Category: Guns

Day 3 of NRAAM 

Finally ran into someone I know who actually knows me. Which is surprising for a conference with 70,000 in attendance.

According to the guy at Next Level Training, the M&P SIRT is expected to come out in a few months. They’ll be selling the Pro Model only and it will probably retail for $375.

I wanted to get into the Mossberg booth again and play with their Blaze 47, but it was swamped. It may have had something to do with Colion Noir putting in an appearance at the time. 

Tried the Glock 43. It is too damn small for my hands, but yeah, they’ll sell a metric shit ton of those little things. And just about every holster maker is advertising that they have something for the new Glock.

I should probably get back up and start perusing again. I haven’t broken my trip budget yet.

Shooter Self-Care at NRAAM 

I had some high expectations for this class based on the reviews from those who attended last year at Indy.

My expectations were met and exceeded. 

I learned a lot, but I also learned how much I knew was fecking worthless, or worse, could let someone die. 

Like so much of our world, the first part was to have a plan – know what to do in case of emergency. Where’s the first aid kit? What needs to be in the first aid kit? Is there an AED available if someone’s heart stops? 

We learned how to do chest compressions and work with an AED. Guess what? CPR has changed since I was first introduced to it in high school some two decades ago. For a layperson, forget breathing into the person and focus on chest compressions and the AED.

We learned how and when to apply a tourniquet. First, they aren’t as horrific as medical legend claims. Second, I will say applying a tourniquet one-handed can be a bitch.

Finally, Lawdog had a segment on the psychological and physiological effects of “critical stress.” 

Kelly said he wants to do this again at next year’s NRAAM in Louisville. I can’t recommend this enough for anyone. Well worth the price of admission. 

Money Spent on Day 1 of NRAAM

1. Gave some to Knife Rights. They’ve been fighting the good fight against asinine knife laws.

2. Streamlight – Bought their big Seige lantern (which means I need to go get some D-cells) and their little Seige lantern. Also picked up another of their Styluses. I like the little lights because they give off enough light and I can hand them off to others if necessary.

3. Nifty little beanie from Emerson.

  

Friday Quote – Marko Kloos

In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively interact through persuasion. Force has no place as a valid method of social interaction, and the only thing that removes force from the menu is the personal firearm, as paradoxical as it may sound to some.

When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force. You have to use reason and try to persuade me, because I have a way to negate your threat or employment of force. The gun is the only personal weapon that puts a 100-pound woman on equal footing with a 220-pound mugger, a 75-year old retiree on equal footing with a 19-year old gangbanger, and a single gay guy on equal footing with a carload of drunk guys with baseball bats. The gun removes the disparity in physical strength, size, or numbers between a potential attacker and a defender.

 

Marko Kloos, in this post