I used to work as a criminal justice adjunct instructor for a a private college here in Nashville. I ended up teaching terrorism much of the time, and while going through my computer I found several PowerPoint files and lesson plans I felt would be useful to some of the readers of this site.
Now this post on terrorism and media frames comes from the terrorism course, but media bias, contagion effects, the big lie, and how media framing is something all well informed citizens need to understand.
It is rather long – coming in at 30 minutes, but I saved you from any cutesy intro music, and all the nice to know illustrative stuff I would have talked about in a normal 3 hour course.
The media doesn’t look out for your interests like some claim they do, and if you want to be informed, it pays to understand why.
As you see what the media reports on and how they frame the story to show a particular view an unbiased individual can see that the news is being presented to show a particular view.
While you can become informed by the modern news if you don’t recognize the bias you can be influenced without even knowing it.
In this episode David talks about What to Do After a Shooting.
Its easy to learn how to shoot. However, it is harder to learn when to shoot. Even more so what to do after. Because that is not always addressed in some classes.
There are two schools of thought when dealing with the police, and David discusses them both
The show is scheduled for Monday at 10pm central time at this link.
If you cannot listen on Monday, you can always download the podcast for listening at your own leisure.
I have several blog posts on this subject and have written about this on other sites like guns.com as well. It is my view that there are many people teaching how to shoot, and a few teaching when to shoot, but learning What to Do After a Shooting is not as well covered in the instructor world.
If you don’t know how to handle yourself during police questioning you can find yourself a suspect instead of a crime victim. The justice system has two different paths depending on its view of you as it relates to victim or subject. Officers quickly decide which path to put you one, and it is extremely hard to get back if you have been derailed off of the crime victim track. This is a topic I have written extensively about.
When I am on the range with new shooters and they have a malfunction they tend to blame the gun. I understand totally, you pay a lot for a firearm, and want to depend on it to function 100% of the time. Especially if you plan on using to defend your life.
If it keeps malfunctioning, you start to wonder if you bought a lemon.
However, it is been my experience that mechanical problems are not the leading reason most semi-automatic handguns malfunction.
There is an acronym that goes over the reasons for handgun malfunction, and it just happens to be in order or likely hood – so when you are on the range and “gun don’t work” try this first That acronym is SAMM.
The list below will show you how to begin firearm stoppage troubleshooting using SAMM.
Shooter
Semi-automatic handguns are amazing things; they are designed to contain and channel explosions, push projectiles at hundreds of feet per second, extract and eject spent casings, push fresh rounds from magazines and then chamber them in the handgun. All this has to be done with a single input of energy and timed and balanced so that everything is done.
The shooter is a variable in the design. If the shooter does not provide a steady platform for the gun to recoil against, then the laws of physics make the whole gun want to recoil equally instead of just the slide. If the slide is not able to move farther and faster than the frame of the handgun you will get failures to extract, failures to eject, double feeds, and failures to load.
In my experience with new shooters, the greatest single cause of handgun malfunctions is the shooter not holding the handgun properly.
Ammo
Ammunition malfunctions are another cause of firearms failing to function as designed. I have no issue with reloads, and done properly by a skilled individual hand loaded ammunition can function much better than factory ammunition. However, there are a lot of variables in ammunition manufacture, and reloads tend to have a greater than normal incidence of misfires, hang fires, and squib loads. Some guns (like my Walther P22) are very finicky about the ammunition it will digest, and ammunition that does not have a lot of pressure will cause the gun to double feed or fail to extract.
Remember, that with a semi-automatic, the round is part of the firearm operation, and it moves inside the firearm. If the nose of the bullet does not smoothly engage the feeding ramp then the firearm will not load smoothly. There is a reason for the recommendation that you practice with the same type of ammunition you choose to carry for defensive use.
If you have malfunction after malfunction, especially with chambering, you may want to switch ammunition brands or styles.
Maintenance
Most, if not all, ranges offer rental guns, and most of those ranges do not spend a lot of effort in ensuring that their rental guns are cleaned properly.
One range I use rents an old red label Sturm, Ruger & Co .22 pistol. I doubt that gun has been cleaned since Mr. Sturm passed in 1951. These guns are popular handguns, and known for their great design, but that particular firearm will not shoot more than 2 rounds before it has a jam. It is simply too dirty. I have thought about cleaning it myself, but I have a side bet to see if it will ever get so dirty it won’t except a magazine….
Glock’s torture test is legendary, but as their armorer course instructor said, it’s a test – not a daily routine.
Just because you CAN drop you loaded gun in the mud, let it sit for a month then fire it without cleaning doesn’t mean you SHOULD. Clean your firearm, lube it according to the manufacturer specifications, hold it properly, and feed it what it likes to eat and your gun will work 99.9% of the time
Mechanical
There is a reason Mechanical is last. Stock guns maintained properly very rarely break on the range. It does happen, and I have had front sights work themselves loose after thousands of practice draws, but it is not routine enough that it is front of my mind when diagnosing why a new shooter is having malfunctions on the range.
Typically, even most mechanical malfunctions I have seen come from shooters using aftermarket parts on their guns. If the designer wanted a titanium firing pin for a lighter quicker primer strike, why did they not put a titanium pin in the gun? It seems to me, that in today’s litigious world, especially with the competition between gun manufacturers, if a part made the gun better, faster, or stronger, the manufacturer would sell it – either in the gun or as an option.
This is just my two cents, it doesn’t butter my biscuit either way – if your gun is stock, or you hung everything but Christmas Lights on it. I am just trying to pass on what I have seen, and what I have learned through the years.
I recently was a guest on John Westley Smith’s Destiny Survival Podcast – John runs a very cool site Destiny Survival, and I highly recommend you visiting his site. We had a good time talking about a variety of preparedness subjects, and I learned a lot from just talking with him.
Destiny Survival is a very good preparedness website – like me, John is documenting what he is doing to become prepared. His says his websites goal is to “help you and other preppers as I continue along my own preparedness journey. You probably know already that we must prepare for survival in a rapidly changing world. After all, how will we live when life as we’ve known it has changed forever?”
I think that is a very noble mindset, and urge you to take a moment to visit his site. He has tons of articles on things like goal setting, emergency dental kits, Active shooters, the oathkeepers, and much more valuable information.
He is a very spiritual man, and is great about helping others, he is a writer, homeschooler, radio broadcaster, and all around good guy.
I enjoyed being on his show and look forward to talking with him again.
His show “DestinySurvival Radio” is a weekly podcast covering a variety of topics related to prepping and survival. A new program is released each Thursday, and most shows are roughly an hour long. He has been doing this a long time and is much more professional at the podcast game than I am.
The show will be live on blogtalk radio at 1pm this afternoon, but as with all PRN shows, you can download it after the show anytime for your convenience.
There are three basic causes of a negligent discharge (ND):
Finger on trigger, Finger on trigger, and Finger on trigger
But for those that want to know the three mechanisms that cause that errant finger to pull the trigger they are:
Startle, Stumble, Sympathetic Grip
Startle Response
The first reason your finger may tighten on the trigger when you did not consciously will it to is due to the fight or flight response. If you have ever been startled, or (guys) snuck up and “goosed” your partner, you will recognize that when startled the natural reflex is to make a fist and bring your hands up to protect your head. If your finger is on the trigger when startled it is highly likely you will have a ND.
Stumble (Imbalance Discharge)
This is very similar to the startle response in that it is your body reacting in a protective mode. Whenever you suddenly falls, your arms automatically flay out to catch try to catch something to arrest your fall. The hands grasp at whatever they can to stop the movement. If one hand grabs then the hand holding the gun will also tend to tighten. Basically this is both the startle and the sympathetic responses caused by falling.
Sympathetic Muscle Response (inter-limb reaction)
The next reason is also part of you autonomic nervous system. We have a sympathetic reflex built into our body. It is very hard to squeeze with your whole hand without also squeezing your trigger finger. Not only that, but it is also nearly impossible to apply pressure with one hand without unconsciously tightening your grip in your other hand. This is the reason good law enforcement training teaches to always holster your firearm before going “hands on” with a suspect. If you have your dominant hand gripping your firearm, and begin to fight with your non-dominant hand you may end up squeezing both hands and causing a ND.
No matter the cause of the negligent discharge, the mitigation activity is the same.
Never point your weapon at something you don’t intend to shoot
Keep your finger off the trigger until you intend to shoot
Never go hands on with someone in an attempt to gain compliance while gripping your pistol, obviously this is for situations where lethal force is not justified, but force is needed. This really is more of a LE/Security issue, but it something an armed citizen needs to be aware of.
