Hell in a Handbasket

I was at the movie theater earlier today. The lights dimmed, people turned off their cell phones, and the coming attractions reel started to roll.

Right in the middle of the short commercials advertising movies about cunning detectives and robots that people use to live their lives, was something altogether different. It was instructions on how to get out if there is an emergency. As well as I can remember, it went something like this....

"Make your way to the exits with the lit white signs. The exits marked by the white signs are the quickest way to leave the theater. As soon as you exit the building, get as far away from the theater as you can."

That sounds like good advice.

Just as an aside, I have been going to movies for 40 years and have never seen anything like this before. Even back during the Cold War, when we were all convinced that the Russians were going to drop the sky down on us some bright and sunny day, they didn't show "How To Run Away" instructions before the feature rolled.

I first saw this message played during the trailers a few months ago, but nothing since. I talked to the manager back then, asking why they were suddenly interested in making sure their customers knew how to flee if something bad happens. She reacted with extreme puzzlement, said that she knew nothing about it, and that she hadn't seen the reel herself.

Another conversation with her today elicited no more info. A number of people have approached her and asked about the message, which means a few more than just me has noticed. But she has heard nothing from the home office, and the preview reel is prepackaged from corporate. Not only does the individual theater staff have no say in the content, but they also know jack all about it unless they sit down and watch it with the customers.

I've tried to contact the main office, but so far no go. They are only interested in speaking to reporters employed by mainstream media outlets. Bloggers and customers should save the effort.

Oddly enough, there was a copyright mark down in the lower right corner of the screen during the warning reel. The content was copyrighted AMC Theaters, not the dept. of Homeland Security or any other government agency. This is something that the theater chain wants to make sure that their customers know how to do.

There is this phrase from the warning reel that keeps running through my head. "Once you exit the building, get as far away from the theater as you can." Have movie theaters in the US been exploding without me hearing about it?

Private citizens here in the United States don't get licenses to carry concealed firearms from the Federal government. Instead, each state has to pass their own laws.

My home state of Ohio can't be characterized as being the most restrictive when it comes to CCW, but the legislature here has seen fit to throw in a few odd rules that has self defense advocates scratching their heads. One of the most puzzling has to be the ban on carrying firearms inside businesses that serve alcohol for consumption on the premises.

The reason why this is so difficult to understand is that there is already a 35-year-old law on the books that makes it a crime to even possess a firearm if you are drunk. What justification would there be in prohibiting people from carrying their guns into places that serve liquor, just as long as they don't drink themselves?

The only thing that springs to mind is that someone, somewhere, figures that the booze will just jump off the table and worm itself down the nearest throat. If there is alcohol to be had, then people must abuse! Sort of like the old Temperance Movement never died out.

I'm discussing this because fellow Ohio dweller Huey has posted a thoughtful essay. Although being very clear that he will always follow the law, Huey also points out that not every CCW license holder is as concerned with the niceties as he is. There might just be a few that decide to quietly flaunt the law since self defense is such an important issue. Better to be armed in case something happens, they think, instead of standing helplessly by while good people are killed in front of you because you aren't armed.

What is my opinion on this? When faced with a quandry like this, I think of starving children.

Dan is pretty organized, the result of his engineer training no doubt.

Case in point is this post. He is going to go to the range to compare the noise level coming from a revolver and an autoloader, and he has generated some really spiffy forms to record the data.

What would I have done in Dan's place? Scrawl the numbers down on a fast food wrapper I would have dug out of my car, with a crayon from the kid's meal I got because one of my students gave me a coupon for a freebie. Lucky thing I'm not involved in any scientific field or else we'd all still be living in huts made out of sticks and cow dung.

Click on over and give the forms a gander. If you have any minor suggestions to make, then you had better get cracking. The test is just two days away!

Perhaps related in some small way to the post below, Jeff brings us the sad tale of arrest in Japan.

The headline, from a British newspaper, reads "The most violent country in Europe: Britain is also worse than South Africa and U.S."

I might not be directly discussing the article, but both Kevin and Firehand aren't shy about voicing their own opinions.

Invesp Consulting, an E-commerce company, has ranked the top 25 gunblogs on the Internet. As of this writing, Hell in a Handbasket is in the top ten.

My first impulse was to dismiss this news out of hand. Their methodology must be wrong! There is no way that my unworthy scribblings garner more than a fraction of the attention that other, more insightful blogs enjoy.

But it seems that I'm wrong about that.

Few of the other gunblogs will put up a link to my content, which is certainly reasonable and proper. I discuss the bare bones basics, issues that the authors of the other blogs have long since mastered. No reason to bring attention to something that most shooting enthusiasts would consider to be boring. If the only criteria was popularity based on how many people talk about my posts on their own blogs, then I would be extremely obscure.

But this blog rises above most of the rest in unique monthly visitors, and the number of RSS feeds from readers who want to have updates to my posts. There are a lot of people coming on by to see what is new, and a lot of people want to have the new stuff delivered to their Email trays every day.

So I know why this blog rates one of the top slots. It is because of my readers! You guys are to blame!

I don't know what I'm doing to keep you happy, but I'll try my best to keep it up. My thinking has always been that I'd attract the new shooters and those interested in self defense, people just starting out, and then they'd leave for authors that covered the subject in more depth. For some unknown reason, it appears that a lot of you keep coming back for more.

I just hope that you don't come to your senses. If that happens, then Hell in a Handbasket is doomed for the obscurity that it no doubt deserves.

Thank you! I value each and every one of my readers.

The headline reads "Vegetarian diet 'weakens bones'".

Well, no duh. Makes people into flakes who won't shut up about how morally superior they are to boot.

UPDATE
Milo added a visual aid to the lesson.

Dan made a statement a few days ago, saying that it seemed to him that his revolvers made more noise than his autoloaders.

I said that I couldn't say for sure one way or another, because I didn't own a revolver that could use ammo for an autoloader, and none of my autoloaders would work with the ammo from my revolvers. Since I couldn't compare one specific caliber fired from both a revolver and auto, there was no way to tell.

So Dan decided to go all scientifical on us. He borrowed some equipment from work to measure the noise produced when a gun is fired, and he owns both a revolver and an autoloader that will fire the .44 Magnum cartridge.

It looks to me that he has it set up to produce a fair test without going overboard on time or money. Click on that last link and take a look. I'm sure an will listen if you have an idea for a minor tweak, but keep in mind that .44 Magnum ammo is expensive! The sample size might be small, but it should provide a pretty good idea of what we need to know.

I have mentioned before that my main hobby is running role playing games, and that many people seem to think that I do a pretty good job.

One of the reasons why the players have so much fun is that I set up a mystery that they can not only solve, but also take part in. The villains of the story always have an agenda of some kind, usually a magical ritual that will cause untold destruction and misery. The bad guys need to collect special materials for the spell, they need a place to perform their unholy mass, and they have a timetable that they must follow to ensure success.

The players are inserted in the story when they become aware that something is up. This usually comes about when the villains start collecting their special materials, such as kidnapping children that were only born during a lunar eclipse. Clues left at the crime scene, maybe even a captured cultist that can be interrogated, leads to a string of information that eventually reveals what the villains are up to.

At this point the players must decide what they want to do to disrupt the plans of the bad guys. Maybe they will kidnap the last of the lunar eclipse children in the city themselves, and hold them safe until after the ritual's deadline. Or they could figure out where the ritual needs to take place, on a high place with an unobstructed view of the horizon say, and ambush the cultists.

Or they could just find out where the kidnapped children are being held, and notify the police. But that wouldn't be any fun.

The main point is that I set up the scenario, and then let the players explore and make decisions on their own. As long as they don't do anything too outrageous, like get involved in gunfights with the cultists in front of the local SWAT HQ, then they should be able to get away with it.

You do need to put obstacles in their way, of course. The villains are desperate to keep on course, and they will do what they can to kill the meddling fools that want to stop the ritual. The GM wins if the bad guys manage to pull off their vile task in the face of the opposition. If the players drop their names too many times, the cultists might just end up ambushing them!

John has found a leather holster that I might just be interested in trying out.

Everyone needs a way to relax. I like to run Role Playing Games (RPG's).

My favorite is Call of Cthulhu, where magical creatures that are so powerful they can destroy humanity without even noticing lie dreaming in ancient prisons. The players desperately try to keep crazed cultists and horrible monsters from bursting the bonds that keep our world sane. It is a dark and grim task, with death and madness waiting at the end of days.

Notice that telling stories about battling unkillable monsters is what I do to relax!

With my interest in history, I have enjoyed some great success in running the game set during the 1920's. The players really enjoy the detail I can bring to the table, and more than one has said that it helps bring the era alive for them.

Just about everyone who runs a character from that time period wants to have a Thompson submachine gun, equipped with 100 round drum magazines. After all, what would you like as your sidearm when the dead claw their way from the earth?

It has been pointed out by more than one person that Thompsons were available via mail order through the Sears catalogue in the 1920's, but they usually don't bother to mention the problems of ownership. They weighed about 18 pounds fully loaded, for example. They were very finely crafted, but this translated into a cost of $200 in 1920's money, which is about $5,000 in today's cash. ("You can buy a Model T and get around quicker than walking, or two of your party can have Thompsons for when you find the bad guys.") Most of the weight was in the back, which caused the guns to have an alarming muzzle climb. They were a real pain to reload, requiring a special tool to lock the bolt to the rear. And did I mention that they weighed 18 freakin' pounds fully loaded?

I came across this webpage, which discusses the joys and heartaches that come with owning one of these guns. Worth a read.

See the title above? I'm wondering how many Google searches it will attract from the prurient side of The Internet.

Let me say right now: The subject of this post isn't what you think.

As far as my regular readers are concerned, Dan left a very insightful comment on a previous post...

"Just a curiousity, but it seems to me that my revolvers...are louder than my autoloaders. First, does the same seem true to you?"

I can't really say for sure, since all of my handguns use dedicated ammo.

What I mean by the previous cryptic sentence is that almost all of my autoloaders use ammo designed specifically for autoloaders, and my revolvers use ammo specifically designed for revolvers. Unless I can load up some 9mm Parabellum in an autloader, listen to the sound, and then do the same in a revolver, I can't really make a judgement call. (Since James has a revolver that is chambered for the 9mm Parabellum cartridge, maybe he can tell us.)

I can tell the difference between cartridges based on the sound alone, though. A 9mm will have a harsher, flatter crack than the deeper bang of a .38, but that just comes from wasting all those years at the range. Anyone can do it if they spend enough money punching holes in targets.

"...where/how does the noise of discharge rank in the "what you should buy first conversation"? My experiences (limited that they be) with new shooters, especially those who are sitting on the firearms fence wearing their ears, are much more effected --and therefore worried about-- by the noise than the recoil or, actually, any other aspect of shooting."

I have noticed the same thing! And it seems to effect just about everyone. We naturally flinch if there is a loud noise.

While it might be true that we all flinch, some people are just better at controlling it than others. So far as a new student is concerned, I will start them off with a .22 Long Rifle and work our way up from there. A gradual increase in the noise of the report, until we determine what their individual comfort level happens to be. Sometimes the sky is the limit!

If it isn't possible for me to coach them, then I will suggest something non-Magnum.

Why do famous people get the big bucks to hock products on TV? Because average people, like you and me, respond to what we perceive as authority figures. If someone is richer, more famous, or prettier than we are, they must have the options and resources to pick and choose amongst the very best. If they say "I use this one!", then there has to be some reason for that.

Some of my students, if they had the money, would insist on buying guns for their own defense simply because they saw their favorite Hollywood action hero using one in a movie. After many long years, I have learned that it is best to simply praise their decision. ("Good choice! That is a fine gun you have there!") Just as long as it is a reliable firearm that is chambered for a suitably effective defensive cartridge, that is.

Matthew discusses this particular phenom in a recent post.

My first handgun was a 1911 Government Model that broke before I could fire off the 500th round of the "breaking in" period. (The front of the slide came completely free, sending the front sights, the barrel bushing, and the recoil spring flying downrange.) I had tried to educate myself on the ins and outs of handguns to avoid wasting time and money, and all the gun magazines pretty much said that the 1911 was the only real choice for defense.

Why was I buying a handgun? It was a long time ago, and I'm not sure I remember. (coughjealoushusbandcough)

Did anyone else make a purchase based on some form of celebrity endorsement?

A reader sent me an Email a few days ago, asking for advice on their first handgun. He had fired a few guns when a boy, but had not even held a gun in decades. He was planning on taking a safety course, but wanted to buy the gun first.

There were some conditions. The gun had to be suitable for home defense, but concealed carry was not in the cards. He wanted it to be something that his wife, who was very leery around guns, would find easy to use in case she came around to the shooting sports. And it had to be a gun that his teenage daughter could handle for when he introduced her to shooting.

I didn't hesitate. It seems that a medium frame revolver chambered for the .38 Special cartridge was just the thing.

There are more potent choices available for self defense, and I made mention of the fact. It is also best to first take a safety class, and then try out several different designs, manufacturers, and calibers of guns before making a final choice. But that is something his wife and daughter won't be able to take part in before the gun is purchased. I think the full sized .38 is the best choice in his circumstances.

Why do I think it is best in this situation? Ammo is widely available. Just about every gun manufacturer offers several different models to choose from. Revolvers are simple to operate and clean. The .38 Special cartridge has a proven track record for defensive use, yet isn't as intimidating as other calibers.

All of this means that the .38 is probably the best starter gun for the greatest number of people.

Craig Henry wrote a post that goes over the advantages of the .38 Special cartridge some years back. He is a fan of small 5-shot snub nosed revolvers that use this caliber, but I don't think those are suitable for a starting gun. Other than that, I agree with everything he says.

UPDATE
There has been some questions raised in the comments, wondering why I didn't suggest a .357 Magnum as a first gun. After all, they will still chamber and fire the venerable .38 Special, while having the capability to use the more potent Magnum cartridges. That way the gun is more versatile, and a better buy for the price. It is like getting two guns in one!

This is a really great suggestion, and it is one that I make to all of my students. But, in this case, my reader lived far enough away from me that I couldn't give them some personal instruction. Instead, the best I could do was exchange Emails. In a follow up message, I did explain how the .357 can still use the .38 ammo, but I wouldn't have mentioned it at all if my reader didn't write back. How come?

Mainly for the sake of simplicity.

It is extremely difficult for experienced shooters to appreciate just how bewildering our hobby is for someone looking in from the outside. Take the 9mm caliber as an example. How many different 9mm cartridges are there, anyway? 9mm Parabellum, 9mm Kurz, and the 9mm Makarov are very popular, and they are the only nines I am interested in because I use them all in my class. Three different nine millimeter cartridges, and none of them can be used in a gun that is chambered for one of the others. That's confusing right there.

But are there any more?

9mm Steyr, 9mm Largo, 9mm Ultra, just off the top of my head. I'm sure my readers can come up with a few others.

If I can, I'll have someone meet me at the range and they'd have a short safety/familiarity course. If we live too far apart, then I just do my best to keep it simple.

And, as Huey points out in the comments, there is the price factor to consider....

I was startled to see a naked man while walking the dogs.

It was tough to get an image on my cell phone camera. Even with the flash, things were still blurry and indistinct. And, worse of all, the flash dispelled shadows so what you see in the pics looks different from what I was seeing with my unaided eye. So bear with me on this.

ErnestThing lays down the law.

CTone gives us a heads up about some samples of disease microbes discovered in the freezers of a US Army germ warfare lab.

When were they left there? Some dated from the Korean War.

Do you know how your Representative voted concerning the Cap and Trade bill?

Dan tells you how to find out.

You should look them up, and then either send them an "Atta boy!" or a "Bad politician!"

Sevesteen gives us the skinny on a bad day.

Jeff reports on a very slight reduction in Florida anti-gun hysteria.

Most of my students had to make do with antique pistols, family heirlooms that were manufactured back before Nixon first took over the Oval Office.

This means that they were almost universally heavy guns, all steel construction made back when the only other option was maybe an aluminum frame.

Metallurgy is a science, and it has advanced along with all the other sciences. Nowadays we have handguns manufactured from exotic alloys and metals in order to reduce the weight, and decrease the discomfort of carrying them around all the time.

But are these new marvels of the gunsmith's art more durable, less durable, or about as sturdy as the old school steel guns? I have no idea.

New Jovian Thunderbolt is looking for answers. Has anyone ever been able to wear out a featherweight handgun?

If you have any info on this subject, click the last link and share your hard earned experience.

Firehand has found a new addition to the gun safe.

Shoothouse Barbie brings us the news that the Obama administration is going to spend our tax dollars to train and equip government forces in Somalia.

The news article she links to writes it up as a last ditch, Hail Mary play to prevent an Islamic regime from taking over. S. Barbie makes the point that the people who will receive the arms aren't the most stable, themselves. If they are submerged under the Islamic tide, then all of those guns will be in the hands of the bad guys.

UPDATE
Steve has some analysis.

Choosing a pistol caliber for self defense can be a daunting task for the shooting novice. There are so many choices! Which one will be the best?

The answer is that everything is a trade off. The best choice depends on an individual's comfort level, and the money they have for practice ammo.

Still, that isn't much of an answer. So I limited the number of calibers that should be considered down to five.

Jay G. weighs in with his thoughts on choosing between the 9mm Parabellum and .45 ACP cartridge. He manages to mention the .22 Long Rifle, and the .380 ACP while he is at it.

Back when I first started the charity course, one of the more annoying trends that experienced shooters hewed to was that the 9mm Parabellum was little more than a slightly better .380 ACP, inferior even to the .38 Special cartridge. I'm glad to see Jay lump the 9mm up with the .45 as a serious defensive caliber, where it belongs.

Matthew wonders why there isn't a gunblogger shooting competition of some kind. He dreams of a match that will last two or three days, and have categories like a snub-nosed shoot, and something specifically for the 1911 crowd.

I pointed out to him that there are a few events where gunbloggers get together and shoot, the most famous being the annual Gunblogger Rendezvous. But that is more of a meet-and-greet with an afternoon set aside for a trip to the range. There isn't anything I'm aware of that even approaches Matthew's vision of an organized, multi-day shooting competition.

It seems to me that the main stumbling block is cash. The organizers of the aforementioned Rendezvous are constantly scrambling to get enough people willing to rent a hotel room for a few days to justify the discount they wrangle. If it is tough just to find people willing to pay their own travel and discounted lodging expenses, you are going to have a major headache attracting enough warm bodies willing to both travel and pony up the entrance fees needed for a competition match to break somewhere close to even.

Unless there is someone with deep pockets willing to set this up, at least for the first few years until it hopefully gets popular enough to sustain itself, it isn't going to happen. And don't look at me! I've already paid way too much of my own money in bringing new shooters into the fold.

If anyone wants to step up, let me know the where and when and I'll do my best to let my readers know.

Shoothouse Barbie continues with her excellent memoir. If you have a kid that is thinking of becoming a professional dancer, skater, whatever, you might want to read this first.

Some guys were practicing with a submachine gun the last time I went to the range.

It didn't have a selector switch, since the people using it tried to limit the number of shots by being very light on the trigger. They weren't very successful in this, as they kept burping off strings of five or six.

This caused the range officer some distress, since the rules governing the use of state owned shooting facilities mandate that quick fire drills last no more than two rounds.

The officer kept trying to work with the shooters, giving them increasingly strong warnings. They'd nod and promise to be good, but they couldn't keep some shit-eating grins off of their faces when he'd turn to other business. And then they'd tap-tap-tap the trigger to get one or two rounds at a time for awhile, before letting discipline slip and cutting loose with another longer string. Lucky for them they ran out of ammo before he tossed them out on their ear.

Anyone want to take a crack at naming the make/model of the gun?

Steven has an idea as to why it seems to be a problem for the young, while older folks do not seem to be at great risk.

Seems reasonable to me.

Bob discusses how he has to drive an extra 30 minutes to visit a movie theater which does not ban concealed carry.

Actually, the subject of the post is how his wife doesn't give him a hassle for the extra drive time. But the part that really spoke to me was the whole "don;t give money to a business which bans CCW" part.

Over the past few days, I've been attending the Origins Game Fair here in Columbus, Ohio. Yes, that makes me a gaming geek.

The convention is held at the Columbus Convention Center, and I spied the following booth while cruising the food court.

Columbus has many good qualities which make it a great city to raise a family, but there aren't too many points of interest. I can't figure out what the tour guide might be showing the tourists. Looks like it is more an excuse to ride a segway than anything else.

I passed the guide as she prepared to take another small group out. She was pretty cute, and she was wearing very small shorts to keep cool in the hot weather. It was at this point I considered taking the tour myself, but decided that it would be a waste of money.

After all, I have a fast Internet connection!

As I understand it, the construction worker will extend the buckets when they knock off for work so jerks passing by won't climb in and start screwing around with the equipment.

While in the line for event registration, I saw the guy ahead of me was wearing one of those utilikilts.

Click on the picture for a larger image. It seems that he found a great way to carry around his leftover lunch.

Matthew has more thoughts concerning batons.

Milo gives us a heads up to the sad and enraging tale of a cat who was shot with a crossbow.

Why would anyone do something like this? Because it gets them off, I suppose.

I have written before about how, as long as it is legal for you to do so, it might just be a good idea to carry hand-to-hand weapons for your defense as well as your handgun. A circumstance might well arise where you need to defend yourself against an aggressive criminal attack, but lethal force isn't justified.

Matthew pretty much says the same thing, but we do break ranks in one respect. I have always found that less expensive batons give good service, while Matthew thinks that only the best will do.

Of course, if I had the same problems with non-name brand batons as he has, I'd certainly be forced to change my opinion.

Most of the firearms my students use to protect themselves are ancient .38 Special revolvers. Rusty and crusty, the majority were unearthed from languishing in attics and barns. Ownership usually skipped a generation or two, as the first owner lovingly put the gun away in the hopes that a grandchild might just decide to take up the shooting sports once more.

Eventually they did, but it took some violent felon to convince the grandchild that maybe it would be best to take steps to prevent the next crime.

The point being that I have big ol' soft spot for .38 revolvers. Technology has moved on, and there certainly are a great many more efficient choices out there. But that doesn't mean those old warhorses can't get the job done.

Talk to police officers who were active before the advent of the autoloader craze and they will say they like "...five for sure." While autos have become very reliable in recent decades, it didn't use to be that way. Small frame .38's with a five shot cylinder helped many people get through some tense moments in their lives.

Matthew has a few posts about small frame .38's that you might enjoy. The first carries the title "Five for Sure", where he relates how a man who favored large frame autoloaders discovers that there is still some value in the old ways.

The second post is "Five for Sure II", where he frankly discusses the drawbacks to the design. As Matthew says....

"In a world of plastic 19+1 9mms and 14+1 .45 acp pistols the five shot revolver is the derringer of the day."

That is sound wisdom.

LeadChucker has some thoughts that you might find interesting. It seems that he once used a five shot .38 in a match once, and shares his impressions. He also has some more general ruminations.

Do I carry revolvers? Sometimes. I prefer autoloaders, but I like to mix it up so I know what I'm talking about if a student asks me for advice.

(Hat tip to James.)

This post discusses a practice from Russia, where people will tie knots in handkerchiefs to remind them of something they need to do. Milo left a comment, stating that the custom is also followed in Great Britain.

Actually, there is a similar system of memory enhancement (if you can call it that) which is very prevalent in American folklore. Instead of tying knots, we would tie pieces if string around a finger. When one of the vital tasks was accomplished, a piece of string was removed. When you ran out of string, you knew that your "To Do" list for the day was complete.

In the classic Christmas movie "It's a Wonderful Life", the uncle of the protagonist is a forgetful and dotty old man who relies on this method to avoid forgetting to complete various tasks. The plot is advanced when the method fails.

This particular practice is pretty well documented in US culture, but it fell out of practice with the advent of widespread literacy around WWI, and was seen as a habit that only a particularly aged and forgetful person would use. After all, if you can simply write stuff down, why bother with string?

Glenn links to an article at Extreme Tech by author Loyd Case, where the author discusses the results from a home solar power system that was installed a year ago. He is generally pleased with it, since now he only pays for about 1/3 of the electricity that he used to.

Fine and dandy and good for him, but I was taken aback when I got to the part where he reveals just what his yearly cost happens to be. Now that he has the solar power system installed, it is down to $1,460.73. And he thinks that is great news!

"That's my power bill for twelve months."

So what was it before the fancy new sun-stealing gear was installed?

"...our annual power cost for twelve months prior to installing solar power was $4,430."

You know, I pay less than $1,400 a year for both gas and electric combined. And I don't have a solar power system installed.

I browsed through the Web, looking for material on the Swat Valley in Pakistan. It is a place that has been under the iron boot of terrorists for most of a decade, and there is fierce fighting going on there today.

That is why I was amused to come across two websites that, apparently, are trying to drum up tourism in the area. One is titled "Welcome to Swat Valley", and the other proclaims "Swat Valley: A Paradise on Earth".

Could these be Internet parodies? Wouldn't surprise me.

During the Vietnam War, the Communist enemy never won a major military victory over American forces. But it didn't matter, since they kept grinding away at our troops until the US voters had enough of it, and Nixon pulled our forces from the country.

If they couldn't beat us on the battlefield, how come we just didn't eradicate the Communist forces and call it a day? Mainly because they were allowed to find and keep safe havens where they could recruit, rearm, refit, and train. The biggest haven was North Vietnam itself, which was off limits to ground forces and any invasion plans. We could defeat anything they sent against us, but the supply was unending if we couldn't go in there and destroy the source.

The above isn't an isolated case in history. In fact, examples abound of where a government is unable to end armed opposition if the rebels have some area or territory that is denied to the regular armed forces. The government forces might be able to avoid any meaningful defeat as long as they keep their nerve, but it is the hope of the rebels that such resolve might falter and fail some years down the road.

Want some more reading material? The Swat Valley in Pakistan is one such example from the International War on Terror, and the recently concluded 34 year civil war in Sri Lanka is another.

That is why I was rather surprised to see this post over at Shelby's blog. US forces in Afghanistan are now barred from fighting near Afghan civilian homes. You know, the same places that the Taliban terrorist gunmen use as safe havens.

"Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who took command of international forces in Afghanistan this month, has said his measure of effectiveness will be the "number of Afghans shielded from violence" -- not the number of militants killed."

What could possibly go wrong?

I found the image over at NFA Gun Trust Lawyer, a blog authored by David F. Goldman. Specifically at this post, which discusses forming a trust for the transfer of Title II weapons.

What do you want to bet that James and the guys over at Mouse Guns want one of these?

A reader recently sent me an Email. It seems that they live in a rural setting, with about 1,000 feet to the edge of their neighbor's property. They wanted to set up a private outdoor pistol range (Lucky!), and they wanted to use a berm as a backstop.

What is a berm? Just a raised barrier between one place and another. In this case, it would be a mound of dirt.

The question was: How high does the berm have to be for safety? They couldn't find any tables or suggestions online, and so they asked me.

Hmmmm. Tricky question! How big would the dirt pile have to be, anyway?

First off, let me say that it is important to check with a lawyer that practices in your area to make sure that it is legal to discharge a firearm on your property. Some municipalities, such as the city where I live, have laws which prohibit such activity. Big, solid, safe berm or not, I'd be arrested if I went out in my back yard for a little relaxing target practice.

The second thing is that my reader is one smart cookie to put safety so high on the list. The distance a pistol bullet will travel before air resistance slows it down to non-lethal velocities is somewhat controversial. But I don't think any will disagree when I say that you should count on it zipping along, all nice and killing fast, for about a mile and a half. Unless you live in one of the world's major deserts, with perfectly flat ground extending all the way to the horizon, you can't be sure that you will be able to use your naked eyes to make sure that no one is downrange.

And, even if you did make such an inhospitable place your home, I'd still recommend a bullet stop of some kind for the sake of safety.

So let us get to the central question. How high is high enough?

Let us imagine that someone makes their way to that flat desert I mentioned above. They assume a marksman's stance, aiming straight at eye level off into infinity, and fire a round. How high off the ground is that bullet when it leaves the barrel?

As high as their shoulders, presumably. Assuming that the person doing the shooting is of average adult height, it will probably be at least an inch or two over five feet. Even if you set up your targets at ground level, a berm that is only five feet high isn't going to be enough to guard against poor aim and jerked triggers.

So let us double the height! A bullet stop ten feet high, made from dirt in a big pile? That sounds pretty good to me.

The dirt also has to be thick enough to stop the bullets that are going to be thumping into it again and again and again. I'm thinking eighteen inches thick, which I would think would be proof against even rifle rounds. But, if you are going to rent one of those mini-backhoes anyway, might as well get the berm high and thick enough for rifles in case you develop an interest in long guns later on.

Is a ten foot high backstop overkill? Could you make do with less dirt? Maybe so, but I figured to err on the side of caution when asked for advice that might mean someone's life.

Anyone have any ideas?

UPDATE
I have just been sent an Email concerning an NRA Range Conference in Providence, RI. It will be held at the end of August, lasts five days, and costs $450 not including travel and lodging. I don't have the time or the cash, and am not planning on starting a range anyway, but it would be very interesting if I was.

Live in Virginia? Want to get handgun training? Interested in concealed carry, but need an experienced hand to show you the ins and outs?

You need to talk to Dave. Or at least read what he puts on the Internet for free.

Dave suggests a leather/plastic hybrid, and says that it has provided good service.

Not bad, but pricey. Over $100!

John is the biggest fan of William Shatner I know. Can he make it through the following video without losing it? We shall see.

The lede to a news item reads....

Prostitutes in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu have begun taking karate lessons to protect themselves from violent customers and pimps.

Video at the link. They pretty much suck, but maybe they just started in the beginner's class.

(Hat tip to Robert Miller.)

I just received an Email from a brand new shooter who lives in my area. He had recently purchased his very first handgun, and wanted to know where he could find ammunition.

Hmmm. Tricky!

For those of you who are not involved in the shooting sports, we are currently undergoing a nationwide shortage of ammunition. It first started to get severe back around October of 2008, and it has just gotten worse since then. Last time I checked, ammo prices for some of the more popular calibers are 500% what they were this time last year. If, that is, you can even find some ammo to buy.

There have been reports of people going to gun shows with appliance dollies just to buy as much ammo as they can. Ten minutes after the doors open on the first day and there is nary a cartridge to be seen. Sometimes they approach the dealers before they have a chance to unload the truck and set up the display, and I am sure that private backdoor deals are being cut.

Although there have been isolated areas where buying runs on ammo have caused short term shortages, such as when a hurricane strikes and people want to stock up, I really don't think something like this has happened in the entire history of our nation. I mean, this is the Land of the 2nd Amendment! Who would have thought a black market would spring up in the United States for ammunition???

Besides showing up at a gun show with a big wad of cash and an empty pickup truck with a covered bed, what can the average shooter do?

I suggested that he try mail order, where a small trickle of the fancy defensive ammo can be had. Cheaper Than Dirt is what I specifically mentioned, and I admire them for refusing to gouge the customers on price during these dark days. But even their stocks are almost completely drained.

This isn't something I really have to worry about, or at least not yet. I have several thousand rounds in my private cache, bought to meet the needs of the self defense course. I also have a large supply of reloading components, which was also purchased for the course. It will take another 18 months to 2 years before I have to even start thinking of restocking. Hopefully the outrageous prices and lack of supply will have eased by then.

And No, you can't have any of my ammo!

Why didn't I mention reloading? Because even those components are extremely hard to find. Besides, being a new shooter who just laid out some serious cash for their very first gun, I don't want to scare them off by insisting that they have to come up with even more big money just to be able to shoot their handgun.

Anyone have any other ideas?

I found the following picture over at Theo's.

All of those guns could be replicas or airsoft BB guns, of course, but that pump gun on the table sure looks legit.

So where was this? I think I spy with my little eye a skorpian sub machine gun. Either Russia, or one of the former Warsaw Pact countries? I really have no idea.

Dom sent me a question via Email.....

"I have a pretty simple question. Self-defense classes cover a variety
of subjects, from techniques & preparation to legalities. I feel like
through my own study, practice, and preparation, I'm independently
secure. However, there is one gap I've never been sure how to close:
waking up to defend myself if the attack comes in my sleep."

"Some recent home invasions in my area have been in the middle of the
night. My wife and I are both deep sleepers. How do you recommend a
couple like us ensure that we would be awoken in time to react if
there was a break-in? Obviously alarms and a dog who barks at the
right times will help...are there any other general ideas you can
offer? What about the deaf or hard of hearing?"

I have had students that had reduced physical capability due to age or injury, but I've never worked with the hearing impaired. Good question, Dom!

Most of the suggestions I usually have for non-impaired people to prepare for a home invasion will work just as well for those who cannot hear. Look to making the ways to enter your home from the outside more difficult to manage. You can do this cheaply and effectively by replacing cheap and flimsy doors with something solid and sturdy, and installing strong deadbolt locks and anchoring them with long wood screws. If desired, one can even cobble together ways to bar the door with common items picked up for a few bucks at the hardware store.

If one is really ambitious, then you can even replace the glass window panes with plexiglass. I never managed to figure out how to do this so it looked nice, but it would certainly work to armor up the house.

All of this can be done in one long afternoon by any reasonably competent do-it-yourself enthusiast. It won't prevent entry by someone bound and determined to get in, but it will certainly increase the difficulty by a great deal. All of the methods discussed above would be even more vital for someone who was hearing impaired.

So what should someone do to prepare for the chance that an intruder gains entry? I'll discuss that after the jump.

Have you named your guns? Some people do, some people don't. In my experience, right or wrong though that might be, more women seem to want to personalize their firearms with a name.

I've never done it myself, except once. I would only refer to the gun I happened to have on me at the time as "my gun", and then mention which particular make or model if asked. This seems to work. But I did make an exception.

Kathryn is one of my best friends, as well as probably being the best natural shooter I've ever had the privilege to introduce to our hobby. She joined the US Navy in 2001, and she is currently stationed in Japan with her husband and young daughter. Kathryn also holds the distinction of being the only person who has ever given me guns as a gift. One of them is pictured below.

It is the 9mm autoloader I carry most often for my defense. I thought it was appropriate if I named this gun "Kathryn". It is the only gun of mine that I have ever owned that bears a name.

I also have a little saying that goes along with the name. If asked, I will claim "I fear nothing as long as Kathryn is by my side."

So far, this has proven to be true.

(This post is in response to a question a former student put to me. Did I think giving she was silly for naming her gun? Obviously not, since I've done it myself.)

Handguns all used to be made out of steel, either blued or stainless or coated with a layer of nickel. If they were really pricey, then they were engraved.

Technology marches on. Now guns can be made out of a rainbow of colors, and some of them are. Most gun manufacturers seem to be trying to capture the female shooter demographic.

I don't have a problem with what any gun looks like, as long as it goes bang on command. But, then again, no one has given me a pink gun as a gift.

....AlanDP has uncovered something you need to see. Just follow this link and feast your eyes.