Prepper's Armory: Children and Guns

Everyone knows children and guns can be a disastrous combination. Any of our gun-owning readers who have children, or who have children that visit their homes, need to take certain precautions: safe firearm storage, early introduction to firearms, and proper education & training.

Safe Storage

This is possibly the simplest element, so I’ll start here.  Please note that while it’s the simplest doesn’t mean that it’s simple.

Preventing unauthorized access to firearms is one of the most important responsibilities of any firearm owner. Regardless of whether that unauthorized person is a burglar, a visitor, another resident, or a child, it’s always the gun owner’s job to secure their firearms.

There are a number of options available for secure firearm storage:

• A dedicated gun safe. There are a wide variety available in different sizes, with various features, and from a number of manufacturers. The downside is that a quality safe is expensive, heavy, and takes up as much space as a refrigerator, if not more. 
• Gun owners who only have a few firearms to secure may be well served by a small locking case. Many of these come with steel cables for securing to furniture or an interior element in a car. If there are plans to fly with a firearm, some are also TSA approved.
• The manufacturer’s case that came with the gun may have the ability accept a lock, but they usually aren’t sturdy enough to prevent unauthorized access.
• If it's a home defense handgun, there are quick access lock boxes available as well. Some have tap code or biometric locks in addition to traditional keyed or combination locks.
• Most new firearms come with an adjustable or flexible hasp lock that runs through the open action of the firearm, rendering it inoperable. These are also available from Project Child Safe, a program introduced in the 1990s by the National Shooting Sports Foundation.
• Trigger locks are an additional option often used in conjunction with some type of storage container. Trigger locks are not viable on every firearm or firearm type; lever action rifles are a specific example where trigger locks generally don’t work.

None of these options are perfect, and the best option for one person may well be different than that chosen by another. Additionally, none of these security methods work if we don’t use them and use them consistently.

Don’t forget about the ammunition, either. Unless it’s a home defense gun, it’s recommended that ammunition be secured separately from firearms. If necessary, the ammunition can be locked up as well.

Early Introduction to Firearms

I frequently have parents ask me “What’s a good age to introduce my child to guns?” There is no one-size-fits-all answer here, as it depends on several factors. Most important is the maturity level and mental focus of the child. After that is the physical ability to handle the firearm safely, followed closely by the capability of the parent (or other chosen adult) to pass information on in a way that the child can process.

One thing that often works is to let the child know that any time they want to look at the guns all they have to do is ask. If this precedent is set, make sure it's always followed. 

This recurring visit to the gun safe is also a good time to reinforce the four rules of safe gun handling. Children follow our example more often than our verbal instructions.

The NRAs Eddie Eagle program has been a valuable tool in teaching gun safety to children for over 30 years. Its four precepts of “Stop! Don’t Touch, Run Away, Tell a Grown-Up” are easy for kids as young five years old to remember and follow. If this program is not offered locally, look into changing that.

https://eddieeagle.nra.org/

Another useful element is to reinforce how dangerous guns can be if not handled properly. If an outdoor range is available, a gallon jug filled with water and food coloring can be a vivid example of the destructive power of a firearm. If this method is tried, make sure an appropriate cartridge is selected; the higher velocity the better.

Once the basics are thoroughly covered, further training can follow; it's generally a better idea to gun-proof your children than to child-proof your guns. Make sure to check state and local laws regarding minimum age for handling a firearm or any other legal requirements.

Education and Training

Not everyone is capable or comfortable teaching, in which case a source of training will be needed. Proper early education and training can be provided by parents, friends, or certified instructors either individually, or as part of an organization. The most important attributes for an instructor are patience and the ability to explain things in a way a child is more likely to understand.

• Operation Blazing Sword has volunteer firearms educators all across the country. While not all of these trainers will be comfortable instructing a child, it never hurts to ask.
• Another good place to start may be your state's youth hunting license program. These programs require a hunter safety course that nearly always involves a firearm safety element. 
• The 4-H program has provided quality youth firearms training for over one hundred years. The National Shooting Sports Foundation now runs the firearm training element of the 4-H program.
• At the national level, the NRA has their National Youth Shooting Sports Cooperative Program. They offer resources, programs, and training to assist youth organizations, such as Scout troops, JROTC units, 4-H clubs, commercial summer camps, and more. The local NRA state affiliate organization is also likely to have youth shooting activities.
• As their skill and interest grows, another source of training and education is Project Appleseed. This program provides history and context in combination with firearm training and shooting events to fulfill their goal of building a nation of riflemen and, as they say on their website, “to show that many of the values that our forefathers relied on to win our independence are still very much in demand today.”
• Back in the 1950s and even later in some places, schools had riflery teams and taught firearm safety as part of their regular curriculum. More recently, there’s been a movement to reintroduce that type of safety training back into the school system. Look into where that’s going locally, and if no one has started this process, maybe step up and start it yourself.

While this is in no way a comprehensive list, I think I've shown there are many ways to securely store firearms and safely introduce children to the shooting sports.

Remember that children are our future, so teach them well. 

Old Medical Kits and Their Uses

The safety people came through work the other day and dug around for things to complain about. (I figure that's their job, so I just listen and don't offer any information; that's the best way to stay out of trouble.) One of the things they glommed onto was our first aid kits.

I work in a very small office attached to a medium-sized grain elevator, so our first aid kit is a wall-mounted box that is supposed to be kept stocked by a contractor. The contract got messed up and hasn't been renewed for a while, so the kit had several expired contents. We also have small kits for each vehicle and the safety nerds found a few old “car kits” and a chemical burn kit on a back shelf.

Here are a few pictures (all photographs by me) of the older kits and their contents:

As you can see, the smaller kit is very basic and has some damage to one package. That was the “Foille Ointment”, an old-style burn cream; I can only guess that the heat and age finally broke down the inner wrapping and the “vegetable oil ointment” seeped out. It's still beingmade and sold as an ointment for minor scrapes and burns.

Nothing in the small kit has an expiration date, which is not surprising since it was sold sometime in the 1960's at the latest (there's no zip code in the address). The building was built in the late 1950's, so this kit was probably close to original equipment.

The larger kit is more recent, with expiration dates around 8 years ago. If you look at the contents, you'll see that it has quite a bit more variety than the small kit.

The small boxes in the upper left corner are single-use eye wash bottles, with a variety of gauze pads and iodine wipes on the bottom of the right side under the bag of vinyl gloves.

The burn gel is a water-based gel containing alcohol, triclosan (the same thing found in most anti-bacterial soaps), tea tree oil, and a mild analgesic (pain killer). Used to protect a burn from getting infected it should still work, but the other ingredients have unknown shelf-lives.

While old, most of the contents of both kits are still usable:

• The gauze and bandages that will contact a wound are still sealed and dry, so their sterility is intact.
• The triangular bandages and gauze wrap are not and don't need to be sterile, and as long as they are still strong enough to do their job they are worth keeping.
• The bandage scissors and tweezers from the larger kit will still work.
• The vinyl gloves are degraded from age. Vinyl does age better than latex, but it will slowly fall apart.
• The instant cold pack is a simple chemical reaction between water and ammonium nitrate. Neither is going to break down in storage, so it will still work.
• Iodine is a simple chemical and the disinfectant wipes will be good for a long time. The same goes for alcohol wipes, as they don't break down or allow microbial growth.
• The ammonia inhalants are going to still be potent, but their use has been minimized over the last few decades. If someone is unconscious, it's best to leave them that way until they can get to professional medical help.

Some of the things that will not be usable:

• Adhesives don't age well, so the tape is going to be suspect. You may have to strip off the outer layers to get down to something that is still sticky. I checked the roll from the larger kit, and it wouldn't even stick to itself.
• Adhesive bandages also don't age well. They lose their ability to stick and the cheap ones that are simple plastic will degrade. Cloth or plastic-infused cloth bandages last a bit longer and can still be used for covering wounds with a gauze wrap to hold them in place.
• The eye wash bottles are doubtful. Water is hard to get perfectly clean, so there's always a chance that something is growing in the bottles.
• The containers are falling apart, even though they've just been sitting on a shelf for years. The plastic used for the small kit is actually crumbling and leaving dust behind. The larger kit had both latches snap off and the hinge is going to go soon.
• The Merthiolate antiseptic swabs are old-school and will still work, but the use of mercury-containing antiseptic compounds is out of fashion and may be unsafe. (That and it burns like a red-hot iron on even a minor scrape. I'm old enough to remember blowing on the red wound paint as a child, it hurt worse than the cuts.)
• There were no medications in any of the little kits, but you'll have to research each one you find for an actual usable life. The printed shelf life is often very conservative and sometimes meaningless: antacids are usually chalk and have the shelf-life of coal and antiseptics are fairly simple and have long lives, but any cold medicines or more complex chemicals tend to break down faster. 
• I won't even get started on the chemical burn kit. It's almost scary what they once used to use for treatment. I saved the metal box and trashed the contents.

I also salvaged some “expired” supplies from the larger (wall-mounted) first aid kit before having it restocked, but they all fall under the same categories as the stuff above. For stocking a backup kit or just having for a true emergency, they'll be better than nothing. The gauze and miscellaneous supplies will be used for training my grandkids on proper wound treatment -- training is always a good use for slightly expired goods.

Guest Post: Six Baskets of Training

aka

A Modest Outline For Pistol Training For Self-Defense

by George Groot

George is a member of our Facebook Group and has written for us before.

Have you ever been having a nice rational discussion involving the Second Amendment and said some tactical heresy like “I don’t think everyone needs to carry with a round in the chamber”? If so, you know you will be bombarded with a cacophony of “You need more training!” or “Get trained!” or “If you just take this class I’m sure you’ll see it my way.” I’ve heard all of those pointed at me, and I still don’t believe that absolutely everyone needs to carry with a round in the chamber at all times.

I have an actual background in training in the military, and need to point out that not all firearms training currently offered in the United States is worthwhile or a wise use of resources. Bad instructors are out there, as well as good instructors teaching irrelevant skills, so beware and ask around before you plop down the cash for training.

Now, I’m not against training; I am against wasting money on training that isn’t a good use of your time and money. There is a lot of free advice out there on how to train and what to train on, and this is no different. This is based purely on my knowledge and experience, so if you disagree it won’t hurt my feelings. My purpose here is to help people establish a solid base so that they can competently handle themselves and their tools in a stressful situation by focusing their training into areas that are the best investment of time and money to get competent. You won’t become a ninja if you follow my advice, as that requires way more training than I’m going to recommend.

For the purposes of this article, I will write about two types of training: initial and refresher.

• Training is always to produce a knowledge, skill, and ability. 
• Practice is to maintain a skill, knowledge, or ability. 
• Refresher training is when you need to update your skills with new knowledge, or to regain skills that have atrophied through non-practice. 

The second thing is that I’m not going to recommend any classes that are shotgun or rifle oriented. If you can handle a pistol, it is a relatively easy transition to substituting in a shotgun or carbine with familiarization and some range time.

So what training do you need? Let’s lay out six different baskets (two knowledge based, four skills based): Legalities, First Aid, Concealed Carry as a System, Shooting and Moving, Disarmed Defense, and Force on Force. If you make budgets, you can imagine putting time and money into each basket, and let’s see what training you should be getting in order to become competent in each basket for your time and money.

Knowledge Basket 1: Legalities
Who should you contact after using lethal force? When are you justified to use lethal force? What should you do after using lethal force? How should you interact with law enforcement? Why were your actions necessary?

Whatever class you take (such as an NRA concealed carry class) should answer those questions and give you resources to advance your education on your own. After graduation, you need to have the knowledge of what is and what is not permissible, the skills to point out behavior in others that changes a situation to where you can use lethal force, and the ability to articulate that authorization.

Knowledge Basket 2: First Aid
Specifically how to address a gunshot or stab wound along with accidental injuries like broken bones/fractures and concussions. You should come away with the skills to control bleeding and keep someone breathing. This is important because understanding why a tourniquet is worthless for a sucking chest wound is more important than carrying a tourniquet on your EDC kit at all times.

It seems like a lot of people carry gear that they don’t truly know how to use, and first aid in a trauma situation doesn’t leave a lot of time for consulting a manual. After graduation you need to be able to administer self or buddy aid and rush a casualty (or yourself) to treatment, or summon emergency services if available. I recommend “refresher” training fairly routinely.

Skills Basket 1: Concealed Carry as a System
Pick a reputable trainer that focuses on training civilians, not military or law enforcement. Test out your pistol and holster combo with the advice and feedback from a coach/instructor, so that when you are packing in your normal clothes you know exactly how your system works.

After graduation you should know how your system works in your normal clothes, the skill to uncover, draw, present, and fire accurately, and the ability to do this safely and holster safely. You shouldn’t need to retake this class ever as you should have the skills to fully evaluate any changes to your system if you make them.

Skills Basket 2: Shooting and Moving
Pick a reputable trainer and facility that will work on shooting while moving so that you can practice negotiating corners, hallways, and buildings with a firearm in play, in a shoot house if possible and on a flat range with obstacles/barriers as an alternative. You have much more practice walking and running than shooting, but combining the two activities makes both slightly more awkward.

After graduation you should have the knowledge of how your body responds to the stress of multiple physical tasks, the skill to maintain muzzle awareness and control, and the ability to rapidly distinguish between targets. Note that airsoft and/or paintball is a really good venue for practicing these skills, and a fun way to avoid needing to pay for refresher training.

Skills Basket 3: Disarmed Defense
This can be started at any time and continued as necessary. Pick an instructor/dojo/club that focuses on wrestling, jiu jitsu, or mixed martial arts, and engage as you are physically able to engage in training or class. Learn how to control space, escape locks, and be a harder target so that you have a solid base on how your body reacts to bad breath-range conflict with another human being.

Upon graduation (although I recommend continually training at a dojo/club for the exercise) you should have the knowledge of whether you are better at fighting with your upper body or lower body based, the skill to escape a hold, and the ability to remain calm when entangled with someone who means you harm. If you don’t stay active with a dojo/club, you’ll want to do routine refresher training as you can.

Skills Basket 4: Force on Force
After you’ve got everything else covered, consider training with someone like Craig Douglas in his Edged Weapons Overview (EWO) or Extreme Close Quarters Concepts (ECQC) class. This is a great capstone event to tie together your other skills on how to make space, control space, and more importantly when to escalate force.  This is a “post-graduate” level that sort of combines everything else: knowing when it is permissible to use lethal force, contact range through close pistol range, shooting while moving, and how to deal with a knife. There is no graduation from this; your training is really to apply the knowledge you have, identify pre-attack indicators, respond accordingly, and change your posture and escalation as necessary, and the ability to apply that in an unknown situation. Since these courses tend to be expensive, make sure that you put in the practice for your other baskets before paying for refresher training.


If you feel confident in your skills across all six baskets, you probably don’t need to take another class unless you want to learn something specific, like defending yourself inside a car or branching out to carbines and shotguns. If you assess yourself and realize it’s been a while since you trained on First Aid, be honest with yourself and address that. Like I said up front, this is not designed to turn you into some elite master of weapons but rather to make you competent with the tools you have. You can always spend more time and money on training, and there is nothing wrong with that, but don’t neglect your core skills chasing a fraction of a second advantage in room clearing with a carbine unless your job involves a lot of room clearing with a carbine.

Training for the Future

If you've been a prepper for any length of time, you'll have at least thought about getting training in one field or the other. Basic first aid, field-craft, marksmanship, and food storage are all valuable skills that we commonly seek training in.

The question for today is “What are you doing to train other people?” We all have skills of various kinds and at various levels, so there is always room to teach as well as learn. This was brought to mind recently at work when my boss fell down some stairs and broke his ankle. Not a major crisis, but since he and I are the only ones who know how to do most of the less-mundane tasks around here, guess who got saddled with doing all of them? I have a couple of co-workers, but they are new and haven't seen some of the problems that I have. They're younger than my son, so I have a lot more experience troubleshooting and fixing problems as they arise, and they're learning things at a decent rate. They also have young families that take up a lot more time than my empty nest, so they're not available to work the hours that I am. The next few months are going to be interesting.

Training others is essential for a few reasons.

Incapacitation

Like my boss, sometimes people get injured. What are you going to do if your cook/mechanic/guard/gardener gets injured or sick? If they haven't passed on some of their skills, life will be a lot more difficult.

Future Generations

I have grandkids that I want to see grow up and become useful, happy people. Teaching children that they can do things and change things is a great way to prevent the victim mentality that has infected so many of our youth. If you've been reading our blog for a while, you'll know that I tend to take a long-term approach to prepping. I want to see my family get through bad times as best they can, and that means prepping them as much as prepping for them.

This is also the only way to prevent the loss of knowledge if things go Dark Ages-style wrong.

Distance

Sometimes our tribes get scattered. People move around and may not be close enough to take advantage of the skills and tools you've accumulated; teaching them how to be more self-sufficient will make their lives easier and may provide you a resource to call upon if you're traveling or caught in a disaster away from your normal area.

Efficiency

Having two or more people trained to do a task usually means that the job can get done faster. Use your specialists for the tough jobs, and have them train people to be able to take care of the lesser jobs. Having run into college graduates who can't identify a Phillips-head screwdriver, this is a no-brainer for me; having a knowledgeable “gopher” handy will save a lot of trips to the tool box and thus a lot of time.

Goodwill

Think back to when you were in school: did you have good teachers who went out of their way to teach you something? If you did, you will remember them for the rest of your life. Teaching and training people is an excellent way to generate goodwill among groups, and can open doors to opportunities that you may not have seen before. Mutual aid in time of crisis is based on goodwill and common skills, so you can increase your options by spreading the wealth of knowledge that you hold.

Before you start thinking that you're lacking any useful skills, please go read one of my earliest posts. No one who isn't evil is worthless. You have skills, but you might have to stretch your imagination a bit to figure out how they can be used in a crisis. You can also get training in other skills, which you can bring back to your tribe and pass on to others.

Merry Christmas (and stuff)

Tips for getting good instruction from a good instructor:

1) Does the instructor have real world experience? If not, is he teaching a paradigm that is based in reality (and not theory) from someone who does have real world experience? Is their training applicable to you and your situation? Does the course description seem like it's magic? If it claims to transform you into Arnold Schwarzenegger after a couple of long days?


2) Does the intructor have a good reputation? Do they have references?


3) When interviewing your instructor, do they answer questions completely and in a way you comprehend? Or do they just blurt out a bunch of B.S. and say things like"When I was in the teams" or "Because I said so" or "That's just the way the world works"?


4) How much does it cost? Good classes are generally priced in the middle of the road. While it is true you get what you pay for, sometimes you end up paying for what you don't need, and a good instructor with a good program recognizes this and charges accordingly. However, a lot of classes are taught by experienced folks with massive egos that charge massive prices.

The opposite is true as well. If the course is significantly cheaper than others and isn't terrible, that means it's bare bones. You will pay again for what you don't get later, sometimes in blood or freedom.



Editor's Note:  It's a foraging knife!  

This full tang, wooden handled knife is designed specifically for foraging applications that include but are not limited to digging, prying, chopping, and cutting vines or rope.  It’s made from stainless steel and, unlike your survival knife, is designed to dig up roots and tubers in the muck and grime.  It has countless uses at camp as a trowel for digging fire pits, latrines, hot coal beds, earthen ovens, etc.  7″ blade, 12″ overall.

I think of it as a "survival trowel". If you do any kind of camping or gardening, I'm certain you'll find a use for it. 

Working With Weakness

Everyone understands the maxim that we should "play to our strengths." That's the easy part of prepping; it's far more difficult to deal with and compensate for our weaknesses. However, addressing our weaknesses yields more improvement than sticking with our strengths.

There are many different weaknesses that we experience. Some are psychological, some are physiological, and others are intellectual. Some can be overcome entirely, while others can only be partially overcome, or even require a work-around to deal with.

Intellectual Weaknesses
Some of the most common weaknesses stem from a simple lack of knowledge or education. A regular refrain in prepping circles is folks bemoaning their lack of skills! Luckily, these weaknesses are the most easily overcome: in our modern digital era, the barrier to education is incredibly low, making education and skill acquisition mostly a matter of desire and will. A simple Google search will provide answers to almost any question, and YouTube can show step-by-step instructions for a boundless number of tasks. Even vaunted MIT offers much of its coursework online for free.

Psychological Weaknesses
These are a much larger obstacle to face. They may require help from professional individuals and possibly even medical treatment to overcome. For less severe cases, meditation and other mental exercises can be of assistance. In either case, the key is finding the root cause of these issues now and learning to address and overcome them now, during times of peace. That way, when an emergency happens and a psychological shortcoming could bite you, you've positioned yourself in the best way possible to deal with it.

Physiological Weaknesses
While basic lack of strength and stamina can be corrected through exercise, sometimes injuries or genetic issues cannot be overcome ... at least not in the traditional sense. While I can always train skills or take steps to get my head right, there's precisely zero I can do about the fact that I'm 5'4". When you cannot simply correct the weakness, you must instead correct for it. Physical weaknesses are usually addressed in two ways: by altering the environment, or by altering behaviors.

Environment
Where possible, my house is configured in such a way that most things that I need aren't above about 7 feet from the floor. I've altered my environment to account for my height.

Behavior
Sometimes weaknesses crop up that require changes in behavior patterns. My mom just got a pair of new knees, and part of her recovery has been altering how she does her job. She works remotely, which is a great help, but she can't sit and work for long periods like she normally could. Instead, she has to break up her day, making a point of getting up and walking around, in order to keep her joints loose.


One of humanity's greatest assets is the ability to learn, adapt, and overcome obstacles. Don't make excuses for weaknesses. Address them, attack them, and make them as minimal as possible. This is where you will find your greatest gains.

Lokidude

Midweek Update

Not actually Erin.

Picture by KJ Photography

& is used with permission.

Hi everyone!  I've been told that folks (who clearly don't follow my personal blog -- tsk tsk!) want to know what's going on with Blazing Sword, the effort to connect LGBTQ people seeking gun operation and safety training with gun owners who have volunteered to teach LGBTQ people gun safety and operation free of charge. So here's a quick chronological breakdown of what happened:

Monday, June 13
My original article is published. Later that night, I do an email interview with Miss CJ from Chicks on the Right.

Tuesday, June 14
The Chicks on the Right article is published and Larry Correia mentions us on his Facebook page. To quote Mortal Kombat, It Has Begun.

Wednesday, June 15
The Internet crashes upon me like a tidal wave made of bricks. Larry Correia mentions us on his blog, we get Instapundited (twice), and are the focus of a lovely article by Tom Knighton at PJ Media. Later that night we are Imgur'd.  I wake up with 200+ emails a day.

Friday, June 17
I go shooting with a BBC crew and then get interviewed. The interview doesn't air for a while, but if you want to read about how it went, go here and read my blog about it. After returning home, I discover that Operation Blazing Sword has been mentioned in the India Times. We're international!

Saturday, June 18
Dave Kopel of the Volokh Conspiracy writes a wonderful article about us in the Washington Post.

Sunday, June 19
I notice that Joe Huffman has posted a wonderful graphic for OBS. I say "notice" because he'd mentioned us at least once before, but in my defense I was so swamped that week I barely knew my name.

Monday, June 20
I am "interviewed" by "radio" host Cary Harrison on the Progressive Radio Network. I use quotes on the latter because it's basically a live podcast on a webpage with terrible audio quality. I use quotes in the former because... well, just listen to the interview, it's only 10 minutes.

--- Things start to slow down by this point --

Wednesday, June 22

We have our first success story as Sean Sorrentino takes an LGBTQ fellow shooting and they both have a good time. I also drop by my local newspaper and give an in-depth interview (this has yet to be published.)

Thursday, June 23

My second email interview, done during the Week of Crazy, is published by Little Village Magazine. It's quite good and we get over half the article. 

Friday, June 24
At the recommendation of fellow BCP blogger Chaplain Tim, I appear on News Radio 1110 KFAB (an ACTUAL radio station, thank you very much) during one of their morning talk shows. I'm scheduled for only 15 minutes, but told I might get the whole hour if I prove interesting.

I get the whole hour. (When the segment gets uploaded to their website I'll post it.)

Monday, June 27

My interview with the BBC airs. Out of nearly 2 hours of talking and shooting, they give me... 2 minutes 15 seconds. And the report itself is only 16 minutes. I guess I expected an hour long show.

Tuesday, June 28

Even though it was published on the 20th, I only just now find out that my third email interview, this time with Vocativ, has been published. This one is just about me and my work with Blazing Sword, and it's delightful. 

This brings us to today -- Wednesday, June 29.  Thanks to everyone who's spread the word!

Gun Blog Variety Podcast #96 - It's On Like Voltron

Form feet and legs! Form arms and body! And Adam and Sean will form the head of the GunBlog VarietyCast!

• Erin Palette gives us the lowdown on her new and exciting life as National Coordinator of the LGBT Friendly Firearms Trainer map. And she wondered if she was ever going to make a difference! We all knew better, didn't we?
• It's amazing how many people try to write laws about things they just don't understand. Tiffany Johnson brings in well-respected firearms trainer Tom Givens to give an exact definition of an "Assault Rifle", and why that definition matters. 
• Everyone remembers their "First Time." Beth Alcazar tells us about her first time. Her first time carrying a gun in a holster, that is...
• You'd think being a "Chief Technologist" for the FTC would mean you were safe from getting your phone hijacked, right? Wrong! Barron explains how, when it comes to security, people are once again the weakest link.
• And Weer'd finds us a doozy. It's either an amazing example of a pro-gun group hiring a woman to write the most awful song in the universe in order to parody the gun-grabbing mommies, or this is further proof that some of these people have zero idea about how they sound. Give a listen and let us know what you think!

Thank you for downloading, listening, and subscribing. You are subscribed, right? We are available on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, and now on Google Play Music!

Listen to the podcast here.

Read the show notes here. 

Thanks also to Firearms Policy Coalition for their support.

And a special thanks to our sponsor, Law of Self Defense. Use discount code "Variety" at checkout for 10% off.

Upcoming Law of Self Defense seminars:

• August 7 - North Carolina specific - Raleigh, NC
• August 13 - Oregon and Washington specific - Sherwood, OR
• August 20 - Tenessee and Kentucky specific - Nashville, TN
• September 10 - Alabama specific - Talladega, AL
• October 1 - Pennsylvania and New Jersey specific - Bensalem, PA
• October 16 - New Mexico and Texas specific - Las Cruces, NM

A Google Map of LGBT-Friendly Firearms Instructors

Not actually Erin.

Picture by KJ Photography

& is used with permission.

So, I had a good idea this afternoon and it just kinda... BLEW UP on Facebook.

Long story short: There have been lots of cool people on social media saying things like what my awesome friend Nicki Kenyon said on her blog:

To my LGBT friends – I know you still face prejudice, bigotry, hatred, and ignorance even in this day and age. I know many of you are still afraid to walk down the street with your partner holding hands and are still apprehensive about entering a public bathroom for fear of becoming a victim. I know many of you still face physical threats.

I just want you to know I want you to be safe. I want you well-defended. I want you to have the tools and skills to protect yourselves.

If you are in the VA/DC/MD area and want a partner with whom to go to the range, just ask. I’ll not only go with you, I’ll pay for your range time! I’ll go with you if you want to purchase a gun for self defense. I’ll help you learn how to use it safely and properly. I’ll help you get your CCW.

I never want to see my friends trapped unarmed and terrified in a situation like the one in Orlando, begging for their lives and saying “goodbye” to their loved ones while waiting to die. I want you to have the tools to at least fight back against the prejudice and hate you face. I want you to live to see hatred and bigotry eradicated from this world. J want you to have a chance.

I want you to live. I love you all.

Enough people were saying this sort of thing on blogs or Facebook that I thought, "Hey, wouldn't it be cool if there were a master list of all these cool people?" and so I posted as much on my wall.

And that's when my Facebook page blew up, your honor.

I have literally been working ALL AFTERNOON collating the names, cities, and contact information from people willing to donate their time, their guns, their ammo and gasoline to help people learn how to use guns and discover if they'd like to own one for self defense.

It got so big that it turned from a Facebook list into a Google map. And then it got so big that I needed help. And then it got so big that I eventually said "OK, I'm setting this private while I take a break*. You folks just add yourselves and when I come back and make the map un-editable and this status visible again, we'll see where we stand."

So, to all my gun-owning friends who have volunteered yourselves: Bless you. You're doing a great things. And if you want to volunteer, just contact me with your name, city & state, and your preferred method of being contacted (email, telephone, etc).

To all the preppers out there who are wondering if they ought to learn how to use guns, the answer is a resounding YES.

To anyone wondering "Do I have to be Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Trans to get help from these folks?" the answer is no, it's welcome to everyone -- we're just pointing out that LGBT folks are extra-welcome and won't be judged by these folks.

I encourage you all to spread this map. As the Pink Pistols say, "Armed gays don't get bashed", and helping train our LGBT brothers and sisters might prevent them from becoming another victim of ISIS.

EDITED TO ADD:  
Due to the massive response (which is a wonderful problem to have, don't get me wrong) we have created a Facebook page where your contact information can be left for inclusion by myself or one of my lovely assistants.

Please join -- instructions for what information to give is in the pinned post! https://www.facebook.com/OperationBlazingSword/

*Which is when I'm writing this post, BTW.