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

Grant provides some sound advice about staging defensive weapons in the house. I would also recommend having a solid wood door with a deadbolt installed on your bedroom. Having a locked solid door will buy you more time to wake up and access your weapon.

Why I carry a CAT tourniquet on my person every time I’m shooting a gun. And no, your belt will not make a good tourniquet.

Taking a look at some of the more exotic 9mm and .40 loads designed for defeating four-legged predators.

PEP is live and open for registration! This is a best buy training deal. You get to spend the weekend with world class trainers (as well as Dr. Lauren Pugliese and myself) for an amazing low price. Every instructor is donating his/her time. All tuition money gathered will go to a scholarship fund for our late friend Paul Gomez’ kids. Book early!

Being able to covertly draw and have your weapon hidden in your hand is a good skill to have when trouble starts. I do a few covert drawing drills in my knife class. You gun guys should do them too. How can you hold your gun in your hand without anyone else seeing it? That’s what you are looking for. Once you find a couple of positions that work for you, do some shooting at the range from the “gun hidden ready position.”

Ignore the clickbait title. It’s a good article where Massad Ayoob describes some of the historically successful loads in both caliber.

Unlike the successful cartridges described above, here are some ballistic tests of a round you will want to avoid. Ultralight, high speed bullets have been introduced numerous times since the early 1970s. They are not new. A different design hits the market every decade or so, flashes in the pan, and disappears. The rounds are quite ineffective. Why would you want a round that is not accurate, does not shoot to the point of aim, and only penetrates four inches of tissue? Buyer beware.

What I’m reading…

Kevin Davis gave me a copy of his new book at the Rangemaster Conference. I’m enjoying it.

Gabe Suarez has a unique perspective on the Mesa PD incident where a cop who shot a suspect is being hung out to dry because he had the language above printed on his rifle’s dust cover. Gabe is right on. Twenty years ago, no one would have been shot in this incident. Officers would have handled the problem physically. The suspect would be battered and bruised, but he wouldn’t have been shot. But we don’t hire cops who can fight anymore and we don’t train the cops we do hire how to effectively subdue violent suspects with physical force.

I’ve found Gabe’s comments on the nature of police administration to be right on as well:

“Not knowing the internal workings of that particular agency and his specific history with them I can only speculate generally based on what I have personally seen in the police world. Officers are either popular with the agency administration or they are not. If they are not, and I suspect this is the case here, they will never take his side or risk anything for them. Specially if the event in question is not a perfect or a clean one….

I suspect as soon as this shit sandwich was run up the flagpole, the administration decided to wash its hands and blame it on the disappointing hire they wished to never have hired in the first place…and wait…what is in this dust cover on his rifle?”

A topic that doesn’t get enough coverage in the self defense community. H/T to Grant Cunningham for finding the article.

A few of the different ways you can reload a revolver with speed strips. I would advise that you spend a range session with a timer trying each of the methods to see which works best for you.

These are industry best practices for securing exterior school entrances. Does your child’s school use all of these security measures? If not, it may be time to talk to the principal or the school board.

Some pretty good guidelines for evaluating a potential instructor. I don’t worry quite as much about #2 (Has a different profession). I know lots of very good instructors who have never carried a gun for a living and lots of career cops/soldiers who can’t teach for shit.

Speaking of good training, here is some advice from the late Louis Awerbuck about picking the right firearms trainer. Louis isn’t with us anymore, but you can still purchase his books.

Some common sense tips for surviving in the age of terrorism.

If you own a business and want to provide some simple guidance about active killer response for your employees, check out these posters created by Alain Burrese. Alain actually knows what he’s doing and provides excellent advice on this topic.

A classic shooting drill to add to your range practice routine. For another Gunsite classic, check out the Mozambique Pistol Drill.

A deep dive into the statistics about total tourist deaths, tourist deaths per capita, and how US government travel warnings don’t often tell the whole story about which countries are “safe” to visit. For what it’s worth, I’ve traveled extensively in 15 of the top 25 countries where American tourists most commonly get killed. I am obviously still alive. Most of these countries are no more dangerous than any big city in the USA, some are much safer. As a tourist, you are far more likely to die in a car crash than be killed by a terrorist or criminal.

If you are interested in foreign travel, you might also want to take a look at this article that describes how a father prepared his teenage daughter for a semester of study abroad. One more for you who have kids in college: Emergency Kits for College Students. You may also like Handling Disasters Abroad.

Very good advice in this article.

Most people have absolutely no idea how violent criminals can be. Watch this video for a reality check. Caution…it contains graphic scenes of an innocent woman being struck more than 20 times with a criminal’s hammer.

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