a way that, even though I still felt it, I didn’t realize how loose it was. Again, no one saw.

3. I left it in a desk drawer that others had access to, loaded and ready. This was really stupid, but I had to get it off me quickly and then go meet some people in another room for a time. I should have simply continued to carry it. The one person who’d have been most likely to find it never mentioned it, and would have been fine with it even if she had found it. But I wish I’d never subjected her to the awkwardness of the possibility.

4. I forgot where it was in the house after I had gone to bed. After I dressed the next morning and went to get it, it wasn’t where I expected to find it. I scrambled mentally to remember what had interfered with my routine the night before, and then I found it.

5. While it was on me, I forgot whether it was locked. I carry a Rossi knock-off of a S&W .38 Chief’s Special. It has a neat little screw in the back of the hammer that you set or release with a custom hex key. I was carrying, but sort of remembered that I had locked it the day before when I went to bed. (It’s not the night security piece.) I sort of remembered that I had unlocked it the next morning, but in the middle of the day in question, in the company of others who I couldn’t excuse myself from for at least another hour, I wanted nothing more than to check it. On the Rossi, if you can just touch the base of the hammer with a fingertip, you can tell whether it’s locked.

6. The very first day I started carrying, my employer sent me on an overnight trip. Alone in a motel room, I debated keeping it loaded and ready. I truly wondered, in fact, whether I might be a sleepwalker in an unfamiliar setting and not know it, or whether I could otherwise harm myself or others with it while not fully awake. I unloaded it to be more certain. The mental discipline for everyone here is to be sure what kind of sleeper you are before dropping off too soundly next to a loaded gun. Are you someone who does anything at all in your sleep that you’ve not been fully aware of while you’re doing it?

These are examples of common challenges in mental discipline. But there was one thing that was probably harder to get used to than overcoming any of these six glitches. It was simply the astonishing realization at first that I was armed and potentially deadly. Not as deadly as driving distracted at 70 mph. Not as deadly as when leading people into the wilderness in November where someone in your party can decide to wander off and get lost, leaving you to find him before he freezes. But deadly if someone else chooses that I must be.

Carrying concealed, it took me a long time to get over the fact that I could drop a human being in two or three seconds, power I had never had before. If I were highly skilled in the manual martial arts I might have that feeling, but I also would have spent years getting used to it as my skills improved. When your skill is with a firearm, you’re harmless one moment, deadly the next.

If you own a gun for self-defense, practice handling and shooting before the day when someone decides for you that it will matter. But if you’re going to carry, practice carrying before the day when you decide for yourself to go about armed!

David A. Woodbury is a Registered Maine Guide with a B.S. in Wildlife Management who is winding down a career in Human Resources. His work has included responsibility for facilities security in the paper industry and in health care. He and his family live “north of the 45th parallel” in Maine. Much of David’s writing, including work that has appeared in books and magazines, is found at his own website: www.DamnYankee.com.

USCCA Toon of the Week

by Chaim’s Cartoons

Coming Up On Armed American Radio

The Official Voice of the USCCA

by Mark Walters

I tell ya, the last few days have been absolutely unbelievable for Armed American Radio. In the last 4 days, we have added new cities, Troy Alabama, Aberdeen Washington, Little Rock Arkansas, a commitment from Huntsville Alabama as soon as the station goes live on the air, and two other cities that I simply can not mention just yet but it’s ALL good! We also have interest in Detroit and the Twin Cities, Minneapolis and St Paul Minnesota. And guess what? AAR goes to 3 full hours THIS Sunday, November 22nd! You asked for it and you got it!

In addition to the continued growth of the broadcast, I had the privilege of being joined today in the AAR studio in Atlanta for a live, one on one interview with one of the giants of conservative talk radio, FOX news contributor and fellow Salem Radio Network nationally syndicated host, Mike Gallagher. Mike is in Atlanta through Saturday fighting “Obamacare” being shoved down our throats by the Socialist in Chief and was kind enough to join me for a segment that will air on the 29th. It was great to talk with him and you will definitely want to hear what he has to say about Armed American Radio!

You will also notice a great change to the Armed American Radio website. We have added some great new HD video content to the home page. The videos will give you information on past shows, upcoming guests and some plain old great information as it develops in real time. This new media rich content is just the beginning and I can promise you it will only get better and better with time. Make sure to head over to www.armedamericanradio.org to check out the new content and to stay 100% up to the minute with one of the hottest and fastest growing radio shows in America!

Coming up this week, The Master himself, Massad Ayoob makes another guest appearance to discuss anything I can toss his way for the full hour that I have his attention. In addition, David Burnette, The Midwest Regional Director of Students for Concealed Carry on Campus will be with me for the entire second hour to discuss this very hot button topic as well as a couple of other things he has up his sleeve. Great stuff.

Also, The Mad Ogre, George Hill will be with me for the entire show to chime in on the discussion as only he can and since I had the opportunity to meet with George a couple of weeks ago in Utah, George and I will be talking about one of the places we visited during my trip. During the third hour, George and I will be discussing the previous two hours and giving our thoughts, taking calls and reading listener comments live.

This is an amazing time for Armed American Radio and I can assure you all that you will want to be a part of this broadcast that will soon be bigger than Obama’s ego. Jump in while the water is warm and check out www.armedamericanradio.org to find out where to listen. Also, to those of you who have picked up a copy of my book, co-written with Ms. Kathy Jackson and Foreword by Massad Ayoob, “Lessons from Armed America”, THANK YOU! The reader reviews have been nothing short of incredible. You can get a copy at any major book retailer online, Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Borders, etc or you can pick one up at www.whitefeatherpress.com

I’ll See YOU on the Radio,

Mark

Review of Henry Repeating Arms .22 Long Rifle Survival Rifle

USCCA Gear Review

by Cody Alderson

Maybe you own a cool AR-15 variant based on Eugene Stoner’s original design. Stoner also had his fingers in another design, that of the AR-7. Henry Repeating Arms owns the rights to make this neat little survival rifle that started out at Armalite just like the AR-15 did.

This little gem of a rifle breaks down into components that fit neatly inside compartments built into the buttstock. It comes with two 8 round magazines and is the perfect backpack rifle for those who just want to have something to harvest small game in an emergency situation.

No it’s not a bear gun, but it will make it much easier for an injured or lost person in the woods to be able to harvest an emergency food source. It may even deter some bigger animals that are getting too nosey about you being lost and/or injured in the woods. And for packing a gun in a Bug Out Bag, this one won’t take up much space or add much weight. (Always remember to securely stow Bug Out Bags that contain firearms).

Another plus for this little rifle is that it is just plain fun! It’s cool for the youngsters, and it fits them too. It can be stowed just about anywhere, and when properly broken down it is waterproof. Henry Repeating Arms makes them in black (as shown here), silver, and camouflage.

The AR-7 saw military service as a pilot or crew survival rifle from about 1959 til now. It has been made by different manufacturers who each had their own ideas for some subtle changes. Though it could be used as a last resort firearm for defensive purposes, the .22 Long Rifle caliber is much more suited for harvesting small game. That’s not to say that the caliber is incapable of killing a human being. Far from it actually. My dad used to slaughter 1500-pound bulls with a shot behind the ear from a pistol chambered in .22 Long Rifle. Yes, he had the muzzle right up to the skull with the little .22 Long Rifle revolver, but it worked just fine.

At two and one half pounds, this version of a survival rifle can be packed pretty much under any parameters of gear weight and space requirements for outdoor adventures. Being that the rifle breaks down into parts that can be stowed in the waterproof buttstock, there isn’t a problem of trying to locate individual components when needing to put the gun together in a hurry. Everything is in the buttstock. No separate, uncased components when the gun is broken done as may be the case with other rifles of this class.

The only thing that could possibly be lost is the bolt handle that could possibly fall out before the rifle is put together. Once the barrel is screwed into the receiver, the bolt handle cannot fall out. Without the barrel in place, the bolt can move far enough forward that the small bolt handle could slip out. Even if it did, a round could be chambered with an improvised handle if, by chance, the bolt handle did fall out and was lost. Not a big deal at all, and just confirmation that we all need to have training and experience with every tool that we may have to use. And training begins with an owner’s manual and some practice.

I liked the black buttstock version of the Henry Survival rifle. All of the other components were black coated Teflon with the magazines finished in what appears to be bluing that is a deep black color. The camo may be great for the woods in the northeast where I live, and the silver may be good for its higher visibility under other circumstances. But I like the black one that doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb under many more circumstances and scenarios whereas the silver or camo versions might. Owner’s choice though, and we have three of them.

The magazines are easy to load, and they can be stowed loaded in the buttstock. The barrel and receiver are Teflon coated, giving them a nice dull black finish. Overall the gun is 35 inches long when put together, and only 16 1/2 inches broken down with parts stowed in the ABS buttstock.

The three main parts were put together in a flash and very easily without the need of any tools other than a human hand. Pop the flexible buttstock pad off of the back, pull out the receiver and barrel, screw the receiver into the front of the buttstock with the wing nut that cannot fall out, push the barrel into place, screw the barrel nut down tight, and it is ready to go.

The barrel is steel covered in Teflon coated ABS. This keeps the overall weight manageable, and is appropriate to the intended use of this firearm. Don’t think that the barrel is a liability in the least for it is capable of handling tens of thousands of rounds over the life of the weapon. The front sight on the barrel is a blade sight.

With both the barrel and the receiver being Teflon coated, the little Survival Rifle is incredibly weather resistant. Clean and oil this rifle properly, and there won’t be a worry about any rusting of the components while they are stowed in the buttstock. And the Teflon is great to keep the gun working flawlessly under survival conditions when it is put together for use.

With a range of 100 meters (109.36 yards) and the intended purpose of the rifle, the rib to mount a scope on the top of the receiver (as shown above) may not be used much. However it is there for the real enthusiast of this little rifle who wants to use it more for fun than survival. I suppose that if there is any problem with this rifle, it is that it will be left put together and shot at every opportunity instead of being put away in a Bug Out Bag. That’s okay. They aren’t that expensive so buy two of them. At a manufacturers suggested price (MSRP) of $245.00 for black or silver, and $310.00 for camo, this means that they should be found for quite a bit less in the better gun stores. I’ve found that some MSRP’s are high as compared to the street price of many products, especially guns.

I can load standard or high velocity rounds in the Henry Survival Rifle, but I prefer Federal’s Gold Medal Target ammo. At 1250 feet per second velocity, I don’t expect any issues with the gun’s action cycling. To ensure reliability of the action, I wouldn’t choose to shoot subsonic .22’s since they just don’t have the oomph needed to reliably cycle the action.

Using Federal’s Gold Medal Target loads and Sentry Solutions lubrication products on this rifle, I don’t expect any reliability issues. That’s what we are going to find out next week when I share the results of my range time with this remake of the AR-7 by Henry Repeating Arms. From the classic Golden Boy line to the lever actions, Big Boys, or Acu-Bolt, Henry Repeating Arms has a fine line of U.S. made rifles. Not just put together in the U.S., but all of the parts are made here in America.

In fact the president of Henry Repeating Arms, Anthony Imperato, promises that, “Henry rifles will only be made in America, or they won’t be made at all.” Benjamin Tyler Henry created the design for the first decent lever-action rifle. Abe Lincoln owned one. There are even photos of him holding his Henry rifle.

Now the Henry name and legacy is in the hands of Anthony Imperato. In communication with the man, I have found him to be a man of his word. He has gone way above my expectations of any manufacturer that I approach about doing a product review. I suppose this is why the reputation of Henry Repeating Arms is held in such high esteem among their customers. Plus with their headquarters being in Bayonne, New Jersey, any of us could look him up if he gave us any trouble! Just kidding folks.

Seriously though, you can’t go wrong with owning any Henry rifle. In fact I hope that I do something worthy enough one day to have someone get me a personally engraved .30 .30. Yep, you heard right. Henry rifles can be custom engraved. Got a grandson or granddaughter reaching a milestone? You can get an heirloom piece that will be cherished for many generations by simply visiting the Henry Repeating Arms website at http://www.henryrepeating.com/index.cfm

NEXT WEEK: Shooting the Henry Survival Rifle!

Comments? I’d love to hear from you!

E-mail me at: cody@uscca.us

Follow Me on Twitter

Quote of the Week

“They’ll have to shoot me first to take my gun.”

-Roy Rogers

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!

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This week in the Forum Highlights I’m giving you an example of the responses members get from their posts. I want you all of you who aren’t yet members of our exclusive online members only forums to not only get a taste of the questions and other posts, but also the wonderfully informative replies.

List of Lawyers

Do we have a list of good “gun lawyers” posted here?
If not, can we start with with a “sticky” to keep it at the top.
I am “new” to AZ and don’t know any lawyers that I would trust.
If we start a list, I can give you the name of TWO good lawyers in MN.
Thanks

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Motion Detector application hints wanted

I am thinking about some stuff for my mom’s farm. Mostly a drive sensor. A solar charged light is also a strong possibility.

I am looking for some feed back as what luck people have had with some of these items. Also what may be done to prevent false alarms.

Mom’s dog is not the best watch dog. The dog would rather be in watching TV with mom and dad.

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Incident At My Church Today

Hey everyone,

I figured I’d share what happened today at church. I was attending 1100 am church service with my family. A former church member and former alcoholic that the church has been trying to help get back on his feet, came in and started throwing things, yelling and cursing. Then few women and kids started crying and when he went for his jacket pocket, my first move was to grab for my 45 (somehow not remembering that I was NOT carrying). I then thought of my wife and children dropped them all to the ground and took cover over them. He ended up going for some keys, that he ended up throwing at the Pastor after telling him he was a hypocrite and threatening the Rev. and a church aid in the first row. After it was determined that he did not have a weapon or if he did we weren’t going to let him get it, myself and another couple guys from my church restrained him as he approached a female member of the church.

Long story short the police came but after service I talked to the Pastor and told him that it could have gone a lot worse and I asked if he would rethink not letting me carry in the church (asked him earlier this year, he wasn’t completely against it but since it had to be in “writing” in WY and our church is a branch of churches he worried about legal side). He said I had a point but that him and I would sit down with some of the other members to talk about it and see if he could do something.

In my opinion, we were lucky.

Our exclusive members-only forums are an incredible resource due to the numbers of experienced members ready and willing to help answer questions. An added plus is that it is for paid members only. That hands down eliminates the creeps and losers that can be found lurking in other online forums.

Video of the Week

You Tube runs short commercials on some videos now so this AP video will have one, but the story is good in that a young boy saves his siblings during a carjacking attempt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7JUQR_pijw

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!

November 5, 2009

Redmond, Oregon

From: The Daily News Online

A man was shot and killed by his ex-wife after he broke into her house in Redmond and tried to attack her with an “improvised weapon” as she defended her children, authorities said.

Patrick S. Hankins, 41, of Bend, was fatally shot Wednesday night, the Deschutes County sheriff’s office said.

His ex-wife, Karen L. Hankins, 51, was not charged in the death, said sheriff’s Capt. Marc Mills.

Sheriff’s deputies said the woman called 911 dispatchers just before 11 p.m. to report her ex-husband was outside her home, refusing to leave.

As she spoke on the phone with dispatchers, the man broke a kitchen window and entered the home.

Deputies said the woman had armed herself with a handgun and moved her 8- and 12-year-old children into the bathroom as the man attempted to assault her.

“The woman shot the intruder, then fled the residence with her children, to the safety of a neighbor’s house,” Mills said.

Deputies arrived within five minutes of the call and, aided by Redmond police, entered the home and found Patrick Hankins dead inside, Mills said.

KTVZ-TV in Bend reported that county court records show the couple’s divorce was finalized in August, about three months after she sought a restraining order against her then-husband.

Sheriff’s detectives were investigating the shooting, assisted by the district attorney’s office.

Closing Thoughts

Questions 1:

Is it $47 for a ‘month’ or a ‘year’ of the USCCA membership?

Friend, even though you easily get $47 of value per WEEK from a USCCA membership, it only costs $47 to be a part of the USCCA for an entire year.

Find out more here.

Question 2:

Tim, in your opinion what is the best concealed weapon to carry? The owner of the range I go to claims it is the Smith & Wesson Light Weight snub nose 38.-Barry

Berry, no disrespect to the owner of your range, but I honestly wouldn’t trust anyone who suggests that there is one ‘be all, end all’ carry gun. In life, we all want an answer. I wish someone could tell me the absolute best tasting coffee, but that’s just not the way things work- you have to find what works best for you, personally.

Are some guns better quality than others? Sure. I’ve found price to be a good measure for quality- if it’s a $300 handgun, it’s generally not going to be as reliable or smooth as something that’s $500 or even $1,000. This is always true, but it works more often than not.

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!

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