Hooray! I made TrackerK’s Do Not Kill List! Which is a definite relief since I’m pretty sure that he has something in his Swiss Army truck that would make certain they would never find the body. Hard to blame him though. He’s got a little girl that is so cute she’ll make your teeth hurt. Good reason to be prepared for anything. Although, I’m pretty sure she and her big brothers would be pretty formidable even without dad. I got to see them all shoot, and I haven’t ever had the pleasure of seeing them fight.

I kid. But I have to admit I have a soft spot for dangerous women. TrackerK is married to one and is raising another. And a pair of boys that should grow into men deserving of dangerous women to share their lives.

We also got to spend time with Ginny who ostensibly writes Cat O’ Nine Tales, but in reality she just neglects it*. She also brought her boys who were, as usual, a joy to be around.

Also in the bunch was my brother-in-law (who should blog but doesn’t*) and his wife (also not blogging*). Brother-in-law assassinated a watermelon which was videoed by old friend Beej’s friend, Brian. The video is up on Facebook; I’ll have it here with the pictures later.

By the time we got to the big field on Monday, we were down to just DanielS and AEPilotJim, but we still had fun stretching out the rifles for a bit. And we only started one grass fire. It actually went out on its own before the guys could get to it, but it made for some great pictures of the trek across the field in Jim’s jeep.

This was only the second opportunity we’ve had to spend time with DanielS and AEPilotJim. It was really nice to get to know these 2 guys in the smaller group that finished out the trip. Daniel left straight from camp to head home, but we got the opportunity to introduce Jim to a fantastic burger joint near our house. Where he cunningly snagged the ticket and treated the family. Thanks Jim!

The campout was great fun. I’ll have pictures to share soon.

*That could be interpreted as a nudge or something.

Nope.  The fisking of the anti isn’t here.  It’s here.

Noted quote:

He writes about “violence enacted by guns” as though the little suckers go gallivanting about of their own free will, just looking for someone to shoot. Guns do not kill people. Gun operators kill people. Whether out of malice or negligence, it takes human interaction for a gun to become lethal.

As they say, RTWT.  And comment.  Hubby enjoys the discussion.

This from someone in my office that has been afraid of guns for most of her life.

We need to schedule a time for you to show me how to shoot THE GUN.

THE GUN belongs to her husband, and I do not yet know what it is.   But he keeps it loaded on the nightstand for home defense.  She has come to the very reasonable conclusion that she needs to actually learn to use it rather than just know that it is there.

SCORE!

She was home alone recently and heard noises that frightened her.  She told herself that it was okay because she had her bat that she has been keeping close by and THE GUN was on the nightstand.  But wait.  She doesn’t know anything about THE GUN.  “Do I need to take it out of the holster?”  “Does it have a safety?”  “How do I pull the trigger?”  etc.

Yes, we are talking very elementary gun handling skills here.  So she asked me to show her how.

Understand that this is a woman that has been absolutely terrified of guns all of her life.  She has good reasons to be afraid too.  There was some childhood trauma that I won’t elaborate on.  This is enough fear that I’ve seen her become noticeably uncomfortable just looking at one of the holsters that Michael makes.

So to say that we are going to start slowly is an understatement.  You know what I’m not going to do?  Hand her my snub nosed revolver and 5 rounds of .38 special telling her that’s the perfect gun for a woman.  There has been a lot of talk about that lately, in case you haven’t noticed.  I happen to really like my snub and will even shoot .357 Magnum out of it from time to time.  (I like the fireball.)  But it is NOT A BEGINNERS GUN!

Not for women, men, cephalopods anyone.  Well, it might be okay for cephalopods, but I’m not exactly anxious to teach a squid to shoot.  Octopus maybe, but not a squid.

In fact, we aren’t even going to start with a gun at all.  I’m serious, this one must be done SLOWLY.  We started today with a book.

This is so she can feel familiar with terms and concepts without dealing with the anxiety I have already witnessed from her.  For this particular person, I want to break it up into more easily digestible pieces.  It would be a sensory overload to head her straight to the range and shout over hearing protection.  The last thing she needs to have fear and anxiety associated with the learning process.

Next, we’ll look at a dummy gun.  We’ll go over the 4 rules.  We’ll talk about stance and grip and sight alignment.  Once she feels comfortable with that, we’ll look at THE GUN.  I’ll show her the same basics on that as well as discussing any specific things about that particular firearm.

And then we will head down to the local range.  I will bring along a selection of things to try out and the range has an excellent selection of things to rent.  Yes, the DAO snubby will be in the bag, but it will not be thrust at her like it is what she must shoot.  I do not currently own a handgun in .22LR, but I will either rent or borrow one. Also in the bag will be my 627PC.  That revolver was my first gun.  It has a nice long sight radius and smooth trigger pull even when shot double action.  The big N frame soaks up recoil nicely.  She’ll also have the opportunity to try out my M&P9c that I carry every day.  I will have a variety so she won’t feel intimidated by anything that she may encounter in the future.

First thing I ever shot was a Model 629 loaded with .44 magnum.  Not what I recommend doing with any new shooter.  I’m a stubborn one though and decided that day that I would conquer that beast.  I shot it all of twice that day, but I have lost count at this point of how many rounds I’ve shot through hubby’s model 29.  Don’t underestimate what that petite woman will be able to handle.  But really, don’t start a new shooter on any kind of magnum.

We will work our way up to and around THE GUN.  My hope is that by the end of all of this, she will see it as another useful tool and not something she needs to refer to in all caps.  Maybe she’ll even want a firearm of her own.

I’ve found with new shooters and particularly women, that doubling up on the hearing protection in the indoor range makes the whole experience more pleasant and helps to reduce the dreaded flinch.  Heck, I double up my hearing protection most of the time.

This particular woman is a special case.  I would not normally drag the new shooter experience out to several days in such small chunks, but you have to cater the experience to the shooter.  Some will need the basic safety briefing then you show them how to load it tell them to point it that-a-way, others will need more sensitive instruction before that first shot.  The point where that hammer falls on that first round should be exhilarating, not frightening.

She has decided that I am the one she trusts to teach her, and I will not betray that trust by scaring her.  We should all remember that when someone asks us to teach them.  They are trusting us to be their guide into a new world.  We should commit to guiding them in gently and with all the knowledge we can impart.  I would love for her to decide that it is fun and something she wants to do regularly.  If it’s fun, she’ll practice.  Teaching someone to shoot is more than just showing them how to make a gun go bang.  Don’t teach them how to use a gun; teach them to be shooters.

It seems everyone is talking about the EPA’s move to ban traditional lead ammunition.  In addition to reminding us to comment to the EPA, Stranger reminds us that we really need to be telling our Congresscritters exactly what we think about this idea.

Here is the NSSF press release.

Tam has the right idea here.

* There is anecdotal evidence that the banning of traditional ammunition would have an adverse impact on government bureaucrat populations.

Or there is also my initial response to this news.

If you come for the lead ammunition, you might just get it.

This administration has done a delicate dance around the firearms issues.  Don’t be fooled.  If they can’t take your guns away, turning them into clubs would be the next best thing.  Any effort to eliminate ammunition (or even make it prohibitively expensive) is an assault on your freedoms.

Follow all those links up there in the post.  People have a lot to say about this subject.

Our local gun range, H&H, has an annual firearms expo where they bring in several firearms vendors to show off their wares. They have lots of nifty new stuff set out on tables and for a mere $3 you get the brand new firearm and a handful of ammo to try it out right there in the indoor range. It is beyond cool. Two years ago was the first time we’d been and it was like we’d made some kind of pilgrimage. I spent the whole day saying some variety of, “So you’re really just going to let me run off with that?” I don’t even remember what all I shot that year. I was just so incredibly starry eyed with all the new hardware. I was still a baby gunny at the time and didn’t even know half that stuff existed.

The second year, I went with a plan. I was determined to try out as many different .45s as I could put my hands on. Unfortunately, the Thompson had broken by the time I got to that table. Oh well! I think I tried every 1911 that was there. Drooled over the Wilson. And decided that I needed a Kahr PM45, which I didn’t end up buying, but that’s another story.

Which brings us to this year’s expo. I had no plan. I was just going to shoot stuff. New stuff. Fun stuff! Stuff that goes bang. And I did! 14 different things actually. And so, after the jump you will find all the gun pr0n and reviews.
Read the rest…

This sums it up perfectly.

On the one hand, I think I’m probably done with the show since they ratcheted up the drama.  But on the other hand, I just really want to see Adam put in his place.

And also, Top Shot people, don’t spam my comment section.  And certainly not in my rules post.  Your spam was disposed of.  If you want advertising, you can pay for it like everyone else.

First it was Robb, and then it spread to Mike.  I should have known, but sometimes I can be so naive and trusting.

That’s right, yesterday, my Smith & Wesson M&P9c failed me.  Hubby and I dropped the kiddo off at church camp and my M&P just sat there in my holster.  It didn’t even get excited about the kids out there in canoes.

Sigh.

It’s actually been malfunctioning in this way for quite some time.  I just felt like maybe I was alone so I didn’t really want to talk about it.  Now I know I am not the only one.  It’s a good thing the Firearms Expo is this weekend.  I need to find something that is more reliable.

So we know there’s plenty of hand-wringing happening with the gun banners today.  We’ve even got Paul Helmke claiming victory with this decision.  Not really sure how he gets there, but whatever floats your boat.  It’s a win for the pro-freedom crowd.

But I want to ask another question of the gun-banners.

Do you really believe that psychopaths and sociopaths bent on violence could exist peacefully in society if only we took away all the guns?  Would the lack of an effective tool change the intent or motivation?

I’ve been known to hammer in nails using a wrench when a hammer isn’t available.  Sure a hammer would be a better tool for the job, but I can improvise to get the job done.  It doesn’t change my desire to hang a picture.  I just have to be a little more creative.

I think most people would agree that the last thing we need are more creative murderers.  Surely that isn’t the intent.

Is the gun-banner’s idea of utopia a world with with rampant bludgeoning deaths?  Because death by blunt force trauma is preferable to rapid onset lead poisoning.  Or will they then demonize baseball bats and anything else that could be used as a bludgeon?

And so then we would live in a world where drownings made front page news.  All water would then have to be contained in tamper proof containers in small enough quantities so as not to be used to bludgeon.  No more buckets or swimming pools.

And yet why is the rate of strangulation rising at such an alarming rate? Will mittens then be required?

This is the problem with the idea of demonizing a thing.  Things have no inherent goodness or malice; they just are.  It is the action of the person wielding the thing that deserves judgment.  Crimes are actions committed by people.  The object employed is neither good nor evil.  Working against actions is obvious.

Murder is bad.  This is an issue where Paul Helmke and I do not disagree.  Murder is an action.  I believe the best thing to do about murder is to equip people to defend themselves against murderers.  Paul Helke believes removing one object from their arsenal is going to have a profound effect on their desires.  It defies logic.

The gun banners have a warped view of the human race.  They simultaneously believe that an inanimate object will turn a law abiding citizen into a crazed maniac and that the crazed maniac could peacefully exist in a society without the same inanimate object.  Personally I do not believe that a person bent on violence will not be changed by a lack of tools.  Likewise, a normally peaceful person will not be changed by the presence of said tool.

*edited to fix typo.  Too many ‘nots’.