Mr. Meyer:
You got that right you ain’t my daddy. As I understand it you’re a professor with some defensive shooting training who probably does a fine job at advocating the 2nd Amendment and gun rights, assuming you TEACH students rather than blast them about being wrong with no follow-through, which only turns people off to your position. You’re the one calling others out about how WRONG we are in our opinion and posting on a chat room. BACK IT UP! I’m also not employing you for your opinion, Mr. Expert Witness. You’re here on YOUR time, not MINE. Add something worthwhile….
As far as the force continuum, I am very aware of it. Let’s also not forget the most important rules of self-defense. 1) Don’t be there, and 2) if you are there, leave. Training, mental and physical fitness are key underlying portions of the force continuum. When I was in college I worked as a campus security guard for 4 years and was trained on the force continuum and carried the usual non-lethal tools. After college I worked as an unarmed undercover retail store loss prevention detective, and was trained in military/LEO apprehension, takedown, pressure point compliance, subdual, and hand cuffing techniques and was tested regularly and had to apply those techniques (successfully 100% of the time) many times when apprehending violent shoplifters who fought back and were sometimes armed with handheld weapons (but when possible the safest bet is to let an armed shoplifter walk). During this period of time we were not allowed to carry OC per policy. I occasionally wore a stab vest or ballistic vest as it was a hostile environment. Some of my co-workers were put in the hospital at times with bad injuries from escalated events, so it was necessary to be prepared. In addition to my years of security training for situational awareness, sizing up one’s opponent, and LEO/military subdual techniques I have studied Judo since the mid-1990’s, kickboxing since the mid-1990’s (having taught kickboxing for 6 months), and sprinkled in a little tae kwon do (for the culture mainly). In addition to my training, I am 6’1” and weigh a solid 200 lbs and am exceptionally physically fit. I played collegiate contact sports, postgraduate intramural sports, and continue to play individual and team sports. I can currently run 3 miles in 22 minutes at 1 mile elevation in Colorado (which would qualify me for the Army, Navy, or Air Force, and almost qualify as a Marine recruit). I can bench press 250 lbs, bicep curl 130, do 13 consecutive pull-ups, 100 consecutive sit-ups, and squat 400 lbs any day of the week.
As a side note, I have a lot of admiration and respect for LEO and our military and have often considered it as a career choice. My shout goes out to those brave and honorable men and women.
As for lethal training, I spend countless hours shooting from standing, kneeling, and prone positions with different caliber handguns and rifles and consider myself not a marksman, but a damn good shot and lethal at any range within a guns’ inherent ability. I also practice shoot, move and shoot and quick follow-up shots, double tap and quick reload techniques. As a requirement for the Colorado CCW, an 8 hour course in tactics and legality is required. I am also VERY familiar with the LAW in Colorado regarding self defense and home defense so I know, legally, what level of force is allowed in self defense at any given time. I also mentally prepare and visualize (which Easterners believe is nearly as good as practice) for different scenarios which could REALISTICALLY happen, IN MY OPINION. I’ve cited those situations above. Time is valuable and I’m not going to waste it thinking about every possible ‘what if’ scenario as time is better spent thinking about the REALISTIC or MORE LIKELY situations that one would be confronted with and how to best deal with those; nor am I going to carry a Batman utility belt like you and your training advocate.
Now, between MY training, experience, knowledge, and physique, OC is an unnecessary tool and one that would gather dust. Cops need concern themselves with tasers, OC, detainment, restraint techniques, and lengthy firefights. Their duty is to serve and protect and catch bad guys. I’M NOT A COP. My duty is self-defense and self-preservation while not breaking the law or unnecessarily endangering innocents. For a civilian, situations are either non-lethal and avoidable or lethal and must be addressed appropriately; there are no gray areas needing to be addressed with OC. If the situation is non-lethal I’ll leave. If that’s not an option and there is a non-lethal aggressor, I’ll put the aggressor on his back, maybe through a table or on the concrete before he knows what hit him; yes my training makes it that fast and I am that good. If necessary I’ll choke him unconscious in fewer than 10-15 seconds or put him into a submission hold, possibly using one of many pressure point compliance techniques I have in my martial arts toolbag. No untrained person is going to get up from the throw, and it’s tough to fight back when your unconscious or in a hold. If the situation is lethal, I’ll leave if possible. If it’s not an option, I’ll draw and use deadly force if legally warranted without a moment hesitation. I also wear a level II vest to counter any common caliber handguns that a thug is likely to use against me in a deadly encounter. The vest covers about 1/3rd of my body, is completely lightweight and flexible, covers most of my vitals, and will stop bullets up to a soft-jacket .357 or a .40, including a 9mm, .38, .380, .22, etc. Since most trained and untrained people shoot enter mass, that's the best bet for survivial in a gunfight, averaging 3 shots. He who lives longest, WINS.
As for technique, reading a book or two isn’t “training” as you like to call it. I’ve read plenty of books too on this matter too. That is far from making you an expert. In a previous posting regarding home defense in the middle-of-the-night scenario, I advocating taking a shotgun or .223, locking yourself in a room with the gun trained on the door, and putting on a ballistic vest and helmet and calling the police and waiting, and it’s a good idea to use electronic stereo noise amplifying and dampening ear protection for the ensuing shots fired, if necessary. I also advocating that you should not clear a house, but if it were absolutely necessary to leave the room (e.g. to retrieve a child for instance) using a handgun for maneuverability and a free hand. That is the correct method and the one that LEO and everyone here agrees with except you, from my impression of your post. Let’s talk about your utility belt for a moment…. What exactly is the purpose of carrying TWO knives (in addition to two flashlights and a gun with two magazines)? In case you shoot through all 30 bullets and draw one of your knives to fight the ninjas in your bad dreams and the ninja kicks it out of your hand, so you have to draw another knife? What “training” advocates carrying “A gun +2 mags, OC, two flashlights, and two knives?” Where is the “Flight” in the FOF in your arsenal that you advocate so much, Batman? And how in the world do you carry all of this gear as a “respected” professor, presumably in professional tucked in shirt and slacks? Finally you advocated using the .223 for HD because it doesn't penetrate as far as the .40 or OO buckshot. Actually, you're wrong. Check out
www.theboxotruth.com under shotguns. .223 and 9mm penetrate through 12+ sheets of drywall whereas the OO buckshot penetrates "only" 8. All of them "overpenetrate" so there is no real advantage to any in that category, contrary to what you advocate.
As for posting my sources, I have done so on many occasions. I’ve posted links to handgun stopping power, links to ballistic testing, and copied relevant Colorado law where applicable. As for being knowledgeable about the law in other states (I do hope you know the law is not always national, but deviates from state to state regarding things such as self defense and CCW), that’s not my job to know the law in the individual states, nor can I advise in states where I’m not licensed. My legal discussions are generally prefaced by “In Colorado…”
While I agree with some of your postings, in my opinion your theories of self-defense are a little skewed and not based on ANY real world experience. You were scared a few times in your life so you got a gun and some "training." Running around in a building and shooting at targets and reading a few books hardly makes you and expert on all topics relating to self defense. I’m more apt to listen to trained police and soldiers, but while their training is second to none, even then their training is for different situations that many civilian situations.
What really irks me is that you have the peppers to call others (not just me, but many others) out but fail to produce ANY documents supporting YOUR position in your attacks, whilst chastising US for ours. If you were MY professor, I’d grade YOU quite harshly on this tactic in a forum where people are looking for answers, opinions, experiences, facts, and conversation. Despite that it's free, don't let that be an excuse for you to be lazy with your opinions or "facts", call others out, and tell everyone it’s because you said so, which is circular logic and useless.
Why am I on this forum? TO LEARN something useful. You have yet to provide anything useful to me and seem to like to debate my opinion and experiences and the law in Colorado; all of which YOU ARE WRONG ABOUT.