Category: Tacticool

November 19, 2020 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

November 19, 2020 /

Some would say, and I agree with them that the pump action shotgun is the most versatile firearm there is. As with every compromise, none is the ideal solution. It just so happens that this is a pretty good one.

I own several pump action shotguns of different brands and gauges. It used to be back when I was young there were essentially two brands Remington and Mossberg. The Remington 870 was the king of pump action shotguns. The most popular Mossberg 500 came with two barrels: a field barrel of 28 inches and a defense barrel of 18 1/2 inches.

Today Remington’s future is in limbo, Mossberg is going gangbusters and there are a whole lot of clones out there. The clones have interchangeable parts with one brand or the other. That allows you to accessorize by adding or changing your shotgun as you please. Some examples of things that you can change are: barrels, stock, fore end, add a laser, add a light, add an optic or extend the magazine.

I would be remised if I didn’t mention some of the other peripheral details. There are some other brands like Weatherby and Winchester as well as old brands like Ithaca. I am not sure what the situation is with aftermarket support. So, buyer beware in those cases. You might want to ask the seller about those details.

Also, not every shotgun is as easy to accessorize, notice I didn’t use the adjective ‘pump’ here. When you start to get into the foreign brands like Berretta/Benelli or Browning there are some extra barrels available but they are far and few between. Mossberg does a pretty good job of supporting all of their products and offer rifled barrels for their semi-automatic shotguns, but that is it.

I wanted to talk about my experience shopping for used shotguns for a minute. My son and I were looking around this time last year. We went to a very large gun show and I had a difficult time finding an inexpensive and serviceable shotgun for him. In fact, there were not that many to choose from period. We saw a couple and they were old for nearly what we could buy a new one.

Old is not bad but be aware there are a couple potential limitations. If you are not hunting, it probably won’t ever matter but the first limitation might be chamber length. Old shotguns could only chamber 2 3/4″ shells (really old might be 2 1/2″ chambers). Three inch shells are prevalent for waterfowl hunting.

The second is the interchangeable choke feature. Almost all shotguns come with the ability to change chokes. The choke is the mechanical restriction in the barrel dictating how broad the shot pattern will be. That makes your shotgun a turkey gun, a deer gun, a trap gun or a sporting clays gun. Chokes are not 100 percent necessary to change for every situation, my son shoot everything with a full choke. But, they do give a little more advantage when applied in the right circumstance.

In my opinion, if you are going to buy used it needs to have the features above or it needs to be a significant discount because all of those things can be added, but at a cost. If you are buying something specific or rare discount this advice however you are not reading this for education anyway.

I should also add that most what I am talking about has been in twelve gauge. I have noticed that there is lesser aftermarket for Remington in the 20 gauge and even less so with other brands. My dad has a 870 in 16 gauge. Good luck with finding extra barrels or chokes for that. Sometimes finding ammunition is even difficult.

I have found that looking for accessories is best done online. I guess that there is not enough interest in keeping well stocked stores with extra barrels and such. You will often find one thing but maybe not exactly what you want. For instance, there are three types of rifled barrels. One has a scope attached, one has just a mount and one has sights (or neither). They also make one that has sights, but is not rifled. All of them are called ‘slug barrels’. Not everything is equal.

One experience that I had was I bought a Mossberg barrel for my Remington 870. As the barrel heated up, it didn’t have the clearance between the barrel and the forend and the action would get stuck. I had to Dremel out more clearance (this is a good reason to test your gear, it only happened after the second shot).

There is lots more to say about this subject, but this is a pretty good introduction into what to know about accessorizing a pump action shotgun.

October 29, 2020 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

October 29, 2020 /

It’s interesting, I find this topic difficult to write about consistently. Maybe it is stage fright? It is the one day of the week that I should be able to plan around and I have six or seven things always lined up. Well, I have got one today.

The definition of tactical is “relating to or constituting actions carefully planned to gain a specific military end”. I think in the civilian world, we probably think of tactical as an adjective that describes firearms, magazines, ammunition, camouflage, flashlights, knives and other gear like that. Well today I’ve got some tactics and gear that I want you to consider.

That would be strategically placed fire extinguishers, an escape plan, rally points and communication plan to deal with a more likely scenario than a zombie world. You will see from the picture above that I have a fire extinguisher placed next to some flammables like gun powder and primers. That is in case I have a fire while I am smoking and reloading – just kidding, better safe than sorry.

How many fire extinguishers do you need? Good question, I have at least one on every level of my home, one in every vehicle, one in the shop, one in the garage and one soon to be one in the garden shed. They do no good if they are not convenient to reach so for example there is one in the kitchen in case of grease or electrical fire. They are generally placed where they are close to a fuel source or for life protection like in the bedrooms.

For the uneducated, not all fire extinguishers are the same they have an ABC rating system for the type of fuel or fire that they are effective at stopping. Most homeowner versions are an ABC general type. Here is a chart below for reference.

Know Your Fire Extinguisher Sign on white background,Vector illustration

I don’t think this is an adequate forum to address how to use fire extinguishers correctly. However quickly, spray the extinguisher at the base of the fire or what is burning. Think of it as a tool and not an end all. So, the use of the extinguisher should be to allow you to escape the situation, not to put out a fire.

To the end of escape, you should have a plan to exit the building in every room, particularly bedrooms. If your bedrooms are on the second floor, you need a safe way to get to the ground. In my house, the second floors are at least twenty feet above ground so in an extreme situation, jumping is possible with likely injury. For that reason, I have put safety ladders in each of the bedrooms that can be deployed to climb down to the ground.

Once out, we have two meeting spots. One is primary and the other is secondary. Unlike a business where we have countless employees and customers, once out you are pretty much safe and we don’t have to do an extensive headcount or other more complicated procedures.

To that end, it would be a good idea to have a cache of items outside of the home like tools to shut-off gas and water, flashlights, first aid, clothes, spare keys etc. You want to be able to do what you can safely to mitigate further damage to people or property if possible. You also don’t need to be freezing or wet in the middle of the night if that is possible. I have been in hotels where the fire alarm went off in the middle of the night, talk about a learning lesson for a future post.

Meet and know your neighbors so that if you have to leave without your phone you need to get help. Remember that safety is the optimum outcome, not stopping the fire. Fire department results will depend on a quick triage of the situation, likely preventing the fire from burning anything else. I live within one mile of the fire station and have had the unfortunate luck of dialing 911 several times. I have seen response time of 5-20 minutes depending on the time of day. I have even seen out of town units respond when the local department is busy. So remember that if the fire causes evacuation, that extra time isn’t going to help the situation.

First when going to bed, close the doors for an extra barrier of protection. In rooms with closed doors, touch the doorknob for heat, if it is safe to touch then it should be safe to cautiously open. In the case of smoke, get as low to the floor as possible because that will have the cleanest air. Nothing is ever a perfect situation so assessment of go, which direction, etc is unique to each situation. The training for each household member should be to get out individually and meet at the rally point for headcount.

Some other things worth mentioning are make sure you have adequate numbers and functioning smoke detectors as well as CO2 detectors. Make sure your address is visible from the street. Perform a site assessment for flammables around the property. Use temporary solutions temporarily like extension cords outside and unplug when not in use.

Have a fireproof and waterproof container for your most important documents. Make copies and store them on a cloud location or at least off premises for additional backups. Perform an inventory of your belongings for insurance purposes. You can make a video tour of your house periodically to provide a basic layout and store it offsite. Any collections or particularly expensive items may need to be insured separately to be adequately covered (like firearms).

Wow, I had more to say than I originally thought when I sat down. I think there is more here too. I will boil it down to disaster commonality in that this kind of thinking works for more than fires, but also floods or hurricanes and other disaster scenarios. So, start somewhere and put on your thinking cap to develop a plan that will work for you.

October 22, 2020 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

October 22, 2020 /

Can you believe another week is almost over? I sure cannot. It seems like I was just writing about a range trip that I thought was going to happen but hasn’t yet. It’s that time of week again to talk about tacticool! I thought that I would write about an old friend, my Gerber 400 lock blade pocket knife.

Before I get started with that, I wanted to talk about the company Gerber and what it has to do with todays knife landscape. According to Wikipedia, the company was started in 1939 in Portland, Oregon. Unrelated to Gerber, Leatherman also began in Portland, Oregon in 1983. Between the two of them they have created a knife mecca spawning CRKT, Benchmade and the US headquarters of KAI/Kershaw knives as well.

This one was the one that stuck with me. Believe it or not, by the time I was fourteen this was my fourth pocketknife (and the first one I didn’t lose). My first knife was a really cheap knife that one of the scales (sides) fell off. The blade was poor metal and the blades didn’t lock causing several cuts. That one I think was ultimately thrown away. My second was a Boy Scout branded Schrade knife that was much more durable but it was lost within a few months after a beach trip. My third knife was a swiss army knife. model ‘Camper’. That one also got lost at the beach which is when I bought the Gerber.

This knife has been my constant companion ever since. It has been to Mexico, Canada, Europe and Asia. It skinned my first deer. It has helped me eat lunch when I needed to eat around bad spots in fruit or forgot the steak knife or butter knife. There have been times when it was the only knife for dinner, or the picnic cheese plate. It has opened countless packages, cut hose, twine and rope, scraped rust off, cleaned fish, popped balloons for clean-up, splinter scalpel and used as a second rate screwdriver to name a few functions.

I have other knives, but I like this one. It is light and slim with no clip to get in the way. I am not in love with knife clips. I am not convinced that they even make you knife more accessible. They certainly scrape things up when you rub the clip against furniture, the wall or your upholstery. Even though clips are ubiquitous, they are the first give away that you are armed.

Another reason I like this knife is that it was inexpensive. I paid less than $20 in the late 1980s for this knife. Because of that, it hasn’t gotten babied. I have other much more expensive knives that largely stay home to keep them protected – it sounds silly when you write about it. I have cut steel wire and opened paint cans with this blade. Don’t get me wrong, I am not intentionally abusing it, it just happens to be the only tool I have at the time.

The mirror finish, or chrome plating or whatever makes the blade shiny was gouged on the first sharpening. Largely because I didn’t hold the knife properly and didn’t know what I was doing when I attempted to sharpen the knife. Those marks are still there, I don’t think about them often but when I do it takes me right back to being at summer camp. Part and parcel with that is how much life has changed since then and how much more skilled I am than when I was a young teenager.

One of the things that really impressed me when I first got this knife was how well the blade and lock mechanism fit together. I thought that was precision craftsmanship. It still may be because when I look at the fit of most knives today, those parts are almost always rounded to prevent extra fitting needed.

I will also point out that over the years, the parts have worn. Everything still locks up tight, but just from this picture you can see some of the gap that has developed from over thirty years of daily carry in the scales. So, it is not quite as impressive as it used to be but it is always something I thought was special about it.

I am always on the lookout for the replacement of this knife. In my head I am thinking that I should carry and upgrade. I am thinking about the Buck 722 right now even though I think that one is about the same category. But I always come back to – why? I have at times carried two knives under the ‘two is one and one is none’ idea, but I get tired of my pants falling down with all the weight.

“Beware the man with one gun, he probably knows how to use it”. I think you could substitute knife in that spot. If you run into me, I will likely have this knife on my person. It was my first piece of EDC gear and it is my most consistently carried piece of gear. I have had it longer than any key on my key chain or wallet or item in my wallet.

October 15, 2020 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

October 15, 2020 /

I thought that I would write about flashlights today. Now that the daylight situation is rapidly moving towards less than twelve hours a day in my area, it will soon be darker longer than light. Something I carry on my person is a flashlight.

Number one, a flashlight is probably the most used piece of gear that I routinely carry. It is useful when you drop something under the desk or taking a detailed look inside a furnace or diagnosing a basement light issue. I don’t think that it is too hard to try and find the virtues and uses of a flashlight.

A few examples of my flashlights

In today’s phone culture, most people think that the flash LED is an adequate light. While it is true that the one you have is the best one, I maintain that you are better off using this function as a back-up rather than your only flashlight.

A dedicated flashlight is a much better tool than the phone light. Flashlights are made to have the beam focused for longer distance. They can have a much longer run time and create a more intense cone of light. They also don’t take away power from the most important function of a flashlight, communication. Finally, it offers redundant capability.

Even though I have many different lights, consider the batteries. I have some that take AA, AAA, D, CR123 and rechargeable batteries (and even some others). All those different combinations are fine, but for everyday carry use flashlights that might share batteries for other devices like a GPS. That would mean you could carry one spare set of batteries and use them interchangeably if needed.

Flashlight technology has evolved rapidly in the last ten years. LED technology is part of that. The amount of power (usually measured in lumens) and run time has seen an amazing amount of improvement. Ten years ago when I bought the Surefire Executive (pictured in the middle) the high powered flashlights used CR123 batteries and put out 60 lumens of light for two hours. Now you can buy a 200 lumen light for $10 and it will run for 16 hours.

If you have cordless tools, often you can purchase a flashlight that will use the batteries for your tools. Not only is this helpful when you need to work on something in the dark, but they are sure handy around the house for a ready to go, bump in the night light by the door.

From a personal safety standpoint, another reason to have a light on you is self defense. A light can be used to identify a threat or blind an intruder. The shape of the tool also makes it useful as a kubaton. Of course, that kind of proficiency needed training and practice.

For full transparency, I am not always carrying a light. Obviously, it would be helpful to have everything you need when you want it. But in my case, the weight of all the gear pulling you pants down or your pockets jambed full all the time, I make a judgement call. When I am leaving the house I usually think to myself is it likely I will be somewhere in the dark. In the summertime the answer is usually no unless I am going somewhere after dark or going somewhere like a movie theater or mall. That calculus changes in the cooler months.

Besides having one on your person, one by the door and one in your go bag I would recommend you keep one in each vehicle as well. It is almost worth considering replacing old flashlights given how much improvement there has been. If you are looking for a starting point the Streamlight Stylus Pro for $25 is a good start.

October 8, 2020 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

October 8, 2020 /

“Shoot or don’t shoot”. No, I am not talking tactics, I am talking the price and availability of ammunition at the moment.

These magazines have been loaded since March. It was my plan to do this next range trip before all the pandemic hullabaloo, before the six month remodeling project and before ammunition disappeared and the price skyrocketed. In fact, I bought the Sig Sauer ammunition pictured in March.

I have been periodically checking local stores for inventory of ammunition. There are shotgun shells, most typical hunting calibers and 17HMR rimfire ammunition available. What is not available is any handgun ammunition except some really weird ones like 50AE and no rifle ammunition that fits semi-automatics and no 22 rimfire.

On a whim, I checked an online source for 5.56×45 and a case (of 1000) was available at $724. That is $0.72/round and that in a bulk price. For the individual packages, it is running from $0.80-1.00/ round. The last time I bought any I paid $0.33/round. So, I guess on the one hand it is available just maybe it is not at the price I want to pay.

My grand plan was to rely on reloading as my ammunition source. During the last run (2012-2015) primers were impossible to find. Good news for me is that I have plenty of primers but not bullets. I do have some powder but it definitely depends on what I am reloading. I think I could reload 30-06 for the rest of my life but I have almost no powder for .223 Remington.

What I really am weighing here is should I shoot some of the ammunition I have given it’s scarcity and my scarcity of money? Don’t get me wrong, I am not empty in either case but it is preparedness mindset. Well, I have decided that I am going to and here are my reasons.

One – I have owned this rifle since 2015 and only fired it once. This was kind of an impulse purchase. To tell you the truth, I was convinced that the Hillary Clinton was going to win the presidential election and that I would lose the opportunity to make this kind of purchase in the future. It turns out that I can get caught up in ‘tin foil hat-ness’ too.

Two – it has an optic on it that has never been sighted in. Having a tool that isn’t calibrated or has unknown accuracy is not reliable or useful for the intended purpose. I thought that it might be useful to start my son out hunting on because of the low recoil and adjustability. It turns out, he can shoot my old rifle that I started on just fine and it is sighted in well. Nevertheless, I want to have some confidence that I can hit where I am aiming.

Three – Despite the fact that I have only shot this rifle once, I have made some modifications and changes. At this point, I do not know if it is functional or reliable as a result. This is the biggest reason that I want to take it out now. Swapping out parts can have some pretty negative consequences. It is best to find out before you really want to use it.

I do feel like I have some compelling reasons to shoot up some of my hard to acquire at this time ammunition. Throughout all of the shortages, it seems like shotgun ammunition has always been consistently available. Probably a good time to focus on trap, skeet and sporting clays (as well as hunting).

October 2, 2020 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday (on Friday)

October 2, 2020 /

I think I am losing my mind. For a little while, I was thinking this was Wednesday and not Friday. When I do my planning, usually before I start writing, I was thinking about what I wanted to write in this segment (tomorrow) and I realized that I wrote my book review on Thursday. Whoops.

So, the big news of the week in industry is the Remington Outdoors bankruptcy and subsequent liquidation of assets, effective immediately. The details and some analysis of the liquidation are all over the internet. One could ask themselves in this time of record breaking firearms and related industry sales what could have possibly gone wrong? At this point, my attitude as a consumer is does it really matter? What is done is done and a two hundred year old company is now history.

Real (really) briefly, Remington Arms Co. was acquired by Cerberus Capitol Management in April of 2007. That was really the day the company ceased to exist alone. If you remember the post election buying of 2009-2010 and the post Sandy Hook buying of 2013-2016 and definitely the Covid buying this industry has money making potential. Cerberus was a company that already owned Mervyn’s and one month later bought Chrysler. Through hearsay, debt was moved from some of the other weaker ventures to Remington to the point where it became financially crushing. It was also rumored that Cerberus had been trying to sell Remington since the Sandy Hook incident because they didn’t want that image in their portfolio.

What does all this really mean for the shooter. Well, I don’t really know. I know that Vista Outdoors (Federal) bought the ammunition business. Presumably this will keep going and that is good news. I know that the intent from some of the other buyers is to keep manufacturing Remington and Marlin. It would seem that smaller buyers got DPMS, H&R, Bushmaster and given their positions in the market place I see them continuing and not just acquiring the names. I suppose that it is a time will tell situation.

I guess for me personally, it is a sad day. I own more than one Remington, in fact it is the predominant brand in my collection. My first rifle was a Remington 722, my first shotgun was an 870 and my first 22 was a Marlin. I had plans to get a 7600 and a Versamax some day. I also have some OEM accessories that I would like to add. I guess the good news is that there are so many made that likely everything is out there, it is more a matter of how much will I have to pay.

I suppose it is just like H&R and Marlin getting purchased and nearly mothballed. Or Winchester ceasing to be independent, times change. Gone is one of the oldest companies in the US.

September 17, 2020 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

September 17, 2020 /

Today, I wanted to show an example target and how to use it. The target in the picture below has one inch squares. It is meant to zero in your rifle at 100 yards.

So, that means that if you are at fifty yards, your adjustments need to double or if you are at 200 yards, your adjustments need to be halved. What in the heck am I talking about?

Many scopes have an adjustment that says 1 click = 1/4″ at 100 yards. So, if you are off one inch at fifty yards, the adjustment needs to be eight clicks because the error (or adjustment) projects at a multiple of your distance. You see, if you were and inch off and the target was one hundred yards, then the adjustment would match the scope’s metering. But, because the scenario is one half of the expected distance then the correction needs to double the stated value.

OK, what if your scope is in Mils or Radians. Well, mils are 1/1000 of a radian and a radian equals pi (or 3.14). To ignore all of the complicated math, one mil adjustment at 100 yards equals 3.6 inches. So, at 200 yards that would be 7.2 inches. That means, adjust your scope according to the proper instructions to get a good sight in. The math can be figured out, but I think it would be too much for this post. For mils, multiply by 1000. For instance, what if you were shooting in meters?

When sighting in your rifle, you need to consider other factors like parallax and bullet drop. For reference, I am ignoring those factors today. But for super high level vocabulary purposes, I will address the definitions. Parallax is the distance of the scope above the barrel. Bullet drop is is how fast the bullet drops in relation to distance.

That means when you sight in your rifle, the parallax means that your scope is pointed slightly down. When your scope intercepts the bullet’s point of travel, then it is sighted in for that distance. Drop is a function of where your scope is sighted in.

I am willing to go through the math in the future, but I think that for now (I hope) that I got the gist across.

September 10, 2020 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

September 10, 2020 /

We are in day four of the wildfire effects. Many small communities have been effected, including some completely burned to the ground. Fortunately, the weather is trending in our favor at this point, we are still safe and in no imminent threat, but that can change at any moment.

For today, I thought that I would talk about communication devices. It seems like the amount of intelligence is very limited at this point. It feels like unless you are in the line of fire, we are only getting evacuation information. To their credit, emergency officials have stated priority one is human safety followed by structure protection followed distantly by fire containment.

The number one device for information is the cell phone. Sheriffs and fire districts are putting out information over official Facebook pages and Twitter alerts. There is a reverse 911 system that is in place if you are signed up for alerts. Of course, we are getting hearsay information from people on or near the scene on various social media platforms. Don’t forget the voice and text functions for communicating with people that are in or near the scene. Keep it charged, have battery banks and cords available for your number one tool.

My number two tool is the AM radio. Local talk or news only stations have updates on the hour. They are also plugged into the Emergency Broadcast System for localize and targeted information. In fact, I just bought a new C. Crane radio yesterday as I have battled poor reception in my smaller ’emergency’ radio for years. I will probably review it later as I get some hours on it.

If you bug out, it is likely that you are going to take as many vehicles as you have drivers. Maybe the power is out, maybe the cell towers are down or maybe there is no reception in the area, two way communication can be helpful and comes in many forms.

  • CB (Citizens Band) radio – This type of radio has pretty good distance depending on your antenna setup and (in my experience) is primarily used in rural communication settings like logging.
  • FRS (Family Radio Service), GMRS (General Mobile Radio Service), MURS (Multi-Use Radio Service) – These are all small handheld walkie-talkie type radio devices. I have several types and despite what the package says, they have very short broadcast distance. Sometimes they have trouble communicating vehicle to vehicle in a caravan situation. I use mine primarily for household communication (like when you are shutting off breakers).
  • Short Wave – This can be a very powerful radio that can communicate around the world. There is quite a bit of knowledge that goes along with operating this device legally and effectively, but be aware.

Operating some of these devices require a license from the FCC, including FRS/GMRS type radios (depending on the frequency). I am not aware of anyone ever getting in trouble for not having a license, but the intent is to have an educated user and not clogging up the airwaves with non-sense.

Another tool that is a good source of local intel is the scanner. This is not something that I have, but my next-door neighbor does. Since, I live on Main Street, I see or hear probably half of the calls drive by. I usually can go talk to my neighbor to find out what the call is about. You can also judge the severity by the number and types of vehicles that pass by.

I have multiple tools running at the same time. Different perspectives provide different levels of information. Stay safe.

September 3, 2020 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

September 3, 2020 /

I finally got back to the range yesterday. It was the first time that I have been back since early March. The range was closed into May, so it wasn’t total negligence that I didn’t go. My dad asked me to take him in April and I said that when I got through with my project, that would be the time. Well, here we are finally.

October and hunting season is going to be here in a few weeks. The range tends to get really busy in September, so ideally we would have gotten this done two months ago. But this is the time I have, so let’s get this done. I took my dad, uncle and son and spent the better part of the day getting hunting rifles ready for the season.

We had all kinds of maladies to deal with. New shooters, new scopes, unfired rifles caused a long session to get to the results we were looking for. I am going to talk about my process in getting a rifle sighted in.

  1. Determine the load and the likely shooting distance for hunting. Changing those variable after sighting in the rifle requires another verification session.
  2. Bore Sight the scope – I use a laser that is inserted into the barrel. I initially adjust the scope so the crosshairs are centered at a height that is equal to the measurement of center of bore to center of scope.
  3. Shoot at the fifty yard target three times to verify bullet grouping is consistent. If not consistent, verify mounts are solid, ammunition is the same, bullets are the same weight. If consistent, then make adjustments according to scope manufacture to try at 100 yards
  4. Shoot at the 100 yards target three times and repeat the same evaluation as above, including distance.

Now, this is not the most efficient way of doing this. I am not going to go through all the variations and ins and outs of sighting in this post. What I do believe is that a lot of hunters do not spend a lot trigger time. That includes working the action, safety and magazine manipulation as examples. So, firing some extra rounds helps build some of that muscle memory and familiarity.

We had fun. My son was hitting the 200 yard gong consistently. We got our rifles shooting where we wanted. It was one of those waning days of summer, warm and breezy and there were only two other groups of shooters to share the range. I can’t wait until October.

August 27, 2020 – ‘Tacticool’ Thursday

August 27, 2020 /

There are so many more fun things to write about, but it starts with staying alive. I am going to quote someone, I am going to credit Frank Sharpe Jr on the The Survival Podcast. “Don’t do stupid things, with stupid people at stupid places.” Last night I watched this video in horror at all of these principles violated.

Don’t watch this video all the way through if you don’t want to see the real results of getting shot. I would say stop watching when the shooting starts.

I am not going to go into politics, nor am I going to pick a side here. I bet you can guess how I feel, however I see a clear cut case of both side being wrong. Don’t be here!

Don’t antagonize a group of people carrying rifles, don’t carry a rifle down to a mass protest. Nothing good can come from this. Even if this was your property, is it really worth the potential legal issues from defending it? Is it worth your life? Is is worth perpetuating a situation where neither side feels there is an equitable ending? Who are we going to convince a change in attitude or opinion from engaging here?

I did some quick research, Kenosha is a city that is about 100,000 people. It is close to both Milwaukee WI and Chicago IL. Based on those demographics, it seems like it could be nearly Anytown USA. It would considered a mid-sized town, or a suburb of a major city, or a midwestern town or a blue collar town, or port town or whatever descriptor that fit most towns in the US. It’s in a blue state or is it a red state? Therefore, this is your town.

It was Tom Gresham that said, “If you bring a gun to a fight, it is now a gun fight” whether the other person has a gun or not. I am all for self defense and if necessary, using force to protect yourself. This seems like a case of antagonism and itchy fingers. Since we cannot see the entire context from the video, those facts will have to be sorted out in court. It does appear that the second guy shot was in self defense, but be it as it may this kid is likely in serious trouble. Not to mention, two people are dead – probably because they acted like jerks – but one transgression does not beget another.

I think that I have been clear on my views about freedom and rights. I support the right to have an opinion different than my own. I support the right to be in the minority or to even be wrong. There have been daily protest in my town for months. Even though I think their opinion is wrong, I support the ability to peacefully assemble and express their views. This activity is causing a clear division between people, but it only happens when you engage at their level.

I want to go back to where I started, don’t be here. Don’t bring a rifle to stop a riot, leave when a protest becomes destructive. When you are confrontational to an armed person, you can have Kent State or Kenosha. You don’t want to be the shooter or be shot.