It started with my wife and Mom taking the one-day LMS Defense Ladies-Only Pistol Clinic, both shooting Glock 19s. More on that in another post, but suffice to say that Mom’s in the market for a Glock now. [happydance]
Saturday we all headed to Sacramento to attend Dave Grossman’s EXCELLENT “Bulletproof Mind for the Armed Citizen” course. Being in an audience of hundreds, most of whom are carrying concealed and doing so with LTCs (Licenses to Carry) that they were only able to get because we helped sue the County into submission, was a powerful experience to begin with, but that was dwarfed by the impact of Grossman’s words. For the moment an audio version seems to be available on YouTube, below. You want to listen to as much of this as you can. This guy is eye-opening. I’d say he’s like Tony Robbins for CCW holders, but it’s so much more than that. Thanks to Derek for first bringing Grossman to my attention a few years back on the drive to Boomershoot.
Then today, the wife and I looked at and bought a Kahr PM9 for her, in part based on this guy’s very nice review. I’ve already been carrying the Beast in a pocket holster the moment I get home, and the Kahr will be for her. We’re not legally allowed to carry outside the home, and she’s not allowed to in her place of employ until some more court cases happen,* but let’s just say Grossman’s presentation can push one over the fence. Especially if one works in the schools.
What impressed me about the Kahr was the utter slimness, light weight, very nice trigger, and goddamn heavy spring. Dropping the slide release required two thumbs. Nevertheless, it fits both our hands really well, and will fit in a purse just fine if needed.
Then we went to Livermore Opera’s production of La Traviata, which was fucking AWESOME. The Met’s version of my 2nd-favorite drinking song** is pretty good, too.
Carrying to the opera would also be fucking awesome, but gee, I wouldn’t know anything about that.
Tomorrow I’m off to the LMS Defense Carbine Clinic. If I can scare up enough .308, I’ll use Rache.
*One of the cool paradoxes about California gun laws is that although licenses to carry are may-issue, if you get one the list of permitted places is one of the best in the country, likely because the statute’s authors assumed anyone who got a LTC was one of the elite and thus OK. LTC holders are automatically are exempt from the ban on carry in schools, for example, and the school district, principal, or union can’t do jack shit about it. NOBODY IN THE SCHOOLS SEEMS TO KNOW THIS YET. Thus, the battle here is to make carry shall-issue, and we expect that to happen sooner rather than later.
**This is my favorite drinking song. Yes, it’s a drinking song, damn it. Pound your beer stein in time and you’ll get it.
Grossman’s On Killing is a fascinating read, too; highly recommended. Great insights into psychology, PTSD, etc. Gott’a listen to this thing, now, too.
So you have a LTC but it only applies in the home? Or you don’t live in a county with constitutional laws? I are confused.
No LTC for either of us yet; Alameda County is one of the urban California counties, like Sacramento was, where the Sheriffs must be sued into compliance with the Constitution. Currently the counties of San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, Los Angeles, etc. are, like all California counties, “may-issue” at the Sheriff’s discretion by State law. Constitutional Sheriffs, for our purposes, are those who issue LTCs for the purpose of self-defense. Noncompliant counties, like mine, don’t consider self-defense to be sufficient good cause for a LTC to issue. Oddly enough, most of the LTCs in most of these counties seem to go to friends of, or campaign contributors to, the Sheriff.
I can, under State law, carry at my place of employment; my wife cannot. The penalty is generally a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum of $1000 or 1 year in jail, or both. Some folks are willing to run the risk until their county becomes compliant — presumably starting in 2014, as the link above indicates.
Interesting. There is no Washington State law against my carrying at my place of employ (as it is not a bar, federal building, courthouse, or school) but the fine folks who manage the company have very strict rules about that sort of thing. Silly rules, but the bills must be paid somehow, and I’ve got a long way to go before I can retire and become a gunsmith.
Mine would too except that State law says anyone with hiring/firing authority can authorize carry, and as General Counsel with that authority, I authorized myself to carry.
I also wrote the employee handbook to prohibit “unauthorized” weapons in the workplace, tee hee.
Very clever, these Americans…
The Kahr P9 and PM9, have both and they have been mostly “bulletproof”. Our SWAT team tried to break my P9 during the eval for off duty carry, they couldn’t.
I’ve not done a manual of arms with a Kahr, but I have with other compact Nines, notably the Glock G19, the Kel-Tec P-11 and several 9-kurz’. I don’t drop the slide from lock-open back to battery. All my combat arms instructors have been unified: use the off hand to pinch the slide at the gripping-grooves and LOWER IT INTO BATTERY instead of letting it slam. If the pistol is properly tuned, it will still pick up a cartridge, chamber it and the extractor will smoothly slip over the rebated rim of the case. With that strong Kahr recoil spring, the closing action is so fierce that some cartridges can be seated with excessive force, perhaps setting the bullet back far enough to cause both a bullet-jump on firing AND maybe setting the crimp even harder than you or the factory loading equipment did.
Yes, this is a tad slower, but you soon learn to use that time to better consider your target, scan for more threats, etc.