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Wednesday, August 31, 2022

New Defensive Pistolcraft Post

 Jon Low has published a new Defensive Pistolcraft post rounding up defensive and firearms oriented articles and videos. For those of you interested in church security, he has collected several articles and offers some nuggets of wisdom on this topic with several focusing on protecting against theft of donations from collection plates. 

    Since the LDS church has never used a donation plate within my memory (they probably did in the 19th Century), it was an interesting look into how other churches collect funds from members. Jon discusses the security arrangements with one church that essentially used strong boxes as collection boxes and arranged for an armored car to collect and deliver donations to a bank. Conversely, there is very little security against theft on a ward level within the LDS church (most people donate electronically now, but even before there was very little in the way of cash donations with most people writing checks). When I've served as a financial clerk I would always make sure to be armed when assisting with the counting and depositing of donations, but I was probably in a very small minority in that regard.

    Jon has linked to numerous articles from Tom Givens in the Rangemaster Newsletter. Be sure to check them out. 

    Jon relates:

     I am right-handed.  I wore my pistol left-handed (at 9 o'clock) and dry practiced left-handed for two months before shooting the USPSA match left-handed this past July.  Try it.  All you need is a left-handed holster.  Everything else should be ambidextrous.  If you can't operate your pistol with your left-hand, time to get an ambidextrous pistol.  A small injury will make you left-handed.  Just because you are right-handed does not mean you will be right-handed in combat.  Strange unpredictable things happen in combat.  Shooting around the left side of a barrier is much safer when done left-handed.  

     It's an experience you ought not to miss.  

It reminds me of a discussion that I had recently with a couple friends, one of whom is considering getting another small revolver for concealed carry. I was mostly staying out of the conversation but then one friend said something to the other about a semi-auto, to which the second (the friend wanting a revolver) mentioned that he hated to carry a semi-auto with a round chambered because he just thought it too big of a risk (because I had only been half listening up to that point, I wasn't sure if he was concerned of an accidental discharge or someone grabbing it and using against him or what was the concern). My thought, which I expressed, is that I didn't want to be in the position of having an injured hand or having someone grab one of my hands, and not be able to rack the slide. My point being that we may not have the use of both hands if we have to defend ourselves. Which brings me back to Jon's comment: even if you don't shoot an IDPA match with your non-dominant hand, you should practice both shooting and weapon manipulations with your non-dominant hand. And you should practice shooting and weapon manipulation with just one hand. Because you may not always be in a position to use both hands. 

    And some interesting statistics on criminals and their capabilities with firearms scattered throughout Jon's post:

  • Citing Greg Ellifritz: "Nearly 40% of the criminal attackers in this study had received FORMAL firearms training (mostly in the military).  More than 80% of the criminal attackers regularly practiced with their firearms, with an average number of 23 Practice Sessions Per Year.  They conducted these practice sessions in trash dumps, wooded areas, back yards and 'street corners in known drug trafficking areas'.  What that means is that the practice sessions were taking place in realistic environments, under conditions similar to those the attackers were likely to face in combat."
  • Quoting from another article: "'16 of 43 offenders had received weapons training'" Hit rate offender on officer: 68%; Hit rate officer on offender: 39%; Most common offender shooting method: point shooting.
  • And from a study on the firearms capability of Dallas police officers, after noting that about half of officers could hit what they were aiming at in a gun fight: "However, on a 'bullet level' basis, they found that out of 354 shots fired, there was only a 35% hit rate. One half of all officers missed with every shot they fired, including one officer who fired 23 misses and no hits. This means that six out of every ten shots fires was a miss."

2 comments:

  1. Anyone here not have a spare tire in the trunk?

    RE: Right- handed, left-handed. When we buy a new carry gun we buy a holster for it. Buy two of the same make model and configuration - one for each hand. Since you're buying two at the same time ask for a discount. Why buy a second holster for the other side? Two reasons: First, for exactly what Jon said above; second, if you carry a backup (and it's an excellent idea) put it on the other side where you'll be able to use it if your strong hand is damaged or engaged in a fight.

    Two things: First, PRACTICE WITH IT USING YOUR WEAK SIDE HAND. The skill necessary to be better than barely adequate with it will not magically drop out of the sky, it will have to be developed. As Jon mentioned, shooting a match weak hand is a very good learning and practice tool. Second, place the backup holster a little farther back from the hip so it can be - barely - reachable with the strong hand. FYI, it's beneficial to not have a handed safety on the backup, eg., RH only (like issue 1911s) or LH only; if it's a backup, I'd skip manually operated safeties altogether. And, if it's a semi-auto, I would also carry one spare mag for it, just in case because mags are "wear, lose and damage" items, or one speed loader if it's a snubby wheel gun. Also good to practice one hand reloads*.

    * One hand reloads - for semi-autos the "squat pinch" works (better with long pants than shorts if the gun is hot, though): put the slide locked gun behind your knee, grip away from you and the sllde against the back of the knee and squat; you leg will clamp the gun and you can insert a mag one handed. Since the muzzle will be pointed at your other leg, remove the gun before dropping the slide. Practice it (EMPTY GUN EMPTY MAG ONLY) and eventually you'll be surprised how quickly you can do it.

    For revolvers, swing the cylinder out and stuff it into the holster. The edge of the holster should catch the gun between the cyinder and frame and hold it. Load cylinder, dump the speed loader, wrap your hand around the gun from the top to lift the gun and squeeze the cylinder closed with your thumb. Practice this one a LOT, DUMMY AMMO ONLY.

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