Dojo Storm

From this YouTube video.

A man issues a challenge at an MMA gym.  It goes about as expected. 

Several key points that tell you this guy is not a significantly skilled martial artist -
- He states more than 4 or 5 arts that he has trained in.
- He claims "death arts."
- He doesn't want to wear protective gear.  
- Out of shape. 
- Terrible footwork and movement. 
- Never trained jiu-jitsu, but had "done some ground stuff."

More On Honesty In Sales

A while back, someone from  Yelp called me in an attempt to sell me advertising. This wasn't the first time they'd called me.  It was the first time I had spoken with them long enough to catch them in a lie. 

Well, it would appear that  I am not alone. do read the article.  It details several instances of Yelp selling ads to businesses that were not helped at all. Also detailed are several unscrupulous actions taken by the company. 

Makes it simple for me - I won't do business with them. 

Lessons Learned

Yesterday in a church in Texas, a gunman opened fire. He was able to get off two fatal shots, and then a member of the church safety team fired once and put him down. Here are some facts you need to know as you see the story unfold.

1. The criminal used a 12 gauge shotgun.
The make and model of the gun he used is permitted in all 50 states, and is never targeted in these so-called "assault weapons" bans.

2. Training is essential.
The first person he shot, was actually a member of the church safety team. The safety team member can be seen on video attempting to draw his gun from the small of the back. It is very clear he had not trained, nor practiced much in correct draw and fire methodology. He did not appear to attempt to communicate in any way with his other safety team members.

3. Don't just carry - train & practice.
* You need to be able to draw & fire and hit a vital Zone target 7 yards away within 1.5 seconds.  Even if you *think* you can do this, you need a class where an instructor will coach you - you might have errors in your draw stroke that you do not see. 
* You need a good carry handgun.
Your carry gun needs to be 9mm or larger. It needs to have no safety to disengage. It needs to be supremely reliable (GLOCK, Sig, or S&W - all others are questionable, at best). A subcompact (GLOCK 43, Sig P365, S&W Shield) is ok, but a compact with 15 rounds (GLOCK 19, Sig P320, S&W M&P 2.0C) is better. 
* "Fast is fine, but accuracy is final"
- Wyatt Earp
* Don't carry in small of the back.
Carry at 4:00 or AIWB. If you don't know what those mean without a Google search, you haven't trained, or you haven't trained with a competent defensive carry instructor.  The Carry Permit Class is NOT training - if it was, we wouldn't need points 2 and 3 above. 

4. It was one man.
Some memes on social media say it was "armed people" who stopped the threat. NO! It was one man who calmly and quickly drew and fired accurately. The rest either fumbled with gear that was "good enough," or they froze. 

5. Evil is everywhere.
Even (my pastor might say "especially") in church.  Prepare accordingly. 


Summary. 
Training is where you learn skills. Practice is what you do after that class to hone those skills. If you say you are "too advanced" to take a specific class - you probably NEED that class.  If you were "taught" by family, the military,  or the police, then you NEED a class more than anybody else. 

Gear won't make you a better shooter, but bad gear will get in your way at the worst possible time.  If you say things like "well, it's good enough," or "it works for me," then I know immediately that you have limited training and even more limited practice. 

If you take a "tactical" class that does not emphasize marksmanship, then that should be the last class you take with that instructor or company.  And if you haven't taken a class, then you are woefully underprepared. And the carry permit class is NOT training (my students know what to do when I repeat something like this).

 Link to a video of the incident.

Shooting Fakes

One of the things I still enjoy blogging about is when people say or do crazy things.  One of the craziest things is to lie to me. One of the topics I'll figure out your lie quickly on is shooting. 

This individual told me he got certificates from Appleseed for scoring "Rifleman." I showed him my patches and the respective targets - almost 10 years apart in the making.  I've never heard of them giving out certificates for Rifleman scores. 

He also told me the target pictured above was him sighting in with 5 rounds, then rapid-fire kneeling with his AR15 from 100 yards.  In fact, it is a target shot from much closer (hence the ancillary tears in the paper around the holes), and it is between 10-20 rounds.  If I was forced to wager, I'd say there are 14 rounds shown on that paper - give or take a shot. 

Here's an old target I shot from 50 yards with precision ammo from prone.  This was 20 rounds.  You'll notice that the individual holes are a bit cleaner. This was also shot from a rested position, hence the accuracy. 

#ShootingFakes are fake. 

By The Numbers

By the numbers.

10 classes.
74 students.
2 family members.
8 comps.
15,000+ rounds.

The first full course schedule year for Patriot Training was definitely a success. Every rifle shooter hit targets all the way out to 300 yards. Every handgun shooter hit targets at 25 yards. Find identity

Financially, I learned that the break-even point is between four and five students for each class. We did not have a single class with fewer than 5 participants. Two classes had only 5 participants, but two other classes had 10+.

Strategically, I learned how to advertise correctly on Facebook to maximize revenues. One thing I did not expect in this column was that I will have to keep careful watch, as about once per week on the Facebook ad there is an asinine post by somebody. It's best just to remove those quickly instead of trying to correct people, or correct opinion.

Great year and I expect more in 2020.

Impeachment

On Wednesday evening, the US Congress, in a completely partisan vote, passed two articles of impeachment against President Trump. This makes Trump the 3rd President to be impeached.  Neither of the other two (Jackson and Clinton) were found guilty by the required 2/3 majority, and thus, neither were removed from office.  It is likely that Trump will receive the same treatment. 

#LibNuts everywhere started celebrating once it was announced.   Some automatically think Pence is POTUS now (he's not). Some think Hillary will be sworn in (she won't). At least one #FakeNews outlet had a tweet of them celebrating "Impeachmas." They have all been working for impeachment for 3+ years. Nancy Pelosi even said as much, although the actions mentioned in the allegations took place in June of this year. 

If Trump is removed, it will certainly start the next Revolution.

But, for the time, let's define impeachment for these #LibNuts -
IMPEACHMENT
noun
- A charge of misconduct against a person holding office. 

In the US, anyone can be charged with anything.  That's why our Founding Fathers made sure that our Constitution recognized a person's right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.  Just because someone is charged with something doesn't mean they are guilty of it. 

Or, more simply put:
Impeachment = / = removal. 

Angry Women

Meme says - "behind every angry woman stands a man who has no idea what he did wrong."

Rifleman says - because he didnt do anything wrong. 


Don't let her Cluster B disorders rule your life. 

What You Say And How You Say It

Posts on social media from two different gun schools (neither is mine) after a class...


School 1
We had a fantastic rifle class last week.  What did we learn?  NOT ONE of these very experienced people was anywhere near as good as they thought they were.  Read that again.  NOT ONE.


School 2
Rifle class went very well.  Good shooting overall, hits all day at 300 yards, team drills, and great muzzle awareness.


Which one would you like to train at?

Libs Lie 2

#LibNuts will share this meme and they don't know the meaning.  Yesterday, we explored option 1 - the census. Today, it is option 2 - the Massacre of the Innocents. #LibNuts try to tie this in to illegal immigration. But, is that what it is? Let's check the Bible -

After they were gone, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, “Get up! Take the child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you. For Herod is about to search for the child to destroy Him.”  So he got up, took the child and His mother during the night, and escaped to Egypt. He stayed there until Herod’s death, so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet might be fulfilled: Out of Egypt I called My Son.  Then Herod, when he saw that he had been outwitted by the wise men, flew into a rage. He gave orders to massacre all the male children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, in keeping with the time he had learned from the wise men.
Matthew 2:13‭-‬16 HCSB

First, Joseph wouldn't have taken his family to Egypt if that was illegal - because why risk imprisonment? He likely was well aware of how immigrants would be received in neighboring countries. And the Angel of the Lord would not have commanded him to sin by breaking the law of another country. 

Second - Immigration law of the time is something we have little to no documentation of now. From inferred policy based on writings of the time, foreigners in most nations were probably ostracized a bit by the citizens, but most countries did not have official policy against immigration. It would have been nearly impossible to enforce. 

So, once again, we have a completely uneducated meme floated by #LibNuts . They always have to lie to make their points.  It means their points hold no validity. 

Libs Lie

#LibNuts will share fake memes like this, to try to encourage folks of the Right to think that Jesus was an illegal immigrant. Of course, this is nonsense.  How can I say that with authority? Just read the Bible:

In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus  that the whole empire should be registered. This first registration took place while Quirinius was governing Syria.  So everyone went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family line of David,  to be registered along with Mary, who was engaged to him and was pregnant.
Luke 2:1‭-‬5 HCSB

Yeah, not only was Jesus not an illegal immigrant, but rather, he was the Son of Mary, who was being "registered" (census) as a citizen of Bethlehem.