Three men charged with murder in the fatal beating of another man outside a Phillies game say they landed only two punches between them, neither of which was the fatal blow.
Of course Millions of people watch sports games, and a huge number of those sports fans attend stadium or Arena games. And of course all but those with birth defects or severe injuries have fists.
But how many of us have beaten another man to death?
Netflix generates more head-scratching plot twists than a cheap B-movie.
On Monday, the company said it would reverse a previously announced decision to put its DVD-by-mail and Internet streaming services on separate websites, a plan that was widely derided by Netflix subscribers.
People will be able to use both services under one account and one password, CEO Reed Hastings said Monday in a blog post.
Good for Netflix, because if we had to chose between dumping one account, or opening a new one, we’d dump DVD delivery and live with it.
The company has been all over the map as of late. They really need to figure out what their business model is and stick with that plan and sink or swim.
OK We’re getting into some controversy over Lynn Thompson throwing rounds into the dirt. I just read this on his blog:
I threw my Samburu spear at about 5 yards and he turned as it flew through the air! The spear stuck fast in his horn! The next thing I knew he charged!!
He came rushing towards me with that spear sticking out of his horn and I moved to my right, spun and drew my Ruger 454. I shot him in the head double action at 6 feet! My first shot spined him but I fired again and again.
Those Hornady XTP bullets (travelling at 1600 feet per second) hit him hard.
He fell and died 4 feet from me.
I don’t even remember firing the first two shots. I must give credit to those XS sites on my revolver. I was able to throw up that gun, aim and take a shot in a fraction of a second.
That was close!
That’s at close range, and transitioning from throwing a spear to drawing a Ruger Super Redhawk from a hunting cross-draw holster, and a heavy double-action gun with a MASSIVE recoil.
He had 6 shots and he used them and put lead on target and not into the dirt.
From Caleb who has forgotten more about practical shooting than I’ll never know.
So let me see if I have this straight. In a situation where there is no backup and no one is coming to help me, I should waste bullets on the hope that me firing into the ground will startle my attacker so much that it’ll interrupt his OODA loop and allow me to gain the advantage? I’m sorry, but that is close to the silliest thing I’ve ever read on the internet. You know what else would interrupt a mugger’s OODA loop? A 230 grain JHP in the chest. In fact, the situation presented in their example is exactly why we train to have a fast first shot from the holster. The problem ideas like “walking rounds into a target” is we end up creating unlikely scenarios to justify a bad technique like “walking” rounds into a target. Instead of worrying about walking rounds into a target to “scare” him, worry about improving your draw speed so that you can draw and get an A-zone hit at 7 yards in less than 1.5 seconds. Like I said, the best way to interrupt an attacker’s OODA loop is to shoot the guy.
Yep. You’re responsible for all rounds that you fire. Rather than “Walking Rounds” which are essentially intentional misses, do your best to put rounds on target or simply don’t shoot at all.
If your “Walked” round skips off a rock or pavement and kills somebody NOT posing a threat to you, you’re responsible for that death, no matter WHAT other threats you’re encountering. Same goes to Mr. Badguy retreating into the house. No matter what he did to you, or his plans to do to you later or from the cover of the house, if you shoot through the walls and kill his wife and kids, you’re responsible for those deaths.
Caleb also talks about “Getting off the X”, ie moving to make yourself a harder target. I could say the same things about the long range shots in the video. Lynn is an accomplished hunter, so being able to brain a game animal at 150 yards with a Glock 20 makes for good sport, but if you’re taking fire from that range wouldn’t seeking cover be a wiser move than tossing lead across creation?
All-in-all we’re starting to talk about a lot of speculation, and ever narrower situations of defense. Is this a valid skill, or just a story cooked up to justify the behavior.
I saw two toms about this size on my drive to work this morning. Totally wish I had pulled over and snapped their picture now.
I got chased by a pair of Toms a few years ago. As usual I was armed so I had the option of shooting old Tom for being a dick. Instead I hunkered down and spread my arms which stopped them, and then threw pebbles at them until they lost interest in me.
When in doubt don’t run around like a prey animal. KICK THE TURKEY! If hunting laws weren’t as they were, you could shoot them and have a nice dinner.
So let’s clarify a few things. First up I got a LOT of flack about about my observations of Lynn and his physical condition. I do not know Lynn Thompson, and have never met him. Everything I make are just observations from his promotional videos. I have no way to confirm or disprove what this gentleman says. I’ll defer to better judgement and concede the point, but I will note that I’m not alone in my observations, true or not.
I’m not going to get into details, as I’d be exceeding my skill level, but I’ll say that in the video Lynn quotes the Jeff Cooper Four Rules of Gun Safety, and then disregards rule 4 in his “Shooting rounds into the dirt”, and “ripping Fire” through a mocked-up building. They are dangerous, and I cannot advise anybody to practice or put these techniques into use. I find techniques like this, to be vastly more responsible and safety-oriented for a similar concept.
As for techniques for “States of Lawlessness”, personally I’d rather conserve EVERY round I have with me, and attempt to get every shot fired into the vital zone of a target…or not shoot at all. Even in a riot the laws apply (tho sadly only after the fact) and discharging a weapon in somebody’s direction is some grade of Assault whether the shots are hits or misses, and whether the misses are intentional or not.
Living and working in the Boston Area I have some very real concerns about such an event, given the issues, and construction of the Big Dig tunnel. That being said, if you are stuck in a riot or a total collapse of society, unless you can fortify a building or bunker and hunker-down with multiple long-arms, and enough people to keep an active sentry, your survival in such a situation will be more a factor of dumb luck than anything else.
OK last are some comments that I think were taken the wrong way. (and frankly I don’t blame them, as the above clarifications are made mostly because I probably came off more dickish than I deserve)
First up, I’ll say I don’t own any Cold Steel products, but I have several close friends who keep Cold Steel blades handy, and I’ve handled several products, and have seen large portions of their catalog in my travels. There are cheap knives, and there are quality knives, and Cold Steel is most certainly the latter.
Besides their product quality, I really like their business model. They make many functional reproduction weapons, and further updates of “Classic” designs like their Recon Tanto:
And they make a bunch of weapons that are really cool and outrageous, but never to an extent that the blade loses functionality at least in some capacity.
As for me laughing at the videos here’s a good example:
These demonstrations show the quality and durability of the blades….but also they’re just fun and outrageous. The same can be said about Lynn point-shooting melons and water-bottles with big-game rifles. Its silly and fun, and that’s what I take them as. I have not, and would not laugh at the Cold Steel products…with the exception of the above DVD series. Cold Steel just exudes quality, and I don’t think the DVD series is up to that standard from what I’ve seen.
So I guess I should close with an apology. I probably came off as a bit more catty than was fair. Certainly I would say that Cold Steel and Lynn Thompson are good people, and our ally’s in the battle of safety and personal freedom. They make cool knives, and knives designed for self defense as well as utility, and Mr. Thompson and his company are strong supporters of our second amendment rights. I still don’t think this video series appears to be up for their standards, and some things I’ve seen are ill advised, but some of my comments were unsupported observations that were likely unfair.
If my comments got me Persona Non-Grata status with Cold Steel, that would be unfortunate, but not unfair. Hopefully that isn’t the case.
Whenever carry laws, or laws where those lawfully armed can more easily carry in their automobiles, those who use the metric of “Gun Death” often say that people will be shot over traffic disputes and parking spaces.
On the morning of September 6, Colorado Springs Police say that two men got into a fight at at 1300 Cheyenne Blvd. as a result of a traffic dispute. During that fight, Robert Gott, 71, suffered a head injury after having struck the ground.
The antis are smart enough and don’t claim that guns CAUSE violence, but just that they turn what would be a non-deadly fist-fight into a “Gun Death”.
Yeah they say “Fist Fight” like its a good thing.
Let’s logically look at this. I think most of us have been involved in a fender-bender or other such minor accident. Some have been in major accidents, and ALL of us have seen people exchanging insurance information on the side of the road.
I can’t imagine many of you have seen an accident where the participants got physically violent. There is a certain type of person with so little control over their temper…also by nature they tend to be the people who have been arrested for assault before, so can’t legally own or carry guns.
Accidents, being accidental means you don’t choose who you hit. You know what keeps Mr. Fisticuffs from murdering you? If he thinks he might get shot for taking a swing.
Death has an interesting way of getting somebody to make informed decisions.
I love games where you have the ABILITY to kill others, but can choose not to without impeding gameplay. Games like Thief and Deus Ex are some of my favorites.
Also Nethack has the whole “Permadeath” thing from the start. The Game itself deletes your savegame when you die.
