Why you need to start training with a 3 x 5 index card

I’m a competitive person and hate losing. Just ask my wife who kicked my butt every time we played scrabble when we were dating. (I refuse to play anymore.) However, when it comes to being a more accurate shooter it’s important we “lose” often.

What I mean is, I’ll often be at the shooting range and I’ll see some shooter with the target 4 feet away, hitting the “bulls eye” every time. This shooter is happy and his buddies will be congratulating him, however, this shooter is not challenging himself and not testing his limits.

And obviously, if he never tests himself then he’ll never improve his draw, and never become a more accurate shooter overall. So, if you’d like to challenge yourself, I recommend two simple items – a timer and a 3 x 5 index card.

Since each shooter has different levels of experience…

Just be honest with yourself and set the timer where it should be. In other words, if you’re brand new and still working on your draw, don’t set the timer at 1.5 seconds if you can’t get anywhere close to that. Set the timer where you have just barely enough time to get the shot off and then reduce the time from there.

As far as the index card, put one on the head area of the target. With your timer set, draw and fire one round only at the index card. Again, going back to levels of experience, if you’re new, you may might to start this drill from a distance of 5 yards, then move to 7, then to 10, etc.

You’re going to miss…

From experience, I can tell you that if you’re really pushing yourself you’re going to miss and probably miss often. But eventually, as you work on the fundamentals, improve your draw and your trigger control, you’ll start getting a lot more hits on the 3 x 5 card. And when you start getting all your hits at 5 yards, then move the 3 x 5 card back to 7 yards, and then back to 10 and so on.

Another drill I like to do with the 3 x 5 cards it to put one card on the head of the target and another card on the body of the target. When the timer beeps I fire one round at the head and one round at the body.

Also, I’m a big believer that until you’re able to consistently hit the 3 x 5 card, you should only draw and fire one round at the card. If you draw the gun and empty your magazine and only the last 3 rounds hit the card, that doesn’t really matter. Because in a gunfight that would mean you’ve had 12 rounds go somewhere else, but more importantly, you’re probably dead.

So the next time you head to the range, bring a timer, index cards, and fire one shot and one shot only at a time. And remember, it’s okay to miss. You need to challenge yourself and miss in order to get better, so don’t compare yourself to the fellow next to you who’s hitting the “bulls eye” every time from 2 feet away.

Where to carry your backup gun

A number of people I know like to carry two guns instead of carrying spare ammo, because they believe the fastest reload is their backup gun. Personally, I sometimes carry two guns and sometimes I just carry extra ammo, so like a lot of things gun-related there’s no right or wrong answer.

However, if you’re going to carry two guns, I’d recommend these considerations: First, make sure you train with both guns. Everyone likes to train with their favorite firearm but few people train with their backup snubbies or “mouse” guns.  I spend about 10-15 minutes a day dry firing and I trade off between my primary and backup gun.

Second, if I were you, I would carry my primary gun on my hip at the 4 o’clock position, and I would carry my backup gun in my front pocket. This is what I personally do, with my Glock 19 on my hip and my Ruger LCP in my front, right pocket.

I know a lot of people like to carry their backup guns on their ankle…

But I’ve never been a big fan of ankle carry. One of the main reasons is that drawing from the ankle is just too slow. I’m a firm believer that you need to be able to draw your gun and get it on target in two seconds or less. I can do this drawing from both my hip and pocket, but it’s a lot more difficult to draw in less than two seconds from the ankle. 

Also, try and make your backup gun similar to your primary gun. In other words, if you carry a 1911, you might want the Colt Mustang as your backup. However, if you carry a Glock and have your 1911 as a backup you may forget to take off the thumb safety. If Glock made a good pocket gun like the LCP then I would carry that. However, the LCP doesn’t have any external safeties and, like the Glock, all I have to do is pull the trigger to get it to fire, so they’re pretty darn similar.

One last thing I want to comment about…

Because I recently got an email concerning this, I want to mention an unusual circumstance where a backup gun may save your life. Over the years, I’ve had a number of students tell me stories about how they were at an outdoor range in the mountains or somewhere remote and how a suspicious looking character came around and gave them a very bad feeling. Usually, they would pack up and leave, and I’ve never heard of a student getting attacked or robbed while out shooting.

However, it is common sense that criminals will go to outdoor ranges that are secluded because they know that’s where the guns are. And maybe one day while you’re the range, some criminal will wait for just the right moment to attack you when you’ve emptied your gun and you stop to reload… But if you’ve got a backup gun then you still have a way to protect yourself. (Just don’t empty it too, if you know someone is watching you.)

I realize this sounds far fetched, but when I’m shooting in the mountains and people come around, I always have my backup gun in my pocket, ready to go, because you just never know.

The bottom line is, whether you carry two guns or not is obviously up to you, but make sure and practice with both and make sure you can access both quickly.

Will YOU get arrested during a home burglary?

Unless you live in the state of Texas, I encourage you to pay attention to what happened to a homeowner in Utah. The homeowner arrived at his house to find a suspicious vehicle in his driveway and his front door wide open.

He retrieved a gun from his car and attempted to hold the two people in his driveway at gunpoint. However, when they tried to drive away he shot at the vehicle in an attempt to disable it. What’s more, a burglar came out of the house and ran when he saw the homeowner, and the homeowner chased after the guy and ended up firing a shot.

When all was said and done, the burglar who came out of the house and the homeowner were both arrested and booked into jail. So what did this homeowner do wrong?

Ohhh where do I begin?

First off, this homeowner was either asleep during his concealed carry course or he didn’t pay attention whatsoever. Remember, you can only use deadly force when you are in fear for your life or seriously bodily injury. When the homeowner approached the car and the occupants tried to drive away, they were obviously no longer a threat.

Plus, trying to disable the car by shooting out a tire or shooting the engine block just proves he wasn’t in fear for his life. If he was, he would’ve shot the occupants and not the car.

And when the other burglar came out of the house and started running, it is never a good idea to chase after him, let alone shoot at him. Again, the burglar was running away so he is no longer a threat. Plus, if you chase him and do catch him you don’t know what knives, tools, or guns he has on him.

The fact is, this homeowner is very lucky…

That he didn’t hit the occupants in the car and that he didn’t hit the burglar he was chasing after. If he did, who knows how long he’d end up in jail. What this homeowner should have done is pulled over to the side of the street when he saw a suspicious vehicle in his driveway. He should have called 911 and given them the license plate and waited for police to arrive.

I realize that’s not the macho thing to do and most people will want to approach the car and confront the burglars. All I can say is this: If you do and they flee, just let them go. And if they don’t flee and you’re forced to shoot them, then you may end up wishing for the rest of your life you had just waited in your car and been a good witness.

In other words, resist the macho side we all have, and exercise self-discipline. Your life is far too important to have it ruined because some low-life burglar broke into your house to steal a TV and you felt the need to confront him or chase after him.

Close your eyes to improve your draw

As I’ve mentioned in the past, I spend about 10-15 minutes every day dry firing. Some days I solely work on trigger control and other days I only work on my draw without even pulling the trigger.

Today, I’d like to share with you a way to improve your draw so that when your gun comes out of the holster it has a lot better chance of coming up on the target. First off, get in your shooting stance. I prefer the modified-isosceles stance where my feet are about shoulder width apart and my right leg (gun leg) is dropped back about six inches.

Next…

With a safe and empty weapon, practice your draw and bring your gun up on target. (It can be a mark on a wall, or I use a target that is taped to the bulletproof panel on my wall.)

Practice your draw several times until your gun seems to come right up on target every time. What I mean by this is that when the draw is complete your sights are aligned and you can pull the trigger and hit what you’re aiming at without any adjustment.

Once you’re comfortable with your draw, close your eyes.

Then practice your draw again and if all goes well you should have perfect sight alignment on the target when you open your eyes. However, the chances are you’ll be a little off. The reason for this is because when your eyes are open you likely force the gun on target at the last second. In other words, if you’re doing the correct draw with your eyes closed, you know your body is naturally aligning the sites.  

And if it isn’t, this is when you need to adjust your feet, adjust your grip, and move your body if necessary. After you’ve made a few adjustments then draw with your eyes closed again and see if you’re on target this time. Obviously, it may take a few adjustments before you achieve proper sight alignment, but this is time well spent.

The fact is, once you repeat this new draw over and over it will be ingrained in your mind and almost become automatic. And this is clearly a good thing because if the day ever comes where you have to draw your gun to defend your life, you’re newly perfected draw will come right out on the target you’re looking at.

I realize practicing your draw is not as fun as shooting and isn’t the most exciting thing in the world, but if the stuff ever hits the fan, you’ll be more than thankful to have a quick draw that leads to correct sight alignment. Just remember to triple check that you’re being safe when it comes time to close your eyes.

Is the Government Still Racist?

Over the years, the United States government has done some despicable things to people. We have the murder and relocation of the Native Americans. We have slavery, the Japanese internment camps, and the persecution of numerous religious groups.

And with yesterday being Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, and with the current gun control legislation, I was thinking about the roots of gun control laws, which most Americans aren’t aware of.

The fact is, gun control laws were born out of racism. White people were afraid that blacks would “overthrow them” so the government (controlled by white people) passed a series of laws to keep guns out of the hands of blacks.

For instance, after Nat Turner’s rebellion in 1831, the Tennessee Constitution was changed to read, “That the free white men of this State have a right to keep and to bear arms for their common defence.”

And the judiciary of North Carolina stated…

“That if any free negro, mulatto, or free person of color, shall wear or carry about his or her person, or keep in his or her house, any shot gun, musket, rifle, pistol, sword, dagger or bowie-knife, unless he or she shall have obtained a licence therefor from the Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions of his or her county, within one year preceding the wearing, keeping or carrying therefor, he or she shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and may be indicted therefor.”

Now, I don’t have to tell you that most blacks weren’t granted a license back then (whites didn’t have to apply for any type of license.) The thing is, it’s scary to realize that not much has changed over the years in certain states. For example, it’s extremely difficult to get a concealed carry permit from a “may issue” state, such as California. In California, the local police chief grants the concealed carry permits.

And guess what?

In California, the majority of concealed carry permits are granted to white people. Now, I’m not saying that all police chiefs in California are racist. However, because it’s a “may issue” state, the police chief gets to look over and approve the application. You ever think a chief gets an application and he denies it because he doesn’t like the way a person looks or that maybe they have tattoos and that rubs them the wrong way?

In “shall issue” states, such as Virginia, the state must grant the permit if you pass the qualifications and background check. This means there is nothing influencing a police chief or sheriff’s decision to issue someone a permit.

The bottom line is, gun control is just plain evil. Whether it’s whites in the government trying to keep guns out of the hands of minorities or it’s Hitler trying to disarm a nation, to which he said, “The most foolish mistake we could possibly make would be to allow the subject races to possess arms.”

Caching the snubby revolver

I recently finished reading the book, Amarillo Slim in a World Full of Fat People. It’s not a gun book, but a very entertaining read about the life of a gambler. In the book, he mentions that throughout his gambling days he always carried a .38 Special snub-nosed revolver in his pocket. I imagine there are still plenty of gamblers you can find in seedy bars who have this gun in their pocket today.

But then again, so do a lot of Americans, myself included. The particular snubby I have is a Smith & Wesson model 642 Centennial Airweight. The fact is, the .38 Special snubby revolver has been around since the late 1800’s and is still one of the most popular firearms in the world.

This particular gun happens to be on my mind…

Because it’s one of many I have stored throughout my house (in a quick opening safe.) And just the other day when I was near the safe containing this gun, I heard a knock at my back door. Now, nobody ever comes to my backdoor, let alone my front door, because most people don’t know where I live.

So when I heard the knock, I quickly opened the gun safe and slid the snubby revolver into my pants pocket. I then stared out one of the windows and didn’t see a criminal or anything requiring my gun, but simply my neighbor. She was having trouble getting into her house and needed my help.

Besides the ability to easily carry it around in a pants pocket, another reason I love the snubby revolver is because it’s an easy gun to cache. It can fit in the smallest of containers and can quickly be buried in a place you find appropriate.

Plus, the snubby revolver is a (relatively) cheap gun that you can get for around $300-$350 so I don’t mind caching one and having it get a little beat up or weathered. (Even though I recommend mylar bags for caching guns and ammo.)

What’s more…

There are plenty of used snubbies that you can get for even better prices if you look around. Also, speaking of caches and snubbies, here’s a little food for thought: With all that’s going on with guns and politics just imagine if the government came and tried to take your guns right now. (I know many people believe it’s very far fetched, but just humor me.)

If the government knocked on your door this afternoon, are all of your guns in your house… are all of your eggs in one basket? Again, just food for thought, but maybe you should consider getting a snubby revolver and caching it in a safe place.

With that being said, if I were going to add to my snubby revolver collection today (donations are always welcome), I would stick with Smith & Wesson and Ruger as in my eyes they make the best. And as far as ammunition, the ammo that I’m using right now is Winchester’s PDX1 (130 grain, jacketed hollow point.)

What if the newspaper exposed your address?

Last week I was interviewed by the Huffington Post about marriage and guns. The interview was about how spouses handle it when one spouse is into guns and the other is against guns.

I’m not going to go into the interview here because awhile back I wrote an article about “How to Convince Your Spouse to Like Guns” and I’m sure you can find that article if you do a quick Google search for it.

But the reason I mention the Huffington Post is because yesterday at the very top of their website was the headline, “Targeted Anger: Staff at paper that pinpointed gun owners threatened, intimidated.” 

If you’ve been following the news lately…

Then you know that a New York newspaper, called The Journal News, released the names and addresses of over 30,000 people who were gun owners and who had their concealed carry permits. Among the names released were judges, police officers, and people in hiding from an abusive ex-spouse.

Obviously, I strongly disagree with what the newspaper did and the irony is that they’ve received so many threats they’ve had to hire armed guards for the building. The lesson to be learned from all of this is something I’ve been preaching about and doing myself for years.

Put simply, do not have the address on your driver’s license or any other mailing addresses be your home address. I know in the state of Virginia you can have a P.O. Box on your driver’s license (I used to have that) and in the state of Utah it just has to be a physical address. In other words, you can’t have a P.O. Box, but you can have a UPS Store or Mailboxes Etc. store.  

What I personally have now…

Is a UPS store on my driver’s license and then I have a series of P.O. Boxes and UPS stores for where I receive my mail. (Some are on the east coast and some are on the west coast since I do training in both locations.)

As I gun owner I think it is so important to never have your residential address revealed. This is because not only do the anti-gun people now know the address of these New York gun owners but now so do the criminals.

In fact, one of my contacts is a former Hells Angels gang member and his particular gang specialized in gun running. He told me that one of the ways they got guns was to break into people’s houses that they knew had guns.

I do realize you may have had your residential address on your license and other documents for years now, but slowly move things over to a UPS store or P.O. Box. Simply make a few calls a day to your magazine subscriptions or mortgage holder and give them the new address to start sending your mail.

This is a simple act to do and may keep you out of the public eye if your personal information should ever be released.