JournalStar.com - Lincoln, Nebraska:

After we left the range, some of the students talked about why they want a permit. One said personal security. Another mentioned a cousin who was murdered and how he doesn’t want to be a victim. A couple of the others said they want to carry handguns while they’re traveling on the road.

I thought about it a lot in the last few days and decided even if I do get the permit, I won’t carry. I’m just not willing to accept the responsibility of keeping a loaded handgun in public.

I imagine people on both sides of this polarized issue will view my decision through their own filters. Gun advocates might call me a coward, while the antis might crow that I had second thoughts after having gone through the course.

My choice does not mean others can’t handle the responsibility of carrying a handgun. It means I’m being honest with myself in knowing I’m not one of them.

A good article that is actually not biased against guns or self defense, I don't think.  My only question is about the first paragraph of the story where he mentions that his target was three feet away.  Did he really mean three feet?

Dallas Morning News:

State Rep. Joe Driver, R-Garland, wants people to have the same right to shoot intruders who invade their cars and businesses as they have to shoot people who break into their homes.

If House Bill 284 were to become law, a person would have the right to use deadly force and would no longer be required to retreat to avoid violence in a business, workplace or vehicle.

Actually, we already have legal precedent for lethal force in self defense while in a vehicle. Tomorrow when my blog comes back online and I can search it, I'll try to look up the reference and link it.  [UPDATE:  Link here.]

In short, the very first instance of lethal self defense by a Texas CHL holder was when he was attacked while sitting in his car in a traffic jam.  The man who attacked him was punching him with his fists through the open window.  The man being attacked shot and killed the one hitting him.

It was no-billed--the pre-trail hearing determined it was lawful self defense and that was that.

However, this bill also provides protection against civil suits.  Pertinent part here:

Sec. 83.001. AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSE. It is an affirmative defense to a civil action for damages for personal injury or death that the defendant, at the time the cause of action arose, was justified in using force or deadly force under Subchapter C, Chapter 9, Penal Code.

SECTION 5. Chapter 83, Civil Practice and Remedies Code, is amended by adding Section 83.002 to read as follows:

    Sec. 83.002. COURT COSTS, ATTORNEY'S FEES, AND OTHER EXPENSES. A defendant who prevails in asserting the affirmative defense described by Section 83.001 may recover from the plaintiff all court costs, reasonable attorney's fees, earned income that was lost as a result of the suit, and other reasonable expenses.

Of course, the Brady Campaign to Prevent Lawful Self Defense doesn't like it, but they couldn't stop this movement in numerous other states, and I doubt they'll have much effect in Texas.

The full text of the new bill can be found at the Texas Legislature website as House Bill No. 284.

Crossposted to The Gun Blogs.

In this utterly nauseating Washington Post article, a "karate" expert gives tips on surviving a mugging.

She gives two tips that are good, in my opinion:  carry a purse that can be concealed or at least made very difficult to snatch, and stay alert.

Her other tips are what made my guts churn.  How can anyone be reduced to this?

Let go! Middleton is a karate black belt, and yet when she was mugged 10 years ago, she quickly acquiesced. Later, she learned that her attacker was notorious for firing his gun at the first sign of resistance. "That's not everybody's modus operandi, but you never know," she says. "The safest thing to do is give up your property. It isn't worth fighting for." Still, for many of us, the natural reaction to someone snatching a purse is to pull the other way. Middleton says you can prevent this by being mentally prepared: "Think ahead of time, 'If somebody tries to grab my purse, I'll give it to him.' "

So what you've just done is tell the mugger that yes, I am indeed an easy mark.  Next time you see me walking here, please feel free to grab my purse again.  Or grab someone else's.  It doesn't matter--we're all sheep here.  Eventually, after you've robbed enough people that you've gotten your courage worked up, feel free to rape and murder us, too.

Ditch the pepper spray. At my parents' insistence, I went out and bought a small vial of pepper spray called "American Defender" ($15 at Ace Hardware), but I'm terrified to use it. With good reason, Middleton says. People who carry mace or pepper spray "are more likely to get attacked -- carrying it makes them believe that they're somehow less vulnerable," she says. You should be trained before using pepper spray and mace, Middleton says, and the sprays don't work against the
usual determined attacker. Muggers know there's mace out there, she says, "and they're ready for it. It's going to get in your eyes, too, and you're going to struggle with it more, because they're prepared and you're not."

And how exactly do they get "ready" for it?  Do they carry gas masks or something?  I doubt that the common, everyday purse snatcher is so whacked out on drugs that he won't feel it.  And she trots out that good old "more likely to get attacked" bull.  What's good for guns, is good for pepper spray, I guess.  No, you're much better off just bleating politely and hoping for the best.

Carry cash. Middleton calls it "martyr money": $30 to keep in your wallet in the event of a holdup. It's an easy way to avoid a more prolonged, and costly, holdup at the ATM machine. "You're safer if you give them the money and don't say anything incendiary," Middleton advises. "Just be completely neutral and cooperative. Even be respectful: 'Yes, sir, it's all yours.' "

So, we should become mugger enablers.  I suppose she would also recommend carrying the cash in your back pockets to make it easy for the mugger to reach while you're grabbing your ankles.

Much better to give him $30 worth of ammo, including about $10 worth straight to the head.

And maybe $1.50 or so to each kneecap, just to start.

These people disgust me.

I often dream about things that occupy my mind during waking hours.  Doesn't everyone?  If I'm trying to write a song, I will dream music.  If I'm trying to write a story, I will dream something related to that story.  (By the way, when you have a hobby of writing horror fiction this can lead to some pretty nasty dreams).

I suppose, like most people who have fallen into this gunblogger niche, I spend more time than the average shmuck thinking about self defense.  This means I occasionally have dreams about such situations.  Or maybe I should call them nightmares instead of dreams.

I have had dreams before of defending my family from a home invasion.  In these nightmarish dreams I have never hesitated.  Until a dream I had a few nights ago.

In this dream, I awakened to hear someone moving in another part of the house.  I confronted him.  He was armed only with a baseball bat, as far as I could see.  However, since he had forcibly entered my house in the dead of night I knew that I would be justified--both morally and legally--in using deadly force.  But I didn't.  Because in the light of my flashlight I could see that he was someone I had known long ago.  Someone who had been in my graduating class in high school, and who I had even thought of as one of my friends.  This made me hesitate.

I'm glad that this was only a dream.  Honestly, the thought of having to someday use deadly force against an old friend is something that never entered my conscious mind--until now.  It isn't very likely that any such thing would ever happen, but I guess anything is possible.

I have been mightily puzzled by the disappearance of my S&W kerambit.  There's just no way that thing could have slipped out of my pocket.  The clip was very strong and tight, and it didn't come out all that easily even when I was pulling it out on purpose.  I think it must have been "misplaced."  I just don't know where.  But I think I'll probably find it again someday, when I'm looking for something else.

In the meantime, I picked up two new S&W blades that I liked the looks of.
This one will go in the spot previously occupied by the misplaced blade.

And the other...
Much smaller, for deeper concealment.  I haven't decided exactly where, yet.  Both have pocket clips and locking blades.  Just so no one thinks I don't carry a scary knife anymore.

I like S&W knives because they are very well built, but are priced so that I don't feel like I suffered a major financial loss if I lose one--or God forbid, I am forced to ditch one.

Palm Bay, Florida:

A homeowner stopped an alleged burglar by beating him into submission with a football helmet. Kevin Williams, 44, of Palm Bay spotted a man outside his window at 3:15 a.m. Monday using a screwdriver to pry at the screen door, Florida Today reported.

"I had to protect my home . . . I wasn't sure what in the world he would do, rape my wife, steal something, I didn't know," Williams said. "I got my son's helmet from the garage, went out there and hit him several times. I started from the head and worked my way down to the body."

Should have used a hammer.

Fortunately for the home owner, the invader apparently wasn't armed.