Jon Low has posted a new Defensive Pistolcraft newsletter with lots of links and commentary. Jon starts with mindset, because if you don't have the proper mindset, your training and weapons will be useless. Criminals also have a mindset and Jon links to an article from Offgrid Magazine that discusses criminals and their mindset. But we are not criminals, and so Jon moves on to link to an article on what should be your mindset by Paul Markel ("Right Now, Someone Somewhere in the World is Training to Kill You") and quotes a passage on the importance of never allowing cowards (e.g., politicians and bureaucrats) disarm you. Markel rightly points out that "Israel paid a horrific price on October 7th of 2023 for their restrictive gun laws. Disarmed citizens and 'gun-free' zones are killing fields for monsters." I also liked this quote from Tim Larkin: "Violence doesn't prevent violence. It only stops the other guy from hurting you."
I also appreciate that Jon cited to my recent post on intent involving Amber Guyger, a police officer that mistook another person's apartment for her own, entered said apartment and shot the occupant dead. One of the facts that sunk her was an admission that she intended on killing the man that lived there. Jon comments:
NEVER say anything to the responding officers, investigating officers, or prosecutors. Let your attorney deliver your written statement saying that you were attempting "to stop the attack". Killing the bad guy never entered your mind. You weren't trying to kill anybody. You were just trying to "stop the attack". Intent matters!
If you're so stupid that you say that you intended to kill the bad guy, you will end up convicted, imprisoned, and denied parole. Be smart, keep your mouth shut.
If you're on the witness stand testifying under oath, your statement should be " I shot him to stop his attack." There is no other reason to shoot. There is no other desired outcome. There is no other intent. Guyger's attorneys did not explain this to Guyger. So she ran her mouth about intending to kill Jean and got convicted, imprisoned, and denied parole.
He has more to add, so be sure to read the whole thing.
Jon links to a video, "The Secret to Mastering the Handgun" by Silverado Shooting Academy, which has some good tips and information on handgun shooting. Check out it and the other links on training.
Jon relates that while driving to a training conference, he was passed at high speed by a small sports car closely followed by a Highway Patrol vehicle with its lights and siren going.
A few minutes later I passed the scene of the "stop". The State Troopers were putting away the spike strips. The fire department was hosing down the wreckage.
Upon hitting the spikes, which probably blew out his tires, the driver of the sports car lost control and ended up off the road to the right in a fiery crumpled wreck.
If you're going to speed in a high performance car and survive spikes blowing out your tires, you've got to have taken the training and practiced. Otherwise, you're dead.
Similarly for self-defense. Shooting tight groups on the range, ain't the same as fighting for your life to make space and time to get to your pistol. Or, fighting to take the other guy's pistol. Or, gouging his eyes and hanging on to his skull to crack his skull on the ground. As Tim Larkin says, the ground is the best impact weapon and it is always available. [and gravity is always helping you -- Jon Low] [Gouging the enemy's eye and immediately pulling your fingers out of his eye sockets is sub-optimal. Rather, you should gouge deep through his eyes into his brain and grab hold of his skull from the inside. (Ya, his bones might cut your fingers, but so what? Remember the context.) Control his head and his body will follow. This is a much better grip than grabbing his hair, which might not be there. -- Jon Low]
And another bit of advice from Jon: "... Springfield Armory XD magazine springs are junk, replace with Wolff springs." The issue he had was that the springs were not pushing the rounds up as fast the pistol was cycling, resulting in misfeeds and damaged cases. I had a similar problem once with an AR that I solved by installing a heavier buffer to slow the cycling.
The guy sitting in his living room watching tv and eating a bowl of ice cream was attacking Guyger? You think that's what she should have said?
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