Random Shots

The terrorists attacks in Paris and San Ber-nardino (among others) has resulted in yet more calls from President Obama and other liberals for more gun control laws. The reaction to this has become predictable—a significant increase in gun purchases and interest in obtaining concealed carry licens-es. (I found myself upgrading my NRA membership once again just because the offer came in the mail on the same day the President said he was going to take execu-tive action because Congress wouldn’t coop-erate with him.)

Firearms sales over the 2015 holiday season where the strongest ever. Overall gun sales were significantly up for the year, with an all-time high number of NICS background checks being conducted.

Ammunition supplies are returning to nor-mal levels and prices for most commonly used centerfire ammunition is close to what it was before the “great ammunition short-age” began in 2008. Even .22 Long Rifle ammunition is now easier to find than it has been in recent years.

Firearms manufacturers are once again in-troducing new models. It seems like “tactical” is the theme at this year’s SHOT Show, the annual trade show of the firearms industry. New handguns targeted at the concealed carry and “tactical” carry market, rifles (both AR-style and more traditional bolt-actions) with threaded barrels to accept sound suppressors, various camouflage paint schemes (including one in a “Star Wars” pattern), etc. seem to dominate. Other in-troductions were new hunting guns. In the previous couple of years, manufacturers did not make a lot of new model introductions because demand for their current models were so high they could barely keep up with their existing manufacturing capacity. In addition, several manufacturers were in the process of opening up new manufacturing operations in other states as a result of the

increasing anti-gun efforts of the govern-ments in the traditional firearms manufac-turing states of the northeastern United States. Well, those relocations and new fac-tories are now largely operational so the manufacturers are able to introduce new models.

At last year’s SHOT Show, the big “buzz” was Glock’s introduction of their G43 mod-el, a compact single-stack 9mm handgun—i.e. a slimmed down G26 with a reduced magazine capacity of 6 rounds of 9mm Lu-ger ammunition instead of the G26’s 10 round capacity. This year it looks like the “buzz” concerns Kimber’s introduction of a six-shot .357 Magnum snub nose revolver, the K6. This is Kimber’s first entry in the revolver market. Traditionally they have only offered semi-automatic handguns, usu-ally modeled after the Colt Model 1911. The Kimber K6 is “pricey” at about $900 so it will be interesting to see if this model catches on with the gun buying public.

Red-dot optics also were popular this year. Glock introduced new “red-dot ready” ver-sions of their popular Gen4 G17 and G19 models. Last year they introduced their Modular Optic System (MOS) on their long-er-barreled “target/completion” models, the G34, G35, G40, and G41.

Ruger jumped into the sound suppressor market by introducing a model for use on their .22 caliber pistols. They also intro-duced a new semi-automatic pistol, the Ruger American Handgun model just before

the show. This looks to be an upgrade to their earlier Sigma and SR9 series of pistols, but it is unclear if this new gun will replace those two earlier models or be offered in addition to them. (Ruger also brought out new models of other firearms and their new precision rifle in the latter half of last year rather than waiting for SHOT.) Colt intro-duced an economy version of their semi-automatic M4 carbine to the civilian market and several new versions of the venerable Model 1911 pistol. Smith & Wesson has updated their popular M&P 15-22 line with slimmer fore ends.

Altogether it looks like there will be plenty of material to fill the gun magazines for the next several months.

After a slowdown in 2014 and 2015, LongMeadows Shooting School is benefit-ing from this increase and we have started off 2016 with renewed strong interest in our Ohio Concealed Carry course. Eighteen dedicated individuals—young, old, male and female—showed up for our first class of the year. They endured the cold and occasional snow flurry to get in their range time and, combined with their classroom work, they completed the requirements Ohio has man-dated for individual training to obtain a Concealed Handgun License.

March/April 2016 Volume 6, Issue 2

Edited and Published by

Gary Evens, Rangemaster and

NRA Certified Firearms Instructor &

Range Safety Officer

A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to

keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

Disclaimer

The opinions expressed in Random Shots are those of the author(s), and

do not necessarily represent the positions of any other individual or

organization.

I asked the participants why they decided to get their concealed carry licenses? The al-most universal answer from them was that they were concerned about their personal safety. I then asked them if they thought the neighborhoods that they lived in were becoming more dangerous? The answer to this was “no” and that somewhat surprised me. Obviously they were concerned about their personal safety outside of where they live.

Strong interest is also being shown for our February and future classes. See our 2016 class schedule later in this edition of Random Shots.

—G.R. Evens

Situational Awareness and the OODA Loop

I have written often about the need to main-tain the proper degree of situational aware-ness to avoid being involved in a violent encounter. I include blocks of instruction on this topic in my advanced firearms cours-es. I’ve also mentioned the OODA loop and how it contributes to your ability to gain control and prevail during a violent encoun-ter. Recently I came across an article by Brett and Kate McKay at their Art of Manli-ness blog (www.artofmanliness.com) that tied the two concepts together succinctly and prompted me to write this article.

The concept of “situational awareness” is simple—it is nothing more than knowing what is going on around you. To explain the various levels of awareness that need to be applied to any given situation, Colonel Jeff Cooper (the father of the modern hand-gun technique) created his color code sys-tem. These range from Condition “White” (unaware) through Condition “Red” (acting in response to a confirmed threat). Some add a Condition “Black” (engaged/ambushed without warn-ing) to Cooper’s system. While no one can

continually be in a state of heighten aware-ness—it would be mentally and physically exhausting—my advice and that of just about every firearms instructor in applying Cooper’s color codes is that you should try to be in Condition “Yellow” as much as possible especially when you are outside of your home. But, what should you be look-ing for when in Condition “Yellow”—i.e. what are the indicators of potential danger? This is where the OODA concept comes into play as part of your situational aware-ness.

OODA stands for Observer, Orient, De-cide, and Act. It is a decision-making model that was developed by Colonel John Boyd to explain how fighter pilots should think when they encounter an enemy. Later it was real-ized that the OODA concept can be applied to just about any situation someone may find themselves in where a decision is need-ed. During the “Observe” step you are gathering data about what is going on around you. To effectively “Observe”, you must position yourself where you can see as much of the environment around you as possible.

After you have gathered data about the envi-ronment during the “Observe” step, you need to put that data into a context. This is where the “Orient” step comes into play. It is during this step that you develop “baselines” for the particular environment you are in, determine what types of human behavior you should be looking for, and where you begin to develop plans of action depending on what you see.

“Baselines” are what is normal for that par-ticular environment. Do the people look like they belong there—is someone acting differently from everyone else, are they dressed differently, etc.? Are the objects in the environment what you would expect to find there or is something out of place? What you are really looking for in establish-ing the “baselines” are not what is normal or expected but rather what is abnormal or

unexpected. It is the things that are abnor-mal that could be signs of impending danger and that deserve more of your attention. They are the “anomalies” in the environ-ment. Patrick Van Horne and Jason Riley in their book Left of Bang: How the Marine Corps’ Combat Hunter Program Can Save Your Life (Black Irish Entertainment LLC, New York, ©2014) describe anomalies as “things that either do not happen and should, or that do happen and shouldn’t”.

Body language is a good indicator to look for. Look at peoples’ hands. Hands are needed to hold weapons. If they are nerv-ous, individuals might be continually putting their hands in their pockets and taking them out or “wringing” their hands. They might touch areas on their body where something is hidden “to check to confirm it is still there”, etc. Are the people “acting natu-ral”—i.e. trying to fit in where they do not. People that are trying to “act natural” in-stead tend to exaggerate their behavior. They might appear to be completely dis-tracted, go out of their way to show they belong. They often appear to be “trying too hard” to be whatever they are trying to con-vince others they are.

Generally people in groups want to get along with each other and thus act in a sub-missive manner. Someone that is acting in a dominating or aggressive manner may be an anomaly. However, such behavior does not necessarily mean they are a threat. For in-stance, you would expect “the boss” to be acting in a dominant manner toward their employees—this is where applying context becomes important to your evaluation of the situation. You would also expect most peo-ple to be relaxed and comfortable in familiar situations, but they might be just the oppo-site in unfamiliar or stressful situations. If individuals are responding differently than the rest of the individuals that are present, they are the anomalies and deserve extra attention on your part. But, just because they are behaving differently from everyone else does not mean they are a threat. Once again context is needed to understand the situation. The “uncomfortable” individual may be a newcomer, they may be sick, or they might be distracted because of bad news they just received. A common trait among individuals that are uncomfortable in a particular environment is they appear to be nervous and are continually looking about trying to find exits or someone they might know. Yet another common trait is that most people do not pay attention to their

Page 2 Random Shots Volume 6, I ssue 2

environment because they are so involved with what they are doing or who they are talking to. Thus the individual that is paying attention to their surroundings or who ap-pears to be interested in another individual across the room constitutes another anoma-ly. This is where you need to be careful so that your relaxed Condition “Yellow” level of awareness is not misinterpreted by others as an anomaly.

If you are going to be in an environment—i.e. a room, area, building, etc.—you should position yourself in an unobstructed spot so you will have a continual flow of infor-mation coming in to you and where you can continue to keep the anomalies in view. You should be where you can see all of the entrances and exits so you can observe when something/someone enters or leaves the area—the “bad guy” might not show up until after you are already there.

By now it should be clear that the “Observe” and “Orient” steps of the OODA process are essential to your “situational awareness”. Together they in-crease your perceptive boundaries. How often you go through the “OO” steps of the OODA process will depend on how often changes occur in your environment. By doing this faster than any potential threats in your environment, you should be able to avoid becoming a victim.

- G.R. Evens

The Principals of Personal Defense:

Decisiveness

The second of Colonel Jeff Cooper’s princi-pals of personal defense is “Decisiveness”. When confronted with a threat of serious injury or loss of life, your response needs to come quickly without any hesitation. As

I’ve written about previously, violent en-counters occur with little or no advance warning, they are chaotic, and they are over within seconds. There will not be time to consider several alternative courses of ac-tion. As Cooper says, “to ponder is quite possibly to perish”. Thus it is important to “plan ahead” and consider what your re-sponse might be to potential violent encoun-ter scenarios that you might be confronted with. By thinking through them ahead of time you can formulate responses and have them ready instead of having to make up something “on the fly” as the event evolves around you—remember the OODA loop.

It is impossible to consider all possible threats and develop the appropriate plans to respond to them. Instead you will have to consider what the “probable” or even “plausible” threats are that you are likely to encounter and develop those response plans.

You will not have time to adjust your pre-planned response to make it “perfect” for the situation you are in so you will have to settle for a plan that is “close enough” to get the job done. Cooper believed that the spe-cific course of action that you chose as your response is less important than the “vigor” with which you carry it out. The reality is that the mistakes you might make in execut-ing an imperfect plan are no greater than the ones that might result should you carefully deliberate all options before acting.

If you can quickly decide on a course of action and carry it out decisively, you will significantly increase your chances of surviv-ing the encounter. In responding to a vio-lent attack that threatens you (or someone else) with serious injury or death, you are generally justified if you respond with lethal force to stop the threat. However, most people abhor violence and are hesitant to use it. Hesitation can cost you or someone else you are trying to defend their life. If you hesitate, you may not deliver enough force on the assailant to stop them from carrying out their attack. So, you need to respond quickly and decisively.

Fear will be your greatest obstacle to being decisive. Fear leads you in the opposite direction, creating indecision as you struggle to deal with the risks associated with making the wrong decision. However, having confi-dence in your abilities helps you to over-come your fear and to take decisive action.

In future editions of Random Shots, I will deal with Cooper’s other principals in more de-tail. In the meantime, stay alert and act deci-sively when necessary!!

— G.R. Evens

A .22 for Training—Revisited

Back in the 2nd edition of Random Shots in the Summer of 2011, I included an article on the use of .22 caliber firearms for training. In that article I indicated that I thought a .22 was appropriate for use in training new shooters and for more experienced shooters to practice their skills. The reasons that I listed for this were:

Lack of recoil and muzzle blast/noise

Low cost of ammunition

Widespread availability of ammunition

Inherent accuracy of ammunition

Lower cost of guns

Since then some of these reasons have changed, particularly with regard to the cost and availability of .22 caliber ammunition, but things are slowing improving and re-turning to normal. The price of .22 Long Rifle ammunition—the most popular cali-ber—is about 8¢ to 9¢ per round for “plinking” ammunition and 14¢ to 18¢ per round for premium “match-grade” ammuni-tion, much higher than the “glory days” when .22 ammo cost about 2¢ to 3¢ per round. Even at these higher prices, .22 rim-fire ammunition remains cheaper than cen-terfire ammunition. However, supplies re-main limited both in terms of the variety from the different manufacturers and in the total quantity customers are able to purchase at any one time. However, the other rea-sons that I listed remain valid.

Page 3 Random Shots Volume 6, I ssue 2

The lack of recoil and muzzle blast pro-duced by the .22 rimfire cartridge makes it much less intimidating to new shooters. Without these distractions new shooters are able to concentrate on the fundamentals of shooting—proper stance, aiming (sight alignment and sight picture), hold control, breath control, trigger control, and follow-through. The inherent accuracy of .22 cali-ber ammunition means greater satisfaction on the part of new shooters. Success in hitting their targets provide positive rein-forcement and make it more likely that they will continue to practice to hone their shooting skills.

Many firearms manufacturers offer similar models of their handguns in both rimfire and centerfire chamberings, with some of-fering caliber conversion units that allow the same gun to fire both types of ammunition. Thus shooters are able to practice with the lower cost rimfire ammunition and then use the centerfire ammunition for hunting, per-sonal defense, etc.

However, with the rise in concealed carry and the use of handguns for self-defense, many trainers moved away from the concept of using a .22 as a training substitute for larger caliber handguns. The idea was you need to “train with what you carry”. But, with the trend to smaller and smaller carry guns in larger calibers (such as the “mini-9mm” semi-automatic pistols), most shoot-ers no longer looked forward to a day of practice on the range. The increased recoil and muzzle blast is just too much “wear and tear” resulting in a decline in trips to the

range and a loss of shooting proficiency. So, we have come “full circle” back to the point where the use of a .22 handgun for training makes sense again. And while it is true that exclusive use of the light-recoiling .22 can make the shooter “sloppy” in terms of their grip and stance, it does enable the shooter to focus on the other fundamentals. Of course, at the end of each range session the shooter should fire a few rounds from their full-caliber carry gun just to make sure they know how to manage recoil, etc.

Quality .22 caliber “understudy” guns are available from most major firearms manu-facturers. For instance, Smith and Wesson offers the M&P 22 to go with their full-caliber M&P 9mm, .40, and .45 ACP pistols and, for those more interested in self-defense rifles they offer the excellent M&P 15-22 to mimic the AR-15 style rifles. Smith and Wesson also offers .22 revolvers that match their larger caliber offerings. You can get .22 caliber version of the Colt Model 1911 and Beretta Model 92. There are con-version kits that you can buy that allow you to convert your Glock pistols into a rimfire practice gun. Ruger offers .22 caliber ver-sion of their SP-101 and LCR revolvers. Walther offers .22 caliber versions of some of their centerfire pistols. I’m especially fond of their .22 Long Rifle version of the PPK/S to go with their .380 ACP version of the same gun. Unfortunately, .22 “clones” are not yet available for the popular “mini-9’s”. Availability of .22 caliber versions of the small revolvers is much better than it is for small semi-autos.

So, yes it will cost you more to duplicate your full-caliber self-defense handgun with a .22 “clone” (or conversion unit), but it is good “insurance” so you will be able to ap-

ply your shooting skills when and if you should need them!

- G.R. Evens

Media Reporting of Mass Murder

Events

[Editor’s Comment: Back in the very first edition of Random Shots I indicated that I would use this forum from time-to-time for topics that caught my attention but that did not necessarily follow the general theme of articles. While I have tried to stick to the topics of self-defense, firearms and firearms-related training the most recent series of mass murder/active killer events—I refuse to say they are “active shooter” or “mass shooter” events any more as “shooting” is a recreational sport that millions of Americans participate in—recent events have caused me to digress temporarily. Unfortunate-ly given the pace of world events, more mass murder situations may occur before this article gets published but the essential conclusions below will no doubt apply just as well.

Some readers may question my “credentials” in being able to discuss the issues below. Let me ad-dress that right now. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in U.S. history and a Master’s Degree in Political Science and International Relations, so I do know about history, politics, and the media’s role in American society and reporting of events. I also served in the U.S. military for over 20 years and have experienced history “first hand”.]

Like many of you probably were, I was very frustrated with the television media’s first day (and subsequent) reporting of the mass murder events in San Bernardino in early December. As has become their habit, the cable TV networks went to “24/7” report-ing almost from the moment the event be-came known. Not knowing the facts, the various talking heads that appeared on tele-vision speculated about what was happening

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The .22 caliber Walther PPK/S (top) closely mim-

ics their PPK/S chambered in .380 ACP (bottom).

The S&W Model 18 (bottom) is an excellent

“understudy” for their centerfire Model 19 (top)

and Model 67 (middle) chambered in .357 Mag-

num and .38 Special respectively.

and the significance of the event, all while the networks repeatedly showed what lim-ited video they had previously recorded or live views of people milling around. They did this to consume time until more facts became known to them that they could re-port. Many of the “facts” that they report-ed—often rushed on air so a rival wouldn’t get the “scoop”—had to be retracted (or more often just ignored) as real or contra-dicting facts became known.

I have come to question what the value of this continuous reporting is. While I can certainly understand that people in the im-mediate vicinity—be it a terrorist attack or a weather-related event—need to be continu-ously updated with what is transpiring, those that are not immediately affected by it are not served by endless speculation which tends to heighten apprehensions and fear. Instead, we would be better served by get-ting periodic, fact-based updates. But that is not the nature of the national media, espe-cially the “real-time media” like radio, televi-sion, and Internet-related news outlets. Instead of reporting the news, most of the national media outlets treat news events as “entertainment” and use them as opportuni-ties to increase their viewership and what they can charge sponsors for advertising time/space. Providing periodic updates would mean less “on-air” time for the vari-ous talking heads who are more “celebrities” than they are journalists these days—and who seem to get paid based on how much time they are “on air”. Besides, the media also does it to push an agenda, usually a liberal political agenda as several surveys have shown that most members of the na-tional media support liberal political ideolo-gies.

It wasn’t always this way. A change oc-curred in the national media in the 1960’s and 1970’s with the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement. They changed from reporting the news to becoming advocates for a particular political agenda. The specif-ic event that probably did more than any-thing else occurred in early 1968 when Wal-ter Cronkite (CBS-TV evening news anchor) came back from reporting on the fighting in Vietnam very disillusioned with what he saw. From that point on, his reporting be-came more “editorial” than it did pure re-porting of facts. And once he did it, the rest of the media followed suit. Next came the events surrounding the Nixon Administra-tion and the “Pentagon Papers” (1971) and

“Watergate” (1972-1974) scandals. Follow-ing those events, everyone wanted to be an “investigative journalist” and the national media changed forever. Since then, the me-dia has become “activist” and considers their first priority to pursue an “agenda” be it anti-war, civil rights, feminism/women’s rights, gun control, pro-abortion, pro-immigration, Gay rights, global warming/climate change, “black lives matter”/police violence, or the cause of the moment. In-creasingly their reporting of “the news” has become shaped by how the events contrib-ute (or do not contribute) to the advance-ment of the “agenda” they are pursuing. If things support their agenda it gets covered. If they don’t then little or no reporting of the event is the result. Even when the event does not appear to contribute to the ad-vancement of their agenda, they will try to make it do so by either reporting things as facts that are not entirely true or by omitting facts that don’t support the storyline they are advancing.

As an example of this from the San Bernar-dino event, the media was quick to speculate that the attack was carried out by some “domestic right-wing” individual/group. When the name(s) of those being sought by the police first came out—Middle Eastern-sounding names—the media did not report them “out of fear that it might cause an anti-Islamic backlash”. They were also very re-luctant to state that it was a “terrorist at-tack” preferring—hoping?—that it was “workplace violence” instead. One national reporter expressed frustration that after 2 hours the police appeared to have no idea who the killers were, where they were, or what motivated them to carry out the attack. Yet within a couple of more hours those same police had located and killed the indi-viduals that had carried out the attack, end-ing the threat of additional attacks the two killers had planned to carry out.

Almost immediately the national media joined the President in calling for more gun control laws. The New York Times dedicated their first front page editorial in 94 years to the subject of gun control. Little did it mat-ter that the San Bernardino attack took place in a state (California) with some of the strongest gun control laws in the United States or that the guns used in the attack had all been legally obtained in compliance with that state’s laws. The media supported the idea of prohibiting anyone on the “no fly list” from being able to obtain a firearm

even though neither of the two killers’ names were on that list—nor were any of the other mass killers in the U.S. in recent years. Thus the media calls on Congress to enact laws that would not have affected the killers’ ability to carry out their attack in any way, yet that was their “solution” to pre-venting future attacks of this kind.

The media also “tip-toed” around the con-cept that the killers might be “Islamic terror-ists”, going out of their way to point out that Islam is a “peaceful religion”. Some tried to indicate that while the killers were indeed Islamic, their actions had nothing to do with their religion but were instead moti-vated by a workplace disagreement. It be-came difficult for them to stick with this storyline after it became known that the female killer had “sworn allegiance” to ISIS and then tried to delete this from her Inter-net history prior to the attack. When it was learned that a neighbor of the killers had become concerned about their actions prior to the attack, he stated he did not report it out of fear of being labeled a “racist”! I wonder where this idea came from.

The media tries to skirt around the fact that Islam is a religious-based political ideology based on strict religious laws (Sharia). Nev-er mind that those laws clearly conflict with other closely-held liberal concepts like wom-en’s rights, Gay rights, etc. Clearly “political correctness” has run amok!

When terrorism is carried out in the name of a religion, it is incumbent on the mem-bers—majority?—of that religion to vigor-ously renounce it. When they remain silent, that implies concurrence with the action. (Insert the sound of crickets chirping here!)

The media and liberal politicians were quick to denounce calls to delay bringing Syrian refugees into the United States until it could be assured that none of them posed a secu-rity threat. It mattered little to them that U.S. intelligence officials testifying before Congress stated that ISIS and other such groups were trying to smuggle terrorists into the U.S. as part of these refugee groups or that national security officials could not positively guarantee that terrorists would be detected during routine background checks conducted prior to them being admitted. Indeed, the President bragged about how the “vetting process” for immigrants from the Middle East would prevent terrorists from entering the U.S. If this was true, then how was it that the female killer with ques-

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tionable loyalties and who lied on her visa application was allowed to emigrate from Pakistan/Saudi Arabia within the last couple of years?

So I, and no doubt many of you, are left with a situation where it appears that the leaders of the national government cannot be trusted to look out for the best interests of the public and the national media, who is supposed to be our “watch dog” against government abuse, cannot be trusted either. Instead they are both joined together in pursuing a liberal political agenda that seems to have little regard for the security of American citizens.

— G.R. Evens

New Courses for 2016 Based on the feedback we’ve received from our first two sessions of the Advanced Con-cealed Carry I course, we’ve expanded our offerings to include two additional courses in this series—Advanced Concealed Carry II and Advanced Concealed Carry III.

The overall goal of the Advanced Concealed Carry series is to better prepare participants for the situations they are likely to encounter if they chose to carry a concealed handgun. The basic Ohio Concealed Carry course that we offer just qualifies participants to apply for their Ohio Concealed Handgun License (CHL) by covering those topics mandated by the State of Ohio. This is primarily cen-tered around firearms safety, handgun han-dling, basic handgun maintenance, and a review of Ohio’s concealed carry law. What is not covered in the basic course is how to select an appropriate handgun for concealed carry, how to draw a handgun from conceal-ment and engage a target, how to develop the proper defensive mindset and situational awareness, what the psychological and phys-iological changes are that you will experi-ence in a high stress situation—and being involved in a violent situation is certainly a high stress situation—, how to rapidly re-load a handgun, how to clear jams and mal-functions, and how to shoot from different positions like sitting, kneeling, or prone. Understanding and being proficient in these additional skills is essential to your success in surviving a violent encounter.

Since there is so much material to cover and to allow course participants to gain some proficiency in applying these skills it cannot

all be covered in a single 8-10 hour class. As a result we’ve divided the material up be-tween the three classes of about 8 hours each. Yes, that means a greater commit-ment of time and money on the part of par-ticipants, but it is still a relatively cheap form of insurance.

Advanced Concealed Carry I deals with the most essential basics—developing a defen-sive mindset and situational awareness, se-lecting and carrying a concealed handgun, drawing a handgun from a holster, and prac-ticing shooting fundamentals. This course includes assessments near the beginning and at the end of the class so students can meas-ure their progress in learning and applying the skills. Perhaps most importantly, it as-sesses the participant’s ability to execute the essential skills necessary to use a handgun to protect your life.

The Advanced Concealed Carry II course builds on the information presented in the previous course and expands on it by ex-plaining the psychological and physiological changes you can expect to encounter during high stress situations, how to use cover and concealment to limit the danger from in-coming gunfire, how to use movement while defending yourself with a handgun, various methods of reloading a handgun, and deal-ing with handgun malfunctions.

The Advanced Concealed Carry III course builds on this and then goes on to introduce participants to essential skills such as the characteristics of a violent encounter, the principals of personal defense, pre-incident indicators, dealing with multiple threats, and shooting from alternative or unusual posi-tions.

By dividing the material across three classes, participants have the opportunity to gain some proficiency in the skills presented be-fore moving on to learn more complex skills. It also means they don’t feel over-whelmed by all the new material that is be-ing presented to them.

Ammunition requirements for these classes range from 150 to 300 rounds per class. Participants are expected to supply their own self-defense handgun, ammunition, holsters, and concealment garments.

We have also added a class that introduces students to the legal aspects of self-defense, the use of deadly force, the dynamics of violent encounters, and dealing with the aftermath of a violent encounter. Called

“Self-Defense Realities”, this course joins our School Attacker Response seminar and our workplace violence seminar in exposing participants to strategies for dealing with violent encounters and criminals. This is perhaps one of the most important classes that we offer because it forces the partici-pants to really examine why they want to have a concealed carry license and to pre-pare them for the consequences of using a firearm to defend themselves. It is a non-shooting class.

See our website—

www.longmeadowsshooting school.com

—for details on course requirements, costs, etc. Minimum class size is 4 students with a maximum class size of 12-20 students. Courses will be scheduled only when suffi-cient interest is shown meet minimum class size requirements.

— G.R. Evens

Teaching Women to

Shoot It can be perplexing and at the same time satisfying. Generally teaching females to shoot a handgun presents unique challenges to firearms instructors. Typically women have less experience with firearms and tend to approach it with a degree of reluctance. Unlike men, who tend to approach shooting like they already know everything, women are often a “blank slate”—they don’t have any (or many) bad habits that must be over-come by the instructor. They also tend to pay more attention to what the instructors are telling them. I have found in many cases by the end of the class, they are the best marksmen.

Still, overcoming the challenges can be frus-trating at times. The most common “challenges” are:

A general fear of firearms—just by

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showing up for a firearms class the fearful individual has come a long way in overcoming those fears. From that point on it is usually just a matter of explaining how a firearm works and what will happen when they actually fire their first shot. Starting these individu-als out with firing a .22 Long Rifle cali-ber firearm is usually the best choice. These types of firearms produce less recoil, less muzzle flash, and less muz-zle blast to distract the shooter from applying the fundamentals.

Being startled by recoil/muzzle flash/muzzle blast—having a “mini-explosion” go off in their hands for the first time can be quite a surprise to the first-time shooter. The startle response can be a result of the individual firing their gun for the first time, or from hearing the muzzle blast from other shooters on the firing line. This initial startle is likely to produce a flinch on the part of that individual when they shoot their next round. The ways to mitigate this are to have the individual use a .22 caliber gun to start with, mak-ing sure they are wearing their hearing and eye protection properly (thick hair can make ear muffs less effective in that a good sound seal cannot be formed over the ears so the addition of ear plugs may be necessary). It may also be necessary to isolate this individuals from other shooters so the firing of the other guns does not distract them.

Understanding the concept of a proper sight picture and sight align-ment—this can be very frustrating to diagnose and correct, but it starts by explaining how the sights are used and what the individual is supposed to see when looking through the sights at the target. This can be reinforced by using laser training pistols (like the SIRT pis-tol) prior to going to the range for the first time. At the range this problem usually becomes evident when the shooter is unable to place any of their rounds into the target, even at relatively close ranges (3-5 yards). Asking the shooter to describe what they are seeing when they aim at their target often does not help because they will describe ex-actly what the instructor told them they should see. What is often happening here is the shooter, instead of looking through their sights, are instead looking

over them. A technique I often use is to have the shooter get as close to the target as possible with the muzzle al-most touching it. I’ll then have them fire a couple of rounds, take a step back, fire a couple more rounds, and keep repeating the sequence, one step backwards at a time, until they are back at the original firing line. Hopefully the bullet holes in the target will all be nice-ly centered. Reducing the shooter’s field of view can also help them focus on their sights. Once again starting with a .22 caliber firearm helps by re-ducing recoil and muzzle blast distrac-tions.

Weak hands/wrists—make it difficult for an individual to properly grip a handgun and manipulate it. Without a firm grip, accuracy will be impossible to obtain. “Limp-wristing” is often one result of this, especially with semi-automatic handguns. Jams will be the result. The individual with this prob-lem often has difficulty pulling back on the pistol’s slide and pulling a long, double-action trigger to fire the gun. Overcoming this challenge takes more time, and it is not something the in-structor can “fix” during the class. In most cases the individual needs to fo-cus on building up their grip strength. Squeezing a tennis ball or racquet ball repeatedly will help to build up the muscles in the hand. Flexing the wrists repeatedly will help strengthen them. Using an elastic wrist brace may also help. These are all things the shooter needs to do before or after taking the class. Sometimes a medical condition is causing the weakness, usually arthritis is the culprit. Medication can help, but not always, especially if the condition is advanced. Shooters with weak grip strength need to be shooting guns that do not produce a lot of recoil and that are lightweight. Having soft, rubber grips on their handguns also helps.

As a general practice, it is often preferable to have the first-time shooter load just a single round in their gun and shoot it so the in-structor can observe the shooter’s reaction(s). It is not unusual for these first-time shooters to have brought a gun with them that is not at all suited to their abilities. They will often select a gun based on its physical characteristics such as size and weight, without ever considering that small,

lightweight guns produce more recoil than larger, heavier ones do, no matter what cali-ber they are chambered in.

In teaching women, it is important to realize that they do not process information in the same way that men do. The typical male is able to do a task after just being told what the broad concept is. A female will need much more detailed instruction and will need to understand that shooting tasks are often done in parallel, not serial. Thus the details of how to get a good grip, align the sight on the target, press the trigger to the rear, and exercising proper breath control, while they are individual tasks, must all be conducted simultaneously to accurately place a shot on the target. As a result, wom-en that a new to shooting must focus more on what they are doing. That is one of the reasons we always separate husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends, etc. when we are on the firing line. As instructors it is important to eliminate as many distractions as possible from the experience. As we like to say, “We’ll do the instructing around here” when we tell the men to stay away from their “significant other” while they are trying to learn to shoot. Besides, we don’t want the ladies to pick up any of those bad habits that seem to haunt most male shoot-ers.

— G.R. Evens

Traveler’s Guide to the

Firearms Laws of the

Fifty States

The 2016 guide to legal carry of firearms in the 50 states is now available. This soft cover 8 ½” X 11” book is written by a law-yer who is involved with gun topics—he holds a Federal Firearms License (aka an FFL) and is a Class III (i.e. automatic weap-ons) dealer, and a criminal defense lawyer

Page 7 Random Shots Volume 6, I ssue 2

for concealed carry holders. He makes it his business to be up to date on each state’s firearms laws.

On his website he includes the changes in the individual state laws by year back to 2010—this can be very helpful.

The “Guide” can be purchased at many gun shops and at some gun shows. They can also be ordered on-line from Amazon.com, from the Buckeye Firearms Association, etc. You can also contact the author directly by calling J. Scott Kappas, Esq in Covington, Kentucky at 859-491-6400 or this website:

https://www.gunlawguide.com

— D.C. Long

Yet Another Reciprocity

Update? At the start of 2016, Virginia’s Attorney General, Mark Herring, announced he would revoke the concealed carry reciprocity agreements that Virginia had with 25 other states, including Ohio. As a result, citizens with concealed carry licenses from these 25 states would no longer be able to carry a concealed firearm in Virginia. This move appeared to be politically motivated by the anti-gun Governor of Virginia, Democrat Terry McAuliffe. I suspect former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg had a hand in this move as well.

Soon after the Attorney General announced his intentions, Virginia’s Republican-controlled legislature threatened to withdraw funding for the Governor’s armed security detail in protest of the proposed action. As it stands now, the legislature and the Gover-nor’s Office are in negotiations to reach a compromise.

The restrictions that were supposed to go into effect on February 1, 2016 have now been delayed until March 1, 2016 pending enactment of a revised law. In return for agreeing to some restrictions such as deny-ing persons subject to a protection order the right to possess firearms while that protec-tion order is in effect, the compromise would have Virginia recognize the concealed carry licenses of all other states. Gun rights proponents seem to support the compro-mise. In the meantime, if you plan to travel to Virginia, check the latest CCW rules first!

— G.R. Evens

Gun Purchase Wait Times During a recent Ohio Concealed Carry class held at LongMeadows Shooting School, one of the students mentioned the frustration he was feeling as a result of not being able to take possession of a handgun he had pur-chased at the Rural King in Huber Heights. He said there was some delay in getting his NICS background check approved and wanted to know what the problem might be. I told him that it was usually an issue of having a similar name to someone that was on the prohibited list or (more commonly) the NICS system was “down” when his request was submitted for processing. He then told me that he had been waiting for almost a month for his background check to come back. This surprised me. The Federal law covering the instant background checks for firearm purchases—i.e. the NICS checks—indicates that if a “proceed” or “denied” is not issued within seven (7) days then the dealer is cleared to release the fire-arm to the purchaser. The individual then told me that when he questioned the folks at the Rural King store they told him that it was their “corporate policy” to not release firearms to the purchaser until a NICS ap-proval—i.e. “proceed”—has been issued, no matter how long it takes for that approval to come back. Since I knew someone that was the firearms department manager at another Rural King store here in Ohio, I decided to ask him about it. He confirmed that, de-spite what the Federal law says, Rural King policy is indeed to not do so until a “proceed” is received. He went on to indi-cate that BATFE officials had told him that while the seven day limit was in the law, individual store owners can impose addi-tional restrictions such as the Rural King corporate policy. So, buyers need to take this into consideration when shopping for a firearm. That “good deal” that saves you a couple of bucks over what the store down the street is charging may “cost” you more than the savings in frustrations, etc.

— G.R. Evens

Upcoming Classes LongMeadows Shooting School offers nu-merous firearms courses. Our most popular is the Ohio Concealed Carry course. For 2016, it will be offered monthly on the dates shown below:

January 16

February 20

March 19

April 16

May 14

June 11

July 16

August 13

September 17

October 15

November 19

December 17

No prior shooting experience is required. If you do not yet have a handgun, we can loan you one for the class. A nominal extra charge will apply if you use our ammunition instead of your own.

All classes start at 9AM and last until 5 or 6PM. Snacks and drinks are available at no extra charge. You may bring your own lunch or time will be available for you to go to a local restaurant to eat.

Call prior to coming to make sure the class will be held. We have had to cancel classes in the past when the minimum class size was not met.

The price for this course remains the same as last year—$75 if you pay in advance or $100 if you wait to pay on the day of the class. Advanced payments are preferred as that gives us a better idea of how many people will be attending so we can make sure we have enough materials, targets, etc., on hand for the class.

Other classes we offer will be schedule as demand dictates. See our website for course requirements and prices.

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LongMeadows Shooting School

4910 State Route 201

Tipp City, Ohio 45371

(937) 478-8201

www.longmeadowsshootingschool.com

facebook.com/longmeadowsshootingschool