Gun Free Zones

by Sandy Keathley

Don't get me started!  Of all the social policies enacted in the last 50 years, this has got to be the stupidest. What, you say? You don't want to protect children? Read on.

When I was in the Army, I learned the meaning of CYA (Cover Your Ass). It refers to policies that have no real value, whose only purpose is to make it look like you were doing the right thing. I once had to teach a six week summer course for 6-graders, but I had to have a TB test. Fine. The parents appreciated knowing that their kids weren't being exposed to diseases. However, the school district had us tested after the course was completed, when it was too late. Seriously? I pointed out this logical flaw to the school disctict nurse, and was reported to administration for being obstreperous. They didn't care about actually protecting the kids, just in being able to say they had this policy.

So it is with "gun free zones" (or "criminal safe zones"). Anyone even slightly familiar with this situation knows that people licensed to carry a concealed handgun are very rigid about adherence to rules about where they can or can't carry. They will tend to not patronize companies like Cinemark Theaters, Chuck E. Cheese, Jared Jewelers, or Sprouts Grocery, since those corporate policies are putting their lives at risk, but they will not ignore the posted signs; they will not risk losing that license.

Crazy people, criminals, and those who have some kind of revenge in mind, have no such standards. Indeed, they welcome those signs. That tells them there will be no one there who can get in their way. The Aurora, CO, theater shooter lived two blocks from a movie theater that was not posted. Instead, he drove over a mile to get to one that was. After all, he was crazy, not stupid.

These corporate nitwits seem to think that someone will get in a tiff about a spilled soft drink, then remember they happen to have a gun, pull it, and start shooting. The licensed person is extremely unlikely to do so, as he wants to protect that license, and has already demonstrated a much higher level of responsibility than the average citizen (in Texas, CHL holders are 7 times less likely to commit a gun crime than a police officer). No, the person who would do this is the unlicensed carrier, who is already breaking the law, and has no regard for it.

The danger these companies should fear is not the presence of a gun, but the presence of a person unwilling to follow the rules of society, and there is no way to screen them out. Instead of making their offices and stores safer, they have made them more dangerous, by keeping out the very class of people who could mitigate a crisis. They have created a false sense of security, which will get some people killed.

While it is true that a crazy pulling out an M-16 in a movie theater is quite rare, here is a typical scenario that is not rare; it happens often, but because the body count is low, it only appears on the news for about 25 seconds, then is gone. A man, estranged from his wife/girlfriend, goes to her work to settle a dispute. He thinks he has no intention of hurting anyone, but because he is determined to have it out with her, and doesn't want to be ejected by office manager/security, he takes his gun. They argue, he tries to make her leave with him. She slaps him, a manager intervenes, shots are fired. The woman is dead, the manager wounded, and the man takes his own life as police arrive. Someone please explain to me how a sign would have stopped that?

Or do you just want people to think they are safe?

Cinemark? Jared? I'll wait by the phone.

Campus Carry in Texas

by Sandy Keathley

It is well-known that changes to gun laws in Texas take 2-3 sessions to accomplish. First a new law has to get enough support, which takes the first session. Then it has to get out of committee, and finally get to a vote on the floor. That usually takes at least one more session, often two. Since the Texas Legislature only meets every other year, that means it takes 4-6 years to effect meaningful changes.

In the last few months, there has been a lot of discussion in the gun rights community about "Open Carry", a change that would allow people (probably limited to CHL holders) to carry handguns in a visible holster with at least one point of retention. At least 33 other states allow this now, and it is a growing trend.

In reality, that will probably not be the next big change in Texas law (although it could be). There is another change in line ahead of that: Campus Carry. In the last session, it got all the way through committee, late, but ran out of time in the session. This law would force all public (and perhaps private) colleges in Texas to allow CHL holders to carry on campus.

What? You say. Allow college students, boiling with hormones, to carry guns? Are you nuts?

Well, remember that you still have to be 21 to get a CHL, and most college students are not yet 21. The ones that are include a high percentage of veterans, returning from Afghanistan and Iraq. Remember Virginia Tech? A crazy roamed the campus for more than an hour, shooting people at will. If you had a daughter there, would you want there to be an armed ex-Army Ranger in her classroom, or someone carrying a chess set? Hmmm?

There are a lot of campus shootings; you only hear about the big ones. Plus, almost every college campus has had incidents of forcible rape. Some of those women are 21, walking across campus late at night. There was an incident in Colorado where a young lady, a CHL holder, was attacked, beaten, and raped. She could not carry on campus, and wasn't. When she testified before a Congressional committee, Senator Feinstein, as usual, was arrogantly dismissive of the value of a gun in that case.  Maybe the girl should have presented her attacker with a copy of the law against rape.

When Texas passed the Concealed Carry Law in 1996, opponents said there would be "gunfights in theaters over spilled soda" and "blood in the streets". None of that happened. Time and again, it has been proved that people who choose to carry a gun legally are the most law-abiding segment of society. Our older college students will prove it once again.

If you agree, please contact your state representative, and express support for this law.

Pull the Trigger, depress the trigger

by Sandy Keathley

Pull the trigger, squeeze the trigger, press the trigger. What is the difference?

It's a big difference, at least psychologically, and that translates to shot groups. In the same way that 1/16 inch misalignment of the sights will lead to 6 inches or more variance from the bulls-eye, a much smaller amount of muzzle movement just before the break will throw off the shot.  Recoil after the break is not the enemy; muzzle movement right at the break is.

The best advice I ever got, which I also give, is, "be surprised".  If you are surprised when the gun fires, you won't be moving anything. "Well," they tell me, "I know when my trigger breaks."  Fine.  But you need to pretend you don't know.

Some people treat a trigger like a light switch: on or off.  If it were a pressure switch, instead of a mechanical device, that would work, but it isn't.  There is a certain amount of travel in the trigger, and between the start of pressure from the finger, and the break, people do bad things: jerk the trigger, push on the backstrap, apply lateral pressure on the trigger, etc. As the shot groups go wider, panic sets in, and it gets worse.

That's where those words come in. Squeeze implies less physical muscularity than pull, and press implies even less. You can't muscle the pistol into hitting the bulls-eye, you have to finesse it.  The best marksmen are like football linemen with 9 fingers, and a ballet dancer with one.

Hold the muzzle still, and "be surprised", and you'll be surprised at the result!
  

Caesar Rodney

by Sandy Keathley
 
Happy Birthday, America!  This will be short today, as I have a lot to do.

Today is the 238th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a remarkable document indeed. We were the first colony in history (to my knowledge) to successfully fight for, and win, independence from the mother country.

To celebrate this event, I recommend two action items for you, one easier, one harder. The easy one: Google Caesar Rodney, the greatest hero you never heard of. A delegate to the 2nd Continental Congress, he fell very ill, and went home to Delaware to die.  When his vote on the Declaration became crucial, he got off his deathbed and rode 70 miles on horseback through a driving rainstorm to cast his vote (NOTE: he was not as ill as was believed, and subsequently lived another 8 years).  Without his effort, there might not be an America today.

The other action is a little harder, but well worth it. Rent (on video) the musical "1776". I own it, and watch it every year around this time.  It was written by a musician who had done arrangements for "The Beachboys", and who did extensive research into the history of the Revolution. Besides great music, it has a history lesson that all Americans should know. If you watch it, you will never again see American history in the same way. 

Open Carry

by Sandy Keathley
 
Everyone else has weighed in with an opinion; I may as well, too. What eactly is "open carry"? It means walking around town with a holstered gun on your hip, in plain sight, like a police officer. Opponents would say, like gun-slingers in the 1880s (and no, that doesn't require an apostrophe. Don't get me started.). That can't be legal, right?

In fact, it is legal in 33 states (not Texas), and has been legal in some places for decades. In some states, the actor (legal term) is required to be licensed, in a way similar to the Texas CHL, but in some states, the only requirement is that they were born. It seems weird at first, but once you accept a handgun as an emergency tool, like a flashlight or Swiss Army knife, one that is almost never used, but always available, it begins to make sense. After all, if that person intended to do harm to someone, he would just conceal it, or wear a long coat covering an AK-47, which can also be legally bought. BTW, in Texas, it is legal to walk around in public with a rifle. More about that soon.

This was driven home to me recently, on a trip to Virginia. While I was at the NRA Firearms Museum, a man walked in with his two young nieces. He was wearing jeans and a T-shirt, and was wearing a big sidearm, a 1911. My brother knew him, and talked to him, so I found out he was a security guard. OK. Not in uniform? No, because he no longer worked at that facility, but had been transferred to another. He was not there in his role as a security guard; it was his day off. He was just a citizen. You see, in Virginia, open carry is legal, and people take it for granted now.

Which brings us back to the current local controversy. If any state should accept open carry, it would be Texas. After all, this is not Illinois or New York. In the last legislature, an OC law got through committee, late in the session, but did not quite make it to a floor vote. The Texas House is led by a man who pretends to support the 2nd Amendment, but actually doesn't. There are hopes for it next session. Meanwhile, the state affiliate of a national open carry organization has taken to putting on demonstrations to get public support. While the goal is admirable, the strategy was not well
thought-out.

Look at this from the outside: you are a mother, sitting in a pizza restaurant with two small children, and in walk 50 guys carrying M-16s, AK-47s, and sniper rifles, most equipped with scopes, bi-pods, and red-dots. What would you think? What would you do? This young mother is not in the loop on gun politics; is this a terrorist attack? Animal-rights activists enraged at the use of salami on pizza?

The group claims they always had permission from management beforehand, and I believe that, but management didn't tell their customers this was coming, and the media didn't interview management; they interviewed the young mothers. All they heard, and reported, was that families were terrified, police were called, a traffic jam ensued. This has been such a PR nightmare that the national
group has distanced themselves from the Texas affiliate.

Come on, guys, get a grip. You don't get this right on the streets, you get it in the hallways of the state capitol.

Dry-firing for Trigger Development

by Sandy Keathley
 
Before following any of this advice, make sure your gun will not be damaged by dry-firing (firing unloaded). Most rim-fire (.22) pistols and rifles SHOULD NOT be dry-fired, as damage to the firing pin could occur. However, some manufacturers have made specific provision for that, so it can be safely done. Center-fire pistols are generally safe to dry-fire, but I have read a review of a Spanish CZ clone which pointed out a potential problem specific to that model. Check your owner's manual first. In all cases, I prefer to use snap caps (dummy rounds) in the gun, just in case.

Dry-fire practice has long been known to be the secret weapon of top level shooters, although it might be seen by some as reserved for beginners. In fact, many skilled marksmen employ it as their warmup before competition. It is a cheap and easy way to improve both your mental focus on the fundamentals, and specific skills like trigger work.

There are really two basic steps in hitting what you are aiming at:

1. Aim correctly
2. Keep the muzzle from moving while you press the trigger to the rear

If you don't get the first one right, the second one won't help; getting them both right is required. Many shooters have their biggest problem with the second, although it is easier to fix than bad aiming.

In order to make this work, you must practice all the fundamentals, just like you are actually shooting: feet, stance, leaning forward, arm extension, grip, aiming, breathing, trigger work. Your goal is to keep the muzzle from moving any amount at all, from the start of pressure on the trigger, until it breaks. Unless your pistol is DAO (double-action only), you will have to either rack the slide or cock the hammer each time. Do it repeatedly, for 2-3 minutes, take a break, and start again. Commit to 10 minutes a day for 30 days, and see what happens. If the gun has a laser, turn it on, and try to keep the red dot in a circle the size of a dime while you fire. Otherwise, you could get an office-style laser pointer and tape it to your gun.

One drawback, is that many guns only fire in single-action mode.  This is great for live-fire, but since the trigger movement is so small, so is the benefit. If you have access to either a DAO or DA/SA pistol, you will find it much harder to do these exercises, but with greater benefit.

So what makes this difficult? The position of the finger on the trigger. There are many variables here, including the size of the grip, size of the hand, length of the finger, and position and angle of the trigger. There is no one-size-fits-all answer here, but if the trigger touches the finger too close to the pad, there will be a tendency to push the muzzle left. If too close to the joint, there will be a tendency to pull right. Right in between is the sweet spot, where you can press the trigger in a way that neutralizes (or balances) those forces. Lighter guns are also more subject to these forces than heavier guns.

The one thing not factored into this is recoil. Once you start shooting the gun with real ammo, a lot of what you learn goes out the window, but enough of it stays to help you out. The real enemy is not recoil, but the anticipation of recoil, and that is what you can learn to forget by dry-firing. Shoot with real ammo, but like you did when dry-firing, perhaps with more grip, and you will see results.

Concealed Handgun Licensing in Texas

by Sandy Keathley
 
As we approach July the 4th, it is worth noting that the American Revolution was triggered by the first attempt in North America at government gun control. In April of 1775, the British commander in Boston dispatched a unit of soldiers to Concord, MA, to capture a store of rifles belonging to a local militia group. They were intercepted at Lexington by a group of farmers and villagers. Shots were exchanged, and the war was afoot.

Guns have always been a part of life in America. They were used to settle North America, and to protect a man's family and livestock from predators (both 4-legged and 2-legged). Generations of Americans were taught at an early age to shoot, either for hunting, or later, target shooting.  There was a code of honor around guns, and it was proof a man had attained the level of responsibility required for adulthood. I remember shooting at wine bottles at the city dump when I was 9 years old, and the pride of being trusted by my father to do so safely.

A few years later, I remember older students driving to high school in pickup trucks equipped with a rifle rack. If they wanted to show off a new hunting rifle to a teacher, they might take the gun in the school and put it in a wall locker for later, or take the teacher out to the parking lot at lunch.

Times have changed. That code of honor, while still there, is no longer seen as the embodiment of the American way of life. The 1970s and 80s were a time of oppression of gun rights, due, perhaps, to several high profile assassinations during the previous decade (JFK, RFK, MLK) (look it up).

However, the public began to revolt against the increase in violent crime. New crimes, once aberrations (car-jackings, home invasions, drug murders, random murders), became the new normal. Responding to pressure, states began to allow citizens without criminal records to be licensed to carry a concealed handgun for protection. A handful of states had allowed this practice, as early as 1923, but Georgia started a national trend in 1976, and by 1986 at least 9 states allowed it. The next decade would bring most of the nation on line, and now all 50 states allow some version of concealed carry. Texas started their CHL program in 1996. Opponents predicted gunfights in movie theaters over spilled soft drinks, and blood in the streets, but the old honor code came back to life instead. In Texas, over the last 18 years, crime statistics show that CHL holders are 14 times less likely to commit a crime than the general public, and 7 times less likely than police officers. Hmmm.

Some states have very minimal requirements to get a license (Vermont, none at all. They call it Constututional Carry), and some make it almost impossible (on purpose) (CA, NY, IL).

Illinois had to be forced by the U.S. Supreme Court to allow it. Texas requires a 4 hour class on state law governing concealed carry of a handgun, a short test, a minimal demonstration of shooting skills, and an FBI background check. Over 800,000 Texans have this license, and that number grows by 2000 each month. There are over 2000 certified handgun instructors who are licensed by the Texas DPS to teach the courses, and most of them have full classes every month.

In addition, at least 33 states now allow some version of Open Carry, where a citizen can carry a holstered sidearm openly, on their hip, with no concealment required. Texas will likely be the next state to allow this as well.

Where will it end? Will it become commonplace for everyone to routinely carry a personal gun, like they carry a cell phone? Who knows. It has been argued that a personal gun is just like an airbag in your car. You may go for years without needing it, but if you do, you'll be very glad you have it. I know a man who has carried a concealed handgun relentlessly, every day, for 18 years. He has never had to even draw it, but he practices with it regularly, and if the time ever comes, he will be prepared.

Will you?