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09 November 2023

How Important is Weapon Camouflage?

Whether you are on the offense or have taken a defensive posture for the protection of yourself, your family or your country, it is universally agreed upon that you and your equipment should be as discreet and undetectable as possible. Invisible would be ideal. This also applies to hunting and surveillance operations.

In order to achieve effective camouflage, one of two things must happen. 1. The item being camouflaged must blend in to its surroundings through the use of coloration and/or the application of materials such as burlap, leaves, twigs, grass, etc. Or, 2, the item must appear to be something that it is not.

The Redcoats of Revolution 1.0 considered the way the farm boys conducted themselves in the woods to be unfair or unethical, but it was very effective. There was really little improvement in camouflage techniques from then until the early 20th century. A few new things started happening during WWI and, WWII brought us a little more but the jungles of Vietnam provided continued and rapid improvements in the way we conceal ourselves, our vehicles, fighting positions and our weapons, which brings us to the point of this post... concealing our weapons.

I'm not talking about concealing your pistol by putting it under your jacket, I'm talking about long guns; rifles and shotguns, and how they have given away our positions for decades before someone finally got wise to it. 

Of course, the snipers of the world were probably the first to take camouflaging their rifles into consideration. I have personally conducted several tests on this very subject. Is it really worth the effort? ABSOLUTELY IT IS! 

Quick story...
Several years ago, we conducted a field exercise near Superior, AZ. Most of us were wearing a camouflage pattern called Multi-Cam. I think it is one of the finest, all-around camo patterns available. We were shooting a steel target 200 yards away when someone damaged the frame and it fell down. My son volunteered to go fix it and stand it back up. At a full 200 yards, in full camo and face paint, he was virtually invisible in that particular environment. However, when he turned his right side towards us, the black grip of his handgun stuck out like a fluorescent lamp. A quick glimpse out there was like the old "follow the bouncing ball." 
That was the catalyst that began our testing. 

The results of the testing were jaw-dropping. Regardless of the type of camo or the background surrounding it, an untreated gun was incredibly noticeable.  That changed the way we all thought about how we camoed ourselves and our weapons.

So the takeaway message here is: if you want to be fully prepared to either fight or hide, offense or defense, your weapons MUST be camouflaged! It can be as simple as matte spray paint or camo tape or a more expensive route like DuraCoat, etc.

This is very important, considering the turbulent times we are about to experience!

29 October 2023

November CCW class!

The things that you learn in any CCW class does not make you a gunfighter, but it's a GREAT place to begin your training!

The Multi-State CCW class from Southwest Shooting Authority is a non-shooting class that provides everything you need to satisfy the State of Arizona's requirements to obtain a concealed weapon permit. Arizona's permit is also recognized in about 35 other states, giving you the ability to legally carry a concealed weapon almost from coast to coast and border to border.
Topics covered in this class include:
* Safety 
* Laws
* Justification of the use of lethal force.
* Civil and criminal consequences of a shooting.
* Weapon and ammunition selection.
* Methods and means of concealment. 
* Situational awareness and much, much more!
Tuition is $75 at the door, cash only or Venmo, username @Desertscout1.
Since seating is limited, please call or text 928-693-7482 to reserve your seat or email: Training@SouthwestShootingAuthority.net. 

We will be there from 9am sharp until about 2pm. 

Class will be held at:
8 County Road 3398, near Vernon, AZ.

Water and snacks will be provided. 

PLEASE BRING NOTE-TAKING MATERIALS!

12 October 2023

The Epitome of a Warrior

(This story was texted to me this morning. I have printed it here, in its entirety as it was received,  complete with credits to the NYT and the writer. I can only assume that it us complete)

This story is about a warrior. There was a time when there were many men like this. Not so much nowadays. In the coming days and months, it will be men like this one that will turn the tide of evil. With God's help, if it is His will and if we are deserving of his Grace, more men like this will rise and stand against the Beast and, against unimaginable odds, will defeat and kill it. 

America is literally under siege and it will get worse... much worse. Dig deep. Look deep into your own soul and see if have what it takes to do even a fraction of what this man and others like him have done and will do. Your country needs you...
--CR

Retired Israeli General Grabbed His Pistol... and Took On Hamas

By rushing to confront the attackers himself, Israel Ziv has become a public symbol of Israel’s former military successes — and its failure this time. 

Israel Ziv, a retired Israeli Army general, was taking a bike ride Saturday morning when a flood of alarming calls started coming in.

A huge barrage of rockets had been fired from Gaza. Gunmen from Hamas, the armed Palestinian group that controls the territory, were pouring across the border. Soon he would learn a friend’s son was trapped in a kibbutz.

He raced home, put on his uniform and grabbed his weapon, a nine-millimeter pistol.

Within minutes he was flying down a deserted highway in his new white Audi. As he neared the Gaza border, columns of black smoke rose in front of him, and the Israeli Army, at least at first, was nowhere to be seen. Hamas attackers were running across the landscape, hunched under the weight of heavy machine guns and rocket propelled grenade launchers, shooting at him.

“They were all over,” he said. “Hundreds of them.”

Mr. Ziv, stocky, spiky-haired, a bit irascible, and the former head of the operations directorate of the Israel Defense Forces, is a well-known figure in Israel, especially now. His actions over the weekend — driving headlong into the battle zone armed only with a pistol, organizing a confused group of soldiers into a fighting unit and overseeing evacuations — have been widely publicized on Israeli news channels. In the process he has become an avatar of Israel’s D.I.Y. spirit — and of the failure of its military and intelligence agencies.

The Israeli government said the toll in the devastating incursion by Hamas had reached 1,200 people killed, most of them unarmed civilians.

Already, amid the anguish over the slaughter, public frustrations are beginning to boil, with many Israelis, Mr. Ziv among them, taking issue with the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“The government is totally paralyzed,” said Mr. Ziv, who, even before this crisis, was extremely critical of Mr. Netanyahu for what he said were policies that bitterly divided Israelis and put the country’s security at risk.

Nevertheless, Mr. Ziv is still welcome in Israel’s corridors of power. On Wednesday, he held several teleconferences with captains of industry about raising tens of millions of dollars to help victims and their families.

“Just for civilians,” he shouted into his phone. “None of it for the army.”

He spoke to the top brass of the military and the police about shoring up a civilian defense force that had clearly been overwhelmed.

He even walked into Israel’s Defense Ministry, where he met with the defense minister, Yoav Gallant, and held secret meetings with national security officials in which they left their mobile phones on the hallway floor before stepping inside a small office for a chat that, the hope was, could not be tracked.

So weakened is public faith in the country’s military that one of the biggest issues Israelis are talking about is arming themselves. Many already own weapons, but the government announced this week that it was purchasing 10,000 assault rifles for civilians, along with bulletproof vests. Mr. Ziv is spearheading an effort to empower retired generals and former soldiers to rebuild community defense squads in the Gaza border area and around the country.

Israel Ziv, in olive green clothing, shakes hands with another man who speaks intently to him.
Mr. Ziv is focusing on helping to rebuild community defense squads in the Gaza border area and around the country.
Credit...Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times

“We need weapons,” one man pleaded with Mr. Ziv as he visited a massacre site on Wednesday. “And we need a system.”

Mr. Ziv put a hand on the man’s back and said, “We are putting together that system right now.”

As they spoke, huge booms thundered and black smoke billowed up from the horizon, obscuring the banana farms and the wire fence along Gaza’s border with Israel that Hamas had breached to launch the assault. Gaza, only a few miles away, has been under relentless attack by Israeli warplanes since Saturday, killing hundreds of Palestinians.

And in just about every village where Israelis have been slaughtered, when a light breeze stirred the slender eucalyptus trees it also carried the smell of death.

Mr. Ziv spent Wednesday moving through this landscape. Sixty-six years old and a decorated paratrooper, he revisited the same terrain where he had tried to rescue as many people as he could. That included the site of the ill-fated desert rave party where Hamas terrorists massacred hundreds of young people — which Mr. Ziv believes might have been a primary target of the attack. Just about everywhere he went, soldiers and civilians thanked him, then shyly asked for a selfie.

His account of what he did on Saturday has been backed up by other retired generals and active duty officers who fought with him over the weekend.

He left his house, a beautiful home overlooking olive groves near Tel Aviv, and arrived in the battle zone around 10 a.m. He was traveling with a close friend, Noam Tibon, a retired general whose son was trapped in the Nahal Oz kibbutz.

A clearing in trees shows littered trash and camp supplies, as well as an abandoned car.
The site of the music festival that was attacked by Hamas gunmen on Saturday.Credit...Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times
A clearing in trees shows littered trash and camp supplies, as well as an abandoned car.

Mr. Tibon’s son, a prominent journalist, had called his father in deep distress, saying gunmen were closing in on him and his family. In recent media interviews, Mr. Tibon said he told his son: “Trust me, I will come. This is my profession. Nobody can stop me."

“Things were not organized,” Mr. Ziv said.

He and Mr. Tibon linked up with a platoon of young soldiers, piled several of them into the Audi and began attacking Hamas gunmen on the road, Mr. Ziv said.

It was difficult taking them on with just a pistol, Mr. Ziv said, but after a soldier in his car was wounded, Mr. Ziv snatched his M16 and started firing out the window.

The worst feeling, though, was knowing that although they were some of the first responders, they were already too late.

Bodies were strewn on the highway, along the paths in the kibbutzim, in the patches of shaded forest they passed. What Mr. Ziv shared has been corroborated by extensive video and photo evidence, some of it filmed by the Hamas gunmen themselves. They hunted down Israeli civilians sitting in their cars, huddling in their homes, hiding at a bus stop and running for their lives.

“No one could imagine they would do what they did,” Mr. Ziv said. “It is a brutality that we have not witnessed since the establishment of Israel.”

He added, “So now we need to change the whole doctrine about Gaza. No more Hamas.”

How do you do that? he was asked.

“Level the ground,” he said.

Mr. Ziv and Mr. Tibon split up near the kibbutz where Mr. Tibon’s son lives. While Mr. Tibon joined a group of Israeli soldiers fighting Hamas members there, and eventually rescued his son, Mr. Ziv raced to other hot spots. He said he spent nearly 24 hours straight rushing around the kibbutzim and villages under attack, firing his own weapon, organizing evacuations of civilians and coordinating with the military to dispatch backup units as fast as possible.

The worst he found was the rave site. On Friday night, several thousand young people, Israelis and many foreigners, had flocked to an open field a few miles from the Gaza border to hold an overnight open-air dance party. By the time Mr. Ziv reached it Saturday night, he said, there was nothing left to be done.

An aerial view of a campsite with abandoned cars.
The site of the rave that was attacked by Hamas gunmen.Credit...Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times
An aerial view of a campsite with abandoned cars.

There were bodies everywhere: in the campsite; in the field where everyone had been dancing; in car after car after car lining the road, filled with young people trying to escape.

He ran to one young man slumped out of a car and felt his neck. No pulse.

“I think the trigger for this whole attack was this event,” Mr. Ziv said. “Hamas planned this for a long time. But they knew a critical mass would be here this weekend.”

From evidence the Israeli military found at the rave site, and what witnesses said, the Hamas attackers surrounded the gathering on three sides. One group of gunmen opened fire on the crowd, methodically driving the panicked partygoers toward the road, where more gunmen were waiting to mow them down.

“I can still hear them screaming,” Mr. Ziv said.

He stood on the site looking out at a field littered with water bottles, rolled up sleeping mats, still-full boxes of Oreos, shirts, pants, tents and empty camp chairs. It was like everything was there but the people. One soldier quietly moved past him, carrying a black plastic bag, looking for documents.

“People don’t understand how fragile the situation is,” Mr. Ziv said. “Hamas has to pay for this.” He paused. “With their existence.”

He then walked away.

Jeffrey Gettleman is an international correspondent and a winner of the Pulitzer Prize. He is the author of “Love, Africa,” a memoir. 

11 October 2023

Our World Today


BE ADVISED:

I got this directly from two different "X" posts...

It is my understanding that the leader of Hamas has just called Muslims around the world to embrace a day of global jihad this Friday the 13th.

That’s 3 days from now.

If you live in a major city in America or Europe, I’d recommend avoiding crowded/highly public places on Friday!

Khalid Mashal the leader and founding member of Hamas gave a speech today asking Muslims all around the world to do the following:

1. To show anger, especially next Friday, in Muslim countries and also among Muslim supporters around the world; he called it “the Friday of Al-Aqsa flood”, he said this will send a message of rage to Zionists and to America.

2. He asked for financial help from all Muslims around the world; to help with their money, he called it “Financial Jihad”. He asked Muslims to give to the fighters of Gaza in order to compensate them for the destruction.

3.He asked political pressure, from Muslim leaders and Muslim nations, to stop Israel’s military invasion of Gaza.

4.The most important thing: He asked all Muslims around the world to carry out Jihad by their souls; to fight and be martyrs for Al-Aqsa. 
He wants Muslims to fight against the Jews, starting with Muslims who live in the countries surrounding Israel: Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Egypt (but also other countries), to go to the borders and try to enter, each by his own means. He said: This is the time for Jihad to be applied on the ground rather than just in theory. He asked the Mujahedeen to go in long caravans to spill their blood on the land of Palestine.
 
These are his final words: 

Funds are important but today we are asking for your blood and souls [to be sacrificed for Palestine]

18 September 2023

The Last of the Greatest Generation!

Yeah, this is a very long post but the project is finally completed! The historical and personal value of this project and the people involved are priceless to Amy and I. To say it was an honor to be able to serve this family would be an understatement.

Of course, I'm talking about painting the cabin of Corporal John Kinsel  Sr., one of the last two Navajo Code Talkers that is still living. Corporal Kinsel served as a Code Talker in the Pacific Theater with the 3rd Marine Division in WW II from 1942 to 1945.

He built this cabin himself in 1950, after he came home from the war. He personally brought the logs down from the mountains behind his property by horse and wagon. As I write this, he will soon be 108 years old and has lived in this cabin for almost 75 years. 

I first met him and his son in 2020 completely by accident, but we had a nice visit, and I was invited back. The second time I went, I took my wife, Amy, with me, and I almost lost her. She absolutely fell in love with Kinsels, and I think the feeling was mutual. We talked with them for hours! We stayed much longer than I had intended, but it was SO much fun and interesting beyond description. 

I promised the Kinsels that I would come back and paint their cabin as soon as I could but, with Covid, bad weather, moving and so many other things going on, it took awhile but we finally got back up there to do it!

This latest visit was a particularly good trip because "hastiin sání" was feeling well and spent some time talking with us about his WW II experiences. He's a little hard to understand, but his English is good, and he still has his signature sense of humor that he is so well known for. He looked up at me from his wheelchair and said, "When are you going to stop growing?"
We went back a couple of months ago to begin fulfilling my promise. We pressure washed the entire cabin and painted the addition, which is the kitchen, that was added in 1975. Then, we went back this last weekend, caulked the deep cracks in the logs, and painted the reminder of the building.
Hastiin sání was feeling well enough to go out and admire the renewed life we gave his beloved cabin. I believe he and his son, Ron,  were quite happy with the way it turned out, and again, Amy and I were beyond honored to have had the privilege to provide this tiny act of service for this family. 
NOTE: I want to give a shout-out and special thanks to the two people who donated and helped make this project a little easier for us. I didn't get permission to use your names in this, but you know who you are.
Tʼáá íiyisíí ahéheeʼ!
.

13 September 2023

New Mexico's Tiny Tyrant Toppled!

JUSTICE HAS PREVAILED!
(At least temporarily) 

Zia Rifle and Pistol Club Electronic Newsletter
Apparently, the grapes were sour anyways. After Attorney General Torrez refused yesterday to defend the governor's order in court, her office fired back that she "did not ask the attorney general to represent the state", as well as attacking his failure to combat crime during his tenure as DA and AG. This circular blame-game now occurring between the mayor of Albuquerque, its former DA, law enforcement leaders, and the governor looking for someone to assign blame for the crime ravaging our community is yet more time wasted by our elected leaders, all of whom bear a heavy burden of guilt on the issue.
 
Despite the Attorney General's refusal to defend her, the governor's order was the subject of motion hearings on temporary restraining orders in 5 of the lawsuits (NAGR, GOA, WTP, FPC, and Private Individual 1) today before Judge Urias, a Biden appointee. The various plaintiffs generally agreed that the sections requiring enjoinment were Sections 1 and 4 of the public health order, and section 4 of the executive order directing local governments and agencies to enforce the order.
 
An attorney appeared on behalf of the governor and made a number of fundamentally political arguments, up to and including the judge to relitigate Bruen. Astonishingly, she said the order was not a law, and could therefore stand, despite the Second Amendment. He eventually began pushing back on her arguments, and informed her that he could not relitigate Bruen on the governor's behalf.  

When he came back, he granted a temporary restraining order that returned New Mexico to the status quo on all carry, effective immediately. This means we can, for now, return to life as it was before last Friday, as far as the use of firearms.
 
The NMGOP announced its lawsuit yesterday, saying it would attack the underpinnings of the order in state court. Dozens rallied outside the party office, once again armed, with the state police absent from that event and an armed protest on Civic Plaza. The "gun free zone" signs usually found on Civic Plaza were, also, mysteriously absent yesterday. We have also heard that despite much sound and fury, the governor's office has yet to refer a single person to the state police for citation, and is now unable to do so.

26 August 2023

OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN!


I usually look forward to writing these pieces. Every one of them, and I have written many, come from the heart. I dont write them in such a way as to ensure that others will like them or even approve. I write them for me. I write them because something is weighing heavily on my mind, or my heart in this case. I write them because I enjoy doing my part, however small, to help regain lost freedoms. To restore liberty as many of us remember it. However, writing this article hurts me. It pains me to the core. I hope it hurts you to read it as much as it hurts me to write it...

America, YOUR America, has been in noticeable atrophy since the 60's. We didn't really notice it then, but as we look back now, the signs were there. The deterioration started out in ever so tiny increments and, by the 80's, those damaged, fractional segments of our liberty had begun to grow in size. While the decline was still very slow, it was becoming more noticeable. When the 90's rolled around, there was no denying that something was desperately wrong. More frequent road rage and school shootings, more violent video games, gun owners were under heavy attack and there was starting to be a very noticeable socio-political division. People were becoming increasingly frustrated while they tried to figure out what team they were on.

From 1969 to 1992, we enjoyed a moderately normal life under Republican leadership, with the exception of Jimmy Carter's one, dismal term and truthfully, even that wasn't as bad as what we are witnessing now.

With the 21st century on the horizon, we had endured 8 grueling years of Bill Clinton. We experienced then the first major display of the dual justice system. The White House had been violated and the Oval Office had been turned into a sexual playground. Was it the first time? Probably not, but it was the first time that anyone had been caught at it and made into public spectacle.

There were some major events under Bush 2.0 and we were once again at war
 but in spite of that, Americans again experienced relatively little political strife for 8 years... then came Barack Obama.

For 8 years, we had a horribly failed health care system, a dramatically weakened military, ramped up attempts at gun control, numerous false flags and 24 major, mass shootings; the most of any administration in U.S. history and 3 times more than the next closest administrations, which was shared by Clinton and G.W. Bush, each having 8. 

At this time, I give to you (drum roll please)  President Donald J. Trump. Donald Trump was likely the most arrogant, egotistical, self-aggrandizing individual ever to darken the doorway of the White House, but he got things done. Unemployment dropped to a 50 year low at 3.5%, he achieved petroleum independence for the first time, gun control had very little movement,  gas and commodity prices were low and stable, and no new wars were started. Life was pretty damned good with the exception of a rash of mean Tweets.

Then 2020 came along and all hell broke loose! Everything you could possibly imagine that could go wrong, did and continues to. Prices of EVERYTHING are through the roof and inflation is at a 40 year high. The White House has turned into an organized crime stronghold. The checks and balances that were put in place by the Founders to keep this kind of thing from happening are conspicuously absent. Why? Because the entire system has failed. Every branch of government and nearly every federal agency is complicit in the failure and cover-ups. In short, the fox is guarding the hen house.

What we are witnessing today is a well-planned, perfectly executed, intentional, blatant and malicious destruction of America brought about by domestic and foreign communists. Its not "woke". Call it what it is! It's communism, pure and simple. Our precious, constitutional Republic is being reduced to nothing more than the absolute epitome of a socialized, 3rd world country. The results of which will be manifesting themselves in the very, very near future. We're beginning to see them creeping in already. Some may say, "Creeping in? We're seeing it all around us every day!"
Yes, indeed we are. But what we are experiencing now is but a drop in the bucket compared to what is coming.

Equal justice under the law has been transformed into a dual justice system and a full-blown attack on the American people has been launched. Relatively minor offenses committed by conservatives are punished to the fullest extent of the law and then some. Conversely, large sections of several cities have been attacked and burned by factions of the left. Historical landmarks and other properties have been damaged or destroyed. Thousands of serious crimes are being perpetrated almost daily across the Nation, most of which are met with a blind eye. Some of these crimes are committed by public officials at all levels and some even by rogue law enforcement. This is not limited to the left. 

So why do Democrats hate America so much? Why has the party changed so dramatically since John F. Kennedy? Even some people within the party are beginning to see that things are not as they should be. So why the big change? Money. Money and the fact that many major decisions are heavily influenced or even decided by foreign sources... and foreign money.

America was the most wonderful and desirable nation on earth for nearly 250 years. Now, we are the laughing stock of the world with an illegitimate president who can rarely even complete a full, comprehensible sentence.

So far, what have we learned from this brief history lesson? What is the common denominator? Obviously, the country is steered towards feast or famine, boom or bust and good or evil by its leadership. For at least the last 40 or 50 years, the country has been consistently strongest economically, militarily and socially under Republican leadership.

But wait! There's more! 

Republicans, wipe that silly grin off your face. You have traditionally been conservative and overwhelmingly opposed to most liberal policies, but you have lost your way. You have become the other wing of the same bird, the second head of a two-headed snake. With few exceptions, your fight to preserve conservative values has no teeth. Oh yes, there's fire in your speeches against liberal policies, but your actions are ice cold. You have turned your back on us. In return, many of us are turning our backs on you in search of a better political solution.

But, sadly, too many people are loyal to nothing more than party name. Regardless of the gross deterioration of conservative values within the party, people will vote Republican simply because a candidate is Republican, stating that any Republican is better than any Democrat. While that may be true in some cases, it's not as true as it used to be. While STATED values of the party haven't changed, their actions have. There are other options, and people need to research all the candidates and vote for the best person for the job, not just the lesser of two evils. A magnificent example of that was the 2022 gubernatorial election in New Mexico. They had the perfect opportunity to reverse the wrong that has been done there by electing a native New Mexican who was a hard core, Christian, conservative with a fire in her belly that far surpassed any other option they had. But, alas, they wasted their vote on a transplanted, pretty-boy that had zero fire. Personally, I think his only purpose was to split the vote and ensure that the communist incumbent won. It worked.

People are going to continue to vote party lines, and the cabal that we have installed and allowed to run roughshod and rule over us will, in turn, continue to destroy our beautiful America. They instill fear, and largely, we are afraid of them. 

In closing, it is absolutely essential that we maintain a healthy relationship with our Creator. Without God, this country cannot and will not be saved. The absence of God and his Son, Jesus Christ, in our schools, in our court houses and city halls and capitol buildings and our daily lives, is what brought us to point that we are at today.
To this, I testify, in the name of my Savior, even Jesus Christ, amen.

"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom - go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen!"

--Samuel Adams



16 August 2023

Aim Small, Miss Small...


More Gun Gospel according to Cope. This is my .02 worth on "accuracy." An opinion that no one asked for, but it's free, so...

There are two major categories of firearm accuracy. The first is mechanical accuracy. This category has no sub-categories. The mechanical or inherent accuracy of a firearm demonstrates what a certain gun is capable of doing with a specific type of ammunition after removing all human error such as breathing, pulse, poor follow-through, inconsistent trigger break, etc. This is generally accomplished by installing the gun in a mechanical rest of some type.

The second category I'll call human accuracy, which is the degree of accuracy that any given shooter can achieve with a particular firearm, under particular conditions, with a particular type of ammunition. This will vary from shooter to shooter and will apply to long guns, hand guns and shotguns, each within their own capabilities.

Human accuracy has 4 sub-categories, each having one or more purposes or goals but all ultimately relying upon the shooter. The primary factors, among several, are the shooter's physical capability, attitude and goals. 

In some semblance of order, from best to worst, we'll start with precision accuracy. As the name implies, precise shot placement is the name of the game. Precise is not subjective. It is the best accuracy that a human can wring out of a particular gun and load without the assistance of a mechanical rest. 

Not all people, nor all guns, are capable of precision accuracy. People can be hampered by impatience, failing eyesight, poor physical condition, poor hand-to-eye coordination, physical ailments such as arthritis; bone, muscle or nerve conditions, etc.

Precision accuracy is not totally reliant on the shooter's abilities, there are certain factors concerning the firearm itself that play a huge part in it as well. Things like the condition and quality of the barrel and its crown, the relationship between the barrel and the stock, the trigger, lock time, sights and the rigidity of the action. There are also outside factors that can affect either the gun or the bullet in flight or both. These things include wind, humidity, temperature, direct sunlight on the barrel and, in extreme cases, even the curvature of the earth.
Precision accuracy is also somewhat dependent upon the shooter's patience and determination. 

The 2nd sub-category of human accuracy is target accuracy. Target accuracy is similar to and related to hunting accuracy. The only difference is one involves one of God's creations and a poor shot can cause suffering and an inhumane kill. Target accuracy will include both competition shooting, hunting and informal, recreational target shooting. Target accuracy will vary from shooter to shooter. The long-range varmint hunter will demand precision accuracy while the southern whitetail hunter may be happy with being able to hit a paper plate at 100 yards

Unlike precision accuracy, target/hunting accuracy is subjective. It depends on the size of the target, the distance to the target and the desired results. In this type of accuracy, a shot somewhere in the kill-zone of an animal or a group of shots within the confines of the bullseye that may vary in size, is "good enough." Good enough to bring home the bacon or good enough to win the contest. A 2" group inside a 3" bullseye, at whatever range, is good shooting. Good enough.

Our next sub-category of human accuracy is referred to as combat accuracy. Combat accuracy is also subjective. On occasion, it may require some degree of precision and other times, hitting an 8" circle will suffice but in almost all cases, speed and adequate accuracy must be combined to achieve the desired results. Excessive stress and fear will likely play a part in the success of the shot placement. Oftentimes, rapid successive shots may be required, also with acceptable accuracy. 

This brings us to our 4th and final sub-category of human accuracy... Hallucinatory. Hallucinatory  accuracy is achieved only by the Wannabe marksman. The Wannabe considers himself good enough to bring out the intrinsic accuracy of a gun without the use of mechanical aids. 

The Wannabe achieves precision accuracy with his M44 Mosin-Nagant while leaning over the hood of his pickup, using his lunchbox for a rest. If he misses, and he will, he will blame it on the wind, his rest, he must have bumped his scope, the sun was in his eyes, he grabbed the wrong ammo, he has a lot on his mind, he hasn't shot this gun since last year... ad nauseum.

The Wannabe will lead you to believe that, whatever the outcome, it was intentional. Wherever the bullet hit, that's what he was aiming at. In all seriousness, the Wannabe is frequently unsafe and should probably not even have access to firearms. 

So, there you have it. My explanation of accuracy to the up-and-coming gun owner. Maybe it will help a few folks figure out just what is meant when that term comes up in conversation at the barbershop. 

01 August 2023

"Seek to Gain Knowledge"


I'm sure you've noticed that a lot of my posts are centered around self-preservation, to include1st aid information. I'm not a doctor and I'm not qualified to teach it but I know quite a bit about it because I have "seeked to gain knowledge" on the subject. I saved my baby girl's life once back in '99 or 2000. I've doctored up several family members and myself quite a number of times when most people would have gone to Urgent Care or the Emergency Room. 

I don't mind saying that the following story brought a tear to my eye. That fact that this little girl died was bad enough, but the real tragedies here were; number one, like many accidents, it was 100% avoidable! It was caused by carelessness and negligence. Number two, she died because there was no one there to provide IMMEDIATE medical care. However many minutes it took to get her to the marina was too long.

Now, just think for a minute. How would YOU feel, if your 6 yo daughter (or spouse or sibling or best friend) died in your arms because of something that was your fault to begin with, and you didn't have knowledge and equipment to prevent it...

If they had only had a tourniquet and the knowledge to properly apply it, I'm 99.7% sure that little girl would have survived. So sad...

Here's a clip from the story linked below.

26 July 2023

It's NOT All About Shot Placement!

If you're a shooter, particularly a hunter or one who studies or trains for self-defense, at some point you have heard this exact phrase, "It's all about shot placement."

I can say with some degree of certainty that shot placement and bullet performance are two of the most misunderstood aspects of shooting. Even amongst some of the more experienced shooters and most assuredly amongst novices and non-shooters. It's a science and not something that can be explained properly in a casual conversation at the barbershop. 

I've seen astonishing successes with smaller, slower, weaker calibers and dismal failures with larger, high-velocity, powerful calibers. Is it always about shot placement? No, it's not. Sometimes it's more about bullet construction and sometimes it's a combination of the two. 

Just because I killed a bear once with a .22 magnum doesn't make the
.22 magnum a bear gun. I don't recommend it and don't condone it but the situation was urgent and that's what was handy. I fired a single, perfect shot at about 50 yards, he trotted about 3 steps and tipped over. Deader than a hammer.

Over the course of a couple of years, I had to kill 3 German Shepherds. I'm not going to explain why. Just suffice it to say that it was necessary and legal. One was feral, the other 2 were livestock chasers. The feral dog was 65 yards away, sitting by a bush. I fired one shot from my Glock 23, loaded with home-grown 165 gr. JHP's. The dog didn't even stand up. He dropped like a rock. A couple years later, a big male German Shepherd was on our land chasing horses. I whistled and he stopped briefly and turned to look my direction from maybe 100 yds away. I touched off a round from my .30-'06 loaded with 165 gr. BTSP's. Again, like a rock. However, a couple weeks later, his brother showed up and wormed his way under the fence and into our chicken pen. I hollered at him and he scooted back under the fence and offered a broadside shot. I shot him right behind the left shoulder but a tad higher than I wanted, with the same .30'06, same load. He yelped and ran about 3-400 yards to his house. The owner took him to the vet and got him patched up and he was running around again in a few days.

What was the difference? The first dog was shot a JHP handgun round designed for self-defense. Even at that range, the relatively slow handgun bullet expanded fairly well and left an exit wound the size of a grapefruit. A generic JHP probably would not likely have done so well and a FN-FMJ most definitely would have resulted in a wounded dog.

What about the other two dogs, shot with same gun and bullet?
Well, the first one was hit roughly at the point of shoulder and the bullet immediately encountered bone which shattered and sent fragments into the vitals, then traveled diagonally through the body and exited near the opposite side hip. Pretty dramatic. He was dead before he hit the ground. Different story with other dog. He was perfectly square, broadside to me. The bullet both entered and exited between ribs and traversed the body from left to right, just above the heart and through the top of the lungs. The bullet, being designed for big game, failed to expand and basically left a .30 caliber hole on both sides. Had that bullet hit the shoulder, or maybe even a rib, the results would have been different. If the bullet had been, say, a 130 grain JHP, it would have almost certainly cut the dog in half.

As many other hunters have, I've seen nearly every species of mammal in North America shot with everything from .22 LR to .30-30 to a dozen different types of magnums with results ranging from predictable to puzzling. Performance factors involved include velocity, bullet weight and diameter, bullet construction, bullet style and precise shot placement. Success may also be determined by the tenacity of the animal. See how much lead a badger, porcupine or opossum can soak up compared to a cottontail. Or a big bull elk compared to a bull moose.

So, I could go on and on about this but hopefully,  my point has been made. Choose your bullet AND your shot carefully!

02 April 2023

The War on Christians

Most of us agree that there has been an ongoing war on Christians for quite awhile. There have been exceptions, but for the most part, it has been relatively non-violent. Christians have been denied certain services or entry into establishments or groups. Anti-Christian graffiti is becoming more frequent and at times, churches have been vandalized. Unfortunately, this war is taking a turn for the worst.

If you attend church, and you should, it would be highly advisable that you take whatever precautions that you deem necessary to ensure the safety of yourself and your family, not just now but always. If you are a member of the clergy of your church, your congregation's safety is your responsibility. Implement building security measures as necessary. 

This not going to just disappear.

Trannies had declared 1 April as their "Day of Vengeance", which come and gone without major incident but watch this video...

31 March 2023

And the Wall Came a Tumbling Down...

There are a great many people, even some family, that have long since concluded that I belong in the loony bin for my opinions on the direction this country and our way of life is going. Maybe that's true, but until they put me there, I will continue to try and push people to understand the gravity of our current situation and push them to work harder on their preparedness and spend less time and money on things that are less important. With current events being what they are, I'm beginning to see some folks waking up and reconsidering their ideas on our current dilemma. I'm happy for that but others still have a very long way to go. I pray that my children will heed the warnings that I inundated them with while they were growing up!

I am most disturbed by those that either claim nothing is going to happen or say, "Well, whatever is going to happen is going to happen and there's nothing I can do about. I will just keep living my life and doing what I want until I can't anymore." On the one hand, I kind of understand that mindset but on the other hand, I think it's a cop-out. I think these people belong to one of 2 groups. Either they don't really believe that anything will happen in their lifetime, or they are not willing to accept that it actually might and by not preparing, they are somehow postponing the event.

I have been confident that things were going to get very bad for a very, very long time. Preparedness and the principles of self-preservation are inherent in my nature. I do not remember EVER not being concerned or involved with some idea or project that I thought might help me or someone else to more easily endure hardships. It's safe to say that I am consumed by the idea, probably to a fault. Maybe it comes from my extensive pioneer background, I don't know, but I have written many articles and have conducted my life around what I see as being inevitable. 

OK folks, here it is in a nutshell. It's a big, very long nutshell, but considering the overall picture, it's still a nutshell. Think of me what you will, but I hope you will at least read this and think about it...

Dave Ramsey is going to be very disappointed. Cash will not be king much longer! More banks will collapse soon and the American dollar is going to be nothing more than toilet paper as hyperinflation overcomes our economy. This has happened in many countries. Unfortunately, it looks like it's our turn. In post-WWI Germany, the German mark had become so worthless that cash was sold by the pound. They literally threw bricks of cash into furnaces for heat. Kids constructed kites out of bank notes.  In 1922, a loaf of bread cost 163 marks. By September 1923, during hyperinflation, the price crawled up to 1,500,000 marks and at the peak of hyperinflation, in November 1923, a loaf of bread cost 200,000,000,000 marks. Count the zeroes, that's not a mistake.

Watch this!

In my classes and in my book, "Dying... is NOT an Option", I devote quite a bit of time to the subject of bartering. Now would be a great time to start thinking about that! 

To top it all off, we are on the brink of two wars, which, conceivably, could happen simultaneously -- WW III and Civil War 2.0. 
Keep reading. This is not just one crazy guy's opinion. 

I posted a very long article on my blog, in November of 2018. It was something that I wrote long before I ever had a blog, probably around 1996.

In that post, I used numerous quotes from the Book of Mormon and several from various Elders and Presidents of the Church. There are MANY that talk about the coming times, but here are a couple that really sum it up...

President Heber C. Kimball described it as being like a curtain which would drop between the church and the United States...

"Lay up your stores, and take your silks and fine things, and exchange them for grain and such things as you need, and the time will come when we will be obliged to depend upon our own resources; for the time is not far distant when the curtain will be dropped between us and the United States. When the time comes brethren and sisters, you will wish you had commenced sooner to make your own clothing. I tell you, God requires us to go into home manufacture; and, prolong it as long as you like, you have got to do it."

Elder Orson Pratt tells us why, when he explicitly described the conditions that would sweep this nation to it's destruction...

"......it will be a war of neighborhood against neighborhood, city against city, county against county, state against state, and they will go forth destroying and being destroyed, and manufacturing will, in a great measure, cease, for a time, among the American nation. Why? Because in these terrible wars, they will not be privileged to manufacture; there will be too much bloodshed -- too much going forth in bands and destroying and pillaging the land to suffer the people to pursue any local vocation with any degree of safety......."

This exceedingly long post is not just for my LDS friends and family. If you subscribe to my blog, you'll see it again. If you're on my email list, you'll see it again. If you feel like I do about this and if you think this message has any merit, feel free to share it.

For what it's worth to you, in closing, I testify to each of you that I sincerely believe that the above is upon us and it is part of the Lord's plan for us. We are about to witness the ultimate test of our obedience. 
 I say this in Jesus' name, amen.

30 March 2023

You're Not Automatically a "Good Guy"!

This is excellent information from Greg Ellifritz and I have taught this exact thing for 17 years. Just because you feel you are in the right and legally carrying a weapon, doesn't mean that cops, or even other armed citizens, will automatically see you as a "good guy"!

https://www.activeresponsetraining.net/something-to-consider

19 March 2023

99 Red Balloons...



Eerily coincidental...

This was a very, very popular song while I was in Europe in the early 80's. I probably heard it a thousand times just in the couple of years that I was there. However, I never REALLY listened to it, I just liked the catchy little tune. Not to mention, probably over half the time I heard it, it was being sung in German, so there is that...

For whatever reason, I was looking for something on YouTube one day and I came across this video. I had never listened to the song on video and, since I hadn't heard it for a few years, I thought I'd give it a listen. As luck would have it, it was sub-captioned in English. 

Now, this was more than a little bit interesting to me. I want you to watch this video carefully and read the lyrics as she's singing it. Don't miss any of it and think about the events of last February and all the Chinese (or whoever) ballon activity over our country.
What do you think?

Note: For whatever reason, the video link is not active but you can copy and paste it and it works fine. Please do, and listen to it.
.

Here is the story behind the song...

15 March 2023

Plumb Stupid Plumbing...

OK folks, kick back and let me tell you a little story.  Some of you will be able to relate to it better than others but I'm pretty sure all of you will appreciate the overall meaning of it. It is funny, frustrating and infuriating, all in one.

To start with, there's a reason that professional electricians, plumbers, roofers and other tradesmen charge what seems to be a ton of money sometimes. That seemingly exorbitant hourly rate includes specialized tools, insurance, vehicles, helpers and more. But mostly?...  You're paying for experience. When you or your neighbor or your brother-in-law are willing to do it, but lack the experience, sometimes the job can be much, much, much more costly than just calling a professional to begin with. Such is the case with the poor lady that is the victim in this crime story. It's important to know that she purchased this house and the resultant headaches, the following is not her fault...

I have a dear friend in a nearby town that I help with certain things when she needs me. She texted me this morning in a bit of a panic saying that she had a pretty serious water leak at her rental house. So, I dropped everything and headed over there. What I found was water, water everywhere, nor any drop to drink. Yeah, this had been leaking for a WHILE! Talking to the neighbor lady across the street, it had been running for about 10-12 days. My friend's water bill is going to be approximately $116,289.42... give or take $25,000.

So, T-bo and I started tracking down the culprit which took over an hour. We finally found that it was actually coming from inside a shop where there is a pressure tank for the well, AND where the city water ties in for back-up. The tank and the outgoing 1" PVC line are well insulated and encapsulated in wooden structures. So I started tearing into the structures looking for clues while T-bo was doing something else. (For some of you, this story is about to get interesting...)

About 12' or so from the pressure tank, I found the damnedest thing I had ever seen before as far as plumbing goes, and I've been doing this for a very long time.

The aforementioned 1" line comes out  of the pressure tank just above floor level. It's wrapped with insulation batting and tied with baling wire. There is a 6" batt under it and 2 layers of 6" batting on top of it. It couldn't have frozen if it had gotten down to 67 below zero.  HOWEVER, and this is important, whoever installed this pipe thought that the added protection of a heat tape was necessary (it wasn't). Fortunately, (or not) the heat tape burned in two at some point in the past (Picture #1) but the damage was already done. When I pulled the 3rd cover off of the wooden box that this was all encased in, I saw something that took me a few minutes to process. The pipe was obviously separated but it looked like it took a sharp turn upwards from the floor (Picture #2) and it was broken at the apex of this upward sweep. At this point, I'm still tying to figure out just what in the hell I was looking at. All the insulation, mold, rat poop and spider webs made the deciphering a little difficult. Then I saw it... an abandoned 2" line came through the wall from outside, came up the wall a foot or so, then crossed path of the 1" line. 

Now then, understand what I'm saying here, it's going to be important in a minute. The 1" line is traveling along the floor, headed for the far wall. The 2" line came in, up and across where the 1" line was running, about 14-16" above the floor. Are you with me so far? 

The next part of the story will be submitted to Unsolved Mysteries. 

Instead of letting the 1" line just continue on its merry way along the floor, some genius thought it would be a great idea to run it OVER the abandoned 2" line! Now, in and of itself, that's not a deal breaker. No reason in the world to do it but, if that's what blows your dress up, knock yourself out. The problem was Mr. Super Plumber, whoever it was, didn't use any fittings to do this. He just laid across the top of the 2" line then let it droop down to the floor again and continue on its way. No rhyme or reason. The only thing I can figure is that it was intentional sabotage, resulting in a delayed action. I don't know. When I saw the upward attitude of the insulation, before I exposed the pipe, I figured that maybe they had switched to PEX or black poly tubing or something more flexible than PVC. Who, in their right mind, would do that with PVC?

Remember I told you about the heat tape earlier? Well, let me tell you a little bit about heat tape, if you don't already know. Not all heat tapes are created equal. Some are not suitable for PVC pipe. Heat tapes that are to be used on PVC should have a built-in regulator, or thermostat that prevents the temperature from getting over about 140°. It appears that the heat tape in our story may not have been the correct flavor. Anyway, back to our pipe crossing... the 1" pipe was quite obviously in a little bit of distress from crossing over the 2" and going back down. In addition to that, the heat tape was on the bottom of the 1", between the 2 pipes, ensuring that it was tight against the 1". Now get this picture - over a period of time, the tape has heated the 1" pipe up warmer than it should have been, probably keeping it that way for an extended period of time. The pipe gradually softened, ever so slowly. As it softened, the internal water pressure began to expand the pipe. I have no clue how long it has been swelled to the bursting point because the tape has obviously been out-of-order for some time. But, alas, it finally gave up the ghost and burst a week or so ago. The pipe swelled to about 1.5" or so before it popped (Picture #3). Picture #4 shows the difference in the thickness of the walls of the swelled pipe at its thinnest, and the same pipe wherenitnwas at normal diameter. A crack ran from the apex of the hump, over 2 feet back down the pipe. I was astonished by the time I figured it all out! I assembled all the pieces in the bed of the truck to show what it did (Picture #4).



03 March 2023

The History of "The Shooting Bench"


UPDATE:
Guess what!?
After being dormant for 3 years, the Shooting Bench is coming back but in print and online format! Beginning in December of 2023, The Shooting Bench will be a regular feature on Mountain Daily Star.

TSB is unique in its content and there's nothing like it anywhere in the Southwest. Topics are primarily centered around firearms and everything that surrounds them such as shooting, training, reloading, self-defense, concealed weapons, hunting, gunsmithing, competition, etc, etc. Other topics will include disaster preparedness, survival and the gear and supplies that pertain to them along with communication, knives, current events, trivia, humor and probably some politics here and there! Another passion of mine is freedom, liberty and constitutional issues. 

The History of The Shooting Bench

The Shooting Bench was a radio show that I hosted, uninterrupted, for about 15 years before I finally shut it down in 2020. It started as a 30-minute show, once a week, on a FOX Sports AM station in Farmington, NM in late 2005 or early 2006 if memory serves. Due to the irrational behavior and unprofessionalism of that station, I quickly pulled up stakes and moved to another, much larger and more professional station. The show immediately went to one hour, once a week and shortly after that went to two hours. Life was good! 

Then, sometime in late 2006, a traveler on a highway about 40 miles away was listening to the show and decided that he wanted to meet me and see the store. He was impressed with the content of the show and suggested that I do a podcast. I said, "OK... um, what's a podcast?". Well, we had a lot to talk about and we quickly became good friends. Mike helped me get the podcasts started and a whole new audience presented itself! It took some time to realize that I was now talking to the world and not just northern NM and southern Colorado. 

In November of 2009, I was introduced to internet radio and another change took place. For a little while, I tried to do both but due to a some other changes that were taking place, I went all internet and podcast and abandoned the AM radio show. 

In early June of 2011, The Shooting Bench went to two hours a night, five nights a week on Just Measures Radio Network out of Indiana. The show and the network grew together and it was a lot of fun but I can tell you, doing 2 hours a day, every day, began to tell on me. It takes a lot of preparation to do 10 hours of broadcasting every week, 52 weeks a year, year in and year out!. That continued until November of 2014 when the show went back to one hour, five nights a week. A month later, just before Christmas, I obtained full rights and ownership of the network and The Survival Circle Radio Network was born. Most of the old hosts and their wealth of information came with me from JMR and the network was in full operation again. On 21 June 2013, with no thought or prior planning at all, I just did a show one Friday night that included no news or current events or gun talk or anything! Just classic country music. WOW! It was wildly popular and Liberty Lounge was born. Every Friday after that, I put the world's trials and tribulations on hold and entered into the weekends on a lighter note. I strayed off into classic rock from time to time but for the most part, it was all classic country. Liberty Lounge continued for two hours, every Friday night until I finally shut it all down.

Archived podcasts of The Shooting Bench podcast can be found at www.tsb.podbean.com

19 February 2023

CHRISTIANS AND GUNS

 


I'm not the first one to write about this subject by a long shot but I'm the first one to put the thoughts of Cope Reynolds down on paper about it (believe it or not, it actually was on paper many years ago).

Between my Christian friends and family and some of the students that have been through my classes, this question has been presented to me many times; "How can a good Christian justify carrying a gun for self-defense, especially in church?", or words of that nature. In the beginning, it kind of caught me off guard and all I could do was pretty much just voice my opinion and use a little common sense but that wasn't nearly enough for some of them so I started digging. I believe that I have come up with enough scriptural evidence to support my actions and those of of my gun-totin', Christian friends. See what you think...

Let's start at the beginning... the VERY beginning!

In Genesis 4:8-12 we read about the first murder. It can be speculated that Cain may have used a weapon of some type as the Lord mentions a couple of times that Abel was bleeding. What did God do? He did not institute club control or rock control or knife control or whatever it was. He punished the one who committed the crime, as it should be.

Exodus 15:3 says “The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name." That God is not a pacifist is evidenced throughout Scripture. Even Jesus Himself, drove the money-changers out of the temple with a whip and turned their tables over (John 2:15). What does Revelation 19:11 tell us? It tells us that the Rider of the white horse does what? "... he doth judge and make war".

In Exodus 20, God implemented the 10 Commandments. There is no mention of weapons, just killing (murder)

In Exodus 22:2 God tells us that if a thief is found breaking into your house “and he be smitten that he die, there will be no blood shed for him”, meaning you are not guilty of murder. This is one of several passages that makes it clear to me that we have, literally, a God-given right to defend not just ourselves and our families, but our HOMES.

Likewise in Luke 11:21 & 22 we are told... 21 When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace and, 22, But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.

While we're in the Book of Luke, let's skip on down to Chapter 22, verse 36... Then said he unto them, "But now, he that hath a purse, let him take it, and likewise his scrip: and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment, and buy one".

A person's garment was a precious thing and not to be given up lightly but the possession of a sword (gun) was important enough to Jesus to tell them that if they have no sword, they should sell their garment and get one!

Deuteronomy 22:25-27 deals with rape. Now, what do you think is meant by the words "but there was no one to save her" at the end of verse 27? The implication here is that had someone been around to hear her cry out, they had a moral duty to intervene and protect her. We not only have a God-given right but in my mind, we are directed by God to defend not only ourselves, but others as well.

Numbers, chapter 1. Is this not what the Founding Fathers of America envisioned for us? An armed citizenry, the militia; not a standing army.

I Samuel 13:19-22 is a very interesting passage indeed! After the Philistines had disarmed the Israelites, no ‘smiths were allowed so that the Israelites could not make weapons for themselves, hence the first sword control had officially been instituted! So what did they do? They did the same thing that the Japanese and Chinese people did in later years. Out of necessity, they fashioned weapons from tools and farm implements.

Psalm 82:3 says that we should defend the poor and fatherless; do justice to the afflicted and the needy.

David said in verse 1 of Psalm 144, "Blessed be the Lord my Rock, Who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle". What do you think he was talking about here? Surely, David was confident that warfighting was justified in the Lord's eyes in certain instances. 

Many, many people take that part of Isaiah 2:4 that says "they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks," and try to say that God wants us to disarm. Isaiah is prophesying the Second Coming of the Lord here. It is exceedingly clear to me that the "swords will be beaten into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks" when God Himself returns to rule on the earth, NOT when some other form of government tells us to.

Vengeance is mine” sayeth the Lord... or some such verbage can be found in several scriptures (Romans 12:19; Deuteronomy 32:35; Proverbs 20:22, et al). If we witness the commission of a violent crime, we have a God-given right and responsibility to deal with it. If it’s already happened, we have no God-given right and no responsibility to seek revenge and execute judgment upon the perpetrator. If He deems it necessary, God (or the civil authorities) will judge and avenge.

Matthew 26:51-52 Some try to say that this passage proves that Jesus was a pacifist and against guns (or swords). Quite the contrary. Where does Jesus tell Peter to put his sword when he lopped of the ear of the Roman soldier? He said put it "in its place." John makes it clearer, Jesus said to Peter "Put your sword into the sheath" (John 18:11). Jesus didn’t take it away from him or tell him to beat it into a plowshare. Rather, he told him to put it "into the sheath." The sword has its proper place. In and of itself, it is not evil. But Peter was wanting to use it in an improper manner. Jesus came to earth to die. Peter would be interfering with God's plan if he were to be allowed to intervene with the sword.

The same people that say that you should beat your swords into plowshares also say that if someone lives by the sword, they will surely die by the sword, as Jesus says. What that statement actually means is that he who uses the sword for improper purposes will likely die by the same. What Peter did was wrong. He acted on emotion. A criminal or a tyrant who uses the sword improperly, should rightly die by it. But the use of the sword in a proper fashion, to defend one’s person or one’s family or one’s country, is not condemned by Scripture, rather Scripture upholds it repeatedly.

God, nor Jesus, were or are pacifists. As Jesus said in the very next verse, Matthew 26:53, "Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and He shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?" Jesus didn’t need Peter's help. The use of force simply wasn’t appropriate for the situation at the time. He was supposed to die. He did not use force because He had to facilitate the plan of our Heavenly Father.

In closing, there are some who say that "we should not have guns; we should just trust in God." My response to those who say this is "let me ask you, do you have a lock on your front door?" They always say "yes." I then ask "Do you lock it when you leave or go to bed at night?" Those who live in the city always say, "Yes." I then ask "Why do you have a lock on your door? Why don’t you just trust God?" The same could be said for motorcycle helmets, seat belts, fire extinguishers and life insurance.

Just because we have a lock on our door or a gun in our closet does not mean we are trusting in either of them to protect us in the same manner in which we’re to trust the Lord. Rather, we simply see the wisdom and prudence of having these tools in order to be good stewards of what God has trusted us with; our lives, our families, and our country, just as He intended.


Cope Reynolds

29 June 2014

In Liberty, Cope Reynolds (@Desertscout1)  

Colts and Kimbers are what you show your friends.  

GLOCKS are what you show your enemies!