In response to the headline: perhaps not, but homeschooling sure enough is.

Photo from the article: attributed, artfulblogger/Flickr/cropped/ CC BY 2.0

From the article:

The only thing more predictable than boys being fascinated with weapons is them eventually sketching one in class. But that’s not allowed anymore. What is it that makes a little boy — practically straight out of the womb — take an interest in weapons and emulate gun-toting, swash-buckling heroes? Even doctors aren’t sure. As one pediatrician told me about my then 16-month-old son who turned every stick into a sword, “We don’t know why. They just do it.”

Doctors don’t know why because they are almost exclusively Godless servants of money, turned agents of the State for profit. But “we” do know. In a post here at TCJ, Ignorance, Feigned or Real, we show that inherent sin is provable, both in nature and from Scripture.

Now, weapons are not evil, sinful, or a sign of sin, but necessary for living in a world overtaken by the results of the fall of man into sin. Sin entered into the world through Adam’s disobedience to God, and all men inherited this sinful nature from him (Romans 5:12). Seemingly, the Holy Bible being its own authority and believing what the Bible says about inherent sin upset some lurkers. Oh well. Jesus loves me; this I know because the Bible tells me so. If the Bible is good enough for God, it’s good enough for me. Where were we?

All men are sinners. As one does not have to teach a child to strike another child and steal his toy, so too, the very need for self-defense is evident, even inherited knowledge in an infant. If the child will commit assault and theft quite without any training in the matter, why should he not, evidently in his nature from Adam, recognize the need, yay, the divine right of self-defense to preserve life and immediately, even as an infant, undertake to train himself in this requirement? We see no discontinuity in the idea.

Even a heathen doctor could have told this mother; we do this because we are men, and we must keep you from harm. It is our duty. Seems simple enough even to somebody who’s never read the word of God. Now, as we know, this duty of men comes from God and is evident in nature. Woe to them who makes the State or women rulers of households and keepers of men as chattel.

You can read the rest of the sad tale of child abuse at the hands of government communists indoctrinating children in the ways of sinful effeminacy if you desire. Get your children out of government-run schools!

Hint: The solution isn’t politics; it’s you. Source:

There are the solutions we should use, the solutions we could use, and the non-solutions that politicians have used already. Let me bring you up to speed in a hurry.

The bad news is that we built this problem of mass-murder and celebrity-murderers. The good news is that we can fix it. Society changed in significant ways over the last 5 decades. We destroyed families so many young men grew up without fathers. No one taught these young men how to control their strength and their anger. We closed our mental-health facilities and put mentally ill patients out on the street. Recently, we refused to prosecute, convict, and incarcerate violent criminals. Each of those factors certainly contribute to our problem of mass-murder today.

We can disagree about what we meant to do as we changed our public policies but there is no argument about the resulting outcome of increased mass-murder in the last several decades.

Each of those are contributing factors, but they are not the main cause of the increase. We have to address the elephant in the room.

Something else changed in our society. We’ve read the journals and the interviews of mass-murderers and they told us exactly why they kill. They are willing to die so that they can be famous. The biggest problem is the dozens of 24-7 news channels who now give each mass-murderer a 10-million dollar publicity campaign if the murderer kills enough innocent victims. Those are not my words, but theirs. You don’t have to believe me but you should believe them. We created celebrity-murderers, and we should demand that the news media stop turning these mass-murderers into instant celebrities.

The media isn’t the source of the problem. Is there insufficient evidence that “News” is simply government propagandist information of questionable validity and almost zero usefulness? If the government and its media wanted to censor mass shootings and broadcast 24/7 every self-defense firearm use, they could. But that wouldn’t help the long-term plan of keeping people in fear, so they support civilian registration and disarmament.

It isn’t obvious yet, but we are closing the chapter on the brief history of mass-murders in the United States.

We stopped them. Ordinary people like you and I stopped mass-murderers. We learned to attack the murderer if he attacks us in a bar where we are disarmed. We learned to shoot the attacker if we are armed. We found out that shooting back works really well.

Where we are allowed to go armed, ordinary armed civilians stopped attempted mass-murderers over 104 times since 2004. An armed citizen isn’t there at every attempted mass-murder. If he is there, the armed citizen doesn’t choose to intervene every time. In the last few years we were effective at stopping mass-murderers 94-percent of the time when we tried. We stopped more than half of the attempted mass-murders where we were allowed to go armed.

Other than the gradual expansion of carry rights, the people are fighting against mass murder without any establishment support whatsoever. He offers many points, good details, and plenty of data. Read the rest.

Related: Not surprisingly, there is more than one gun news story out today about Chicago residents fighting back against gangs and other criminals with their own firearms. Good for them.

This one looks like murder. She had the chance to leave and didn’t but stopped, opened the door, and shot.

We’re speculating but strongly suspect that she drew a handgun in the few moments when she first pulled away. Also, it appears that they may have known each other. Extracting yourself from a situation is preferable to what was done. The object of self-defense is to get the assailant to disengage; this was accomplished had she kept driving off.

Takes her time. Makes sure of a clean shot. Well done.

I don’t think this is the US, but it doesn’t matter; the lessons you can learn are what’s most important.

CQC on the Move,  Ken Hackathorn

Ammunition required: 50 rounds, Target: IDPA silhouette, Time Limits: Basic time limits as noted. As shooter skill increases, either shorten the time limits or increase the distance to the target.

Stage 1 — 3 yards/Close Combat Shooting is done from a close combat/weapon retention position, with the weapon already drawn. Fire 2 rounds in 2 seconds. 3X total of 6 rounds.

Stage 2 — 3 yards/Retreating from the target On signal, begin backing away from the target. Draw and engage the target with at least 3 rounds while moving backwards. You should end the movement at the 10 yard line. 2X. Total of 6 rounds. Your goal is to rapidly gain distance from the threat while you are drawing and engaging the target. The greater the distance you are from the threat, the greater your chances of survival.

Stage 3 — 5 yards/Strong Hand Only On signal, draw and engage the target with 2 rounds in 4 seconds STONG HAND ONLY. 3X. Total of 6 rounds.

Stage 4 — 7 yards/Double Taps On signal, draw and engage the target with 2 rounds in 4 seconds. 4X. Total of 8 rounds.

Stage 5 — 7 yards/Lateral Movement How to perform this drill depends on the configuration of your range facility. The goal is to draw, begin lateral movement, and engage the target with three rounds. This should be accomplished moving to your strong side, and also to your weak side. 2X. Total of 6 rounds. This exercise increases your skills at placing your shots effectively while moving to cover or if your only path of escape is moving laterally. Go slowly at first, and then pick up your speed of movement only as fast as you can get good hits.

Stage 6 — 7 or 10 yards/Multiple Targets Facing three targets. On signal, draw and engage each target with two rounds, perform a mandatory reload, and re-engage each target with two rounds. Total of 12 rounds fired. Par time is 15 seconds for auto pistols and 18 seconds for revolvers.

Stage 7 — 15 yards/Single Target for accuracy On signal, draw and engage the target with 1 round in 3 seconds. 6X. Total of 12 rounds.

[Via handgunlaw us]

The below also applies to four-legged predators. Seems like common sense; head up, pay attention, move with purpose, and try not to look like such a sissy: i.e., situational awareness.

Source:

In 1981, a study was conducted which tested [Ted] Bundy’s claim that victims display characteristic body language, specifically in their walking style (Grayson & Stein, 1981). Essentially, inmates who were convicted of violent offences and incarcerated in Ontario Canada, were asked to look at video of people walking. Individuals scoring higher on the interpersonal/affective aspects of psychopathy (Factor 1) were more accurate at judging victim vulnerability simply from viewing targets walking than a sampling of people drawn from the general public.  To put psychopathy in perspective, a 1992 FBI study found that 44 percent of offenders who killed a police officer were psychopaths. Psychopaths compose 15% to 25% of a typical prison population and are responsible for 50% of violent crime.

PSYCHOPATHS EVALUATE VICTIM POTENTIAL BY ANALYZING GAIT

This study has been repeated numerous times with varying methodologies and these studies have all come to a similar conclusion. Violent individuals evaluate victims by the way they move, specifically by the way they walk.

So, specifically what are violent predators looking for? Submissiveness. A criminal wants an easy day. They want to get paid and they don’t want to get hurt or caught. “Paid” could mean many things from your cell phone to your injury or death.

Let’s focus on the fact criminals don’t want to get caught or hurt. If a criminal got hurt every time they “worked” they would have a pretty short criminal run. They want an easy score. They use surprise, violence of action, multiples, and weapons to overwhelm their victim. Criminals don’t want a fight, so they look for victims who they evaluate to as “soft” targets.

Soft targets display vulnerable body language: head down, smaller or constricted movement of limbs, jerky or uncoordinated movement, hunched shoulders, and shorter strides are all body language which indicates submissiveness.

People who display vulnerable body language were more likely to have been victimized in the past. Lack of confidence is displayed in body language. Victims are targeted due to perceived lack of confidence. Victimization causes lack of confidence and that lack of confidence is displayed in the past victims movement. This becomes a horrible cycle causing innocents to be re-victimized due to

Task fixation, such as texting or talking on a cell phone, mimic the body language of submissiveness, thus attracting violent predator attention. Victims of prior abuse also may display submissive body language due to lack of confidence.

A simple but temporary fix to attracting predators attention would be to avoid task fixation in public areas. Specifically, areas which crimes are more likely to happen. Stay off of cell phones, don’t listen to music, and don’t read when moving through a potentially dangerous area.

Next, get training and carry pressure tested equipment. There are only two things you bring to a conflict, your tools (weapons, lights, medical gear and the method of carry) and your training. You do not pick the time, place, or nature of the conflict, you could only control your software and your hardware!

Having pressure tested hardware and appropriate training to deal with violent encounters will give you confidence. Confidence and training will show in your gate, making you less likely to be targeted by a violent criminal predator.

Source:

Mr. Weingarten locates another good self-defense against bear story.

On March 5, 2005, two people were attacked by a polar bear in the remote area of Kapp Lee, Edgeøya, in the Svalbard archipelago.

The .500 Smith & Wesson revolver had been on the market for just over two years when this occurred. The individual responsible for security had one of those big revolvers on his person.

This story was uncovered as part of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request by AmmoLand. The names of the individuals involved were redacted. The original account is a translation with some grammatical and spelling errors.

Paul saw a polar bear coming at a constant pace along the beach towards the cabins.

He yelled that there was a polar bear and went immediately to the cabin door and met Sally.

He loaded the signal pistol with a red signal flare. From earlier experience, he had found that red flares are just as efficient as bangers to scare bears since the red flares are red and visible the whole way, compared to the bangers that are not visible before they explode.

Paul fired two red signal flares toward the bear with no apparent effect.

The first flare was fired in front of the bear 73 meters away. The 2nd flare was fired at 54 meters away. The bear continued towards them. Paul loaded and prepared to fire a flare/banger as the bear closed to 25 meters away.

He saw the bear was too close. The flare would explode behind the bear. He fired it toward the ground in front of the bear. The flare bounced over the bear and exploded behind it. The bear did not react.

Sally was standing beside Paul with the rifle. Paul took the rifle and chambered a round. He fired 2 warning shots right after one another as the bear closed to about 11 meters over the bear’s head.

The bear did not react to the warning shots. It continued at a quick, constant pace toward them.

After the second warning shot, Paul gave Sally the rifle and commanded her into the cabin.

He went to the door but noted that only the light was from the open door.  There was a lot of equipment in front of the door. Sally had managed to jump over the equipment. Paul turned around and tried to close the door. The snow made it impossible to close the door completely.

The bear was very close. Paul used the handgun to shoot two warning shots, in the air, over the bear. The dog was barking at the bear at the same time.

The bear did not stop or react to the shots or the dog.

Paul felt that the bear would get into the cabin if he did not shoot it.

He had trouble closing the door, did not know how to lock it, and did not know the inside of the cabin.

He waited too long to shoot. Read the rest at AmmoLand.

Basic Training CCW Skills Drills, Ken Hackathorn

3 yards On the signal draw keeping the gun in the retention position (Gun close to body) and fire 2 rounds center mass. Repeat twice for a total of 6 rounds.

5 yards On signal draw and fire either 1 round or dedicated pairs firing strong hand only. It is advisable to make some shots eye level point shots with hard focus on the target, not the sights. Fire a total of 6 rounds.

3 yards On signal back away from the target, draw and fire 3 rounds center mass while moving. Try to get to the 7 yard line by the time you fire your last round. Repeat once for a total of 6 rounds.

7 yards On signal draw and fire a dedicated pair center mass, slowly go to ready and scan the area and reholster. Repeat twice for a total of 6 rounds.

7 yards Move from center of target a few steps. On signal draw and fire 3 rounds center of mass moving laterally across the range. Repeat going in the opposite direction. Move only as fast as you can hit the target.

6 and 10 yards Draw and fire 1 round on each of 3 targets placed at varied distances on the range. Targets are placed between 6 and 10 yards, also vary heights of targets. Repeat using dedicated pairs on each target.

7 yards Place firearm on the ground, on the signal with your strong hand tucked into your belt pick up the firearm with your support hand and fire 1 round center of mass. Repeat once for a total of two rounds.

15 yards Draw and fire 1 round in 2.5 seconds. Repeat twice for a total of 3 rounds. These should be very precise hits. (Hack considers this long range for self-defense, however should be practiced.)

With additional ammunition repeat course utilizing your favorite flashlight technique, or add movement away from targets on all 10 yard or less stages.

[This week’s drill via handgun law us]

The first rule of drone club is…

Yuneec, H520 commercial drone. Photo via RotoDronePro.com

If you need a drone, and you will, the place to start is with lots of reading and comparison. First, consider your use case(s) for which you have primary, secondary, and tertiary purposes. Consider what you must accomplish, what would be worthy of performing, and what would be added benefits. Perhaps jot down some notes with a list. Then look for the craft that suits your needs based upon your priority scale of needs.

Some drones are tiny and almost useless in any weather, including a light breeze, but they are quiet and less detectable. As with most products, there are trade-offs. Some don’t survive crashes with as much resilience as others, which seems essential when starting. Some have neat-sounding features that get a premium price markup, but when considering the practicality of the feature versus your actual needs, the cost may not be worth adding.

The best feature is automatic obstacle avoidance. Second is an Auto-Home feature that returns the unit to a specified location under certain circumstances; out of range/push button home/battery level. Flight time and range are critical considerations. Ability to move the camera while holding the drone geo-stationary may interest you. Made in America is a concern with the history of some electronics having Chinese backdoors.

Other trace-off aspects: remember, a drone is a vehicle. The vehicle should serve an objective which is to accomplish specific purposes. A lesser vehicle with a better camera may serve you better, but a greater range with an inferior camera may suit you. We’re not against hobbyists that love a specific vehicle (think car owners), but keep to the purpose of your needs.

There are some licensing considerations, although asking permission seems, well, you decide for yourself. Nonetheless, here’s a basic FAA registration guide.

Are there kinetic applications for racing drones? Do your geotagging and mapping well in advance and print on hard copy, correlate with land nav.

There’s a ton of information on youtube, especially about professional drone types of service, but you have to weed through the hobby and commercial channels. If you have a mind for it, examining the technical applications of drones for civilian utility planning, mapping, zoning, surveying, agriculture, construction, property inspection, and other industries can teach valuable information about how to use your drone for recon, including geotagging. These can be a worthwhile resource not only for recon but also for defensive position planning and battlefield shaping plan objectives.

DroneU might interest the serious-minded who can take general civil applications information and apply it to their own purposes.

Source One:

Whether you’re a videographer, vlogger, or just want to have some fun, the best drones let you fly around with ease, shoot breathtaking photos and videos, and not worry about crashing into things.

The best quadcopter drones now all cost less than $2,000, with many excellent models at $1,000 or less. But there are a lot of things to consider, including flight time, what you want to do with the drone, and more. That’s where our guide to the best drones comes in. We’ve flown all the top models, evaluating their handling, controllers, endurance, camera quality, and more. Below are our top picks for drone pilots of every feather.

[…]

How to choose the best drone for you

Drones aren’t just fun to fly. They can let you capture breathtaking footage, some in high-resolution 4K video. They’re also more affordable than ever, as quality beginner models now cost less than $60. Good camera drones start at a few hundred dollars, and they’re great for simple tasks like checking your gutters for leaves. More complex drones, starting at less than $1,000, offer customizable and programmable features, turning them into truly autonomous devices that can make their own decisions.

Drones aren’t that complicated, but there are a few key features you should consider when you are shopping. There are also some key rules you need to follow when you take to the air.

Remote Control

Most drones use a remote control with two joysticks — a bit like one of the best PC game controllers. One stick controls what’s called the attitude of the quadcopter, including roll (tilting left and right) and pitch (tilting up and down). The other stick controls throttle and the rotation of the quadcopter. A good remote control should fit well in the hand, with sticks resting comfortably under your thumbs and providing a smooth, responsive feel that allows you to guide the quadcopter by touch.

Some less expensive models skip the remote control, or offer it as an extra-cost feature, and instead use a smartphone connected via Wi-Fi and a flying app. These apps often provide a live video view from the quadcopter camera. However, apps don’t allow the precision of real controllers: It is easier for your thumbs to slip, possibly causing a crash.

Repairability

Despite what the ads tell you, drones crash all the time. A good drone will take an unplanned descent and ground interface (aka: a crash) in stride, without damaging the frame. It will also include shields to protect the rotors and electronics from harm.

Regardless, things still get broken sometimes, particularly racing drones. A good model will offer a ready supply of cheap parts like rotors and struts to replace the broken ones, and will make it easy to swap these parts out when required. The same is true of batteries.

Battery life

Most drones will last between 20 to 30 minutes on a charge, and are designed so that you can quickly swap out batteries. To ensure that you can keep filming, it’s a good idea to purchase extra batteries. Just make sure to charge them beforehand!

Camera quality

Want to show off your aerial exploits? A camera, either built-in or add-on, can capture those dramatic vistas for posterity. The best drones will have cameras that can record video at resolutions of 4K or higher, but even budget models are getting better, able to capture video at 1080p. However, they tend to use smaller image sensors, so the quality won’t be as good.

While not covered in this guide, there are professional drones which let you attach mirrorless or DSLR cameras, which provide even greater image quality that built-in cameras. However, these drones typically cost upwards of $2,000.

The best camera drones will also mount their cameras on a gimbal, so that your image stays steady as the drone is flying around. If video is your priority, look for a drone that has a three-axis gimbal; that will give you the most stable image.

Some drones also offer first-person view (FPV), sending a pilot’s-eye view from the drone itself to a phone or tablet. Some models offer video goggles for the ultimate pilot-seat flying experience.

Features

Drones are getting smarter; now, instead of just flying around based on manual inputs, you can program drones to fly pre-programmed routes, or even follow specific objects, such as people and vehicles. Depending on your needs, it’s worth examining what features a drone has before buying one.

How we test drones

When we take a new drone out for a spin, we evaluate it based on a number of factors:

• Design: How well is the drone built, and does it look good? If it comes with a controller, we take a look at its ergonomics.
• Durability/Repairability: Face it. You’re going to crash your drone at least once, but a good model should be able to survive a few mishaps without a problem. And, if something happens to break (it’s usually a rotor), how easy is it to repair?
• Flight Performance: How easy is the drone to fly? Is is stable when hovering, or does it require a lot of stick work? How does it respond to your commands?
• App: How intuitive is the app? What sort of features are available?
• Camera Quality: If the drone has a camera, then how good are the photos and videos it takes?
• Flight time: How long can the drone stay in the air before its battery runs out? This varies a lot based on the size of the drone, but the best drones have batteries that last up to 25-30 minutes.
• Price: Obviously, we don’t expect a $50 drone to perform as well as a $1,000 drone, so we take its cost into consideration when rendering a final verdict.

Can drones fly for hours?

Camera drones are purpose-built to take video and photos. They will have a gimbal-mounted camera and software that allows them to track people or objects, or fly predetermined routes. These drones will generally have the longest flight times.

Source Two: Lots of tech specs comparing vehicles.

Source Three: Youtube channels. Again, most must be understood in a commercial or hobby context while making your own application scenarios.

Source Four: Mitigating the Drone/RDF Threat, Part One, Part Two, Part Three.

From Part One:

Drone technology is here to stay and drones will increasingly become problems in many ways. They can be used to gather intelligence visually, day and at night. Thermal imaging can be used both during the day and at night. And now affordable drones have Radio Direction Finding (RDF) capabilities. Drones are increasingly used for intelligence gathering, and kinetic (offensive) measures. An ability to use doppler RDF technology, allows drones to locate a potential target. Learning how to deal with such a growing threat will be an ongoing process. As technology advances, we can adopt low-tech practices that can help us conduct a more secure communications plan. To better understand the threat and the measures proposed, we need to understand how drones are used in RDF operations. There is an excellent video on how RDF using drones works. Please first view this instructional video from S2 Underground, and then come back to this article:

Radio Direction Finding: AKA How “They” Can Find You

Roto Drone Pro is worth browsing. Other industry online magazines may help as well.

Kyle Rittenhouse

Source:

You would be wrong if you figured Kyle Rittenhouse’s legal battle ended when a court acquitted him of murder and other charges for justifiably shooting 3 men in self defense. This is yet another example of why, if possible, avoiding conflict is always the wisest action.

[…]

The Civil Suit Against Rittenhouse—

The father of an adult who attacked Rittenhouse with a skateboard wants money. No doubt he grieves for his son. Any decent father would. But the arguments in this civil suit against Rittenhouse are nonsensical and proven false in the criminal trial.

The Deceased Attacker is actually a Hero—

For example, in the suit, the father claims his son was a “hero” and was trying to disarm Rittenhouse. The claim in the criminal trial was that somehow the 3 men were ‘good samaritans’ who thought Rittenhouse was an active shooter, and they needed to stop him. A claim that prosecutors couldn’t substantiate with evidence, witness statements or ‘victim’ testimony. The complaint filed by the man’s father reads:

After Anthony was shot, Gage Grosskreutz approached Defendant Rittenhouse with his hands up, pleading with him to stop his shooting rampage. Without provocation or any legal justification, Defendant Rittenhouse shot at Grosskreutz from point-blank range, hitting him in the arm. Thankfully, Grosskreutz survived.

Yeah, this description of events is complete fantasy when compared to all the evidence presented at trial.

Rittenhouse is an alt-right Nazi—

The complaint also attempts to use the same failed approach prosecutors used in the criminal trial—frame Rittenhouse as a racist. The ‘you’re a racist’ argument works on social media. But the same question that the prosecutors couldn’t provide an answer to in the criminal trial lingers. If Rittenhouse is so blinded by racial hatred, why did he only shoot people of his same race? The answer is clear, because he only shot people who he reasonably believed were going to cause him death or serious bodily harm, period.

The court rules and procedures for civil suits are much more lenient. There was supposed to be a law against double indemnity, but that was in a bygone era in a free country that no longer exists.

CCW Liability Insurance Carriers Compared

Insurance is primarily a wealth preservation tool. Insurance, in all cases, is a minor cost to cover what would be a major cost if an infrequent, yet very expensive, particular event were to happen. If you have something to lose, the cost of insurance may be a wise choice. This applies to all types of insurance. CCW insurance is no different.