Out with the old…

In October, Don became a USCCA Instructor for the Concealed Carry and Home Defense Fundamentals course. This course is accepted by the State of Michigan as suitable to obtain a concealed pistol license. The switch was made for a number of reasons, including more up to date and relevant information, better informational flow, and more support from the parent organization to run classes to assist instructors and students alike.

We have been running the NRA’s Personal Protection in the Home (PPitH) course for almost a decade now. Honestly, it’s a good course, and covers what it intends to rather well. The State of Michigan asked for a few things as training standards, including justifiable use of force education, at least 30 rounds downrange, and basic protective strategies. The NRA PPitH course covered these, and the State chose it as an acceptable course for a CPL.

The noticeable gap the state created here was that an in-the-home intent course was being used to cover beyond situations. While many of the strategies taught in PPitH were equally applicable in either paradigm, more could be done to help bridge that gap. We continue to respect theNRA PPitH course for what it is intended. It is a solid course. The state simply misapplied it.

When we made the choice to switch to the USCCA curriculum for a CPL, it was done with a few measurables in mind:

Must emphasize SAFETY repeatedly.

Both courses do this well, but the USCCA uses the better updated Jeff Cooper rules of gun safety (and a modern application of them). The reason the Cooper rules are better is that they apply ‘going forward’ into much more advanced training. The NRA rules are more than fine for the average Joe, but we’d like to ensure our students have the opportunities to experience “well above average” Joe.

The NRA Rules of Gun Safety

  • Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction: A solid rule. In fact, it is repeated in the Cooper’s Rules
  • Always keep your finger off the trigger until ready to shoot: Again, a solid rule, and also repeated in the Cooper rules.
  • Always keep the gun unloaded until ready to use: When storing a gun, it should most definitely be unloaded. Clarification needs to be added that when it is holstered and being carried protectively, the gun ids “in use” and should be loaded.

The Cooper Rules of Gun Safety

  • Treat every firearm as if it were loaded: A VERY important concept that the NRA rules miss. Always having the same respect for the firearm regardless of its state of load is a very important training and mindset consideration.
  • Never allow the muzzle to sweep anything you are not willing to destroy: A slightly more detailed version of the NRA rule, with the connotation of added consequence.
  • Keep your finger off the trigger until you are on target and have made the decision to fire: Again, a very similar rule to the NRA rule, with added purposefulness and emphasis on the deliberate.
  • Be aware of your target, what is behind it, and what is in front of it: A very important extrapolation of “Never allow the muzzle to sweep anything you are not willing to destroy”. But instead of focus only on the target, it forces a consideration of everything along the potential cone of effect.

Ultimately, both sets of rules are adequate. NRA advocates will argue that their rules set is general enough to encompass everything in the Cooper’s rules, and they’re probably right.

Should safety be ‘general’, though?

Must emphasize conflict avoidance and violence-as-last-resort

Both curriculums do this, and both do it well. Both stress that lethal force is an absolute last resort tool, and the need for such a tool is a life-changing consideration.

I am admittedly a compartmentalizer. Things need to go in their spot. And the NRA’s curriculum is very neatly done. As such, the stress on these concepts appear in a couple spots in the class. Definitely in the first module discussing force and survival, again in the legal portion, and here and there throughout.

What I liked about the USCCA class is that these concepts of conflict avoidance and last-resort are mentioned throughout the curriculum. It is a repeating theme. It is visited and revisited at least 10 times in various areas of the curriculum. Circling back to these fundamentals through all the various facets of personal protection strategy shows a maturity of thought in how the curriculum is ordered, and better serves the student.

Must prepare the trainee for concealed carry*

….. *as much as 8 hours allow.

This is where the USCCA curriculum outpaces the NRA curriculum. And honestly, it’s no fault of the NRA curriculum, it’s what the State of Michigan decided to use. The NRA PPitH is IN THE HOME. No holster work. No real out-and-about strategies (you can extrapolate the in the home strategies to beyond the home). The NRA has an outside-the-home course that is well regarded. The USCCA curriculum is intended for concealed carry. Out-and-about strategies are a part of it. Holster selection is a part of it. Use of force continuum is a part of it.

The truth is that 8 hours isn’t enough for mastery of these topics. And if that fateful day ever befalls us, mastery is what we will wish we had. 8 hours is the minimum set by standard. So it comes down to one simple question:

I have 8 hours with my trainees. What do I instruct them to maximize their survival while minimizing their risk?

If I start with a blank 8 hour canvas, what would I put there? In short, the USCCA course puts more of what I think it’s important to cover. Both courses have some decent stuff, but slide-for-slide, topic-for-topic, ther USCCA curriculum is more relevant overall.

A better use of our 8 hours together.

Conclusion

Both are great courses. Berge and Don absolutely stand behind every minute of every hour of every class we have instructed. We pour our knowledge and energy into each course to maximize trainee benefit. And while no two courses can ever be exactly alike, we maintain the highest standards of information and safety we can possibly achieve. We believe that, going forward, the USCCA curriculum positions us more able to continue to achieve this.

2020 Class offerings available

Our site is up with the currently scheduled 2020 class offerings. Our current fare continues to include our standard classes:

  • Family Firearm Safety
  • Essential Handgun
  • Michigan Concealed Pistol
  • Michigan CPL Renewal
  • Martial Gunfighting
  • Firearm Cleaning and Maintenance
  • Personal Protection
  • Tactical Tomahawk
  • Emergency Preparedness 1
  • Emergency Preparedness 2

Additionally, we are in the process of securing a venue to host our intermediate classes:

  • Intermediate Handgun 1: Foundational skills for operating the handgun in a protection-intent situation.
  • Intermediate Handgun 2: Environmental factors for operating the handgun in a protection situation (protective moment, cover/concealment).

Lastly, we are excited to announce our latest class, Emergency Preparedness 3! This class will be hands-on with YOUR emergency kit and contents. Building shelter, purifying water, starting fire, and more! Expect situational considerations and survival prioritization to be a big part of what you will face.

We sincerely hope you are getting trained up to protect you and your circle, regardless of the nature of the threats we may face. Whether through us or other great educators, investing in your skill set is the most value for your dollars you can get.

June Training Weekend June 8-9!

Our June 8-9 Training Weekend is approaching quickly. This package deal gets you one admission to our Essential Handgun class (intended for new shooters to learn the basics), one admission to our Michigan Concealed Pistol class (the course needed to fulfill the training requirement imposed by the State of Michigan to get a concealed pistol licence), and one admission to our Personal Protection class (because the firearm is not always the right tool for the job). All classes are held in Brighton MI.

2019 Training Schedule

Hello BEARS! Our 2019 training schedule is official. We will be offering our Intermediate courses as well this year, so now is the time to get the prerequisites in!

Schedule:

February:

March:

April:

May:

June:

July:

August:

September:

October:

November:

Coupon Codes:

  • PROFICIENCY: This coupon code is for K&B Alumni that have taken a specific course offering and wish to re-take it to continue skill building. It is a deep 30% discount meant for returning students to a specific course, only.
  • K&B-ALUMNI: Alumni of one of our shooting courses (Essential Handgun, Michigan CPL, Intermediate Handgun 1, Intermediate Handgun 2, Martial Gunfighting) may take our Emergency Preparedness 1 and our Personal Protection class for FREE. Do not use this code unless you are an alumni of one of the listed courses.
  • EDUCATOR: An educator (public or private) of preschool, elementary school, middle school, or high school that is willing to take protective training for the purpose of being better able to protect our children will train with us for free. Offer is good for Essential Handgun, Michigan CPL, and Personal Protection courses. Proof of being an educator required prior to course start time.

GSSF Recap with Berge Avesian

by Berge Avesian

I just got back from my very first Glock Shooting Sports Foundation (GSSF) competition! It was great and I highly recommend it. My performance on the other hand was not so stellar. Let me preface this with a little background: My EDC is a Sig. I carry Sigs on duty. I’ve gone to competitions with my Sig (and done quite well). I am basically a Sig guy. Now in my safe I have a number of pistols, Glocks among them, but none get so exercised as my Sigs. If I was shooting my Sig 226 today, in competition, I have no doubt I would have put up some formidable numbers but…I wasn’t shooting my Sig.

This GSSF competition was limited to Glocks only. So I pulled my Glock 22 in .40 cal from the back of my safe, grabbed my pistol bag and extra magazines and headed to the range. In hindsight I should have realized I had a problem the moment I picked up my spare mags; two of them were 10 rounders left over from the 1994 AWB! Are you starting to see how I’ve let this pistol languish? Any way I headed out the competition and honestly didn’t do too bad in the 1st two events. The 3rd and final event was the metal plates. Where the first two events could mask my poor marksmanship thanks to larger targets, the plates meant I’d have to be on target with my sights and missed shots would not go unnoticed. 4 strings of fire, 6 plates each and I only hit 15 with 44 rounds! Now I’ve been shooting for a long time and I am very familiar with all manner of firearms and how to handle them. But that doesn’t mean I’ve spent enough time on all of them to understand their nuances and how they shoot (high, low, right, left?).

When the buzzer beeped and I brought my Glock 22 up to bear on the first plate, I was dead on with my sights! The front and rear sight were in near perfect alignment. I squeezed the trigger. Bang! The plate remained unmoved. Follow up shots all had proper sight alignment yet all but the last in that magazine failed to find its mark! What happened?! It took me 2 magazines to figure out the front sight on my Glock is a bit low and every one of my missed shots hit exactly below the steel plate. D’oh! Needless to say I caught on to my sights too late to salvage the heat. If I had just given my Glock as much attention as my Sig I might have figured the sights out and shot a much better score.

Don’t let this happen to you. Whether you are like me and have a bunch of guns or just have one or two, you need to practice with everything you have. Try to run every gun you have enough that you become intimately familiar with its fit and function. Don’t wait till competition or worse a life or death situation to realize you should have been training with your guns more!

Happy Hunting!

Berge Avesian

Gun: An American Conversation (wrap up)

For the month of April, the news outlet MLive and other outlets around the country, ran a program called “Guns: An American Conversation”. The idea behind this project was to get people communicating about gun violence, and entertain possible solutions. The framework was to remain respectful, give well-reasoned answers or stances, and, again, remain respectful. If we could take away different perspectives and different stances, then we would become closer to finding solutions.

Keep and Bear, LLC instructor Don Alley was one of those chosen to be a part of this conversation.

The group consisted of about 150 people total from around the country, with viewpoints spanning the spectrum of gun rights and gun violence. While the participants weren’t 100% respectful at all times, and were sometimes steadfast in their beliefs (Don included), the month long conversation certainly didn’t devolve to the typical Facebook vitriol so common elsewhere. In that, at least, the program was a success. Here is Don’s experience.

Initial thoughts

My initial thoughts, admittedly, was that a media outlet was setting up a group to reinforce via echo-chamber that gun rights were collectively granted, alterable, negotiable, and therefore were readily adjustable via consensus. At the very worst, I figured I’d end up being a lightning rod for individual rights by questioning what authority others had over my rights. (As my involvement in the project continued, I discovered that there were certainly those that held that exact viewpoint).

Guidelines for expectations of discourse were provide, which were easy enough to follow should discussion remain fact based, purpose-driven, and earnestly looking for answers.

The beginning

The month long session dove right in, somewhat predictably. There were many anti-gun people eager to make a difference by proposing ideas that they thought would reduce firearm related violence. These tended to trample the Second Amendment, and those proposing these ideas were alright with that.

There was more than a few members that made it clear that any law, any regulation, or any disqualifier to owning arms was more than acceptable to them. If an idea resulted in any firearm being banned, confiscated, or not for sale, they were clearly for it.

Conversely, there were other members who held the opposite viewpoint. Firearm ownership was an inherent right of a free people, and others do not have the authority to alter it. Anti-gunners were quick to point out that because infringement is currently occurring, that infringement is OK.

There were many in the middle, who were either unaware of the nature of a ‘right’, or felt that reasonable limits were acceptable. These people were, ultimately my target audience for conversation, and wanted to delve more deeply into this neutral/unfamiliar conscientious to understand and relate to them better. Fortunately, the best way to show the end-game of an anti-gun stance is to simply ask more questions. With a few leading questions, the motive becomes clear: control over others. Here were some more observations…

The ‘reasonable restrictions’ argument (part 1)

Anti-gunners use the notion that ‘reasonable restrictions’ are allowed by government to safeguard the public peace. Once the authority to restrict is thus established, they argue it’s just a matter of where those restrictions lie, and ‘we all’ get a say in that. There are a number of issues with this approach.

Anti-gunners like to equate the 1A to infringing the 2A. “You cannot yell Fire! in a crowded theater. This is an example of a reasonable restriction”, they like to argue. Thy are correct that you cannot do that, but they are incorrect calling it a reasonable restriction. It’s actually a crime called ‘inciting’. A ‘restriction’ in this case would be to make it so the word “fire” was illegal to utter. Other popular 1A crimes include slander, libel, and fraud. The system has taken these 1A-based actions and criminalized them because they can lead to physical or financial harm. Aside from these, the 1A is held in high public regard, and further limitations to the 1A are generally held unfavorably.

Likewise, 2A-based abuses are also crimes. These include assault, manslaughter, assault with a deadly weapon, and murder 1, 2, 3. These actions are already criminalized, and as such, if the 2A were held in the same regard as the 1A, further restriction would not be pursued, but the understanding that lawbreakers would be brought to justice.

‘Reasonable restrictions’ are not warranted if the action under scrutiny is already a crime.

The ‘reasonable restrictions’ argument (part 2)

Of interest in the ‘reasonable restriction’ argument, the SCOTUS case DC vs Heller clarified that the 2A is an individual right, but that the government had authority to restrict “unusual” firearms. Since recent estimates show that there are at least 2.4 million AR-15 style defensive carbines in private ownership in the USA, with who knows how many other ‘assault weapons’ (please forgive my use of the term) in private ownership, this style of firearm cannot be considered ‘unusual’, and the ruling would actually prohibit government entities from banning this particular arm.

The ‘restrictions are not infringement’ argument

Yes, they are, by definition. I posted a progression of a firearms transaction from total freedom to authoritarianism. It went like this:

  • Total freedom: I walk into the gun store, choose the firearm I want, voluntarily transact, and leave with the firearm I’ve purchased.
  • Add firearm restrictions: I walk into a gun store, choose the firearm I want (from a list of features the government has deemed I may purchase), voluntarily transact, and leave with the firearm I’ve purchased.
  • Add background checks: I walk into a gun store, choose the firearm I want (from a list of features the government has deemed I may purchase), get NICS checked (ensure I am not on a list that the government has deemed not allowed to purchase a firearm), voluntarily transact, and leave with the firearm I’ve purchased.
  • Add purchase permits: I first go to the government, take a test to prove I am eligible, wait on those results, get issued a purchase permit, I walk into a gun store, choose the firearm I want (from a list of features the government has deemed I may purchase), get NICS checked (ensure I am not on a list that the government has deemed not allowed to purchase a firearm), voluntarily transact, and leave with the firearm I’ve purchased.
  • Add waiting periods: I first go to the government, take a test to prove I am eligible, wait on those results, get issued a purchase permit, I walk into a gun store, choose the firearm I want (from a list of features the government has deemed I may purchase), get NICS checked (ensure I am not on a list that the government has deemed not allowed to purchase a firearm), voluntarily transact, leave the gun store, wait 3 days to ‘cool off’, return, and leave with the firearm I’ve purchased.
  • Add red flag laws: I first go to the government, take a test to prove I am eligible, wait on those results, get issued a purchase permit, I walk into a gun store, choose the firearm I want (from a list of features the government has deemed I may purchase), get NICS checked (ensure I am not on a list that the government has deemed not allowed to purchase a firearm), voluntarily transact, leave the gun store, wait 3 days to ‘cool off’, return, and leave with the firearm I’ve purchased, which I may keep only until such a time that the collective preference of society deems I am allowed to have it, and I must surrender them should a single judge deem it so. I will not be afforded due process, I will not be able to face my accuser, and I will not have a say in their disposition. I may have to prove myself worthy of exercising my right, and the state may make that proof as attainable or unattainable as it sees fit.
  • Authoritarianism: Gun store? We outlawed those. Why do you need a gun? I am reporting you.

Each step above cumulatively infringes on a person’s right, and distances the freedom the 2A enumerates into a set of privileges and preferences, eventually ensuring that no firearms and no people are in the ‘approved set’.

Anti-gunners are quick to point out how ‘quick’ it is to get a firearm. You can walk in and walk out with one. This is as it should be when exercising a Right. What they don’t emphasize is that the person is run through a somewhat efficient database that is able to check ineligibility right away. Because something is ‘quick’ does not mean that it isn’t thorough or comprehensive.

Rejection of the slippery-slope argument

In logic, critical thinking, political rhetoric, and case law, is a consequentialist logical device in which a party asserts that a relatively small first step leads to a chain of related events culminating in some significant (usually negative) effect.

Anti-gunners like to call out the cautions and concerns of pro-gunners as being slippery slope arguments. “Just because we enact regulation now does not mean that we will enact more legislation later.”, they say.

Yes, it does. Yes, they will.

We had the 1934 National Firearm Act which effectively outlawed automatic weapons,  short barrel rifles and shotguns, and suppressors. This was followed with the 1968 Gun Control Act, which regulated firearms as interstate commerce, restricted many firearms, and attempted to relegate firearm ownership as “sporting purpose” in origin and not militaristic in origin. From there, an 80’s era assault weapon ban attempted to prohibit ‘military style’ firearms. A myriad of state level and local bans have followed in the years since. We now have a retired SCOTUS judge calling for the repeal of the 2A, and multiple politicians introducing bills that outright ban firearms.

A slippery slope argument is no longer a logical fallacy when the slope has been proven to exist and is indeed slippery.

In fact, another participant used the “pieces of cake” argument to highlight the iterative, repeated infringement. He likened one’s rights to a cake. When someone came along and said “I will take a piece of your cake, but you get to keep the rest”, the cake owners acquiesced. When they came back for more, the cake owner protested but gave in. Now, with only a slice left, they are coming for it once again.

The anti-gunners were actually livid with this analogy. My take on it was that they were clearly exposed as incrementally infringing rights, and their call for “middle ground common sense” legislation was highlighted as another failure in a long history of gun control failures.

I asked “If we do another gun ban like you’re asking, can we add language to the bill that any future politician suggesting further bans shall be forcibly removed from his office, even upon pain of death, and those enforcing that removal have a full and complete pardon?” I did not get a reply.

The qualifications of those that would make you defenseless

This was actually a post that infuriated me the most. It was a ladies-only post, so I respected their space, but I still read it and took away what I could. The reason for my anger was how ill-informed some of the participants were regarding self defense. After exhibiting potentially lethal ignorance on the topic, they continued to use the group to talk about protective actions. Hint: If your personal protection strategy is based on ‘hope’, or ‘willful ignorance’, don’t try to impose your viewpoints on to others via gun control.

That being said, many/most of the participants cited situational awareness, staying in areas known to be safer, having some defense training, and many only go walking about with their dog.

Here are some of the personal protection strategies of some in the group:

  • I am disabled and ride an electric scooter. I feel that is my armor. I also carry a can of hairspray that will temporarily stop someone if sprayed in their eyes. I also have one of those really loud alarm buttons I can press to attract attention if needed.”
  • “..I assume my world is essentially a safe place and should I be a victim of violence, it would be a random circumstance of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I would never carry a gun.
  • I also know some basic self defense just from watching some videos.”   followed up with a question as to what videos she watches. She answered “The ones that pop up on my Facebook feed and Twitter“.
  • I was raised to use my house keys as weapons. Putting one or two between my knuckles to pierce my attacker and wound him.
  • Protection of the female from male predators has been throughout our history and part of our present.. I don’t think carrying a gun will fix our future..

Another prevalent topic was the need to ‘feel’ safe. Not ‘be’ safe, feel safe. This is a false measurable, as how one feels is unimportant when protective topics are addressed, yet the solutions offered throughout the project seemed to repeatedly be based on how to ‘feel safe’.

There were more than a few posts with women knowing a good bit of martial arts, carrying defensive firearms, and carrying pepper spray/gel, and again, there was a high degree of stated situational awareness.

There is, however, a danger in considering a vocal gun control proponent’s argument, however. They are, quite literally, arguing to make you defenseless. The ‘bait’, is that you will not need defense any more if all guns are taken away, but the sum of human history up to the invention of the firearm shows that theory to be in error. In fact, advent of the firearm helps ensure females are safer than they ever have been in history, as the device relies on a chemical reaction (the cartridge going off), rather than physical strength, to project protective force.

How gun owners are perceived

It has been my experience that gun owners view the American population in two groups:

  1. People who want violence eliminated (but the means in which this is accomplished varies greatly).
  2. Criminals.

During this month long project, it became clear that anti-gun people view Americans in 3 categories:

  1. People who are anti-gun and therefore want violence eliminated.
  2. Pro-gun people who are alright with violence, or are themselves criminals waiting to happen.
  3. Criminals.

This attitude was prevalent throughout the project, with gun owners sometimes outright vilified. One post even stated “another good guy with a gun, until he wasn’t” regarding an assaultive encounter under discussion.

I see this as the biggest divide on this issue. To the anti-gunner, the 2A is not really a right, it’s a road block to imposing their preference. It must be questioned, marginalized, scrutinized, and the founding fathers’ intent on it must be doubted. This is the only way it can be eroded. Then, they will have their way.

Until then, pro-gunners are apparently one step away from becoming criminals.

I, for one, will continue to see American’s in the 2-category model I first mentioned, and I will continue to reject and vehemently oppose the notion that gun owners are violence proponents simply by virtue of employing a means of protection.

The obligatory NRA bashing

This is the time honored tradition of the anti-gunner, but also represents one of the biggest wins this project offered. The topic started with the usual “NRA wants dead babies” statements. Not put out there as fact, but rather that the NRA is complicit in every shooting occurring in the USA.

Fortunately, there were many pro-2A people who were able to shed some reason on it. Some of these points were:

  • Issues you (anti-gunners) are for have lobbies. Why do you not oppose them? Are lobbies evil or not?
  • Why do you feel the NRA is racist? (Apparently Ted Nugent’s opinions translate to the entirety of the organization.)
  • Who is the NRA made up of? (Answer: Between 5 and 10 million Americans willing to open their wallet and their junk mail boxes to support their cause).
  • For your causes, you (anti-gunners) get corporate support (such as Soros funded protests). Why is it that the NRA getting corporate support from related industry members vilified?

As I mentioned, I felt this was out biggest ‘win’ in the discussion. It became very clear that the answer to “Why is the NRA vilified” is “Because they are effective.” Based on the responses of many centrist viewpoints in the group, they felt the NRA and its members were unfairly targeted and vilified for supporting their cause.

Gun owners should have to ____________

I mentioned this one in last month’s post, and it remained prevalent throughout the month long project. The restrictions proposed, and the solutions offered seemed to largely revolve around this format.  ‘Solutions’ varied from carrying extra liability insurance (ensuring gun rights are only for the wealthy), to mandatory safety training (enabling anti-gun areas to impose very difficult testing), to waiting periods, to more invasive background checks, to even getting clearance from a psychologist, the solution was clear: gun owners must bear the brunt of freedom infringement for the mere feeling of safety in others.

One of the moderator’s favorite participants had an op-ed piece published in his local paper, suggesting that liability insurance be required for gun owners. It was heartening to find his op-ed received a near-90% disapproval to his ill-thought suggestions.

Built-in bias

The program was moderated such that only a few new topics were introduced each day, and conversation swirled around those. During this month, a homeowner used an AR-15 to stop multiple people invading his home. This link was rejected as a talking point. The same day, another gun control school walk out occurred, where one student was shot in the ankle. This article was rushed through to the top of the line and published.

The AR-15 link was rejected ‘because we already know guns like this can be used defensively’. But, don’t we already know school walkouts occur? Don’t we already know sometimes someone in a large group suffers injury?

While the conversation was free on each topic, the conversation was indeed steered by what topics were brought up.

Conclusion

I’ve come away with a somewhat hopeful feeling: That truth, logic, safety, and true freedom lie on the side of the pro-gun community. We rely on our training to protect us during an altercation, and the justice system to follow up. The anti-gun side relies on the justice system upfront to make them safe, but their disarmament goals ensure that failures within the justice system will continue to harm peaceable Americans.

Guns: An American conversation

K&B’s instructor Don Alley was invited to be a part of a conversation group about ‘gun violence’ in America. The rules were really rather simple: Be respectful. So far, this rule is holding rather well among the participants.
A big clue-in to the state of the republic can be found in this group. The majority of Americans have no real idea what a ‘right’ is, and believe that the collective mentality is all the justification necessary to limit, curtail, and outright infringe on someone’s rights.
The most unfortunate thing seen so far is the same tired thought process of adding burden to the peaceable gun owners that would have no effect on crime or violence. This most often takes the form of  “Should gun owners have to ___________________ before buying a gun?”

The fill in the blank so far include:

  • buy liability insurance
  • take mandatory gun training
  • have to wait (between 3 days to 1 month)
  • submit to an intense background check
  • demonstrate justifiable need

In all cases, these are infringement. A liability tax is nothing more than a financial burden, and the enacting of it pre-supposes there will be some type of incident requiring it. With this presumption of future guilt and financial burden, it would not only make the poor more vulnerable, it may expose them to greater danger by those willing to commit acts seeking an insurance payout.

Gun training is ALWAYS a good idea. Always. Mandatory gun training, though, is not. By making a mandatory training, the government would then be able to control training fees, access to class times, and testing difficulty to regulate who may own a firearm and who may not. Agenda-driven action can move these variables in the future.

Wait times have not ever been proven to be effective.

Background checks and NICS checks, while an infringement, have not been heavily opposed by the pro-gun community, because we too hope to see violence drop. But with government agencies failing to report many items to the database, the database being fraught with errors, and no real way to seek redress for being put on the database, many oppose a more formidable check. An additional question is why, if it is a background check, are gun data such as make, model, and serial number being submitted?

Demonstrating justifiable need moves the ‘right’ to keep and bear arms squarely into a government doled privilege. Furthermore, it reinforces the notion that someone else may inflict their preference upon others, by the enforcement of their perception of ‘need’.

Hearteningly, though, there are at least a few freedom-minded individuals on this ‘conversation’, slowly replacing ‘fear’ with understanding. In the end, we hope that wisdom prevails, Americans choose freedom, and the fearmongering of the anti-gun agenda is quelled with a majority public rebuke.

 

Emergency preparedness wrap up

K&B ran our Emergency Preparedness 1 course, introducing people to emergency prepping in a planned and thought out way. Our goal in this course is to get people the knowledge to make thought our plans for the threat events they face, in a manner that they can face them. This precludes cookie cutter or add-to-cart solutions designed for profit.

We also ran our first Emergency Preparedness 2 course, which focuses on get home bags, evac bags, and more. Like our first course, this is a reality-driven approach to building an emergency kit.

We were honored to have a full class for each of these courses, with both K&B alumni as well as new students. Our feedback has been very favorable, with comments including the planning system is well organized and methodical, the course material was complete and realistic, and the courses complimented each other and flowed well.

As always, we are honored to be a part of your training choices, whether it be personal protection, firearm proficiency, or preparedness.

Trap Shooting!

Fun range day trap shooting with K&B!

We are going Trap Shooting on 21JUL2018 at 1PM at Pontiac Lake State Park. Just a fun outing for all of us that have become friends through shooting and personal protection training. Contact us at info@keepandbearllc.com for details, or look here!