Things learned by a "Newbie"

BCEagleAce

BCEagleAce

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I recently posted in this forum about a potential home invasion at my house. I got a lot of great feedback from NESers (as I always do!) and learned a lot. While some of the things I'll mention in this post are repeated from my above mentioned thread, and other topics on this board, I felt that they are important enough to merit being repeated.

Before I do that, let me just say how NIEVE and IGNORANT I was to certain things up until I become a Class A license holder! This was surprising for me to learn because I certainly don't consider myself to be an ignorant or uninformed person. But, before applying for and getting my Class A, I went about life feeling completely secure and safe. I know that bad things happen, but I just felt like they could never happen to me!

The process of getting my license and some subsequent events were very eye opening. I write this post because I feel I have learned a lot and have become a lot more "aware" because of the process involved in becoming a gun owner. Knowing that I came to NES as a "newbie" looking for advice/help/information, and seeing how many "newbies" show up on NES, I thought it might help others by summarizing some lessons learned:

1) not only is it a Constitutional right to own a gun, it should be a DUTY to own a gun. Gun control activists have seriously undermined the 2nd Amendment as it was intended, and they continue to work tirelessly against it. The more gun owners there are, the less the gun control lobbies ability to infringe on your rights. Also very important, an armed citizenry is the only check we have as a people against tyranny and oppression.

2) you are never completely safe! Unless you are in a sealed fallout shelter deep in the mountains, you are never completely safe. It is very important to have situational awareness at all times. Surprising to me, sometimes when you think you are most safe, you are actually LEAST safe. I thought being at home made me most safe; however, it is where many of us are most vulnerable. I now have more situational awareness, and I now carry whenever it is possible. Better to have your gun and not need it, then need your gun and not have it!

3) having a gun that you can't use effectively renders the gun useless or extremely dangerous. If you are going to own and carry a gun, you need to become as proficient as possible with it. Go the range and practice!!!

4) learn everything you can about your gun(s). I knew next to nothing when I got my permit. As a result, the gun was intimidating. Learning about the mechanical operation, how it works, how to strip and clean it, etc. demystified the gun and made me WAY more comfortable with it.

5) safety first... my rule of thumb continues to be to treat all of my guns as if they are loaded. My gun(s) is either on my person, or safely locked/secured ALWAYS.

6) not gun specific, but the recent ice storm showed me how UNPREPARED I was for a SHTF situation!!! I have substantially upgraded things at my house as a result to be more prepared for a severe weather situation, civil unrest, zombie plague, etc. as a result. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best should be words to live by. Sadly for most, you don't know you are off guard for an incident like this until you are caught off guard and it is too late. We live in scary times, and better safe than sorry.

7) Glocks are AWESOME!!!! You should own a Glock, or several!

I hope that helps some newbies.
 
Glad to see your time here has been enriching! I know mine certainly has.

Here's to many more great experiences with the NES crowd! [cheers]
 
Nicely said BCEagleAce. Thanks for summarizing for us. I have not been around this forum for all that long but i agree that this is an amazing collection of knowledge and advice.

-Rick
 
BCEagleAce said:
I recently posted in this forum about a potential home invasion at my house. I got a lot of great feedback from NESers (as I always do!) and learned a lot. While some of the things I'll mention in this post are repeated from my above mentioned thread, and other topics on this board, I felt that they are important enough to merit being repeated.

Before I do that, let me just say how NIEVE and IGNORANT I was to certain things up until I become a Class A license holder! This was surprising for me to learn because I certainly don't consider myself to be an ignorant or uninformed person. But, before applying for and getting my Class A, I went about life feeling completely secure and safe. I know that bad things happen, but I just felt like they could never happen to me!

The process of getting my license and some subsequent events were very eye opening. I write this post because I feel I have learned a lot and have become a lot more "aware" because of the process involved in becoming a gun owner. Knowing that I came to NES as a "newbie" looking for advice/help/information, and seeing how many "newbies" show up on NES, I thought it might help others by summarizing some lessons learned:

1) not only is it a Constitutional right to own a gun, it should be a DUTY to own a gun. Gun control activists have seriously undermined the 2nd Amendment as it was intended, and they continue to work tirelessly against it. The more gun owners there are, the less the gun control lobbies ability to infringe on your rights. Also very important, an armed citizenry is the only check we have as a people against tyranny and oppression.

2) you are never completely safe! Unless you are in a sealed fallout shelter deep in the mountains, you are never completely safe. It is very important to have situational awareness at all times. Surprising to me, sometimes when you think you are most safe, you are actually LEAST safe. I thought being at home made me most safe; however, it is where many of us are most vulnerable. I now have more situational awareness, and I now carry whenever it is possible. Better to have your gun and not need it, then need your gun and not have it!

3) having a gun that you can't use effectively renders the gun useless or extremely dangerous. If you are going to own and carry a gun, you need to become as proficient as possible with it. Go the range and practice!!!

4) learn everything you can about your gun(s). I knew next to nothing when I got my permit. As a result, the gun was intimidating. Learning about the mechanical operation, how it works, how to strip and clean it, etc. demystified the gun and made me WAY more comfortable with it.

5) safety first... my rule of thumb continues to be to treat all of my guns as if they are loaded. My gun(s) is either on my person, or safely locked/secured ALWAYS.

6) not gun specific, but the recent ice storm showed me how UNPREPARED I was for a SHTF situation!!! I have substantially upgraded things at my house as a result to be more prepared for a severe weather situation, civil unrest, zombie plague, etc. as a result. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best should be words to live by. Sadly for most, you don't know you are off guard for an incident like this until you are caught off guard and it is too late. We live in scary times, and better safe than sorry.

7) Glocks are AWESOME!!!! You should own a Glock, or several!

I hope that helps some newbies.
Click to expand...

Nice - so come and shoot IDPA with us and get more practice in!!!
 
BCEagleAce said:
1) not only is it a Constitutional right to own a gun, it should be a DUTY to own a gun.
Click to expand...

Great post! Being pretty much of newbie here myself, I agree with most everything you wrote.

While I agree that all law abiding citizens should have the option of owning and carrying a gun there are many people that just should not. Duty may be a stretch here.

I believe that anyone that would be unable to or unwilling to use a gun if the ultimate need arises is more of a liability than a benefit. These people should not be allowed to carry.

How do you figure out who is and who isn't? I don't know...
 
The Master of Situational Awareness: Colonel Jeff Cooper

His color code rules!
http://www.teddytactical.com/SharpenBladeArticle/4_States of Awareness.htm

Jeff Cooper, who taught it at ‘Gunsite’ and later gave an excellent videotaped presentation, first publicized this system, called the Color Code.

CONDITION WHITE- White is the lowest level on the escalator. In Condition White one is unaware, not alert, oblivious. This state can be characterized as "daydreaming" or "preoccupied". People in White tend to walk around with their heads down, as if watching their own feet. They do not notice the impending danger until it literally has them by the throat.

You see examples of this frequently. When was the last time you saw someone in traffic roll right up to a barricade or stalled vehicle, then expect you to stop and let them into your lane? They're operating their vehicle in Condition White. When a motorist runs over a motorcyclist and kills him, what are the first words out of their mouth? "I didn't see him." They're not lying. They were so inattentive and complacent that they did not notice a 200-pound man on a four hundred pound machine right in front of them. When this same guy runs past a stop sign and broadsides your car, killing your child, he will say, "I didn't see it.".

These same guys will be the victims of violent crime, because the criminal targets the inattentive, the complacent, the lazy, the distracted, the preoccupied. Why? Because the criminal wants to get to him, get what he wants from him, and get away from him, without being hurt or caught. Who would be the easiest person to do that to? Someone in Condition White. I'm sure you've seen or read about the Miranda card police officers carry. From it they read off a suspect's rights before questioning him. Dedicated victims carry a similar card in their pockets. If they are still alive when the police arrive, they take this card out of their pockets and read from it, as follows:
" Geez, it all happened so fast.
He materialized right next to me.
I never saw him.".

So, when would it be acceptable to be in Condition White? When in your own home, with the doors locked, the alarm system on, and your dog at your feet. Then, you can turn off your mind, if you wish, because you have sufficient layers of protection and warning to enable you to get up, get your gear, and get your head running. If you leave your home, you leave Condition White behind. The instant you leave your home, you escalate one level, to Condition Yellow.

CONDITION YELLOW- This is a relaxed state of general alertness, with no specific focal point. You are not looking for anything or anyone in particular; you simply have your head up and your eyes open. You are alert and aware of your surroundings. You are difficult to surprise, therefore, you are difficult to harm. You do not expect to be attacked today. You simply recognize the possibility.

Here's an excellent analogy. You are on a small naval patrol vessel in the middle of the Mediterranean. You are not at war with anyone today, so you do not expect to be attacked. You do, however, recognize the possibility, so you have your radar on twenty-four hours a day, making a continuous 360 degree sweep of the area, looking for potential problems. Suddenly, there is a blip on your radar screen. You cannot tell by looking at the small, greenish-yellow dot on the screen whether it is a good thing or a bad thing, so you ask a fighter plane to intercept the blip and check it out. If it is an Al Italia airliner a hundred miles off course, the fighter pilot will wave at it. If it's a Libyan MIG headed toward your boat, he will shoot it down. He won't know whether to wave or shoot until he first assesses the blip as a threat. This is exactly the same process you go through on the ground. When you leave home you turn on your radar, and it continually sweeps the area around you for potential hazards. When something catches your attention, you assess it. If it's not a threat, dismiss it. If it is a threat, start getting ready mentally to deal with it.

Anything or anyone in your immediate vicinity that is unusual, out of place, or out of context, should be viewed as potentially dangerous, until you have had a chance to assess it. Someone who looks out of place, or someone engaged in activity that has no obvious legitimate purpose, should be looked over carefully. When your mental radar picks up on a blip, you immediately escalate one level on the scale, to Condition Orange.

CONDITION ORANGE- This is a heightened state of alertness, with a specific focal point. The entire difference between Yellow and Orange is this specific target for your attention. Your focal point is the person who is doing whatever drew your attention to him. It might be the fact that he is wearing a field jacket in August. It might be that he's standing by a column in the parking garage, instead of going into the building, or getting in a car and leaving. It might be that you have been in five stores at the mall, and saw this same guy in every one of them. His actions have caused you to take note of him, so you must assess him as a potential threat, just as the fighter pilot assessed the blip earlier.

How do you assess someone as a threat? You have to take into account the totality of the cues available to you. His clothing, appearance, demeanor, actions, anything he says to you, are all cues. The single most important cue is body language. About 80% of human communication is through body language. Predators display subtle pre-aggression indicators, which are obvious once you learn to look for them.

When you shift upward to Orange, you begin to focus your attention on this individual that caught your eye, but do not drop your general over-view. You don't want to be blind-sided by his associates. You begin to watch him and assess his intentions, again looking at all of the cues available to you. Nine times out of ten, after a few seconds of observation, you will be able to see an innocuous reason for his behavior and then dismiss him. Once you figure out he's not a threat, dismiss him and de-escalate right back down to Yellow. Who is the tenth one? He is the predator, who would have got you if you had been inattentive. Now that you are aware of him, you are in far less danger.

As you assess this individual, and you see things that convince you he has evil intent, you start to play the "What if…." game in your mind, to begin formulating a basic plan. This is how we get ahead of the power curve. If he acts suddenly, we must have at least a rudimentary plan for dealing with him already in place, so that we can react swiftly enough. By saying to yourself, "That guy looks like he is about to stick me up, what am I going to do about it?", you begin the mental preparation vital to winning the conflict. With even a simple plan already in place, your physical reaction is both assured and immediate, if the bad guy presses his intentions. If, after assessing him, you believe he is an actual threat, you then escalate to the highest level, Condition Red.

CONDITION RED- In Red, you are ready to fight! You may, or may not, actually be fighting, but you are MENTALLY PREPARED to fight. In many, or perhaps even most, circumstances where you have gone fully to Red, you will not actually physically do anything at all. The entire process of escalating from Yellow, to Orange, to Red, then de-escalating right back down the scale as the situation is resolved, occurs without any actual physical activity on your part. The key is that you were mentally prepared for a conflict, and thus could physically act if the situation demanded.

When you believe a threat is real, and you have escalated to Red, you are waiting on the Mental Trigger, which is a specific, pre-determined action on his part that will result in an immediate, positive, aggressive, defensive reaction from you. This is how you achieve the speed necessary to win. By having a "pre-made decision" already set up in your mind, you can move physically fast enough to deal with the problem. Without that pre-made decision, the precious time in which you could have acted was wasted on trying to decide what to do after he starts his attack.

The Mental Trigger will differ depending upon the circumstances. It could be, "If he swings that gun in my direction I will shoot him", for instance. It could be, " I have told him to stop, if he takes one more step toward me with that (knife/tire iron/screwdriver) in his hand, I'll shoot him". Whatever trigger is selected, it is a button that, once pushed, results in immediate action on your part.

Your main enemy is reaction time. If you are not aware of your surroundings, and fail to see the suspicious character, he may overwhelm you before you can marshal an effective defense. On the other hand, if you are thinking to yourself, "I may have to hurt that guy if he doesn't wise up"; you've probably already won that fight, because you have a better understanding of what is transpiring than he does! The best fight is over before the loser fully understands what just happened. If you're caught in Condition White, you will need five to six seconds to realize what is happening, get your wits together, and respond. You simply don't have that much time.
Click to expand...
 
seanc said:
Great post! Being pretty much of newbie here myself, I agree with most everything you wrote.

While I agree that all law abiding citizens should have the option of owning and carrying a gun there are many people that just should not. Duty may be a stretch here.

I believe that anyone that would be unable to or unwilling to use a gun if the ultimate need arises is more of a liability than a benefit. These people should not be allowed to carry.

How do you figure out who is and who isn't? I don't know...
Click to expand...

By 'everybody', I don't mean EVERYBODY literally. I'm not exactly sure where the line should be drawn, but I don't think anybody sane would want violent criminals, repeat offenders of serious crimes, or the like, to be carrying lawfully.

It does beg the question though as to what "rights" you forfeit or limit through criminal action... for example, nobody would ever suggest that you should lose your right to free speach because you were a felon.
 
BCEagleAce said:
I'm actually VERY interested in IDPA. You send the invite for me to try it, and I'll take you up on it!
Click to expand...

Great! Worcester Pistol and Rifle club - next IDPA match is Saturday Feb 7th. You'll need a holster, at least three mags and a mag carrier. May also need a flashlight, but we can lend you one.

Check the pistol competition page on NES nearer the time for details.
 
Good post. The learning curve is huge but hanging around here helps you scale it fast. It sure did for me.
 
BCEagleAce said:
By 'everybody', I don't mean EVERYBODY literally. I'm not exactly sure where the line should be drawn, but I don't think anybody sane would want violent criminals, repeat offenders of serious crimes, or the like, to be carrying lawfully.

It does beg the question though as to what "rights" you forfeit or limit through criminal action... for example, nobody would ever suggest that you should lose your right to free speach because you were a felon.
Click to expand...

I would say that felons and certain categories of people have lost their rights to possess firearms. I think that some have proved them selves to be a danger to society and therefore lost their rights to weapons.

What I meant to say is that, assuming we are talking about law abiding citizens only here, "DUTY" is a very harsh and loaded term. I believe the majority is incapable of using a firearm to defend themselves and others. If a person will not pull the trigger if/ when/ should the situation ever arise, they should not carry a firearm. This must be determined by each individual by the individual.

Duty, could also lend itself to prosecution under good samaritan type laws. If you had the means and opportunity to stop something but didn't..
 
seanc said:
I would say that felons and certain categories of people have lost their rights to possess firearms. I think that some have proved them selves to be a danger to society and therefore lost their rights to weapons.

What I meant to say is that, assuming we are talking about law abiding citizens only here, "DUTY" is a very harsh and loaded term. I believe the majority is incapable of using a firearm to defend themselves and others. If a person will not pull the trigger if/ when/ should the situation ever arise, they should not carry a firearm. This must be determined by each individual by the individual.

Duty, could also lend itself to prosecution under good samaritan type laws. If you had the means and opportunity to stop something but didn't..
Click to expand...

I understand now. I use the term "duty" to magnify how important the issue of gun rights are, IMHO. If you are someone unable or unwilling to defend yourself or your family, there is no reason for you to own a firearm anyway.
 
Very nice summation. Glad your little episode turned out OK - you just need to keep aware in case they decide that a known house with guns will make a good target. [thinking]

BCEagleAce said:
I got a lot of great feedback from NESers (as I always do!) and learned a lot.
Click to expand...
Not enough evidently... see below.
BCEagleAce said:
7) Glocks are AWESOME!!!!
Click to expand...
Awesome pieces of crap, that is.
BCEagleAce said:
You should own a Glock, or several!
Click to expand...
When the Greeks reckon time by the calends. [rolleyes]
 
Well said BCEageAce. You are to be commended for sifting the wheat from chaff in such sort order.

Your first mission, should you choose to accept it, is to get dwarven1 to "go plastic". Seek out the Subaru with many stickers [grin]

Your second mission is to then locate and so convert "the owner". Word is he might be found amongst the ice and trees, or in the cave of bits.[smile]
 
kevin9 said:
Your first mission, should you choose to accept it, is to get dwarven1 to "go plastic". Seek out the Subaru with many stickers [grin]

Your second mission is to then locate and so convert "the owner". Word is he might be found amongst the ice and trees, or in the cave of bits.[smile]
Click to expand...
Ain't a-gonna happen. Well... I might get a Kahr PM9, but Gaston Glock's "masterpiece" of a trigger gives me an acute rectal pain. And the shape of those "grips"... [puke2]

seanc said:
there needs to be a term for being rabidly anti-Glock..
Click to expand...
How about "intelligent"? [smile]
 

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