As I have written of before, a couple of times, in fact, the anti-gun factions in the United States have come to realize that they have no chance of achieving their universal dream of total confiscation of guns. So, they have turned to another tactic, namely, scaring lawful gun owners with the threat of armed hordes of foreign troops in the streets. Namely, the United States has signed the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty. If you want to know what that does, go read it. I won’t defoul my blog with it’s drivel.
For the good of the Republic, let me reiterate why even this won’t work.
First, the Constitution is the law of the land, despite any treaties signed, even if they are ratified by the Senate. When the treaties violate the Constitution, they are null and void, and attempting to enforce them is a violation of just about everyone’s oath of office.
Second, since any treaty requires ratification by the Senate, consisting of a 2/3 vote – that’s 67 Senators – this treaty has no chance of passing. If Feinstein couldn’t get 60 Senators to ban magazines over 10 rounds, they won’t get 67 on anything pertaining to gun control.
Third, Executive Orders do not have the force of law, except to enforce laws that have already been passed by Congress. So forget that route, too.
Fourth, Calm The Hell Down. Remain vigilant. Smile and nod when the anti-gunners wax poetic on this fiasco. At least it keeps them occupied. But don’t engage them, just let them think they’ve got something, and then let them swing in the breeze.
I had written a comment on his post, but when I read it before posting it, I realized I was essentially refuting the premise of his post.
What I was going to say is, why are you carrying in a manner that you have to explain anything to your kids?
First, the point of concealed carry is that your gun is concealed. Seriously, if your kids can tell you are carrying a gun, so can everyone else. That’s not concealed.
Second, if your kids know you carry a gun, what’s the big deal? More importantly, if it were a big deal, how do you kids know it’s a big deal? What in their life and experience has taught them that carrying a gun is bad, or needs to be explained?
I’ve helped raise two really good kids, who are now 21 and 16. One neat thing I found raising my kids was that they tended to learn from me. If I made a big deal out of something, then they learned that something was a big deal. If I didn’t make a big deal out of something, they learned it was no big deal.
For example, at our house we keep a big dish of candy on the kitchen island, and everyone is free to partake. It’s always been there, and as a result, my kids don’t make a big deal about candy. That dish can sit around for weeks without being refilled.
On the other hand, we have a neighbor who refuses to keep candy in the house, “so her kids won’t be unhealthy.” So, when the neighbor’s son comes over, the candy dish goes up in the cabinet, because he’s made it into a wasteland before. To him, candy is a big deal.
In a way, it’s been the same way about guns in our home. They have always been a part of our home, and we’ve always taught good safety practices. So it’s never been a big deal. And just as we know candy is a big deal to some people, we know some people make a big deal about guns in the home. But we don’t.
Just as it isn’t a big deal for me to have a spare tire in the car, or a fire extinguisher on the deck with the charcoal grill, or a backpack in the trunk of the car with provisions to get us home, my kids know it’s not a big deal for me to carry a gun. The world is an uncertain place.
Growing up, my kids knew we had guns in the house. They came to the range with me, and came to competitions with me. It was part of our life. Interestingly, though, when the time came to teach them how to defend our home, part of that was showing them where the pistol safe was. And I found out that neither of them knew where it was, until then. It’s not that I made a big deal of hiding it, I just never made a big deal of having it in the first place.
Likewise, when neighbor kids came over, my kids never made a big deal about having guns in the house, either, because it wasn’t a big deal. I had no explaining to parents, no apologizing.
So, I contend that, if your attitude toward gun ownership and carry is right, you won’t have anything to explain. And that makes it a lot easier.
A couple of weeks ago I shot the regular monthly USPSA match at River Bend Gun Club.
It was my first match in some time, and I tried to concentrate a couple ofstrategies.
STRATEGY: ACCURACY OVER SPEED.
In my younger days I shot for a couple of years in a non-affiliated club, where the scoring was score divided by time. I found I could shoot fast enough to win with poor shot placement. Plus, with my eyesight, I was never able to see a sharp front sight, so I never developed good sight discpline, and I developed some poor habits as a result. In USPSA and IDPA, this plan doesn’t work.
Another thing I learned is to use all the resources available to me when preparing for a stage. This was brought to light on the first stage I shot:
Do you see it? I didn’t either. Here it is:
From this direction, it’s hard to see, but there is a paper target behind the barrier that is visible if we move to the left. When I first walked through this stage without reading the course description or looking at the diagram I thought that target was a no-shoot that was in place to keep me from shooting a close target to the right.
But later, walking through after pasting targets for another shooter, I noticed this view:
where it is obvious that this target is an active one that I needed to shoot.
The moral: Look at the stage drawing, read the description, and pay attention.
Wow, there it is.
It’s a good thing I wasn’t the first shooter on this stage or would have had two Mikes and a Failure To Engage.
In any case, the strategy of accuracy over speed, and I did something I had never done in all my days of shooting USPSA – I shot a stage clean. All Alphas, and two steel on two shots. Yes, I shot about 10 seconds slower than the match winner, but I’ll take it.
STRATEGY: STICK WITH MY GAME
Sometimes I let other people’s way of shooting a stage influence how I do it. But I find I shoot better if I stick to my game.
An example came in this stage, which consisted of four paper targets on the left, mirrored with these on the right, and a Texas star in the middle.
Most people in Production shot it this way:
Two shots on 3 targets on the left, around the barricade, then a mag change (6 shots).
Through the center window, shoot the paper targets, then the Texas star. That’s 9 shots of they are perfect. Change mags.
Then repeat the first string on the right targets.
For me, though, I know I have had a bad time with Texas stars, historically, and I don’t want to end up with a mag change from slide lock, shooting through the center window.
So, here’s how I shot it.
From around the left barricade, shoot the four paper targets. Yes, it means I had to lean out to get the last target, but I can make that shot easily. Change mags.
Then, go to the right of the barricade and repeat on the four targets there, and change mags.
Then, through the center window, shoot the Texas star with a full mag plus one.
Again, staying with my strategy paid off. Not only did I shoot the Texas star with a full gun, my accuracy over speed strategy meant I shot the Texas star in 6 shots, which gave me the 8th best score of everybody.
All in all, I thought I shot well for my first match of the year. The one down spot for me was on the classifier. Since classifiers are the means by which USPSA shooters are sorted by class (hence the name), it stands to reason that I need to shoot better on them to move up. What killed me was a miserable performance in weak handed shooting. There were five targets, and we shot three strings of one shot per target. The first string was freestyle, the second was strong hand only, and the last was weak hand only.
No, this isn’t me. I suck at weak hand shooting. Time to fix that.
+++++
On a related note, I found this video on line from Randy Gamble, who shot in my squad. Enjoy.
Courtesy of Miguel at Gun Free Zone comes a handy guide to Gun Free Victim Zones, from the Facebook page of the anti-gun group Moms Demand Action.
Of course, I don’t see these businesses as anything to admire, but to be avoided, since criminals now know they can ply their trade unopposed. I already avoid most of these locations when an acceptable alternative is available.
It’s worth noting that my local CVS is not posted, which means it isn’t a Gun Free Victim Zone under Georgia law.
It’s also worth noting that, under Georgia law, weapons prohibitions are a property violation, not a criminal one, meaning that if someone is carrying a gun in one of these businesses, the owner is allowed to ask them to leave. The only time the police are involved is if the carrier refuses to leave. At that point they could be charged with criminal trespass.
It’s also worth noting that where I live, Kennesaw, it is very likely that people carry concealed into these locations all the time, without the owners ever knowing. Very likely.
Fill Yer Hands 