You Don't Know Jack

I realized today that it has been 3 weeks since my last blog post, and figured it was way overdue. First let me wish everyone a Merry Christmas/Happy Kwanzaa/Joyous Hanukkah/ A wonderful what-ever-other-holiday-you might-celebrate.  I hope your holidays were filled with lots of fun firearm related items. I know for us, my dad bought himself a Keltec PF9, I got my sister a gift card so she could take her CCW training class, and my wife got me lower receiver to start my first AR15 build (more on that here). For me, however, this time of year also means a time for personal improvement.

For the last 2 years I have been making this thing called an "Apocalypse List." Its like a New Year's resolution mixed with a bucket list with a twist. If you recall, back in 2012, supposedly the Mayans had predicted the world was going to end on December 21st (I think it's safe to assume they were wrong). Starting that year I decided to start making a list of things I wanted to do that year before 12/21 in the event the world ended. The Apocalypse list is very specific though. It has to be done within that year. So no crazy ideas that I couldn't physically or financially pull off in the course of the year. It also must be something that is worthy of a story.  No ever says "I wish I worked more" Or " I should have gotten that PHD" while dying. Don't get me wrong I have my own work and education related goals, but that's not what this is for. This is for life experiences. So on my 2014 Apocalypse list, one of the thing I have put on there is professional defensive pistol training.

My wife shooting my Beretta 92A1

 

This year I will take Defensive Handgun I with Range Time Tactical (RTT). So why take handgun training? Its certainly not because its cheap. This particular class is $300, plus 1000rd of ammo, travel and food expenses. After it's all said and done, that's the price of a new Glock. But I have a CCW already.  I have watched videos on trigger control, reset, recoil management, etc. I go to the range once a month. I can drill holes in paper like no ones business. But that's just it, its a very controlled environment with a stationary target and no stress. These types of classes will teach you not only the basic fundamentals, but also proper draw technique, one handed maneuvers, drawing while on your back, shooting from cover, shooting while moving and the like, all while trying to induce a modicum of stress. To give you and idea here is a video from Range Time Tactical on their Defensive Handgun I class.

Training like this is extremely important. Too many times do I see someone who goes out and buys a gun, completes their CCW requirement and they think they are good to go. This couldn't be farther form the truth! Be honest with yourself. watching YouTube videos or being a member of an online forum does not make you prepared for any real world situation. These people don't know jack, and neither do I, which is why I am taking this class. Shooting at paper and putting a lot of ammo down range does not replace proper training. Can you effectively clear a type 2 malfunction while moving? How about rapid magazine changes? What if your primary hand become injured and you can't hold your weapon, can you draw, rack the slide and reload with your opposite hand solely? Unless you have had real training with your carry weapon, you probably can't.

Good friend and CCW holder shooting S&W SD9VE

So I encourage you to look into furthering your firearm education and taking these types of classes. Especially if you carry. A gun and a card do not make a good gunfighter. Training, practice and knowledge do. Train for the worst case scenario but hope for the best. There are a ton of these companies that do training this and I bet there is one near you. As with anything, there are better training companies than others, so do your research. I settled on RTT after watching several of their YouTube videos as well as reading reviews from industry professionals and regular people alike.

So what does 2014 have in store for you?

Building the Right Hand of Freedom - Part 1

This is the first of a multi-part series where I will build an AR-15 from scratch. I want to document the process as I go through for not only personal reflection but also help any one who may be considering taking this on. My goal is to build this without the help of a professional gunsmith and to do it with no completed assemblies. So I will be assembling my lower and upper assemblies myself, not buying completed versions and snapping them together. God help me....

Let me clarify that I am not a gunsmith. I have never done any "smithing" on any gun ever. I've never built any kind of gun before. Heck, I have never even fired an AR15 before. So this will be an COMPLETELY new experience for me. The reason I have decided to do this is two part. One, I wanted to be able to have a custom AR15 the exact way I want. Normally you would buy an off the shelf model then spend extra money to swap out parts for the ones you really want. That leaves you with a whole bunch of parts you didn't want to begin with. Building you own will actually save money by reducing the extra unneeded parts as well as you aren't paying someone else to assemble it. The other part of it is i want to be able to completely understand how it operates and fix any problems my rifle may have. My goal is to be completely self sufficient with the rifle's assembly, dis-assembly, use and maintenance.     

The type of AR15 that I will be building is a 16" Direct Gas Impingement Hybrid M4 style AR15. If all of that sounds like gibberish, don't worry, I plan to get more in depth with what all of this is an more as I go through the build. It is, after all, a learning experience for me as well. I chose the AR as my first rifle because it is the standard issue rifle of the US Military (dubbed M16) and is the most popular rifle of the American people. It is the modern day M1 Garand. To start my build, and the basis for all AR15 builds is a lower receiver. My wonderful wife got me this Spike's Tactical Stripped Lower as a Christmas gift. The one she got has the spider logo with bullet markings (versus saying safe/fire) and has the engravings color filled (cause its cool). I had been hinting for her to get that specific one for months and she did good! This particular lower is forged and is completely stripped meaning no internal parts.In my research, I have seen several builds start with this particular lower with no complaints.

In the coming articles we will building this bad boy piece by piece. The next article will showcase adding the Lower Parts Kit (LPK) which includes trigger, mag release, trigger guard, pistol grip, safety selector etc. to make a functional lower. Just so you know, the lower receiver is considered the "gun" and is the only part you have to complete paperwork for (Form 4473). The rest of the parts can be shipped directly to your home. Obviously when you are building a rifle like this you have to be aware of your own federal and local laws. If you build a rifle that falls under the National Firearms Act then you must contact the ATF and complete their required paperwork and pay the $200 fee. If you have any questions, comments or concerns please feel free to comment to this blog.

Cops are Too Heavy

If you own a firearm for self defense (or several in many cases), you have been probably asked "why." Why do you have so many guns? Are you paranoid? Do you think someone is going to come take them away? Do you really think there is going to be some kind of "revolution?"

Quite frankly, I own and carry a gun because cops are too heavy. Cops aren't easy to conceal. They don't fit in my gun safe or my glove box. For the life of me, I can't find a holster that will fit one. So the problem is, they are never there when I need one. Some of you have heard the saying "When seconds count, the police are only minutes away." That statement is 100% true. Even if your next door neighbor was a cop and he personally heard the door be kicked in, it would still take him at least a minute or two to grab whatever he needed and proceed to your house. By then your struggle could already be over... hopefully in your favor.

Don't get me wrong, I am grateful for what the police do and if the event ever arose, you should always call 911... back up never hurts. But, just statistically they can't be there the very second some crazed, cracked out psycho comes through your front door. So what are you going to do? Cower in the corner and hope they don't hurt you? Pssh, screw that. If I am going to die, I'm going down swinging. I would rather have the option of defending myself and my family rather than hoping someone will get there in time. The same idea applies to concealed carry.  If I am attacked on the street, in a mall, movie theater or even my office; there is no cop within arms reach to protect me. 99% of the time however (sans at work) my pistol is. So while I am waiting for the professionals to show up, I will do my best to protect myself and those around me.

You'll often hear the opposition say " Having a gun just gives the attacker access to a gun." First off, that's ridiculous. That's like saying him attacking you with a gun gives you access to one. Yes, if you were extremely talented you could, in theory, take the gun from them. But this isn't the movies, and you're not Jet Lee. Having a gun (especially carrying) requires a fair bit of training and your CCW class does not count. With any amount of training, you should understand how to keep and use your firearm in a defensive measure. I have told my wife before, "If an intruder is going to kill me with my own gun, he will have to beat me with it because it will be empty."

So think of gun ownership as first aid. You, the one on the scene at the time of incident, will have to make the first actions before the professionals can get there. Your actions can greatly improve the chances of someone living. I am sure many of you have had CPR training before, the exact same concept is in play here. If you waited for the paramedics to show up, that person would have died of asphyxiation long before they arrived.

So, if you are a gun owner - Get training and practice often. If you aren't, seriously think about what I've said here. Like I said earlier, use 911, rely on the cops but understand that your safety falls into your hands. They can't be everywhere at once.

Oh, and if you find a holster for a cop, please let me know.

Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, and Your Guns

You may or may not have seen this letter circulating the web. This letter is inciting a lot of controversy. Please read it, but the jist is that this person has received this letter because he owns rifles that hold more than 5 rounds of ammunition at a time in the New York City limit.Since firearm owners in NYC must register their firearms, of course they have record of every gun you legally own. If the guns you own do not abide by their specific rules (in his case 5 round max) they force you to sell it, move it or surrender it. This ladies and gent's in gun confiscation 101.

Being from the good ole' South, I had to look into this. I've never heard of a local government telling its people to hand over their guns. Now, from my research, the rules inside NYC are more stringent than those of the state (the NY SAFE Act is a whole other topic). From what I read, this regulation has been on the books for some time now. Here is what I have a problem with. If you live or move to NYC with a legal firearm in the rest of the country, you must permanently modify the weapon to comply, sell it or literally give it to the local police. Wait a cotton-pickin' minute... I can buy, say a Ruger 10/22 with a 10 rd magazine in New Jersey, then move into the City and suddenly it becomes illegal? How does geographical location make a gun any more or less dangerous? Aside from the the magazine capacity, the city also bans features like collapsing stocks, pistol grip, fore grip, bayonet mounts, flash suppressors or a thumb hole stock. Explain to me how these features make a gun more lethal. Seriously, someone tell me how, when I had my telescoping stock to my Ruger 10/22, it somehow becomes evil and hellbent on destruction?

So here we are in NYC where 80% of firearms are not legal to own, who is going to enforce the rules? Well the local law enforcement of course. Oh, but did I mention that current and retired law enforcement are exempt from these rules? So they are allowed to have them but you aren't? Ya, that seems fair.I'm fairly certain that's how dictatorships and mass murder/genocides start (See Stalin and Hitler).

Now, as far as I know, it's not like the local police are going door to door in riot gear demanding people give up their guns. But I'm not saying it couldn't lead up to that either. This is why the idea of universal background checks do not sit well with many gun owning citizens. Its not that we all own illegal black fully auto silenced firearms once owned by the KGB and frequently trade them in a dark alley some where. Don't get me wrong, on the surface it sounds like a good idea to keeps firearms out of the hands that have proven themselves unworthy to own them. But, if you follow the bouncing ball, for universal background checks to work, everyone must register their guns. Obviously if they weren't registered, how would we know they changed hands. Once they are registered, new laws can and would get passed changing what you are legally allowed to own. Then letters like the one above start getting sent to everyone stating you must modify your firearm or give it up. Then, since you didn't comply due to cost or disagreement with the law, you have a bunch of people with firearms coming to your door telling you to give up yours. Sounds like Utopia doesn't it?

It's states like New York, California or Massachusetts that are the breeding ground for this level of gun confiscation, and dare I say it, tyranny. I believe that a government that preemptively bans firearms to its citizens is one that does not trust its citizens to make informed decisions. A quote from Benjamin Franklin states "Never trust a government that doesn't trust its own citizens with guns." Its places like New York who have attempted to pass laws banning soda size, salt and smoking outdoors. Really? Does the NY government think its people are too stupid to handle these items on an individual basis and must legislatively dictated? I will drink my Big Gulp, eat my sodium drenched fries and have a cigar if I damn well please!

So when did the idea of personal responsibility go out the window? When did the government suddenly know what is best for everyone? Last time I checked, this was the land of the free, not the heavily regulated.