News Nuggets

U.S. Sees Highest Black Friday Gun Sales in Recorded History

Though Black Friday turnout dramatically dropped this year, gun sales were higher than ever.

According to the FBI, there were more than 175,000 background checks on Friday, making it the busiest Black Friday in recorded history. But even at a rate of almost three background checks a second, November 28 was beat out by December 21, 2012, which saw more than 177,000 background checks.

The number of background checks filed on Friday represents almost three times the daily average. Since law requires background reviews be completed within three business days, 600 FBI employees worked around the clock this weekend. If the government fails to complete a background check on time, a buyer is allowed to make their intended gun purchase anyway.

Number of women getting CHLs doubles

 Every other Wednesday night Red’s Indoor Gun Range in South Austin is hoppin’. Every bay is usually taken by women. It hasn’t always been this way.

“Every week there would be just me and then one week there would be two of us,” said Nikki Jones who founded Sure Shots, a women’s gun club that got its start back in 2005 when Jones moved from New York to Austin and got her concealed handgun license.

“The difference between the amount of women who were shooting and now is just off the charts,” she said. Sure Shots now has 300-plus members, some who walk in never having picked up a gun.

“We have a few guns in the house that are in a safe, but in case I needed to use them I thought this would be a comfortable setting since it is all women,” said Elena who is married to a law enforcement officer.

Elena liked it so much she recently decided to get her Concealed Handgun License. She is not alone. As of July 31, 2014 there were 198,000 Texas women with an active license to carry.

“The reason to get a firearm should be one of empowerment and not fear,” said Julianna Crowder, who started teaching CHL courses with her husband eight years ago.

She also founded a Central Texas women’s shooting league called A Girl and A Gun. They meet regularly at a new indoor range in Cedar Park called Shady Oaks. It’s where Bettye Lane Chambliss comes to shoot.

“One day I was out working in the yard and when I came back in there was a man standing in my house,” said Chambliss. “I was pretty much blocked in. There was no way to get to the door.”

“The reason to get a firearm should be one of empowerment and not fear,”

Her dogs scared off the stranger, and after that she decided to get a gun and learn how to shoot.

Trigger Discipline and the Empty Mind

Sandy Keathley
McKinney Firearms Training

As a CHL instructor, I see a wide variety of shooters come through my classes, ranging from police officers and other experienced shooters, to people who just bought a gun 3 days before. As is to be expected, the more experienced shooters tend to score at the high end of the scale, and the others at the lower end, although both types will sometimes surprise me. While fundamentals like stance and grip play a role in the success of these shooters, probably nothing has as big an impact as trigger discipline.

So what is that? It means mastering two aspects of the trigger pull:

1. Pulling the trigger straight back, so that any lateral forces (left and right) are balanced. If you have too much finger on the trigger (up to the joint), you will have a tendency to pull the muzzle right (for a right-handed shooter) as you squeeze the trigger. If too little finger, you will push the muzzle to the left. The movement may be very small, but that's all it takes. With practice, you can find the "sweet spot" on your finger. It will vary from one gun to another, because of the dimensions of the gun.
2. Focusing more on the action at hand than on the result. Anticipation of the shot will ruin the shot, so you must relax, clear your head, and pull back until the trigger touches the frame. Yes, the shot will break before then; pull through it,like a baseball batter swings through the ball.

You must not think of the trigger as being like a light switch, off and on. Think of it like opening a large, heavy door. Take at least 1 1/2 seconds, from the start of pressure on the trigger, to the end, or at least the minimal time required to press the trigger back without disturbing the muzzle. Even in a crisis situation, you would have 2 seconds per shot. As you get better, that time will decrease. During that interval, think only about a smooth, steady pull, and keeping the sights aligned, not where you want the bullet to hit. Better yet, think of nothing; empty your mind and get in the zone. Think the words "wait, wait, wait" until the shot breaks.

Accurate shooting should be a relaxing action, not a stressful one. The more agitated you are, the worse the shot will be. If you are stressed out at the range, what will happen in a real self-defense situation?

Relax, breathe, meditate, be surprised when the shot breaks.

Counting Bulletholes

Sandy Keathley
McKinneyCHL.net

Fire 10 rounds at any type of target at 10 yards or less. Can you easily count all the holes? If you can, you may be focusing on the wrong thing. Your goal should not be to just hit the target, but to hit the previous hole. Well, if it was a good shot. For marksmanship training, groups are important. Every shot that misses the Point-of-Aim (center of the target) traveled at an angle to an imaginary straight line. The further out it goes, the larger that angle, and the further off the mark.  That's why people trying to improve shoot at bullseye targets instead of zombie outlines, and try to get small groups. If you put as many as 10 shots on a target, and have not shot out a ragged hole, you will be able to count all the holes. That's not a good thing.

As a Concealed Handgun instructor, I can look at a row of targets from 5 yards out and tell who has passed easily, and those who scored on the low end. I score every target manually, but I am seldom surprised. When there is a ragged hole in the middle, they will have scored 220+. If I can see all the holes, like a shotgun pattern, they will be below 220, and sometimes below 190.

That is still passing, but there is still a potential problem. It is estimated that a defensive shooter, even with training, will only perform at 50% of their ability in a crisis. Considering that many typical carry guns only hold 6 rounds, this person may well miss 3 shots entirely, and only wound with the other 3, whereas even an 8 inch, 3 shot group would likely kill or incapacitate the attacker.

That is why one needs to be an over-achiever with a handgun. Don't just hit the target; put all the bullets in a tight group.

Gun Control loses at the ballot box, mostly

As the election returns came in on November 4 one thing was evident—the Second Amendment crushed gun control candidates in Senate and gubernatorial races around the country. 

In so doing, the Second Amendment annihilated the left's relentless claim that 90 percent of Americans support more gun control.

On the gubernatorial level, in Arizona, pro-Second Amendment candidate Doug Ducey (R) beat gun control candidate Fred DuVaul (D). And in Florida, pro-Second Amendment incumbent Rick Scott (R) beat gun control candidate Charlie Crist. These victories were enhanced by the fact that Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly endorsed DuVal and Giffords' gun control PAC gave $100,000 to Crist's campaign. The Second Amendment trumped their endorsement and their money. 

In Texas, NRA-endorsed gubernatorial candidate Greg Abbott (R) won. In Maryland, NRA-endorsed gubernatorial candidate Larry Hogan (R) won. In Alabama, NRA-endorsed Governor Robert J. Bentley (R) won. In Wisconsin, NRA-endorsed Governor Scott Walker (R) won. In Michigan, NRA-endorsed Governor Rick Snyder (R) won. In Nevada, NRA-endorsed Governor Brian Sandval (R) won. In Ohio, NRA-endorsed Governor John R. Kasich (R) won. In Oklahoma, NRA-endorsed Governor Mary Fallin (R) won. In Wyoming, NRA-endorsed Governor Matt Mead (R) won. In Idaho, NRA-endorsed Governor Bruce Otter (R) won. In Kansas, NRA-endorsed Governor Sam Brownback (R) won. And in Maine, NRA-endorsed Governor Paul R. LePage (R) won against gun control candidate Michael Michaud (D). (Michaud was supported by Gabby Giffords.)

In Senate races, gun control Senator Mark Udall (D-CO) was defeated by NRA-endorsed Cory Gardner (R) and gun control Senator Kay Hagan (D-NC) was defeated by NRA-endorsed Thom Tillis (R). In Kansas, NRA-endorsed Senator Pat Roberts (R) won. In Georgia, NRA-endorsed Senatorial candidate David Perdue (R) won. In Arkansas, NRA-endorsed Tom Cotton (R) won. And in West Virginia, NRA-endorsed Shelly Moore Capito (R) won, marking the first time that state has sent a Republican Senator to Washington DC in over five decades. 

The spotlight was also on the race between NRA-endorsed Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and pro-gun control challenger Alison Grimes (D). McConnell won handily.  NRA-endorsed Senatorial candidate Joni Ernst (R-IA) also won. 


Gun control advocates may have finally found a path to victory in Washington state Tuesday, where voters approved a measure that would expand background checks to include gun shows and private firearm sales. Though similar laws have been passed in Colorado, Connecticut, and Maryland, the success of Washington’s initiative 594 marks the first measure approved by ballot referendum.

Meanwhile, Alabama voters soundly passed Amendment 3 to the state Constitution, a measure which specifies "that every citizen has a fundamental right to bear arms and that any restriction of this right would be subject to strict scrutiny." With nearly all votes counted, the measure prevailed with 72.5 percent in favor.




 
 

Concealed Carry Works

A 36-year-old man was shot and killed Tuesday night while he was attempting to rob an elderly couple outside a Northwest Dallas grocery store, police say. The man, identified by police as 36-year-old Mike Angel Carmillio, approached a man and a woman as they walked out of a grocery store and snatched a gold necklace from the woman’s neck, police said. The incident occurred around 7:15 p.m. at the Aldi in the 3000 block of Forest Lane near Webb Chapel Road.

The man knocked the woman to the ground and tried to rob her. The woman’s husband, 71-year-old Ronnie Lummus, pulled out a handgun and fired several shots at the man as he was attempting to flee in his car. The man got in his car but died before fleeing, police said.

Detectives interviewed Lummus, his wife and witnesses. Lummus has a valid concealed handgun license. He told officers that he was afraid the man would harm him or his wife during the robbery, police said.

Lummus has not been charged with a crime. The case will be referred to a grand jury.

Why Handguns Jam

by Sandy Keathley
McKinneyFirearmsTraining.com

To start with, revolvers don't jam, barring a rare defect in the shell casing size, so let's move on to semi-automatic pistols. While the semi (or autoloader) is a very reliable device, it is complicated, and depends on several actions working together in harmony. When that harmony is disturbed, the action is subject to several types of intermittent malfunctions, described variously as Failure-to-Eject (FTE), Failure-to-Feed (FTF), stovepipe (see FTE), or just "jam". These might happen once in 100 rounds, once in 50 rounds, or once or more in every magazine. Failure-to-Eject (which may or may not be a mechanical problem) is often confused with Failure-to-Extract (which usually is). If malfunctions occur more often than once in 10 rounds, suspect something mechanical.

Possible mechanical problems

The extractor hook could be bent or damaged. In that case, you will have major feeding problems. This will require the services of a gunsmith.

It is possible for the forward lips of the magazine to be bent, causing each round to be pointed too low to properly engage the feed ramp. Just look in the ejector port after inserting a loaded magazine. The top round should be pointed slightly upward. You can usually fix that with needle-nose pliers, but a good quality handgun should not have that problem.

If the slide return spring has been replaced with the wrong strength, or has weakened over time, that can throw off the balance of the action. Unless you had previously replaced that spring, there would be no way for you to know if that is a problem, so see a gunsmith.

Barring such mechanical problems, the usual culprits are usually proper fit of the components (cheaper guns), or maintenance (any guns). To understand that, you need to understand what happens
in the cycling process:

1. The cartridge "explodes" (burns), producing a somewhat predictable force to the rear (not all loads are the same; hotter loads produce more force, but not as much as the next higher caliber). 
2. The force drives the slide to the rear, impeded only by friction in the rails (grooves), and by a gradually-increasing forward force from the return spring. During this time, the extractor pulls the empty casing from the chamber, ejects it, and clears the magazine, allowing the next round to pop up into place. If the casing sticks a little in the chamber, that also exerts forward force against the slide movement.
3. The slide continues to the rear until its dissipating force is balanced by the sum of friction in the rails, friction from extracting the casing, and the forward force of the return spring, or it hits the frame (not normal).
4. As the return spring reasserts itself, the slide is pushed forward again, picks up another round, pushes it to the feed ramp, and up into the chamber. The slide continues "into battery", sealing the chamber for the next "explosion".

That is how it should work. That calibration is easily thrown out of balance by increased friction in several places:

• Extracting the empty casing. 
• The slide rails
• Pushing the round up the feed ramp.

Performing proper maintenance can mitigate many of these issues:

• Some cartridges are coated with lacquer, which, when heated, can leave behind a sticky residue. Using an over-sized brass bore brush chucked into a variable speed drill, polish the chamber with J-B Non-embedding bore cleaner (blue label). Clean the chamber thoroughly with patches and mineral spirits, then with patches and solvent. A shotgun mop attachment is useful.
• Always clean the rails/grooves with solvent, and lubricate with gun oil (not WD-40).
• Clean the feed ramp with solvent. If the ramp is not slick, consider polishing it. A small buffing wheel on a Dremel tool is perfect for that. Use a buffing compound made for steel, like White Rouge.

The modern semi-automatic is a complex and sophisticated piece of machinery, but given enough time, it will start to fail intermittently, with results that can be either annoying or fatal. Take care of it, and it will give reliable service for years.

Handgun Practice Routines

Practicing marksmanship is like exercising; you know you should, but you're always just so busy. However, it's more fun than exercising! Regardless, getting into a routine makes it easier to accomplish something.

Start by finding a range that is reasonably on your way home from work, and buy a membership. Yes, I know it costs a few hundred dollars. What's your life worth? I guarantee, when you realize you can go to the range for free, you won't hesitate to go. Gyms sell memberships knowing that a certain percentage of members will stop going after a few weeks. That way, they can oversell the club, and make money. Like a gym, if a range member goes frequently, the cost per trip is much less than ala carte. My range loses money on me. Don't tell them!

Try going to the range every Friday after work, just for 20 minutes. When you're not paying for each session, it doesn't matter how long you're there. That alone will improve your shooting remarkably, as that represents 45-48 sessions a year instead of once every 3 months like some people. If you have more than one gun, alternate them, or take two. You do have more than one, don't you?

Don't forget dry-firing. If that can be part of a Seal Team's routine, it can be part of yours. Most center-fire guns will not be harmed by dry-firing, but I always use snapcaps, just in case. Do two minutes of dry-firing before you start shooting, and maintain your stance and arm-extension throughout. This is a good way to improve your ability to focus your mental efforts on the muzzle, and keep it from moving. You can also do that at home. I have targets up at various places around the house, so I can practice varying distances. Guests find that odd, but what do I care? (Maybe that's why nobody visits!).

Once you start shooting for real, think about the fundamentals. Foot position. Stance. Are you bending slightly at the waist? Leaning forward? Good arm extension? Those all contribute to focus, both physical and mental, and help you be serious about marksmanship.

Defensive shooting is typically thought of as two-handed, but once in a while, try shooting one-handed, both strong hand and support hand. This is harder than it looks, because most people find it difficult to move one finger (index) without affecting the rest of the hand, which causes the muzzle to move. Musicians learn this early on, as playing an instrument requires learning how to move one finger out of 4-9 without affecting the others, but most people never have to do this. It takes a little practice. Again, dry-fire practice on this is more economical, until you have a grip on it (so to speak).  Is it possible you could be in a shooting incident, and be wounded in the arm of the strong hand? Yes.

Panic drill. If you can arrange to do this where you can draw from a holster, fine, but be careful. Most people who injured themselves with a gun do so while drawing from a holster, or re-holstering. Never use both hands to draw from a holster. Most commercial gun ranges don't allow holsters, so in that case, just lay the gun on the bench, muzzle pointed downrange, in the condition in which you would carry it. That could be, no round in the chamber, safety on, decocked, or cocked and locked. Have a man-sized target in front of you, about 5 yards out. On a Go command, see how fast you can put two shots on the target. The goal is 3 seconds. Ten seconds and you're dead. This also takes practice.

After all, if you're going to spend money on a gun, you may as well be good at using it, just in case.