Dress Down Essentials

The essence of this piece is prove to you that dressing ”Tacti-cool” is not cool… if you carry a legally concealed weapon or want to remain “anonymous” in public so as not to alert strangers to your interest or training. Dressing “loud” or in other words dressing as to attract attention and notify other people that you are possibly armed and part of the “Concealed carry/tactical training/gun” sub-culture gives the aware criminal or “less than honest” person a heads up of what type of individual you might be…. In poker terms, dressing like this “Shows your hand”. Law Enforcement already use this technique to ID potential violent individuals. A great example of this is the time I got stopped for speeding on my way back from a rifle training class..I was fully decked out in Multi-Cam camo and tacti-cool items with drag bags and shooter mats thrown in the back…as soon as the cop walks up to my door and see me in the camo the first question out of his mouth was “Do you have any weapons on your person or in the vehicle today?” I considered it logical for him to assume this since I looked like I was about to invade Grenada… So that brings us to the first rule in Dress Down Essentials:1. Camoflauge clothing will typically trigger the “Potentially Armed” Mentality. Try to stay away from any camo in public if at all possible. This being Texas, hunting camo is more accepted than military styles, especially during deer season (November thru January). A person that is sporting military style camo and not obviously active duty military personnel will automatically raise the suspicion that they are either (a) Former military veteran or (b) A “gun nut” or one of the many sub-classes of such (ie airsofter, paintballer, plain wanna be poser, etc..) Unfortunately, both of these choices de-note a stereo-typical belief of a love for weapons and weapons training, which is in itself, not a bad thing, but will depend on the ethics and morals of the individual and how they choose to use those. Unfortunately, because of recent active shooter events, the societal dogma that ”all of us must suffer for the bad choices of a few” is magnified in regards to weapons and training, thus, “discretion is the better part of valor” on the issue of dress.2. Weapons themed prints on T-Shirts and Caps This is a delicate subject for me and alot of fellow readers I am sure, as some of my favorite shirts are “gun” shirts. A great example is my friends who wear nothing but NRA “Don’t Tread on Me” caps and shirts, which brings us to an interesting point. There are some who feel that by wearing such clothing they are asserting their 2nd ammendment rights and showing those in authority how they feel. They are quite passionate about it and understandably so..our rights are on the chopping block. The flip side of this argument is that by doing so, you are easily identifying yourself to the “authorities” as the “gun guy” and also identifying yourself to the criminal, which by default, elects you to be singled out in a bad way. My advice is go subtle but still promote your opinions. My fellow Texan and friend John at RAA  produces some really cool “alternative” themed gun prints that fit that category.3. Tactical Clothing This is another hot button issue with alot of people. 5.11 brand type clothing is very popular with most “gun” guys…the pants are cargo type, typically in drab earth tones (we will get back to that), which makes them utilitarian and easy to wear anywhere. They are very popular with off duty (or on duty detectives) Law Enforcement.  The down side is anyone who wears these types of clothes easily identifies themselves as either a cop or “gun guy” who may or may not be carrying a concealed weapon. It is worth mentioning that alot of these companies (5.11 & Woolrich Elite) have realized this error and have started making pants without any tell-tale outer pockets, but several inner ones..basically “tactical chinos”. Regarding Shirts, alot of what they call “Concealed Carry” shirts are basically full cut, short-sleeved, square bottom hem plaid dress shirts. The colors for most of these types of clothes are drab earth tones;  typically khaki or some shade of green, typically Olive Drab or Sage. The same objective can be achieved with bright, bold colored shirts with vertical stitiching to hide the “print” of the gun. For pants, dark colored full cut blue jeans do the trick. I have found Levi 569 “Loose Straight” style to be excellent for AIWB carry.4. The “Fanny” Pack This subject will not require alot of comment..I think it is obvious that wearing a fanny pack equals wearing a holster in today’s world unless you are 75 years old and on oxygen or something.  Stay Away from them, they are a huge red flag and scream “GUN!!!”5. The “Shoot Me First”  Photographer Vest This is another piece of illustrous gear that I do not think needs alot of comment. I mean  when I see one of these I am thinking “Does he have a pistol of sub-machine gun on a loop sling?” Stay away from these goofy things.6. Shoes Stay away from the obvious: Combat boots. I mean what screams “gun nut” more than a guy wearing a pair of Vietnam era issue Jungle Boots or the latest mil-issue Coyote Tan? (Typically with his pants tucked into them for the added “nuttier than usual” effect). What we want is a shoe that will support dynamic movement but are comfortable and can blend in with any outfit. I like a mid, ankle support shoe and/or boot.  High end Hiking type shoes and boots and casual workwear are the best choice IMO. I say “High end” because typically your lower end hikers look like toned down “clunker” combat boots. Shoe brands such as Merrell, Wellco, Mephisto and Clarke make a great product. Choose standard colors such as brown and black to make them as versatile as possible. One final note here: Take care of your feet! Wearing cheap shoes with poor arch support can lead to back and knee problems later on. Spend the money!! 7. Belts Stay away from BDU & Sam Browne types! Stick to a good, heavy leather black or brown belt with a modern buckle. My friend Mark at Garrity’s offers some of the best I have ever used.  I quote from his web site: “My belts are constructed from two pieces of 6-7 oz. leather glued together and boarder stitched, using thinner thread than my holsters so they look like dress belts and do not shout “Gun!” They are very gradually tapered in the billet and tongue for a more streamlined, aesthetic appearance.”

The choice in what clothes you wear is a deeply personal issue. For most people, comfort and style dictate their wardrobe , for others, it is a matter of utility; we at HCS  just want you to think out the pros and cons. The world we live in today dictates discretion and safety in every area, and not drawing attention to yourself with your wardrobe is a good place to begin for the Civilian Operator.

Stay Dangerous.

Related articles

• Texas Senator Introduces Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act
• The New Concealed Carry Laws in Illinois.
• Detroit Police Chief: Concealed Weapons Permits Save Lives
• Sen. Cornyn Introduces Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act

Negligence from the New York Times

I came across a story from the New York Times from an author who negligently killed a friend of his while mishandling  a revolver and tries  to use his own traumatic experience and incompetence to push the gun prohibitionist meme that John Q. Civilian is too stupid to own guns and only the police should have guns.

Here is the author’s description of his failure.

…me in the back seat. The driver, who worked with the county sheriff’s department, offered me his service revolver to examine. I turned the weapon onto its side, pointed it toward the door. The barrel, however, slipped when I shifted my grip to pull the hammer back, to make certain the chamber was empty, and turned the gun toward the driver’s seat. When I let the hammer fall, the cylinder must have rotated without my knowing. When I pulled the hammer back a second time it fired a live round.

Observations

1. “Informal” gun training can create bad habits
   • Shooting errors go uncorrected and you run the risk of a false sense of competence simply because you have been doing it for some time.
   • “Good luck reinforces bad tactics.”
     • I had a student a few weeks back who often went backyard shooting with his uncle who lived in rural NY.
     • His marksmanship was decent but his trigger discipline was AWFUL!
     • I see bad safety habits more often from students who have been informally shooting without training for an extended period of time than I do from new students.
2. Know the CORRECT procedure for decocking a revolver or a hammer fired pistol
   • With revolvers (single-action or double-action), your supporting thumb MUST be covering the firing pin channel as you ease down the hammer.
   • The most common decocking error is see (usually with a 1911 or a revolver) is that the shooter will ride the hammer down with their shooting thumb without covering the firing pin channel with their support thumb.
   • The reason to use the support thumb is to block the hammer if your firing thumb slips. It is better to have the hammer pinch your support thumb than to have an unintentional discharge.
3. Read the owner’s manual!
   • Picking up a gun and not knowing the first thing about how it works is just begging for trouble.
   • Know how to safely clear and de-cock the following hammer-fired guns
     • Single Action Revolver (“Cowboy Gun”)
     • Double-Action Revovler (“Dirty Harry Gun”)
     • 1911 style pistol (“Colt .45″)
     • Sig 226 and Beretta 92
4. Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction.
   • The author should have stepped out of the car to check out the gun for a number of reasons
     • Noise in a confined space presents a major hazard
     • Ricochets are a risk as shown by the incident
5. For my last point, the quote below really sticks out to me:

Where I grew up, masculinity involved schooling a mean dog to guard your truck or skipping the ignition spark to fire the points, and, of course, handling guns of all kinds. I was barely proficient in any of these areas. I understood what was expected of me andresponded as best I could, but did so with distance that would, I hoped, keep me from being a total fraud in my own eyes.

Firearm accidents result are the result of ignorance of firearms function and handling, an improper attitude towards firearms, or a combination of both.

The author makes the impression that he was one of those “sensitive/artsy” type kids who may have been socially pressured into pursuing activities that he was not really interested in.

Such a scenario means that he took part in the activity while congitively focusing on his discomfort with shooting and was unable to focus on the task at hand and really internalize the proper methods for handling a gun.

You really can’t “fake” proficiency with firearms. The attitude of trying to “fake it” with guns is extremely dangerous and can get you or someone else seriously hurt (or killed in the author’s case).

If someone doesn’t like guns, they don’t have to own one. Simple as that.

If someone in your family is not interested in guns, do not force them into it.

Just ask them (as a favor to you) to memorize the NRA‘s 3 Rules of Gun Safety and let them pursue their own activities and interests.

Needless to say you are responsible for your own safety and that of others around you when it comes to firearms.

Links:

• http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/28/opinion/sunday/i-killed-my-friend.html?_r=0
• http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2013/04/robert-farago/whats-wrong-with-this-negligent-discharge-story/#more-222469

Related articles

• Does Korth Make the World's Best Revolver?
• Shooting Drills for Better Skills
• The Short Life of the Sterling Arms Corporation

• Selecting Your First Handgun: Actions (homeguntraining.com)
• Another good choice for SHTF handgun. (krasinsk1.wordpress.com)
• What’s Wrong with This Negligent Discharge Story? (thetruthaboutguns.com)
• A Smart Preppers Guide to Firearms (suburbanprepper.com)

A Fight Avoided is a Fight Won

“A Fight Avoided Is a Fight Won”

When you are carrying a gun, go out of your way to avoid a fight.

Things that are minor annoyances in the long run must become even smaller annoyances.

Retired cop guns down man for texting at Florida movie: sheriff

WFLA-TVPolice stand outside a Wesley Chapel, Fla., movie theater where a fatal shooting occurred Monday.

By M. Alex Johnson, Staff Writer, NBC News
A retired cop, irked that the couple in front of him were texting at a Mark Wahlberg war movie, opened fire in a Florida theater Monday, killing the man and wounding his wife, authorities said.

Curtis Reeves Jr., 71, was charged with second-degree homicide in the death of Chad Oulson, 43, Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said late Monday afternoon. The theater was evacuated and remained closed after the shooting, which occurred about 1:20 p.m. ET.

Oulson was shot in the chest after a verbal and physical confrontation with Reeves, and his wife, Nichole Oulson, was shot in the hand. Chad Oulson was pronounced dead at a hospital, and his wife was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

“To have a retired police officer — I don’t know what he was thinking at the time,” Nocco told reporters. “I can tell you, anybody, over a cellphone, to take their life, it’s ridiculous.”

An off-duty sheriff’s deputy from neighboring Sumter County was in the Grove 16 Theatre in Wesley Chapel, north of Tampa, and detained Reeves and secured the weapon, described as a .380-calber handgun, until Pasco authorities arrived, Nocco said.

“He was a true hero in there. He reacted,” said Nocco, who also praised the efforts of two nurses who were in the theater and tried to save Oulson’s life.

NBC News

Nocco said that when when the first emergency calls came in, his mind immediately turned to recent shootings at schools and movie theaters, an apparent reference to the mass killings at a theater in Aurora, Colo., in July 2012, and at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., just five months later.

“Hearing what we heard, we were prepared for a large incident, but I want to reiterate this was just an isolated incident,” he said.

“This situation over a cellphone use — to escalate that high, I can tell you it’s very scary,” he said. “Or the fact it’s a movie theater or, you know, a place such as a school, where people have a belief that they should be in a movie theater to relax or a school to learn and have it arise to this kind of level.”

Nocco said the tragedy unfolded after Reeves became outraged over something trivial: “somebody texting.”

Reeves and his wife were sitting behind the Oulsons as the preview trailers were rolling just before the showing of “Lone Survivor,” the Mark Wahlberg movie about a failed 2007 Navy Seal raid in Afghanistan, investigators said.

Reeves asked Chad Oulson several times to stop, to no avail, Nocco said. He then left the theater to complain to the theater’s management before returning to his seat, the sheriff said.

Upon his return, “Chad Oulson then starts confronting him verbally, starts saying: ‘Oh, did you go in there and start complaining on me? Did you tell the staff about me?’” Nocco said.

“This verbal altercation starts getting louder and louder. During this altercation, it goes from a verbal to a physical altercation,” he said.

Then, “the suspect, Curtis Reeves, pulled out a gun,” Nocco said.

Only one shot was fired, Nocco said. Nichole Oulson was wounded in the hand when she grabbed her husband as Reeves pulled the trigger, he said.

The theater’s operator, Cobb Theatres, said in a statement that it was “truly heartbroken by this incident” and that it was cooperating with investigators.

Reeves retired as a captain from the Tampa Police Department in 1993, said Laura McElroy, a spokeswoman for the department, adding that Reeves helped set up the department’s first SWAT team.

“We are not aware of any contact with the department since his departure more than 20 years ago,” she said in a statement.

Lakewood Revisisted

 LawOfficerVideo on Youtube has some excellent learning material. Mapped out in the animation is the Forza coffee shop where the ambush attack occurred.

 You can see how Officer Tina Griswold and Sergeant Mark Renninger were the first to be killed by Maurice Clemmons.

 Officer Tina Griswold had her back to the entire crowd in the coffee shop, her peripheral vision was occluded to the left side by the cubicle like enclosure around the table they were sitting at and she was facing Sergeant Mark Renninger.

 Sergeant Mark Renninger had his right side vision occluded by the cubicle enclosure. Sergeant Mark Renninger was also distracted taking care of paperwork on his laptop.

Sergeant Mark Renninger was also boxed in by the cubicle enclosure, and the table and his chair. All around it was a terrible position to be stuck in since he could not "Get off the X" to move out of the way of the attack of Maurice Clemmons.

  So what can you take away from this?

• Wearing a uniform in public will get you noticed for good or for bad.
  • Consider your apparel worn and what you might be telling outside observers about yourself based on your clothing.
• When sitting down at a restaurant, try to position yourself or your group so that you may readily see who is coming in and out of the place.
• Try not to box yourself in somewhere.
• Our digital devices can be major distractions.
  • Think about the danger that texting and driving poses.

Related articles

• Officer Down: The Legacy of Lakewood (homeguntraining.com)

The Knoxville Horror

Channon Christian and Christopher Newsom

  Lessons from this case: 

• As Delta Force veteran Paul Howe put it, "Never put yourself at the mercy of people who have none. "
• As soon as you are moved from one location by an assailant to another, your odds of survival drop significantly.
• Develop a fighting mindset.
• It is far better to fight and die than to be taken captive and tortured to death.
• Craig Douglas (aka SouthNarc) was correct in stating that parking lots are where most criminal assaults occur.
  • Maintain your situational awareness
    • Channon Christian and Chris Newsom were initially accosted while sitting in their car in the parking lot.
      • This is known as “task fixation”.
• Always carry a weapon and be ready to use it without hesitation.
  • Small fixed-blade knives secured around the front and/or rear waistline can be very helpful.
  • Think “NECK NECK EYES EYES, NECK, REPEAT”
• Carry a means of escape with you.
  • Cold Steel makes small knives that suit this purpose well.
  • A long strand of kevlar fiber can cut a variety of restraints.
  • Small plastic Handcuff keys are also a good thing to keep on your person.
• Train yourself to break free of restraints.
  • Cloth, duct tape, and rope are some of the most commonly used improvised restraints
  • Practice with small knives and edges found in your immediate environment.
    • Be careful not to cut yourself.
• Check out Mike Janich’s Forever Armed DVD and train yourself to recognize environmental weapons and objects that can be improvised as weapons.
• Train yourself to sense distraction in others.
  • This is an important skill to learn if you find yourself behind the reactionary gap.

From http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/may/19/horror-of-christiannewsom-killings-in-focus/?print=1

Horror of Christian/Newsom killings in focus: What happened on Chipman Street?

By Jamie Satterfield

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Six years and seven trials later, one question remains — what happened on Chipman Street?

In one of Knoxville’s most horrific crimes, Channon Christian, 21, and boyfriend Christopher Newsom, 23, were carjacked, kidnapped, raped and slain in January 2007. Five suspects were identified. One was tried federally as an accessory. Four others were tried in Knox County Criminal Court.

A drug scandal involving the judge in those state court proceedings would upend the convictions against two of those suspects. New trials were held, the most recent of which occurred last week.

Through it all, details of the horrors this young couple suffered have eked out. But with each suspect pointing the finger of blame at the other and jurors limited by law in what they are allowed to know, the real story of what happened when the couple were taken hostage and ultimately slain has proved just as elusive as the court cases convoluted.

The News Sentinel has covered this case since its beginning. With the aid of interviews, trial coverage and transcripts of each defendant’s statement to authorities, the newspaper can now offer up a snapshot of not only what happened to these two innocents but exactly who did what to them.

Setting the stage

Chipman Street resident Lemaricus Davidson was broke and angry. His girlfriend, Daphne Sutton, had left him. He had no car and no way to earn money.

“Selling dope, that’s what I do,” Davidson would later tell law enforcement.

Law enforcers knew, however, that Davidson was not simply a drug dealer. He was on parole for carjacking and, in the days leading up to the abduction of Christian and Newsom, was suspected in a series of robberies.

In the days before the couple’s abduction, Davidson’s brother Letalvis Cobbins came to Knoxville from Kentucky to stay with him. He brought along friend George Thomas and girlfriend Vanessa Coleman.

None of the three had jobs, money or vehicles. Cobbins and Thomas were homeless. Coleman had a salt-of-the-earth family to turn to for help but chose not to.

Davidson grew increasingly angry over what he viewed as the freeloading of his brother and his guests. He turned that anger on Sutton. She left him on Jan. 5, 2007.

A day later, Davidson had concocted a plan to solve all his woes. He, with help from Cobbins and a buddy, Eric Boyd, would carjack someone. Cobbins insisted that he wasn’t happy with the idea.

“Me and my brother got to arguing because he said he was going to do some crazy (expletive),” Cobbins said in an interview with law enforcement. “He like, man, I’m fixing to go carjack somebody, man, try and get me some money.”

Savaging the victims

Christian and Newsom disappeared Jan. 6, 2007, from the Washington Ridge apartment complex where Christian’s best friend lived.

Hours later, Newsom’s body was found alongside railroad tracks near Chipman Street in East Knoxville. He had been raped with an object and then shot three times. The final shot was delivered execution style.

He had been gagged with a sock stuffed in his mouth. His ankles were bound with his own belt. His hands were secured behind his back. His face was wrapped in a bandanna. His head was covered with a sweatshirt tied around his neck with shoestrings.

Forensic evidence showed that he had been raped in the final hours of his life. He was forced to walk barefoot to the railroad tracks that ran parallel to Chipman Street and shot in the neck and back. As Newsom lay paralyzed on the ground, the muzzle of a .22-caliber gun was placed against his covered head and fired. His body would later be wrapped up in a comforter, doused in gasoline and set afire.

Christian, meanwhile, was tied up inside the Chipman Street house of Davidson, a stranger to her. She was repeatedly raped orally, vaginally and rectally. At some point, she was savagely attacked in her genital region, either kicked or beaten with an object.

She suffered two blows to the head and was dragged into the carpeted living room of Davidson’s Chipman Street home. Bleach was sprayed down her throat, an apparent effort to destroy DNA evidence.

She was hogtied with strips of fabric from a bedding set. Still alive, her body was encased in black garbage bags and her head wrapped in a white plastic grocery bag. Christian was then stuffed inside a trash can and left to die, slowly suffocating.

Sneaking a preview

Suspect Boyd has long denied any role in the couple’s abduction. With no forensic proof tying him to the crimes, authorities were left to prosecute him for hiding out Davidson after the slayings. He is serving an 18-year federal prison sentence as a result.

But his statement to authorities provides striking details of the carjacking — details he insisted came from Davidson, not his own memory.

Christian was angry with Newsom because he had tarried in picking her up for the birthday party of a friend. As she sat in the front seat of her Toyota 4-Runner parked outside, Newsom sought to set things right, hugging and kissing her as he stood just outside the driver’s side door.

The couple never saw Boyd cruise into the parking lot at Washington Ridge with passengers Davidson and Cobbins. An armed Boyd and Davidson jumped from the car, leaving Cobbins behind. At that point, the pair intended only to rob Christian and Newsom of the SUV. But as they approached the couple, guns drawn, headlights from another vehicle spooked them. They pushed the couple into the SUV.

Testimony has shown that Christian and Newsom were bound in the SUV with whatever cords the assailants could find. Newsom was forced facedown in the vehicle. A bound Christian was dumped onto his back.

With Davidson behind the wheel of Christian’s SUV and Cobbins trailing behind in a car Boyd had borrowed from his cousin, the crew headed back to Davidson’s Chipman Street home.

There was no doubt then that the couple would die.

“Two white people, white kids, this (expletive) fixing to get crazy, man, you know what I mean?” Cobbins said.

Davidson and his cohorts are black, the victims white. Racial differences have never been suggested as a motivator for what authorities view as a random carjacking.

Spilling the beans

Back at Davidson’s Chipman Street house with their bound and blindfolded victims in tow, an argument broke out among Davidson, Boyd, Cobbins, Thomas and Coleman. Thomas and Davidson barely knew each other and neither liked the other.

“Lemaricus told (Thomas) that he was gonna need him to do something so he could trust him,” Coleman told law enforcers.

The suspects admit that they curried Christian’s cooperation by promising her she would be let go if she went along with their demands. She even called home — at gunpoint — to create a false alibi to buy the suspects time in their murderous plans.

None of the suspects concede involvement in Newsom’s death. But trial testimony, statements and forensic evidence suggest that Davidson, Cobbins, Boyd and Thomas forced Newsom into the rear cargo compartment of the SUV, leaving Coleman behind with Christian.

It’s not clear if Newsom was raped before leaving Chipman Street. Boyd, who had male pornography cached on his phone, has long been suspected but never charged with raping Newsom.

Forensic proof and suspect statements indicate that Davidson forced Thomas to fire the first shot at Newsom, striking him in the neck. As he fell forward, another shot struck him in the back and then Davidson delivered the kill shot to his head.

Once back at Chipman Street, Boyd left. Davidson and Thomas stripped off their bloody clothes to be washed. At some point, the pair gathered up a comforter and a gas can and left, presumably to burn Newsom’s body.

Meanwhile, Cobbins went into his brother’s bedroom, where Christian was tied up.

“I was pissed off,” Coleman said in a statement.

Cobbins would later tell a jury that he promised Christian she would go free if she agreed to oral sex. Forensic proof showed that Christian was orally raped with such force a membrane in her mouth severed.

DNA evidence shows that Davidson raped Christian both vaginally and rectally.

But it is Coleman who authorities suspect delivered brutal blows to Christian’s vaginal region, the force of which caused a massive pooling of blood.

At some point, Christian was dragged into the living room, bleach sprayed in her throat.

“She looked terrified,” Cobbins told law enforcers.

“They made me go in the back bedroom,” Coleman recalled. “When I come back into the kitchen, I seen them tying her up in the fetal position.”

Fingerprint evidence shows that it was Davidson and Cobbins who wrapped Christian in trash bags. She was then stuffed alive inside a trash can in the kitchen of the Chipman Street house.

Fight not over

With Thomas convicted for a second time on Friday and a jury delivering up a sentence of life with the possibility of parole, the case finally seems over, save a few rote hearings and appeals.

But Christian’s father, Gary Christian, said Friday that his fight is not over.

“The business at hand is done,” he said of the trials. “The work has just changed. We’ve got some laws that will go up to get some things changed in this horrible excuse for a justice system. It’s all for the criminals and nothing for the victims.”

Related articles

• Capital defendant in Tennessee seeks reversal based on sentencing jury's praying
• Hundreds gather to remember Chris Newsom
• Carjacking: How To Avoid Being A Victim
• The Knoxville Horror