The Zombies Have Arrived

 

It’s a good thing ammunition companies started making Zombie ammo with green tips, a few months ago… And it’s a good thing there’s the Zombie Apocalypse store in Las Vegas… because they’ve finally arrived.

By now, you’ve probably heard how a fellow named Larry Vega was going for a relaxing bike ride in Miami when he came upon a man literally gnawing on the face of a homeless person. According to Vega, “It was one of the most gruesome things I’ve ever seen in my life in person.”

Luckily, Vega was smart enough to call the police and he didn’t get too close to the zombie-man. When an officer arrived, he reportedly ordered zombie-man to back off the victim, but all the “creature” did was raise it’s head and growl. Finally, the officer shot zombie-man to prevent him from continuing to eat the victim’s face.

So what can we learn from this freakish story?

Well, first off, the next time you think you’re having a bad day, at least a zombie isn’t gnawing off your face. Secondly, if you needed any evidence that the world is becoming a stranger and more bizarre place, you now have it.

Just imagine what would have happened if zombie-man had gotten up and rushed the man on the bike? Would he have been able to ride off in time, or would he have ended up on the ground with zombie-man’s teeth sunk deep into him?

The fact is, many of us think we’re going to have to use our guns when somebody is trying to kick down our front door at 3am… Or that we’re going to be walking to our car from an ATM machine… Or that we’re going to be sitting at a stoplight when some criminal approaches our car and tries to take it…

But you and I have no idea what our threat is going to look like or whom it is going to be.

This is why it’s so important to have good situational awareness and to have a firearm on you when you legally can. I realize the chances of having a “zombie man” attack you are 1 in a gazillion, but it happened to the homeless person and could have happened to the guy on the bike. So if it’s happened once it can happen again.

Let’s just hope that my hollow-point rounds work on these zombies and that I shouldn’t have been cheap about not wanting to pay the high price of Hornady’s “Zombie Max” ammo.

Then again, after just watching the zombie video on Hornady’s site, I might be stocking up on this ammo after all. Either way, just remember to keep your eyes open and stay alert because we have no idea what the threat’s going to look like.

My Four Guns for the End of America

A lot of folks think the downfall of this country is going to be Obama getting re- elected… Others believe it will be when the dollar is replaced by the Chinese Yuan as the world’s reserve currency… And still others think it’s going to be war with either Iran or North Korea or maybe both.

Personally, I think it’s our debt that’s going to be the downfall and although I don’t think the country is going “off a cliff” as many believe, I do think there could be a few weeks of riots and severe instability and it will be important to have food, water, and of course your guns.

However, I know there are a lot of guns out there to choose from and I know gun companies are cranking out new gun models as fast as they can… so out of the thousands of guns out there, I have boiled it down to the 4 most important guns I think you should have.

1. The first gun isn’t going to be a big surprise to many people. It’s a Glock. (Either model 17 or 19.) I realize there are a lot of Glock haters out there, but when push comes to shove and the “stuff” has really hit the fan, I’m willing to bet most Glock haters would love a Glock over the gun they have. The fact is, that 1911 requires way too much maintenance and way too much oil and isn’t as reliable as a Glock. (And yes, I realize they’re not perfect and do break, but other guns break first.)
2. The second gun I would choose is a Remington 870 shotgun. Remington has produced over 10 million of these guns and they’re the “Glock” of shotguns. Reliable, dependable and they almost never fail. For home defense and “end of the world” riots and craziness you can’t beat a shotgun loaded with 00 buck. Just make sure if you’re using your shotgun for home defense that you have a light on it. I prefer the SureFire set up, which is on my Remington 870 that I keep in my house.
3. The third gun I would want is a .22 rifle, a Ruger 10/22 to be exact. I realize this gun isn’t the most powerful rifle out there, but it serves a lot of purposes. For instance, if you didn’t properly store food like you should have you might be in your backyard shooting squirrels for dinner. (If you live in the city, it might be those giant rats that I’m sure taste delicious.) The .22 is also a very easy rifle to shoot and can be used by a family member who is less familiar with firearms in case they are needed to help defend a home or other location.
4. The final gun I would choose is my AR-15. When 11 people are trying to break into your house and kill you after things have gone haywire you don’t want to reach for your handgun or shotgun… You want 30 rounds of firepower to remind the criminals they’ve chosen the wrong house. (My AR-15 of choice is Rock River Arms.)

Again, in all seriousness, I don’t think the end of the world or end of America is going to come. But I do feel a lot safer and do believe it’s a good idea to own all 4 guns above. I’m sure your opinion differs on these guns, so at least have more than one way to protect yourself.

How to Make Your Spouse Like Guns

 

I often have people tell me that their spouse won’t allow them to buy a gun or have a gun in the house. And it’s not always wives causing the problems either. I recently had two women talk to me to see how they could convince their husbands to allow them to have a gun.

When I’m asked this question I’m often reminded of one fellow’s response that I read on a gun website. His answer was, “You royally screwed up the mate selection process.”  If you happen to fall into this category, not all hope is lost because I’m going to tell you the best way I’ve found to help anti-gun spouses see the light.

First off, I don’t think it’s a good idea to sign them up for any training courses. I know that sounds strange coming from a person who makes his living teaching gun training, but it can be very dangerous to do so. If you’ve been around gun training for any time at all, you obviously know there are all types of trainers out there – the good, the bad and the ugly.

For instance, I remember when my wife Amanda first started getting into guns, I convinced her to go to a class with me. The fellow who ran the class was former military and forgot he was teaching civilians and not other military personnel.

In other words, he yelled, barked and thought it was a good idea to act like a drill Sergeant. He completely didn’t understand who he was teaching and I saw Amanda and others in the class getting intimidated by him. When we left I knew she was going to tell me she hated the class (which she did) and that she would never take training from that guy again.

Luckily for me, Amanda wasn’t anti-gun and knew that all trainers weren’t like him. 

So, instead of taking your spouse to a training course where the instructor could scare them and make them forever hate guns, what I want you to do instead, is to take them to the shooting range. I want the two of you to plan a shooting range date. Go to a place where you can rent guns and just take turns between the two of you trying out different handguns.

I’ve found that taking someone to the range is one of the most effective ways to show people that shooting guns can be fun and they’re actually not that bad after all. And once you take your spouse to the range there’s a good chance they’ll want to do it again and want to learn more.

That’s when you sign them up for a concealed carry class or an intro to handguns class, but choose your instructor wisely and make sure they’re a “people person.” But let’s say you do everything above and your spouse still hates guns.

Well, in all seriousness, I would tell them that you’re getting a gun and that it will be stored safely in a gun vault and that they don’t ever have to use it. I realize that marriage is give and take and you have to choose your battles.  But in my opinion, protecting my family is something that is non-negotiable. After all, how could anyone really think to themselves: “Yes, dear. Let’s not have a gun. Let’s have you get raped, while I’m forced to watch, because we had no way to protect ourselves.”

Not in my household.

The 2nd biggest mistake gun owners make?

The biggest mistake gun owners make is violating one of the four safety rules. Those are obviously non-negotiable and breaking the rules costs many people their lives and limbs. But, I believe the second biggest mistake gun owners make is not carrying their firearm often enough.

Yesterday, I got a call from my brother who lives in Utah. As soon as I picked up the phone he said to me, “Did you hear what happened at Smith’s,” (a grocery store in Utah.) Apparently, a man walked into Smith’s and purchased a kitchen knife. On his way out of the grocery store he started stabbing random people.

In the parking lot was a man who was passing through on his way home to Idaho. As he watched the madman stab two people he quickly drew his concealed carry gun and pointed it at the attacker who was now coming towards him. As soon as the attacker saw a gun was pointed at him, he stopped, and the Idaho man held him at gunpoint until police arrived.

Not surprisingly, Salt Lake City newspapers and TV stations are calling the man a hero. 

He no doubt saved many lives by having a gun, including his own. As soon as my brother finished telling me this story he said to me, “I think I need to start carrying my gun more often.” I told him he was right.

In fact, this past weekend – being the super romantic man that I am – I took my wife on a surprise trip to Berkeley Springs, WV. It’s a tiny town that is famous for its hot springs and because George Washington used to visit there often.  The town is full of antique shops and craft stores and pretty much a million other little shops that no sane man would ever enter, unless he was with his wife.

Well, the guns I brought along to West Virginia were my 1911 and Ruger LCP. 

I don’t mind carrying a 1911 on a regular day when I’m running errands and not on my feet much. But when you’re on your feet all day and looking at quilts for 10 hours (yes, they had a quilt show and my unborn daughter now has a $65 baby quilt… and no, unfortunately that isn’t a typo) the 1911 starts to feel quite heavy.

Because of all of this walking around, I decided to pocket carry my LCP for a while instead of my 1911.  But I still had a gun on me all weekend no matter what craft stores we were in. The point I’m trying to make is that we are blessed to live in a day and age when we have more firearms choices than ever before and there is little excuse not to have your gun on you.

Again, just think what would have happened if the man from Idaho didn’t have his gun on him in the grocery store parking lot. Just think of how many more people in this country would be dead if responsible gun owners weren’t carrying concealed.

(Now you have a good reason to tell your spouse you need a new lighter, smaller, gun.)

Why People Get Arrested at Airports with Firearms

 

When I’m teaching my concealed carry classes I always cover how to properly fly with a firearm so you don’t end up behind bars with a 400lb roommate named Bubba. However, after I explain this there are often one or two people who tell me the story of the poor gun owner who got arrested at a New Jersey or New York airport, even though he was following all the rules.

Well, I’m going to tell you why he was arrested, but remember I’m no lawyer and furthermore I don’t like lawyers, even though my sweet and lovely wife graduates from law school in less than two weeks. But let’s get back to why gun owners get arrested in these pain-in-the-butt states.

Federal law allows us to fly all over this great nation as long as our guns are properly secured in our checked luggage. This means the guns are unloaded, in a hard side case and have a lock on them.

And this is exactly what I do as I fly all over the country for training.

However, I have never flown to New York or Jersey and I don’t plan to. But there are a lot of gun owners who do have to fly to or have a layover in these crazy states and some get arrested and some don’t, so what gives?

Well, as I just mentioned, Federal law allows us to fly all over. So, if John Doe was flying from Florida to Maine and had a connection in New Jersey, he would be fine and have no problem at all if he simply went from one plane to the next and the airlines transferred his luggage as they always do.

But, let’s say John Doe flies into Jersey and he misses his connecting flight. Let’s say there are no other flights out that night so he decides to get a hotel room. And since John Doe is a responsible gun owner he goes and retrieves his bag from the ticket agent because he doesn’t want his bag containing a gun left in the airport until the next day.

Well, the next day arrives…

And John Doe walks up to the ticket counter in the New Jersey airport and declares his firearm and ammunition, as he should. And as soon as he does this the ticket agent picks up the phone, calls airport police and John Doe is arrested for having possession of a weapon.

Now, John Doe will get all charges dismissed and nothing criminally will happen to him. But, he will have several hours of his day wasted and the hassles of getting his gun back. So why was he arrested? Because he took possession of the gun. In other words, if John Doe had never taken possession of his luggage and just left it where it was with the airline until the next day all would have been well.

But when he went and retrieved the gun he violated the crazy laws of places like New York and New Jersey. Again, remember that I am no lawyer, but this is the way it has been explained to me.

So if you happen to fly through cities or states that are not gun friendly and you have a longer layover or something happens I wouldn’t take possession of your gun if I were you. I would simply let the airline transfer the bags as they are supposed to, that way you shouldn’t have to worry about running afoul of any laws.

What Gun Accessories Do You Need?

Open up any gun magazine and you’ll see companies selling almost every imaginable accessory for guns. In fact, I know plenty of guys that spend more on accessories than on the actual gun itself. But is this necessary?

Well, first off, there are few accessories that I would consider necessary. The rest of them are for “the fun of it.” In other words, there is a big difference between accessorizing a gun for self-defensive purposes, versus competition shooting, versus accessorizing them for no good reason except for the fact that they make a new whiz-bang part for your gun.

Thankfully, I have escaped the “accessorize” disease. I’m a pretty simple guy when it comes to my guns and don’t like to add a bunch of junk to them. My Glock 19 pistol is completely stock. I haven’t changed a thing on it.

In fact, the only accessory I think you need for your self-defense handgun is a light.

And not a light that attaches to the gun, a light that sits next to your gun in case you have to deal with an intruder at 3am. And no matter what, please don’t do a trigger job on your self-defense gun. You don’t ever want to find yourself facing a prosecutor trying to explain why your gun has a 2-pound trigger.

And although my concealed carry gun is simple, I do have a lot more items on my home defense shotgun. First, it has a light on the end of it. I have a SureFire flashlight that is built into the forend. It also has a sling, a side-saddle to hold extra shells, a pistol grip and an extended magazine tube.

All of those accessories are good on a shotgun, but if I could only have one, it would absolutely be a flashlight. So before you add all of the other stuff to your home defense shotgun, make sure the flashlight comes first.

Rifles are probably where the majority of people get out of control with all of the add-ons.

I saw an Internet posting once where one fellow said “You can go broke adding one $10 accessory at a time to your .22 rifle.” He’s right. On my Ruger 10/22 I have a sling and I installed better sights, but that’s it.

As far as an AR-15, I recommend a sling, light and iron sights at the very least. Yes, you can spend a small fortune on optics, but for defensive purposes with the AR-15, the iron sights are all you need.

In fact, the most important thing with the AR-15 or any gun for that matter is that

you know how to properly operate it without all of the add-ons. If you don’t know the fundamentals, the accessories are pointless.

And if you need one more reason not to go crazy with accessories, consider this: When you read the instructions that say “easily installs” you may spend hours putting it on and you’ll never want to accessorize again.

Pistol courses and Profanity

Today, I’d like to tell you about pistol courses… profanity… and what they have to do with keeping you out of jail.

You see, this past Saturday I held a CCA Defensive Pistol course. It was a beautiful spring day and there’s just something special about shooting on an outdoor pistol range surrounded by the (small) mountains of West Virginia. We had a great class and it’s always amazing to see how much improvement folks make in such a short period of time.

I could tell you all about what we did at the course and how they became such better shooters, but instead, strangely enough, I want to tell you about one thing that I didn’t do during class and that I didn’t hear any of, and that is foul language.
Stay with me on this one because this is an important lesson…

At my pistol courses you will never hear any profanity coming out of my mouth. I don’t believe in foul language and try to never say it. Personally, I don’t think it’s professional. However, some of my friends who are top instructors let the F-word fly like crazy, so obviously to each his own.

However, in addition to religious or professional beliefs about the use of profanity, I think there is an important reason not to use foul language that most people over look. Instead of trying to explain it, let me give you an example.

Let’s say you cuss all the time and it’s become a habit and the F-word is no big deal to you. You’re walking away from the ATM one day and a man comes at you with what you believe is a knife. You quickly draw your gun and you shout “You Mother F*****” as you fire a few rounds. He falls backwards and you again shout, “Don’t you F***** move.”

Well, the cops arrive and it turns out the “knife” was really a shiny key and the guy was asking you to jump his car. And there happens to be a few witnesses around that you didn’t see. These witnesses tell the cops that you were an angry man and called the guy a “Mother F*****” and were cussing frighteningly at him. How do you think that’s going to look when you have 4 witnesses testifying against you?

I realize this is far-fetched…

But my point is, if you’re confronted with a deadly force situation you don’t want witnesses who’ll say something like “I heard him scream “I’ll blow your f****** head off.’” You don’t want to sound like the aggressor and have it look bad for you by using language that people expect criminals to use.

You also don’t want to let this language slip when the cops are talking to you either. You don’t want a cop on the stand reading his notes saying, “When I interviewed Mr. Johnson he said ‘yes, I shot the mother f***** because he was going to kill me.’”

And if you’re really having trouble breaking your language habit you can do what my mother used to do to me growing up when I used bad language. Let’s just say a bar of soap doesn’t taste very good.