Category: education

Black Rifle (Bam-Ba-Lam)

Semi-automatic rifles, variously called “sport utility rifles,” homeland defense rifles,” or “modern sporting rifles” by those who enjoy and support their use, and often derisively labeled “assault weapons” by those who wish to ban them, are among the most popular guns on the market today. The AR-15 style weapon is the most popular among them. Americans own about 5 million ARs with about 500,000 more hitting the private market each year.

With numbers like that there should be plenty of gun owners in need of training on how to maintain and safely shoot the AR platform. Recognizing this market, Corey D. Roberts and the rest of the crew at Tactical Insights LLC defense training have stepped in with their new “Black Rifle” Operator Course. Since the stated goal of the class is to “provide skills and knowledge to every student, from the new rifle owner to the experienced shooter” I decided to sign up for the class.  The debut class was June 7th.

Most of the 14 or so people in the class had .223 caliber M4-style ARs with 16″ barrels and collapsible stocks. There were two oddballs. One guy had an AK-47-style rifle and I had a full-size .308 caliber AR with 20″ barrel and solid stock. Thankfully nobody engaged in any Freudian speculation on why I needed the big battle rifle. (I’m just taking the advice of Boston T. Party, Fred, and Bob Cashner. Honest!)

The first three hours of the class were in the classroom. Roberts and Ryan Evans, a police officer and certified armorer, headed the class. There was an overview of the AR-15 and AK-47 systems, with definitions, capabilities and explanations of their respective ballistics. Students were walked through field-stripping their weapons followed by some shooting fundamentals. All in all the classroom section of the class was a good “basic training” for AR owners.

The next five hours were on the shooting range. Students practiced shooting from various standing, kneeling and prone shooting positions that one doesn’t always see at the shooting range. We shot at moving targets, from under and around barricades and practiced shooting while on the move. It was a good day of practice using the AR platform in close quarter battle drills.

I thought the class was a great learning experience sure to provide new AR-15 owners and seasoned shooters with increased proficiency. If you’ve got a “black rifle” you might want to check it out.

Adventures In Gun Training

“Survival isn’t about stuff. It is about skills. If you have time and just a bit of money, then you can get some very well-rounded training in skills that are quite applicable to [survival] living.” So says James Wesley, Rawles in his national bestseller How to Survive the End of the World as We Know It: Tactics, Techniques, and Technologies for Uncertain Times. Of course it doesn’t have to be the end of the world for some firearms training to come in handy. Studying National Crime Victimization Survey data, criminologist Gary Kleck found that “robbery and assault victims who used a gun to resist were less likely to be attacked or to suffer an injury than those who used any other methods of self-protection or those who did not resist at all.”

I knew that my pistol skills have never been finely polished, so I decided to take Mr. Rawles advice and get some training. I’ve always enjoyed shooting rifles and trained on them in the Guard, but handguns have always kind of been an afterthought, even after I got my Iowa permit to carry weapons back in 2009.

I discovered Tactical Insights in Monticello when I took one of my sons to the Eddie Eagle Children’s Gun Safety Course that they put on in our town in January. Later I interviewed the owner, Corey D. Roberts, for my blog. [You can read Roberts’ thoughts on various Second Amendment issues here: Interview Part 1 and Part 2.] When I read about their class Tactical Shooting for the Private Citizen Level 1 it sounded like just what I needed.

“[T]his course begins the transition of the shooter from a 2 dimensional world of putting holes in paper, to truly using a tactical mindset making the firearm a weapon and a tool,” states the course description. All my previous pistol practice had been comprised of static target shooting. My permit to carry class dealt mostly with the legalities of carrying and Iowa self-defense law. I signed up and couldn’t wait to learn some realistic defensive shooting tactics.

Roberts started the Tactical Shooting class with the basics. After a safety briefing he went through the fundamentals of gripping the pistol and stance. As it turned out, the “redneck shooting at cans” stance and grip that I had previously taught myself was less than optimal. I now had to unlearn those bad habits.



Roberts demonstrates a shooting drill.

After teaching a boatload of other pointers we were soon out on the range. Although we started out slow, the shooting was no mere standing and shooting at bulls eyes. For tactical shooting you have to move to keep the threat from getting a bead on you. Even simple shooting drills got the heart going. Before long we were shooting on the move.

Not only was I able to put myself through the paces, but my equipment as well. My old 1911 .45 pistol was found lacking. Roberts had said that he’d never had a 1911 shooter make it through one of his classes without having malfunctions. I did not change that streak. I also spent a lot of time fumbling with my safety, etc… Finally, once when I slapped a new mag into my .45 the floor plate busted right off the mag, sending ammunition and the mag spring launching onto the ground.

Corey took pity and let me borrow his .40 Glock 22 for the remainder of the class. I loved it! It performed flawlessly and was very simple to use. Although my gun budget is nearly nonexistent, I think my next purchase will have to be a Glock. (I think I’d prefer the smaller Glock 27 for concealed carry, if anyone is looking for a birthday present for me.)

Tactical Shooting for the Private Citizen Level 1 was supposed to be just pistol shooting. But since we were a very small class and since Roberts and his instructors didn’t have to spend an exorbitant amount of time on, what they called, the “stop pointing that at me” portion of the class, we got to do a few things that weren’t on the syllabus. We got to run a few three-gun drills with pistol, shotgun and carbine as well as shoot a few other weapons that the instructors brought in.


The author gets familiarized with the
Israeli Tavor rifle.

All in all I found the class very instructive as well as great fun. I absolutely learned more in eight hours than I ever did in a year’s worth of Guard drills (and fired about three times as much live ammo). I left with many new techniques to practice at home and at the range as well as with a nicely illustrated study guide to take home and review when needed. Although I still consider myself a rifleman at heart, this class increased my confidence and competence with handguns immensely. It was well worth every penny.

If you’re one of Iowa’s growing legion of permit-to-carry holders or you just have an interest in defensive shooting and you want to move from “a 2 dimensional world of putting holes in paper, to truly using a tactical mindset making the firearm a weapon and a tool,” then I recommend you find a Tactical Insights training course that fits your needs and take it.  Check them out here:

 
Photos courtesy of Tactical Insights L.L.C.

Officials Support "Reality-Free Zone"

At a time of unemployment and stagnant economic activity you would think government officials would be happy to see a new business move into a soon-to-be vacant lot in their town. Not so on the southeast side of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.  Here the mayor, school district and PTA are all opposing a new convenience store, which would be near McKinley Middle School, that was narrowly approved by the city’s Planning Commission. Some of their concerns have to do with traffic and safety concerns about the new Kum & Go store but opposition seems to stem largely from government paternalism and health busy-bodyism.

According to a Cedar Rapids Gazette article, Mary Meisterling, vice president of the Cedar Rapids school board, told the commission members that “the store’s fare of alcohol, tobacco and snack foods was not appropriate in such proximity to the more than 600 middle-school students.” In their letter of opposition, the McKinley PTA urged the Planning Commission to “consider the negative impact this store will have on the safety, health and education of McKinley’s students and not allow this proposed development to proceed.” [Emphasis added.]

Officials’ efforts to ban a completely lawful business in an effort to lessen the chances that some students might have to realize that Budweiser, Marlboro, and Kit Kats exist would appear to be an attempt by them to create a “reality-free zone” around the school. This no doubt won’t work any better than any of the other prohibition zones that they’ve erected around our schools. The Gun-Free School Zones Acts of 1990 and 1996 have created known concentrations of disarmed victims and allowed unfettered rampages like the Columbine shootings to occur. When officials came up with the Drug-Free School Zone idea, the fact that efforts to turn the entire rest of the country into a drug-free zone had been an abysmal failure was apparently lost on them.

Planning Commission member Gloria Frost (who voted to allow the new store) first “asked if the company promised to help youngsters coming into the store make ‘good decisions,’ [and] was willing to work with school officials.” Since when is helping youngsters make “good decisions” the job of a retail store? Aren’t there things like families, Cub Scouts and churches for that?  Is it a store or a damned social program?

We all want kids to be safe and healthy. I’m a parent, I get it. But sooner or latter we have to admit that they exist on the same planet as the rest of us.  They will be confronted with Lay’s Wavy Potato Chips and Mountain Dew. Deal with it!