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!

Government that prohibits citizens from growing food condems them to death

I came across this headline today in my internet perusal:

US meat and poultry widely contaminated with bacteria including superbugs 

In the past when I read headlines like these, I praised God for giving us the inclination and ability to raise and eat our own food. But now, we're in a battle with the Town to defend that right.

When we purchased our property 9 years ago, we recognized the value of owning land that could feed us. Our priorities have not changed: we don't have a 4000 square foot house in a fancy subdivision, and we can't take vacations to Maui twice a year because of this life we have chosen. But if our economy collapses or all of the commercially available meat is found to be tainted (see article above), we will be able to feed ourselves and our neighbors with what we painstakingly cultivated on our land. 

This is our right, given by God, not just to Americans but to every person in the world...from camel farmers in outer Mongolia to goat herders in Pakistan.

In a previous post I mentioned that we received a letter from the Town demanding that we remove our cattle from our property. Though our 7.44 acre property has housed livestock since before the Town existed, the current administrators are attempting to enforce a 20 year old municipal zoning code that excludes any animal you can eat from its list of approved "domestic large animals."

After we rejected the Town's first demand to relocate our cattle, the Town suggested that we apply for a Conditional Use Grant in order to keep our cows. At a non-refundable cost of $100, it holds no guarantee of being approved and can not be transferred to anyone who buys our property. For our family, the thought of paying a municipality for permission to feed ourselves runs contrary to everything our nation was founded on, and is simply not an option. So, true to form, we will stand firm.

We live in weird times. There are people who want the government to provide them with everything, and who live from disappointment to disappointment, perpetually irritated that they're not getting what they want or what the neighbors have. Then, at the other end of the spectrum, there are people who defy authority to provide anything for them, and struggle with age-old challenges to provide everything from food to clothing for themselves. And finally, there are people in the middle--most of America--who are completely indifferent...typical consumers trying to do their part, content to remain blissfully unaware of the struggle around them. Government, is equally conflicted, wanting the role of parent and provider for all mankind so intently that it often cuts off its suppliers to prove its sovereignty. This is the drama that's playing out here in my town.

Town government is not a Homeowners Association. Homeowners may voluntarily enter into a contract with an HOA and sign over their property rights to that private organization for whatever security it offers in exchange. But municipalities may not operate in this way; they are beholden to the Constitution and obligated to defend the rights of the people they serve. It seems that we have become so used to people telling us what we can and can't do with our private property that we've forgotten that it is our our property to begin with. If the Town wants to decide how our property should best be used, it can buy it from us.

 

Perhaps this latest hurdle is our chance to stamp out tyranny in our own backyard, or perhaps this is a lesson to us all about what happens when government is permitted to run unchecked on the taxpayer's dime. It's time we all remembered that it's not someone else's job to protect fundamental unalienable rights, it's mine and yours.

Surrounded by predators

I awoke yesterday morning to my hubby's breathless statement: "They're all gone."

"What are all gone?" I asked with my eyes still closed.

"The chickens," he reported, "the foxes got them all."

Fox #2 (left of barn) guarding chickens morning after the raid

I sat bold upright, still foggy from sleep, and tried to comprehend the details..."What does 'gone' mean? Did they escape? Are there remnants? How did he know it was the foxes? Does he mean the big chickens or our little hand raised pullets?"

As he filled me in on his grizzly chicken house discovery, I began to sob. I know we raise our own food, so animal death shouldn't bother me, but discovering that our sustenance has been ripped away from us--our time, our money and our tender loving care--by a predator, that, in town, possesses more rights to survival than we do drove me to anguish.

Perhaps, my response was also enhanced by the events of the two days prior to the devastation.

* * * * * * * * * * *

Monday morning, we were awoken by Ruth's hysterical barks. I had been laying in bed, semi-conscious, listening to her woof for about an hour before her barking escalated to a fever pitch. Assuming she was just doing her job of defending the property from marauding foxes, I laid there considering whether to wake hubby to perform a spotlight inspection of the chickens. But the new intensity to her bark woke both of us. Hubby jumped out of bed and opened the blind, and a split second later, grabbed his Glock and the spotlight and headed for the front door.

The headlights he alarmingly saw on our property belonged to the cops. The investigating officer, seeing our spotlight, reversed & headed to the front door. I heard most of his comments to Hubby: "We received a complaint about your dog barking. This is your only warning; the next call we get will result in a ticket."

Hubby interjected to explain she was only trying to scare off the foxes, but the cop cut him off. "Just keep her quiet or I'll have to cite you."

Hubby put the Glock away and came back to bed, but neither of us slept very well for the next 2 hours before the alarm went off.

The day went on as usual, Hubby at work, the kids and I starting a new homeschool unit. On our way back from taking Hubby lunch, I grabbed the mail to find an unexpected letter from the Town, which went something like this:

It has come to the Town's attention that you currently house cattle on your property, which is a violation of the zoning  restrictions cited here...blah, blah, blah...you are required to remove the cattle by April 29th; please call me to inspect the property on or before that date. Sincerely, the new Chief Planner

Momma Cow, Decalf & Blacky on the property last fall

Lack of sleep and anxiety over the potential of a noise disturbance citation still plaguing my guts, I felt my stomach infused with a new dose of adrenaline. "Lose my cows? Our source of meat for the year? They have no right," I ranted in my mind. "Preventing my family from growing its own food is a direct violation of my divine right to life and liberty! Where's the government established to protect my rights? It's been replaced by town bureaucrats who take pleasure in telling residents what they can and cannot do with their own land..." Let's just say it was all down hill from there.

For the next 3 hours until Hubby got home, I sat down and crafted letter after letter in response to the Town, called the other families I knew in town that graze cattle on their land to find out if the Town had ever threatened them, and tried to work out a "Plan B" in case the Town won and we ultimately had to relocate the cows...where would they go? What would it look like to have to drive somewhere to "visit" our livestock?

When Hubby did get home to hear the news, he reacted as I did: incensed, overwhelmed, saturated with the hostility pouring out of the town we've called home for 9 years. Our property predates the existence of the Town by 20 years. It remains one of the last few intact working farms in the town, and was only annexed prior to us purchasing it for the tax revenue it could generate. Our southern property line is the invisible division between "town" and "county" land, though no discernible difference exists between the use of the two properties.

Despite its history here, ever since we've owned the land, we've had to defend every right that came with it. First it was fencing, then water, then access, and now, which animals we're permitted to graze in our pastures.We've been robbed, threatened, attacked, sued, and threatened some more. And yet, we do not retaliate. We lovingly cultivate the ground, enhance the landscape, groom the pastures, and upgrade the house, living on and nurturing every square inch of this land we call home. Our neighbors' property values soar because of their scenic views across our land, but we are ceaselessly surrounded by hungry predators hoping to devour what is rightfully ours. What a relief it will be when this place finally chooses a new owner to fight for it.

So, Wednesday morning, when I was awoken to the news of catastrophic loss in the chicken house, I was inconsolable. "Why does this place want us to die? We are only trying to mind our own business, feed ourselves, teach our kids good values...but they want us to fail, they want us to cry 'uncle'."

 * * * * * * * *

It seems unfair that wild animals, that we knew had targeted our chickens as their preferred food source, could possess more rights in this town than we do. We simply aren't permitted to defend our food from these predators, the dog can't bark to scare it off, we can't shoot it, and we can't trap it. We just have to lie down and wait for the two foxes to dig under the chain link fence and devour 31 out of our 35 birds. Our entire future of homegrown eggs and meat was gone in one morning.

But, today is another day. The foxes, now labeled "nuisance wildlife", are no longer protected, and the traps are in place awaiting their next attempt. Four chickens remain of our flock: 2 aged leghorn hens and 2 Brahma pullets that were being picked on so badly by the other pullets we had to separate them by locking them in a small wire dog kennel. And today, there was one gleaming white egg in a nesting box...proof that at least one layer is back to business as usual, even without its comrades to keep it company.

Our elected town representatives, who I alerted to the bullying we received over the cow issue, have responded by going to bat for us, so I am cautiously optimistic that we may prevail in that area as well. I am doing my best to remember that all of our trials, losses and triumphs are part of God's divine plan for our lives, and I am grateful that we have a grocery store nearby where I can buy eggs, chicken and beef in a pinch.

Land of the Enslaved, Home of the Timid

Let me be clear. We live in the greatest nation on earth. But last week, I saw two reports that caused me to grieve the loss of our great nation, and the oppression of its people. Apparently, our nation, established out of revolt against tyranny and founded as a sanctuary for those who take responsibility for their own “pursuit of happiness”, has been transformed to a place where citizens are unaware of their rights and, if they do take a stand, are impotent to protect them.

The first report I’m referring to is an article about a Detroit woman who noticed her daughter experiencing a possible vaccine reaction. The doctors she sought for the condition prescribed additional medications to alleviate the symptoms and it caused her to get worse. So she did what every mother who sees something causing her daughter distress would do and she took her off the meds. At this point, and the article is not clear on how it all transpired, Social Services appeared at her door and attempted to take her child from her for failing to give her the prescribed medication. When their intentions became known, this mom holed up in the house with her daughter, holding off the social workers with a gun. The long and the short of it is that she’s now being held on $500,000 bond, and being charged with multiple felonies. They’ve taken her daughter from her and stuck her in the system, despite promising that she’d be placed with a family member. Obviously, the authorities intended to make her an example of what happens to people who believe their lives and liberties are not subject to any government. 

What’s the lesson here, folks? It’s safer for a mother to walk into a doctor’s office and kill her baby than it is for a woman to refuse to administer mind-altering drugs to her child. And if you defend your position as the rightful authority in the home, you’ll be carted off to jail and made an example of.

Story number two features a family in Delaware whose private personal property is stolen, essentially at gunpoint, by the government sworn to defend their rights. When the homeowners confront the tyrants, they are told they don’t have the right to stand on their own property and speak on their behalf. They are lied to and threatened, and despite being filmed the atrocities continue. The “authorities” have become so brazen that they simply don’t care who sees them violate the law. After the standoff, the homeowner actually gets in his vehicle and moves it aside so the city workers can dismantle their property…who teaches us this? Are these the actions of the free and the brave?

I’ve heard people say that the best way to combat injustice is not to take up arms, but rather arm yourself with a camera and record the truth. But, honestly friends, who’s watching? The horrors witnessed in these two stories have become so commonplace, so ingrained in our culture that neighbors, as in the case of the mother, actually encourage one another to sacrifice their God-given rights to comply with unjust and unconstitutional authority. For as many people who see these reports and feel as I do, there are likely an equal number who watch and think that those poor folks could have saved themselves a bunch of hassle if they just went along with the authorities.

"No authority have you against Me in anything, except it were given to you from above." John 19:11

 When I was a kid, I used to write all over my school notebooks. One of my favorite quips back then was “Question Authority.” After reading the founding documents of our nation, it occurs to me that too many people have stopped doing this, so I’m including a quote from the Declaration of Independence here so you can read it for yourselves:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed… That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness” (My emphasis added)

Fear is the greatest weapon of the slave master. We should approach each encounter with “authority” armed with these questions: Does this government operate justly? Does it recognize its citizens as its rightful authority? Does it uphold its citizen’s unalienable rights? If the answer is no, then it’s our duty as “The Brave” to stand our ground. If the enslaved remember their power in numbers and their moral obligation to do as the Declaration of Independence authorizes them to do, then the nation has a chance to be return back to the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, but until then, we will continue to wallow in our own complicit obedience to unjust masters, praying each day that the injustice doesn’t come to our own doorstep. Good luck with that.