Warming to concealed carry
BorePatch has a story up about his second carry experience. As a followon, Weer’d Beard put up a guide to easing into concealed carry.
When I first started carrying, I too was a little anxious about putting a live round under the chamber. I carried for a few weeks, off and on, and I didn’t chamber a round until I was really comfortable. I think this is a two-fold reaction. First, there is the concern about accidental discharge. But there is a second psychology of “I’m really doing this” that takes some getting used to.
Weer’d does an excellent job of laying out a good process. I’ll only add a few things.
- +1 on the holster and belt. Your belt should be a specially made gun belt, and your holster should be made for your gun. $15 gun show specials don’t count here. A good quality belt and holster cost about $100-$150 or so. I’ve heard good things about Dragon Leatherworks. If you tend to Kydex and Nylon, I can’t recommend the Blade-Tech SRB and The Wilderness Instructor Belt enough.
- If you are worried about carrying cocked and locked, try this. UNLOAD your 1911. Cock the hammer. Place the gun in your holster. Put the gun and holster in a few pillowcases. Place the package in your dryer. Run the dryer for 5-10 mins (preferably on the air only setting). Open the pillowcases. Note the hammer is still cocked, and the safety is still on. If that treatment didn’t render the gun unsafe, nothing you are going to do in your daily movements is going to knock the safety off, either.
Stay safe, folks. And carry your guns. Remember the words of the world’s most dangerous librarian:
“Carry your gun – it’s a lighter burden than regret.”
Armed Citizen’s Legal Defense Network
If you carry a gun for self-defense, you realize that there may be a time when you have to use your gun in self defense. Unfortunately, even if you do everything right, you might find yourself on the wrong end of a prosecution.
Marty Hayes, of the Firearms Academy of Seattle, has started an organization to help firearms owners with the legal aspects of armed self defense. From the Armed Citizen’s Legal Defense Network:
The Network’s goal is to prevent miscarriages of justice through—
- Educating members about the legalities of using deadly force for self defense and how to interact with the criminal justice system after a shooting.
- An initial $5,000 fee deposit paid to the member’s attorney by the Network if the member has been involved in a self-defense incident. The fee deposit gets the legal defense immediately underway, with representation during questioning, and arranging for an independent investigation of the incident.
- Network members are also eligible for additional grants of financial assistance from a separate non-profit foundation if they face unmeritorious prosecution or civil action after a self-defense incident occurring during their period of membership.
- The Network publishes a monthly journal online with columns and features focused on topics of interest to armed citizens. Click here for links to the latest edition as well as an archive of earlier journals, which are delivered as PDFs.
- Creating a nationwide network of attorneys and legal experts which the member can draw upon in the event of a self-defense shooting.
Marty, in addition to being a firearms instructor, is a JD (who knew?). He’s authored a whitepaper, “What Every Gun Owner Needs to Know About Self-Defense Law”, available here.
Finally, the Network publishes a journal dedicated to the subject of legal self-defense. It can be found here.
I view the network in the same vein that I do AAA. I’m an AAA member, if for no other reason, because when I’m stranded on a strange road in the middle of the night, I’ve got one number to call. I think the network provides a log more benefits than just that single contact point, but if I ever find myself in a ad situation, I’d like to have a vetted pool of legal counsel to choose from.
I’ve added a link to the network in the Handy Dandy Sidebar.
Is it tyranny yet?
It is tyranny when the government mandates the water pressure for your toilet?
How about when it mandates low-flow for number one?
How long until it is a crime to use a number two flush for a number one?
Keep your laws off my toilet!
The right to bear arms?
Weer’d has a good post up on the right to *bear* arms as opposed to keep them.
I’d agree with Weer’d, the momentum is in our favor. I’d say that permitless carry is a ways off, but that it will build slowly over the next few years as more and more states allow it, much like the concealed carry movement took off in the 90′s.
In my mind the legal framework for what we have so far in Heller and McDonald is the right to keep, not necessarily to bear. If you look at the lawsuits that the SAF and Alan Gura have filed, they all have to do more carefully define when we can keep our arms. In particular, can we keep them without a permit, and can we keep them during a state of emergency. But nothing yet on when we can bear them.
Constitutional permitless carry rests on a few things:
- That the phrase “keep and bear” means carry.
- That the right includes carry in public.
- That a permitting process is an undue burden on the exercise of that right
IANAL, but my belief is that we have good support for the first two in the court as it is constituted now. I think the last one is going to be tough for the court to swallow.
On unsustainable pensions
An article on CNBC highlights the difficulties municipalities are going to have with their pension systems.
Big US cities could be squeezed by unfunded public pensions as they and counties face a $574 billion funding gap, a study to be released on Tuesday shows.
The gap at the municipal level would be in addition to $3,000 billion in unfunded liabilities already estimated for state-run pensions, according to research from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and the University of Rochester.
“What is yet to be seen is how this burden will be distributed between state and local governments and whether the federal government will be called upon for bail-outs,” said Joshua Rauh of the Kellogg School.
I’ve believed for a while now that the defined-benefit pension system is simply unsustainable. The math tells us that we are beginning a demographic shift in which we are going to have more retirees than workers. The burdens of these pension systems will shift more and more onto the current workers. But the article makes a fundamental error:
Based on his estimates, which use US Treasuries as the benchmark, each household already owes an average of $14,165 to current and former municipal public employees in the 50 cities and counties studied.
In New York City, San Francisco and Boston the total is more than $30,000 a household and, in Chicago, it tops $40,000.
This is not correct. The households have no obligation whatsoever to anyone. The local governments do. They can pass that obligation onto the households in the form of taxes. But the household has the option to say “Screw you guys, I’m going home” and move to greener – and less taxed – pastures. Technology makes movement even easier. I can do my job from anywhere I can get to an airport and get broadband internet access.
What will happen when cities like New York and Chicago, which are already loosing residents, suddenly find themselves having to pay higher and higher pension obligations with a smaller and smaller tax base? How long can they survive before everyone pulls out?
An economic metaphor
This week I hear CT senatorial candidate Richard Blumenthal expound on job creation:
The more and more I hear these jokers talking about economics, I think of this scene from the Simpsons:
Guns and Gear
If anyone catches this week’s “Guns and Gear” on the Versus network, you will notice a very good looking bunch of shooters on the line at Gunsite. Tom Gresham was there filming when I took my 250 class, and they used footage of one of our drills for the cutscene.
Oddly enough, I was supposed to be back there this week for 350, but finances and lack of vacation got in the way. But I’ll be back in April for 350. I can’t wait.
From the mouths of babes
I was watching the video that Weer’d linked to featuring a young woman demonstrating various holster options. The sprog sat in rapt attention for 9 minutes then turned to me. “Dad,” she said, “mostly boys shoot, not girls, right?”
“Ummm…that’s probably true, hon. But there are lots of great women shooters. You met Breda, remember? And your cousin Morrigan shoots.”
She looks thoughtful. “Dad, when I grow up, I don’t think I can conceal any of my guns like that.”
I should point out that V’s guns consist of a single shot .22 and an AR-15 with yellow furniture.
“Probably not, kiddo. But when the time comes, I’m sure we can get you something you can conceal.”
“OK.”
Gotta start them early!
It begins
Lawdog links to a story of insurance companies taking their balls and going home.
I made rather the same point, about what happens when you make companies sell products that they can’t make money on. They take their balls and go home.
More fun with Gpal
From the castboolits forum. A new member, ihategpal joins the forum. Talks about how much he hates gpal…then magically *POOF* within 24 hours his money appears and all is forgiven!
Except….his profile says he is from New York, but his IP address is from California. And seems to be coming from the same location as GPalVP. My, that’s odd.
Nice try, Ben. Now, if everything is above board, and everyone is being paid…why do you have to lie?
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Do your part!
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