Defender

Oh I like that one!

Nice knife, but lots of cash! Not for me, lol. Guns & Patriots Tests "The Sharkman" Combat Knife - HUMAN EVENTS Guns & Patriots Tests "The Sharkman" Combat Knife by W. Thomas Smith Jr. 09/14/2010 When retired U.S. Navy SEAL Commander Richard Marcinko decided to design a series of next-generation combat knives that would be the choice of special operators worldwide, he knew the knives had to have a number of features that would address operational problems he had experienced in the field himself. As the founder and first commanding officer of SEAL TEAM SIX (today known as DEVGRU) and author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, “Rogue Warrior,†Marcinko believes things like extreme durability; piercing power; edge-retention; a non-slip handle; and, yes, stealthiness are essential. The result is the new Rogue Warrior Brand fixed-blade combat knife series – including Marcinko’s namesake, the Sharkman (which we review here); Black Frog; and Brass Balls – all individually handmade per individual order. These weapons are not cheap by anyone’s standards. But custom and made-on-demand knives are always expensive. [review continues below] The Sharkman – which was just put through the paces for Guns & Patriots by the U.S. Counterterrorism Advisory Team a few weeks after the new series was introduced this summer – retails for $650, which (in addition to the fact that they are brand new and made-on-demand) is why there are currently fewer than 10 in the world. And the knife’s design features are why those few carrying it are primarily combat soldiers; special operators; Lt. Col. Tom Mullikin, a S.C. Military Department officer who also serves on the Counterterrorism Advisory Team; and me (The Rogue Warrior Brand company asked us not to reveal who or which units have operators armed with the Sharkman. We complied.). This is a warrior’s knife to be sure. It cuts wood like an axe. It’ll saw, hack, slash, break bone, penetrate layers of clothing enroute to flesh and bone, and hold an edge. I’ve personally used my Sharkman as a small hatchet, cutting firewood, fashioning a walking stick out of length of birch, and other utility work, and the edges are still razor-like without sharpening. The Sharkman is built around a piece of 8A-grade extraordinarily tough, corrosion-resistant steel (tempered with a cryogenic – extremely cold – process) and coated with a non-reflective polymer chemical bonding known as Black-T, which is used on nuclear submarines. The blade features a sharp spear-point. It is double edged, and has shark-like teeth on the lower edge, which cut like a small saw, and – according to the company’s data sheet –allows “for smooth insertion and retraction from the target.†What the data sheet doesn’t allude to is the grim factor; that being when the blade is twisted in the target, the teeth will hasten the onset of shock thus killing more quickly. The knife handle – nearly impossible to damage – is as impressive as the blade. Composed of two thick pieces of Phenolic laminate secured with three steel pins, the handle is rough-ridged to enhance the operator’s tactile “feel†of the weapon, whether or not his hands are wet, cold, gloved, or even burned. And it is porously designed to constantly drain-away water, oil, and blood. At just over 10 inches long from stem-to-stern, and with a two-inch wide and 5.5-inch long blade, the knife is big, but not huge. In fact, its size is a stealth-design feature, as is the unique shape designed into both the weapon and its hand-made kydex (thermoplastic) sheath. I experienced this stealth on several conditioning hikes (the knife strapped to my belt) and a short five-mile hump with 50-plus pounds of equipment on my back. The Sharkman sits high on the belt, which allows for easy access at various angles, and amazingly lays flat on the hips and waist. This low-profile prevents it from snagging on vines and undergrowth when the operator is forced to move fast through thick brush. This knife is tough. I’ve banged it around quite a bit with other gear, and once dropped it on concrete. Not surprisingly, not a scratch. How does the Sharkman perform in a fight? Impossible to know for sure without actually using it in a fight. But the handle and hilt are certainly big, rugged, and heavy enough to crush a man’s skull. And thanks to our friends at the Ole Timey Meat Market in Columbia, S.C., I was able to stab, twist, recover, slash, and generally work-over a huge beef shoulder, and found the overall knife’s action to be both strong and quick. In terms of aesthetics, the Sharkman is wicked-looking enough (forgive the trite expression) to keep the natives restless. What about the Sharkman’s design-progenitor? Last week I chatted with Marcinko, who says his next book is at the publisher. He’s providing contract security analysis. He’s raising a family. He’ll be 70 in November, and he’s still designing great tactical gear and weapons.

Good story. Ive read some of the things about the loss rate on these convoys...very high.

Thjat looks a tad different than mine...mine is the USG. Mine can be carried decocked and on safe or cocked and locked. Mine came with one 15 rd mag and 2 14 round mags. I love mine and I bet you will yours too. Shooots anything with no problems and accurate as I am too.

I've got a few, for different guns, and the only one that I really don't mind wearing is one I bought from a member on here, thats made for a PF9 or equivalent. I thinks its a Miami jackass style by Galco...suede leather and natural brown color. It keep shifting on me so I went and bought a pair of tie downs for it, and it works much better now...I like to concept more than the reality though...seems like a strong side belt carry, with my pants also attached to a pair of suspenders, is the most comfortable long time carry with easy quick draw capability. But shoulder holster is good for sitting in car or office.

If you end up taking it to a regular garage, I highly recomend Community Garage in Madison.

Along those same lines...I've seen people with expired DLs who were told they couldn't use them for identification...guess if they expire, you turn into a different person?

I dunno...I didnt use mine all that much is why I sold it. Yeah right, lol.

I think he's opening on 1 Sep!

This thread has made me think about carrtying something bigger in my car...what do you guys think, a carbine or a SG?

I have a Firestorm .22LR (made by Bersa), a Bersa Thunder .380CC and a Bersa Thunder 9 Pro in 9mm. I really like them all. The 380CC is streamlined for conceal carry with no snag sights, etc. Quite a bit of size diff in the 9s. Cant go wong with either one, but many women end up not carrying the bigger guns they buy.Well guys too for that matter, lol. Id say go for the .380 for her.

What are your hours today?

Usually 16 .45 in the gun with 30 more in my bag, then 9 9mm and 7 .380.

I thought that an interesting question as well, and then happened to run across this patent: Title: Ammunition for electrical discharge weapon Patent ID: US7444939 Issue Date: November 04, 2008 Abstract:A primer-fired ammunition cartridge for an electrical discharge weapon having a housing with an exterior surface and two wire-tethered darts positioned within dart chambers in the housing and two electrical contacts positioned on opposite surfaces of the housing for lengthening an electrical arc path across the exterior surface of the housing. The housing can include a flange portion for engaging a chamber in an electrical discharge weapon wherein the flange portion includes an aperture thereby allowing the flange portion to bow and absorb resultant forces between the ammunition cartridge and the chamber of the electrical discharge weapon during firing of the cartridge.

Im heading to Gatlinburg tomorrow on business and coming back on Friday. If anyone needs anything to or from, let me know.

I went. I thought it was good. I bought a couple cheap holsters and a couple ball caps for cheap, lol. Saw some good gun prices and some high also. Overall, a great show.

I havent butg I would. When you get a good hipoint they are reliable. My .40 was, and accurate also. My carbine has given me n o probs at all/

I think its like leadership. Most anybody can be trained to do it, but there are some people who just come built that way. When I was in the USAF, I remember they taught that everyone could learn to shoot effectively, but like was already mentioned here, there were some people who did it perfectly the first time they picked up a firearm, and could continue that perfection.

I still would like to swap some, just havent made the time to inventory what Ive got...I just finished Lucifers Hammer. Do you have any of Boston T. Party's books or any by Matthew Bracken?

Immigration reform HAS to include social welfare reform to be effective. Too many people are content to sit at home and draw welfare or unemployment instead of working. Not to say everybody is, but enough so that businesses have problems hiring workers who will really work. I think if we included this factor in immigration reform along with locking down the borders, and strictly controlling legal immigration, then there will be Americans that WILl work, if they have no alternative.

Do you mind sharing the price? I know the MSRP but am curious as to what they actually go for in the shops?

I've got a FNP-45 USG .45 nd I love it. Its my EDC gun, although it is kinda big. Having 16 rounds of .45 ready to go makes it worth it though. Mine will shoot any kind of ammo with no probkems and I find it is as accurate as I am.

North American Platform Against Windpower: Call for Wind Energy 'Reality Check' 4/18/10 10:40 AM http://www.na-paw.org/na-paw-statement-p.php Call for Wind Energy ‘Reality Check’ The North American Platform Against Windpower (NA-PAW) was formed in early 2009, following theexample of the European Platform Against Windpower (EPAW) which was founded in Paris onOctober 4, 2008, by French, German, Spanish, and Belgian organizations. Since then, 350 Europeanorganizations from 19 countries have joined EPAW in a call for a halt to industrial wind facilityconstruction to conduct a thorough study of wind power's effects on the environment, people's lives, theeconomy, and the energy system. Like EPAW, NA-PAW supports renewable energy schemes when they are effective and socially,economically, and environmentally acceptable. Wind energy installations are often pushed throughunder pressure from financial or ideological interest groups with little regard for the communities orecosystems affected. Under the mantle of "clean and green", the claims of wind developers are notsubjected to the proper scrutiny necessary for such large and expensive installations. They are oftenexempted from proper regulatory review that would protect the environment and hosting communities. The necessarily sprawling facilities, huge towers, and turning blades required to collect such a diffuseresource as wind degrades and fragments wildlife habitat and threatens the health and well-being ofnearby residents. And the effectiveness of large-scale wind energy remains problematic. Wind power's contribution to reducing COZ emissions or fossil fuel use is limited, becauseother power plants must be kept on line -- and used more often and less efficiently -- tocompensate for the intermittent and variable nature of electricity generated by wind turbines. Increasing numbers of large wind facilities require thousands of miles of new high-voltagetransmission lines and more control installations to maintain grid stability in the face of theerratic nature of wind energy. These add substantially to the already high costs of wind energyand further degrade the environment while also raising eminent domain issues. Even after several decades of technical development, wind energy remains economicallyunviable. Wind power devours colossal amounts of public money and depends on artificialmarkets for its existence. Considering the minuscule benefit, our money ought to be betterspent. Wind facilities are significantly altering the natural and cultural heritage of rural and wildareas that are otherwise protected from such levels of development. They threaten tourism,leisure, and recreation. They have an obvious negative impact on property values, which forhomeowners often represent the fruits of a lifetime of work. The noise and flicker of giant wind turbines cause loss of sleep, stress, and other health effectsin nearby residents. "Wind turbine syndrome", caused by the effect of low-frequency noise on the organs of the inner ear, is widely reported. Wind facilities imperil wildlife and destroy natural habitats which have hitherto escaped thedestructive powers of earth-moving equipment, concrete operations, and other highly invasivehuman activities. The North American Platform Against Windpower therefore calls for a "reality check" on industrialwind energy, to examine its actual record and cumulative impacts. Carbon savings: How much carbon dioxide is emitted during the manufacture, shipping,construction, operation, maintenance, and decommissioning of wind energy facilities? Howmuch is potential carbon displacement reduced by the indirect effects of grid integration, suchas preferred response with hydro or lower-carbon natural gas, or extra COZ emitted due tomore frequent ramping or running fossil fuel–fired stations at lower efficiency incompensating for the power fluctuations of wind-generated electricity? Economic impact: What are the direct and indirect costs of wind power, including the impacton overall public expenditure and, over the long term, on electricity charges for consumers.Cost analysis should include subsidies, fiscal advantages, regulatory tariffs, and specialmarkets which benefit the wind industry, and the cost of building power stations and/orstorage mechanisms to balance unstable wind power, upgrading and installing power lines totransport wind power from remote areas to load centers, building control centers to regulatethe wind's unpredictable variability, and upgrading electricity networks. What is the actualcost to hosting communities? Social impact: What is the impact of wind energy facilities on quality of life and ruralamenity? What are the effects of changes to the environment on local residents and visitors?What is the impact of wind facilities on property values, recreation, and tourism? Health impact: What is the impact of wind energy facilities on human health? Existing "gagorders" in leases and easements must be cut through to determine the full range of healtheffects caused by noise, flicker, and possible ground current from buried cables. Environmental impact: What natural habitats and otherwise protected landscapes have beenand will be sacrificed as a result of erecting wind energy facilities? What are the individualand cumulative effects of existing and proposed wind energy facilities and associatedinfrastructure on wildlife and ecosystems? What is the extent to which the construction andoperation of wind turbine facilities pollute the ground cover, topsoil, groundwater, streams,and rivers? Particular attention should be paid to the effects on the environment ofcontamination resulting from lubricants leaking from worn or collapsed wind turbines,detergents used to remove dirt and insects from turbine blades, the large-scale use of concretefor their bases, the excavation and compacting of the area around the towers, and theconstruction of access roads. Documentation continues to grow of the negative effects of industrial wind turbines on people,landscapes, tourism, property values, wildlife, and public budgets. A "reality check" is long overdue. North American Platform Against Windpower

This ain't gonna bode well for the USMC, I bet.

Cops and Armed Citizens 624 Views 10 Comments Share Flag as inappropriate Featured Author: Sgt. Betsy Brantner Smith Sergeant Betsy Brantner Smith is a 29-year veteran of a large Chicago suburban police department and has held positions in patrol, investigations, narcotics, juvenile, crime prevention, hostage negotiation and field training. As a sergeant, she supervised her department’s K-9 Unit, served as a field training sergeant, recruitment team sergeant, bike patrol coordinator, and supervisor of the Community Education/Crime Prevention Unit. As a patrol sergeant, Betsy served on the Elderly Services Team, the Crisis Intervention Team, and as a supervisory member of the Honor Guard. Betsy served as a host and content expert for the Law Enforcement Television Network (LETN) from 1999 – 2003. A graduate of the Northwestern University Center for Public Safety’s School of Staff and Command, Betsy writes for numerous law enforcement and government publications and has been an instructor for the Calibre Press “Street Survival†seminar since 2003. She also manages and instructs for Dave Smith & Associates, a law enforcement training and consulting company based in Illinois and is featured in the Biography channel’s new reality show “Female Forces.†Together with her husband, Dave “JD Buck Savage†Smith, she trains law enforcement personnel throughout the United States and Canada. Visit JDBuckSavage.com Contact Sergeant Betsy Smith Sergeant Betsy Brantner Smith I grew up around guns. My dad, a farmer by trade, was also an auxiliary deputy with the local sheriff’s department so he owned a pistol or two. My cousins were hunters, and we always had a shotgun in the house that my father could get to if he needed to eliminate an errant raccoon in the garden or a family of moles tearing up our front yard. I was neither fascinated nor frightened by firearms, they were just a part of our lives in the rural Midwest. When I graduated from the police academy in 1981, I was pretty excited about my “right to bear arms†both on and off duty. Although I was a patrol officer, I invested in a couple of concealed holsters for my big Smith & Wesson model 59 (completely the wrong handgun for a girl with the hands of an 8 year old, but that’s another article). I pretty much carried my gun everywhere. Young, single, and new to the “big city,†I spent lots of time in and around the Chicago area, enjoying the museums, the sports teams, the shopping, and of course, the nightlife. I never gave my safety much thought because (a) I was armed, and ( I was usually in the company of other (armed) off duty cops. Life was good. I’ve always enjoyed lively political discussions so I was happy to enter into debates about the Second Amendment and whether or not ordinary citizens really had a “right to keep and bear arms†as I continued to gain some patrol experience. At the time, I really didn’t understand what the big deal was. I was fine with people who were hunters, or enjoyed shooting sports, and even wanted to keep a “home protection†gun in their bedroom, but as a young cop, I was pretty sure I didn’t want ordinary, untrained people walking around “my†streets carrying concealed handguns. I mean, if everyone had a gun, how could we tell the good guys from the bad? If everyone was armed, wouldn’t people be shooting each other over parking spaces and other petty issues? Besides, I secretly (and selfishly) enjoyed the feeling of superiority in knowing that I was one of the few people allowed by Illinois law to carry around a loaded gun. Boy, did I have a lot to learn. In 1989 I was invited to travel with the University of Illinois’ “Fighting Illini†men’s basketball team to the Final Four in Seattle, Washington. My uncle was the head coach so my dad and I were going to fly on the team plane. What a blast! Unfortunately, this was about the same time that serial killer Ted Bundy was all over the news, the “Green River Killer†investigation was in full swing, and I was obsessed with reading Seattle-based author Ann Rule’s true crime books. Not exactly a great time for me to be heading for Washington State. But hey, I was cop! I got to take my gun to Seattle, carry it everywhere, and feel safe and secure. Great for me, but it got me thinking about all those young female murder victims; many of them close to my age. What if one of them had been armed? Could she have saved herself and ultimately, many others? And back in Illinois we had our own famous serial killer, John Wayne Gacy, still in the news. He killed 33 young men and boys before he was arrested. Hadn’t they deserved the legal right to able to try and protect themselves to the best of their ability? Two and a half years later, on October 16, 1991, the infamous Luby’s Cafeteria shooting occurred in Killeen, Texas. In what we would now call an “active shooter†situation, George Hennard drove his pick up truck through the front of the restaurant and was able to stalk, shoot, and terrorize the 80 lunchtime patrons, killing 23 and wounding another 20 before police cornered him and he turned a gun on himself. He’d been able to reload several times before police could arrive, and there were no armed citizens to challenge him. I was now a patrol sergeant and really starting to really re-evaluate my stance on citizen carry, and frankly, the Luby’s incident scared the heck out of me. After all, just like my state, the law in Texas at the time forbade citizens from carrying handguns. The Texas “serious crime†rate was 38 % above the nation average. After the post-Luby’s passage of the CCW law, serious crime in Texas has dropped 50% faster than the United States as a whole. Illinois, however, continued to prohibit CCW. The whole citizen carry issue, often mixed in with the broader debate over “gun control†in general, has been terribly politicized and the debate rages on to this day. Yes, the United States is the leader in “per capita gun deaths among industrial nations,†a statistic that gun control advocates love to throw around. However, as most cops will tell you, the issue is a whole lot more complicated. One of the best resources out there is John Lott’srecently updated book “More Guns, Less Crime.†Basically, Lott concluded in an 18 year study that states who allowed citizens to carry concealed weapons saw violent crime goes down. Pretty logical stuff; the more law abiding citizens who train and arm themselves, the less victims we have. He has continued to study this issue objectively but passionately; every crimefighter should read his work. My adopted home town, the city of Chicago, is a perfect example of Lott’s conclusions. We’re averaging 20 – 40 shootings a weekend, three Chicago cops have been killed this year, off duty, since May, and yet Chicago has some of the strictest gun laws in the nation! Who’s got the guns? The cops and the bad guys; and frankly, the cops tend to be out-numbered and often out-gunned. All the gun laws in the world aren’t going to keep thugs from owning, carrying and using firearms, so all the City of Chicago is doing is keeping law abiding citizens from legally obtaining personal protection firearms. I’m retired now, but as I travel throughout the United States, training with and filming law enforcement personnel, I take advantage of HR 218; I am always armed, and I’m grateful for the privilege. I am now a firm advocate of well-trained, well-armed civilians, and this is an issue that police officers must get more involved in. With layoffs, cutbacks, workplace violence and the raging “war on cops†in the United States, we may have to depend on our citizens to step up, jump in, and help out in an armed encounter. After all, you don’t have to have a badge to wear a white hat and be one of the good guys. Stay safe!