July 30, 2018 -- A Quick Run Around the Web

"Holosun Red Dot Optics: Long Term Review"--Practically Tactical (13 min.)

The author relates his experience running a couple different types of Holosun red dots for two years. Long story short: he likes them.

• "The Origin and Evolution of Dot Torture"--Tactical Professor. As most of you know, the dot torture drills are timed drills using varying sized circles at a set range, designed to test accuracy, speed, and in some cases, discernment. This article gives a brief history of these drills, and explains several different drills that have been developed with links to PDF versions of several of the targets mentioned in the article.
• "Practical Pistol Training"--Recoil Magazine. The author of this article argues that we should focus on scenarios that are more likely over what he terms "living out a fantasy at the range," or the practical over the tactical. He writes:

       Looking at situations surrounding a violent encounter where you need to use a firearm for defense, we can see a pattern of likely scenarios. According to a study conducted by the FBI from 2008- 2012, justifiable homicides involving private citizens taking someone’s life during the commission of a felony in self-defense is a much smaller number than you might imagine. 2012 saw the highest number of the 5 years with 310 justifiable homicides, and of those, 193 used a pistol.

        With an estimated 100 million gun owners in the United States and just over 300 million people, we can easily see that the odds of being involved in a justifiable homicide are extremely low. Even looking at the cases of self-defense involving a handgun in which no one was killed, even though statistics on this topic vary dramatically, the odds are still very low. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be prepared to use a firearm, but being practical is very important.

       Taking this type of information and adapting training to become as proficient as possible in the elements that have a higher likelihood of occurring in real life, means that less time is wasted on fantasy scenarios. And a higher PRACTICAL skill level can be reached.

The specific skills he recommends focusing on, once you're proficient with the basics of marksmanship, are (1) draw from concealment, (2) draw stroke, (3) using your handgun with a single hand, (4) malfunction drills, and (5) "train to react" (i.e., not the same drill over and over, but something that tests your ability to change targets--such as having to shift between different colored or numbered targets).

        He raises some good points, but "all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy" applies here as well. If you enjoy the tactical training or just want to learn it to become the complete warrior, as MV terms it--even if you will never be called upon to clear a structure or go out on patrol with a squad or platoon--then do it. 

• "RE: Maybe I Haven't Been Clear by Aesop"--Total Survivalist Blog. The first rule of surviving a disaster is don't be there. However, in most cases, this is not going to involve bugging out into the wilderness. The author notes:

The point is that if things get bad you take your .45 and wad of cash then go somewhere else. Somewhere less disastery. People have some fantasy of bug out camping or escape and evasion or whatever. In reality a cheap motel room 250 miles the other direction of the disaster is usually the answer. 

• "HOMICIDE RATE IS RISING? DO TELL!"--Powerline. Homicide rates had been in a long downward trend for the past few decades, but suddenly started going up again after the Black Lives Matter protests--at least in those cities with large BLM protests such as Chicago, Baltimore, and St. Louis. The Left is trying to ascribe the increase to the loosening of firearms laws in several states, including those now recognizing "Constitutional carry" of concealed weapons. As the author of this article observes:

       Does that have anything to do with the recent spike in homicides? Were carry laws loosened in Chicago, Baltimore, Kansas City or St. Louis prior to the increase? Are the states where murders spiked after 2014 the ones where the law permitted residents to “carry a loaded concealed gun with you…with no license”?

       No. What did change in the last years of the Obama administration? The obvious answer is, the Black Lives Matter movement and the associated attacks on law enforcement.

• Related: "Why Baltimore Police Have 'Stopped Noticing Crime'"--PJ Media. From the article:

The Baltimore crime wave can be traced, almost to the very day in April 2015, that Freddie Gray, a small-time drug dealer and petty criminal, died in police custody. When Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby made the ill-considered decision to charge six officers in Gray’s death, she sent a clear message to the rest of the city’s police officers: concerns about crime and disorder will be subordinated to the quest for social justice.

• The "geniuses" over at the left-wing rag, Vox, have come out with a real doozy: "One way to reduce gun deaths: restrict big bullets and guns." The author notes that "[a]ccording to a new study, replacing medium- and large-caliber guns with small-caliber weapons could cut gun deaths by almost 40 percent." Well, the science is in. We all need to switch to the AR15 (or AK74) in order to save lives. Interestingly, the cutoff for "small caliber" appears to be .32, so I guess those of you that prefer the .308 or .300 Win. Mag. can still keep those. But you .380 ACP folks are out of luck. (H/t Anonymous Conservative).
• "Breaking News: ATF Is Classifying .50 Cal Bolt Action AR Uppers As Firearm"--The Firearm Blog. The letter from the ATF appears to be focusing on manually operated uppers. I suspect that the .50 BMG is a problem because the lower receiver is merely a handle (plus trigger) and doesn't even act to contain the magazine, whereas with a standard AR upper, the lower contains the magazine, and makes use of the last shot hold open, magazine release, and so on. It may be my faulty memory, but I seem to remember reading some discussion on why the upper receiver for the HK91/CETME family was the serialized part, and it had to do with the magazine well being part of the upper. 

       In any event, the ATF letter also makes mention of a similar ruling on another "non-standard" upper receiver, but without mentioning specifics. I wonder if it is the AR57 uppers which use the 5.7x28 mm cartridge, as well as make use of FNs 50 round magazine for the P90 (the magazine attached to the top of the upper, and the ejection is through the now unused standard magazine well). Their website currently states that "WE HAVE TEMPORARILY CEASED PRODUCTION DUE TO UNFORESEEN CIRCUMSTANCES," and a quick search of retailers show that the uppers are "discontinued," "out of stock" or only available for pre-order.

• "The Curious History Of Combination Guns"--The Truth About Guns. Combination guns are firearms with two or more barrels of different calibers/gauges. The majority that you will find in the United States are over/under firearms featuring .22 LR and .410 gauge, although occasionally you may see a different rifle caliber, or a 20 gauge. These weapons appear to be more popular in Europe.

• Related: "Johann Fanzoj Vierling: Four-Barreled Rifle-Shotgun"--The Firearm Blog. Beautiful photograph of a firearm that is a work of art.

"Black Prepping"--High Ground (10 min.)

I've started to see more videos from black preppers start to show up on my recommended list for YouTube. I can't make up my mind on this video whether it is serious or law enforcement using it to identify radicals. The producer discusses the need for blacks to prepare, including purchasing weapons for self-defense, but also talks about the need for black militias and revolutionaries.

• "ANNE HATHAWAY BELIEVES 'WHITE PRIVILEGE' IS WHY WHITE PEOPLE HAVE NEVER BEEN MURDERED BY BLACK PEOPLE BEFORE"--Downtrend.com. Demonstrating how clueless are the leftist elite, actress Anne Hathaway went to Instagram to comment on the murder of a black woman in San Francisco, arguing that only black people had to live in fear of being victims of murder. The author of this article writes:

       Dovetailing back to Hathaway, she of course attributes Wilson’s murder to racism. She further appears to believe that white people have never been victimized or murdered, let alone victimized or murdered by blacks specifically. This of course is a glaring lie.

       Journalist Jason L. Riley, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and expert on race topics, noted in a piece last year that though “[m]ost violent crimes involve a perpetrator and victim of the same race … when they don’t, incidents of black-on-white crimes far exceed the reverse scenario.”

• Pandering to their base: "Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell Stick It to Trump – Will Not Fund Border Wall in September Funding Bill"--Gateway Pundit. In the case of Ryan and McConnell, their base is Wall Street and large businesses.
• "Catholic Inertia"--The Social Pathologist. Key point:

       It's this blog's primary contention that the civilisational failure of the West has primarily come about because of the collapse of the Christian religion. While it is true that there were other factors in the formation of Western Civilisation, Christianity provided the unifying foundational principles of it. Pagan and other traditions were incorporated insofar as they were in conformity with the overarching Christian principles.  By the end of the 19th Century, Western Civilisation was the dominant power of the planet. However by the end of the 19th Century the warning signs were becoming apparent and  the smart guys saw that Christianity was beginning to fail, and they were under no illusions that the decline of Christianity would require a new "value system" to replace it. Marxism, Fascism, and Liberalism were attempts to replace what was lost. We're still groping for meaning despite the rivers of blood.

       It is my opinion that there will be no restoration with some kind of  Christian restoration.  However, any restoration of a Christian West is going to have to avoid the mistakes of the past and therefore it's necessary to have a good hard look at where things went wrong.  

• Socialism never works: "How Athens Rebuilt Itself, Only To Be Defeated By A Foreign Power"--The Federalist. Athens was pretty well decimated after the conclusion of the Peloponnesian War. Yet it pulled itself together and rebuilt itself into a one of the greater  Mediterranean powers--but with a core weakness that would prove its downfall to Macedonia:

        The Athenians restored their democratic system of government by overturning the rule of the Thirty Tyrants and reestablishing democratic courts once again. Almost immediately after democracy was restored, the Athenians voted to execute Socrates, marking a very different time in Athens’ history. During this time, Athens paid its citizens to serve on juries, go to the theater, and to vote. These measures empowered the poorest citizens of Athens, but ultimately bankrupted the city.

        Athens’ massive welfare to its citizens affected how they thought of themselves and of money and wealth. Athenians would tattle on one another for failing to report and pay taxes on income, while others reported fellow Athenians for seeking aid under false pretenses. Many Athenians would become increasingly dependent upon the state financially and this impacted the way they viewed wealth — as a finite resource to be forcibly redistributed, rather than something that can be created and that can increase.

       Because of the massive amount of money Athens paid out to its citizens, the Athenians were reluctant to go to war or to invest in their military. Every amount spent paying a rower’s salary or restoring a ship is an amount that cannot be spent on theater tickets or some other frivolous activity.

•  "On Weight Lifting And Health"--Anonymous Conservative. A lengthy and excellent article on both the health benefits from a regime of moderate amounts of weight lifting, and detailed instructions for such a program. AC writes:

        The workout I will explain here is not designed to be exhausting, but is almost more like a warm-up for your day. It will not impact your abilities throughout the day. But your body will detect the exercise, and respond by developing its muscles in a comprehensive way that will strengthen the body, and after a few weeks give you even more energy to pursue what you do for the rest of your day.

       The weight lifting should be done a specific way, and there will be videos below. It should consist of one set of 10-15 movements (repetitions) of an exercise for each respective muscle group. Each exercise should consist of contracting the relevant muscle, through a full range of motion against resistance, for ten to fifteen repetitions using a weight you could lift for one to three repetitions more. This will be far less stressful and tiring than it sounds when you see the program I’d recommend.

The exercises he describes will need gym equipment, so you will either have to go to the gym or buy an exercise/weight station for use at home. I would note that Glenn Reynolds, at Instapundit, also preaches the benefits of weight lifting for older adults, and intermittently will post about the topic. In any event, to the AC's blog and read the whole thing.