Completed: NRA Instructor Training
Well I slacked off and didn’t post about day 2 or 3. However I have completed the training and am back home.
I wanted to blog more while away but I was really swamped with studying and preparing for the class. The students had to prepare lectures and presentations for the subjects we were learning. This was a good method of teaching us the material and giving us experience in teaching the material. I have to say that I really enjoyed the training methods that were used and they really worked well.
Not much more to say right now.
Written by john Filed under Shooting Sports | Comment (0)Day 1: NRA Instructor Training
I have now completed day one of the NRA Instructor Training that I’m attending. Here is a list of the classes that I’m being trained in:
- Basic Instructor Training ( Pre-requisite for instructors )
- Home Firearms Safety
- Pistol
- Pistol First Steps
- Personal Protection in the Home
So far I have completed the first two in the list. Tomorrow we’ll start another day in which I now become an instructor and must give demonstrations and lead others through a “mock” class. There will also be live fire on the precision range. This will be a testing of firearm skills and accuracy.
I’ve completed my homework for the night. I’ve read through the materials I needed to. I’ve written a dozen or more 3×5 note cards for my presentation tomorrow. The presentations that I’m doing are:
Ammunition Malfunctions (Misfire, Hangfire, Squib)
Benchrest Shooting. Hands on all the way through setup and dry firing as a Teacher/Pupil pair.
Hopefully I’ll do well tomorrow!
Written by john Filed under Shooting Sports | Comment (0)On Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs
This is one of my favorite articles. I finally found it republished in a nice formatting and I had to post this.
On Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs
by By LTC (RET) Dave Grossman, author of “On Killing.”
Honor never grows old, and honor rejoices the heart of age. It does so because honor is, finally, about defending those noble and worthy things that deserve defending, even if it comes at a high cost. In our time, that may mean social disapproval, public scorn, hardship, persecution, or as always,even death itself. The question remains: What is worth defending? What is worth dying for? What is worth living for? - William J. Bennett - in a lecture to the United States Naval Academy November 24, 1997
One Vietnam veteran, an old retired colonel, once said this to me:
“Most of the people in our society are sheep. They are kind, gentle, productive creatures who can only hurt one another by accident.” This is true. Remember, the murder rate is six per 100,000 per year, and the aggravated assault rate is four per 1,000 per year. What this means is that the vast majority of Americans are not inclined to hurt one another. Some estimates say that two million Americans are victims of violent crimes every year, a tragic, staggering number, perhaps an all-time record rate of violent crime. But there are almost 300 million Americans, which means that the odds of being a victim of violent crime is considerably less than one in a hundred on any given year. Furthermore, since many violent crimes are committed by repeat offenders, the actual number of violent citizens is considerably less than two million.
Thus there is a paradox, and we must grasp both ends of the situation: We may well be in the most violent times in history, but violence is still remarkably rare. This is because most citizens are kind, decent people who are not capable of hurting each other, except by accident or under extreme provocation. They are sheep.
I mean nothing negative by calling them sheep. To me it is like the pretty, blue robin’s egg. Inside it is soft and gooey but someday it will grow into something wonderful. But the egg cannot survive without its hard blue shell. Police officers, soldiers, and other warriors are like that shell, and someday the civilization they protect will grow into something wonderful.? For now, though, they need warriors to protect them from the predators.
“Then there are the wolves,” the old war veteran said, “and the wolves feed on the sheep without mercy.” Do you believe there are wolves out there who will feed on the flock without mercy? You better believe it. There are evil men in this world and they are capable of evil deeds. The moment you forget that or pretend it is not so, you become a sheep. There is no safety in denial.
“Then there are sheepdogs,” he went on, “and I’m a sheepdog. I live to protect the flock and confront the wolf.”
If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive citizen, a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath, a wolf. But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow citizens? What do you have then? A sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the hero’s path. Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed.
Let me expand on this old soldier’s excellent model of the sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs. We know that the sheep live in denial, that is what makes them sheep. They do not want to believe that there is evil in the world. They can accept the fact that fires can happen, which is why they want fire extinguishers, fire sprinklers, fire alarms and fire exits throughout their kids’ schools.
But many of them are outraged at the idea of putting an armed police officer in their kid’s school. Our children are thousands of times more likely to be killed or seriously injured by school violence than fire, but the sheep’s only response to the possibility of violence is denial. The idea of someone coming to kill or harm their child is just too hard, and so they chose the path of denial.
The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks a lot like the wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for violence. The difference, though, is that the sheepdog must not, can not and will not ever harm the sheep. Any sheep dog who intentionally harms the lowliest little lamb will be punished and removed. The world cannot work any other way, at least not in a representative democracy or a republic such as ours.
Still, the sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant reminder that there are wolves in the land. They would prefer that he didn’t tell them where to go, or give them traffic tickets, or stand at the ready in our airports in camouflage fatigues holding an M-16. The sheep would much rather have the sheepdog cash in his fangs, spray paint himself white, and go, “Baa.”
Until the wolf shows up. Then the entire flock tries desperately to hide behind one lonely sheepdog.
The students, the victims, at Columbine High School were big, tough high school students, and under ordinary circumstances they would not have had the time of day for a police officer. They were not bad kids; they just had nothing to say to a cop. When the school was under attack, however, and SWAT teams were clearing the rooms and hallways, the officers had to physically peel those clinging, sobbing kids off of them. This is how the little lambs feel about their sheepdog when the wolf is at the door.
Look at what happened after September 11, 2001 when the wolf pounded hard on the door. Remember how America, more than ever before, felt differently about their law enforcement officers and military personnel? Remember how many times you heard the word hero?
Understand that there is nothing morally superior about being a sheepdog; it is just what you choose to be. Also understand that a sheepdog is a funny critter: He is always sniffing around out on the perimeter, checking the breeze, barking at things that go bump in the night, and yearning for a righteous battle. That is, the young sheepdogs yearn for a righteous battle. The old sheepdogs are a little older and wiser, but they move to the sound of the guns when needed right along with the young ones.
Here is how the sheep and the sheepdog think differently. The sheep pretend the wolf will never come, but the sheepdog lives for that day. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, most of the sheep, that is, most citizens in America said, “Thank God I wasn’t on one of those planes.” The sheepdogs, the warriors, said, “Dear God, I wish I could have been on one of those planes. Maybe I could have made a difference.” When you are truly transformed into a warrior and have truly invested yourself into warriorhood, you want to be there. You want to be able to make a difference.
There is nothing morally superior about the sheepdog, the warrior, but he does have one real advantage. Only one. And that is that he is able to survive and thrive in an environment that destroys 98 percent of the population. There was research conducted a few years ago with individuals convicted of violent crimes. These cons were in prison for serious, predatory crimes of violence: assaults, murders and killing law enforcement officers. The vast majority said that they specifically targeted victims by body language: slumped walk, passive behavior and lack of awareness. They chose their victims like big cats do in Africa, when they select one out of the herd that is least able to protect itself.
Some people may be destined to be sheep and others might be genetically primed to be wolves or sheepdogs. But I believe that most people can choose which one they want to be, and I’m proud to say that more and more Americans are choosing to become sheepdogs.
Seven months after the attack on September 11, 2001, Todd Beamer was honored in his hometown of Cranbury, New Jersey. Todd, as you recall, was the man on Flight 93 over Pennsylvania who called on his cell phone to alert an operator from United Airlines about the hijacking. When he learned of the other three passenger planes that had been used as weapons, Todd dropped his phone and uttered the words, “Let’s roll,” which authorities believe was a signal to the other passengers to confront the terrorist hijackers. In one hour, a transformation occurred among the passengers - athletes, business people and parents. — from sheep to sheepdogs and together they fought the wolves, ultimately saving an unknown number of lives on the ground.
There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil of evil men. - Edmund Burke
Here is the point I like to emphasize, especially to the thousands of police officers and soldiers I speak to each year. In nature the sheep, real sheep, are born as sheep. Sheepdogs are born that way, and so are wolves. They didn’t have a choice. But you are not a critter. As a human being, you can be whatever you want to be. It is a conscious, moral decision.
If you want to be a sheep, then you can be a sheep and that is okay, but you must understand the price you pay. When the wolf comes, you and your loved ones are going to die if there is not a sheepdog there to protect you. If you want to be a wolf, you can be one, but the sheepdogs are going to hunt you down and you will never have rest, safety, trust or love. But if you want to be a sheepdog and walk the warrior’s path, then you must make a conscious and moral decision every day to dedicate, equip and prepare yourself to thrive in that toxic, corrosive moment when the wolf comes knocking at the door.
For example, many officers carry their weapons in church.? They are well concealed in ankle holsters, shoulder holsters or inside-the-belt holsters tucked into the small of their backs.? Anytime you go to some form of religious service, there is a very good chance that a police officer in your congregation is carrying. You will never know if there is such an individual in your place of worship, until the wolf appears to massacre you and your loved ones.
I was training a group of police officers in Texas, and during the break, one officer asked his friend if he carried his weapon in church. The other cop replied, “I will never be caught without my gun in church.” I asked why he felt so strongly about this, and he told me about a cop he knew who was at a church massacre in Ft. Worth, Texas in 1999. In that incident, a mentally deranged individual came into the church and opened fire, gunning down fourteen people. He said that officer believed he could have saved every life that day if he had been carrying his gun. His own son was shot, and all he could do was throw himself on the boy’s body and wait to die. That cop looked me in the eye and said, “Do you have any idea how hard it would be to live with yourself after that?”
Some individuals would be horrified if they knew this police officer was carrying a weapon in church. They might call him paranoid and would probably scorn him. Yet these same individuals would be enraged and would call for “heads to roll” if they found out that the airbags in their cars were defective, or that the fire extinguisher and fire sprinklers in their kids’ school did not work. They can accept the fact that fires and traffic accidents can happen and that there must be safeguards against them.
Their only response to the wolf, though, is denial, and all too often their response to the sheepdog is scorn and disdain. But the sheepdog quietly asks himself, “Do you have and idea how hard it would be to live with yourself if your loved ones attacked and killed, and you had to stand there helplessly because you were unprepared for that day?”
It is denial that turns people into sheep. Sheep are psychologically destroyed by combat because their only defense is denial, which is counterproductive and destructive, resulting in fear, helplessness and horror when the wolf shows up.
Denial kills you twice. It kills you once, at your moment of truth when you are not physically prepared: you didn’t bring your gun, you didn’t train. Your only defense was wishful thinking. Hope is not a strategy. Denial kills you a second time because even if you do physically survive, you are psychologically shattered by your fear helplessness and horror at your moment of truth.
Gavin de Becker puts it like this in Fear Less, his superb post-9/11 book, which should be required reading for anyone trying to come to terms with our current world situation: “…denial can be seductive, but it has an insidious side effect. For all the peace of mind deniers think they get by saying it isn’t so, the fall they take when faced with new violence is all the more unsettling.”
Denial is a save-now-pay-later scheme, a contract written entirely in small print, for in the long run, the denying person knows the truth on some level.
And so the warrior must strive to confront denial in all aspects of his life, and prepare himself for the day when evil comes. If you are warrior who is legally authorized to carry a weapon and you step outside without that weapon, then you become a sheep, pretending that the bad man will not come today. No one can be “on” 24/7, for a lifetime. Everyone needs down time. But if you are authorized to carry a weapon, and you walk outside without it, just take a deep breath, and say this to yourself…
“Baa.”
This business of being a sheep or a sheep dog is not a yes-no dichotomy. It is not an all-or-nothing, either-or choice. It is a matter of degrees, a continuum. On one end is an abject, head-in-the-sand-sheep and on the other end is the ultimate warrior. Few people exist completely on one end or the other. Most of us live somewhere in between. Since 9-11 almost everyone in America took a step up that continuum, away from denial. The sheep took a few steps toward accepting and appreciating their warriors, and the warriors started taking their job more seriously. The degree to which you move up that continuum, away from sheephood and denial, is the degree to which you and your loved ones will survive, physically and psychologically at your moment of truth.
Written by john Filed under Gun Rights | Comment (0)The Angry White Man
I have to preface this that I don’t agree with all of this, however I do agree with most of it. This is so true and I thought I’d post it.
Here’s the original link: http://www.aspentimes.com/article/2008198091324
In election 2008, don’t forget Angry White Man
Gary Hubbell
February 9, 2008
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There is a great amount of interest in this year’s presidential elections, as everybody seems to recognize that our next president has to be a lot better than George Bush. The Democrats are riding high with two groundbreaking candidates - a woman and an African-American - while the conservative Republicans are in a quandary about their party’s nod to a quasi-liberal maverick, John McCain.
Each candidate is carefully pandering to a smorgasbord of special-interest groups, ranging from gay, lesbian and transgender people to children of illegal immigrants to working mothers to evangelical Christians.
There is one group no one has recognized, and it is the group that will decide the election: the Angry White Man. The Angry White Man comes from all economic backgrounds, from dirt-poor to filthy rich. He represents all geographic areas in America, from urban sophisticate to rural redneck, deep South to mountain West, left Coast to Eastern Seaboard.
His common traits are that he isn’t looking for anything from anyone - just the promise to be able to make his own way on a level playing field. In many cases, he is an independent businessman and employs several people. He pays more than his share of taxes and works hard.
The victimhood syndrome buzzwords - “disenfranchised,” “marginalized” and “voiceless” - don’t resonate with him. “Press ‘one’ for English” is a curse-word to him. He’s used to picking up the tab, whether it’s the company Christmas party, three sets of braces, three college educations or a beautiful wedding.
He believes the Constitution is to be interpreted literally, not as a “living document” open to the whims and vagaries of a panel of judges who have never worked an honest day in their lives.
The Angry White Man owns firearms, and he’s willing to pick up a gun to defend his home and his country. He is willing to lay down his life to defend the freedom and safety of others, and the thought of killing someone who needs killing really doesn’t bother him.
The Angry White Man is not a metrosexual, a homosexual or a victim. Nobody like him drowned in Hurricane Katrina - he got his people together and got the hell out, then went back in to rescue those too helpless and stupid to help themselves, often as a police officer, a National Guard soldier or a volunteer firefighter.
His last name and religion don’t matter. His background might be Italian, English, Polish, German, Slavic, Irish, or Russian, and he might have Cherokee, Mexican, or Puerto Rican mixed in, but he considers himself a white American.
He’s a man’s man, the kind of guy who likes to play poker, watch football, hunt white-tailed deer, call turkeys, play golf, spend a few bucks at a strip club once in a blue moon, change his own oil and build things. He coaches baseball, soccer and football teams and doesn’t ask for a penny. He’s the kind of guy who can put an addition on his house with a couple of friends, drill an oil well, weld a new bumper for his truck, design a factory and publish books. He can fill a train with 100,000 tons of coal and get it to the power plant on time so that you keep the lights on and never know what it took to flip that light switch.
Women either love him or hate him, but they know he’s a man, not a dishrag. If they’re looking for someone to walk all over, they’ve got the wrong guy. He stands up straight, opens doors for women and says “Yes, sir” and “No, ma’am.”
He might be a Republican and he might be a Democrat; he might be a Libertarian or a Green. He knows that his wife is more emotional than rational, and he guides the family in a rational manner.
He’s not a racist, but he is annoyed and disappointed when people of certain backgrounds exhibit behavior that typifies the worst stereotypes of their race. He’s willing to give everybody a fair chance if they work hard, play by the rules and learn English.
Most important, the Angry White Man is pissed off. When his job site becomes flooded with illegal workers who don’t pay taxes and his wages drop like a stone, he gets righteously angry. When his job gets shipped overseas, and he has to speak to some incomprehensible idiot in India for tech support, he simmers. When Al Sharpton comes on TV, leading some rally for reparations for slavery or some such nonsense, he bites his tongue and he remembers. When a child gets charged with carrying a concealed weapon for mistakenly bringing a penknife to school, he takes note of who the local idiots are in education and law enforcement.
He also votes, and the Angry White Man loathes Hillary Clinton. Her voice reminds him of a shovel scraping a rock. He recoils at the mere sight of her on television. Her very image disgusts him, and he cannot fathom why anyone would want her as their leader. It’s not that she is a woman. It’s that she is who she is. It’s the liberal victim groups she panders to, the “poor me” attitude that she represents, her inability to give a straight answer to an honest question, his tax dollars that she wants to give to people who refuse to do anything for themselves.
There are many millions of Angry White Men. Four million Angry White Men are members of the National Rifle Association, and all of them will vote against Hillary Clinton, just as the great majority of them voted for George Bush.
He hopes that she will be the Democratic nominee for president in 2008, and he will make sure that she gets beaten like a drum.
Written by john Filed under Politics | Comment (0)Signs Stop Criminals
I found this image and thought it was funny….
People need to actually think about it and understand that a “sign” doesn’t stop criminals. If someone is intent on comitting a crime a piece of paper isn’t going to stop them.
Written by john Filed under Gun Rights | Comment (0)Presidential Candidates
Below you’ll find a letter that I just wrote to the presidential candidate Obama. I’m not a democrate, I’m actually registered as independent. However I’m sitting here watching TV and they talked about the shooting in IL and the candidates stances on Guns. I already know Clinton’s stance and I don’t like it and it will never change. However I have the feeling that this year it will become a Democratic president. So I’m doing my part to raise my voice and put some common sense into the candidates. Without the voice of the people we are lost.
Unfortunately I don’t think the letter was published. When I hit the “submit” button I received a very large java traceback error from the form. Makes me wonder if we want a president who can’t even hire decent programmers to maintain the IL Senator contact form.
Here’s my letter to Obama:
Dear Mr. Obama,
I fully understand your emotional viewpoint on gun control. However I would like to discuss the issues with that viewpoint.
1. Eliminate Concealed Carry Permits
Those citizens, including myself with concealed carry permits are not the ones comitting crimes, we are not the ones causing problems. In fact we are the ones stopping crimes year after year. We interfere with criminals and SAVE people every year. We must go through extensive training and background checks before we are allowed to carry. Instead of eliminating the concealed carry law, a national reciprocity law should be pushed.
2. Trigger locks
Trigger locks are a great thing. I have and use several of them. However I will not put a trigger lock on my primary pistol. My primary pistol is in one of two places at all times. One my person, secured from children and strangers, or in my safe which is secured from children and strangers. A mandatory trigger lock will disarm citizens in their homes and render them defenseless in a time of need. Push for responsible gun ownership. Push for training before purchasing a gun, push for eduction, not bans.
3. Guns are bad
I know you haven’t stated directly that guns are “bad” but you have said you would ban them. Guns are not the problem. Criminals are the problem. There is no law that will stop criminals, by definition criminals violate the law. Instead of creating more laws on top of the existing 20,000+ gun laws, remove gun laws, allow citizens to protect themselves without fear of law suits from the family of a criminal. Educate people, push gun training not gun control. A quote I once read was “An armed society is a polite society”. That is true. A criminal by nature goes after the weak and vulnerable. If the criminal knows there is a chance the person they want to harm is carrying a weapon they will think twice.
4. Assault Weapon Ban
Define “Assault Weapon”. Anything can be an asault weapon. There is NO such thing as an Assault Weapon by definition of rifles. Rifles, specifically the AR-15 or AR platform or AK platform rifles are not used within 99.9% of crimes. Why ban a tool that is not an issue? The problem is discrimination against it’s appearance. This is hypocritical don’t you think? The assault weapon ban is a measure to whittle away gun rights and that is wrong. It is a violation of the 2nd ammendement and anyone with any capacity of self thought knows the ban is pointless.
5. Support the 2nd ammendment. The bill of rights is a whole package. You get them all or none you cannot piece-meal and choose. Once you start to eliminate one the rest are sure to follow.
Written by john Filed under Gun Rights | Comment (0)NRA Pistol Instructor Training
Well I am currently sitting in a hotel room waiting for tomorrow morning. In the morning I will be getting up and going to more training.
Tomorrow will be the first day of three for the NRA Certified Pistol Instructor training. In this class I will go through Basic Pistol, Pistol First Steps, Personal Protection in the Home and the BIT (Basic Instructor Training).
The first day will be consumed by the BIT. The BIT is to teach me how to teach others. Then the other two days will be learning the material for those classes. I’m nervous, but excited. I’ve been looking forward to this now for many months and it’s finally happening. Once this is done then I have to save money and schedule the training for the Rifle, Shotgun and RSO (Range Safety Officer) trainings. Then I will have all three firearms disciplines completed and be an official RSO.
Harpers Ferry Accident
Here’s the link:
Apparently four were killed in an accident on the bridge between WV and VA by Harpers Ferry. I was headed to work yesterday morning and was stopped at the light where the police were instructing everyone to turn around. So I went home and worked from home. I’m lucky to have that option.
Just a reminder that snow and ice are dangerous conditions to drive in and caution should be taken at all times.
Written by john Filed under Local News | Comment (0)Rural Internet
If you’re considering moving to the country and you enjoy the internet then investigate very hard the options that are available to you.
I’m currently stuck in a situation where the only thing available to
me is cellular.
I’m currently using a cell modem from AT&T (formerlly cingular). This solution usually runs at about 100k.
This makes it better than dial up, but not by much.
Here’s the options:
- DSL – Not available. Probably never
- Cable – Not available. Probably never
- Cell – GSM (slow) available
- Sprint EVDO – Available half a mile from my house, but no signal at my house
- Verizon EVDO — Not available
- Satellite – I have too many trees for installation. So, I have to cut down trees.
Of these I’m hoping that Sprint will hurry up with their deployments and get EVDO spread out further.
I would even put a tower up in my yard if they would just do it! The satellite option isn’t the greatest.
It’s the only option that I have any control over. I cut down trees and I can get satellite internet. But
there’s a host of issues and lots and lots of complaints about satellite internet.
So, now I’m just waiting and hoping for something, someday.
Written by john Filed under Homestead | Comment (0)It snowed today!
I love it when it snows. It’s so beautiful in the woods. So, enjoy some of my joy. And just because he’s cute, here’s some Skittles cuteness.
