Why you always say no to the police

Right now, I only have one child and she’s just 8 months old. But I look forward to the day when I can buy her her first .22 rifle. Since every child matures differently, I’m not sure when that day will be, but because she’s a girl, I think it’s safe to say she’ll be getting a gun a lot sooner than any son I may have.

I mention this because of what happened to a New Jersey man last week. This man bought his son a .22 rifle for his 11^th birthday. He then took a picture of his son smiling with the rifle, which he posted on Facebook.

One day while he was running errands he got a call from his wife saying that four police offers were at the door along with Child Services. Apparently, someone had called the Child Abuse hotline and reported this guy because of the picture.  The police asked to enter the house because they wanted to see all of the guns and to make sure they were registered and locked up.

Luckily, this guy was smart and told his wife not to let the police in.

You don’t need to register your guns in New Jersey (it’s voluntary) so they were just making excuses trying to get into the house. His wife also asked the police if they had a warrant and they said no, so she refused to let them in the house and they simply left.

The thing is, if this guy had made the mistake of letting the police in the house, no doubt they would have confiscated as many guns as they could. Even if what they did was illegal, it likely would have taken this guy months of paperwork to get the guns back.

No matter what, never, ever, ever, let the police into your house when they ask.

When I was a police officer, I was amazed at the people who would allow me to search their car and I’d end up finding drugs and marijuana. If I had to guess, 90% of people I asked said ‘yes’ and only 10% of people ever turned me down.

Now, the reason for this is obviously because people don’t know their rights and are intimidated. That’s the entire point of the police uniform and the police car with flashing lights – to intimidate you. And I’d say the police did a good job of that when they went to the New Jersey man’s house with four officers.

But the fact is, if the police have legal authority to search your house or car, etc., they are not going to ask you, they are simply going to come in. So the fact that they ask you should be a big clue that you need to say no.

Even in the police academy, the lawyers who taught the legal classes told us to always say no to the police and my wife says in law school they reiterate the same thing over and over too.

So, should you ever have the police show up at your door or ask to search your car, remember to always say no. If you don’t, it could cost you your gun collection and get you tied up in a bureaucratic mess.

What Constitutional Carry Really Means…

Last week, the state of Utah passed a constitutional carry bill, which says a person can carry a concealed handgun without needing a permit. Once this bill got passed I heard from a few instructors who were afraid they were going to go out of business because nobody would take their classes anymore.

Obviously, they hadn’t bothered to read the bill. The bill passed by the state of Utah says that a person can carry a concealed handgun as long as the gun is unloaded. In other words, Utah passed a virtually worthless bill.

As I’ve said many times before during my training courses…

It is pointless to carry concealed if you don’t have a round in the chamber. I’m pretty sure the next time you’re at an ATM machine, some guy isn’t going to tap you on the shoulder and say “Hey, I just wanted to let you know that in about 10 seconds, when you’re walking to your car, I’m going to pull out a knife and try and stab and rob you, so you might want to load your gun now.”

In reality, attacks happen fast and you won’t have time to chamber a round. In fact, according to the FBI, the average gunfight lasts 4 seconds. Also, according to the FBI, 95% of gunfights happen within 7 yards. That means your gun better come out fast because your attacker will be close to you. 

Another reason I’m not a huge fan of constitutional carry is…

It doesn’t do you any good when you travel. If you want to travel to Idaho or Arizona or Florida you need to have your Utah concealed carry permit because obviously those states want to make sure you are certified by your own state since they are granting reciprocity.

I guess the bottom line is if you want to walk around with an unloaded gun and you never plan to leave your state, then constitutional carry is for you. As for me, I’m happy with my multiple concealed carry permits that allow me to travel to every state that I actually want to visit.

I will admit that it would be nice if in my lifetime we get to a point when we have a national permit that is recognized in all 50 states. But the only way that’s going to happen is if California breaks off into the ocean and states like Maryland, Hawaii, and New York vanish somehow too. (If it happens, I will miss my in-laws.)

But for now, get multiple permits and please understand the laws when it comes to the permits. What I mean is, I’m sure there are going to be a number of Utahans walking around with loaded guns and no permit because they heard constitutional carry got passed and they didn’t read the law that says the gun must be unloaded.

So even if you don’t live in Utah, it’s wise to take a few minutes and Google your state’s government website (for instance, Virginia concealed carry) and make sure you understand the laws.

How I Spend my Sunday Afternoons

I realize that how I spend my Sunday afternoons may not sound like the most exciting topic, but trust me, you’ll likely find some valuable information in what I’m about to share with you. The fact is, I work 6 days a week because I love what I do. The only reason I take Sunday off is for religious reasons, otherwise I’d love to work on Sunday too.

So on Sunday, my wife, daughter, and I attend church in the morning, then after that we may go for a drive and go exploring (depending on where we’re staying at the time) or take a walk to a nearby park. But no matter what, we always do some type of family planning on Sunday, which I encourage everyone to do.

This past Sunday the family planning focused on our “survival” supplies for a disaster, whatever that disaster may be. We already have a year’s supply of food, we have plenty of water, and obviously, plenty of guns and ammo. 

However, we focused on smaller miscellaneous items that often get overlooked, and we made a list of things we need to buy over the next week or so. For instance, we decided that we needed another fire extinguisher in the house because we felt it wasn’t smart to have just one under the kitchen sink.

We decided we needed more “regular” types of flashlights.

I have plenty of tactical flashlights but the batteries on those go quickly, so we’re going to pick up some cheaper, everyday lights. We decided we needed more dust masks. We already have these in our 72-hour kits, but dust masks are so inexpensive we figure we’ll pick up a few more.

Other items that we’re going to buy are:

A sleeping bag for my daughter, and a sharpening stone for my knives (the one I have now is from my Boy Scout days). We’re going to add some more cash to our emergency fund and we’re going to buy more contractor-grade trash bags, plus some new tarps.

I’m also going to pick up more gun cleaner and oil, and I did add another gun to the list. (Yes, I know I said earlier I already have plenty of guns, but of course that’s all relative, can you really ever own enough guns?)

Now you probably don’t need all the items I’ve listed or don’t want them, but maybe they’ll jog your memory of some miscellaneous items that you do need. If that’s the case, I hope you’ll sit down with your family one evening this week (or next Sunday) and make a list to help keep your family more prepared and safe in the event of an emergency.

How to survive the ammo shortage

For the past two weeks the most frequent question I’ve been asked is “why can’t I find any ammo in my town and what should I do about it?” Well, there’s plenty of conspiracy theories out there, among them is that the government is buying up all the ammunition so the people can’t have it.

Other folks are saying that the ammunition manufacturers are purposely depressing the market to increase prices and make themselves more money (like the diamond industry.) But in my opinion, the ammo shortage is based on just one thing: fear.

When you have over 100 million gun owners run out and start stocking up on ammo because they’re afraid of the government, then ammo will quickly be in short supply. In fact, in the small town I’m in right now, not a single store has any rifle ammunition and you can’t find any popular handgun ammo such as 9mm or .380.

So what should you do about this?

Well, as I say anytime there’s a shortage, you should always stock up on items during the “calm” times so you have them when you need them. But if you need ammo right now and can’t find it anywhere you live, the best thing you can do now is to order it online.

A lot of sites are sold out but there are still plenty of them that have ammo. Bulkammo.com is one of those sites and they seem to have a good supply. The problem is that they don’t have the lowest prices and all of the “cheap stuff” you would use for training is sold out.

But if you’re in dire need of ammo then obviously don’t be foolish and definitely pay a few extra bucks to order some ammo online today. Also, another site you may want to check out is www.ammoseek.com. It’s a search engine for ammo and will give you a list of all of the places that have the caliber you’re looking for.

Another place to find ammo is your local gun show.

In many towns there’s a gun show going on every month and the vendors have plenty of ammo to sell. Again, the problem is that they’ve jacked up the prices so if you really need ammo you may only want to buy a few boxes instead of 500 or 1,000 rounds.

The good news is (I hope) that when none of the anti-gun bills get passed then things will calm back down and people won’t be in “hysteria” mode anymore and ammo will once again be easy to find.

And when that time comes, if you don’t already have a large supply of ammo, please stock up then. We only get so many chances to prepare for the truly dangerous times before it’s too late.

Amerihide Gun Belt Review

One of the most important pieces of concealed carry gear is a proper gun belt. The gun belt also happens to be the most overlooked piece of gear because it’s not as fun as buying ammo, a holster, or the gun itself. The thing is, if you don’t have a good gun belt, none of the other stuff may really matter.

The fact is, when I’m teaching one of my defensive pistol courses I can determine within the first few minutes the people who need to go out and buy a gun belt. How? Well, I see their holster shifting all over the place, I see them constantly moving it around after they’ve drawn and fired a few rounds, and it’s constantly giving them problems in one way or another.

A proper gun belt doesn’t cause your holster to shift or cant when you draw the gun. In other words, it should allow for a smooth draw and when you go back to re-holster it should be right where you left it so you can holster without having to look down at your side. (Again, if you go to holster the gun and it takes you a bit of effort then you need a gun belt.)

Another critical reason you need a gun belt is for the life or death situation that you and I pray we never find ourselves in. Just imagine that you’re out and about one evening when a man tries to attack you with a knife. You go to draw your gun but it isn’t in the place you thought it was because it had moved around because of a cheap belt. That split second it takes you to locate the gun could be a split second you don’t have.

So now that I’ve hopefully pointed out the reasons to get a good gun belt, which one do I like?

Well, I recently got a gun belt from Disse Outdoor Gear, called the Amerihide “Any-Day”. When I picked up the belt for the first time, I noticed that it was extremely solid and stiff. The leather belt is one-fourth inches thick and it looks like it will (hopefully) last me forever.

One of the best parts of this one-fourth inch thick belt is that it won’t stretch out. If you’ve ever purchased a cheap leather belt at Walmart then you know that it quickly stretches out and those cheap belts would be terrible for concealed carry.

Of course, the true test of any gear is how it performs. I put the Amerihide belt to the test using a variety of holsters and guns, including my heavy, full-size 1911. The belt kept the holster tight to my body and it didn’t shift or cause me any problems at all, which is what I expected from such a thick and stiff belt. It also kept my 1911 from dragging my pants down, which is a real problem if you have a heavy gun and poor belt.

Another benefit of this belt is that it doesn’t look tactical or Rambo-ish or anything like that. I can wear the belt to church with my suit and tie and also with my regular clothes of jeans and a T-Shirt.

Are there any negatives about the Amerihide gun belt?

None really. The belt comes in several versions. One version is the “Any-Day” with the roller buckle and costs about $60. This is the one I got, but as I just mentioned, it comes with a roller buckle. When putting on my pants the roller jingles and slightly annoys me, but once the belt is on it doesn’t make a sound. (But with this belt you can remove the buckle and put on another one.)

The other Amerihide “Any-Day” has a square belt buckle and costs $70. If I ever have to get another belt, this is the version I would get. But getting such a solid gun belt for either $60 or $70 is a great deal and worth every penny.

Also, the belts are all custom made so there is a wait time of 2 or more weeks to get one, which isn’t that bad and not a big deal to me.

The bottom line is, if you don’t own a gun belt yet, do yourself a favor and get one as soon as you can. You’ll be amazed at how much better it feels to have a solid belt when you carry concealed, plus, this should be the only gun belt you’ll ever need.