Happy Birthday!
Happy Birthday, Mrs. Newbie. I love you very much.
Quote of the day
The Quote of the Day comes from Lyle blogging at Joe Huffman’s place:
Make no mistake. We’re being offered what amounts to a plea deal. Either we take the deal (vote Republican) or we’re sentenced to another four years with a Democrat in office.
I’ve been looking for a way to put that for a while. Well done, sir.
Another reason we need to pass HR 822
Female medical student from Tennessee sees “No guns allowed” sign at the 9/11 memorial, asks where she can check her gun. Bloomberg’s minions arrest her. Full story here.
I think issues like this are going to become more and more common as concealed carry becomes normalized. Folks who have entered the gun culture in its modern, normalized state don’t even think about places where gun rights are restricted. NY recognizes her drivers license…why not her handgun license.
Oh, and a correction for the original author:
Mayor Bloomberg has made out-of-state guns one of his major issues. It was an out-of-state gun that recently killed police officer Peter Figoski.”
This should read:
Mayor Bloomberg has made out-of-state guns one of his major issues. It was an
out-of-state gunmurdering scumbag that recently killed police officer Peter Figoski.
Be on the lookout
From Crime in Charlotte. Panthers Linebacker Kion Wilson has had some guns stolen from his truck in a Best Buy parking lot. It looks like it is the one across from Northlake Mall.
Wilson reported that his Glock 23, FN Five-Seven, Smith & Wesson Bodyguard 380 and Mossberg 12 gauge shotgun were all taken from his truck.
More on midset
I wanted to spend a little more time on mindset and reactions, as a follow on to my earlier post, from a slightly different angle.
I reached my personal epiphany some years ago that there were threats in this world that could not be reasoned with. It began on 9/11, and solidified when I became a dad. I realized that I was responsible for this little girl, and that I needed to protect her. Part of protecting her is keeping her safe from physical threats, but part of protecting her means making sure that she has a dad in her life. So, I have an obligation to keep myself safe. Knowing that there are some threats that cannot be scared, cannot be deterred, cannot be reasoned with, it follows that I have to have the means to stop the threat right now. And I choose the tool that is best able to do that, the firearm.
I’ve spent a bit of time researching what happens psychologically to people who are involved in critical situations. I’ve read Lt. Col. Dave Grossman’s work, Mas Ayoob’s work, John Boyd’s work, and a host of others. I’ve spent a lot of time learning how the brain reacts to stress. For example, did you know that lots of people who drown scuba diving in caves pull out their own regulators? It seems that we have a hard wired panic response to clear our airways, even if that will kill us.
I bring all this up to point out the following: there is a hell of a lot of ink and pixels spilled in the gunnieverse spilled over rational self-defense decisions. The 9mm vs .45 caliber wars are the Platonic ideal of this. Which gun, which caliber, which holster, isosceles or Weaver…we spend a lot of time on these decisions, partly because its fun, and partly because its something we can control in what we all know is going to be an out of control situation. There is also a fair bit of what I’ll call “tactical bullshit”: shallow thinking by people who don’t understand the problem.
The problem with all of these decisions and thinking is that it biases us to think that a gunfight is going to be like we talk about it on the Internet. Namely: I recognize the threat, and I do this, and he does this, and then I do this, and then he does this, and then something happens, and then I do this again, and then the bad guy is down and victory lap. This mental model is broken because it ignores the velocity of the event. You aren’t going to have time to think, or to plan. The right mental model is a car accident. You will hopefully see it coming, and have time to maybe take one action to save your life. (As an aside, if you have ever taken Defensive Driving, it’s nothing more than Col. Coopers awareness scale applied to driving.)
I’ve never been in a gunfight, and God willing I never will be, but I’ve gone through force on force training, and I’ve observed this effect in myself. During Gunsite 350, we did a force on force drill with Simunition guns. I’ve written about the experience here. What was interesting to me is how surprising the whole thing was. Now, keep in mind, I was at a gun school. I had just suited up in protective gear, had a safety briefing, and was being led into a shoot house, were I had been told that something was going to happen. And yet, when the scenario started, I stood there surprised, not knowing what to do. And while I did an OK job, I made a bunch of mistakes. That’s ok…that’s why we train. But I got an insight into how the brain reacts.
Whatever your self defense strategy is, make sure you are realistic about how you are going to be able to react. Don’t over think the problem.
Welcome, Citizen!
Ian Harrison, the winner of Top Shot season one, has become a US citizen, and has written a very thoughtful article about how and why.
Go wish Ian well. We need more like him.
H/T to JayG
We don’t carry guns to scare people
Joe points to this article about a man that was busted with a firearm in a TSA line, and the TSA agent who shot himself trying to clear the gun. I’m not going to comment about the stupidity of the TSA, which you might expect, but on the stupidity of the passenger. Not for bringing the gun. I have to methodically search every pocket of my bags when I fly, on the off chance that I stuck a mag somewhere and forgot about it, so I can see how this might happen. But for this gem:
He told police that he “travels to Florida often on business and keeps the weapon on him for protection, not to kill anyone but in an attempt to scare people off,” the report said.
Folks, you know the old gun banner canard “they will just take it and use it against you?” That is true in only one circumstance: when you are foolish enough to carry a gun without the intent to use it. We don’t carry guns to scare people. And we certainly don’t draw a gun to scare people. We draw a gun because we need to use that tool to save our life, or the life of someone else.
If you aren’t at the point, mentally and emotionally, that you could shoot someone to stop them from killing or maiming yourself or a loved one, then no harm, no foul. But don’t bring a firearm to the situation without the will to use it.
One final note: carrying a gun to frighten attackers assumes that all attackers can be frightened. What if you encounter someone who isn’t afraid of you and your gun?
Watching the sausage get made
One of the coolest things about living in the future is that I can sit here in my office watching the proceedings of the House Judiciary committee. I get to see the answers to each question, watch body language, and so on. And I don’t have to slog my way through “layers of editorial oversight” to see what actually happened.
And one of the coolest things about being well informed is that I can spot a lie a mile away. It’s simply amazing how much posturing and bullshit these guys go through.
How the NICS system works
In doing some research for responding to posts from Weer’d and JayG, I wanted to understand exactly how the NICS system works. After all, if the Brady Bunch are going to claim that the data is wrong, it may make sense to understand where the data comes from.
The NICS system was established under the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act in 1993. At a high level, and stripped of legalese, it requires all FFLs to contact the FBI, supply information about the purchaser, and receive a receive a response from the FBI. The FBI, specifically the Criminal Justice Information Services dividion, uses the information supplied by the FFL to conduct a search of certain records, and to determine if the purchaser is a prohibited person under the Federal definition. The FBI then responds to the FFL with one of three responses: PROCEED, DENY, or DELAY.
The FFL supplies the demographic information entered on the 4473 (Name, place of birth, height, weight, gender, race, birth date, and optionally SSN and UPIN (more on that later). The FBI will use this data to search some specific databases: the National Crime Information Center (NCIC), the Interstate Identification Index (III), and the NICS Index. From the FBI’s site:
These databases are the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) which contains information on wanted persons and protection orders; the Interstate Identification Index (III) which contains criminal history records; and the NICS Index which contains the names of prohibited persons as defined in the Gun Control Act of 1968. The NICS Index includes individuals who have been determined to be federally prohibited from possessing a firearm and the disqualifying information may not be available through the NCIC or III systems.
Also, a search of the applicable databases of the Department of Homeland Security’s U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is conducted on all non-U.S. citizens.
After the record search is conducted, if there are no hits in any of these systems, the FBI will tell the dealer to PROCEED: they are cleared to issue the firearm. If there is a positive hit (Ima Bad Guy is in the NICS, SSNs and date of birth and place of birth match) then the dealer is instructed to DENY the sale. The dealer is given a transaction number, and they give the person denied a pamphlet explaining how they can call the FBI to find out why the sale was denied.
NICS can also respond with DELAY. Under a DELAY, the NICS was not able to determine whether or not the purchaser was a prohibited person. This could be because the computers were down, or it because while there was a record for “Ima Bad Guy” in the NICS, this purchaser is “Ima Nota Bad Guy” and NICS needs to do some more research. If the purchase is DELAYed, then then NICS has three business days to get back to the dealer with either a PROCEED or a DENY. If the dealer does not receive a DENY within that time, they are not prohibited from transferring the firearm.
In any case, the FBI is not allowed to keep records of who they approved. The FFL is issued a transaction number that goes on the 4473, and it is only the transaction number that is retained. All demographic data is supposed to be deleted after 48 hours.
It’s also important to note that under Federal law, the only time that the NICS system can be accessed is when an FFL is going to transfer a firearm. An FFL cannot, for example, call in with the data of a new employee he is thinking of hiring in order to check for a NICS hit. It would likewise be illegal for an FFL to call in fake requests to pad the NICS numbers. Again, from the FBI:
Access to the NICS
Access to the NICS is restricted to the following three circumstances:
- An FFL can initiate a background check only in connection with a proposed firearm transfer as required by the Brady Act and pursuant to 18, U.S.C., § 922(t)(1).
- Pursuant to Title 28, Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.), Section 25.6(j)(i), to provide information to local, state, or federal criminal justice agencies only in connection with the issuance of a firearm-related or an explosives-related permit or license.
- Title 28 C.F.R. §25.6(j)(2) permits the NICS to respond to inquiries by the ATF in connection with a civil or criminal law enforcement activity relating to the Gun Control Act of 1968 or the National Firearms Act.
You may see this material again.
What happens when you are poor “Ima Nota Bad Guy” and you get denied, even though it is your brother “Ima Bad Guy” who robbed that bank and went away for all those years? The FBI has an appeals process that you can use to challenge either a DELAY or DENY. In both cases, it involves submitting fingerprints to prove that you are not the person that they think you are. You may then be issued a Unique Personal Identification Number (UPIN) that you can enter on the 4473 when you purchase. This will alert the NICS examiner that you have an additional record, called a Voluntary Appeal File, that contains your records, that the examiner may consult before issuing the disposition.
So far, we have explained the “what”, but not the “how.” How does the individual FFL consult the NICS? Each state maintains it’s own option regarding how they want dealers in their state to consult the NICS system. The state can agree to become the Point of Contact (POC) for firearms transactions in their state, in which case the dealer will contact the agency designated by that state for NICS checks, for example the state police. Alternatively, the state can have the dealers contact the FBI directly. Finally, a state can adopt a hybrid model, where they go to the state police for Handguns, but to the FBI for long guns, for example.
There is one last wrinkle: if you live in a state that conducts a search of the above records when they issue a permit, and if the permit is valid for 5 years or less, then the permit can be considered a Permanent Brady Permit. In this case, you can purchase a firearm without any NICS check at all. As long as your permit is valid, you can show that permit in lieu of a NICS check.
The map below shows which states fit within which bucket as of this writing. (You can find the current map here.) The underlined states have at least one permit that is a permanent Brady permit.
Now that we know where the data comes from, what can we conclude from it?
Scores are up
From my IDPA match. Not too bad…I did middle of the pack. Which was my goal.
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Do your part!
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