A Couple of Quick Thoughts

(Reporting from the backyard gazebo/88 degrees and awesome)

Just a couple of quick thoughts on a brilliantly beautiful Saturday afternoon, the first day of summer in Chicago...

President Obama needs to speak out on Iran. Specifically, the protests, the government's snatch of media credentials from foreign correspondents and the beatings of students in their dorms to keep them off the streets. We don't need to send in troops but a strongly worded speech decrying what the Iranian government is doing to its people is absolutley necessary.

People who aim their cars at bicyclists who are only on the street to avoid broken sidewalks should be . . . given a stern talking-to! (In light of the above paragraph I can't call for violence, can I?)

Of course Nestle's HAD to recall the pre-prepared dough for my favorite cookies. Good grief! If you eat raw cookie dough (containing raw eggs) you should expect to get sick. Like I did. Once. Before I realized what I was eating. Barfed for two days.

Speaking of throwing up, anyone who believes the plot line of John and Kate Shouldn't Be Mates needs to understand that everything in the media now about that show is there for one reason: to promote the show. Cheating stories, divorce stories...it's all scripted. Think professional wrestling. This is the domestic version of WWF. I'm surprised no one's car has blown up yet. Of course, the divorce isn't filed. Just wait for it. Right around the corner. Filed under: BUILD SUSPENSE.

Have a great weekend folks!

How To Get Into Trouble With Just Two Blogs/ Part Deaux

I don't know who looks goofier. Me or that silly target behind me. At an outdoor range with only one other person around, with all weapons/magazines empty and checked by two people, I don't mind acting a little goofy and posing with a couple of guns. You'll notice, however, my finger is off the trigger and the weapon is pointed in a safe direction.

The subject of carrying a concealed firearm isn't goofy, although some people's opinions about it are.

The concealed-carry class I took, which allows me to legally tote a gun under my coat in thirty-five states, was six hours long. The classroom stuff was good, taught by a retired attorney and professional handgunner who really knew his stuff. The "range qualification" was a joke.

When I left that concealed carry, or CCW, class, I had some good information in my head but had been offered no instruction in, nor time whatsoever to practice, the skills necessary to defend myself in a crisis. What kind of holster to buy. How to conceal the holster. How to draw from a holster. How to deploy the handgun from holster to target safely. The tactics to use in a shootout.

There are excellent classes available for people who want to learn how to protect themselves with a concealed weapon but the required-to-get-Florida/Utah-permits CCW class I took, which is generally what's required across the country, wasn't one of them. And that's scary. What's scarier are the folks who believe they should be allowed to carry their concealed weapon on their college campus "just in case" a nutjob attacks, as happened at Northern Illinois University and elsewhere.

Just establishing the proper mindset to carry a concealed weapon takes specialized training. Hundreds of hours have gone into preparing the courses offered to law-enforcement. While civilians could do with less, there still must be attention paid to the psychological, as well as physiological, factors. Reality-based tactical drills need to be practiced until they are second-nature. CCW students need to know when they should shoot, but also when to back down and run if they have even the slightest option to do so. They need to know how to conceal their weapon so that it comes to hand easily and safely yet isn't visible at any other time.

To say anyone with a concealed weapons permit should be allowed to carry their gun into a classroom on the infinitesimal chance that they would happen to be in the right place at the right time to confront a killer is nuts. First of all, even SWAT- trained operatives know that the worst time to draw a gun is when someone already has the drop on you. And second, the vast majority of CCW permit holders probably aren't aware of the first point and don't have the tactical skills necessary to respond anyway.

My suggestions: You should be required to have sixteen to twenty hours of training before you are allowed to buy a handgun and a minimum of twenty-four hours of specific additional training, at least half of it spent with a professional on the range, before you are allowed to receive a concealed weapons permit. If you still want to carry your gun into a classroom, more training and professional certification should be required.

If I were king, I'd also require anyone with a family who wants to purchase a handgun be required to show that family members, even the little kids, have had at least enough professional training to keep them away from the weapons.

And, again if I were king, I would encourage everyone to at least know how to safely handle all sorts of firearms, even if they had no interest in shooting them.

For safety's sake. Just in case.

How To Get Into Trouble With Just Two Blogs/ Part One

It's one of the hottest of the hot-button issues and my feelings on it have changed several times over the years. Now, with Chicago/Oak Park's handgun ban affirmed by the Court of Appeals and headed to the Supreme Court, I figure I'll spell out my position and see how many friends take shots at me.

Figuratively only, I hope.

I've had literally hundreds of hours of training over the years but recently went back and took a basic course just for safety purposes. I think about safety every time I pick up a handgun, even if it's handed to me, empty, by a store clerk. A gun store clerk, in fact, pointed a gun I knew to be empty at me the other day and I pushed the barrel away and took the gun from him.

I think handguns should be available to anyone who wishes to own one as long as they follow the law, take basic safety precautions and have the appropriate training. The latter point is where the NRA and some of my gun-toting friends and I disagree.

The basic class I took last month was taught on two consecutive Saturdays for a total of sixteen hours, including well-supervised range time. The topics of concealed-carry and defensive shooting were not even mentioned. Those are left for other, longer, classes.

In my opinion, sixteen to twenty hours of safety-based training should be the minimum required to purchase a handgun in Illinois. Recent police, security or military experience can be taken into account but the buyer should be able to produce proof of that training.

"But I been shootin' since I was knee-high to a basset hound!" some will protest.
That's great. The gun store clerk who pointed the gun at me claimed the same thing. So have a handful of my friends who I've taken to the range. Not one of them could recite the three basic rules of handgun safety. Only a couple handled the weapon I handed them in a safe manner.

Training should be mandatory. And if you want to carry a handgun concealed, more training should be required. I'll talk about the pros and cons of concealed carry as I see them, in tomorrow's blog.