Weekend Reading #50

 Some longer and more involved reading for weekend:

•  Jon Low has posted a new Defensive Pistolcraft newsletter. For those of you doing homeschooling or wanting additional resources for university/college courses, he begins by providing a link to OpenStax which has educational resources. Some additional items:
• He includes an email from Jeff L. Gonzales on situations you might encounter if you are caught up in an active shooter situation and valid responses to each. 
• Some points from Joe Shahoud on why you need indoor cameras in addition to or before investing in outdoor security cameras for your home. It all comes down to better quality images, more likely to capture the criminals' face, and better information on what the criminals took from your house.
• Some words of advice for armed defenders: "It's really important to obey the instructions of Law Enforcement Officers.  It's really important to never reach for a gun while being questioned by LEOs.  It really important to never point a gun at LEOs."
• If you have an opportunity to work on or improve your church's security, Jon has linked to several articles on the issue (a few are grouped together, but there are also others in different parts of the newsletter so do a word search for "church"). He also includes articles on how the Jewish community has organized volunteer defense forces for synagogues and schools. We have admitted too many Muslims willing to engage in violence and persecution; the Left is becoming more violent. We've seen trans killers target Christian schools. The persecution will only get worse. 
• Jon includes the following quote from Massad Ayoob: "Ineffective and potentially dangerous, point shooting should be avoided at all costs and aimed fire employed in any lethal-force scenario." Absolutes are rarely correct all of the time. Point shooting was taught and practiced for a long time because most handguns had poor sights that were slow and hard to use in the daytime, let alone in the dark. But it took a lot of training and practice to be any good at much more than arm's reach. We have much better sights (or even red dots now) so it much better to use those sights. Nevertheless, we can't assume that just because shooters in the past did something different from today that they were being stupid about it. 
• I'm not the only with some critique of some points made by Ayood, because Jon explains why Ayood is wrong about the "crush grip" on a handgun: basically, that most people don't have sufficient grip strength or endurance to use a crushing grip. Jon states that shooters "must push with the firing side hand and pull with the support side hand.  This means, they must use the Chapman modification of the Weaver position, because you can't get this push pull effect with the isosceles position." Ayoob selected the isosceles stance because it was easy to teach to police officers. It also has the advantage of centering body armor toward a potential threat. But as noted, it has its issues. My opinion on the "crush grip" is that it is mostly needed when a firearm doesn't fit your hand very well and so you must make up for the poor fit by an excessively strong grip. It was the solution to my issues with my Glock 43X and is probably the reason why Glocks have a reputation for shooting low and to the left for right handed shooters. The interchangeable backstraps can help if your Glock has that option. But it is the reason that I detest handguns with a straight backstrap--they don't fit my hands.  
• Another good tip:

     Farnam teaches to turn around in a circle when scanning.  After some study and experimentation, I have concluded that this technique is in fact better than the quick check that we learned at Front Sight, which was to turn to the right until you can see behind yourself and then turn to the left until you can see behind yourself without moving your feet.  Because if you have limited range of motion, you can miss several azimuthal degrees behind you.  You may have limited range of motion and not know it, especially in high stress situations.  

     Rotating in a circle ensures you can see all the way around yourself.  Though it does require you to move your feet.   

 I'm okay with moving the feet. Being rooted to one spot can get you killed. 

•  An a link to "LVNR (Lateral Vascular Neck Restraint)" by John Farnam. Basically, how to choke out someone. 
• And on the same topic of unarmed defense, Jon has summarized comments in an lengthy email from  Tim Larkin on quickly disabling an opponent.

There is a lot more, so check it out.  

•  Next up, Greg Ellifritz at Active Response Training has a new "Weekend Knowledge Dump". Some notable links:
• "how to tell if men will attack you on the street." This is by a woman who Ellifritz describes as " a social scientist, researcher, and sex worker" where she lists some things she looks for to gauge whether the area where she is walking is generally safe. This is obviously directed toward women readers, but the points she raises are generally applicable to men as well.
• "Turn Practice Into Performance: A Practical Guide to Shot Timers." A guide to how to use a shot timer as part of your practice and training.
• Speaking of practice: "Your practice is producing rehearsal actors, not competitors." As Greg notes, this article is intended for sports generally but has application to shooting. Basically, it warns of building skill in practicing a drill because the drill does not necessarily transfer to real life (in the context of the article, an actual game meet or tournament; but in our context, a defensive encounter on the street). It has tips on improving your practice. 
• "INTEGRATED COMBATIVES | Why You Should Always Bring a Knife to a Gunfight." An article about ... you guessed it ... integrating knives into your defensive gun training. 
• "What is the Perfect Height Red Dot Mount?" Some advice on how high to mount an optic if you are primarily going to be shooting offhand (i.e., standing) or if using night vision goggles.  
• "Organized Street Crime in Plain Sight". This is a piece by a guy who ran down a thief who had broken the window of an SUV to steal some stuff. A good way to get stabbed, but the author lucked out. He chased the thief down and recovered the property. The 911 operator told him to let the guy go, so he did so, but still trailed the thief to see what happened. The next bit I found interesting:

... But we kept following from a distance so we could continue updating 911 with his location. And once I was no longer right on top of him, the thief stopped sprinting and started operating. That is the part most people do not understand. People imagine smash-and-grabs as chaotic, impulsive crimes, one desperate guy, one reckless decision, one lucky escape. What I witnessed was not chaos. It was choreography. He took off his shoes. Took off his shirt. Cut his jeans into shorts. Within thirty seconds, he looked like a different person. That is not panic. That is a practiced move. That is someone who has done this enough times to have a system.

But that is where things started to get dicey because the thief was not working alone: an enforcer showed up and threatened the author and his friend and told them to stop following; moments later, two seemingly homeless people threw a blanket over the thief; then after calling 911 again to give an update, two other people showed up and attacked them and tried to knock the phone out of their hands; and when the thief suddenly started running again, 5 people surrounded him in order for him to blend in. It reminds me of a similar incident several years ago in Seattle with a guy similarly trying to run down a thief who had stolen a laptop from a car and had a similar series of people intervene and interfere until the thief finally hopped into a vehicle and was whisked away. 

 There is more, so read the whole thing.