New Defensive Pistolcraft Newsletter

Jon Low has a posted a new newsletter with lots of links to articles and videos as well as commentary and vital excerpts. Some of the topics covered:

• A warning that if you come home and find your house had been burglarized, don't try and clear the house yourself.
• Commenting on an article and video where a 3 year old found a loaded gun and shot herself while her relatives watched TV, Jon comments:

   There are a lot of people in this world who are not like us.  The truth is that we are an extremely small minority, far more law abiding than the police, far more aware of our surroundings (that's why we never get into auto collisions), far more aware of the laws and the politics that generate the laws.  We would never leave a pistol unattended.  We would never be so obsessed with anything that we neglect a 3 year old girl in our care.  

That is so true. We often hear about how criminals think so differently from the normal person that it is impossible to understand their thinking process. It is why efforts to reform criminals often don't work; even threats of arrest or incarceration mean little or nothing to many criminally minded people. But we are different in smaller ways as well. I remember being somewhat aghast at a colleague telling me about his horrible weekend where his wife and kids were sick, including a daughter that almost threw up on him (he jumped back in time to avoid being struck) and then making her clean it up. I would never make a sick child clean up his or her own vomit--that is heartless--and I've even caught it in my hands so my kid wouldn't be traumatized by throwing up all over herself.  

    Later, after citing a statement from Greg Ellifritz on how criminals are increasingly resorting to group tactics, Jon comments:

     You must understand that these criminals are animals in human form.  They are not civilized.  They do not think as we do.  If you consider them human or children of God, you will hesitate; and they will use the time that you've wasted to kill you and your loved ones.  The correct behavior is to immediately stop the attack, as you would swat that mosquito on your arm that is carrying West Nile virus.  Otherwise, it will bite and infect your child.

If you don't understand this, watch some videos of groups of thugs attacking a lone person or two, and then compare them to videos of packs of hyenas, wild dogs, or wolves as they bait, circle and attack their prey, especially if the pack is simply killing for sport. 

• Heh: “Communism is perpetually ‘just one murder short’ of utopia”
• Jon provides an After Action Report on the 2023 Guardian Conference in Oklahoma City, OK, including tips on trigger control, holding the weapon, using weapon mounted lights, using the sights, some of the common issues seen with people that had problems with their firearms, and more. One tidbit:

 The triangle is not Speed, Accuracy, Power.  The triangle is Speed, Accuracy, Assessment.  (Power, you can't control in real time.  Your cartridge is what it is.)  Assessment is the thinking; whether or not to shoot, where to move, etc.  

Reminds me of a recent Fight Science video I watched which indicated that in a street fight, plans (and the specific techniques that accompany them) are pretty much useless because they won't survive the first punch, but we should instead focus on strategy.

    Also, he recounts a presentation by Don West on the George Zimmerman prosecution and the shenanigans from the prosecution. It might not be the dog-pile as was Zimmerman's prosecution in your prosecution, should you have to use a firearm to defend your life, but you will probably see it on a smaller scale. When you talk to prosecutors/district attorney's you will quickly realize that it is less about justice and more about him or her getting another notch on their record of successful prosecutions. 

    And, because I'm biased in this regard by using different holsters under different circumstances, I liked this bit: "Consider using the same handgun in various holsters.  On your hip when you're walking around.  On your ankle when you seated, as when driving your car.  Under your arm pit when at work in a coat and tie.  In your pocket, in a pocket holster, when in shorts at the beach.  Etc." I also will vary handguns at times because I may have a certain holster that works for one, but not another, or one that conceals better in certain situations than in another. But I don't really have a carry rotation for handguns. I have one that I use 90% of the time and perhaps two others for alternate types of carry or special situations. Now that I'm breaking in a new carry gun for the 90% role, I've added one more until I can collect the necessary holsters for it to become the one I use 90% of the time.

•  Jon comments: "I have had people (and students) tell me that they don't want to practice long distance shots because they will never have to make such a shot in real life.  So, it's a waste of time.  I disagree.  You may have to make that 72 yard shot to stop the bad guy from immediately murdering others, as Andy Brown did." I concur. I will also add that only practicing at short range means that you will probably never develop significant accuracy with your handgun. If getting all your shots into the chest area is good enough, that is as good as you will probably get. Shooting at longer ranges forces you to focus more on techniques to achieve good accuracy, which will translate to better accuracy, even at speed, at shorter distances. 
• After linking to several good articles on self-defense and firearms topics, Jon comments on an article by Greg Ellifritz on the issue of whether to leave the scene if you are involved in a defensive shooting. Ellifritz urged readers to stick around for a whole slew of reasons, but basically because it makes you look guilty and you will be tracked down and arrested by police. Greg had two exceptions to this rule: (i) where it is too dangerous to remain at the scene and (ii) in a third world country where it would not be possible to get a fair trial. Jon notes, however, that many Blue cities essentially present Greg's second exception. Jon offers a bit of rebuttal, or perhaps some caveats would be more accurate:

    In Atlanta, GA; Chicago, IL; New York, NY; Los Angeles, CA; Nashville, TN;

Ferguson, MO; et al if in completely justified self-defense, you shoot and kill someone (especially someone of a politically favored minority group) and you stay at the scene to direct police to the bad guys, you will be arrested (especially if you are White).  The legal system will leave you unemployed and destitute.  The stress on your family will cause your spouse to divorce you and take your children.  You will be sodomized and beaten in jail while awaiting your bond hearing.  I could go on, but you get the idea.  (The Red Cross won't let you donate blood ever again.  They know what goes on in prison.)   

 

     On the other hand, if you go home, the probability of ever getting arrested is less than 50%, much less getting prosecuted (as long as you make yourself hard to convict; prosecutors are not stupid, they want easy, they don't want hard work), much less getting convicted (Andrew Branca says that if you are innocent and you get prosecuted, there is a 10% that you will be convicted.  That's just the noise in the system.  Remember, juries are made up of persons too stupid to get off jury duty.  Or, worse those wanting to play God and trying to advance their political agenda.).   

 

    Here we are talking about known gang bangers, known drug dealers, and known violent criminals with long violent records.  For decent law abiding citizens without criminal records, the probability is way less than 50%.  Because, how would the police find you?  They don't have any file on you.  They don't have a mug shot of you.  They don't have any reason to suspect you.  Unless you run your mouth or post on social media.  As long as you keep your mouth shut and get a competent attorney.  Never talk to the police or prosecutors.  Never consent to a search of anything.  Never talk to anyone (except your attorney) or post anything on social media, or anywhere else for that matter.   

 

     With all the bad guys committing crimes, do you think the police will spend any time or resources tracking down a good guy?  With all the scum bags overflowing the dockets, do you think the prosecutors want to spend any time or resources prosecuting an upstanding citizen?  Of course, there is the exception for political reasons.  That's your fault for being born White (or close enough for CNN to claim you are a "White Hispanic", as they did with

George Zimmerman) or voting for liberals.   

 

     It might make sense to stay at the scene in Florida and other free states, as you will probably not be arrested, unless you run your mouth, in which case you can easily talk yourself into an arrest and conviction (no matter how smart or innocent you think you are).  In states with self-defense immunity hearings, it might make sense to stay at the scene to direct the police to the bad guys.   

 

     But, do you really want to give the other gang members time to get to you?  You've killed their buddies.  If you think the police will protect you, you're a damn fool.   

 

     If you stay at the scene, the police will get your information.  The family or estate of the bad guys that you killed will sue you.  The police and prosecutor will turn over all of your information to the attorneys for the bad guys.  (They are required to by law.  It's called "discovery".)  Then the bad guys will go to your house, where your family lives, and do their best to stop you from living, and your family of course.  Can't leave witnesses.  And they will take sadistic pleasure in doing so.   

 

     Did the other "instructors" neglect to tell you this?  Do you think I'm lying to you?  

    If you have ever served in the military, applied for a professional license, applied to a concealed carry license, volunteered as a coach for youth athletics, been bonded, etc., your fingerprints will be in the system. (You wipe down your carry ammo and use gloves to load it, don't you?) If you've served in the military in the past 20 or 30 years, your DNA will be in the system. If you have a family member that has been incarcerated or submitting their DNA to a testing company, your DNA is pretty much in the system as well.

    On the other hand, as Jon points out, the clearance rate--on average across the nation--is about 50%, with some cities (Oakland being singled out) with much lower clearance rates. As the article continues, many cities have gamed the system as to their "clearance rates" and if you look at arrest rates, the number is much lower:

The arrest rate per murder if is often a better indicator of how police departments are actually doing at holding killers accountable. Prof. Cook's research, for example, shows that from 2016 to 2020 the percentage of murders in Chicago with any type of weapon resulting in at least one arrest was just 33%. And in Durham, North Carolina, between 2017 and 2021 just 41% of gun homicide cases resulted in at least one arrest.

But also note that one of the reasons emphasized in the article for low arrest rates is the fear of witnesses to come forward: fear of the police, fear of retaliation. That won't work in your favor as a law-abiding citizen. No witness is going to be afraid of a law-abiding white guy or his family seeking vengeance if the witness talks to the police.

• Jon links to an article from Dry Fire Training Cards (which has a video) on "parrying in a gunfight" where the two combatants were so close together than the actually banged the two firearms together. The real issue is how often you might be in close confines with innocents all about: "3D chess with a gun with loved ones and innocents in almost every direction." Check it out.
• A final point that I liked because, again, I have a bias: I think size and momentum is often undervalued when considering ammunition performance. Jon writes about "If you're going to get in a fight, you might as well throw the biggest rock that you can accurately throw."  

     So the engineering problem is to maximize the bullet mass, while minimizing the bullet velocity, while maximizing the pistol mass; with the goal of maximizing the bullet penetration (a function of mass, shape, speed, etc.) and minimizing the felt recoil (pistol velocity when the bullet exits the muzzle).  Oooooohhh, a multi-variable calculus problem.  

     I'm not the first one to do these calculations.  John Browning did them.  And he concluded 230 grains, 850 feet per second, (45 ACP).  He made the pistol as heavy as he could while still being small enough for just about any soldier to grip and manipulate (model 1911 with steel frame).   

 There is a lot more in Jon's newsletter, so be sure to check it out.