Revisiting The Church's Policy and The Constitution

 Let me say on the outset of this article that I support, sustain, and appreciate the leaders of my Church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  I follow counsel from living Prophets and Apostles.  I feel the same way about my local leaders.  

So why am I writing an article that seems to go against the Church’s policy of no “lethal weapons on church property” unless you are a (law enforcement officer) LEO?  Nothing against LEO’s, but I’ve trained them.  Some of them have a hard time finding their way around a shooting range.  Yet they can carry on Church property.  The first thing this policy does is make Church property soft targets.  This puts my family at risk. Then to top it off, and trying to make someone feel good, they employ the “Run, Hide, Fight” training to survive an active shooter event.  All of this adds up to cowering in the corner and saying, “please don’t hurt me”.  If you’ve read my blog posts, you would know that is not me.  All of the above, in my opinion, equals a politically correct response.  Maybe it's a liability issue?

In April 2021 Conference Apostle Dallin H Oaks said this about the Constitution of the United States.

“In these remarks I do not speak for any political party or other group. I speak for the United States Constitution, which I have studied for more than 60 years. I speak from my experience as a law clerk to the chief justice of the United States Supreme Court. I speak from my 15 years as a professor of law and my 3½ years as a justice on the Utah Supreme Court. Most important, I speak from 37 years as an Apostle of Jesus Christ, responsible to study the meaning of the divinely inspired United States Constitution to the work of His restored Church.”

“The United States Constitution is unique because God revealed that He “established” it “for the rights and protection of all flesh”.

The Constitution is divinely inspired.  Even the 2^nd Amendment.  Unless you’re on Church property.  On Church property I have to Run or hide but not fight with a lethal weapon.  I guess I have to throw a Kleenex box at someone trying to kill me.

This is where I toot my own horn.  I have grown up around guns and hunting.  I have been trained by the U.S. military.  I have some experience with combat. I am a certified, trained small arms instructor for the U.S. Air Force, and the U.S. Army.  I have trained and qualified 100’s of Soldiers, Airmen, Pilots, and Officers in Pistol, Rifle, and automatic weapons. I have trained agents from the FBI, DEA, CBP, Customs, Border Patrol, local Sherrif’s office, and local PD. I am a certified concealed carry instructor for my state.  I also maintain Concealed Carry licenses from 2 states.  I am a credentialed Range Safety Officer for the NRA.  I am also a credentialed NRA Instructor in Certified Pistol, Certified Rifle, and Personal Protection in the Home.  I also was a competitor in the now disbanded American Tactical Shooters Association.  Plus, I go to the range once or twice a week.  I have experience with guns. But I can’t carry at Church. 

I don’t understand how the Church can say the Constitution is inspired but no one but LEO’s can have a gun on Church property.  How can the woke members in the Church office building reconcile with the second amendment?  I agree that we should be a peacemaking people.  I, myself, do not condone violence.  But when violence and evil come calling, I hope the Church leadership is not depending on Law Enforcement to protect us.  Don’t get me wrong.  We have the best, bravest, best trained, and dedicated law enforcement in the world.  But they cannot be everywhere all the time!  I want to protect my family if the run, hide fails.  I would beseech the leadership to talk with the Church security people.  I would hope that they can see that asking members to not be armed on Church property is a very bad decision.  I know there have been accidents.  But the actual attacks and the threat that is out there should overshadow their fear someone will get hurt in a firearm accident.  I can guarantee that the chances of someone getting shot from someone actually trying to shoot people are much higher than an accident.

After saying all this I will answer your question.  Yes, I am always armed on Church property.  I do not recommend anyone else to do this, even though I do break this policy.  I wrestled with this when it came to pass in 2019. I have been carrying in church since 1983.  I considered stopping and complying.  But I then thought about if I could live with myself if some nut bag came into my place of worship and started to shoot and I was not armed.  I have a hard enough time living with myself having been in combat with brothers that did not make it.  I would be over the edge if I could have done something when the threat appeared but was not equipped with the tools of defense.  I don’t know if that is justification or rationalization or what.  But that is my decision.  My wife used to teach early morning Seminary in our building.  She is trained and licensed.  If she still taught Seminary, I would probably tell her to be armed.  She was armed when she taught but the policy at that time was different.

The Church needs to decide if the 2^nd amendment applies to the divinity of the Constitution or not.  Do we as members believe the Constitution or not?  As members we believe in agency unless it comes to the 2^nd amendment. Do we believe that these rights come from God or not?  Do we follow the world in defense of our families?  I don’t know if liability will ever change this policy, but I will remind everyone of my opinion when someone goes in and shoots up a chapel.

Elder Oaks said: “I testify of the divinely inspired Constitution of the United States and pray that we who recognize the Divine Being who inspired it will always uphold and defend its great principles.”  Even those principles in the 2^nd Amendment.

Semper Paratus

Check 6

Burn

Finding Your Best Training

 In training we should always have an objective.  Otherwise, it’s recreational shooting.  There’s nothing wrong with recreational shooting but if your intent is self-defense, you’ll probably be missing the mark. Without calling anyone names we’re not nearly as smart or capable as we think we are.  I include myself in this.  It isn’t until our vision of what we think we’re capable of comes to fruition that we learn the reality of what we are capable of.  When you are put under stress, you’re going to have even less fine motor skills. So, the better technical shooter you are, that’s going to free up brain capacity to be able to solve the problem at hand.

There’s a body cam video where an officer is getting into a gunfight and literally every time he tries to get a mag in the gun, it’s backwards. He’s struggling just to get the gun into the fight. If you’re struggling to get the gun reloaded, you can’t be thinking about where your next point of cover is, where other officers are moving to, if civilians are near. So again, high levels of technical shooting are vital because it frees our mental resources to focus on other aspects of the fight that we need to be more worried about.

It comes back to core competence. If I want to know whether somebody is a competent shot, I want to see how they handle the gun. How they load, unload, press-check, perform reloads and similar tasks.

The way you handle the gun is indicative of the amount of training you’ve put in overall.  This shows how much the gun is an extension of your self

Maybe you can shoot 100 points on a bullseye at 25 yards. But if it looks like a train wreck getting the gun up, or loading, or a dozen other handling tasks, then there is room for more training. Being able to press the trigger straight back is great, but how you handle the gun is more indicative than just about anything else we can see in a shooter.

Now using my “extensive” (sarcasm) knowledge of psychology I’d like to bring this into this train of thought.

Trait theorist Raymond Cattell reduced the number of main personality traits from Allport’s initial list of over 4,000 down to 171. According to Cattell, 16 traits are the source of all human personalities.

British psychologist Hans Eysenck believed that personality has a biological basis, developing a model of personality based on just three universal traits.

Both Cattell’s and Eysenck’s theories have been the subject of considerable research. This has led some theorists to believe that Cattell focused on too many traits, while Eysenck focused on too few. As a result, a new trait theory often referred to as the "Big Five" theory emerged.

 This 5-factor model of personality represents five core traits that interact to form human personality.  While researchers often disagree about the exact labels for each dimension, they are commonly described as:

Agreeableness: level of cooperation and caring for others (friendly/compassionate vs. critical/judgmental)

Conscientiousness: level of thoughtfulness and structure (efficient/organized vs. extravagant/careless)

Extraversion: level of socialness and emotional expressiveness (outgoing/energetic vs. solitary/reserved)

Neuroticism: level of mood stability and emotional resilience (sensitive/nervous vs. resilient/confident)

Openness: level of adventure and creativity (inventive/curious vs. consistent/cautious)

The only reason I bring any of this psych-o-babble into this is that personality does, I believe, enter into this shooting and defending equation.  Personality is always displayed when it comes to shooters in the Special Operations community in the military or law enforcement.  It takes a certain kind of personality to be able to turn off emotion.  Anyone can do this to a certain point.  Turning off emotion works but controlling emotion is the real key.  Being able to control fear, anger, etc. and emotions that are involved with defending is actually a good trait.  I’m not sure turning them off is a good idea.  Because that causes problems in other areas of life, like relationships. But knowing your personality and which emotions will be prevalent in your personality is very advantageous.  As you do a little self-evaluation be honest with yourself.  It might be a good idea to talk with someone who really knows you and can be honest with you about this evaluation.

Many people wonder what training will help them in this thing we call defense.  Even simple plinking can be of value.  Whether you do structured practice, structured dry practice, you’re shooting matches, you’re doing man-on-man events, you’re attending professional training, you’re taking cognitive classes, or you’re doing video simulators. All that has value and if we put all of those different experiences in different kind of modalities of training together, then we have a very competent shooter. Because none of those things is going to be the solution by itself, but if we put them all together, we can build a very strong foundation to let us be able to perform well.

This doesn’t mean you have to do all these things to be competent, it means you need to figure out what training is best for you and will make you the best shooter and defender you’d like to be.

Train hard my friends.

Semper Paratus

Check 6

Burn

Are U.S. Schools Finally Getting The Security Message?

 It has been some time since we’ve had a school shooting.  I hope it never happens again.  I wanted to put this article out now instead of right after a bad event.  It makes sense to prepare.  I think many if not all schools in the U.S. have made changes to their security at public schools.  Columbine happened in 1999.  That also happened to be in the middle of a federal “assault rifle” ban.  But we’ve had many tragic shootings since then because American schools just did not learn the lessons of those horrible events.  I think in the 25 years since Columbine finally we’ve decided to make our kids safe.  I hope the schools near you have decided to take decisive steps to secure our schools.

The following is a portion of an article written in 2013.

Published September 9, 2013 In Campus Safety magazine, By: Rod Ellis

“I gained a priceless new mindset after my trip to Israel. Want to think like an Israeli security specialist? Not to simplify their expertise — because it is amazing — the proper mindset really is not all that difficult. Yet, it is what sets them apart. Rather than thinking that arms alone will defeat any threat, mindset is more important than firepower. This mindset is best kept simple, and I suggest the following:

1) Identify the most likely threats to your students and staff.

2) Solicit the help and active collaboration of stakeholders and form all-hazard threat assessment teams to identify the threats and methods to warn your staff and others about the threats that can be prevented or interrupted. This is provided that they can be mitigated. For example, foul weather cannot be prevented, but it can be mitigated. Concentrate on preparedness for the most likely threats, and use resources that are readily available as guides such as FEMA, the Department of Education, reputable private firms, non-profits and your state’s emergency management.

3) Have a no-hassle and confidential way for the reporting of unusual/concerning activity (e.g. an unattended bag). Any system/method you employ for public reporting should be very user friendly.

4) Develop and communicate as simple of a plan as possible to staff or students on the proper course of action they should take to deal quickly with threats.

5) Train, train, train on that plan, and include students and staff, not just your own public safety staff. Then, evaluate the plan and tweak it where necessary. Also, ensure that safety drill practices and evaluations are a weighted part of staff performance expectations.

6) If you use security cameras and technology, get a vendor with good support and don’t bog down people trying to monitor technology that is beyond their ability to mentally handle. The Israelis were quick to point out that they limit anyone monitoring video to a four hour shift. Anything beyond that greatly decreases human capability to observe.

7) As much as possible, sanitize areas that are to be used for large gatherings on campus. You might not have a K-9 or sophisticated explosive detection equipment on hand, but you can have trained observers. Train them on IED detection and use them. Once you sanitize an area, ensure it is secured and not left unattended before participants begin to arrive.

 

8) Use community policing to make safety a mindset and culture on your campus so the programs you employ will be sustainable in the future. Soliciting others on campus is a force multiplier, so get students and staff involved. Properly applied technology is a great asset, yet nothing really beats an engaged observer who is properly trained on response.”

I’ve written about this before. 

Check out: Reprint From 2018:  Do We Want Our Schools Secure, Or Not? 5/27/22

Do We Want Our Schools Secure, Or Not?  5/22/18

Some of these steps have been taken.  If it was up to me, I would employ them all.

Semper Paratus

Check 6

Don't Wish Me "Happy Veteran's Day"

 Don’t wish me a happy Veteran’s Day.  Veteran’s Day makes me remember those I served with and I don’t mind that.  But it also forces me to remember those who didn’t get to live and be recognized for their service. I know that most people would not realize that.  I also know that most people don’t think veterans are bothered by someone wishing them well and trying to show appreciation.  Veteran’s Day is also a time when we check on our past friends and see how our “brothers in arms” are doing.  This year I heard about a brother who passed away, but we’re getting to the age where it’s older age setting in.  He had cancer.  I remember his relationship with tobacco as being pretty heavy so it is no big surprise at what killed him.  I was also in contact with a brother who is still suffering greatly from his PTSD experience.  Thankfully he is getting help and has been for some time.  His family also supports him a lot.  It was good touching base with him and seeing how he is coping.  I too still deal with the effects of my limited combat experience.  I don’t like crowds yet I go to church every week.  That’s actually how I deal with it.  I believe I can get better by facing the problem and dealing with it.  My wife and kids help me quite a bit with their unwavering support.

  Veterans Day is a holiday dedicated to American veterans of all wars. Veterans Day occurs on November 11. In 1918, on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, was declared between the Allied nations and Germany in World War I, then known as “the Great War.”

Commemorated in many countries as Armistice Day the following year, November 11th became a federal holiday in the United States in 1938. In the aftermath of World War II and the Korean War, Armistice Day became known as Veterans Day.

Remember this day and remember there are those who gave all that we may have the country and freedoms we have.  I’m grateful for all who served and a day to commemorate that is a good idea.  Just remember that there are those who sometimes try to forget their experience in defending this country. 

Thank you for all your gratitude, if I may speak for all veterans.  It is similar to Memorial Day for me.  A time to check on your brothers, and a time to reflect on if I am measuring up to those we lost.  Sometimes the guilt of being able to see my children grow up is a little overwhelming.  But then I think about those guys and how much they wanted all of us to enjoy everything life can bring, then I know that I can go on and keep trying.

Semper Paratus

Check 6

Burn

CQB is cool, but what does it have to do with me?

 I was a young man in a foreign country going through a combat experience.  At one point, two other guys and I were hauling ammo from our position to another.  We were experiencing a lull in firefights and were moving through a series of bunkers and berms with relative cover.  Me and one other guy had the ammo in our hands and on our backs.  The third guy was security, and we were glad he was there.  We went around a corner and ran into a roving patrol of 9 enemy soldiers who were pretty lax in their patrol discipline.  We met them and it surprised us both.  But our security guy was doing his job and took out 3 enemy before we could drop our ammo and get our rifles on target.  Fortunately, it took the enemy a little longer to figure out that they just bumped into the enemy, and we neutralized them before they could get their rifles pointed in our direction.  But had our security man been a little hesitant, the story would have turned out different.  He was ready even though it was a surprise.  He closed the small distance between us and hit them with such a heavy force, and then as we followed, the enemy didn’t know what hit them.  This is classic violence of action.  In close quarter battle there are 3 principles that must be used without hesitation, without thinking, to win the short gun fight.  They are Speed, Surprise, and Violence of action.  In our case, we won this scary confrontation even though we were outnumbered.  We walked away without a scratch because these principles were adhered to.  Because of the security man’s speed, even though we too were surprised, the violence of action was successful.  

Violence of action is the principle by which we neutralize the threat as soon as possible. If I were to sum up the concept in one word, it would be dominance. We must dominate and overwhelm the enemy both physically and psychologically to prevent them from defending their position or mounting a counter-attack against us. When it comes to Violence of Action, overwhelming force is the name of the game. Think of it like this. You're watching a UFC or boxing match. You see one of the fighters launch a brutal series of punches into his opponent with the speed and ferocity of a machine gun. You can literally hear his fists smash into his opponent’s head as he shreds him into a bloody pulp. The beaten fighter buckles under the unrelenting storm of punches, unable to fight back or protect himself. Eventually, the referee steps in to stop the fight before someone gets seriously hurt. The fight is over. Pitted against such overwhelming force, the other guy never had a chance. Can we apply that to CQB? If our goal is to overwhelm and dominate the enemy, there's a number of ways we can get that done. From a military or law enforcement perspective,

we can begin by using demolitions to breach the door, tossing a flash-bang into the room

blasting holes or using a vehicle to ram open additional entry points into the wall.

Follow it up with a well trained team flooding the room with guns and that's violence of action in a perfect world.

But what about in a civilian context? Does violence of action apply to a security-minded citizen? Yes, it can. If you have to clear your house or enter a shopping mall to retrieve a loved one during an active shooter event, violence of action is especially critical. And while you may not have breaching assets or demolitions handy, or even a team, you can still establish violence of action. 

Utilizing fast, aggressive maneuver and fire superiority may be all you have. But if you do it right, it may be all you need. Anything that allows you to gain and maintain dominance over the enemy is what we're looking for.

The principles of speed, surprise, and violence of action all have a synergistic relationship to the others. Gaining the element of surprise will help you with speed. Moving with speed will help you sustain violence of action. Speed and violence of action can help you gain the element of surprise. They all work together. But just like with speed and surprise, there are common mistakes shooters make when implementing violence of action. We could go down a large rabbit hole in talking about all this but let’s focus on three mistakes that can overturn all these principles.

Failure to commit is the first mistake.

You know about the fatal funnel, usually a doorway or threshold you must cross to advance toward the threat.  These funnels are where you are the most vulnerable. Moving through them quickly is imperative but moving deliberately and quickly when you don’t know where the threat is. Because of this danger new shooters may freeze causing many problems.  A static target in a fatal funnel is of course very dangerous but also stops the other team members from entering.

Danger is danger.  If you are going into a place where you know a bad guy is, there will be danger. So, when you must go, go! Move in a controlled and aggressive manner.  Dominate the space.  Commit to move, and then work the plan.  You should be flexible because combat is often unpredictable.

 

The second mistake is inadequate weapon skills.  You must know your weapon if you are to take it into combat.  You need to be able to reload it in the dark.  You need to be able to clear it in a moment.  You should also know how to transition from your primary weapon to your secondary.  When I taught tactics in the military, I found that even those with training and experience can fail at weapons manipulation, clearing malfunctions, and transitioning was always a hang up.  You must practice these three things until you have the muscle memory to do them without thinking or in your sleep.  This is no joke, I saw people die in combat because they could not clear a weapon!   

There are many things you may not be told will happen in CQB. The stress, fear, and overload of battle is something you need to think about and be ready for.  You should learn safety in battle such as: not flagging others if you happen to be with someone, keeping your finger off the trigger until you know what and who you are engaging, muzzle discipline.  Combat is a mess.  It’s usually quite loud. It can be very confusing in terms of where the enemy is, where rounds are coming from, and who should be shooting where.  The sights, deafening sounds and adrenaline can cause debilitating fear and hesitation.  These are emotions you must control.  For me it was anger.  I was very angry someone was actually trying to kill me!  It made me angry but I needed to keep it in check and under control or I could have done some stupid things.

When jams or malfunctions occur on the flat range they are simple and easy to correct. But when they occur during a close quarters engagement, it can be catastrophic. You and your team need a plan of action for how you will handle these a malfunction should it occur. When you are solo shooting from cover is imperative.  Having a malfunction out in the open is a really bad day. Make it part of your standard operating procedures (SOP), so that everyone is on the same page. The same goes if you're working alone. Have a plan and work it into your training.
​

Another mistake that is common is targeting.  Discrimination is extremely important in CQB.  Don’t shoot your friends.  It irritates them.  Remember you can only move as fast as your eyes process the room or battlefield.  Move with intent and deliberately.

Shot placement is a part of targeting. In CQB, the enemy must be incapacitated immediately. Shots that wound, but do not immediately incapacitate aren't much better than missing the target completely. Why? Because even if you inflict a mortal wound, if the threat is not immediately incapacitated, he can still pull the trigger and kill you with his dying breath. To ensure immediate incapacitation, you must make well-placed head shots.

The challenge is many of us have been taught to aim center mass of the target. Head shots aren't something we're accustomed to doing on the move. And while chest shots that enter the heart and lungs are normally fatal, it may take several seconds for the threat to expire. Again, that's enough time for him to return effective fire on you. Besides, the threat could be wearing body armor. Yet another reason why head shots are necessary.

To gain immediate incapacitation, aim for the area approximately in the center of the face, below the middle of the forehead, but above the upper lip. That will "turn off the lights."

But why the head? Can't we achieve incapacitation with a shot to the spinal column? Yes, a hit to the spinal column (anywhere below the jaw and the top of the sternum) can get it done, but that's a very narrow target. If you're off by even a few centimeters, you may leave him with enough gas in the tank to deliver a fatal shot to you. Train yourself to make well-placed head shots and you avoid the problem altogether.
Now, having said that, there is another way to approach the issue of shot placement.  I know of some units that don't train their personnel to take head shots. Instead, they prefer the to teach "shoot the threat center mass and continue shooting until the threat is down" approach.  Personally, I'm good with that too.

Remember the three principles of Close Quarter Battle, which are speed, surprise, and violence of action. We discussed each element but have only scratched the surface.

I know that some of this is hard to deal with.  Most civilians don’t run into an armed roving patrol.  But if you are alone and face 3 guys intent on doing you harm you may have to employ some of the above tactics.  Most confrontations are at close quarters.  Unlike a battlefield your only objective is to stop the threat.  Stopping the threat may not be a head shot.  But if 3 guys are twice my size and are coming at me with knives I will respond as I have been taught.  But always remember to live by ADD (Avoidance, deterrence, and de-escalation).

Close quarter battle is not often needed by the average concealed carrier.  But many of the principles apply.

 

Semper Paratus

Check 6

Burn

 

Firestarting: A Lost Art

Fire Starting Kit I=ve built and maintained a fire starting kit for many years. I=m a proponent of using the simplest way possible to start a cooking or camp fire. Usually that is the traditional tinder, kindling, fuel fire started with a lighter. But after many years I=ve learned that redundancy of one of the most important survival tools and is wise. (Two is one and one is none) Here is a list of what I keep in my kit. It has changed throughout the years as I learn or find new methods. Tinder: Cotton balls soaked in Vaseline or alcohol and let dry Commercial starting sticks Homemade fire starter (dryer lint in toilet paper rolls, cut to disks, covered in paraffin) Newspaper (3 inch strips rolled tightly, tied with cotton string, dipped in paraffin) Or folded newspaper Magic Indian Water (lighter fluid or alcohol in small squeeze container) I told my Scouts it was magic water Hand Sanitizer Cedar chips (hamster bedding)/sawdust and dryer lint Kerosene lantern wick Char cloth Steel Wool (#0000 or #000 super fine grade from hardware stores) Starters Magnifying glass Flint and steel ( I use a shortened file for my steel) Magnesium bar and striker Matches (strike anywhere) in weather proof container 2 Lighters (Bic store longer) Sparker and scraper (there are many brands, I use Fire Steel) Trioxane tablets(Trioxane is a solid fuel that has been in use by the US Military for many decades to heat individual rations or start fires in the field.) Fire keepers Birthday and tub candles Pre-made Abirdsnests@ Small alcohol stove Hacksaw blade (to cut tinder, kindling, and as a second scraper) Singleside razor (to shave mag bar, to feather sticks, cut tinder) This kit represents a large variety of ways to start a fire. Firebuilding is another skill that has all but vanished. Our kids grew up in a home with a wood stove so they had ample oportunities to learn to build a fire. Try this in a fire pit in your back yard, or on a grill. It's not as easy as it sounds.Remember the basics of fire: Tinder, Kindling, Fuel. Also, fire needs 3 things: Oxygen, Spark, and Fuel. Take one away and you won't have fire. Finding several ways to start a camp fire is something that may save your life one day. Fire can be used for warmth, cooking, boiling water, and of course light. If you want some great training, find a Boy Scout (Scouting) Troop near you that will give you some basic training. Firebuilding has become a lost art but like painting, you can learn and practice. Semper Paratus Check 6 Burn