The Power of Denial

An interesting thing happened to me the other day. I got thrown of the library for carrying a concealed handgun.

I'm pretty familiar with handgun law in my state...heck, I teach handgun and concealed carry law to people hoping to earn a concealed carry handgun permit in my state.

So, I know that public buildings cannot prohibit concealed carry on the premises without metal detectors being installed at every entrance, full time armed security guarding every access point, and securely storage for patron's firearms outside the building.

In fact, even to prohibit OPEN carry of firearms in a public building in my state, the facility needs to clearly post appropriate signage at every entrance. Since none of those were in place at my local library, I naturally assumed that I could patronize this tax-payer funded, public establishment unharassed for my choice to carry a firearm, as I have for the last 5 or more years.

As a homeschooler, the library is a priceless resource. And now that my oldest is consuming literature at a rate of approximately 1,000 pages per week, it is a necessary one. For the last several years, the kids and I spend a couple hours a week at the library. I sit in the back at a table in the children's section either working on my computer or knitting, while my kids search for books and play computer games on the library's electronics. It was a day exactly like any other when it happened.

As I sat quietly in front of my laptop, peeking over now and again to monitor my kids use of the library's electronics, a librarian came over searching the ground for something she appeared to have dropped. I knew the librarian, and had talked with her many times. Once she even complimented me for my children's ability to navigate the search feature of the electronic book catalog.

So I looked up and smiled, wondering if I could help her find whatever she had dropped.

She meekly whispered, "firearm?" I stared at her blankly.

Then she asked me point blank, "Do you have a firearm?"

My gun was concealed, so I didn't need to tell her I was armed. But I also knew full well that the library had no signage prohibiting even the open carry of firearms, so rather than lie or dodge the question, I simply replied, "yes."

Shocked by my response she quickly stated, "You're going to need to take it outside and leave it in your car."

Bless her little heart! I think she truly believed that the inanimate object on my belt would suddenly jump out of its holster without my permission and start discharging rounds in the children's book section! So dangerous this object was, in her sweet uneducated mind, that it must be immediately quarantined from the general population. Yes, the car is a much safer place for such an unpredictable item! Of course, I could stay...I was fine, safe, trustworthy. But that pesky hunk of metal? No way.

I explained that I was violating no laws by carrying it in the library. I informed her that I had the right to protect my children and myself, and that right was protected by the federal constitution, the state constitution, and state law.

Now slightly flustered by my lack of alarm at what she believed to be a threat to everyone's safety, she plead, "There are no weapons allowed in the library! It's library policy."

Calmly, I asked her to produce a written copy of the library's policy.

From my perch at the back table of the children's section, I watched the librarian scurry to the main info desk. She consulted with several other staff members, walked into the back room. A few moments later, a short gray-haired woman who I recognized as the library director marched toward me, flanked by the little librarian and a Birkenstock-wearing, long-haired library patron, who I surmised was the tattle tail who got me into this mess.

The library director shoved a printed copy of the library's "policy" on firearms at me. I perused it briefly, with the library hens hovering over me. Sure enough, along with an endless list of prohibited devient behaviors, including stalking library patrons, having sexual intercourse in the library, bringing unauthorized pets in the library, the website printout read, "No weapons of any kind allowed in the library, except by law enforcement".

I looked up at the Director, and asked her if she was aware that state law gave me the right to carry a firearm into public buildings? This was her chance to exit stage left and bone up on the law before plunging the library headlong into a lawsuit, but she opted to keep going, and stated with smug satisfaction, "I have the right to prohibit you from exercising that 'right'."  Strike 1.

I asked her what provisions the library had in place to guarantee my children's safety if they were going to prohibit me from protecting them. She confidently informed me that if there was a threat, they would call the police. I asked her what her plan was to keep kids safe while they waited for the police to arrive. She said she'd rather not think about it. The library's official solution for keeping my children safe is...you guessed it...DENIAL. Strike 2.

I asked her if the library had fire extinguishers, sprinkler systems, smoke alarms, and had been inspected by the fire chief to ensure compliance with fire code. "Of course," she replied. "Do you plan to have lots of fires?" I asked. "Would you call the fire department if you did have a fire? Wouldn't you try to put it out first?"

Now I had crossed the line. How dare I drag these well meaning shepherds of knowledge and learning kicking and screaming out of their denial!

She told me I could leave the library immediately or she would call the Chief of Police right now and have me arrested. Strike 3.

Once again, I took stock of my options. I wasn't doing anything wrong and I had broken no laws; in fact, I was just getting warmed up on the whole firearms education stuff. On the other hand, I was all alone in enemy territory with my children. There was now a growing crowd of library patrons who were NOT my allies, and past experiences with local law enforcement have taught me that they're not always concerned about upholding the law.

I decided to cut my losses, a decision the Hubby chastized me for later. But before gathering my things, and herding my children out the door of the public library, I obtained the Director's business card and assured her this wouldn't be the last of me.

I won't go into all of the details of the events that followed my expulsion from the library, but sufficed to say that I felt it my duty to encourage the library to bring its policy into compliance with state law. I am happy to say that months later, my lovely local library has changed its concealed carry policy, and after it all my children and I proudly patronize the library weekly, and yes, I still lawfully carry a firearm every time I step foot in that...uhhh...*begin sarcasm* blessed clearinghouse of knowledge, wisdom, and academia *end sarcasm*.

Here's what I learned from this whole ordeal experience:

Denial is a powerful disease.

One of the reporters covering the story asked me in an interview, had I had considered other people's comfort when I carried my gun into the library? My immediate response was,"I am not responsible for other people's comfort and I am certain no one considered my comfort when they threw me out of the library for wanting to protect my children."

But later on, the reporter's question struck me as incredibly strange. Do we truly live in a culture where I am expected to surrender my instinct for survival in order to put strangers at ease? Holy smokes. This perpetuation of denial trend is more dangerous that I thought!

Perhaps concealed carry in America has done a great disservice to our rights and freedoms by taking guns out of the public realm. Though concealed carry was originally lobbied for by those who carried firearms for protection for the tactical advantage it gave them in an emergency, it has now become the armed citizen's curse by  emboldening the denial of an entire generation of Americans. The library can't do anything about whether or not I carry a firearm, but by posting a sign prohibiting OPEN CARRY, they can make it so they don't have to look at armed people.

Denial is dangerous.

Denial soothes the populous into believing that if they just comply, follow the rules, keep their heads down, don't piss anyone off, don't do anything to stand out or draw attention to themselves, everything will be all right. I bet that's exactly what the Jews thought in Hitler's Germany.

Denial convinces society as a whole that there will always be someone around to protect us when we need it, so there's no need to come up with a back up plan, or to put ourselves in positions to maximize our chances for survival until the appropriate authority arrives.

And even more tragically, denial assures otherwise incredibly intelligent people that their children are safe from violence at school, in the face of mountains of evidence to the contrary.

I'm not sure what the solution is, or if there is a solution at all. But I'm confident of a few things.  The mere fact that I carry a gun and make preparations to take responsibility for my family's safety makes people uncomfortable. If I cater to the denial that has infiltrated our society, the world will not be a safer place. However, if there ever is a life threatening emergency, the same people who hate me today for exposing their denial will demand I protect them when their lives are threatened. And more than likely I will, if it's in my power to do so.

Shooting from cover

Last weekend our gun club hosted its monthly defensive pistol match. I desperately needed some time away from the kids after a few hot (100+ degree), activity-filled weeks, and was craving a bit of grown-up competition, so the Hubby agreed to take over the parenting duties for the morning so I could trek up to the range.

The weather was glorious, as the typically windy range offered only a light breeze, which was sufficient to take the edge off the 90 degree heat, but not enough to make shooting a hassle. Fewer than the usual number of participants took part, but the ones who came were energized by a state IDPA match that many of them had attended the weekend before.

As we walked the course, it became apparent that the majority of the stages were to be shot from behind cover. Since it's pretty hard to haul up barriers and walls to shoot behind when you're on your own, I relish the opportunity the DP gives me to practice what I can't easily practice solo.

The five stages were fast, fun and varied. The first was drawing from a seated position behind a table to eliminate three threats in a "doorway", Clint Eastwood style. The second was performed from a surrender position behind barrels, with a wall dividing threats to the left and right. I botched this one as I got excited and thrust my leg out from behind cover, drawing a procedural penalty.

The third one was my favorite. Rather than describe it, I had my run filmed so I could show you. Here it is.

You'll hear me reminding myself to "stop at the edge", rather than repeat the procedural error I made in the prior stage.

The other two stages involved a combination of steel targets and silhouettes, that needed to be engaged from both sides of barriers, or between two walls.

I had the distinct opportunity of shooting with some really expert pistol shooters. In fact, the two top shooters from the match were in my group. It was great watching these guys quickly, accurately navigate the courses of fire, but it also made me aware that there's a big difference between shooting from cover for a speed match, and shooting from cover in a tactically sound, real-life simulation.

For instance, I've always been taught that shooting from cover is a little like a game of cat and mouse. Unlike the defensive pistol course, in real life, you wouldn't exactly have a predetermined number of bad guys standing quietly behind a corner waiting to be shot. Your job, therefore, is to find any sneaky bad guys, while simultaneously avoiding exposing any part of yourself to their line of fire. To achieve this objective safely you must slowly, methodically work your way around cover, being ever vigilant not to expose any part of yourself, while simultaneously identifying and eliminating the threats. Running through the course quickly, like the sharp shooting fellas in my group so effectively did, would more than likely cause you to miss someone, or to poke out some body part too much and make yourself a target.

The basics of shooting behind cover are what's known as "slicing the pie". This technique entails working your way around your piece of cover in a small, incremental, systematic way, so as to never expose any part of you to something you don't already have your gun sites on.

For a little visual assistance on "slicing the pie", I borrowed this handy graphic from a fellow female firearm blogger named A Police Wife.

In the image, you are the blue guy, safely located behind cover (top of dotted arrow). As the graphic illustrates by the straight arrows, which represent your line of sight, you can not see the red guy from the first location, behind the wall. To find your target, you slowly work your way down, one "pie slice" at a time (follow the dotted arrow) until you have a direct line of site to the red guy, then shoot.

Most people start very close to the corner of the barrier. I did, in the match because, let's face it, I feel safer when I'm snuggling up next to the piece of cover that stands between me and an armed bad guy. But if Mr. Bad Guy is right next to the wall on the other side, and sees my gun muzzle poking out from behind cover as I methodically slice the pie, he could easily grab it and disarm me right then and there. This graphic actually illustrates that better use of cover comes when you work from farther back away from the wall itself.

The only other critique I had for my run on course 3 was that I missed the tactical reload between barrier 1 and barrier 2. If I'd been thinking tactically, rather than worrying about that infernal shot clock, I would have stripped the magazine from the gun while I ran from cover 1 to cover 2, retained the not-quite-empty one, replaced it with a full one, and been ready to engage with a fresh load of 20 rounds when I got to cover 2. Instead, I ran dry 2 shots in at cover 2, and had to hide behind cover to reload. This would have likely been the end of me in a real-life scenario, as the bad guys would have known where I was, and that I was out of ammo. That is NOT a situation I ever want to be in!

Hopefully this enlightens some about the use of cover for defensive pistol shooting. As always, I'd love your comments!

Dove hunting and its delicious result

September first is a bona fide holiday in our family. For generations, my hubby's family members have taken the day off of work and freed their kids from school to celebrate the opening day of mourning dove season.

When I first met the hubby (then boyfriend) I began joining him on this sacred holiday, and I have since learned to love dove openers. Unlike the wintertime water foul seasons, it's typically warm enough on September 1st to wear shorts. You pack a lunch, some water, and many, many boxes of shotgun shells and, if you're lucky, you come home with fewer than a dozen doves. If you're me, you come home with one bird...ok, so shotgunning fast-moving airborne game birds is not my strong suit. But my lack of success dove hunting doesn't keep me from going.

This year, we packed both of the kids, who were eager to participate in this family tradition. Though Little Sister is still too young and excitable to handle even a toy gun, Boy has demonstrated extremely disciplined gun handling skills with his toy guns and, as a result, was given his first shotgun for his 5th birthday.

This isn't any shotgun either. This JC Higgins 410 single-shot was his daddy's first shotgun, and his granddaddy's first shotgun as well. While Boy is still a bit too small to handle it by himself, he did get a chance to fire a round in the direction of a dove...with no success, but at least he was in good company. It was a fun morning, and the kids both came home dirty and tired, and we had a collective count of about 10 birds to show for our efforts.

The Hubby went out for the afternoon shoot, sans wife and kids, and came home with about 20 more. Out here, while there is a 15 bird limit on our native mourning dove, the larger, non-native Eurasian collared dove has begun to dominate the habitat and resources of the mourning dove, and is therefore considered a nuisance species. There is no limit on collared dove.

So what do you do with 30 or so dove?  I typically make a fun little appetizer called Dove Poppers which is a half dove breast marinated in Chipotle Tobasco sauce atop a cream cheese stuffed half jalapeno, wrapped with bacon and then baked, but this year, due to the volume of little dove breasts in the fridge, the Hubby suggested a dove jambalaya...ooooh, I love it when he talks food.

So we began looking into recipes and managed to adapt a few to meet our needs. I was extremely disappointed with the store-bought Cajun seasoning options, so the Hubby found a great recipe for it as well and I included it here too, but feel free to use a store-bought one you like if you'd rather. The jambalaya was a huge success, and we both agreed it was our new favorite recipe for dove! It made a huge pot, and was perfect for a group, and the dove meat was fork tender, moist and delicious. Even people who turn their noses up at game meat would be hard pressed to find flaw with this recipe, so without further ado, here it is.

Dove Jambalaya

• 
  6 slices thick cut bacon, cut into1-inch pieces
• 1 pound cooked ham, diced
• 2 pounds boneless dove breasts
• 1 package cooked andouille sausage
• 3 T butter
• 2 cups chopped celery
• 2 cups bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 (14.5 ounce) cans diced tomatoes, with liquid
• 4 cups beef broth
• 4 cups chicken broth
• 6 T. Cajun seasoning (recipe below) divided
• 3 cups uncooked white rice

1. Sprinkle 3-4 T of Cajun seasoning over dove breasts and toss to coat.
2. In a large stockpot, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp. Remove bacon with a slotted spoon and set aside.
3. Add dove breasts to pot and brown in batches in bacon grease. Return browned meat and bacon to pan and add diced ham and sliced sausage. Set aside.
4. In a separate pan, heat butter over medium heat. Add celery, pepper, onion and garlic and saute until soft.
5. Add veggies to meat in stock pot, along with tomatoes, broth and 2 T. Cajun seasoning. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer approximately 2 hours.
6. Stir in rice and cover, setting timer for 20 minutes. Stir occasionally to keep rice from sticking to bottom of pot.
7. Remove pot from heat and let set 10 minutes before serving.

Cajun Seasoning

• 5 T. paprika
• 2 T. fresh ground black pepper
• 1 T. onion powder
• 1 T. garlic powder
• 1 T. dried oregano
• 1 T. dried basil
• 1 T dried thyme
• 1 T. salt
• 1 tsp. white pepper
• 1 tsp. cayenne pepper (or to taste)
• 1 tsp. ground coriander

A woman's perspective on the best holsters for women

At all of my defensive pistol events, my accuracy is pretty good, but my struggle with speed tends to place me at the back of the pack for final scores. Some of it is practice (or the lack there of), some of it nerves, but a lot of it is equipment. I'm not just making excuses here. I truly believe that most shooting gear is made by men and for men. As I am NOT a man, but rather a normal sized, athletically built WOMAN who has birthed two children, I've found that the equipment designed for him doesn't always work optimally for her.

I've tried dozens of holsters since I started carrying a firearm as one of my daily accessories: in the waistband (IWB), outside the waistband (OWB), ankle holster, drop holsters and thigh rigs. I think I own at least one of each, much to the Hubby's annoyance, who thought he lucked out by marrying a woman who hates shopping for clothes and has been satisfied wearing the same 4 pairs of shoes for the last 10 years. And lets face it, holsters aren't cheap! So here's the knowledge I have to share on the topic of obtaining the right holster for the lady marksman.

My number one beef with holsters is that most common varieties and styles, whether for concealed carry or open carry are designed to sit on a fellow's hip. I don't know about you, but my hips aren't exactly like a man's. When I wear a holster on my hip, I'm constantly being pinched in the side and poked in the ribs by the grip of my gun. And then, when I draw, I have to tip over at the waist to the non-holster side to ensure my giggly bits are well clear of my draw stroke as I extract the firearm from its enclosure. Not exactly efficient, never mind comfortable to execute.

This year, after much begging, pleading and coercing, the hubby got me a new thigh holster for my anniversary (or birthday or mothers day...I can't really remember...don't tell hubby). Before shelling out the dough on the one I wanted, the Hubby bought me a random thigh holster from the gun shop. It had 2 thigh straps instead of one, but they were in entirely the wrong place. This is the one item of gun gear that I think would be MORE comfortable for a woman than a man if you get my drift...

High Speed Gear drop holster

But finally I won out and the Hubby shelled out the big bucks for the High Speed Gear Drop Holster and I have to admit, it's the best holster I've ever owned. It's super comfortable, puts my gun in a great place to draw from, doesn't impede my movement at all, and is out of the way, yet accessible when needed. I even found when I went backpacking on our camping trip a few weekends ago, that I could actually carry a firearm AND a backpack simultaneously...something not easy to do with the usual holsters. Best of all is that my draw stroke is at least 2 seconds faster than it was with the traditional hip carry I used to use.

But let's face it, walking into the grocery store with this bad boy strapped to your thigh is bound to garner a few looks, and maybe a discussion with the security officer on duty. So when I'm not in "open carry country" I opt for the Minotaur MTAC in the waist band holster.

Open carry Minotaur MTAC

Instead of sitting on your hip, it sits at the 4:00 position (or 8:00 if you're a lefty like me) just behind the hip. By far, the MTAC is the most comfortable and versatile option for IWB carry,  and it also has some additional unbeatable features: you can change out the "half body" (the kidex part that holds the gun) so you can use the same holster for all of your guns, and you change the 'cant' (angle the gun sits in the holster) to improve your access to it.

Concealed carry Minotaur MTAC

I find the MTAC is very concealable with a loose-fitting blouse, but unfortunately, you do need to wear a belt to carry it. Other drawbacks are that it's not comfortable for long car rides, and your chiropractor will hate you for what it does to your back. And some say that if you're in a confrontation where an attacker has you on your back, you'll have a hard time drawing it from your back. I guess this is why Clint Smith of Thunder Ranch teaches his students "Two is one and one is none" when it comes to carrying a gun.

I'm just grateful to live in a place where I can carry a gun, be it on my hip, in my waistband, or on my thigh. Now that you have a starting place for shopping for your next holster, maybe more of us mommas will start packing something other than a bling covered Coach bag, and the world will be a safer place for everyone.

Perfect day at the range!

The sun was shining, the wind was still, the babysitter was available...Saturday was a perfect day to let some lead fly at the range.

A few weeks ago, I posted about my new toy, the Saiga 12-gauge shotgun. Since then, we've made a few customizations to her including a new pistol grip, trigger group, adjustable buttstock, gas adjustment knob, and finished it up by ordering two 10-round magazines and a 20-round drum mag. The hubby even sacrificed his own load development and reloading to spend half a day on Friday converting her so we could take her out this weekend to give her a spin. This is the result:

I realize that you can't see the targets very well in the video, but there were 12 stationary targets and the last one was airborne clay pigeon. I obliterated all of them, even with the stove-pipe misfire to distract me. In fact, I've never been known for my accuracy with sporting clays (if I shoot 20%, I'm doing well), but to my surprise, I didn't miss a single flyer the whole day. (Note to self: get 2-round mag and take Saiga dove hunting this year)

Don't get me wrong, this gun is a brute. When I "function tested"  the 20-round mag for the first time, I felt all the adrenaline pumping excitement I did when I was kickboxing. It's loud, rough, has tons of muzzle climb, and about 12 rounds through the 20-round mag and you realize the recoil has backed you up about nine inches and you need to readjust your position. But even with all of that, there's no way to NOT feel like Rambo when you're done unloading 20 rounds.

As if all that wasn't enough to send me home from the range with a grin on my face, I was also able to smack the 500 yard plate on 4 out of 4 shots with the Hubby's home-made 260, and every draw from my new thigh rig felt fast and smooth. Oh, is there any greater joy than a perfect day on the range?

Momma's new toy

The hubby brought home a surprise for me last week: the Saiga 12-gauge shotgun. Here's a little demo of this handy little firearm in action.

Ok, so the version they're using in the video is modified, but it's hard to deny how awesome that baby is!

I'll never forget when I first saw the Saiga in action. The Hubby was trying to convince me that we needed one, and I was rolling my eyes, thinking, yeah, we already have tactical shotguns, and semi-auto shotguns...why would we need a mag fed shotgun? And then I saw the video. It was love at first sight, and when I found out it came with a 20-round drum mag...ooh la la! I had to have one. That was more than a year ago, but when the Feds recently decided to restrict the Saiga's importation claiming they had no function as a "sporting" shotgun, purchasing a Saiga went up a notch on our priority list.

I'm champing at the bit to try my new baby out at the range. Although I'm certain it will be a long time and a few modifications before I can run mine like the guys at R and R run theirs, I do look forward to employing it often enough to become competent, if not lethal with it. 

Gearing up for some fun, family, food and firearms

Well, as you know, I'm all about the *F* words, and I'm looking forward to filling this weekend with as many of them as possible.

You see, my folks will be visiting us from the commie coast of California.

On their last visit, the Hubby and I coerced them into joining us on the range. Hesitant, but willing, both my mom and dad got a short course on firearms safety and functionality and then spent the next hour firing rounds through several different semi-auto pistols and even the AR-15 rifle.

A couple of things struck me as particularly satisfying about that trip. First, my parents actually enjoyed shooting. It wasn't scary or weird, and neither were we...they recognized it for what it was, just a good, safe, fun way to spend an afternoon together. And second, I got to see my mom excel at something she had never tried before. Yep, it turns out she is a natural! Apparently, I get my shooting ability from my mom's side of the family...no offense, Dad, I'm just calling it as I see it.

So, when they scheduled this trip out, a day at the range was automatically factored into the agenda. I think the Hubby will take Dad out to "let the 'big dog' bark" at the 1000 yard range. Then, we'll all head out for a day of gun shopping so they can both try on pistols. Dad really liked my XDM, but the Commies in CA won't let him have one, so we're off to search for something equally fun and comfortable, but with fewer bullets.

The rest of the trip will likely be filled with grandparenty doting and good food. My mom never leaves home without her flash drive filled with recipes. There is truly an art to knowing what something will taste like just from reading the recipe and it's a gift my mom has perfected. I'm excited to break out a few new recipes of my own.

All together, their visit will be a nice distraction from the craziness of the last few weeks. I'll report back soon.