Posted on 11/30/2001 7:24:17 AM PST by Gritty
So, you've bought yourself a gun...
What are you going to do next?
I hope you'll invest the time needed to learn about your firearm, and how to handle it safely. I hope you'll get training with it, so that the tool for self-protection you have will be exactly that, rather than becoming the least touched item in your nightstand drawer.
Think about it this way: would you buy a new car without knowing how to use it, or planning to learn how? Would you buy a computer, or any complex tool, and toss it and the owner's manual in a corner until you absolutely need to use it, and had to use it well?
If you do that with a gun, you can make it more likely that you'll get hurt. Or killed.
Guns are tools—tools for self defense. It takes time and practice to learn to use your gun properly. If you invest the time well, getting quality training, it will repay you well. Even if you never need to draw your gun, the knowledge that you can stop a deadly threat is a comfort to many people.
Starting out with your gun
If you haven't bought a gun yet, before you do, please read my previous article in this series about buying a firearm. It's important that the gun match your needs and body well. If you have a gun, the first thing to do is learn gun safety. Most gun accidents stem from not always, always following gun handling rules. Briefly, they are:
- Always treat a gun as if it's loaded, even when you know it isn't.
- Don't point a gun at anything you don't want to shoot.
- Make sure of your target and what's beyond it.
- Keep your finger off the trigger until you're ready to shoot.
- Whenever you're handed a gun, check to see if it's loaded. If you don't know how to do that, give it back or to someone who does know how to check it.
- Always use eye and ear protection when practicing.
- Never use a drug that might affect your judgment while you're shooting (including prescription drugs).
The first thing to do is read the manual, so you thoroughly understand the workings of your gun. This will help you clear a malfunction safely, too. Read through the manual with your gun out, so that you can look at the diagrams and your gun. Practice working the controls (they'll vary, depending upon what type of gun you have and its action) until you can work them smoothly. Most experts instruct individuals to use the dominant hand to work them as much as possible, so that time isn't wasted switching the gun between hands.
If you're new to guns, it's a very good idea to get basic firearms instruction from a qualified instructor. A local range may have such individuals; a sure bet is the NRA. Whatever you may think of their politics, the National Rifle Association does a fine job with its various educational programs; visit the NRA web site to find the closest NRA range. Good training is important, because you don't want to ingrain bad habits into your motor memory. When stressed, people fall back on that motor memory, and lose most fine motor control; it's crucial to have solid gun-handling skills in place from the beginning. If there isn't an NRA range nearby, check with gun-owning friends to find a good instructor. If you already have a gun, decide which one is going to be most important for your personal defense system. That needs to be the gun you practice most with.
Gun storage and safety
If other people live with you, it's crucial that you devise and follow some plan for keeping your firearm safe, yet accessible to you. If you have an adult roommate, encourage him or her to buy a gun, then go through training individually and as a pair. At a minimum, this person must be taught safe gun handling, or the gun must always be inaccessible to him or her. Most firearm accidents happen due to carelessness by owners, and unsafe handling by those who don't know about guns. If an adult in your household can't or won't learn safe handling, she or he must not have access to your firearm. Trigger locks don't offer much protection; a cable lock that prevents the gun from being loaded (and the key always stays on your person) is a better solution. Greater security is offered by lockboxes, and more by gunsafes. As you move up this ladder, the gun becomes less accessible. You need to decide what balance of safety and accessibility is appropriate for your situation. Read about various safety tools, look at them at gun shops, and talk to gun owners.
If you have children, safety becomes more complex. Young children are constantly exploring things. Many experts therefore encourage parents to teach their young children never to touch a gun, and to leave a place where they find a gun and tell a parent or other adult about the gun.
I think this is a bad idea. Forbidden items become much more tempting to curious minds. The gun becomes an alluring object, one they'll go to great lengths to find. You can't childproof your gun. Instead, gun-proof your children, starting as early as they understand speech (around 1 year old). Handle your firearm safely and matter-of-factly in their presence. If they show interest, talk about the gun, show them the gun—while under your very strict supervision—and tell them what it's for and how dangerous it can be. If they ask to see it, indulge them as much as possible. As they're able to understand, show them the safety mechanisms and teach them safe gun handling. For them, this means never touching your firearms without permission and supervision, until they've shown they can be responsible with them (a B-B gun is a good first test of their abilities).
Give your children a demonstration of the power of firearms, including that B-B gun, as soon as you can (when they can follow basic safety rules). Fill some gallon milk jugs with water, get a cantaloupe or watermelon, and thick wood blocks. Starting with the smallest caliber gun you have, show them how destructive a shot from it can be. Work your way up to your most powerful gun, letting them walk downrange with you between tests so that they can see the shredded backs of the milk jugs, and the holes in the wood (or splintered blocks, depending upon your guns). Save the melon demonstration for last; tell them to imagine it's a head. The splattering melon should be an impressive lesson in the destructive power of a gun. The idea isn't to scare your children, but to drive home the points that: 1) guns are not toys; and 2) guns can hurt people very badly.
Last, teach your children how to safely check to see if a gun is loaded, and how to make an unsafe gun safe. Talk with your children as they get older about what to do if they're at a friend's house and a gun is discovered. If you've done all this, they'll understand the potential danger of such a situation, and either will be able to defuse it, or will likely leave. With this background, you can be reasonably sure that your children will be safe with firearms anywhere.
As with anyone else present in the home who isn't willing or able to practice gun safety, all firearms and ammunition must be kept safe from a child. Exactly how to accomplish this changes as the child matures, both physically and intellectually. The tradeoffs are the same, too; only you can decide what will work best in your situation.
Ammunition
Ammunition comes in different types as well as calibers. Depending on the personal defense situation, some may be better than others. If you live in a house with neighbors close by, or an apartment building, you don't want to jeopardize innocent bystanders when you shoot at a bad guy. Frangible ammunition is a good choice in these situations. It's designed to break up in the first thing it hits, which reduces "over-penetration" (going through an object) or ricochets. Quality frangible rounds are made by Glaser and and CorBon. Sometimes, though, you may want more penetration. For example, heavy winter clothes can absorb a lot of the impact of frangible ammunition. For such situations, a hollowpoint round is a good cartridge to use. In a hollowpoint round, the bullet has a hole in its front, which causes the bullet to expand in its target. This can cause more tissue damage, too. Some individuals load a combination of frangible and hollowpoint ammunition, with the hollowpoints being the last rounds to be fired.
In any given caliber, you can also find various "loads" to choose from. The bullet can be shaped differently, or the amount of powder can vary. Thus, the same caliber round can fire with greater or less power. Some guns (particularly semi-automatics) can be picky about the kinds of ammunition they'll take. Read your manual, and always make sure your firearm can handle the type of ammunition you want to use.
Getting good defense training
If you expect your firearm to help you overcome a lethal threat, you must be trained in defensive techniques. Other forms of practice are fine, but they don't hone all the skills you'll need to deal with a drug-crazed bad guy who's decided to make you his target. As soon as you can after your basic gun training, take a self-defense course. I recently attended a National Shooting Sports Foundation media seminar, where media invitees received one-on-one training with various shooting sports champions. I asked for their recommendations of the best defensive training facilities. The responses were: Blackwater, in North Carolina; Firearms Academy of Seattle; Gunsite, in Arizona; Lethal Force Institute, based in New Hampshire but conducts courses across the country; and Thunder Ranch, in Texas. Each offers a variety of courses designed to improve your defensive shooting skills under safe, realistic conditions. Once you learn the fundamentals of defensive shooting, practice regularly to keep your skills sharp. Most gun ranges, for safety reasons, don't allow practicing many of the defensive techniques you'll learn; devise some way to safely do these drills on your own. A good choice for regular, basic practice is to join a shooting club or range. Check your local phone book for any close to you. You may want to join the International Defensive Pistol Association, or the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Each offers shooting events throughout the year, at locations around the country. The Single Action Shooting Society focuses on cowboy style guns, that shoot single action only. Their emphasis is on shooting as quickly and accurately as possible, a valuable skill.Beyond your firearm
Personal defense is more than carrying a gun. It involves becoming more aware of those around you, potentially dangerous situations that could develop, and using various tools to stop different threats. You cannot use your gun for every threat, just as you can't use one screwdriver on every screw in your home. Firearms are the last resort, when you're in fear for your life or that of loved ones. There must be a reasonable threat of lethal force present for you to justify using your gun. A jerk three houses away shouting insults and threats isn't an imminent threat, and you would almost certainly be found guilty of a crime if you shot him. Getting to know the local legal consequences of shooting someone, even in self defense, is an important part of your defensive plan.
Consider how prepared you are to defend yourself beyond your gun. Are your living quarters secure, or are there easy places where bad guys can hide, and enter your home? How secure are your windows? Do you wear lots of jewelry, thereby making yourself a potential target? Do you look like a easy victim? If you're a woman, do you take risks that put you at a greater risk of rape?
These are some of the questions to consider in constructing a complete personal defense strategy. It needn't cost thousands of dollars; it does require thinking and planning. In these times of heightened unrest, the time, money, and effort invested into creating a sound personal safety strategy is well worth it.
Resources Books:
The Truth About Self Protection, and In the Gravest Extreme, by Massad Ayoob
Effective Defense, by Gila Hayes Gun Accessories:
Bianchi International
Galco (their purses with holsters are great, and well made)
Mitch Rosen Extraordinary Leather (his items for women are made to fit women, not cut-downs of men's items)
Uncle Mike's
Hoppe's
Kleen Bore
Outers
LaserMaxSunni Maravillosa is a psychologist, writer, parent, and gun owner. She can be reached at sunni@free-market.net.
For example, if you fear you run a high risk of being overpowered by an advancing bad guy and shoot to protect yourself, to stay out of jail you may need to say you believed the assailant appeared to be reaching for a gun even if you were not so sure. An alternative to coloring the story is you can keep totally quiet, though that may cost you a ride to jail, and that tactic is unnatural for most people. Another bit of legal advice is never fire a warning shot, and always quickly shoot to kill. If you space out your shots you may get into trouble for not stopping once the assailant backs off, or you may get sued by the assailant for putting him in a wheelchair. All police receive such legal training one way or another. The script appears almost as boilerplate in newspaper accounts of police shootings.
True, you can keep totally quiet and let your lawyer handle it. That's really the best advice, if you can overrule your emotions and keep quiet. That could mean a ride to jail though.
There is a step by step procedure after a shooting and your first responsibility is to gather your witnesses before they leave the scene. If there are no witnesses, tell the officer that you have to talk to a lawyer first because in the excitement of the moment you don't want to say the wrong thing.
From Ayoob's files, there was a older lady who was being terrorized be a ex-boyfriend. When she had shot him she had closed her eyes and some of the rounds were in the guy's back as he had turned to run. It looked like she had gunned him down in ambush. She tried to explain how the relationship had soured and the first thing she said to the officer was, "He kept on taking my cigarettes". She was charged with murder. The fact that he had broken the door on her traier to get in and ripped the phone lines out didn't enter into the investigation until Ayoob became involved during the trial.
Is this correct? My wife and I had been talking about the need to have a firearm in the house for awhile, and on Sept. 11 we went out and bought a Ruger .22-long range semi-automatic carbine. (All I could afford at the time. Also, there are specific reasons that I won't go into as to why we didn't buy a pistol.)
I purchased hollow-point .22 shells to increase the damage factor, but now I'm not sure that is enough.
The article also mentioned mis-feeds when using a clip. When my seven-year old daughter, and I were practicing at the range for the first time, we had two mis-feeds (jams). Easy enough to clear by just racking it a couple of times, but still caused some concern about how it would function in an emergency situation. Was it caused by bad (Winchester) ammo, or is it just the nature of the beast? The gun was brand new, so it was clean. For that matter, so were the shells.
"I purchased hollow-point .22 shells"
Proper useage is not "shells", the term is cartridges. No, it's not enough.
Use the manual to take it apart and oil it. That may be all it needed. Inspect the magazine for wear and quit calling it a clip because that's not what it is.
Buy the book, "Complete Guide To Guns And Shooting" by John Malloy.
Eyewitness testimony is also notoriously inaccurate (if we are to believe the folks who investigated TWA 800).
If the physical evidence supports self defense, or at least does not contradict it, and it is collected and recorded adequately, then witnesses become a potential weakness in a legal defense strategy, being strictly hypothetical.
I've read books and articles advising saying nothing until getting a hopefully good lawyer.
I remember a guy that I had to take business trips with. By the time the week was over, everyone in the hotel, the restaurants and the meeting place knew him as a nice guy. It wouldn't be a bad habit to get into to have dozens of people that you come in contact with to consider you one of the good guys, especialy while we're carrying. You reminded me of something. One time, that guy was being bothered by a troublemaker, and the manager TRIED TO HAND HIM A GUN! He didn't take it and everything worked out alright.
I would think that the truth (the person was advancing aggressively and you were in reasonable fear of loss of your own life or limb) would be sufficient.
An alternative to coloring the story is you can keep totally quiet, though that may cost you a ride to jail, and that tactic is unnatural for most people.
It's very reasonable (and undoubtedly, IMO, the best policy) to simply say that, in light of the seriousness of having had to use lethal force to defend yourself, and in light of the need to communicate accurately what happened, you would prefer not to make a statement prior to calming down and consultation with a good lawyer.
Once words are said, they can't be retrieved.
Another bit of legal advice is never fire a warning shot, and always quickly shoot to kill. If you space out your shots you may get into trouble for not stopping once the assailant backs off, or you may get sued by the assailant for putting him in a wheelchair.
Interesting point. Too bad it comes down to that.
One of the things I noticed in the first article was that carbines (rifles) are not recommended for short range self-defense. Said that the rounds could go right through the assailant without slowing him or her down.
Is this correct? My wife and I had been talking about the need to have a firearm in the house for awhile, and on Sept. 11 we went out and bought a Ruger .22-long range semi-automatic carbine. (All I could afford at the time. Also, there are specific reasons that I won't go into as to why we didn't buy a pistol.)
I purchased hollow-point .22 shells to increase the damage factor, but now I'm not sure that is enough.
It really depends on the ammunition and shot placement. For instance, .223Rem full metal jacket rounds (the ammo used in most AR style rifles like the M-16) are pretty devastating since, from what I've read, the trajectory changes a few inches into the body, making the innards look like they were put through a blender (I understand that .223's don't really tumble like some people say). If you get a rifle chambered for a larger round, you might want to look for soft-point ammunition, also called Dum-Dums, or frangible rounds. Soft points are just like a full metal jacketed round, except for the tip which has exposed lead. It causes greater bullet expansion when it hits a solid object, making for a larger wound. Frangible ammo are rounds that have been designed to split into smaller pieces when it hits a target. That's beneficial in two ways since 1) one round will make more holes in an attacker, and 2) it won't go through walls to possibly strike a family member on the other side. As a caveat, I know of a couple makers of frangible handgun ammo (air marshals use this kind of cartridge, btw), but haven't run across rifle munitions of this type. The previous statement doesn't apply to .22lr ammo since it's not a jacketed round and don't think it comes in frangible rounds either. Personally, I think the .22 is a little small for self-defense since COM (center-of-mass) hits probably won't do much to stop an attacker high on PCP or crystal meth, but as the saying goes: a .22 you have is worth more than a .357 you don't.
You might also want to consider a shotgun. If the recoil from a 12gauge is to much, try a 20gauge or .410. Like the frangible rounds I mentioned above, #7 shot or higher shouldn't pass through walls, and it makes alot more holes in the bad guy.
The article also mentioned mis-feeds when using a clip. When my seven-year old daughter, and I were practicing at the range for the first time, we had two mis-feeds (jams). Easy enough to clear by just racking it a couple of times, but still caused some concern about how it would function in an emergency situation. Was it caused by bad (Winchester) ammo, or is it just the nature of the beast? The gun was brand new, so it was clean. For that matter, so were the shells.
Jams are an inherent risk in using an auto-loading firearm (that's why many people, me included, advocate double action revolvers and/or pump action shotguns for home defense). As far as why you're having jams, bad ammo is a possibility. Winchester, especially white box, tends to be jam-o-matic ammo in my experience. If you can, try different brands of ammo and see which one(s) your rifle will eat. Also, make sure you maintain your rifle. Just because your rifle was new doesn't mean it was "clean". There might be cosmoline (packing grease) in the action that's causing the failures to feed. Also, lead ammo is inherently dirty, imo. If you didn't start getting jams until the 500th round, it might be due to lead build up. Another possibility is the magazines. Are they new? If they're used, they might have weak springs that need replacing, which shouldn't be more than a few dollars.
And for a parting thought, if you haven't taken a safety course, PLEASE TAKE ONE. You'll learn all kinds of nifty stuff, plus you'll make some friends that can help you out with problems one-on-one.
Hope this helps.
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