Podcast of the Week: Handgun World Show

On September 14, 2011 By Tom LindsayIn Podcasts1 Comment

The Handgun World Show, www.handgunworld.com, is a podcast hosted by Bob Mayne, who is a man after my own heart. He’s not law enforcement, not military, not a firearms trainer, he’s just a regular guy who likes guns.

Why does Bob carry a gun? Because he can’t carry a cop.

Handgun World is a fast paced mix of information, reviews, competition advice, interviews, and general gun stuff. Bob Mayne is a salesman living in San Antonio, and his sales territory covers a lot of central Texas. So, he gets to record a lot of his shows in the car. I admit I may steal his idea some day.

I just discovered his podcast, and I must say I’ve enjoyed every episode. Bob is a big fan of the Glock 19, but he’s not afraid to air episodes about other guns. Since he competes regularly in IDPA, a lot of his shows cover competition, practice, and lessons learned. He also shares a lot of practical information on concealed carry, which makes sense, given his line of work and his background. He recently did a show on concealed carry for business that I found very informative.

He has also interviewed a lot of firearms trainers. I especially enjoyed his interviews with Gabe Suarez, and with Suarez International trainers Don Robison and Jon Payne.

The Handgun World Show is available for subscription on iTunes, and it’s a welcome addition to my afternoon rides.

Be Prepared, Part 8 – Every Day Carry

On September 13, 2011July 26, 2012 By Tom LindsayIn Uncategorized1 Comment

This week on Tom Gresham’s GunTalk Radio, Tom presented a retrospective of the September 11 attacks. The focus of the show was people who survived the ordeal because of how they were prepared for emergencies.

To me, the most compelling story was from John Tucci, an undercover NYPD officer who was buried with others in the debris of the fallen towers. He told how they were being suffocated by a large plate glass partition, until a fellow officer managed to get his Glock 19 free and shoot the glass. John was then able to find his way to safety, in the dark, because he carried a flashlight.

This got me thinking about what I carry every day. I know that, compared to some, I’m probably a lightweight. Massad Ayoob, for instance, carries multiple of just about everything, including cell phones.

As you can see from the picture above, here’s what I carry, from right to left:

In my right front pocket:
– My car key on a ring with the door fob for my office and a shopper card from a local grocery store. The shopper card is for identification if my keys are lost. And, this is where I shop the most, so I carry the card.
– Cash in a money clip. I never carry cash in my wallet.
– A pen. I’m an engineer. I used to carry pens in my shirt pocket. With a pocket protector. Really.
– A knife. Most of the time it’s a 20 year old Swiss Army Tinker model. Sometimes it’s a folding knife I can open with one hand. I don’t clip it to my pocket, unless I’m camping. No need to telegraph anything.
– A Glock armorer tool. I took to carrying this a year or so ago when I was doing a lot of armorer work for friends. It’s probably my least used piece I carry, but it’s light.

In my left front pocket:
– My wallet. It’s a nylon police wallet, with a full view ID window. I carry my drivers license, my Georgia Weapons License, insurance cards, my debit card, one credit card, a few membership cards, my lawyer’s card, and some business cards.
– An LED flashlight. This isn’t an expensive tacticool Surefire, just an aluminum AA flashlight. I keep the batteries fresh, and I use it all the time.

In my left rear pocket:
– A notepad. Again, I’m an engineer, and I take notes all the time.
– A spare magazine for whatever gun I’m carrying. I practice mag changes with it there.

Not shown – a cell phone, that I either carry in my left front pocket or in my front right watch pocket, and a pistol.

Not much, but it works for me. The one thing I may add is a whistle.

Now, what I don’t carry:

I don’t carry a hundred keys on a caribiner clipped to a belt loop. I don’t use many keys enough to warrant the bulk. I keep a key ring in my car with my other keys, and there’s a home key in my get home bag, in case I get home and the power is out so I can’t use the garage door opener, or if I want to go in through the front door. A spare key to my back door is kept in a secure place on my property.

I don’t carry my cell phone in a holster on my belt. My pocket is fine.

I also don’t keep a hundred shopper cards on my key ring. They’re on a spare ring in may car, if I need them I take them in, then put them back.

I don’t keep money in my wallet. I went to college in downtown Atlanta, and I worked it out then that if I were mugged, I could throw the money to the right and run to the left. Then I’m not giving up my ID or credit cards.

I don’t carry all my life’s work in my wallet. I have a separate portfolio I carry in my briefcase, where I carry membership cards and coupons and all the other stuff, and if I need something, I get it.

I don’t carry an expensive flashlight. The one I carry is sold 2 for $4 at the local tool store. It’s bright enough to light up the living room, or the back yard. I have a dozen of them around the house. My kids carry one in their school backpacks, and I have one on top of both gun safes. The flashlight is probably the most useful thing I carry, and a week doesn’t go by that I don’t help someone connect a computer under their desk or check a furnace filter.

I don’t carry a fighting knife, because I’ve never trained to fight with one. I carry a pocket knife, because I used the screwdrivers and tweezers a lot. If I need a bigger knife, I carry two.

I did a quick poll of the people in my office, and I found that a lot of guys carried pocket knives, but few had flashlights. Two had flashlights in their briefcases, but if they didn’t have the case when the power went out, where were they?

A lot of people also moonlight as janitors or jailers, judging from their key rings.

Give some thought to what you’re carrying. Will it help you survive in an emergency?

Remembering What You Can’t Remember

On September 12, 2011July 26, 2012 By Tom LindsayIn 9/11

I spent most of the day on Sunday, September 11, remembering. I watched some of the documentaries on what happened that day, because it’s important to know, so we can stop it from happening again.

I didn’t watch too much of any of the observances, the speeches, the tributes. Those are important, but I think I do that every day, by committing to protecting myself and my family. Before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, my self defense commitment was spotty at best. Now, it’s every day.

The two things the TV shows and retrospectives and tributes couldn’t capture were the two things I felt the most on September 11, and in the days and months that followed.

The first was the incessant bombardment of what had happened. The American media doesn’t report any more, they beat us over the head with news events. After the first two hours, there seemed to be nothing new to report, yet the new outlets kept reporting it. Over and over. The same thing, all the time.

What could not be remembered, therefore, was the incessant stress and fear and worry we all felt, for the days and weeks and months after the attacks. Part of me is glad we can’t get that back, because it sucked to live like that.

The second thing I felt in those months after, was anger. When I think about the attacks, I continue to feel it. I let some of this out on my son yesterday, and I owe him an apology. He didn’t deserve that.

I’m angry that we responded to this attack by fighting back on the terrorists terms, instead of by using the best of what America has. We’ve corrected that a little, with the use of unmanned drones and the like. But we still fight them on their turf, on their terms.

The rantings of one person does no good, though.

So, I did what I could do. I cooked pork barbecue, and I cleaned my guns and did an ammo inventory. I didn’t get a chance to shoot, thanks to the length of time it takes to cook good barbecue.

But I enjoyed what I could. And for that, I am thankful.

When the World Changed – Part 2

On September 9, 2011July 26, 2012 By Tom LindsayIn 9/111 Comment

Yesterday, I told about how things at work changed on September 11, 2001.

When I got home that day, things changed, too.

We had moved back to the Atlanta area a few months before, and we were renting a friend’s house until we decided where we wanted to buy. We hadn’t personalized this house very much. But when I got home that day, the first thing I did was put up a flag pole on the front porch, and fly an American flag. I left the porch light on to illuminate it at night.

When we moved into our new home a few months later, I installed a spotlight to shine on the flag. It flies 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I’ve replaced it three times in 10 years, and only one flag has been worn enough to warrant disposal. I’ve kept one flag, and I’ve given the others to the local Boy Scout troop.

I also fly a flag from my mailbox to honor my brother Michael, who serves in the US Army. I started doing that when he enlisted 19 years ago. These smaller flags only last about 9 months on the mailbox before I have to replace them. I keep the best of the old flags to fly in my yard on national holidays, like in the picture above.

(I don’t know if my brother reads this blog, but I’m going to give away a secret – when my brother retires from the Army in 6 years, I’m going to box up all the old flags I’ve been flying and send them to him. I’ll tell you more about him at a future time.)

Does this mean I’ve become more patriotic since September 11? I don’t think so. I think I’ve stopped taking that patriotism for granted. I’m not a covert patriot now, I am overt.

I’ve also made changes to how I look at personal security. I now carry a gun just about everywhere, not just “when I think I might need it.” Like most people, my concept of “when I might need it” changed on September 11.

Do I worry about terrorist attacks now, after September 11, and Mumbai, and the other attacks since then? I don’t worry about them or change what I do because of them, per se. I know it sounds corny, but if I change how I live my life, then the terrorists have won. And I know that’s not true.

Maybe it’s just being 10 years older. I know I am 10 years wiser.