A great article on CCW

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Thanks to our friend moderator at THR and contributor here for noting this fine article:

http://www.shootingillustrated.com/i...d-carry-myths/

Concealed-Carry Myths
Many new concealed-carry permit holders subscribe to a variety of myths that could have potentially deadly consequences. Here are five of the most common.
By Paul Markel
December 15, 2011


It's really well done. I see lots of this with beginners and friends who carry.

Glenn

[brickeyee]

bad link.

[mehavey]

For some reason, the above link came up empty.

Try this:

http://www.shootingillustrated.com/i...d-carry-myths/

[MLeake]

I also got a "Not Found" message. Interested in the article, if you can fix the link, GEM.

NM, looks like mehavey fixed it, and I found it via google anyway. (I'd have fixed it, but mehavey beat me to it.)

[nate45]

Concealed-Carry Myths

The above link works.

Edit: mehavey beat me to it. Anyway...

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Fixed it in the OP - works for me now.

One part that people need to take to heart is

It really is not possible to train yourself. You can practice on your own, but unless you’ve had professional instruction you are likely just ingraining bad habits. A good training course will teach you what to practice and the best ways to do so.

I beg friends to train but they think that shooting at a rock in the country is training.

Why do I care - because if I argue for things like campus carry, I get folks saying - we would trust you but not someone like ...

[mehavey]

Originally Posted by Glenn E. Meyer

I beg friends to train but they think that shooting at a rock in the country is training.

+1

But the real training must be in your head.
He who is able to reach competent decision first,...
lives.

.

[C0untZer0]

Furthermore, at last count, there was a grand total of one state that had absolutely no provision to allow their citizens to carry a concealed handgun.

Oh jeez, remind me again what state that is?

[Glenn E. Meyer]

http://www.handgunlaw.us/

See the map.

[KC Rob]

I think he was being sarcastic. (He lives in Illinois)

[barstoolguru]

good stuff....... glad to pass it on

[mete]

Many years ago I got a carry permit and with it a sheet of instructions .Included was the gem "Only carry the gun when you're going to need it " I just laughed.
Over the years I have been very unsuccessful at convincing people to get good training. They say ''I have a right to have a gun , I have a right to carry a gun " But that's where it stops ,sad story.

[Bartholomew Roberts]

Great article! Thanks for sharing it.

[ProShooter]

Good read....Got a chuckle out of the "Hand me down" gun..

Just yesterday, I had a family come to class. The husband walked up to me at my table and put down a somewhat triangular shaped thing, wrapped in yellow stained plastic. I asked what it was and he said it was his gun, and he knew that I needed to check all firearms coming into the room.

I took the rubber band off of the stained plastic, and found a beat up leather? holster partially wrapped in an old handkerchief. Removing the hankie, I found a beautiful conditioned chrome, Ivor Johnson .32 top break revolver, with a patent date of something like 1908. "It was momma's gun", the man said...

Got to love it......

[Tom Servo]

I beg friends to train but they think that shooting at a rock in the country is training.

I would supplement that with two additions:

• YouTube is not a training tool
• "Boyfriend" does not equal "firearms instructor."

I see it from behind the counter all the time: "I'm afraid of _____. I need a piece for, uh, concealed. Something with a clip. OK...how do I get the thing to go forward....OK. Give me that, a holster, and some hollow tips. What do you mean I can't load it at the counter? I'm carrying this for defense."

That, or husband/boyfriend/brother comes in with a woman, tells me what she needs, recommends something small and impossible for a beginner to shoot well, and informs her that she doesn't need to practice since "most encounters take place within 6/10/12 feet.

Training? Nah, he's just trying to sell you something, baby. Also, we only want to spend about $150.

You're sitting next to these folks in the restaurant, or on line at the local grocery.

(While I agree with the "hand me down gun" part, I have successfully taught several folks to use such guns effectively. One student insisted on keeping and carrying (in the purse, no less) her father's captured Luger. She'd later shoot a would-be burglar with it.)

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Here's a Mythbuster or two:

Most encounters aren't ALL encounters.

If the average is 2 shots at 6 feet - that doesn't mean all encounters are 2 shots at six feet.

You can't maintain perfect situational awareness at all time.

People do get close to you in real life and surprise you.

You won't always be able to reach for your gun with your dominant hand and strike a gunfighter pose (see the Ginyu force in Dragon Ball Z for posing).

[pax]

I would supplement that with two additions:

• YouTube is not a training tool
• "Boyfriend" does not equal "firearms instructor."

Tom Servo, great post.

On the YouTube front, there are some good videos and a few really excellent ones. Unfortunately, untrained people truly cannot tell the crap from the good stuff -- not because they're stupid, but because they simply do not have the background to see the difference. Except for the most egregious stupidity (which we all love to laugh at), almost everything on YouTube looks pretty good, some of it looks very exciting and downright cool. As long as the people in the video sound like they know what they're talking about, or look (to the untrained eye) like they know what they're doing, it must just be jealousy or meanspiritedness or something when a person with training says, "Uh, that's not good."

Think of YouTube as a table with a multi-course meal spread out on it. Some of the dishes taste excellent, some taste terrible, and some look and taste good but are full of poison. Now enjoy your meal...

pax

[pax]

You can't maintain perfect situational awareness at all time.

Yes, this. You're not as aware as you think you are.

pax

[spacecoast]

Very good article, especially the "gun zen" section (for me). I have a private range available at my northern home and always make a point of practicing my draw-and-empty-the-mag-or-cylinder-as-fast-as-possible-at-5-yards technique when I'm there with my SD guns, but particularly the J-frame Smith and Ruger LCP that I carry regularly. Knowing how both you and the gun reacts to true rapid-fire shooting is essential, and it's not as easy as it sounds to keep 5 or 7 shots COM.

I wish more public ranges would permit this kind of practice, but sadly it's rare in my neck of the woods.

[Tom Servo]

see the Ginyu force in Dragon Ball Z for posing

I actually googled that. Lord help me.

I've spoken with three people this year alone who admitted to injuring themselves with negligent discharges. All had CCW permits, none had taken any kind of real-world training, and one of them admitted that the discharge happened while practicing a draw drill the guy had learned on YouTube.

I'm not denying that there might be some good information on there. There is. However, people are taking the internet as a primary training resource, rather than as a supplement.

My All-Time Favorite Bit of Shocking Advice came from an overbearing husband back in February. The wife was (or rather, he was) looking for a home defense gun. I pointed out that her (or rather, his) choice kicked like a mule, discouraged practice, and had marginal sights. His response was, "whatever. Just point at the dark shadow and pull the trigger 'till the clip's empty."

[C0untZer0]

Under two of his sections he specifically references women - under "Women Should Only Shoot .22s" and "Hand Me Down That Gun"

On this forum I repeatedly see guys come on here and post "Best gun for girlfriend?" "Best CC for wife?"

It's this whole issue of the male getting a gun for a female, and impressing on her the dangers of the world, her likelyhood of being attacked, the need to protect herself, the need to carry a weapon, and getting a weapon, etc, etc...

I went through this twenty years ago this with my wife, and setttled on a Colt Mustang for her. But in retrospect, it was really more about me. It was about my ideas of self defense and carry guns. It was about my anxiety of her not being armed. She never felt the need to carry, and even after I had her read Paxton Quigley's "Armed and Female" and all that, she wasn't really eager to keep a firearm. Now that we're divorced, she doesn't have any firearms at all. She doesn't have a single firearm.

I also don't khow much my own desire for another gun, and the fun I had shopping for one played in my decision to get a Colt Mustang. There may have been some justification of the purchase going on there because my wife was never too keen on the idea.

My attitude has changed on it.

Women are capable of making important decisions - like what car to purchase, or what home to buy. For the most part they educate themselves on all the aspects that they need to know, and they make informed purchasing decisions. I think this idea that they needs males in their lives to steer them straight about guns is ridiculous.

And from what I've seen, when women decide that they want a firearm, they're generally better at going through the education and selection process than males generally

[MLeake]

I have seen a lot of guys impart BS advice and instruction to women. I have not yet seen a woman do likewise - at least, not with regard to shooting...

[pax]

I also don't khow much my own desire for another gun, and the fun I had shopping for one played in my decision to get a Colt Mustang. There may have been some justification of the purchase going on there because my wife was never too keen on the idea.

CountZero,

As you can imagine, that's a subject near & dear to my heart. Truthfully, what I see from my perspective is that most of the time, when a husband is pushing his wife like that, it comes from a really good and well-intentioned place. The guys aren't trying to run their wives' lives -- they're trying to protect them from a dangerous world.

I think a lot of times, too, a man who has fallen in love tends to be very fearful of losing the person he loves. Because he fears losing her, he might even feel more fearful for her than she will ever feel for herself. So he pushes her to do things she isn't willing to do on her own behalf. Even though this often ends badly, it starts from a really heartwarming and good place. And because it starts from that good place, it comes across as cold & heartless when we tell people not to do things like that. They think we're criticizing the warmhearted impulse itself, not just remarking on the way these things typically turn out for everyone involved.

Even just telling these guys that their hands aren't the same size as her hands, so she needs to be involved in the gun shopping process, can be enough to make them really unhappy. How can we go on to say, "Also, when she does get a gun, you're not the best one to teach her how to use it"? It's absolutely true, but it's a harsh truth. They want to be the knight in shining armor, the one that rescues her from her own foolish decision not to be armed, the one that teaches her every good thing she needs to know. Because they love her and want her to be safe, and how can they trust anyone who doesn't love her like that to teach her what she needs to know?

Don't have an answer for any of that. Only, as a practical matter, I sure work with a lot of women who come to class with really bad guns that someone else picked out for them. A lot of times, they don't really get excited about learning until someone gives them permission to choose their own firearms for their own reasons, and to make their own decisions about when/where/whether to carry.

But that involves a level of trust that's hard to come by. Giving someone permission to choose well necessarily includes giving them permission to choose badly -- since the key is, permission to choose. And that's a hard, hard thing to ask of a man in love.

pax

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Aim at the dark shadow!

There was a case on the old CourtTV where a woman did that and nuked hubby coming back from the can.

She claimed all she could see was a dark shadow that scared her. Prosecution had reason to think she killed him on purpose. She had a high tech high exam done testing her spatial frequency contrast function (a Fourier thingee!) which demonstrated that her vision was good enought to see the guy.

It caught my attention as the guy who did the test was a PhD in vision, I know who wrote a chapter for a book I did. She was guilty.

Pax - thanks for the links. Another point for why selective attention research is good for gun folks to know!

I always laugh when someone says that they don't need some retention device or training for OC because their situational awareness is such that they can detect bad guys through walls, etc. Or they don't need an extra mag because their situational awareness will preclude them from being in a spot where one would need one. Like Columbine, or Mumbai? Surprise you are under attack.

[Tom Servo]

I sure work with a lot of women who come to class with really bad guns that someone else picked out for them.

That's why I always hate it when a guy comes sauntering in looking for a "good gun for a woman."

I have no freakin' clue. I mean, really. The last time I checked, the fair sex isn't one homogenous bloc any more than we are. The only way to know is to have the individual who will be using it choose.

...but I'm pretty sure it isn't one of those stupid gimmick guns they paint up in the most condescending shades of pink and lavender. Most female shooters I know really hate that.