Cruel Hand Luke

Am I the only one here who got the joke? The humor in Packingmama's post was that it seemed like some in this thread were willing to shoot EACH OTHER for stealing each other's material.....I thought it was freakin' hilarious. Couple of thoughts. If someone PAYS to take your class and then takes that material and uses it .....you SOLD IT TO THEM so quit whining. If you don't want people cooking with your bacon quit selling your bacon. If you sell someone a pound of bacon you no longer have any say over whether they use it for seasoning beans or whether they use it to make breakfast or a BLT. It is now THEIR bacon! So if you don't want people to put it in their beans...DO NOT SELL IT. On the other hand the party who uses the material really does bear some responsibility to credit where he got it if he knows where it came from. That is just the right thing to do. VERY few instructors really come up with anything truly outside the box that has not been done before. One exception is Southnarc whose material on managing unknown contacts is truly unique. But the rest of us are not inventing anything that no one else has ever thought of, after all there are only so many ways to do things when you have 2 arms and 2 legs. Even the stuff I came up with that was adopted for Suarez International's AK Program is not anything so original that I can say for sure that AK users SOMEWHERE else have not used at some time. It is just too simple for someone NOT to have used it before. But I have never seen anyone write about it or heard anyone use it (The specific material I'm referring to is a sighting method and a 2 point sling transition method). But am I going to get all pissed off if someone else starts teaching it? No. But if you got it from me or from the SI AK class,I just prefer you mention where you picked it up....that is the only RIGHT thing to do. Most of us are honestly either teaching someone else's material, or teaching our take on someone else's material. A FEW are trying to mix different schools of thought and make things "fit together" taking the various schools of thought and working them into a cohesive program. Then there is an even more limited few who are truly innovating and doing something new. But even then they are really basing their new stuff on old stuff or on other disciplines (stick, knife, empty hands) . So unless you can show where NO ONE was doing it before you were, then you have a hard time proving any kind of intellectual property. And even if you do hold the deed to the intellectual property, once you let a student PAY you for it , they now own a piece of it too.....So the only sure way to keep your material proprietary is to NOT teach it..... Now, back to shooting people for stealing stuff......EVERY class I teach someone says"what? I can't shoot someone who is in my yard stealing my car?" There is an OBVIOUS difference in property crime and physical assault. Again, if the REASONABLE person believed they were in immediate danger of grave bodily injury or death, then the statute is clear. Fire away. The problem is that if they are not posing an imminent threat TO YOU or a 3rd person then you CAN NOT shoot them for committing a crime other than a violent felony..... Now the gray area comes when you grab your roscoe and run out the door to confront them as they lift your hubcaps. Were you in danger? No. Did YOU actually cause the confrontation? A jury MIGHT say that you did so we need to be very careful about leaving the safety of our house to confront someone. You can always call the cops. Now, if they start to burn down your house or shoot at you through the windows or walls, then yes you are in danger. But until then....you really need to keep that temper under control and call the cops. You may not like this, but it is reality.

My random observations over the course of 10 years...... The OVERWHELMING majority of folks only want the BARE MINIMUM. Many view the class as an inconvenience rather than an opportunity to learn something that might actually save their life. You cannot convert those folks. You will only get frustrated. Most folks just are not interestied in getting continuing training. VERY few even ask about where to go to get further training. So if you try to be a crusader and make competent gunmen out of them in a 1 day class, that leads to immense frustration on your part and more material than they can digest on their part. I add some material dealing with awareness and people who approach you on the street, but I keep to the state syllabus as much as possible. If they want further training I welcome it with open arms, but few even ask, even after I tell them this class is a BARE MINIMUM and that further training is a really good idea since the class covers so little. Folks who have never been in a dangerous situation seem to be the least motivated. Those who have seem to be the most motivated....hmmm....imagine that.... Most folks who are "self taught" really do need the marksmanship training even if it is a bit remedial for the good shooters. A good many NEED remedial training. I have lost count of folks who show up trying to use the "cup and saucer " grip, or folks gripping the gun with their thumb behind the slide -(usually a self solving problem), and folks who are obviously cross dominant eyed who are shooting with the wrong master eye. While you might argue that you can get away with this in a defensive shooting I say knowing how to do it RIGHT solves a lot of problems. And making them do it correctly takes less time than letting them figure out on their own why their pet method they have "always used" is not getting good results. It is amazing how the proper grip, trigger control , sight focus and forward leaning upper body posture makes shooting down right simple..... There is no point in spending a lot of time on reloads when no matter how much you might want them to, 95+% are NOT going to carry spare ammo anyways. I'd say that over half will rarely even carry the gun anyway. We are teaching "normal folks" not gunfighters. Not being cynical here or sarcastic just being realistic. The video has issues. The knife stuff in the video is just not right in the real world. If you wait for someone to approach you, pull the knife and tell you they are going to gut you , then it is likely you will not be able to keep from getting stabbed. There are some other issues and we discuss them after they view the video. I show another vid demonstrating the Tueller drill so they can see for themselves just how fast distance gets covered..... Obviously we don't shoot the guy on the side of the road whittling a stick, but we also do not need to wait until a knife wielding assailant has closed to within touching distance before we take any action....There are a few other issues with the video , and I discuss those also. Most people for some reason think you cannot carry a gun in a bank...... Most people think you SHOULD be able to shoot people who are stealing stuff..... It is EXTREMELY gratifying to see people who are very nervous about passing the shooting part shoot a fist sized group just by doing it the way we teach it. The confidence they gain from that is hard to put a price on... Again, these are just random observations..

I'm thinking they are describing just the plain old "fire one, grab a new one, insert into the mag tube, carry on" type of reload. It is nothing a 6 year old child couldn't do dexterity wise. You keep the gun shouldered , and just pull a shell either out of the side saddle (if so equipped) or out of your pouch or pocket and push it into the tube. Very common in match shooting and taught in virtually every "combat" shotgun oriented class I am aware of. Shotguns don't hold much ammo. Makes sense to keep 'em topped off......

Yeah, there is something to be said for that "Front sight, PRESS" stuff.

The combined match scores are posted at http://www.rangemaster.com/ . You might recognize some of the names.

I spent this past weekend working/attending/presenting at the Rangemaster Tactical Conference. The event is held at the Memphis Police Training facility-which is freakin' NICE. This is one of the PREMIERE training events in the country every year and all serious gunmen really should attend at least once. Being on the staff, I RO'd the indoor stages of the match from 7Am to noon on Saturday. I was able to catch Steve Moses' "Dealing with MMA trained opponents" presentation, though I was getting over the flu so I just watched and took notes( but don't worry, I'll get plenty of practice when I get together with my training partners....). Steve covered likely attacks that MMA trained opponents will try to use and submission holds they will try to employ and ways to survive the initial attack and access your knife and escape. After Steve's presentation I went to Haney Mahmoud's "Responding to Active Shooters" presentation. He covered material in respect to closing with and dealing with active shooters and the moral,legal and safety issues associated. He discussed IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) and the fact that they could be encountered in an active shooter scenario.The shooters at Columbine had 26 IEDs between them on their person when they were killed. Sunday morning I attended Claude Werner's "Shooting in Reaction Time" presentation on the indoor frangible range. Claude teaches at the Rogers Shooting School in Ellijay Ga. The targets used are the Rogers School targets- pneumaticly driven targets where the head rises and appears for a set amount of time and the target is engaged with the specified # of shots and then the head shot within that time frame. If you don't shoot QUICKLY you cannot make the times. After the class was over I was honored that Claude asked me to join him and Mike Benedict to "play" with the target system. We dialed the time down to 1 second and shot (or tried...) head shots from concealment at 5 yards in ONE second. I then went to Tom Givens' lecture on 7 selected shootings that his students have been involved in. Tom has had close to 50 (yes 50)student involved shootings in the last decade. Tom therefor has about the best database of real shootings involving civilians in the US. I have seen this before in classes and at NTI , but it never gets old and i get something new out of it every time. Afterwards I reported back to the indoor range to RO for a couple of hours as we got the last of the shooters run through the match course. Then it was off to the class room to do my presentation on "Dynamic Movement-Get Off the X". Afterwards the awards for the match winners were handed out and door prizes were handed out. Just as last year, it was an EXCELLENT event, a supreme success, and the greatest value in training available at $8 per instructor by the time you divide the #of trainers by the dollar amount the attendees had to pay to attend. Here is John Farnam's review of the event. 24 Feb 08 "Polite Society" Event, Memphis, TN, 2008 I just completed the 2008 PS Event in Memphis, TN. Friend and colleague, Tom Givens, puts this extravaganza on every February, and it was, as always, an enormous benefit to all who attended. As last year, the event took place at MPD's Academy. Shooting exercises consisted of three "situational" drills, two in low light, and one in normal, outdoor light. In the first one, you are compelled to engage three, armed thugs in a parking lot, using your car as cover. In the next, you are compelled to rescue your wife from armed thugs who are attempting to kidnap her. Range in both exercises was four to seven meters. Flashlight use was optional. Targets were fully-dressed mannequins that toppled when hit. Targets were visibly armed and perniciously threatening. "Non-targets " were also dressed mannequins, but plainly represented no threat. In low light, you really had to look closely! "Hit-zones" were undefined, and, for most of us, multiple hits were required to take out each target. I elected not to use my flashlight, as the situation developed so rapidly. I just moved, drew, and started fighting! A third low-light exercise required us all to fire at paper targets, but starting from supine and requiring the use of only the non-dominant hand! This was designed to simulate being wounded and down and still having to continue the fight. Range was five meters. Many of us need to practice more with one-hand shooting! Rollins on your side works much better than trying to arch your back. The outside drill required us to start seated in a car, then engage two, armed attackers out the passenger-side window. Then, the contestant had to tactically exit the vehicle, move to a brick wall, and, using it for cover, engage two more armed, thugs, the view of whom was obscured by an unarmed bystander. Again, targets and non-targets were dressed mannequins. Range was four to seven meters. The final drill was also outdoors and required each of us to shoot down a row of steel plates, strong-hand, support-hand, and free-style. Range was five and seven meters. I was armed with my Beretta PX4 (40S&W) and 140gr Cor-Bon DPX ammunition. Back-up pistol was my Rohrbaugh R9, also loaded with DPX. Pistol and ammunition ran fine. I didn't deploy my backup pistol nor Cold-Steel blades. It was an excellent training exercise, and, as with the NTI, extremely valuable, as each of us get to go into each drill cold, having little idea of what to expect. It is an priceless opportunity to test and evaluate oneself, under stress. The best way to approach it is to not think about scores/times at all, and stop worrying about what you think some evaluator wants to see you do or not do. You run each drill as realistically and tactically sound as you can, making what mistakes you will, moving on without hesitation, and charging through to the end. Great day! There were many valuable classes this year, all instructed by my personal friends and colleagues, and I did my best to attend all of them! TJ Pilline put on an excellent, live-fire Urban Rifle Class, stressing optical-offset on close targets, particularly brain-stem shots at close range. TJ is an advocate for one-point slings! John Hearne presented his excellent summary of FBI's OIS data. He reminded us that we're often too polite for our own good, and that we need to look upon VCAs as an entirely different species, as their capacity for violence and depravity is virtually unlimited. John reminded us all that frequent, stressful training is the key to victory, along with personal tenacity. I love this: "Getting shot is no big deal. Getting shot again, because you failed to take decisive action, IS a big deal!" "South-Nark" is the AKA for another of our instructor who presented an excellent hand-on Class called "Managing Unknown Contacts." We all learned how to use posture, movement, and verbalization to maintain adequate reactionary distance and how to recognize pernicious duplicity. William Aprill, best known for his excellent Retention-and-Disarms Class, this year spoke, in his capacity as a practicing psychologist, about Post-Trauma Disorder. He acquainted us with the latest information on this subject as well as treatment options. He stressed the importance of always "staying in the game," in order to avoid "fear and helplessness" that is the source of so much heartburn. Henry Mahmoud and Steve Moses did a wonderful presentation on Team Tactics. He indicated that teams are often thrown together hastily, so each of us needs to have necessary tactical gear with us always, including a serious pistol and at least one reload. Henry said that five is the maximum number for an effective tactical team. More than that, and it becomes unmanageable and dangerous. Andy Stanford talked with us about flashlights, assuring us that LED is the trend, and that conventional, xenon bulbs were on their way out. Few know as much about low-light fighting as Andy! Paul Gomez presented an interesting Class on the "Evolution of the Draw-stroke." Paul never ceases to astonish me with his vast historical knowledge! Randy Harris showed us an excellent series of videos demonstrating how to put your opponent at the maximum disadvantage through aggressive movement, the kind of movement that forces him into aggravated muzzle whip. Claude Werner, representing the Rogers School, showed us all how to run the trigger and move the muzzle onto target simultaneously. He also stressed the importance of catching the link, again, while the muzzle is moving. Claude personally demonstrated all this with his Beretta 92F. I'm going to have to drill myself on this so I can decide how much of it I'm going to steal from Claude! Skip Gochenour had another of his classic "head-scratchers" for us! Skip talked about the concept of "Honor" and "Shame" and the way the two influence our civilization. He went through the historical development of law pertaining to the use of deadly force. He pointed out that in most civilizations, particularly the "Thug-ocracies" of the Middle-East, governments insist on an monopoly on the use of force. Citizens/subjects are allowed no individual discretion. Only in the "New World" do we see individual citizens with the right to defend themselves, even with deadly force, at their own, personal command and judgement. Mike Brown, in his hands-on class, showed us all how to successfully access one's pistol while otherwise engaged in a physical fight. It can be challenging, but Mike showed us some excellent tricks. Mike Warsocki's well-organized mind took us, step-by-step, through the exigent decision-making process. Mike explains the procedure in great detail, far more detailed than I had ever thought about. Jim Yeager, as few others are qualified to, explained to us accessories that come in handy on a serious rifle, and ones that are more trouble than they' re worth. Like TJ, Jim likes a one-point sling. He is also a fan of EOTech and Aimpoint. I highly recommend the PS Event to all Operators. Not to be missed! /John

My point was that those same "scary as hell" people are the exact pool from which we will be getting people carrying IF there were no safety class to at least point them in the right direction and let them know that they don't point guns at people they are not about to shoot,teach them how to hit what they are shooting at, and that they cannot shoot people for stealing hub caps or for threatening to punch them..... The well regulated part of "well regulated militia " actually meant "trained and equipped" in the time it was written. It did not mean "limited to certain items". Just as the militia had to...(Oh No ! He's gonna say it...) TRAIN back then on a regular basis, I do not see that there is any constitutional issue with compelling people who wish to go about armed IN PUBLIC to get at least a few hours of basic safety, legal, and marksmanship training ONCE in their freakin' lifetime. . If they don't choose to carry in public then there should be no training requirement, but if they do choose to accept the right to go about armed then they should accept the responsibility to be educated. Of course we know most people now do not accept ANY personal responsibility for anything......So we either compel them to get educated or you have those "scary as hell " people running around armed in public because there was nothing making them get educated.

I'm all for everyone exercising their "God given rights" , but with that comes a commensurate amount of RESPONSIBILITY. Having shot at a greater than average number of private and public ranges I have seen people that frankly have no business going about with loaded guns until they get their head straight and figure out it is not polite to casually point loaded guns at people while you talk to them. Also having seen a hefty number of people come through the TN Handgun Carry Permit class, I can tell you FIRST HAND that if nothing else the safety lecture is CRUCIAL in preventing negligent discharges out in the world.... Again, I'm not suggesting limiting one's ability to defend themself. I'm suggesting that if they want to exercise the right they need to be grown up enough to understand , respect, and accept the responsibility of learning to handle the gun SAFELY.I'm suggesting that before they strap on their smokewagon they take the initiative and do the RIGHT THING and learn something about safely handling loaded guns in public.Problem is that a very large number would never do it unless they were forced too...... If that makes me a "gun hater" then some of you need to get a grip on reality.I have no problem working in close confines, side by side, live fire with multiple shooters firing full auto if they all have the same safety guidelines hardwired. But there are some people out there who I would be afraid to stand BEHIND if they had a single shot musket and I were wearing body armor because they are so UNSAFE. Those people (for the sake of the rest of the community) NEED a safety class to enlighten them to the concepts that we take for granted....never point the "fiery death end" at what you are not willing to destroy, keep your "booger hook" off the "bang switch" until you want it to get loud, be aware of your target and (JUST AS IMPORTANTLY) what is BEHIND it. There ARE people out there who own guns that have never even heard these safety rules before......pretty scary huh? Do you feel comfy with THEM pulling out their blaster and letting loose at someone if you and your children are on the other end of the parking lot? Honestly? These safety "rules" are REASONABLE things that prevent NEGLIGENT death , injury or property damage. By and large accidental shootings are not ACCIDENTAL discharges, they are NEGLIGENT Discharges. So I have NO PROBLEM with compelling people to have some damn sense about them and learn to responsibly handle that thing that can KILL someone. And if that makes me "anti freedom" then some of you need to wake up and discover that this is NOT some academic exercise, it is LIFE AND DEATH..... And anyone that argues that the TN permit class marksmanship qualification standard is too difficult really needs to reexamine whether they really think people who can't pass it SHOULD be carrying a gun in public or not.

I don't mean to kick anyone's pet goldfish here, but it is not 1917 any more and most autos made by QUALITY manufacturers are as reliable as any revolver and MORE robust. Revolvers are still 19th century technology. It is a fairly complex "watch" like mechanism that dirt and unburnt powder can bind the mechanism. They can and do go out of time and have to have the cylinder retimed. I know, I've had it happen. I've also had one bind up to the point it had to have a wooden mallet beat the cylinder open. These were not rusty old 1903 Smiths, these were a 1990s manufactured 642 (bound up cylinder) and a 1990s vintage SW625. My Glocks, Sig 226, Wilson 1911, Colt 1911 (made in 1921), nor any other auto I have ever owned has ever had any kind of catastrophic failure like this. So much for more reliable..... The "reliability issue" with revolvers comes from the early years of the 20th century when there were a bunch of new european autos (and some early american designs) becoming available and the american market was heavily entrenched with the revolver. Most of these autos were of questionable reliability especially if black powder loads -which they were not designed around-were used. The revolver however would still fire if you could pull the trigger. So the buying public came to view the revolver as more reliable. But oddly enough EVERY major army in the world would dump their wheel guns for autos by the mid 1920s. If these autos were "unreliable" does anyone really think they would have switched? For military combat where the guns are likely to get filthy and maybe be used as clubs (which can easily damage a revolver) revolvers were dumped 90 years ago! The reason we went to war in 1917 with a .45acp revolver is because Colt couldn't make enough 1911s FAST ENOUGH to arm everyone with and they already had tooling in place to make the revolver and so did Smith and Wesson. It was a matter of expedience NOT a matter of reliability! So after WWII when they began looking to improve ammo for autos -sp and hp- some things would feed well and some would not. But due to its design, a revolver could even shoot the flat full Wadcutter shaped stuff. Autos still were designed around FMJ round nose stuff and early soft and hollow point stuff did not feed as well as the FMJ did. So again we get the notion that the revolver is more "reliable" but it is not a apples to apples comparison. If I ask a 5'2 guy to dunk a basketball on a 10 foot goal in a dunk contest against a 6'10 guy is that a fair comparison of ability? Of course not. One is more well built to do that particular activity and the other is not. If I put unleaded gas in a diesel engine and try to drive cross country does the breakdown of the vehicle mean it is an unreliable vehicle? No. It means we fed it something it was not DESIGNED to use.So it is NOT that the autos were less reliable, they were less reliable with ammo that at the time was never intended to be used in those autos by their designers! So no, revolvers are not more reliable. They are a 19th century technology that in the hands of a competent revolver shooter CAN be very effective (for the first 6 shots) but they are not as robust as autos, they do not have the capacity of any decent sized auto, they are harder to shoot (neither you nor I are Jerry Miculek and I don't care WHO you are a 4lb Single action trigger is easier to get good hits with than a 10-12lb DA trigger) and they are MUCH slower to reload. Before anyone brands me a revolver hater , consider this. I won 7 consecutive Cowboy Action shooting yearly club championships between 2 clubs in SE Tn (TN Mountain Marauders in Chattanooga and Ocoee Rangers in Cleveland) in 5 years- 5 consecutive with one club and 2 consecutive with another at the same time. So I know a little about how to sling a wheel gun. And I CARRY a SW342 as my auxiliary (or "backup" if you must call it that) pocket gun ...BUT I also carry a Glock 34 in an IWB holster as my REAL gun. The SW is not carried because of any perceived reliability issue. It is carried simply because due to its size and shape it is not as obvious in my front pocket as a Glock 26 is and due to its shape I can draw it from my jeans faster than I can draw my G26. It is the derringer of the 21st century. But when I am wearing looser fitting cargo shorts I often go with the small auto.......The J frame fits a niche...but that niche is not "reliability".

Actually what they were saying is a world class shooter has a reaction time to the buzzer of about .15 of a second. So that is how far they moved the "beep" ahead of him starting his draw stroke. The "average guy" reaction time is more like .25 to .35 (or more) . So reaction time and draw is definitely different than just straight up draw speed. Someone asked what kind of accuracy you can get. Usually COM hits on targets at 2-3 yards away. Now, I can't do it that fast with a 2 handed eye level shot. I'm drawing and shooting from "retention" or "point shooting" if you must call it that. But I'm also doing it from concealment just like in the video but from under an untucked polo shirt. I'll try to post video of me doing it. I have a snippet of that in a video presentation I'm doing at the Rangemaster Tactical Conference at the end of this month in Memphis.

Gabe Suarez is going to be at my place March 27-30. During the rest of the year I teach Suarez Int. curriculum classes like Defensive Pistol Skills, Close Range Gunfighting, Defensive Rifle Skills, Defensive Shotgun Skills, Kalashnikov Gunfighting, and Interactive Gunfighting Force on Force. I also host other instructors like Sonny Puzikas and Tom Givens, and I do private lessons . The range I use is a private range just over the border from Chattanooga, 3 miles from where I 75 crosses TN into GA. Info can be found at Suarezinternational.com. I have my classes through May listed and hope to have the rest of the year up on the board in a week or so. Of course if there is anything I can help you with feel free to PM me here or email me at Cruelhandluke2000@yahoo.com

Just curious.....anyone here attending the Rangemaster Tactical Conference and Polite Society Match in Memphis Feb 23 and 24?

Now factor out the reaction time to an outside stimulus (buzzer or whatever) and you will cut .25 or so off of those times............ Try this. Place a coin on the back of your hand and hold your hand and forearm parallel to the ground. Then go for your gun. That is more a measure of your draw to shot speed, not your reaction time, and THEN draw to shot speed. Depending on your height, if you can draw and fire before the coin hits the ground that is about .15 to .10 of a second for a draw and shot. (objects fall 33.3ft/sec so 1/10 the height = 1/10th the time.) Now do it from concealment. How much slower was that? Interesting thing to play with......

That is the one Rob Pincus did? If so, he will be presenting at the Rangemaster Tactical Conference/Polite Society Match in Memphis at the end of the month.

Guys we don't live behind the Iron Curtain. I have never heard of anyone in Tn getting sued after a justifiable shooting. And the statute doesn't have anything to do with the Castle Doctrine. It has been on the books for about 10 years. If they are committing a violent felony and you kill or injure them they are SOL.

Suarez Int Classes in Chattanooga Tn March 27,28,29,30 Gabe Suarez will be in Chattanooga teaching the following classes at the end of March! March 27, 2008 High Intensity Force On Force - Part 1 Chatanooga, TN This will be a high speed, high intensity session dealing with using the pistol against knife attacks. We will work on some dynamic techniques and concepts and then drill it all at various distances in the force on force environment. Every attendee will defeat the vaunted 21 foot rule or your money back. http://www.suarezinternationalstore.com/index.asp?PageA...=VIEWPROD&ProdID=410 March 28, 2008 High Intensity Pistol (Range Work) Chattanooga, TN This high speed, high intensity session deals with live fire exercises that support our use of the CCW pistol in close range gunfighting. We will work on both sighted and point shooting stationary and while explosively moving off the x. Bring lots of ammo and an open mind. 500 Rounds Minimum. http://www.suarezinternationalstore.com/index.asp?PageA...=VIEWPROD&ProdID=411 March 29, 2008 Knife Fighting/Vehicle Gunfighting Chattanooga, TN This combination day will have us learning to fight with knives in the morning session and examining fighting in vehicles in the afternoon. We will learn both defensive and aggressive knife methods and test them in force on force with training knives. We will also learn knife application in confined areas such a vehicles. This will dovetail nicely into the vehicle gunfighting segment that will have you shooting from the inside and from around vehicles. 300 Rounds Minimum http://www.suarezinternationalstore.com/index.asp?PageA...=VIEWPROD&ProdID=412 March 30, 2008 High Intensity Force On Force - Part 2 Chattanooga, TN Today we will spend the day working on Gun versus Gun force on force. We will begin at 7 yards and progressively move in as we learn what is needed at each distance interval up to and including drawing against the drawn gun and the involvement of combatives. http://www.suarezinternationalstore.com/index.asp?PageA...=VIEWPROD&ProdID=413 Price is $200 per day or $700 for ALL 4 days. http://www.suarezinternationalstore.com/index.asp?PageA...=VIEWPROD&ProdID=399

True. I know several guys that are what some would consider "fat" (but not chronicly obese)that would be a bad guy's worst nightmare. But OBVIOUSLY the better shape you are in the better off you are...

Agree 100% with the article. Actually I posted something very similar here several months back. On teachers....there are hard core operators out there that have killed more people than small pox that just do not have the verbal skills to teach. There are also good teachers (think college professors) who have no concept of physical violence or interpersonal conflict resolution. Experience is important but obviously so is teaching ability. You may know EVERYTHING to be known...but if you cannot pass it on so that others understand it and can do it then teaching is not your bag. Obviously if the guy you are learning from cannot demonstrate on demand (without warming up) what he is teaching then you might question that. While it does not take a master level shooter to teach basic marksmanship and gunhandling the more skill the instructor has the more skill he can pass on. Obviously if your instructor has never done one handed reloads while moving then he probably is not going to be confident in teaching that to you. And if he doesn't shoot well, then you have to question just how much he knows about it if he can't do it on demand. If he can't clean any course of fire he is having you shoot then that might be something of concern. Referring to Applegate, when he was 70 years old he might not have been physically ready to go hands on with 2 younger and bigger assailants, but he could definitely teach the concepts and techniques because he had done it when he was younger. Same with Jim Cirillo. Unfortunately both have passed on now.

Those signs USED TO BE accurate. It used to be against the law to carry where it was sold. A lot of gas stations still have those signs up here in Chattanooga. Has no legal standing at all as the law has been ammended since then. I think they just leave 'em up to act as a bit of a deterrant to robbers.We all know that is unlikely to change someone's mind who plans to rob the place, but few gas station owners have a degree in criminal psychology.....All it really does is annoy those of us who DO know the law. What are they going to do throw you out? Doubtful. But if they don't see your gun it doesn't matter anyways.

My local Class III dealer tells me that there is a law on the books in TN compelling the Sheriffs to sign UNLESS they can come up with a good reason not to. Unless they have info that dude should not have the item, they have to sign. Unfortunately I have not found the statute yet....... Of Course the trust/Corporate route would eliminate this worry, but unless he has info that the guy will use this for ill intent the Sheriff is apparently breaking the law.......

Disney is not posted nor is it against the law to carry there. They DO NOT frisk people, they check bags. I know, the wife and I go about once a year. Concealed means CONCEALED. From what I understand granny had no permit......that is the problem......

Most of us who actually do disarm and weapon retention training have incorporated the racking the slide(actually a tap/rack) as a torque profile action that we perform everytime we perform a disarm or once we regain full control in a retention situation if we have been struggling over posession of the gun. Auto pistols have a nasty habit of getting out of battery when people are wrestling over them. We rack the slide to clear any possible malfunction and make sure it is functional. But I don't know ANYONE in the US who teaches empty chamber carry. It is solution to a problem that we just do not face.

Not that I'm aware of. I'll eventually get certified to teach it. Right now I've only taken the basic class to get certified to use it.

The issue was that with a stroke of a pen in 1948 Israel becme a country for the first time in 2000 years. They had no real indigenous arms manufacturing capability at that point and were armed with a hodge podge of different things acquired from various countries. You might have 10 guys with 10 different pistols. How do you train these guys to carry them without shooting themselves and bystanders when there are 10 different manuals of arms? Have everyone carry with an empty chamber with safety off. That is why the Isrealis carried empty chamber. NOT because of any tactical advantage.

No. It is an affirmative defense to carrying a "club or baton" if you hold a certification in the use of a club/ baton. We read that to include saps and blackjacks (check definition of club under TN law) and had Southnarc come in a few months later and do a sap and blackjack class.