Month: July 2019

Please note that we are NOT the original writers of this blog post. All credit goes to the original writers. Find the original post as published at this link: https://www.offthegridnews.com/self-defense/practice-off-hand-shooting/

The post Why You Have to Practice Off-Hand Shooting For Survival appeared on Off The Grid News.

It’s easy to say that the fundamentals of marksmanship remain the same regardless of the hand you use, but it is difficult to put into practice. Trigger squeeze, however, often poses a problem since your dominant hand trigger finger may have learned to gently but firmly squeeze the trigger over the course of thousands of trigger pulls, whereas your non-dominant or off-hand has no such experience.
If you have never practiced off-hand shooting, consider picking up that handgun with the flip side. Or putting the butt of that rifle on the opposite shoulder. In doing so, you will pick up a new skill and add a measure of versatility to your shooting.

You are holding the gun on another facet of your body than you normally would. A pistol held at the off hand is still in the middle of the body more or less. While a rifle is fully on the opposite side of your body than it normally would be. It is like viewing your back yard from a neighbor’s house — the details are the same, but the view differs. Off-hand rifle shooting is a particularly useful skill for shooting around barricades that confront the”wrong” angle and thus prevent you from using your dominant hand.

Off-Hand Shooting Fundamentals

Off-Hand Shooting

Sometimes referred to as weak-hand shooting (as opposed to strong-hand shooting), off-hand shooting is simply shooting with your non-dominant hand; if you are right-handed, this means shooting with the left hand, and vice versa. To some people, switching hands results in the feeling of the gun being completely new and foreign to them; the feel is different. The angle above the sights might even be different depending on how you normally hold the rifle in your dominant hand. Everything about off-hand shooting differs when you attempt it for the first time. Everything of course, except the fundamentals of marksmanship, which remain the same regardless of the hand or the weapon you use.

off-hand shooting

The typical range environment will box shooters to a situation that focuses more on safety than it does on developing the skills you need to survive a gun battle. The safety angle isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Most shooting ranges are designed to accommodate both the professional shooter along with the first time shooter who has never handled a weapon in his or her life. To be able to accomplish this assignment, ranges operate under a series of security rules that prevent things like prone, crouching, or kneeling shooting positions as well as any sort of movement or deviation from the firing line. Drawing in the holster is generally not permitted, unless the shooter happens to be law enforcement. The net result is that range shooters will typically have a remarkably narrow and concentrated shooting ability that is much less tactical than their military or law enforcement counterparts.

1. Since you have two hands. They should know how to do the very same things as every other, especially with respect to firearms.
2. Because in a firefight there isn’t any guarantee that you will be permitted to use your dominant hand. With which hand you will reach for that gun circumstances will dictate.
3. Your dominant hand may become injured or unusable prior to or during a firefight.
4. You may be forced to shoot from behind a barricade or obstacle that favors your weak hand. By way of instance, if you’re right-handed and lean up against a corner, and need to take towards the right side, around the corner. To expose to the target the least, you will have to take with your left hand.

Off-hand shooting is a skill that should be mastered. Try it in the range simply by switching hands — it’s that simple! For handguns, most people will do just as good — or sometimes better — than they do with their dominant hand. They more careful than they would be with their dominant hand, and are just as accurate. The downside is speed; few people unpracticed in off-hand shooting can crack off as many rounds as accurately as they could while shooting their dominant hand but thankfully that changes with practice.

As you may not have access to a shooting area which permits some of the above described alternate shooting positions, there is a segment of your shooting that you are probably not as well practiced at. The one that you can practice in any indoor range — off-hand shooting.

Rifles

Please note that we are NOT the original writers of this blog post. All credit goes to the original writers. Find the original post as published at this link: https://selfdefensemusic.com/post/186190159158

Some, but than any outsider would presume. Both types are locked into norms that seem to push each other off.

Please note that we are NOT the original writers of this blog post. All credit goes to the original writers. Find the original post as published at this link: http://martial-arts-self-defense.blogspot.com/2015/10/ben-carson-challenges-sheep-i-would-not.html

Republican Presidential Candidate Ben Carson makes a daring but true statement concerning the Oregon massacre.  “I would not just stand there and let him shoot me,” Carson said on Fox and Friends Tuesday morning. “I’d say,’Hey guys, everybody…
http://bit.ly/1WNuRw9

Please note that we are NOT the original writers of this blog post. All credit goes to the original writers. Find the original post as published at this link: https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/blog/defending-others-against-edged-weapon-attacks/

A crazed offender was stabbing his female companion to death inside of his car as he drove down the street. After the vehicle ran off the road, good Samaritans came to the aid of the occupants. However, the license holder merely fired warning shots to stop the attack. Since the stabber was not impressed and continued to assault, other unarmed men had to subdue him with their bare hands. The victim died.

1. While a handgun can be stripped from a possible assailant by a person with the right training under the right circumstances, the same can not be said of an edged weapon. Unless you are incredibly skilled and lucky, you’re going to get cut — perhaps severely — when you try to strip an attacker of an edged weapon. An edged weapon attack may come from all directions: from down the head or the legs or groin up. It can come from the sides in an almost unlimited number of angles. And double the angles if an attacker uses a double-edged weapon. You don’t have to be stabbed in the center to suffer a collapse from blood loss. Death can easily come from slashing attacks.
2. An edged weapon never runs out of ammo.

Want to watch real-life training scenarios of defending against a knife attack? Subscribe to our Live Training Broadcast, Tuesday, July 16, at 7 p.m. Central!

If you choose to intervene in (and succeed in quitting ) a knife assault like the one in Maricopa County, keep a few things in mind:

Intervening in an Attack

Ask most cops whether they would rather face a close-range assailant with an edged weapon or a close-range assailant with a handgun and they will tell you they dread the knife more. Those fears aren’t unfounded:

Edged-Weapon Attacks Are No Joke

1. You will have hardly any time to save the life of the other individual. A 1- to 2-inch arterial slice will immediately turn fatal. It doesn’t take a major edged weapon to do that. Don’t waste time with warning shots or warnings.
2. You need to move in close to deliver accurate fire which won’t endanger the person you’re attempting to save. To obtain that safe angle of passion, you will have to position quickly.
3. Your necessary close proximity to the assault will put you in danger of being cut. Know about that potential and plan to move, reposition and respond. Don’t attempt to pull the attacker. That’s a sure method of getting cut.
4. The bullets you deliver may have no visible effect on the assailant. Plan to shoot multiple shots. Headshots may be required to end things.

After working undercover in narcotics and liquor investigations, Scott W. Wagner settled down to be a criminal justice professor and police academy commander.

The post Defending Others Against Edged-Weapon Attacks appeared on USCCA.
Among the all-time best law enforcement training movies, Surviving Edged Weapons from Calibre Press, functions as a great example of what I’m talking about. Although this video was made in the late 1980s, it is timeless and comprises gut-wrenching, firsthand accounts by officers who were attacked with edged weapons. Your defensive training should include how to get ready for attacks of this type.
To put it clearly, a proximal edged-weapon assault is just as dangerous and potentially deadly as a proximal firearms assault. Today, edged weapons are often downplayed concerning deadliness — unless the assailant is wielding an axe or a machete. Often, law enforcement is wrongly pressured to use Tasers instead of firearms to try and subdue people. A Taser isn’t equal to a knife and should only be deployed in the ideal circumstances (with different officers supplying deadly force backup — a luxury that civilians don’t have). That leaves a handgun as your main and most effective weapon with which to defend others, or yourself, against edged-weapon attacks.

Please note that we are NOT the original writers of this blog post. All credit goes to the original writers. Find the original post as published at this link: https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/blog/anger-at-the-intersection-should-i-shoot/

You can use your car to”clear some room,” but remember: This may be considered using deadly force and, if you must ram another vehicle to make your escape, you might damage your vehicle to the point it is no longer drivable. That not only restricts your escape options but also could provoke even greater anger on your attacker. If you must push another vehicle with yours, then slowly make contact, then hit gas. This will reduce the initial effect (which could set off your airbag system).
If, while reading this, you’re thinking of getting from the vehicle to either talk to this guy or participate in a hands on fight, please think again. There is no telling what he is capable of doing, and facing a man wielding a hammer is not how you want to end a long day. Your car gives you a degree of protection. The attacker will need to smash the windows and unlock the doors to get at you, and the confined space of the vehicle takes away some of his advantage. But do not get me wrong: Staying put in your car doesn’t ensure your safety. You’re still in grave danger. But you would increase that threat in the event that you got out of your car.

Once you have the gun into play, can you get the sights on target? Based on where the attacker is standing, you might have real trouble even getting the gun pointed correctly. There is a reason most police officers never move forward of the”B” article during a traffic stop. (For those not familiar, the”A” post is at the edge of the windshield. The”B” post is in the rear edge of the forwardmost door. The”C” post is at the edge of the rear window and, in the case of station wagons, the”D” post is in the rear of the cargo area.)
The article Anger at the Intersection: Should I Shoot? Appeared first on USCCA.
Being attacked by a madman as you sit in your vehicle is a chilling proposal and one you must handle correctly if you want to survive. And once the battle is over, you’ve got the legal wake to manage.

For those who have ever seen a road-rage episode, this is something you should consider long before it ever happens.

You have also got to consider what it is like to take a gun within an enclosed vehicle without hearing protection. You will very likely be shooting through glass. Unless you’re wearing sunglasses, you’ll be doing this without eye protection. The sound and pressure of shooting from inside a vehicle is intense. I’ve only ever done it with hearing protection, and it was still enough to be disconcerting the first couple of times. Add to that the exploding glass that includes shooting through a tempered side window, and you have added a level of distraction and danger above and beyond that of the incident unfolding around you. This actually is a desperate and dangerous situation on several levels.

The 1 thing we’ve not addressed to this point is that the call to 911. It should be a given that you reach for your phone and dial the emergency number as soon as you can. At the minimum, dial 911 and set the phone down on the floor of the car and shout to the dispatcher as much information as you can while quickly considering your options. Shout out just what is happening and where you are. Shout at the attacker and let him stop. All of that will get recorded by the emergency dispatch system and should help in your legal defense. Make the call to 911 when you can.
Within seconds of the impact, you’re startled by the sound of something hitting the roof of your vehicle. There, standing by your door, is the driver of the Nissan. He is bashing the top of your car with some type of object as he yells obscenities about how you apparently cut him off on the highway earlier. He is demanding that you get out of the car, yelling about your driving abilities, your mom and how he can not believe you got a license.
Let us first look at your escape options. Can you drive away? In case you have paid attention to your environment, you should have left an”escape option” in front of you. In bumper-to-bumper traffic, you must always try to leave at least a half of a car length of open space in front of you when you come to a stop sign or traffic sign. This space will, in some cases, allow you to drive away from trouble if you want to. If, in heavy traffic, you pull up behind the car stopped in front of you, you have no room to maneuver if you need to escape. With a half a car length of open space in front of you, you can turn the wheels and get your car moving, even if you have to go down in the ditch or up on the sidewalk to break free from danger.

Should You Draw Your Gun?

As he bashes the surface of your car yet another time, you clearly hear that the guy holler,”I will kill you!” Those words are followed by another crashing blow on the roof, but this time you look up to see that the claws of a framing hammer have penetrated the roof of your vehicle and that the guy is struggling to free the hammer for another swing. He shouts,”I’ll drag your dumb ass outta this car and teach you how you can drive!”

One driver, seeing your plight, begins to make room for you to merge, but the guy behind him moves in to close the gap. You try to move up, but traffic won’t allow it. Merging becomes a game of cat-and-mouse. You finally see a tiny gap and deftly swoop into the right lane just in time to make your exit. As you roll down the off-ramp, you hear the blaring of a car horn behind you and can see in your mirror the driver of a black Nissan waving his arms as he repeatedly blasts his horn and yells finger gestures your way. He is ignored by you.

In certain states, the Castle Doctrine applies and lets you respond with deadly force if you’re inside your vehicle and someone tries to gain entry. But using deadly force should always be the last option.

Shooting From a Vehicle

If your attacker stays at or behind the”B” article, you will have a very difficult time bringing your gun to bear. A right-handed shooter will have to draw, turn and fire over his right shoulder. And, of course, the article provides some cover. Staying at the”B” article makes target acquisition very tough to get someone seated in the driver’s seat.
Where do you take your gun? Can you access it from the seated position? Have you ever trained with this eventuality? Can you safely draw the gun and bring it to bear on your attacker without sweeping the muzzle across your body?
This is a very serious and rapidly evolving situation. Clearly, the weapon that the attacker has chosen could kill you or cause you great bodily harm. He’s already driven it through the roof of your vehicle. This activity alone can be utilized to show his intent, but the words he has uttered clearly show that he intends to kill you. Right now, no one can argue that you are in grave danger.
Do you have a duty to retreat, or can you use deadly force to stop this assault? Even if you have a duty to retreat, do you have the capacity? From a tactical standpoint, can you access your gun, get on target and fire? What will happen if you do?

Your Self-Defense Options:

1. Get out of the car and fight
2. Drive off
3. Pull your gun and shoot through the window
4. Call 911 right away

Things to Consider Before You Act in Self-Defense

Ahead of you, a motorist attempts to rush through the intersection, but circumstances conspire against him and the rest of the drivers this afternoon. Tires squeal, and the noises of fenders being crushed and glass breaking fill the air as two vehicles collide several car lengths ahead of you. You know you will be stuck at this off-ramp for a while.

How Road Rage Starts

Don’t Ditch Your Automobile!

It’s been a long day at work, and traffic on your commute home is not making your day any easier. You flip on your turn signal and glance over your shoulder, only to see there’s no real gap in the seemingly endless string of cars and trucks.

If you are able to drive away, you should drive away. This situation is dangerous and volatile.

A Deadly Threat Emerges…

Executive Editor of Concealed Carry Magazine Kevin Michalowski is a USCCA and NRA Certified Trainer. He’s attended training as both teacher and student in multiple disciplines, including pistol, rifle, shotgun, empty-hand defense and rapid reaction to the active shooter. Kevin is also a accredited law enforcement officer in Wisconsin.
If you shoot this man, you’ll be required to verify that you reasonably believed that he introduced an imminent deadly threat, that he had the means and intent to carry out his threat and that you had no other option but to use deadly force. If the Castle Doctrine in your state carries over to busy vehicles, that may provide some help on your defense, but — even if it does — you will likely still have to show you had no other alternatives.
What would you do?
If you decide to draw your gun and engage your attacker with defensive gunfire, you’ll be bringing an entirely new set of”what if? /what now?” Questions into the table, the first of which is access and engagement.

But this presents another strategic problem for you. If you pull your gun and issue a verbal challenge, you may give the attacker the chance to shed his hammer and reach for a gun of his own. His doing so obviously escalates the situation to one that requires defensive gunfire on your part, but that puts you in even more danger. The last place you want to be if somebody is shooting at you is trapped in a car. If your attacker starts shooting, you will need to get out the far side of the vehicle as quickly as you can.

Fight to Survive, But Don’t Forget About the Legal Aftermath

A Verbal Challenge?

Please note that we are NOT the original writers of this blog post. All credit goes to the original writers. Find the original post as published at this link: http://martial-arts-self-defense.blogspot.com/2015/10/ben-carson-challenges-sheep-i-would-not.html

Republican Presidential Candidate Ben Carson makes a bold but accurate statement concerning the Oregon massacre.  “I would not just stand there and let him shoot me,” Carson said on Fox and Friends Tuesday morning. “I’d say,’Hey guys, everyone…
http://bit.ly/1WNuRw9

Please note that we are NOT the original writers of this blog post. All credit goes to the original writers. Find the original post as published at this link: https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/blog/self-defense-in-the-great-outdoors/

Large animals such as bears, wolves, mountain lions and even aggressive moose can injure or kill unprepared backcountry travelers.
So far as a favorite weapon for DLP, especially against attacks from big critters, .40-caliber service sidearms, .44 Magnum revolvers and shotguns seem to be the weapons of choice among those who carry firearms from the public and private sectors. Bear spray is a serious option as an alternative or complement to a firearm, and many believe it is equivalent to or better than a firearm for deterring animals or humans.

*If you enjoyed this excerpt, check out some of the USCCA’s other great learning experiences.
In 2010, Public Law 111-24 made it legal to own firearms in national parks and refuges. You may carry a firearm, concealed or otherwise, so long as applicable federal, state and local firearms laws in the country where the park is located allow your ownership of that weapon. That law doesn’t, however, change prohibitions on the use of firearms in national parks or affect any hunting regulations. And even if it’s legal to carry a firearm within a park’s boundaries, it’s still not legal to release it.
Since many national parks overlap multiple countries, its important to understand the local firearms ordinances for all jurisdictions you’ll experience while hiking the back trails.
“More than 30 national parks are situated in more than 1 state, so visitors will need to know where they’re in those parks and which state’s law applies,” said Kathryn Warnes, grant management specialist with the National Park Service. National Park sites have been updated to include links to each state’s firearms laws. A firearm-carrying visitor’s responsibility becomes even harder when that individual crosses an international border.

According to a posting on the National Parks Traveler website, Part I offenses (murder, rape, robberies, etc.) increased by approximately 700 cases in 2012, up from 2,900 events the year before. Those numbers represent incidents from a foundation of over 280 million annual visitations to parks across the nation. Whether a firearm was involved was not included in the findings, but figures matter little if you and your family are confronted by a deadly threat.
These regulations were adopted with specific scrutiny toward every state’s laws (like non-restricting laws) regarding the carrying of concealed weapons. Certain areas within national recreation areas (visitor facilities, offices, etc.) still apply site-specific bans on firearms.

Back in 1990, Molly LaRue and Geoff Hood were killed at a remote shelter along the Appalachian Trail. Both of these murders sparked a massive manhunt and got lots of media coverage. But between 1974 and 2011, there were nine other strikes along the road that left 11 people dead. There is still plenty of argument among serious hikers about whether all of those people murdered were through-hikers or day hikers and whether or not the many more people murdered along the side trails really count as hikers killed on the Appalachian Trail. Regardless of whether the body count is 11 or 31, the simple fact remains that violent attackers do not care if you are on holiday or not. If you appear to be a victim, you will be preyed upon.

Defense Against Wild Animals

There are no definitive answers as to whether or not you should possess a firearm when adventuring within a national park or other similar place or that caliber to use if you do. Clearly, owners of firearms should be proficient and comfortable with their weapons if they will use them as effective and safe tools in defense of life and property. Public Law 111-24 now extends that right and responsibility throughout most of our national parks and other recreation lands also.

An Incident of Crime in the BWCAW

Don’t think you can read this story and just say,”Well, I do not hike in the wilderness.
Think about what a criminal actually looks for when choosing a victim. Like all predators, a criminal needs some sort of advantage. That usually means he’ll pick a goal he believes he can overpower, and he will often do so by working together with other criminals, ensuring greater numbers and getting the element of surprise or striking in a place where help will be slow to arrive.

(Sub)urban Trails Could Be Perilous Too

Enjoying a distant adventure, alone or among family and friends, combines the pristine grandeur of a wilderness setting with a challenge to your outside know-how and self-reliance abilities. A vital part of that is knowing how to prepare should you ever encounter a situation in defense of life or property (DLP). Even venturing into managed areas like national parks, designated wilderness areas, refuges and other outdoor recreation sites — especially those with expansive sections of remote backcountry — requires the sensible outdoor adventurer to keep a heightened level of DLP awareness and willingness.
Consider an incident that happened on a border lake in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW) several decades before the passing of the law. Randomly shooting into the air and environment using a variety of weapons, a half dozen drunk guys, operating boats powered by outboards (illegal on a section of this particular lake), raided several remote campsites and spent hours terrorizing canoe campers on Basswood Lake. It was a rare episode that has not been repeated (at least within the remote BWCAW) in the years since. Nonetheless, those campers were defenseless against this attack. Under the revised legislation, members of those campsites could lawfully possess weapons to use in self-defense. Whether such counter-actions would have evolved into a much more dangerous situation fuels an ongoing argument.

Lest you believe that only people hiking in the remote wilderness must fear an assault, know that the amount of people robbed, raped or murdered while walking or jogging on urban or suburban trails is too large to tally here. I wouldn’t know where to begin except to say that criminal predators know that many people out on jogging trails are unarmed. Don’t be like most people. There are plenty of good options for carrying a gun while jogging or hiking. You don’t have to leave your gun in your home just because you want to exercise.

Public Law 111-24

Backcountry Backup: Defending Your Life and Real Estate

Many of the laws involving adjoining countries struggle. In the case in which a part of a few states lie within a park boundary, it is up to each person to confirm the status of laws in each of these particular states.
I’ve said it before and will say it again here: Movies aren’t reality, and we should not get our training from Hollywood.

As distasteful as it might be, you cannot forget about your own personal defense when you are on holiday or participated in outdoor recreation. A criminal doesn’t care about you or your feeling of safety. In actuality, it is just the opposite. No matter where you go or what you do, it is your responsibility to defend yourself. Be ready. Always.
Though extremely rare and highly unlikely, the most common life-threatening, animal-related situations within our national parks and other similar recreational areas involve large, carnivorous animals such as brown bears, black bears, wolves and mountain lions. A confrontation with a moose can result in a deadly kick or being crushed by a massive set of antlers. Then there is always the human threat too.

The elements listed above are not exclusive to dark alleys in large cities. For those who have ever seen the film Deliverance, you know what can happen if you’re not prepared to defend yourself when help is nowhere nearby.

The article Self-Defense in the Great Outdoors appeared first on USCCA.

Defense against attacks by wild animals has always been a legitimate concern among those who frequent the backcountry of America in areas where there is a heightened chance that one might encounter a huge carnivorous animal. However, incidents leading to death are very rare. According to an article in the Journal of Wildlife Management, through a 25-year interval in Alaska, 52 brown bears and 38 black bears (5% and 3%, respectively, of the overall bears killed during this period) were dispatched in defense of life or property. However, during the period from 1985 to 1996, bear attacks did result in 36 injuries to individuals and six deaths.

Recreational vehicles are almost constant targets for criminals. Assuming the occupants of RVs are elderly couples or young families traveling with children, you can see why a big motor home would make a fantastic target. Are you ready to defend yourself and your family inside an RV? Do you know the laws surrounding personal defense as you traveling from state to state? Planning a road trip means more than simply checking gas prices and searching for road construction.

Many times, the threatening hand dealt to you does not permit you the choice of playing the avoidance card. Instead, you may be pressured, sometimes traumatically, into the”flight-or-fight” mode. In the backcountry, where access is limited to flying, floating or footing it in, an effective escape is not often a viable alternative either. Carrying a firearm may be your only lifesaving alternative and ultimate DLP plan of action.
Opponents, however, feared its passing would cause a heightened possibility of gun-related accidents in otherwise pristine and safe environments. The legislation is still too new to have been subject to sufficient statistical scrutiny to confirm or dispute the concerns regarding occurrences of firearms-related violent behavior in national parks.
While the question of whether it’s legal to carry a concealed weapon in a national park was answered by Public Law 111-24, the need to carry a firearm for DLP in those parks and other backcountry recreation areas has been one of personal preference and ongoing debate and discussion.