Wednesday, January 30, 2008

February 2nd Polite Society Event

There’s a Utah Polite Society event scheduled for Saturday, February 2 at Hendricksen Range

This Saturday’s event is focused on operating your sidearm with only your support hand (left hand if you are right handed).

We have four exercises planned for Saturday.

We will start the event by demonstrating techniques for loading and putting your sidearm into battery using only your support hand. We will then give everyone the opportunity to practice these techniques dry, prior to starting the live fire exercises.

Exercise one is a tactical test that will reinforce one-handed draw and fire techniques using live fire.

Exercise two is a tactical test that exercises malfunction clearance using only the support hand.

Exercise three is a simulated defensive encounter requiring you to address an encounter at an ATM using only your support hand.

Exercise four is a simulated defensive encounter requiring you to address a home invasion using only your support hand.

Please bring your handgun, a strong-side holster, a magazine pouch, extra magazine(s), and at least 100 rounds of ammo (bring extra, if you would like to shoot additional exercises or shoot steel after the scheduled exercises).

Set up starts at 8:00 a.m.

New shooter orientation starts at 8:30 a.m.

Registration starts at 8:45 a.m.

Shooting exercises start at 9:00 a.m.

Event fee is $12.00

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Front Sight offers $2k free training for AZ teachers.

LINK


LAS VEGAS, Jan. 28 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Front Sight Firearms Training Institute founder and director, Dr. Ignatius Piazza is known by his hundreds of thousands of students as the "Millionaire Patriot" because over the last 11 years Dr. Piazza has provided tens of millions of dollars in training and benefits free of charge to assist law-abiding citizens in securing what he refers to as the "Comfort of Skill at Arms."

In response to Arizona Senate Bill 1214, which would exempt concealed-carry permit holders from a state law that bars individuals from knowingly carrying deadly weapons onto school property, Dr. Ignatius Piazza has committed to provide every Arizona School teacher with a $2,000, Four Day Defensive Handgun Course, free of charge if Arizona lawmakers will pass the Senate Bill 1214.

If it becomes law, the measure would allow teachers to carry their weapon onto the grounds of any public or private K-12 school, college or university in the state. Dr. Piazza wants to put the Arizona public and legislators' minds at ease in passing the measure by training all school teachers free of charge to levels that exceed law enforcement standards.

Ignatius Piazza states, "Every time sanity begins to prevail with good legislators like Arizona Senate Majority Leader Thayer Verschoor and Senator Karen Johnson introducing a real solution to protect our children from a violent attack, the unenlightened begin crying about their fear of teachers with guns. The same people who don't want teachers with guns are happy to have more cops on campus at tax payers' expense. Front Sight Firearms Training Institute will train teachers who secure a Concealed Carry Permit to levels that exceed law enforcement standards, giving Arizona Public Schools immediate and trained armed response to violent attack and save Arizona tax payers millions of dollars."

But Rep. David Lujan, a Phoenix Democrat and president of the Phoenix Union High School District board, said he is "uncomfortable with having weapons on school campuses." In the context of a school shooting, for example, he said the prospect of additional weapons in the hands of faculty or even students could "exacerbate the situation" when police arrive on scene and are trying to quickly identify the assailant.

Piazza responds, "Representative Lujan simply needs to take Front Sight's Four Day Defensive Handgun Course and he would walk away knowing he has the proper decision making ability in the judicious use of deadly force and the handgun skills to stop a deadly attacker immediately, safely and responsibly. He would then have the same confidence in any of his Arizona teachers who completed Front Sight's course." Piazza adds, "When police arrive on the scene it will be very easy for them to identify the assailant. He will be the only dead body because an armed teacher stopped a potential massacre as soon as it started."

From the hundreds of testimonials from law enforcement officers who have attended Front Sight Firearms Training Institute near Las Vegas, claiming it is the best firearms training they have ever received, it appears Ignatius Piazza can deliver on his promise to train Arizona teachers to levels that exceed law enforcement standards. The fact that he will provide the firearms training free should make the Millionaire Patriot's offer very hard for teachers, schools districts or legislators to decline.

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Common Mis-Conceptions on Street Encounters

Having shot with a lot of new CCW permit holders I've noticed that several re-occurring themes seem to alway arise at our monthly events. A while back I read an FBI study:"Violent Encounters: Felonious Assaults on America’s Law Enforcement Officers." It addresses many of these common mis-conceptions.

I'll quote some of my favorite parts of the 5-year study of 43 street felons involved in violent encounters with police offices.

First mis-conception:

1.Those bad men on the street are dis-organized, unpracticed and generally ignorant to "formal handgun training." That 5 shot snubby revolver in my glove box and the CCW permit in my wallet/purse are magic talismans against thugs.

Guess what, WRONG!

NEW FINDINGS FROM FBI ABOUT COP ATTACKERS & THEIR WEAPONS

New findings on how offenders train with, carry and deploy the weapons they use to attack their victims have emerged in a just-published, 5-year study by the FBI.

Among other things, the data reveal that most would-be cop killers:

--have more experience using deadly force in "street combat" than their intended victims;

--practice with firearms more often and shoot more accurately;

--have no hesitation whatsoever about pulling the trigger. "If you hesitate," one told the study's researchers, "you're dead. You have the instinct or you don't. If you don't, you're in trouble on the street...."

FAMILIARITY.

Several of the offenders began regularly to carry weapons when they were 9 to 12 years old, although the average age was 17 when they first started packing "most of the time." Gang members especially started young.

Nearly 40% of the offenders had some type of formal firearms training, primarily from the military. More than 80% "regularly practiced with handguns, averaging 23 practice sessions a year," the study reports, usually in informal settings like trash dumps, rural woods, back yards and "street corners in known drug-trafficking areas."

One spoke of being motivated to improve his gun skills by his belief that officers "go to the range two, three times a week [and] practice arms so they can hit anything."

Ask yourself how many rounds you have put through your daily carry piece.

The offender quoted above about his practice motivation, for example, fired 12 rounds at an officer, striking him 3 times. The officer fired 7 rounds, all misses.

More than 40% of the offenders had been involved in actual shooting confrontations before they feloniously assaulted an officer. Ten of these "street combat veterans," all from "inner-city, drug-trafficking environments," had taken part in 5 or more "criminal firefight experiences" in their lifetime.

One reported that he was 14 when he was first shot on the street, "about 18 before a cop shot me." Another said getting shot was a pivotal experience "because I made up my mind no one was gonna shoot me again."

Again in contrast, only 8 of the 50 LEO victims had participated in a prior shooting; 1 had been involved in 2 previously, another in 3. Seven of the 8 had killed offenders.


I don't know about you.... I don't have even 1 gunfight under my belt (and I hope I never do).

2. "I don't carry my gun all the time. I'll take it with me if I'm somewhere dangerous." or "It's with me all the time, under the seat of my truck."

3. "Thugs don't waist money on good gear and I can spot one carrying a gun from across the street."

CONCEALMENT.

The offenders said they most often hid guns on their person in the front waistband, with the groin area and the small of the back nearly tied for second place. Some occasionally gave their weapons to another person to carry, "most often a female companion." None regularly used a holster, and about 40% at least sometimes carried a backup weapon.

In motor vehicles, they most often kept their firearm readily available on their person, or, less often, under the seat. In residences, most stashed their weapon under a pillow, on a nightstand, under the mattress--somewhere within immediate reach while in bed.

Almost all carried when on the move and strong majorities did so when socializing, committing crimes or being at home. About one-third brought weapons with them to work. Interestingly, the offenders in this study more commonly admitted having guns under all these circumstances than did offenders interviewed in the researchers' earlier 2 surveys, conducted in the 1980s and '90s.

According to Davis, "Male offenders said time and time again that female officers tend to search them more thoroughly than male officers. In prison, most of the offenders were more afraid to carry contraband or weapons when a female CO was on duty."

On the street, however, both male and female officers too often regard female subjects "as less of a threat, assuming that they not going to have a gun," Davis said. In truth, the researchers concluded that more female offenders are armed today than 20 years ago--"not just female gang associates, but female offenders generally."
These guys are carrying ALL THE TIME! and no ones has explained to them the rules that they must carry strong side in a good kydex holster. They learned to carry a gun about the same time they started riding a bicycle. They know how to use it like riding a bike. It's second nature.

Getting a little nervous yet?

4. "I've been shooting all my life. tins cans, bullseye targets, fence posts." Standing still, lining up the sights, deep breath, squeeze... Most of those great habits go out the window when someone is trying to kill you!


SHOOTING STYLE.

Twenty-six of the offenders [about 60%], including all of the street combat veterans, "claimed to be instinctive shooters, pointing and firing the weapon without consciously aligning the sights," the study says.

"They practice getting the gun out and using it," Davis explained. "They shoot for effect." Or as one of the offenders put it: "[W]e're not working with no marksmanship....We just putting it in your direction, you know....It don't matter...as long as it's gonna hit you...if it's up at your head or your chest, down at your legs, whatever....Once I squeeze and you fall, then...if I want to execute you, then I could go from there."

HIT RATE.

More often than the officers they attacked, offenders delivered at least some rounds on target in their encounters. Nearly 70% of assailants were successful in that regard with handguns, compared to about 40% of the victim officers, the study found. (Efforts of offenders and officers to get on target were considered successful if any rounds struck, regardless of the number fired.)

Davis speculated that the offenders might have had an advantage because in all but 3 cases they fired first, usually catching the officer by surprise. Indeed, the report points out, "10 of the total victim officers had been wounded [and thus impaired] before they returned gunfire at their attackers."

Think about that one, No hesitation, 70% got hits on target, trained and practiced and they have the initiative. Sound like I need more range time and training.

5. "I know exactly how I would handle an deadly encounter at the quickie mart." Are those mental images based on what you've seen on TV?

"It appeared clear that none of these officers were willing to use deadly force against an offender if other options were available," the researchers concluded.

The offenders were of a different mind-set entirely. In fact, Davis said the study team "did not realize how cold blooded the younger generation of offender is. They have been exposed to killing after killing, they fully expect to get killed and they don't hesitate to shoot anybody, including a police officer. They can go from riding down the street saying what a beautiful day it is to killing in the next instant."

"Offenders typically displayed no moral or ethical restraints in using firearms," the report states. "In fact, the street combat veterans survived by developing a shoot-first mentality.


You may never run into someone like these 43 felons interviewed. Then again, you might. Plan for the worst, hope for the best. Just wanted to remind everyone that the good guys doesn't win by default.

RH




Train oportunities

We are working (with the help of others) to host some training opportunities. As early as May, we could see some interesting things happening.

More to come.

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