Weekend Knowledge Dump- September 20, 2019

Knowledge to make your life better. If you have some free time, check out some of these links this weekend.

Phone Store Employee Smokes Armed Robber

There are a lot of very valuable lessons to be learned from this shooting. I probably wouldn’t have kept shooting as long as our victim here. With that said, from the victim’s perspective the weapon hand was somewhat concealed and not easily viewed. The suspect was continuing to move his upper body. I think it’s very easy to assume that those movements could be his attempt to shoot. That’s likely why the DA didn’t pursue charges.

Gear Review: Summer Test of Zulu Bravo Kydex J-frame (A)IWB Holster

Growing Up Guns reviews one of Zulu Bravo’s kydex holster options. Zulu Bravo is an excellent source for both holsters and non-metallic blades. Matt does top notch work in the field.

Seven rounds

With all the clamoring for gun control laws that limit magazine capacity, this older article should be re-circulated. There are always new people we can reach. We need to give those folks the information they need to make the best decisions about our future as a nation.

If you liked this piece, you would probably enjoy the author’s novels as well. My favorite is Safe from the War.

S&W Revolver Frame Sizes (part II)

In last week’s Knowledge Dump, I linked to Claude Werner’s article about Smith and Wesson frame sizes. Here is part two of the series covering the “K-Frame” revolvers.

Head’s Up. There’s a New Weapon Out There.

This is very good advice for my law enforcement friends. Administrators should pay attention and get out ahead of things before the next scandal hits the news cycle.

It’s a Trap! – Small Game Trapping Tips for Survival

I think trapping skills may be useful in an economically uncertain future. As a kid, I read every primitive trapping book I could find. I spent my time setting lots of snares and deadfall traps in the woods near my home. My success rate was disappointing low. My survival plan has evolved since those days. Now I feed small game in my back yard. I have a regular batch of squirrels, rabbits, opossums, and skunks that frequent my yard. I also have a bunch of pre-made snare traps in storage for the future. If times get hard, the little critters who visit me are going to become stew meat.

Active Learning Works But Students Don’t Like It

My instructor friends will find value in reading this short article describing how students learn. Although the research was concerned with academic learning in a university classroom, I think students probably think the same way about your firearms/combatives classes.

Best Red Dot Pistol Sights with Modern Samurai Project

I get lots of questions about red dot pistols from students. I know next to nothing about that topic. I’ll defer to people like Scott who are doing the work in the field. If you are interested in the topic, I’d also recommend Michael Bane’s podcast The Future of Red Dot-Ready Pistols.

Islamic State, Heroism, and Explosive Weapons

Are more females becoming suicide bombers? Not really.

Best Buy worker fights off thief who threatened him with a knife and pepper spray

Many people think that a criminal will display any weapons he’s carrying at the start of his crime to ensure compliance. That’s no always the case. Lots of criminals know that if they display a weapon, their simple theft has immediately become a felony robbery. They are armed, but don’t use the weapons unless they think they will be hurt or captured.

Here’s an example. Watch the video. Thief steals a couple phones. Store employees assume he is unarmed and try to detain him. During the struggle, the thief pulls out both a knife and pepper spray, driving store employees away.

1) Don’t assume the criminal is unarmed just because you can’t see a weapon. I really doubt these guys would have chased the criminal out if they knew he had a blade. Assume he has a weapon. Make all of your pursuit decisions based on that assumption. Is it worth getting stabbed for a couple cell phones?

2) In any struggle, you must be prepared for your opponent to access a tool mid-fight. If you want to win, you have to quickly establish a dominant position and deny him access to his tools. Not enough people practice that aspect of the problem.

Claude Werner has more to say about the topic in The Downsides of Intervention.

“Try” versus “Do”

The language we use when we talk to ourselves is extremely important. Read Mike Seeklander’s advice and put it into practice.

The CIA’s Secret Quest For Mind Control: Torture, LSD And A ‘Poisoner In Chief’

I’ve read quite a bit about the history of LSD use before it was declared illegal. The profound effects of the drug had to be useful for something. The manufacturer didn’t yet know what actual benefits the drug provided or what conditions it may treat.

They needed research. The original drug manufacturer provided the chemical to almost anyone who requested it for research purposes in the early days. The drug maker was hoping that these researchers would discover a legitimate medical use for the chemical, thereby making it profitable to produce.

Until reading this article, I had no idea that the CIA was so deeply involved in this research operation. I knew that the CIA was interested in weaponizing the chemical and I had heard of the original MK-Ultra experiments as well. I did not know that the CIA was spearheading all of the LSD research in the hopes that they could use the drug against our enemies (or maybe even our own citizens).

From the article:

“In the early 1950s, he arranged for the CIA to pay $240,000 to buy the world’s entire supply of LSD. He brought this to the United States, and he began spreading it around to hospitals, clinics, prisons and other institutions, asking them, through bogus foundations, to carry out research projects and find out what LSD was, how people reacted to it and how it might be able to be used as a tool for mind control.”

The extent of government over-reach and impropriety described in the article is quite sickening. After reading it, I can’t believe that anyone could possibly be in favor of reducing our citizens’ rights to keep and bear arms for their own protection. The evil perpetrated by these government employees altered the very course of history.

Why do you trust such an enormously abusive entity to have a monopoly on the use of weapons in our society? That doesn’t seem very prudent to me.

If you want to hear something more positive about psychedelic drugs, I would suggest Tim Ferriss’ interview with bestselling author Michael Pollan about the research Pollan did for his book How to Change Your Mind. Both the book and the linked podcast provide an amazing introduction to the healing potential of these powerful chemicals.

YOU. ARE. NOT. HELPING.

“Personally I look at the photo and see a thoughtless attention whore trying to ‘scare the straights.’ The most likely result is that he will scare them straight into the ballot box to vote away our rights. As such this person is not my friend, ally or comrade in the struggle; he is an active threat to my rights.”

If you are interested in open carry, you may also enjoy Ash Hess’ perspective on how open carry serves to desensitize security personnel. Link opens to Facebook.

Call Sign Chaos: Learning to Lead

What I’m reading…

How could you not read a leadership book written by Chaos Actual?

What Percent Of Fights End Up On The Ground [2019 Research]

This article attempts to quantify the percentage of fights that go to the ground by analyzing street fight videos found on the internet. While there is obviously a selection bias, I think it is still a useful analysis.

New survey shows heavy psychological toll for Virginia’s first responders

“The survey found that the percentage of first responders who reported depression increased the longer they worked. Only 12.5 percent who had been on the job less than five years reported feeling depressed, but that number nearly doubled to 24.6 percent among those with six to 10 years of experience and kept climbing after that.”

“They see this terrible stuff all the time,” Violanti said. “They are exposed to this stuff for almost 20 to 25 years over the course of a normal career. The problem with trauma is it’s cumulative. The more trauma you experience, the more likely you are to get PTSD. It affects ability to perform. You can’t sleep. You become afraid to step outside.”

Police officers (as well as medics, firefighters, ER docs, and several other professions) experience devastating trauma almost every single day they are at work. How do you think that affects their brain in the long term?

I’ll give you a little example. I got called last week to a “suicide in progress” run. A mentally ill 16-year old girl had locked herself in a bedroom, broke the window, and was using a shard of broken window glass in an attempt to eviscerate herself. By the time I arrived on scene, she had made at least a dozen cuts on her abdomen. Each of the cuts was more than a foot long going from one side of her belly to the other.

Her family had to forcibly take the broken shard of glass out of the teenage girl’s hand as she was slicing herself open. I had to restrain her as she attempted to grab other pieces of broken glass to finish the job. After we disarmed her, she continued to fight as we transported her to the hospital. I had to wrestle the girl for about 20 minutes in the back of the ambulance as she attempted to kill herself by jumping out of the speeding vehicle into rush-hour traffic on the freeway.

How many of you have ever actually seen someone seriously trying to kill themselves? How many of you have been smeared with the suicidal person’s blood as you fought to keep them from dying? Have you ever considered how dealing with those scenarios every day might negatively alter a person’s thought processes over time?

Wresting that girl barely even registers on my “trauma radar.” I’ve seen things 10x worse than that. I’ve been present when a woman pulled a razor blade out of her vagina and used it to cut her own throat. I once responded to a “suicidal threats” call only to watch a teenage boy cut his wrists with a butcher knife as his family ignored him while calmly watching “Wheel of Fortune.” And remember, I work in a very upscale community with a very low crime rate. My colleagues working in big cities see this stuff way more often than I do.

The average person can’t possibly comprehend what every cop and paramedic sees on a daily basis. The effects of experiencing this daily trauma are cumulative. You can’t just forget the situations you’ve responded to. Those scenes stick with you for the rest of your life.

It’s one of the many reasons you should discourage your loved ones from pursuing a career in public service. The trauma that they witness sticks with them forever and irreparably alters their brain chemistry in a negative manner. Trust me. Watching someone trying to kill themselves is not an experience that will lead to a healthy mental perspective in the future.

22LR vs. Windshield!

While I don’t think the .22 Long Rifle is the best defensive cartridge for most people, I do believe it works much better than many instructors give it credit for. But what about one of those “worst case scenarios” like firing through a windshield? Windshield glass frustrates a lot of good defensive ammunition. It’s nice to see that even standard velocity .22 ammo makes it through the windshield and still yields 7-8″ of gelatin penetration.

Keep in mind, however, that this test was shot at a 90 degree angle. The bullet would not perform this well if it had been shot at a more oblique angle.

Arming the Cartels: The Inside Story of a Texas Gun-Smuggling Ring

This was a long article, but I found it very interesting. Who knew that home-built miniguns are worth $240,000 each on the open market?

Draw and Don’t Shoot: An Overlooked Skill

In your training and practice sessions, do you fire your gun every time you draw? You may want to re-think that practice.

5 Life Lessons From 5 Years of Traveling the World

Mark Manson shares his insights after having traveled to more than 55 different countries.

Self-Defense Knives: Should You Carry Them?

“While training is a must in order to effectively use a knife for personal defense, having an edged weapon in your hand pointed at the bad guy is far better than staring at him empty-handed, with your eyes and mouth wide open.”

What to do if you witness a car accident!

A paramedic provides some very useful advice about what you should do if you witness a car crash.

Understanding the Effects of Wind and Weather for Shooting Accurately Part II

Everyone knows that when shooting a precision rifle, one must correct the lateral windage to take into account the effects of a wind coming from one side or the other. Did you know you will also likely have to correct elevation for the effects of wind?

Officer characteristics and racial disparities in fatal officer-involved shootings

“We did not find evidence for anti-Black or anti-Hispanic disparity in police use of force across all shootings, and, if anything, found anti-White disparities when controlling for race-specific crime. While racial disparity did vary by type of shooting, no one type of shooting showed significant anti-Black or -Hispanic disparity. The uncertainty around these estimates highlights the need for more data before drawing conclusions about disparities in specific types of shootings.”

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