December 25th, 2009
Christmas Day.
Merry Christmas, friend!
I hope you have a wonderful day with your family and friends. I would have just sent this tomorrow, but I haven’t missed a friday in so long, I’d hate to ruin my record…
So here is your Armed American Report, waiting for you when you get a break in the holiday action 
THE QUESTION OF KILLING
“…You don’t have to like it….
… You just have to acknowledge it. ….”
by CR Williams
Call it Reality and define it this way: If you are forced to shoot someone, they will probably die.
And while I for one hope that shooting someone just makes them stop attacking me or someone else, The Reality is that–especially if I shoot them where everyone else says I should–if I do have to shoot them, then they will most likely stop their attack because they die as a result of the gunshot(s).
So if you or me or anyone else wants to have a better chance of surviving not just the fight, but what will happen after the fight is over, we need to reach some sort of accommodation with this ahead of time. Because according to the last set of statistics I’ve seen, we’ll need to deal with Reality between 60 and 70 percent of the time, and no less than half the time, that we have to shoot someone in self-defense.
Understand this: In the eyes of the Law, the gun is Lethal Force. Not ‘Stopping Force’–Lethal Force. Shoot someone, and it doesn’t matter to the Law that you just wanted to stop them; you have still employed Lethal Force. Deliberately shoot to wound, it won’t matter; you have still employed Lethal Force. (Shooting to wound isn’t guaranteed to just wound, either; people regularly die after being wounded in the arms or legs.)
You don’t have to like it. You just have to acknowledge it.
Reality appears in its purest form when we contemplate the defense of someone else, particularly someone we don’t know, who is under threat of death. I’m betting it will be easier, in the heat of the moment, to kill in our own defense, or the defense of family and friends, than in the defense of a stranger, especially an adult stranger.
Consider this situation, which was raised by another member of the USCCA forum a few months ago:
You are shopping inside a store, out of sight of the front counter/register, when a robbery starts. You move cautiously until you can see the robber, standing with a gun pointed directly at the head of the cashier. He is completely unaware of you behind him. You are armed, and you have an ideal position and time for a precisely aimed shot into the back of the robber’s head. In most states, the conditions for lethal-force employment are satisfied. The question was not could you, legally, take the shot without warning the robber (though in some areas it is not legal to do so; you must check laws in your area to be sure); it was, would you take the shot without warning?
The issues involved here (once legal questions are set aside) are mental, emotional, philosophical, even cultural. They are wrapped up in this question: To save someone you don’t know, can you see yourself shooting someone in the back of the head without warning?
Don’t toss it off as something that is unlikely to be required of you. There was a recent incident, a daylight robbery at a crowded Burger King, where a CCW holder had close to that choice. And consider: If you can’t work out your answer to this, a worst-case kind of decision, are you going to be sure you can pull the trigger in lesser cases when things are more clear and immediate?
Some who read this have already done this, or something similar, or have been about to do so in the past. They can answer in the affirmative quickly. Before any of the rest of you snap off a ‘Hell, yes! I could do that!’ response, I need you to do a visualization–a formal, studied, hard-core visualization:
Isolate everything except the Guy With Gun (hereafter referred to as GWG), the person he is pointing his gun at, and you. Assume everything is legally in place for purposes of the visualization. If you chose to pull the trigger, you have the law behind you in this specific case. So:
The base of GWG’s skull, say ten feet in front of you, sights of your weapon right on the ’spot’. Trigger pressure, sound of shot breaking, recoil, recovery, back on. Shot is on–you may see a hole where it hit. Likely GWG falls pretty much straight down, just collapses in a heap. You’ll follow him down with your weapon just in case a follow-up is needed.
You will begin to notice other things: The spray of bones, blood, and brain matter from where the round exited, maybe spattering the original target, who is looking very dazed and maybe beginning to moan or groan or scream. Checking GWG, you’ll notice the larger, ragged hole approximately where the nose used to be. Blood will be running, maybe spraying, out, and beginning to pool on the floor under his head. His eyes, if they haven’t been ruptured or even blown out by the shot, will be open and empty.
He will be dead, and you will have killed him.
You will have been in the right to do so, given the situation as described and as I have isolated it, within the visualization.
Can you do this without warning?
Can you?
Some of us, despite everything that is on our side in this, will want and need to issue a warning before they fire. Part of the urge to warn is based on the hours and hours of stories, of movies, of TV, where good guys face their battles directly. Want to or not, we absorb this a bit as we go along. Part of the urge to warn is based on parents and teachers and guidance/authority figures teaching us how to get along with others and ‘play fair’ and be polite and to give others a chance. (Not a bad thing in general, you know–I like getting along with people, myself. It does get in the way sometimes, though.) Part of it is a lot of people we encounter as we grow up who don’t have the correct idea of when and how to do violence–the, “violence never solved anything” group.
There’s probably some other influences involved too. My point is, they all come together so that a lot of us, like it or not, admit it to ourselves or others or not, want to or not, aren’t comfortable with the idea of killing someone in a calculated manner like this.
This discomfort may not be such a bad thing, I think. Millions of people who were not at all uncomfortable with this could make for a pretty hairy societal environment, don’t you think? I for one do not want a lot of people running around who get happy about the thought of killing someone, whether necessary or (especially) not. I prefer that the vast majority of us have some compunctions where this idea is concerned. I think it’s better that way for everybody.
Nonetheless, sometimes it’s not good for us to hesitate. This may be one of those situations.
So, first, before you consider specific actions and tactics, make sure you can pull that trigger if you decide at that moment that it is necessary and best to do so. Then, you can go over what and when.
But first, determine and decide that YOU WILL.
Otherwise, the rest will not matter.
And let some of us be honest: There are those who simply cannot contemplate such a no-warning shot. Understand this: You are not cowards, you are not stupid, you are not wrong for being like this. You are, rather, who you are, and only and completely that.
As long as you are honest about this, I will support and defend you and your right and honesty in making that decision, whether I agree with it or not.
If you are one who must make the warning, though, then make sure you a) understand that fully and b) get your tactical and technique ducks in a row right now. It’s important that you do so ahead of time.
Good luck to you all in this. Conditioning yourself to such a calculated shot is not as easy as some, maybe most, of us think it is.
But if I’m the one at the wrong end of GWG’s gun, I’m going to be praying hard that you’ve done it.
Besides the general need to avoid hesitation about pulling the trigger when the need is upon you, there is another reason to acknowledge Reality and come to whatever terms you can with it. In the aftermath of a shooting incident, especially one in which one or more of the attackers are killed, you will need as much of an internal ‘edge’ as you can get to avoid saying the wrong things at the wrong time to the wrong people. You will be confused enough, stressed enough, trying hard enough to limit your responses to what is needed to keep you from being judged the wrong way, without the added strain that would come from having given no thought and made no preparation to meet the idea that you have, unwillingly as it was, killed another person. Others who have not thought this through (as much as it could be) ahead of time have said things they didn’t mean to say, letting the strain of death at their hands overtake them, and those words have been very hard in most cases to take back. In some cases, those un-thought, un-considered words have not been retrieved and have put otherwise good people who did the right thing into prison.
Think about it now. Do what you can to avoid the peril of not thinking about it later.
Now there is the question of how: How do you prepare to face Reality? Is there anything, technique or mechanism, short of joining the military and taking their training, that might help us avoid fatal hesitation and confusion in the time that may come?
There may be other mechanisms that will work; I can suggest two that might help you, but can’t guarantee that they will. (Not sure that anybody can, actually.)
As a foundation to any other techniques you might try, get very familiar with the laws in your state and area that govern the introduction and employment of lethal force. This is one of the things–personal beliefs and personal morals will be others–that will help you make the decision to produce the weapon and then to fire. It may not help you much to know that the law is on your side, but it should help some. And some help is better than no help at all.
That done, I believe one thing you should do is to put yourself on automatic pilot as much as possible. The decision to produce the weapon and then to open fire must be conscious (as much as possible within the constraints of the situation you find yourself in), but after that the fight and how you conduct it should be as automatic as possible until it is over. You make things automatic through continued training and practice and education, through the answer of ‘what-if’ questions that you ask yourself in spare moments, and through the second method of conditioning that I will suggest to help you handle Reality–focused visualization.
Focused visualization is not another what-if, neither is it a casually-attended-to daydream. It is more than a mind’s-eye picture; done well it is a mind’s vision, hearing, touch, smell, and maybe taste event. It is possible with a little effort to generate a detailed-enough image within your mind that your emotions are affected. That is the goal. You want to produce a complete picture of the fight from start to finish and some into the aftermath of it, and you want to guide yourself through the reactions you have and the actions you take following the fight in your mind so that, if ever it comes for real, something in your mind will say to itself ‘I have been near to this’, and so will not panic and drive you the wrong way. Focused, self-guided visualization of this nature is an accepted tool with a long history of helping people at all levels of many kinds of activity develop their skills and temper their responses to stress, and I believe that it can be used to help us deal with Reality as well.
So there it is. The Reality as I see it, and some ideas to help you deal with the Reality if it ever comes to you.
I hope it never comes to you.
But if it does, I hope you’ve given it some thought ahead of time. I believe it will be at least a little easier for you if you have.
Good luck.
USCCA Toon of the Week
Gun Control Advocates Seek
to “Tighten” Gun Laws
Gun Rights Roundup
by Buckeye Firearms Association
The anti-gun movement has launched a new attack campaign with their usual disregard for the facts.
Every article on gun-control is now saying that America has “loosened” regulations on buying, carrying, and owning guns over the last three decades. But this is an outright lie. Guns remain one of the most highly regulated products in the world.
We’ve seen this play before. The anti-gun movement has used terms such as “Saturday night special” or “assault weapon” to define guns or laws in the most provocative way possible.
What is the goal? The same as always. By defining our current gun laws as “loose,” the anti-gun leadership is setting up the debate so they can claim the need to “tighten” regulations. As a gun owner, you need to fight lies with facts. Write letters to the editor. Call into radio shows. Correct friends when they repeat the gun control mantra of “loose” gun laws.
Read the full story, plus get the FREE 80-page Gun Facts, the essential reference for winning the gun control debate and debunking common myths about guns, crime, and the Second Amendment.
Gun Rights Roundup is a joint venture of Buckeye Firearms Association and USCCA. We will keep fighting until every American enjoys their natural right to carry and self-defense. For more news on pro-gun law, politics, and events, click here to subscribe to Buckeye Firearms Association’s FREE Newsletter.
Coming Up On Armed American Radio
The Official Voice of the USCCA
by Mark Walters
Merry Christmas!
The end of the year is now upon us and what a year it has been. Started on April 26, 2009 on one station, AAR is now nationally syndicated and heard LIVE in all time zones in America every Sunday evening. Growing like a weed, Armed American Radio is continuing to add cities across this great nation. Ask the fine folks up in the Motor City as Detroit was just added to the lineup on WDTK News Talk 1400 am! Corpus Christi Texas is gearing up for AAR beginning the first week of the new year! Salt Lake City and Provo, Utah come to the Armed American Radio lineup Jan. 3rd on KACP Freedom 570 am! Florida, we have tremendous interest in the Gunshine State and hope to be making an announcement there real soon. Thanks to Bill Wink Chevrolet and The Firing Line Indoor Range and Gun Shop for their sponsorship of AAR in Detroit!
The bottom line is, Armed American Radio has rapidly become the only radio program of its kind where law abiding citizens who choose to exercise their constitutional RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS can come for the talk they demand. I’m not talking about hunting here on AAR. Armed American Radio laser focuses on the things we care about as law abiding gun owners and CCW holders and I zoom right in on the anti-gunners and the freedom-haters who want to strip YOU of your constitutional rights. In fact, I put a lucky, lefty, whacko right smack in the crosshairs every week, sometimes more than one, and give the orator of the stupidest comments of the previous seven days the Bonehead of the Week Award. Believe me, the kooks who want your guns seem to outdo themselves every single day and sometimes I have to go right up to show time before the Bonehead of the Week is selected, or added to the list for the night!
If you want to hear the “other side” talk about what they refer to as the “gun debate”, you’ll have to go elsewhere…Like any major newspaper, any network “news” program, or any cable “news” station where these liars and freedom haters get all of the airtime they want See, on Armed American Radio THERE IS NO DEBATE. As far as I’m concerned, the nut cases on the other side simply need to get it through their heads that free Americans have a constitutional RIGHT to KEEP AND BEAR ARMS. The constitution means what it says, it says what it means and I will NOT allow revisionist history on AAR. Nope, they will never get ONE minute of airtime on Armed American Radio. Never. The “mainstream media” has allowed these people to lie for far too long and Armed American Radio IS the fairness doctrine!
Whew…That felt good!
Over the past several months, I’ve had the privilege of interviewing the nations foremost experts in self-defense, training, gun fighting skills, avoidance and awareness techniques as well as politicians, gun rights activists, champion marksmen and women, authors and on and on. Trust me, I’ll be adding some HUGE names to the list this coming year too!
So, before I get to the “who’s coming up” part, I would like to extend a very humble and heartfelt THANK YOU to all of you who have helped make Armed American Radio one of the fastest growing radio broadcasts in America and the tremendous success that it is!
OK, here we go! AAR is LIVE this weekend. Freedom never takes a break on Armed American Radio! Coming up this week I will be putting together a little bit of a “wrap up” of some of the best guests such as Massad Ayoob and champion shooter Gail Pepin, who will either be LIVE in the studio with me or on the phone, either way they’ll both be here. In addition we’ll talk to Rob Pincus who will be back for the entire show, George Hill, the Mad Ogre, phone calls, emails and MORE as we discuss some of the best things we covered in 2009. I’ll also be rebroadcasting my interview with talk radio giant and Fox News contributor Mike Gallagher for some of our newest cities tuned into AAR. Kathy Jackson will come back for a few minutes and maybe even Tim Schmidt! I’ll give away the Bonehead of the YEAR award this week too and I haven’t yet decided who gets it so if you have a suggestion, please send it to mark@armedamericanradio.org !
Thanks again to YOU for making this year such a success here at AAR! For more information on where to listen and previous shows, visit www.armedamericanradio.org. Also, for copies of my book Lessons from Armed America, co-written with Kathy Jackson and foreword written by Massad Ayoob, visit any major online book retailer or www.whitefeatherpress.com
Remember, Armed American Radio is on FACEBOOK so head over and become a fan to get UP TO THE SECOND show info and don’t forget Twitter where you can follow me at www.twitter.com/aarmark. Also, subscribe to Armed American Radio on You Tube and you’ll be the first to get the videos of upcoming shows and much more as we are gearing up to bring you more multi-media content in the coming year!
WANT TO HELP US GROW EVEN FASTER? JOIN US IN OPERATION VELVET HAMMER!
Operation Velvet Hammer is designed to help us grow AAR even bigger than it is even faster than it is! So many of you have sent emails and made comments on the radio website asking where you can get the station on YOUR hometown dial. Now we’re growing fast but we KNOW we can do it even faster with YOUR help. If you are interested in assisting us in growing this program, please visit www.operationvelvethammer.com and sign up to help out.
I’ll explain in more detail in the coming days but first I need you to join the select group that will dedicate some of their time to assisting me. Don’t worry, by doing so you’ll get not only the satisfaction of helping me counter the anti-gunners and freedom haters voices but I’ll also make sure you get some pretty cool stuff for helping out. The anti’s and freedom haters have a voice in every major newspaper, television network and Washington itself. Now it’s OUR TURN. Help me turn Armed American Radio into the voice heard in all 50 states faster than we already are! Visit www.operationvelvethammer.com for more details and to sign up!
To those of you who have already added your names to the list THANK YOU! We’ll be getting with you all very soon with even more details!
I’ll see YOU on the radio THIS Sunday LIVE from 8-11pm EST, 5-8pm PST
Mark
Quote of the Week
“Great truths can only be forgotten and can never be falsified.”
—G. K. Chesterton
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!
*******************
I’ve seen lots of posts about watching out for the BG, knowing what to look for, and learning to just trust your instincts. I’ve also greatly appreciated the ongoing training points that you always want to look for the easy way out so that drawing your weapon is absolutely a last resort. Coincidentally, I had an experience that drove those points home for me yesterday.
I was at my regular bank’s ATM. Although I cannot know for sure, I believe that trusting my instincts to take quick action removed me from a potentially bad situation. Of course, simultaneously I felt good knowing that my Glock was by my side if matters escalated to a life-threatening situation.
I had just finished pulling a good chunk of cash out of my checking account via the ATM. Now, it was already dark (about 6 p.m. CST) and I am always hyper-vigilant at any ATM visit, day or night; head is on a swivel, and speed is king.
Just as I had grabbed my cash, and then pulled forward about a car length to inspect my paperwork, out of nowhere, a large SUV pulls up real fast on my right side. Then it shoots forward about a car length, just a bit ahead as if to start to block me in, and then very specifically rolls backwards to align directly next to my car. Without going into too much detail, if you knew the layout of this parking lot, there was absolutely no logical reason why someone would do this based on where my car was and based on what else WAS NOT in that parking lot. It just didn’t make sense!
Well, I didn’t sit around and play tiddley winks with this person. I think my instincts just kicked in because the next thing I know, almost automatically, I was flooring it past the dude, rounded a quick corner to the right–traffic happened to be in my favor thankfully–to get back on the main road, and moved fast.
Mind you, I’m not one to overreact and all, but the fact that I was alone at the ATM, and a split second after I roll forward with my cash, this other vehicle positions itself next to me and then just sits there, I wasn’t about to take any chances.
Again, I am always extra cautious at the ATMs, and this was one situation in which I was very happy that I was being cautious.
Fear of Carrying With Round Chambered
My grandson is new to CC. He’s had his CWP about three months now. He still does not carry with a round chambered in his Glock 26. He’s basically afraid to have a round in the chamber and also feels he can chamber a round fast enough if he needed too. What would you counsel him?
Major, U.S. Army (Ret.)
Video of the Week
Red Skeleton’s Pledge of Allegiance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZBTyTWOZCM
Get Prepared TODAY, B.S. Free. Click here.
USCCA Self Defense Story
Every day, thousands of Armed Americans use their firearms to preserve human life. Let this section of the USCCA newsletter serve as a record of this fact!
12-16-2009
Shooting of St. Rose burglar ruled justifiable homicide
ST. CHARLES, La. – A St. Rose homeowner shot two men with a shotgun trying to burglarize his home, resulting in the death of one man and injuring the second, according to St. Charles Sheriff’s Office.
Detectives ruled the shooting a justifiable homicide and sent the information to the District Attorney’s Office.
Michael Cockerham, 21, of St. Rose, was pronounced dead on the scene by the coroner, police said, after he was shot by a homeowner in the 300 block of 1st Street around 1 a.m. Monday.
“Cockerham allegedly kicked down the victim’s rear door to his residence while armed with a semi automatic hand gun,” said spokesman Capt. Pat Yoes.
The homeowner reportedly saw a “laser light” from a weapon shine through the entrance; he then fired a single shot, hitting Cockerham, police said.
Cockerham was found in the yard of a nearby neighbor, police said. He had been shot once in the abdomen. The shooting is under investigation by the St. Charles Sheriff’s Office, and no charges have been filed against the homeowner, police said.
Police later announced the arrest of a second man in connection with burglary.
Aaron Vinnett, 20, of St. Rose, was arrested Tuesday and charged with second-degree murder during a crime and aggravated burglary, said Yoes.
Vinnett allegedly helped Cockerham in the burglary and “was also struck by pellets fired from the shotgun causing a small puncture wound in the middle of his chest,” said Yoes.
Vinnett is being held on a $350,000 bond.
Closing Thoughts
Last Week’s Question: ANSWERED.
“Tim, I have a friend who is a highly decorated military veteran. He is disabled but owns a 1911. He needs a device or holster that he can use to cock a 1911 with one hand (right. His left hand is missing several fingers. Your advice is really appreciated.”
Eric in Minneapolis:
This is in response to the question about a cocking device for a 1911. While I understand the lure and reliability of the 1911 (not my gun of choice), I don’t think that is the best gun for this situation. The best gun is the simplest one to use. Adding a device to make it work is just something else that can fail. I think in this situation, getting a double action pistol or a DA/DAO revolver is the best option. As former military, I’m sure your friend is familiar with the Beretta 92. If he wants to stay with the .45, I recommend the Glock. If he goes with a revolver, the .357 is a good choice. As I said, the simpler the better. Don’t make it more complicated by adding another device. I think it’s time to change guns. Remember, if this is your carry gun, you want to be able to use it in an instant.
John in Iowa:
This is in response to the question about cocking a 1911 with only one hand. Point the weapon in a safe direction (of course)and insert your thumb into the trigger guard. Place your index finger on the front of the gun, below the barrel, and squeeze. Most people have enough strength to do this.
Gregg in Gendiellee:
There are rear sights available from Richard Heinie and through Bowie Custom which are configure with a “shelf” type front fascia. This is to allow the rear sight to be used against a table edge, belt etc. in order to rack the slide with one hand. The other possibility to consider is the installation of the Cylinder and Slide Shop’s SFS (safety fast system) which is made for 1911s and Browning HiPowers. After the slide is racked the user pushes the hammer forward manually, the safeties move upward to the “safe” position; when the safety is thumbed downward the hammer returns to the full-cocked configuration. Hope this helps.
Irving Schwartz:
The vet who has no fingers on his left hand can cock his 1911 by putting it under his left arm pit and using a little force can cock it. I had an old uncle who was in WW2 and lost his left hand, he always cocked his 1911 and it always worked for him, he never slowed down when he was shooting we went to the range shooting.
This week’s question. Have an answer? Use the “Ask Tim” form below to give an answer- I’ll share them here next week!
How important in performance is barrel length? Specifically, is 4.5″ an whole lot better than 3.8″ in 9 mm or .40 cal? -John
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!
Tim Schmidt
Founder - U.S. Concealed Carry
http://www.usconcealedcarry.com
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