Promote Safety and Smart Shooting

I was at the range the other day. I seem to start a lot of articles this way, don’t I? The range I frequent is an outdoor range. It has several “bays” at different distances. Each bay has room for about 4 to 6 people so there is a lot of room. I was at a 25 yard bay next to a wide 50 yard bay that is also suited to shotguns. As the group of shooters drove up to the bay next to mine I watched as several young women in their 20’s got out with 2 20 something guys. I thought “Here it goes again!” I’ve watched this many times before. A couple of “gun guys” invite several ladies to go shooting. They make themselves out to be Jerry Miculek when in reality they own some guns but shoot a few times a year. They may have some experience, but it’s limited. So they all get out and start in. To their credit I hear a basic safety briefing happen. For some of these girls it was too little. They start shooting some rifles. That goes well. Then they bring out the shotguns. I am down range in my bay with a large mound of dirt and some distance between us when I hear the first blast. I get rained on with bird shot. This tells me that their aim is not too good. Then I see it out of the corner of my eye. They hand a petite girl a long 12 gage. I watch as she hesitates with the weight of the gun. Then she shoots it and loses control of the weapon while falling down. Everyone laughs and I walk over. I try not to sound too much like their fathers, but I lay into the guys for being so stupid and dangerous. They show great respect and apologize profusely, giving great credit to their mother’s teaching. This was not the worst I’ve seen. I almost got shot with a .45 1911 Colt one time when another girl given a powerful handgun by some idiot guy, shot the gun and lost control of it. Without taking her finger off the trigger the gun floated all over the range until it was pointed my way and went off. I was not a happy man and even threatened to call the police on a stupid boyfriend who thought it would be fun to watch his pretty girlfriend shoot a gigantic gun. Had she not been crying and he been so apologetic I would have zip-tied them and left them for the police to pick up. I’ve seen it happen with big guns and with little guns. I really don’t blame the inexperienced one. In September 2014 a 9 year old from New Jersey shot her instructor with a fully automatic Uzi. There are many that say this story and video are propaganda. If it is a real incident then I have lots of questions about this “instructor”. This is a well-known incident and of course anti-gun proponents jump on this. If you own a gun. If you want to teach someone to shoot, please get a competent instructor. Don’t try and create a You tube video that you and other fellow idiots think is funny. It’s not funny to have someone do a dangerous thing when you are right there to teach them correctly. It’s not funny to give someone a bad experience with guns. I don’t know what brings people to do this. They give all of us such a bad name. I’m just not sure what would bring someone to post a video of these atrocities. As near as I can tell it has to do with their own inexperience, immaturity, and lack of discipline and sense. Please, I beg of you, stop this nonsense! I contrast that with my nephew. He takes anyone to the range, provides their ammunition, gun, safety gear, and will give them a basic safety and shooting class. He has even given free CCW classes many times. He encourages shooting and learning the right way. He is a law enforcement instructor and has been a deputy for many years. He is dedicated to helping people to have a safe, good, positive experience with firearms. A few years ago I was asked by a co worker to help him with his wife. The co worker wanted to get a gun and she was against it. She was a little fearful even though he had been in the military for several years and had a good knowledge of weapons. I had them both meet me at the range the next week. It was a good day weather-wise and a good day to shoot. The range was empty so there were no distractions. After I met them at the range my friend introduced me to his wife. We sat at the picnic table there and had a chat. I asked her about her experience with firearms if she had any. She said she had grown up around guns with her Dad and brothers hunting a lot. When she showed an interest as a teen-ager her brothers took her out and had her shoot some fairly heavy caliber guns and a 12 guage. It scared her and hurt her shoulder and she wanted nothing more to do with a gun. Her brothers teased her and made fun of her and that was it. Brothers can be jerks sometimes can’t they? We talked a little more and I told her about my experience teaching firearms in the military and told an amusing story of kicking an Air Force Major off of my range one time. I told her what I wanted to do to show her safety and how to have fun with a gun. We talked about safety and the rules in some detail and the reasons behind the rules. I told her exactly what I wanted her to shoot, what it would feel like and promised her she would want to keep shooting after our lesson. After talking about how guns generally work, and how to shoot with sights, we began. We started with a Ruger 10-22. I assured her I would be right next to her and she would not mind the noise, or recoil of a .22 long rifle round. She shot, quite successfully and I then asked if she wanted to try something else. She then shot a .22 handgun. After that she shot a .25, a .380, a 9mm, a .357 and a .45 ACP. Then she shot a 9mm rifle, a AR in .223, and a .308. Each time I told her clearly she did not have to shoot if she didn’t want to. I told her exactly what the increased noise and recoil would be. She even shot a .410 shotgun and the 12 gauge she was so afraid of. When we took a break we talked about her experiences with each caliber. She liked the .22 rifle and pistol. She liked the 9mm pistol and rifle. She liked the AR. She still didn’t care for shotguns. She then shot with her favorite calibers and thoroughly enjoyed it. She was not under any pressure and did very well in the area of accuracy. When we were done we sat and talked again. She had a different view of guns and did not have any of her fears and bias’s anymore. She wasn’t afraid of the shotguns, but just didn’t prefer them. In the end, after a few weeks my friend told me that not only did they buy a gun, but she wanted one too! I reminded them of storage safety because they have children. They had aleady purchased a safe and were taking a class together. She had asked if I would teach her teen-aged daughter the same way I taught her. So instead of another “casualty” of the range, we have a family that wants to be safe, and to learn the right way to use their firearms. I want more Americans armed, safe, and trained, not less. We as gun people, or even if we are not into guns, should promote healthy, safe gun learning if we are to beat the anti-gun people and keep our right to keep and bear arms. Let’s be smart about this and each do our part to keep America safer and more secure. Semper Paratus Check 6 Burn

Our Flag, Patriotism, and Remembering

The other day I was at work a little late. That meant I left work later than usual. I work on a federal installation that is run mostly by the military. That means that every morning and every night the flag is raised and lowered. If you have ever spent much time on any military base you will know that for a few minutes each day, tribute is given to our nation and to its flag. Traffic stops, and the vehicle occupants sit quietly to pay respect. Where ever people are walking, they stop, face toward the main flag pole and salute or stand reverently with their hand over their heart. I experienced this for the millionth time that evening. While I was sitting in my car, I thought that nowhere else that I know of does everything stop to recognize and revere “Old Glory” and this great country. It made me proud to be an American! How many Americans really understand the meaning of this symbol of our liberties and freedom? How many Americans know how to treat this symbol? We are going to give you a brief lesson on how to treat the flag. Flag Etiquette and standards of respect The Flag Code, which formalizes and unifies the traditional ways in which we give respect to the flag, also contains specific instructions on how the flag is not to be used. They are: • The flag should never be dipped to any person or thing. It is flown upside down only as a distress signal. • The flag should not be used as a drapery, or for covering speakers, draping a platform, or for any decoration in general. Bunting of blue, white and red stripes is available for these purposes. The blue stripe of the bunting should be on the top. • The flag should never be used for any advertising purpose. It should not be embroidered, printed or otherwise impressed on such articles as cushions, handkerchiefs, napkins, boxes, or anything intended to be discarded after temporary use. Advertising signs should not be attached to the staff or halyard • The flag should not be used as part of a costume or athletic uniform, except that a flag patch may be used on the uniform of military personnel, fireman, policeman and members of patriotic organizations. • The flag should never have placed on it, or attached to it, any mark, insignia, letter, word, number, figure, or drawing of any kind. • The flag should never be used as a receptacle for receiving, holding, carrying, or delivering anything. When the flag is lowered, no part of it should touch the ground or any other object; it should be received by waiting hands and arms. To store the flag it should be folded neatly and ceremoniously. The flag should be cleaned and mended when necessary. When a flag is so worn it is no longer fit to serve as a symbol of our country, it should be destroyed by burning in a dignified manner. Displaying the Flag Outdoors: When the flag is displayed from a staff projecting from a window, balcony, or a building, the union should be at the peak of the staff unless the flag is at half staff. When it is displayed from the same flagpole with another flag - of a state, community, society or Scout unit - the flag of the United States must always be at the top except that the church pennant may be flown above the flag during church services for Navy personnel when conducted by a Naval chaplain on a ship at sea. When the flag is displayed over a street, it should be hung vertically, with the union to the north or east. If the flag is suspended over a sidewalk, the flag's union should be farthest from the building. When flown with flags of states, communities, or societies on separate flag poles which are of the same height and in a straight line, the flag of the United States is always placed in the position of honor - to its own right. ..The other flags may be smaller but none may be larger. ..No other flag ever should be placed above it. ..The flag of the United States is always the first flag raised and the last to be lowered. When flown with the national banner of other countries, each flag must be displayed from a separate pole of the same height. Each flag should be the same size. They should be raised and lowered simultaneously. The flag of one nation may not be displayed above that of another nation. Raising and Lowering the Flag: The flag should be raised briskly and lowered slowly and ceremoniously. Ordinarily it should be displayed only between sunrise and sunset. It should be illuminated if displayed at night. The flag of the United States of America is saluted as it is hoisted and lowered. The salute is held until the flag is unsnapped from the halyard or through the last note of music, whichever is the longest. Displaying the Flag Indoors: When on display, the flag is accorded the place of honor, always positioned to its own right. Place it to the right of the speaker or staging area or sanctuary. Other flags should be to the left. The flag of the United States of America should be at the center and at the highest point of the group when a number of flags of states, localities, or societies are grouped for display. When one flag is used with the flag of the United States of America and the staffs are crossed, the flag of the United States is placed on its own right with its staff in front of the other flag. When displaying the flag against a wall, vertically or horizontally, the flag's union (stars) should be at the top, to the flag's own right, and to the observer's left. The Salute: To salute, all persons come to attention. Those in uniform give the appropriate formal salute. Citizens not in uniform salute by placing their right hand over the heart and men with head cover should remove it and hold it to left shoulder, hand over the heart. Members of organizations in formation salute upon command of the person in charge. The Pledge of Allegiance and National Anthem: The pledge of allegiance should be rendered by standing at attention, facing the flag, and saluting. When the national anthem is played or sung, citizens should stand at attention and salute at the first note and hold the salute through the last note. The salute is directed to the flag, if displayed, otherwise to the music. The Flag in Mourning: To place the flag at half staff, hoist it to the peak for an instant and lower it to a position half way between the top and bottom of the staff. The flag is to be raised again to the peak for a moment before it is lowered. On Memorial Day the flag is displayed at half staff until noon and at full staff from noon to sunset. The flag is to be flown at half staff in mourning for designated, principal government leaders and upon presidential or gubernatorial order. When used to cover a casket, the flag should be placed with the union at the head and over the left shoulder. It should not be lowered into the grave. These are most of what you need to know. I also think that most people should know how to fold a flag properly but this won’t be covered here. Several years ago my wife taught me a great lesson. She was concerned about a faded, ragged flag being flown over a Wendy's restaurant. After several calls to the management and trying to convey her feelings over an appropriate symbol being flown, she got her desired results. They replaced the flag. Now, this is really not a rant against Wendy's restaurants, they are fine businesses. But this is typical of Americans not thinking, or maybe not caring, about our wonderful flag. We must be vigilant, but we must be diplomatic. Not everyone will harbor the same passion over this great symbol. The best thing is to be firm, but to try to teach patriotism. Remember, we are a melting pot. Not everyone who is a citizen has grown up being taught patriotism. Twenty-two years ago today I was working on an Air Force base. I, like many of you, watched in horror as war was brought to our glorious Republic. I’ll never forget how fast our aircraft got out of the sky. We were in the highest alert mode I’d ever been in other than an exercise. I also remember the patriotism as most Americans came together and grieved together. It is scandalous to me that even our political leaders felt we needed to go to war to take care of this problem, yet many of them changed their views and some even lied about what they had supported. Even worse to me, a veteran, is the fact that some politicians think that Washington DC had so much to do with the taking out of the mastermind of 9/11. I question anything that does not give credit where it is due. The US military has done many thankless acts in its long history but regardless of what has happened in Washington or in wars, they still give reverence to our symbol. Old glory. The grand old girl. Stars and stripes. I would hope that after twenty-two years we can still remember. This is a personal experience from my journal coming out of a particularly long few days of combat: “As the C-130 took off I was able to glance out the starboard door and I saw the buildings go by. I had a “Frances Scott Key” experience. As we roared down the runway toward safety, we were taking on fire. I saw that the field flag was still waving in the wind. That image of a strong USA and what that symbol means to so many is embedded in my soul. My Grandfather fought under that flag in WWI. My father fought under that flag in WW2. So that image out the door of that C130 is what I see when I think of or see Old Glory.” Please. Always remember! Remember 9-11! Remember Benghazi 2012! Semper Paratus Check 6 Burn

Defending Free Speech

I have not been the kind of person who varnishes anything. Sometimes I am brutely honest. I don’t set out to insult or offend anyone; I just don’t believe in beating around the bush. The First Amendment states, in relevant part, that: “Congress shall make no law...abridging freedom of speech.” Freedom of speech includes the right: • Not to speak (specifically, the right not to salute the flag). West Virginia Board of Education v. Barnette, 319 U.S. 624 (1943). • Of students to wear black armbands to school to protest a war (“Students do not shed their constitutional rights at the schoolhouse gate.”). Tinker v. Des Moines, 393 U.S. 503 (1969). • To use certain offensive words and phrases to convey political messages. Cohen v. California, 403 U.S. 15 (1971). • To contribute money (under certain circumstances) to political campaigns. Buckley v. Valeo, 424 U.S. 1 (1976). • To advertise commercial products and professional services (with some restrictions). Virginia Board of Pharmacy v. Virginia Consumer Council, 425 U.S. 748 (1976); Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, 433 U.S. 350 (1977). • To engage in symbolic speech, (e.g., burning the flag in protest). Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397 (1989); United States v. Eichman, 496 U.S. 310 (1990). Freedom of speech does not include the right: • To incite imminent lawless action. Brandenburg v. Ohio, 395 U.S. 444 (1969). • To make or distribute obscene materials. Roth v. United States, 354 U.S. 476 (1957). • To burn draft cards as an anti-war protest. United States v. O’Brien, 391 U.S. 367 (1968). • To permit students to print articles in a school newspaper over the objections of the school administration. Hazelwood School District v. Kuhlmeier, 484 U.S. 260 (1988). • Of students to make an obscene speech at a school-sponsored event. Bethel School District #43 v. Fraser, 478 U.S. 675 (1986). • Of students to advocate illegal drug use at a school-sponsored event. Morse v. Frederick, __ U.S. __ (2007). Disclaimer: These resources are created by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts for use in educational activities only. They may not reflect the current state of the law, and are not intended to provide legal advice, guidance on litigation, or commentary on legislation. These days there is something they try to call “hate speech”. The UN says this after their definition. “However, to date there is no universal definition of hate speech under international human rights law. The concept is still under discussion, especially in relation to freedom of opinion and expression, non-discrimination and equality.” UN Even the UN can’t figure out what hate speech is. In the United States much of what falls under the category of "hate speech" is constitutionally protected. The United States does not have hate speech laws, since the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that laws criminalizing hate speech violate the guarantee to freedom of speech contained in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Yes, that pesky document that under pins all our laws. So, when you hear the term “hate speech”, know that most of that is just rhetoric. Also, when you hear that Facebook, Google, Twitter, YouTube, and Microsoft have joined other countries in their woke “hate speech” code of conduct that it is completely un-American. These companies exist because of this country. Their success is because they had the freedom that this country affords them. But ignoring the constitution is their choice. It’s really amazing that left-leaning idiots that run these businesses don’t want free speech. I guess that’s why Elon Musk bought Twitter. Maybe it will change. Those other left leaning companies prefer their own brand of censorship. I’m not sure who the arrogant Einstein is who thinks they know hate speech and they can best identify it. It’s like fact checking. Who is fact checking the fact checkers? I don’t like porn. I think it’s corrosive to society. But those that want to produce it and view it are welcome to rot their brains. Obviously, kids and others should be protected from it, and I think they are generally. This kind of freedom is protected by our constitution. So are those who wish to share their religious ideas with others. All this is free speech. There are those who don’t want this. There are those who don’t want negative ideas out there. There are those who don’t want any ideas or speech that goes against what they deem as good and correct. Many of these types are also into “wokeism”. They are also bent on being politically correct and not offending anyone. I do not want to offend anyone. I do not set out to do this. But I also know that what I say and how I say it sometimes may offend others. There are those who are soft and meek. This is not a bad thing, but it’s hard to exist in this world by being afraid and offended by everything, especially words. I do not advocate violent or vulgar speech. But I do talk plainly. It’s also important to know that there is evil in this world and that often it’s hard to fight against evil without violence. I know that the only real way to save this world is with love, understanding, and peace. The problem is that evil is not interested in love and peace. Evil often resorts to violence. More time than not, violence needs to be dealt with, with violence. It’s impossible to defend from violence without more violence. I know that is not Christ-like and it is no remedy. If good doesn’t commit violence to defend, then evil will take good out and there will be nothing left but evil. When I was thrust into a combat situation, we were defending ourselves. We never had the opportunity to go on the offensive. But later after we had left, the Army came in with the offensive to take out the enemy. What that violence did was stop the violence of the enemy. When I was a child, I learned a rhyme. “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Words can be powerful, but they can hurt us as much as we allow them to. Free speech is extremely important. Being resilient against words intended to hurt is a sign of maturity and mental strength. We may not like the words that are used, but we should defend the right of those that use speech whether we agree with their expression or not. Hate speech is like assault weapon. It is a made-up phrase that is not defined. It means different things to different people. Free speech is defined. It is defined by the Constitution, and laws. We should do all we can to protect it and to strengthen it. Semper Paratus Check 6 Burn

Storing Gasoline or Diesel Fuel: Nothing Goes Without The Hose!

Gasoline storage With Hurricanes pounding the East coast I thought I’d check on my generator. It was fine and I cranked it up and ran it for a while. I then thought about my supply of fuel. I’m sure many people don’t store much fuel. They may have a 5 gallon can or maybe even two for weed-eaters and lawnmowers. I have done a lot of research into gasoline storage because I feel I need 100 gallons or so for my generator and other equipment to be worth anything to me. If my generator will only run for 1 or 2 tanks, I’m not sure it was worth the investment. Not only that, gasoline is a very valuable commodity and can be used for a multitude of applications. May I say at the beginning of this blog, ensure that you learn and practice safe handling of all fuel products. Also, learn the laws of storing fuel where you live. Know the hazards of handling fuel and the personal protection equipment you should use. Learn about grounding and static electricity. Learn all these things BEFORE you start to store fuel. Fuel is dangerous and can cause health problems with prolonged exposure. All companies will provide a material safety data sheet (MSDS) on their products. You can access these via the internet. I would suggest you do this so that you have the information you need to responsibly handle and store fuel. As they say in real estate, the 3 most important things are location, location, location. The same goes for safely storing fuel. Make sure there is plenty of ventilation wherever you decide to store fuel. Also, ensure there is no flame near this storage. A pilot light for a water heater located in a garage would make that location dangerous. Near barbeque grills or patio-type fire places would obviously be off limits. In a shed not attached to your home would be good as long as there is ventilation. Fuel fumes are notorious for hanging around enclosed areas. Plastic or poly-anything containers are permeable and eventually you may lose fuel. Not necessarily to leaks, but just by the fuel evaporating. Metal containers are better, but they have their drawbacks. They can rust and depending on their quality, leak. Also, metal conducts electricity as poly ethylene does not. But, plastic does tend to get promote static electricity. You can ground a poly drum by putting a ground wire inside the drum through the top. Simply put a hole in the top, caulk around the wire, and connect it to a ground rod pounded into the ground. Ensure the ground wire goes all the way to the bottom of the drum. This will dissipate any static that may build up. Simply ground yourself (touch the rod) whenever you work with that drum. Some will advise against plastic drum storage but my experience is that you can use them safely and that the loss is minimal. There are 3 precautions that will delay deterioration of gasoline: 1. Fill containers about 95% full. 2. Cap containers tightly. 3. Store containers out of direct sunlight where the temperature stays below 80 degrees F most of the time. The first 2 actions reduce evaporation of gas during storage and reduce exposure to air and water. The 5% air space allows room for gas to expand if temperatures rise. I have stored gasoline successfully for up to 4 years stabilized. I stabilize all my fuel because I never know when I will use it. I’ve never used anything but Sta-Bil only because that’s all I’ve found available where I live. So I have no experience with anything else but I’d like to try Pri-G because of the claims of the product. I have also worked in the fuel industry for many years and know fuel characteristics. Fuel is subject to the supplier standards, carrier tanks, and retail tanks. Any one of these can add contaminants in your fuel. Filtering is imperative. If you use a drum pump you can install an in-line fuel filter to filter out contaminants. And finally, I put a small micron screen in the fill spout of whatever I am filling up. I will also check for water with water-finding paste on occasion. I keep my drums covered and tightly sealed to combat moisture. Water is heavier than fuel so it will fall to the lowest point of the container the fuel is in. It can be drained or pumped out. Storing fuel can make a large difference in a survival situation. There is one more aspect I’d like to address concerning fuel storage. That is security. If your tank, drums, or containers are stored away from your home as they should be, are they secured? They should be secured from thieves and for safety. That could be a lock on the building they are stored in, or a lock on the pump attached. Most drums or containers for fuel are not lockable so you may have to devise your own type of locking system. Maybe camouflage would be a better security device. Hiding where your fuel storage is may even be better than locking it up. A combination of both would secure your fuel storage quite nicely. Remember the importance of rotating your fuel stock and making sure it is as fresh as possible. Keep records of when it was put in storage and when it was treated to help you to rotate it. Motorized tools, generators, and vehicles run off of fuel. It’s necessary for these items to be of use to you in a survival situation to have fuel. Storing fuel is important but must be done safely and wisely and efficiently. Semper Paratus Check 6 Burn

Without Power - Be Ready

Power This morning my alarm went off as usual. I lay in bed listening to our dog bark at something. About 1 minute later the power went off. I got up and called the power company to report the outage. As I drove in to work I thought about our dependence on electricity. What could you do in your home without electricity? Can you cook? Would you have heat or water? Would your toilets work? We have tried to answer these questions with alternatives. We can cook on our propane stove in the kitchen. Or we have a wood stove, for heat and cooking. We have a solar oven that my wife has cooked in regularly. This not only saves propane, it’s free and the experience is invaluable. We have a generator with gasoline storage. We have solar lights that also can recharge our rechargeable batteries for flashlights and other devices. We have a few crank generator flashlights that can also recharge our cell phones. We have various camping stoves, a traditional white gas stove, a wood powered rocket stove, and small backpacking stoves. We have hurricane lamps that run off of kerosene, and camping lanterns that run off of white gas, and of course, candles. We also have various power tools that run off of gasoline. Even with all these things, I want more. We’re looking into wind power and solar power. There is water power if you have access to running water, a river, etc.. On top of the alternatives we have, we still have conventional batteries, car batteries, and water storage. We try to keep spare parts for motors, plumbing and electrical parts, and building materials around. We also have a variety of manuals and books to help us in our fixing or building projects. All these things support living off the grid. Living without electricity requires forethought and preparedness. Items need to be purchased a little at a time. We’ve been doing this for most of our married life. Some things require more planning than others. I would suggest a few things you can do now. Find a container such as a 5 gallon bucket and lid. If you don’t have a spare home improvement stores such as Home Depot or Lowe’s carry them for a small price. Start to fill this container with boxes of matches. There are several kinds on the market, stick or book, safety or strike anywhere. Also lighters should be included in this container. As you purchase these items put them in your container and you’ll be surprised how fast it adds up. Look at your situation. How do you receive water? Is it through a municipal system or your own well? What alternate heat sources do you have? What about light? What about cooking? These questions should be answered with several answers. Redundancy is king and if one solution fails, you’ll need another. 2 is 1 and 1 is none. Find solutions that you can work on and put it on a schedule. If it’s the purchase of an expensive item, save for it slowly and stay in your budget. I strongly discourage going into debt for any of your preparedness items including food storage. If you need to use credit for short term purchases be very careful it does not turn into long term. On occasion, test your program. Live a weekend with your power turned off. If you do this your eyes will be opened to where your program has holes. We had an unexpected snow storm that taught us where our holes in our preparedness are. But that’s the hard way! Involve the whole family. It can actually be a good and fun experience if you look at it that way. Doing this will also give you experience with the items and equipment you have. Remember that safety is very important. Open flames are very dangerous and should not be left unattended. Camping stoves and hurricane lamps use up oxygen so always have ventilation especially in winter. Never run a generator indoors. Keep fire and fire making materials away from children and pets. Do your smoke or CO2 alarms run off of batteries or hard wire power? You may need battery power for these items too. Speaking of pets, do you have a contingency plan for your pets? They will need food, water, medicines, and anti-insect sprays and powder. If you want your pets to survive with you have a plan for them too. As you test your “off the grid” preparations you could also incorporate your 72 hour kit plans into that exercise. You don’t have to use your all your 72 hour kit items but finding our operational details would help you in your knowledge of your system, and to know what may not work. We’ve mentioned many things but here is a list of considerations: Remember my favorite acronym for emergency and survival priority: SWiFFS (Shelter, Water, Food, Fire, Security) Shelter: We assume you are in shelter because the electricity is out. Replace shelter with heat. Heat: How will you stay out of the elements? Either stay cool or stay warm, or stay dry. Water: Where will you get it and if it needs to be purified, how will you do that? Food: How will you and yours eat? How will you cook food if you have it? Fire: Heat, see above. Food, see above. Security: How will you keep you and yours safe either from animal or human preditors? Power blackout – general suggestions. Suggestions include: Have an emergency kit prepared. (Either a shelter in place kit or your 72 hour kit) Switch off all electrical appliances, especially those that have heating elements. Unplug ‘surge-sensitive’ equipment, such as computers and video recorders. Keep one light switch turned on so you know when the power returns. Telephone your electricity provider for updates on the status of the blackout. Turn on a battery-operated radio and listen to a local radio station for information. Check on your neighbors to see if they need assistance, particularly if they are elderly or have a disability. Heat and light. Suggestions include: Multiple layers of clothing trap body heat more efficiently than one bulky layer. The body loses a great deal of heat through the scalp so wear a hat. Close doors, windows and blinds to maintain heat. Flashlights are much safer sources of light than candles. Make sure you have a good stock of batteries. If you must use candles, keep them away from drafts and away from children. Be aware of fire hazards – keep candles away from curtains and other flammable objects. Make sure to extinguish all candles before retiring for the night. This morning my alarm went off as usual. I lay in bed listening to our dog bark at something outside. About 1 minute later the power went off. I got up and called the power company to report the outage. As I drove in to work I thought about our dependence on electricity. What could you do in your home without electricity? Can you cook? Would you have heat or water? Would your toilets work? We have tried to answer these questions with alternatives. We can cook on our propane stove in the kitchen. Or we have a wood stove, for heat and cooking. We have a solar oven that my wife has cooked in regularly. This not only saves propane, it’s free and the experience is invaluable. We have a generator with gasoline storage. We have solar lights that also can recharge our rechargeable batteries for flashlights and other devices. We have a few crank generator flashlights that can also recharge our cell phones. We even have an old fashioned hard line cord phone so that we don’t need electricity if the phone lines are out. We have various camping stoves, a traditional white gas stove, a wood powered rocket stove, and small backpacking stoves. We have hurricane lamps that run off of kerosene, and camping lanterns that run off of white gas, and of course, candles. We also have various power tools that run off of gasoline. Even with all these things, I want more. We’re looking into wind power and solar power. There is water power if you have access to running water. On top of the alternatives we have, we still have conventional batteries, car batteries, and water storage. We try to keep spare parts for motors, plumbing and electrical parts, and building materials around. We also have a variety of manuals and books to help us in our fixing or building projects. All these things support living off the grid. Living without electricity requires forethought and preparedness. Items need to be purchased a little at a time. We’ve been doing this for most of our married life. Some things require more planning than others. I would suggest a few things you can do now. Find a container such as a 5 gallon bucket and lid. If you don’t have a spare home improvement stores such as Home Depot or Lowe’s carry them for a small price. Start to fill this container with boxes of matches. There are several kinds on the market, stick or book, safety or strike anywhere. Also lighters should be included in this container. As you purchase these items put them in your container and you’ll be surprised how fast it adds up. Look at your situation. How do you receive water? Is it through a municipal system or your own well? What alternate heat sources do you have? What about light? What about cooking? These questions should be answered with several answers. Redundancy is king and if one solution fails, you’ll need another. Find solutions that you can work on and put it on a schedule. If it’s the purchase of an expensive item, save for it slowly and stay in your budget. I strongly discourage going into debt for any of your preparedness items including food storage. If you need to use credit for short term purchases be very careful it does not turn into long term. On occasion, test your program. Live a weekend with your power turned off. If you do this your eyes will be opened to where your program has holes. Involve the whole family. It can actually be a good and fun experience if you look at it that way. Doing this will also give you experience with the items and equipment you have. Remember that safety is very important. Open flames are very dangerous and should not be left unattended. Camping stoves and hurricane lamps use up oxygen so always have ventilation. Never run a generator indoors. Keep fire and fire making materials away from children and pets. Do your smoke or CO2 alarms run off of batteries or hard wire power? You may need battery power for these items too. Speaking of pets, do you have a contingency plan for your pets? They will need food, water, medicines, and anti-insect sprays and powder. If you want your pets to survive with you have a plan for them too. As you test your "off the grid" preparations you could also incorporate your 72 hour kit plans into that exercise. You don’t have to use all your 72 hour kit items but finding operational details would help you in your knowledge of your system, and to know what may work and not work. We’ve mentioned many things but here is a list of considerations: Remember my favorite acronym for emergency and survival priority: SWiFFS (Shelter, Water, Food, Fire, Security) Shelter: We assume you are in shelter because the electricity is out. Replace shelter with heat. Heat: How will you stay out of the elements? Either stay cool or stay warm, or stay dry. Water: Where will you get it and if it needs to be purified, how will you do that? Food: How will you and yours eat? How will you cook food if you have it? Fire: Heat, see above. Food, see above. Security: How will you keep you and yours safe either from animal or human predators? Power blackout – general suggestions Suggestions include: Have an emergency kit prepared. (Either a shelter in place kit or your 72 hour kit) Switch off all electrical appliances, especially those that have heating elements. Unplug ‘surge-sensitive’ equipment, such as computers and video recorders. Keep one light switch turned on so you know when the power returns. Telephone your electricity provider for updates on the status of the blackout. Turn on a battery-operated radio and listen to a local radio station for information. Check on your neighbors to see if they need assistance, particularly if they are elderly or have a disability. Fall and Winter are on the horizon. Semper Paratus Check 6 Burn

Gun Safety and the 200th Hour

I was surfing the web and went to one of my favorite forums. There was a sad story and graphic pictures of someone who shot themselves. They had forgotten the rules and ended up shooting their own hand with a “checked” weapon. “How could someone be so stupid?” you are probably asking yourself. A friend of mine was a Border Patrolman. He is now a Customs agent. At the time of this incident he had been through the academy ( 6 months of training including weapons), and had been an agent for about 2 years. Agents must qualify with their service weapon every 3 months. So he was no stranger to his weapon. While cleaning his weapon, he had an accidental discharge that went through an outside wall and into the ground in his backyard. He was lucky. No one was hurt and there was little damage. He did, however, struggle with whether he should even report his mistake, which he did report. This was not a “rookie” mistake. This was an experienced gun handler who broke one or more of the 4 gun rules. Those are: RULE 1 ALL GUNS ARE ALWAYS LOADED The only exception to this occurs when one has a weapon in his hands and he has personally unloaded it for checking. As soon as he puts it down, Rule 1 applies again. RULE 2 NEVER LET THE MUZZLE COVER (POINT AT) ANYTHING YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO DESTROY You may not wish to destroy it, but you must be clear in your mind that you are quite ready to if you let that muzzle cover the target. To allow a firearm to point at another human being is a deadly threat, and should always be treated as such. RULE 3KEEP YOUR FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER (AND OUT OF THE GUARD) UNTIL YOUR SIGHTS ARE ON THE TARGET This we call the Golden Rule because it's violation is responsible for about 80 percent of the firearms disasters we read about. RULE 4BE SURE OF YOUR TARGET You never shoot at anything until you have positively identified it. You never fire at a shadow, or a sound, or a suspected presence. You shoot only when you know absolutely what you are shooting at and what is beyond it. Many people, even experienced gun handlers, think that after rule 1 is accomplished, there are no more rules. This is of course BALONEY! In the above 2 incidents the other 3 rules were ignored and as a result, an accidental discharge. If you have a gun. If you ever think you will ever own or use a gun, these 4 rules should be tattooed on your brain. Do not violate these rules in any form. Remind others also. I do this constantly with my family. Not because I don't trust them, On the contrary, I absolutely do not want them hurt or for them to experience the heartbreak of an accident that they could have prevented. On the above story from a forum I read all of the comments. Most were right on the mark. This person pointed a weapon at his own hand and pulled the trigger. He broke the 1st rule, but he also broke 2 and 3 and probably even 4! The only time I point the barrel at myself or another person is when the gun is apart and the barrel is off the slide. Otherwise, all rules apply. I even hate the idea of carrying a weapon that has one in the chamber. Which, by the way, is stupid NOT to do if you carry for self defense in my opinion. If there is an external hammer it doesn't necessarily have to be pulled back with an auto that is double action. Good habits save lives. A strong lifetime habit of handling a weapon respectfully EVEN when unloaded can prevent injury and death when you brain isn't paying as much attention as it should. First, unload the firearm, then lock the action open and double-check that it's unloaded, using your eyes and then your fingertip to be sure. (That takes care of Rule One.) Be conscious of your muzzle direction at all times. Don't get sloppy or careless with the muzzle even though you think the gun is now unloaded. (Rule Two.) Close the action and deliberately point the muzzle at a consciously-chosen safe aimpoint. One reason people point guns in foolish directions is because they haven't consciously chosen a good direction, so choose a specific spot to aim the muzzle before you put your finger on the trigger. (Rule Three.) When you choose that spot, be certain it can really stop a bullet of the caliber your gun can fire. For instance, for a handgun you might choose to aim at a cement wall in the basement, or at the top of a thick stack of books, or at a purpose-made product such as a Safe Directions pad, or at the corner of the floor in a one-story building. (Rule Four.) Remember the 200th hour. This is about the time that someone spends training when they make their first mistake. In flying this can happen with pilots. I tend to agree. By the 200th hour your experience just starts to exceed your knowledge and you can become careless. That's when mistakes are made. Be aware of this and act accordingly. I believe the second “danger hour” is after 2 years. Know your limits and NEVER break the rules! Semper Paratus Check 6 Burn