5 Firearms for People Who Don’t Like Them

by Charles

As hard as this may be to believe for some of you, not everyone likes guns. I know, I know, sit down if you feel woozy. It’s true, though: some folks do not, in fact, take to the way of the gun like a duck to water.

This does not mean that a person is against guns, however. Big difference. I have known and helped a score of people in my career that were ethically and practically for firearms, but they themselves did not like them, were stressed out by them or otherwise somehow perturbed by them.

Every once in a while one of these folks has need for a gun and the whole process is a quagmire of fear, stress and uncertainty. Heck, you may be one of those people, and have come across this very article in your search for answers and relief. Whoever you are, reader, in this article I will be dishing up some straight answers and ace handgun recommendations to help ease the passage of a person from “gunless” to well-heeled.

So grab you note pad and let’s get into it.

The Conflict of the Pro-Gun Gun-Hater

“Pro-gun gun-hater” is my blanket term for the prospective new gun owner or shooter who is, for whatever reason, sort of being pushed into using a gun against their desires. They obviously are not an aficionado or connoisseur. They are not even a normal everyman shooter. Sadly, they are not even a hapless but well-intentioned amateur. The pro-gun gun-hater’s feelings against using or owning a gun are genuine.

These folks generally, sincerely do not like guns on a visceral personal level. They may be pro-gun rights. They might be pro-guns all the way around, but they simply cannot or will not get aboard that train themselves.

Their reasons vary: maybe it was a bad experience shooting that rendered them, literally, gun shy ever after. Maybe it is a crushing lack of confidence, or the feeling of already missing out on too much experience compared to peers who have been shooting for a while. Some may lack the strength or coordination to operate a gun well, and so have given up.

Some may even be naïve, to a degree: they are just fine with their neighbors, friends and relatives having and using guns, but they have never had need for one (“It won’t happen to me.” Or “bad stuff does not happen here.”) A few might simply be intimidated by the noise and blast of a gun, and their nerves cannot take the strain.

Doubtless there will be a few in there who are merely too lazy or unmotivated to invest the considerable time and effort it takes to master using a gun well and safely. A sorry, poor few in this lot might be victims of violent crime or a close call, and are revising their once-held beliefs to the contrary regarding guns in civilian hands.

Whatever the case, these people deserve help, guidance and the best chance to succeed at their new venture, and understanding their unique situations and attitude is important to kitting them out with the right tools.

Helping the Uninitiated and Unmotivated Get the Right Tools

This can present a unique challenge for gun sellers, teachers, experienced friends or family and so forth. Recommendations and decisions for firearm selection that are trotted out for enthusiastic or motivated beginners may not apply for our pro-gun gun-hater friends.

An honest assessment of their intent will likely reveal that even now, no matter what has driven them “upstream” of their personal values into getting a gun is not enough to get them regularly training, practicing and the like.

Overwhelmingly, these people will never consider anything at all beyond a handgun. A long gun is a “big gun” and they simply are not big gun people, no matter what with scarce exceptions.

For most of them, the handgun will be the equivalent of a fire extinguisher: purchased, given cursory investigation as to its use and then put away with the whispered prayer that they will never have to use it, even now. In fact, the less they have to think about the gun or be reminded of its presence, the better.

Why Should an Experienced Shooter Care?

For you seasoned shooters reading: Don’t roll you eyes at this! It is easy to launch into a diatribe about best practices, proper procedure and so forth, or issue the old “purity test” about how a serious gun owner would do this, this and this, etc. but it just isn’t helpful. Everyone must search their own soul and walk their path on their own. I can’t walk it for them, and neither can a significant portion of you reading.

All that is important is helping them, be as safe as possible with their new gun and enabling them to live armed against potential threats. So instead of lambasting these late-bloomers, let’s help them on their terms, and a big part of that is getting them the right guns that will work around their hang-ups.

The person described above may be someone you know and need to help, be they a friend, relative or acquaintance. Especially if you are known as the “gun guy” in your circles, your expertise will be eagerly sought out. If the extent of your care and insight is “Glock 17” or “Beretta 92” you are not doing your apprentice any favors; both are excellent pistols, but largely unsuited to the shooters we have been discussing.

Step away from the pulpit and assess the problem earnestly. Your preaching of the word may get you plenty of points and admiration among gunslingers like you, but is not applicable and lost on those who don’t even want to be where they are standing in the first place.

Dealing with Shortcomings

In no particular order of occurrence, your average pro-gun gun-hater will be suffering from one or more quirks that will impact what their ideal handgun may be.

Physical Handicap- Either from injury, disability or infirmity people in this category lack the strength, coordination or both to manipulate a handgun well enough to load and/or fire it. For many, this may be overcome by training. For a significant fraction, they will have a “hard” limitation and need a pistol that can be operated within the restrictions of their condition.

Autoloading pistols are often a notoriously bad choice for many of these folks, since retracting the slide to the rear is often the single hardest thing they will be asked to do with the pistol. Recoil may also be a factor.

Unwilling/Unable to Improve Skills- People in this category are either unable or unwilling to put in the time needed to run a given pistol with fumble-free certainty. No matter what positive gains they would enjoy from a little bit of additional training or practice, they aren’t interested. It is essential that their guns are as simple, safe and straightforward to use as possible.

This means that more complicated actions are out, as are any gun that is simple too easy to fire inadvertently. Yes, no gun will suffer a fool’s clumsy handling, but nonetheless we can reduce the chances of a tragic or costly accident with careful firearm selection.

Nervous Nellie- These shooters will be hampered by an acute fear or anxiety when handling the gun that clouds judgment and hampers critical thinking.

Some may become so nervous from handling the gun even in an administrative setting that their motor skills and coordination are affected. Exposure therapy is a must, but does not always produce the desired effect.

Guns for these folks must be very safe, but also easy to use, and should preferably be chambered in a cartridge with minimal report and recoil.

No Experience- Simply, these shooters have no trigger time. This means that establishing a frame of reference for them to make an insightful choice is difficult or may be impossible within their time constraint.

There are many guns that can serve these new shooters well, but care should be taken to ensure they get saddled up with one that will help them shoot their best and also not unduly hamper them.

Whatever their reasons, and whatever they are facing, rest assured that there are guns for almost everyone who has the will to equip themselves with one.

The Best Gun Recommendations for People Who Don’t Like Them

Below, you’ll find a selection of 5 pistols that are uniquely suited to our new shooters we have discussed above. Each one will have a short list of who it is best suited for among pro-gun gun-haters, and then a dissertation on its strengths and flaws.

Full disclosure: most of these guns will have something that is seen as a serious shortcoming when viewed in the light of the modern school of handgunnery. Yours truly will even have written about those specific shortcomings in previous work, advocating that your average shooter avoid choosing this caliber or that action.

That is my point today, though: these guns are special purpose choices for certain kinds of shooters, not Tactical Timmy who is working sub-second draws to first shot or Steve the Swat Cop about to blow through a single-wide meth lab.

For personal defense in a civilian context, any of these guns will work just fine: all are robust, reliable and more than capable of inflicting lethal damage to a determined assailant. Each also has in addition certain perks that will help make our newbies’ lives easier. More on those in a minute, let’s get to the list!

#5 – Ruger LCR, .22 LR

Best For: Physical Handicap, Nervous Nellies, anyone who needs a concealable, easy to carry pistol

Ruger’s LCR line of revolvers is excellent contenders among snubbies in all regards, but for our purposes today the .22 version deserves special mention. The LCR line as a whole is light, small and easy to shoot well, the latter being thanks to uniformly great triggers. Especially compared to competitors’ snubbies, the LCR is quite the shooting machine.

In .22 LR, even with its feathery weight made possible by a polymer fire control housing and alloy upper frame, the LCR has minimal recoil and with proper load selection little blast. This will no doubt endear it to folks who have a hard time tolerating the firing of any gun.

Those who struggle with their hands will find the loading, unloading and shooting process far more manageable than a larger revolver or a semi-auto thanks to the crisp, simple controls and the light weight of the gun and ammo. The trigger in particular, often hindrance on a small revolver, is of modest weight, exceptionally smooth for a stock gun, and easy to manage.

.22 LR is not renowned as a fight-stopper, but it is undeniably dangerous, and more than capable of inflicting a lethal wound. In this category it is valuable for producing minimal blast and recoil, which is more important than exemplary ballistics.

#4 – Smith & Wesson Model 10, .38 Special (or other medium frame fullsize .38 Spl. DA Revolver)

Best For: Nervous Nellies, No Experience, Unable/Unwilling to Improve Skills

The classic trope long associated with revolvers that they are simpler to understand, learn and operate compared to semi-auto pistols… is true! I’m not saying semi-autos are inherently difficult by any stretch, but when you are dealing with new shooters who are unlikely to or unwilling to put in the additional time to master a semi’s manual of arms a good double-action revolver makes the most sense.

More, the revolver, while more mechanically delicate than a semi, is also more forgiving of neglect when, say, stuffed into a drawer and forgotten. This is of significant interest for shooters who we know will not, right or wrong, be giving their pistols the regular care and feeding it deserves, if they even know how to do so.

A double-action revolver is a cinch to load and shoot, and also simple to verify the status of: press latch, swing out cylinder, inspect chambers, return cylinder. If needed, press trigger. That’s it. There is no loaded chamber to be forgotten or overlooked when a magazine is removed and no mechanical safeties or decocking to worry over.

The long, heavy trigger pull for each shot assures a certain degree of inherent safety and is more forgiving of wandering, misplaced digits than a striker-fired handgun, say.

A DA revolver is not the easiest thing in the world to shoot well, especially for beginners, but this is easier to work on in a short amount of time than ingraining strict trigger-finger discipline and rote memorization of a semi’s manual of arms.

.38 Special is more than adequate for defensive use, widely available and can furthermore be has in “powder puff” light loads such as wadcutters to reduce recoil and report even more.

#3 – Smith & Wesson M&P380 Shield EZ, .380 ACP

Best For: Physical Handicap, No Experience

The M&P series of pistols need no introduction for most of our readership, but for those of you who are new to the scene, they are greatly liked for their excellent shooting and handling characteristics. That being said, they also don’t do much to help the shooters we are trying to help, being typical fullsize or compact pistols, i.e. hard to load and operate, and unforgiving of errant handling. That is, they were.

Cue the M&P380 EZ, the newest family member in the vaunted M&P line, but one that takes some pretty radical departures from the usual feature set in the interest of significant ease-of-use enhancements, most notably a drastically easier to rack slide compared to its siblings.

This is made possible by a light recoil spring, extended “ears” at the back of the slide to help a shooter maintain their grip, and a revised fire control; this M&P, while appearing nearly identical to its bigger relatives, is actually fired by way of an internal hammer, not a striker.

Even better the, magazines are designed with followers utilizing small pegs on either side of the magazine body, not dissimilar to your average .22 pistol magazine. These pegs allow a shooter to place the magazine upright on a flat surface and pull them down to make room for the next cartridge to be loaded in the stack, versus trying to wrestle it in against the force of a powerful magazine spring.

The addition of a grip safety and optional manual safety provide an additional degree of assurance against unintended discharge. On top of it all, the pistol is a fine shooter, being inheritor to all of the other design features and control layout that make the M&P’s as a family such good guns.

As far as compact .380’s go, this is a good one, as most guns in this size class utilize a blowback action which is noticeably sharper than a rarer-for-caliber Browning-style locked breech as with the M&P380 EZ.

All in all, a safe, capable and easy to use gun, especially for a semi-auto of this caliber and class.

 

Photo by Joel7687 – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

#2 – Sig Sauer P250, 9mm Para

Best For: No Experience, Unable/Unwilling to Improve Skills, certain Physical Handicaps (Low strength)

When the Sig P250 hit the U.S. market in late 2007, I was totally unimpressed by it except for its interesting and then unique modular design. The rest of the gun was uninspired: double-action only, a long, if light trigger, and that was pretty much it.

Shooting it did not yield any exemplary capability that made it anything more than a novelty to me, and much of the rest of the gun world responded in kind. It did see some government agency adoption here at home and abroad, but this was short lived in the face of other more capable guns.

All that being said, the P250 seems only a historical milestone, an also-ran on the path to the Sig Sauer P320 now newly adopted as the Army’s M17 handgun. This all hides one very pertinent perk, though: the P250 is very easy to load and shoot pretty well, while also being pretty dang safe thanks to its loooong, but smooth, trigger pull.

While it lacks a manual safety, seasoned shooters know that a “safer” trigger has more to do with the length of travel of the trigger than the weight of its pull; a longer travel means more feedback for a misplaced finger that something is happening, giving the shooter time to course-correct before getting to a bang, and also furnishing a degree of safety against an inanimate object entering the trigger guard and impinging on the trigger.

This is even nicer on the P250 because the trigger is otherwise pretty nice for a double-action only trigger, being smooth, hitch free and easy to manage all the way through the break. It is like the best of a DA revolver and semi-auto in one! In all other regards, the P250 is more or less a standard fullsize or service pistol: it carries plenty of ammo, has nice sights and also benefits from easily interchangeable grip modules that make the gun simple to tailor to most users’ hands.

While it is discontinued entirely as of 2018, there are still plenty of P250s, parts and mags floating around to make finding one comparatively simple and well worth your time if you or someone you know desires the perks of a service-caliber semi-auto pistol with an easy-to-use slide and trigger.

#1 – Ruger 22/45 Mark IV, .22LR

Best For: Nervous Nellies, No Experience

Ruger’s flagship .22 LR pistols are not just for plinking cans, punching paper and harvesting small game. The 22/45 series guns have always been vaunted because they combine the handling and shooting characteristics of a service handgun with the light recoil and easy operation of your typical .22. The result (though Ruger has delved into some pretty wild aesthetic choices) is a supremely capable pistol for anyone on our list of “needs help” shooters.

Instead of a slide, the 22/45 guns all utilize a bolt that features two prominent ears on either side of the gun. Combined with the easy cocking of the design and it will be a rare shooter that struggles with this handgun. 10 rounds of .22 LR are carried standard in the slim magazines and the entire package in most iterations is very slim and lightweight. The controls are easy to actuate with some practice, and a manual safety is standard.

The 22/45’s have always enjoyed a reputation as good shooters and the latest versions are no exception. Best of all, for those who may desire or require them from ailing eyes or concerns about bumps in the night, most variations can mount under barrel lights, lasers and optical sight as stock. All told, you enjoy the best in modern pistol design and theory in a light, easy-handling .22 LR.

Stoked with good, high-quality loads, these guns are surprisingly reliable and more than capable as defensive pieces. Don’t let the hot-rod looks and miniscule caliber fool you: these are serious workhorses.

Conclusion

No decent citizen who desires a gun for defense should be left out in the cold for lack of viable choices. Though they may be far from the mainstream shooting world’s conception of ideal defensive handguns, the choices presented above are all superb for overcoming common challenges faced by certain newcomers.

If you are a seasoned pro, take this knowledge and put it to good use should they turn to you for help. If you are a newbie yourself, have no fear: use what was presented in this article, head into your local gun shop and see which will work best for you.

With a little courage, a little practice and plenty of can-do, you will be getting rounds on target with confidence in no time.

via Modern Survival Online http://bit.ly/2AmL0W2

Lucid Dreaming | All RCs Fails - loss of lucidity???

What I can do if I know/or very suspicious that I'm dreaming, but I can't get the full lucidity(the awe experience feeling). In such moments I always try multiple RC, but they all fail. I can't control anything.

Here an example of this:

It's 9,30am and I'm doing my 'mojo', but it's like I can't fall asleep, so I open my eyes and look at the my portable digital watch to see how much time I wasted and it says 8am. So I jump out of bed while thinking I'm already dreaming, but my room look totally indetical, so I'm starting to RC one after another. Look away and back to the watch, but it still say 8.05am(in fact the clock is counting minutes normally) - fail, noseplug - fail, finger counting - fail, lamps - fail, float - fail, Reading rc - fail, phasing through walls - fails. So I'm just starting to think that I misread the watch in the first place and getting back to bed, only to awaken seconds later and to see it's 9.40am.

I have great number of these. So how to get lucid in these super realistic FA, if all RC fails?

via Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views - Attaining Lucidity http://bit.ly/2AjWrxL

Signaling 101 for Survival

by Nick O’Law

In a survival situation communication can be vital and proficiency in signaling could save your life, or at least make it a lot easier. Anybody who works in the outdoors learns at least some basic signaling, on land woodsmen need to know where safe trails are and how to find and rescue lost adventurers.

At sea, sailors need to know how to operate radios and use the international code of signals to communicate across language barriers. Up in the air, rescue pilots learn symbols or communicating with people on the ground, and also use radios to coordinate traffic. Finally, of course the armed forces (of land, sea or air) need silent signals to coordinate troops and long distance communications systems to relay intelligence.

All of these are useful skills, and the more you learn, the more you understand the principles underpinning them (so practice lots!). This article breaks down the best gear and skills to learn the art of signaling, and have yet another survival skill under your belt.

Fires and Smoke Signals

Smoke signals and signal fires are probably some of the oldest forms of long range communication, used by the ancient Chinese, ancient Greeks and Native Americans. To this day, different colored smoke grenade are used by military forces to indicate different positions.

In general, smoke signals are only of use during the day, since the smoke shows up against a lit background. As with any signaling method, complexity and variability allow for greater detail in communication: dry firewood (or other fuel) will produce white smoke and wetter stuff (including greener wood and grass or wet leaves) will make black smoke.

Of course, you will still need plenty of dry wood to keep the fire going! The college of cardinals in the Vatican still use this distinction to communicate whether they have elected a new Pope. A good video on building signal fires for smoke can be found here:

Signal fires are useful at night, as the bright fire shows up against a dark background (sea vessel use lights to show their position at night for the same reason). The trick with a signal fire is just to build it as big as possible for maximum visibility.

Smoke signals (and fires, but to a lesser extent because it may be more difficult to see the distinction at night) can also convey different messages by their placement. It may an urban myth, but it is said that Native Americans would send a smoke signal from partway up a hill if the situation was good, but from the top to signal danger. Whether that’s true or not, it’s a simple idea for a pre-agreed code which could help you out one day.

Ground-to-Air Signals

The Ground to Air Emergency code is a very crude way of informing an overhead rescue team about your situation. It contains signals and symbols for only the bare minimum of important information.

The first set are static symbols. These should be constructed as large and obvious as possible, so if you can use a material which contrasts with the background. Anything bright orange is always a good idea. Ideally, the ‘top’ of the symbol should point north, unless it is intuitive that it should go another way (e.g. on a hillside, the symbols would point up the hill, even if this was south).

Y	Yes / Affirmative
N	No / Negative
I	Require assistance
X	Unable to Proceed
↑	Proceed in this Direction
I<	Proceed in this direction
F	Require Food and/or water
I	Require a doctor, serious injury
II	Require medical supplies
L	Require oil and/or fuel
▢	Require map and compass
W	Require a mechanic
I>	Will attempt to take off in this direction
△	Probably safe to land
⎦⎣	Not understood

The other half of the system is made up of body signals. To stand with arms outstretched to your sides, or to lie flat on your back, legs and arms extended, with your arms above your head means ‘require medical assistance’ (possibly because someone in dire need of medical assistance would look like this anyway!).

To stand with both arms raised above your head means ‘pick us up’, and to rush side-on to the observer with arms extended horizontally is to say ‘land here’. Standing and waving both hands in unison side-to-side over your head means that a plane should not land there.

Standing and waving one arm up and down beside you means ‘use a drop message’, and hold both hands behind your head means ‘we have a radio’. Waving one arm up and down in front of you, while side-on to the observer is ‘yes’ and to swing it side to side across your legs is (facing the observer) is ‘no’.

Flares

Flares is a collective term for pyrotechnic devices which produce sudden bursts of light (and/or smoke) for the purpose of signaling. Most flare technology originated for marine applications, but translates to rural and mountain user groups just as well.

The very first thing to say about flares is that you should read the packaging! All relevant instructions for use and safety (which are very important!) will be written on each flare and must be properly followed.

There are essentially three kinds of flares: rockets, handheld, and smoke. Rockets are used to indicate your position when in distress. It is generally a good idea to set off one, wait 2 – 3 minutes then set off a second. Other parties nearby will be alerted by the first flare, but may have seen exactly where it came from, so will be looking for a second one to get a fix on your direction.

In a maritime setting, red flares are used only for distress and white flares as warning of one’s location to avoid collisions. On land, red flares are still for distress (though white flares may also be understood) but white flares do not have such a formalized role. Parachute flares should never be used near a helicopter, as they might damage the vehicle or it’s crew, or disable night vision equipment.

Handheld flares are for pinpointing a location accurately. Once a rescue party is near you, you might set off a handheld flare to show them exactly where to look for you. The red/white distinction is less important here, especially on land.

Smoke flares only come in orange, a very high contrast color. They are for use during the day to help locate a target (they are often thrown at a man overboard in marine distress situations, to keep a fix on where the casualty is). The advantage of smoke is that it contrasts with almost everything (so can be seen during the day), will not disrupt a helicopter, and drifts with the wind, so leaves a trail leading back to where it was set off. Orange flares are a very powerful tool and should be used when a helicopter or other rescue team is getting close during the day, to give a precise location.

Though designed for the marine industry, the principles in this video can be applied to any situation where you might find yourself using flares:

Heliograph (Signal Mirror)

Signal mirrors have been issue to and used by the world’s military forces as recently as the 1980s, and are still included in most good survival kits. They are simple, easy to use and dependable. Signal mirrors also have the advantage of being a little used method of communication and difficult to intercept. This makes it ideal for use over medium distances as a wireless, low-investment, very secure mode of communication.

The most common kind you will find in most kits is a small rectangular mirror with a hole in the middle. The size of the mirror is directly correlated with the range of your signal, military experiments have shown that roughly 1 inch = 1 mile of range, assuming the receiver is using a the naked eye (obviously range is increased if the receiver has optics/binoculars/telescope). Because it’s such a simple tool, a signal mirror can be very easily improvised: a CD or DVD or the bottom of a can with a hole punched in it or common suggestions.

To use the mirror: look through the hole at what you want to signal to (a rescue plane, another person etc.). Holding the mirror in one hand, extend the other to act as a screen onto which to reflection from the mirror will land. This is how you know where the reflection is. From there, point the reflection towards wherever you are signaling.

If you don’t have a hole, you can just hold out your fingers in a V in front of you, line up the bottom of the V with your target, then line up the reflection with the bottom of the V.

For most applications, just flashing a light is enough of a signal. A more complex system of ‘one for flash this, two for that’ etc. could be useful if travelling in a group, and of course Morse code will give you complete freedom to express whatever you want.

A good way to control flashes ad keep the mirror in the right place is to fix the mirror in the right position, then cover/uncover it with a hand or opaque screen of some kind (the most common way is tilting the mirror, but that can often end up misaligning it with the target).

Between them, these two videos cover the use of signaling mirrors thoroughly:

Phones (cell and sat)

It should go without saying (and for most people, it probably does), that you should always have a phone on you, just in case. True, you probably won’t get reception, but there is a chance, and chance is a lot better than nothing for sake of carrying a small box in your pack.

If you do get reception and you really need it (in a crisis situation) you’ll be glad you have it. True, you can call search and rescue/lifeboats etc., but also you can call family and friends and tell them you’re alright. You’ll be glad you took a phone.

If you don’t have reception a phone can still be handy, if less so. The torch on the back can flash Morse code, or ripping it apart the battery and guts can start a fire if need be and the glass could potentially become a signal mirror.

A satellite phone is any mobile phone handset which transmits uses a satellite connection. The big advantage over cellular connectivity (standard mobile phones) is that sat phones have coverage over far more of the planet. In most cases, all you need is a direct, clear line between your sat phone’s antenna and the sky for a signal to travel at the speed of light to the number you’ve dialed.

Iridium is generally seen as the industry standard network, and is probably the way to go if you want quality and choice. They run a constellation 66 satellites and each satellite alone covers an area of ~6,000,000 sq. miles. Needless to say, Iridium has truly global coverage. They also have 7 spare satellites at a lower orbit ready to compensate if one of the main ones is put out of action somehow.

As sat networks go, iridium’s calls and texts are relatively cheap (free to send a text to any iridium number from their website and incoming calls are free) and they offer a wide range of products, including GPS and internet services as well as voice and text communications. They are standard use in America and British armed forces.

When buying satellite communications equipment it is worth considering how you want to use the service, and so what kit will best suit you. Sat phones are great, but if you know you will only be sending short messages as check-ins or distress calls, then a text-only unit might work better. Or maybe you want to carry both, like the recent Golden Globe Race entrants have been. If you want to cover all the bases, you can just take a good laptop and a mobile phone with an internet calling service (like WhatsApp or Telegram) and use satellite only for internet connectivity, so you can do everything.

PLBs (and EPIRBs)

PLB stands for Personal Locator Beacon. They are radio devices designed to locate a person in danger. They transmit a distress signal and a GPS location (as of 2017 all PLBS are required to have inbuilt GPS) to COSPAS-SARSAT (an international satellite based search and rescue organization) and cover most of the world, on land and at sea.

Apart from that there isn’t much you need to know, just stop reading and go and buy one! If you do decide to use a PLB, you must register it personally with the relevant authority, which in America is NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration).

EPIRB stands for Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon. They are built to much higher standard of ruggedisation than PLBS, because they are intended for use at sea, far offshore. They are self-righting, buoyant, can activate automatically on submersion (depending on the model), and will send a distress location signal with a precision of twelve miles for 48 hours. If you’re ever going out of sight of land, it’s really worth having one with you!

Walkie-Talkies

For most standard medium-distance comms purposes what you really need is a walkie-talkie. These are purpose built for short range voice communication between people who don’t need or want to learn about complex radios or procedures.

Most American walkie-talkies use what are called GMRS / FRS frequencies. In the US, the radio band around 462 – 467 MHz (Ultra High Frequency or UHF) is shared by General Mobile Radio Service (GMRS) and Family Radio Service (FRS).

Officially you need license to be allowed to operate on them, but attaining one is not difficult and might be worth it if you meet a zealous police officer. Anyone with a license, and any immediate family of theirs, may communicate between themselves for personal or business purposes, so your kids will be allowed to use the radios too without needing a license.

When buying walkie-talkies, the first thing to consider is range. Manufacturers will give you the greatest figure for this they can, so it will be a measurement of possible range in a flat, open space. Hills, trees, large rocks or building will cut this down a lot. So go for the one with the greatest range, and of course the greatest battery life/capacity.

Be aware though, that the range will always be fairly limited on a walkie -alkie and only a more powerful radio with a bigger antenna can change that. On top of that of course, extra features are great, Some walkie talkies are waterproof which is very useful if outdoors for any length of time, some float which is good if you’ll be on the water and dual watch (the capability to ‘listen’ to two frequencies at once) can be very useful.

Radio communications overall is a huge topic, well beyond the scope of this article. If you want to learn more, there is a whole forum dedicated to the radio communications side of prepping and survival. It’s called Radio Preppers.

Alphabets and Languages

Morse Code

Named for Samuel Morse, an inventor of the telegraph, Morse code is not a signaling medium in itself, it’s a system of ‘symbols’ which can be used to represent letters and numbers in messages, using log and short pulses of on and off.

This could be covering and uncovering (or turning on and off) a pocket flashlight (you should always have one as part of your EDC) or lamp, long and short beeps of a horn or other sound device (or whistle) or even blinking your eyes.

Yes seriously, US prisoner of war Jeremiah Denton repeatedly blinked his eyes during a staged TV interview to spell out “T-O-R-T-U-R-E”, so the authorities back home would know that the Vietnamese were torturing the American POWs.

The basic signs of Morse code are:

Letter	Morse
A	• −
B	− • • •
C	− • − •
D	− • •
E	•
F	• • − •
G	− − •
H	• • • •
I	• •
J	• − − −
K	− • −
L	• − • •
M	− −
N	− •
O	− − −
P	• − − •
Q	− − • −
R	• − •
S	• • •
T	−
U	• • −
V	• • • −
W	• − −
X	− • • −
Y	− • − −
Z	− − • •

If each ‘dit’ (•) is one unit of sound/light flashing long then:

• Each ‘dah’ (−) is three units.

• The space between the component dits and dahs within the same letters is one unit.

• The space between two letters/characters is three units

• The space between word is five units

Then of course there are numbers:

Numeral	Morse
0	− − − − −
1	• − − − −
2	• • − − −
3	• • • − −
4	• • • • −
5	• • • • •
6	− • • • •
7	− − • • •
8	− − − • •
9	− − − − •

Punctuation:

Punctuation Mark	Morse
.	• − • − • −
,	− − • • − −
:	− − − • • •
?	• • − − • •
’	• − − − − •
–	− • • • • −
/ (fraction bar)	− • • − •
() (same sign for open and close)	− • − − • −
“” (same sign for open and close)	• − • • − •
@	• − − • − •
=	− • • • −

Finally there are ‘prosigns’. These are conventionally agreed shorthands for commonly sent messages or phrases in morse, to save you from keying the whole lot every time you need it (somewhat like modern text message abbreviations).

When transmitting prosigns, don’t include a space between the letters, instead run all of the dits and dahs together. There are many prosigns, far too many to show here, but some common ones are probably useful to know:

Prosign Letters	Meaning
DE	This message is from / self-identification
R / CFM	I am receiving you / confirmation
K	Go ahead / over / invitation for the other station to speak
AR	Out / end of transmission
AS / AR	Please wait quietly (either because I cannot transmit or because I am in contact with another station which you cannot hear)
HH	Error disregard (often followed by AA)
AA	All after / I am referring to the portion of the message which was sent after the words…
AB	All before, functions like AA
BN	All between, function like AA and AB
?	Say again / please repeat
KA	Message begins
C	Correct / affirmative
N	No / negative

If you decide to learn Morse, then by far the best way to do so is the Koch Method. T may seem hard and dull to begin with, but it will pay dividends in terms of ability in the long run. An excellent free training website can be found here.

Polybius Square (also known as Knock Code)

Like Morse code, the Polybius square is a way of encoding letters in on/off signals. Crucially though, its use does not necessitate having long and short signals, but can be used with only one type of signal, differentiated by the length of time in between.

The system works by putting all the letters used into a square grid (usually a square, but actually any grid would work) and then expressing each as numerical coordinates. The most common configuration for English is:

	1	2	3	4	5
1	A	B	C/K	D	E
2	F	G	H	I	J
3	L	M	N	O	P
4	Q	R	S	T	U
5	V	W	X	Y	Z

C and K share a square, because the standard alphabet is 26 characters, ad the square only has 25 cells. Another common conflation is I and J.

The square can be expanded to include the numerals 0 – 9, which makes it thirty six cells, which is exactly 6 x 6. If no, then the lower numbers can be signaled as groups of just that number of signals (e.g dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah-dah would be nine/ and higher numbers can be spelled (because it’s much quicker to spell ‘ONE HUNDRED’ or ‘ONE ZERO ZERO’ than to give one hundred blasts on a horn, and for higher numbers the receiver is very likely to miss count.

As is standard, you always give the horizontal coordinate first. So for example, ‘L’ would be expressed as: flash, pause, flash-flash-flash. The flashes could be flashes from a flashlight, knocks on a drainpipe (the Polybius square is often used in prisons) or sounds on a fog horn.

Semaphore

Semaphore is a way of encoding letters in different postures with flags, discs, batons or even open hands. At sea, the traditional flags used are the Oscar flag (a rectangle split in half top-right to bottom-left, with the upper part being red and the lower yellow) and on land the Papa flag (a white square inside a blue square). The Standard English alphabet signals can be found here.

Somewhat less in depth, but specific to emergency signalling, this video is a good example of semaphore in practice:

Hand Signs and Sign Language

Hand signals and sign languages can be a great way to communicate quickly and discreetly. The interesting thing about sign languages is that they must be seen to be understood, and sight is directional. If someone makes a noise near you, it doesn’t matter which direction they are in, you will still hear it, whether it’s behind you, off to one side or in front. But to see something, it has to be in front of you, otherwise you just don’t notice it.

So generally, you hear what goes in a broader physical range than what you see. This means that spoken languages are great if you need to give a speech, or give orders to people all around you, or shout at someone whose back is turned to grab their attention, but not much good for being private. Sign languages are great for this though, since you will only see them if you are watching, (and even might not understand).

Complex, full blown sign languages are great tools, and can convey anything a spoken language can, but will take a long time to learn. A quicker and easier way to derive a similar benefit is to pre-arrange a simple set of easily identifiable signs within your group for things you think you might need.

For example, many armed forces have signs for ‘go’, ‘stay’, ‘rally’, etc. but not ‘hot chocolate’. Because that would be unnecessary. Simple group movements (‘go’, ‘stay’, ‘run’, ‘move slowly/quietly’, ‘fire’ etc.) and questions about these (‘what are we doing next?’, ‘where?’ etc.) are probably a good place to start. Tactical and military groups the world over use systems like this, and there is a great run down of a lot of them here:

Passive Signals

Passive signals are signals which require no continuous action or input from you to keep working. Things like street signs, or writing in the sand. By their nature they will probably expend less energy and possibly less time than more active methods. Making a fire and keeping alight takes a lot of hard work, but once built, a cairn or colorful flag will stay put, doing its thing for a long time.

Before anything else, the first passive signal to consider is your clothing. Say you’re trapped in a forest with a broken leg and can’t move. If you’re wearing camouflage, nobody’s going to spot you for days, but a bright orange coat is a great locator.

This is why civilian hiking gear (especially survival gear) is generally manufactured in very bright colors, for people to pick each other out on mountains and against slopes (it’s also why military gear is manufactured to look as much like the environment as possible, because the military want to hide). Of course, circumstance may constrain you from wearing bright colors if you do need to hide (from animals for hunting, from other people for survival etc.) but it’s a worthy consideration at least.

As a side note, even the military sometimes to use passive signaling on their clothing. Soldiers often wear ‘cat’s eyes’ – small pairs of simple luminous symbols – on their back during night patrols so that the people immediately behind them can see them and identify their function (with different symbols corresponding to medic, IC etc.).

The next set of passive symbols to consider is trails. Leaving a marked trail behind you for others to follow can be very useful if you are travelling in a spread out group. Simple markers like cairns (small piles of stones balanced on top of each other) or sticks left crossed in the pah will confirm that you’re going in the right direction – but only if you are actually going in the right direction.

Generally better are directional signs like sticks arranged in arrows, trails of different sized stones (follow like an arrow, go in the direction of the stones going from largest to smallest) or knotted grass or brush, with the tail of the knot indicating the direction of travel.

Leaving a trail like this should not be confused with trailblazing (though both are certainly worth knowing about). Trailblazing is the use of a conventional set of symbols to mark where formally defined trails (think national trails, one’s with official recognition) begin, turn and end.

The beginning of the trail is marked by a single blaze (a mark, scratch, scar, spray painted shape etc.) above a horizontal pair, and the end is the same symbol reversed. ‘Continue straight’ is generally signified by a single blaze, and a turn by a single blaze with another one above it, offset in the direction of the turn. A vertical pair with a single blaze off to one side indicates a fork in the path to that side. Be careful though, because this system as regional variations which can include the same symbols for different meanings.

Always check with local officials before you blaze trails or try read blazing, as local convention may be different to what you’re used to.

Ground to air symbols can also be considered passive signals, though they are discussed separately, above.

Whistling

Whistling might not strike as a serious skill as such, but it can be really useful. For one, consider that a small, cheap plastic whistle kept on your keys will probably carry for over a mile in the right terrain. You could pre-arrange with your group what the next whistle means, or it could be useful as a means of pinpointing you if you need rescuing and the team are in the area but can’t get your exact location.

If you don’t already have one on you, a simple whistle can be made by taking a hollow tube (a piece of bamboo or similar cane works well, or an antler tine), stoppering one end, stoppering the other end but for a tiny gap at the top and finally cutting a notch (also at the ‘top’) through the wall of the whistle. Adding extra holes along its length (after the notch) will allow you to vary the pitch (variation, in any kind of signaling is what increases complexity, for making more complex messages). This video goes through the process for making a whistle:

Whistling is a sound signal, so can be very useful when visibility of signals, or visibility in general is poor or entirely gone. A Morse signal flashed on torch is great at night, but almost invisible against brightly lit surroundings during the day.

A whistled signal however would work in both instances (provided that sound wasn’t obscured too). Of course, this is also true of all sound signals – to this day ships use horn blasts to communicate in fog).

Then of course, there is whistling with just your body. Whistling by pursing your lips is great, but if you can learn to whistle with your fingers it’s well worth it. It carries further and the tone tends to be shriller so people hear it better. It’s also just cool.

In theory you could whistle Morse code to transmit more complex messages, or just agree in advance with your team a system of short and long blasts which mean different things. If you want to get really advanced (you’ll have to train the rest of your team too) you could learn the whistle language developed on La Gomera (though that is somewhat beyond the scope of this article!):

Final Words

Signaling is one of the most complex and most overlooked survival skills. But it’s worth putting in the time and effort. There is never much use in staying alive if nobody is coming to find you!

Two general points (applying to all signaling systems): if you want to setup a group-wide signaling system, make sure it isn’t too complex for everyone in the group to learn and use relatively quickly. Having said that, remember that the more variables there are in a system, the more possibilities there are, so the quicker and nuanced the communications can be. You have to strike a balance.

In an urban environment you will surrounded by buildings and other structures, so any form of signaling which relies on line of sight visibility (flags, smoke, fires) will be obscured and useless, and most would seem out of place anyway. Loud noises can still be useful over short range and ‘trails’ can be left as marks on buildings much like hobo sign.

IF the grid isn’t down then cell phone coverage will normally be good so this is probably a good bet, and good quality walkie-talkies will likely have decent range here too (they’re good enough to be used by security guards and law enforcement, so they’re probably good enough for you!)

In a rural setting, a good radio with good range and long battery life is a must. Satellite phones and flares for the whole party too if you are going any distance away from a safe haven.

In this case, knowing ways to use yourself, your other kit what is around you to make simple emergency signals is probably going to pay the best in the long run: learn trail signs, have a fire and/or whistle signal system agreed, and something more complex like a semaphore if you think your radio might fail.

via Modern Survival Online http://bit.ly/2QStC5S

The Best of the Best .22 Pistols

by Charles

There is no such thing as a gun suitable for one and all, for every shooter. But if there was, if there was one gun that damn near everyone in the world could make use of, if would be a .22 LR pistol; the one, true, jack-of-all-trades, Swiss Army knife firearm.

From small game hunting to fundamentals training to self-defense, there is very little that this mighty mouse combination cannot handle. It might not be able to do everything excellently, but it can do almost anything passably.

Let no shooter ever say they have outgrown their .22. In this article, we’ll be giving these guns a brief highlight reel as a class and then I’ll offer up my recommendations for the best in the breed. Many of you will already have a .22 handgun (or five), but some of you might not. At any rate, you are bound to come away with some new information and insights about the littlest rimfire that could.

So grab a brick of ammo and let’s get started.

.22 LR Specifics

The .22 LR has been around for quite some time, and is one of the oldest and certainly the most ubiquitous of American cartridges, and also the rimfire cartridge around the world. Conceived in the late 1880’s, the .22 LR was not really an innovation. Rimfire priming and metallic cartridges had been around for some time, and specifically in .22 and even smaller calibers.

The .22 Long Rifle was created by combining the bullet of the .22 Extra long with the shorter case of the .22 Long. That isn’t a typo, by the way, those are two distinct cartridges. In no time at all, it gained popularity as an ideal “intermediate” rimfire .22, one suitable for all kinds of shooting activities and chores. A star was born, and time would see the .22 LR validated and enshrined all the way to today as the standard small bore rimfire round.

Generations’ worth of shooters, countless in number, learned to shoot on a .22 rifle or pistol. Its nearly non-existent recoil, minimal noise and blast make it an easy gun to learn on as a novice, and ideal for seasoned shooters to train on to refine or develop their fundamentals. The .22 LR is an ideal small game cartridge, and has a proud history bringing home meat for stew pots around the world. And though it is a far cry from a larger “serious” round, the .22 LR is more than capable of inflicting lethal wounds, making it a viable option for a special-purpose defense gun or one for users who simply cannot handle a larger firearm.

While one of its parents and a cousin, the .22 Long and .22 Short, are still extant today, you have to look fairly hard to find them in most shops and stores. In comparison, the bounty of .22 LR seems to go on forever (minus some serious long term shortages a few years back). Aside from the sheer quantity of ammo produced, there is a mind-boggling variety of loads available.

Everything from modestly-quick lead round nose to scorching-fast plated hollowpoints is readily available on the shelves of any gun shop worth the name. More exotic specialty loads range from tiny shotshell-like pest and varmint ammo to primer-only CB caps, which produce a report only a little louder than your average airgun.

No matter the task or desire- hunting, plinking or self-defense, there is a .22 LR load to suit.

Beyond Plinking: .22s’ Real World Application

A .22 LR pistol is, naturally, a world class slayer of cans, bottles, produce and paper, but it is capable, even made, for so much more. I have already touched on its suitability for small game hunting, and it is one of only a few calibers that can reliably harvest smaller animals without severely damaging pelt and meat. Combined with the .22 LR’s reputation for excellent accuracy when a good round and gun are paired this makes for easy harvesting of smaller and hard-to-hit critters.

Your average .22 LR load presents minimal chances of overpenetration and a far milder report than larger centerfire calibers of all types. Together this makes it uniquely suited for pest disposal in suburban and urban settings where removal of unwanted animals is sometimes necessary but lighting off the heavy artillery is frowned upon.

When it comes to refining existing skills, honing skills or developing new techniques, a .22 pistol is peerless. A model that is similar or even identical to a shooter’s larger “serious” pistol will make an excellent training aid and allow near 100% fidelity in live fire practice with a couple of significant perks: first, the minimal report and blast as discussed are much less likely to start cementing or causing an anticipatory reflex in the shooter. Second, the very low cost of .22 LR allows a far higher volume of live fire training than any centerfire cartridge would.

This allows better training reps to be had at a much smaller price tag, and with the cost of ammo today, even if you reload, you can be looking at serious outlay of cash for high volume training. 1,000 rounds of .22 LR will only set you back $35-40 for bulk economy ammo.

Self-defense with a .22 LR is often scoffed at by seasoned and salty shooters, and I will be the first to condemn it when other, more powerful cartridges make more sense, but chosen with deliberation a .22 LR can be just what the doctor ordered.

The typical .22 LR pistol is very light, has little to virtually no recoil, are usually easy to operate and is simple to shoot quickly, and well. All are assets for those who are suffering from an injury or infirmity, or those who simply lack the strength to run the slide on a more powerful semi-auto. For adept shooters who need a very small firearm to conceal, or use as a backup, a tiny .22 makes sense: they are often times much easier to shoot well than similarly sized guns with more powerful chamberings.

They can even make sense as a primary weapon when an ultralight, ultra-quiet ballistic solution is needed. A modern .22 pistol fully kitted with optic and suppressor makes for very, very discreet problem solving capability when one wishes to stay lightly encumbered and unnoticed, while still retaining all of its other desirable qualities and allowing you to carry an absolute ton of ammo compared to another gun.

That is definitely something to consider for a true bug-out or survival gun.

Special Considerations for Defensive Use of .22 LR

The .22 LR is not, not an ideal cartridge for self-defense. But it can work well enough, so long as you work to overcome its flaws. A few things to keep in mind when considering a .22 LR for any defensive capacity.

• Don’t believe the bunk: a .22 is not going to bounce around all over the inside of an assailant’s body and carve them up, because physics. Any tales to the contrary are complete hogwash.
• In accordance with the above, ammo selection is important with a .22 LR for best results. .22’s are tiny, fragile bullets that quickly lose momentum inside a body. This can lead to a lack of much needed penetration. Choose a 40gr., copper plated high velocity load for defense, CCI’s Velocitor or Mini-Mag are good standbys. Stingers are a hair too fast leading to early upset and loss of weight. Not ideal.
• A good .22 pistol loaded with quality ammo is extremely reliable; .22’s are unfairly categorized as unreliable due to their rimfire priming. While this has historical merit upwards of 70 plus years ago, modern rimfire ammo is very reliable so long as high-quality ammo is used, i.e. not bulk pack plinking fodder.

So long as you use a little common sense and follow best practices, a .22 LR can work as a special purpose defensive gun. Once again, if you are choosing a .22 LR when another full-power cartridge is both available and workable, you are probably wrong.

The Best .22 Pistols

All of the handguns on the list below, both semi-autos and revolvers, are chosen first and foremost for their reliability and suitability as both survival and defensive options. Yes, most of them are superb general purpose handguns too, but not all .22 handguns are suitable for self-defense.

Some are old, some are new, but all are robust, durable and good shooters, so long as you can supply the ammo and some ability.

Ruger Mark IV 22/45 Tactical

Ruger’s 22/45 series of pistols are great all-around handguns, but have always had special merit as training pistols because, aside from their light weight, they handle like a larger pistol. Grip dimensions, control layout the works. Compared to earlier iterations they enjoy oversized controls for positive operation and a far, far simpler disassembly procedure. Ask any 22/45 owner who has an earlier model how much fun it is taking them apart and brace yourself for a stream of invective.

The 22/45 is excellent for regular sharpening of skills when you don’t want to spend a fortune in ammo, but things keep on getting better; these are reliable rimfires, and even more so when stoked with quality ammo. Certainly reliable enough for defensive purposes and they run well with minimal maintenance so long as they are kept reasonably lubed.

Considering the package, a top rail for optics, underbarrel rail for lasers or lights and a threaded barrel for a suppressor means the 22/45 can be configured appropriately as you would any “proper” defensive handgun. One of these pistols equipped with a red dot, suppressor and light/laser combo is quite the shooting machine, one you should laugh at your peril.

Topping it all off, there is enormous aftermarket support for these pistols from all kinds of manufacturers, and you can get everything from better triggers or grips to entirely new barreled actions at the click of a mouse.

I would not feel under armed if I were bugging out with my BOB, one of these nice pistols and a brick of Eley or CCI ammo.

Ruger LCRx .22 LR

Ruger’s internal hammer LCR in .38 Spl. hit the market at a time when snub revolvers were just starting to see the promise of a renaissance. Boy, did they make a splash! Combining a new trigger mechanism, polymer trigger housing and alloy frame and barrel shroud with only a steel barrel liner and a cylinder that was radically machined to reduce weight to a minimum, the LCR was a flyweight among flyweights.

Ever better, it came with a stock trigger that would handily beat the triggers on most fullsize factory revolvers from any manufacturer! It wasn’t long before a flood of variants followed in the wake of that first successful version, and soon we enjoyed a .357 Magnum version, a .327 Fed. Magnum version and a .22 LR and .22 Magnum.

Then Ruger, ever conscious of what their customers and the core of the shooting demographic wants, introduced a version with a traditional exposed hammer, and the LCRx was born, and logically soon there were plenty of calibers to pick from, and some of those include a longer 3” barrel. That very setup is my pick for a slick shooting .22 revolver par excellence.

The LCRx .22 LR is an ideal .22 revolver if you can get past its super modern aesthetics and use of plastic. I know how you traditional revolver guys roll! The LCRx has very good sights, an uncommonly excellent trigger and is so light, even fully loaded, you might forget you have it on. This makes it a fine primary gun any time you require a .22 or a backup you can stash in your BOB or Go-Bag with a few hundred rounds of ammo.

All this at a price less than many old-school steel .22 revolvers, and without many of their hiccups.

 

photo of a Walther P22, by The original uploader was Davken1102 at English Wikipedia. – Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons., CC BY-SA 3.0, Link

Walther P22

The P22 is coming up on a couple of decades old here pretty soon. That’s with cause, as this little polymer .22 turned the rimfire pistol market up on its end when it premiered in 2002. Looking just like a miniature P99, Walther’s then groundbreaking polymer service pistol (still going strong today, by the way) the P22 departed from traditional .22 handgun design and set a new standard for layout that remains in effect today.

The P22’s controls were configured by and large like its big brother P99’s; a Euro-style paddle magazine release, a slide release in the conventional location, slide serrations forward and rear and an accessory rail (albeit a small one) for a compact aiming laser or light. The addition of a threaded barrel for suppressor usage and a slide located manual safety were the only departures from the features of the P99.

In effect, the P22 makes a handy trainer for a larger, but similarly styled pistol, and also is an admirable firearm in its own right: accurate, easy to shoot well, light, reliable (so long as high velocity ammo is used) and easy to maintain. The inclusion of sights that were more typical of service handguns further cemented the notion that the P22 was not your grandpappy’s .22 pistol.

As a trainer gun or pistol for a youth, it is excellent, and also an inspired choice for a “just in case” gun as part of a stash or as a backup gun.

Ruger GP100 -1766 .22 LR

Ruger’s GP100 needs no introduction among revolver fans, and its famed performance in .357 Magnum is the subject of much fanfare. Unknown to some is its newer chambering in .22 LR with a whopping 10 round cylinder, and the 1766 model has a 4 ¼” barrel with an excellent fiber optic front sight and fully adjustable rear. This may seem like an odd pairing at first blush: the massive, heavy GP100 action chambering the diminutive .22. Upon closer inspection this confers several advantages.

First, the GP100 action is one of the strongest and most robust, if not the most, among large frame revolvers. While it will take an awful lot of .22 to even begin to weather that mighty action, it still provides a certain amount of assurance that no weather and few hard knocks will hamper the performance of this beastly rimfire.

Second, the GP100 action is comparatively easy to service next to other, older revolver designs. The entire trigger mechanism can be detached intact from the frame proper, allowing simpler service, inspection and replacement of all those delicate parts that drive most sane shooters to a semi auto.

Lastly, the GP100 as a model makes use of a peg-style frame that allows nearly any grip imaginable to be mounted; slim, thick, ergonomic, square butt, round butt and more. This conveys a considerable amount of options to shooters of any size, and means no matter what your preference is in a grip, you’ll be able to find and install one on the GP100.

The GP100 is known for a highly reliable, but somewhat middling double action pull, and on the .22 version this has not changed. Single action remains as crisp as ever, and with a little use and perhaps some work the gun will smooth up considerably. It may be massive and heavy for a .22, but if you want a rimfire revolver built to withstand the apocalypse, this is it.

Conclusion

Almost everyone needs a .22 caliber pistol. From sharpening your skills and developing new techniques to survival and self-defense, a good .22 will always earn its weight in your kit. If you don’t have a .22 already, consider adding one of the above to your collection, or find another that will work for you.

via Modern Survival Online http://bit.ly/2GDZWo7

Radio Gets Ridiculous

Organic Ornithopter Sensor Drone

Bees. The punchline to the title is bees carrying sensors like little baby bee backpacks. We would run out of fingers counting the robots which emulate naturally evolved creatures, but we believe there is a lot of merit to pirating natural designs, but researchers at the University of Washington cut out the middle-man and put their sensors right on living creatures. They measured how much a bee could lift, approximately 105 milligrams, then built a sensor array lighter than that. Naturally, batteries are holding back the design, and the rechargeable lithium-ion is more than half of the weight.

When you swap out brushless motors for organics, you gain and lose some things. You lose the real-time control, but you increase the runtime. You lose the noise, but you also lose the speed. You increase the range, but you probably wind up visiting the same field over and over. If your goal is to monitor the conditions of flowering crops, you may be ready to buy and install, but for the rest of us, dogs are great for carrying electronics. Oh yes. Cats are not so keen. Oh no.

via Radio Hacks – Hackaday https://ift.tt/2rMjRHl

Lucid Dreaming | I can’t for the life of me

Have lucid dreams anymore. Idk why. Unfortunately I have PTSD. I can’t seem to shake the scrambled nightmares and anxiety I feel in the morning.


My dreams are chopped up pictures of my past. I went thru the ringer in 05.


When I did have lucidity some where beautiful. Some where frightening and very surreal.



I can’t take things to obtain it anymore. I have to take medication for my psych illnesses. I hate my dreams. Their terrible fears that are loosed at night. My worst nightmares.

via Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views - Attaining Lucidity https://ift.tt/2BtZ4ga

A Rant about Political Correctness

by Derrick Krane

The following is all my opinion so I could be wrong about some things

Opening thoughts:

Here we are::

• Radical Islamic terrorists driving trucks or vans into crowds, or stabbing people. If you say anything negative about the religious-political system of Islam, you are a racist, bigot, xenophobe, and Islamaphobe.
• Christians being mocked and persecuted and Islam being venerated as a Religion of Peace. No, I am not a racist. If the Methodists, Lutherans, and Baptists start flying planes into skyscrapers, plowing trucks into crowds, and blowing shit up, then I will have a big problem with them. Right now, Radical Muslim terrorists are the focus. BTW, racism is inapplicable here, since Islam is a religious- political system which transcends race.
• Illegal aliens who murder American citizens. If you even use the term illegal alien, you are a racist, bigot, and xenophobe.
• Vegetarians telling me what I can eat. If you eat meat, chicken or fish, you are a murderer.
• Young men dressing like women. The other day, I saw a young man wearing a thigh length skirt, fishnet stockings, and a tank top. If you think this is strange or it makes you uncomfortable, or you would refuse to hire him, you are transphobic.
• Young women who try to look like men. If you think this is strange or it makes you uncomfortable, you are transphobic and are limited by gender roles.
• Feminists ignoring the oppression, rape and murder of women in Islamic nations because they are busy wearing vagina hats and marching and preoccupied with men who sit with their legs apart. We have testicles and it is more comfortable to sit that way.
• LGBT advocates ignoring the oppression and execution of gay men in accordance with Sharia law.
• Antifa thugs assaulting conservatives. If you are a conservative, you are a fascist and a Nazi.
• Black Lives Matter ignoring the violence among young Black men. Martin Luther King would be ashamed of you.
• Overpaid football players kneeling for the national anthem and not doing a thing to help inner city youth, or work with police departments to improve relations and dialogue.
• Progressives who want to turn the clock back 200 years and take more immigrants into an already overcrowded and socially burdened country. We don’t need immigrants anymore; we have no vacancies.
• Peace activists who want to cut the military to the bone and will yell in your face and threaten you if you disagree.
• An education system focused on social justice issues instead of science, math, classical literature, our history, and general life and career prep.
• Spoiled students who want safe spaces, instead of intellectual arenas where they can vigorously debate ideas and expand their knowledge and question their beliefs.
• A mental health system focused on social justice issues instead of healing the mentally ill, addicted, and emotionally overburdened.
• Hollywood pushing social justice issues instead of providing entertainment and a few hours escape from an often unpleasant reality.
• Celebrities who make idiot statements like I have thought an awful lot about blowing up the White House. Madonna, you used to be so sexy and you produced such great music. Now I can’t stand the sight of you or the sound of your voice.
• People who want to disarm me so I can’t defend myself and think only the police should have guns yet they hate the police. How confusing.
• Cops getting shot by scumbags who should not have been on the street.
• Inmates suing correctional facilities for trivial matters.
• White males being marginalized. No I am not in the KKK but neither am I ashamed to be White. I am proud of my white heritage. Strong Black men should be proud of theirs, and whatever race you are, if you have contributed something, own it and be proud of it, and who you are. Celebrate the best of your culture, while acknowledging and changing the worst aspects. The racial divide in this nation is yet another product of the Eight Years of Disaster aka the Obama Administration.
• Children being told they can choose their gender and becoming confused about whom they are.
• ISIS and their beheadings and slavery. They are all but defeated. Good riddance and fuck you all.
• Boko Haram and their kidnappings of young black girls (BLM, do you even know or care about this?) and murder of Christians.
• Hamas and their burning kites. Environmentalists, why aren’t you over their protesting about the fires burning down farmland?
• The Southern Poverty Law Center putting pretty much anyone who has a different world view from them on a Hate-group list, and their approximately 280 million dollars of assets and approximately 47 million dollar annual income. They don’t sound too impoverished to me.
• The free fall decline of Western Civilization

I am Deplorable

Hello everybody.

According to some people I should be executed. Specifically, I should be hung or beheaded.

According to some, by voting as I saw fit, I have committed an act of terrorism.

I am deplorable.

What makes me so heinous?

I am a white male.

I eat meat, and especially love bacon, though rotisserie chicken and beef brisket are also among my favorites.

I love women, particularly redheads.

I own guns.

I love red-haired women who own guns.

I believe in freedom of speech, and the right to bear arms, and our other cherished, time tested rights in the Constitution.

I am a republican.

I am a capitalist.

I voted for Donald Trump.

I am a patriotic American, who believes America and Americans should come first.

I recognize the achievements of Western Civilization.

I believe America should have the most powerful military in the world, that we should defend ourselves and our national interests, be loyal friends and partners to our allies, protector of weaker nations, and stay the hands of our enemies by filling their hearts with fear, hesitation and doubt.

I believe those who have served our nation deserve our respect and gratitude.

I believe that police officers, along with firefighters and EMS who work to keep the peace and save lives on our streets and cities and deserve our recognition, respect, and gratitude.

I don’t forget Corrections officers away from the public eye, inside facilities surrounded by convicted and often violent criminals, and Parole/Probation officers who manage offenders in the community, and ER doctors, nurses, and staff who clean up the damage done by criminals to their victims.

I believe in a Being that created all of Heaven and Earth and Time and Space and has authority over all.

These views make me a minority in my social justice infiltrated and contaminated professions of academia and behavioral health care. I find it very ironic and hypocritical that those on the far end of the political spectrum from me and those like me are so hateful, intolerant, violent, and cruel. They preach compassion and tolerance for all, yet are quick to launch into self-righteousness outrage over the slightest challenge to their beliefs. A dissenting opinion is reflexively shut down and silenced as hate speech, or met with threats, or silenced by the volume of a childish display of rage. Screaming at the sky has become an accepted behavior among the whack-jobs on the left.

If anyone on the left is reading this, I do not expect any of you to agree with my opinions, arguments, or point of view. Nor did you have to. Nor will I agree with most of yours, though I am willing to hear you and consider your point of view. My belief system is frequently examined and changing as I learn new things and integrates some, and discards others. This is called dialectical thinking, and it is an integral part of being a mature functioning adult.

You are free not only to disagree, but to mock and ridicule my beliefs, and I will certainly disagree with you, and mock and ridicule your more extreme points of view. This is called freedom of speech. This means:

• You are not free to suppress my point of view.

• You are not free to censor my speech or writing.
• You do not get to choose my words for me, though I may say things that offend someone’s delicate sensitivities
• You may not tell me how to express myself, though you may launch into moral outrage over my choice of words.
• And you are absolutely not ever, ever, justified to try and bring violence because we have differing points of view.

I do urge you to reconsider and question your assumptions and beliefs, and to entertain the possibility that you could be wrong. Ask yourself if you are behaving like a sheep or a lemming, if you have drank the Kool-Aid, and if the opinions you hold are truly your own, or if you have just abdicated your free will and allowed your head to be filled with whatever is popular and trendy? Which thoughts are yours vs. which thoughts have you allowed others to plant in your head?

My personal introduction to political correctness

I was an undergraduate sitting in a psychology course, and the discussion somehow turned to political correctness. I expressed the opinion that it was the worst idea ever conceived. A young lady in the class threw an air punch at me and said POW. Wait a minute: Isn’t part political correctness being respectful to other people? You want to do violence to me because I disagree with you. Isn’t that in itself politically incorrect? The contradictory hypocrisy was immediately evident among the PC crowd.

Human services and academia have been so infiltrated by the cancer of political correctness. I have heard much less about political correctness in BHC (Behavioral Health Care0. I never realize how much it affected BHC until my first time working in the field, as a monitor at a halfway house for the severely and chronically mentally ill. The place oozed of PC.

We were told never say that drives me crazy when frustrated, say that drives me to distraction. How idiotic. Stop trying to control thinking and behavior by controlling language. Stop trying to micromanage words. The patients in the house referred to themselves as crazy. I also found you are not supposed to use the word patient you are supposed to use the word consumer; I have said this to my peers and colleagues why don’t we just call them patients like the medical and dental professions, and all other types of health care? Well they are consumers soft psychiatric services one brainwashed social worker replied when I brought this up.

Why justify and buy into this insanity? This is a social fascism which wants to regulate free speech under the guide of showing respect and not giving offense. Political correctness is all consuming, like a virus or a cancer. It is a hungry monster that can never be filled up. The more you feed it the stronger it gets, it can never be satisfied.

The origins of Political Correctness

Where did this come from? PC is rooted in Marxism. To be politically correct in the Soviet Union was to follow the party line, or predominant doctrines of the government. It was about obedience, groupthink, marching in lockstep, and not questioning what you are told.

This is intended to prevent dissension, and maximize efficiency, and keep the ruling political party firmly entrenched in power. This type of thinking has infiltrated Western nations, first as a social trend, though of late, aspects of it are being codified into law.

The impact of political correctness

Twisted priorities

Early in my career, I worked with the severely and chronically mentally ill. We supervised about 8 to 12 people there with severe mentally illness such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and borderline personality disorder. They were frequently suicidal; some could not maintain even minimal personal hygiene. They were largely disabled and 24 hour. staffing was required. They are a vulnerable population very prone to criminal victimization.

A patient was being targeted and groomed by a convicted rapist. We were having a meeting to discuss the best way to deal with this situation. He was a sexual predator who saw her as an easy target. I referred to him as a scumbag. A supervisor barked at me, and told me that my words were offensive. I was told that I needed to learn to value all. I was written up about it, it was mentioned again in a review a few months later.

If you are an adult your emotions are your responsibility so if my words offend you I really don’t give a shit. Value all? I will not value a convicted rapist, a violent sexual predator that victimizes the weakest members of our society, and contributes nothing to society but only takes. The supervisor who was so outraged by my words was a woman. Shouldn’t she be outraged over this rapist and work to protect women?

I thought I was protecting this woman and sticking up for her. He was a predator and scavenger. That makes you a scumbag. This girl had no judgment, was desperate for affection and attention, naïve, weak, and helpless. I thought it was my job to keep her safe. But this supervisor was more worried about my use of the word scumbag rather than protecting someone weak.

Besides, she had the right to choose who she had a relationship with, and people change, even rapists, and he deserved another chance. Rapists need love too. This is a departure from reality. This supervisor needed the full contents of the med cabinet to bring her back to reality.

Libs defend criminals and indulge criminals. They excuse the most heinous behaviors, forget their victims, and make criminals into these poor victims of the criminal justice system, and are so outraged if they are held accountable for their actions. This is referred to as permission to proceed. When law enforcement and or society do not stop an offender early in their criminal career, they tend to continue and escalate their criminal behavior.

Many of the offenders I have spoken to who are older, a little wiser, and getting out of the criminal life have said I wish someone had stopped me when I was 15. I would have a very different life right now. I would have a good job and be a good father. They are filled with regret.

You cannot give offenders permission to proceed, both for their own good and for the protection of their victims. We have a severely fucked up legal system. Right is wrong, wrong is right. Too many Americans have lost their way, and their moral compass is spinning.

The Impact of Political Correctness: The Feminization of Men

American men are being turned into pussies. American men have become effeminized due to PC’ness and the extreme liberalism of America. Effeminized men are discouraged from acting like men. It is bad to refer to yourself as a man if you are an adult male. You are supposed to refer to yourself as a person. You are no longer supposed to say sex or gender. If you are not a transsexual you are referred to as cis-gendered.

Men are villianified. There is something wrong with traditional male values, and heterosexuality. I have heard terms like heteronormative- that to promote heterosexuality, love between a man and woman, and procreation of the species is inherently wrong and narrow minded.

To call someone homophobic because they find homosexual behavior revolting is to label them as hateful or fearful of homosexuals. This term prevents dissension and argument by making a broad sweeping generalization and assumption. I prefer to drive a Toyota. I would not consider owning another type of vehicle. That is my preference. That does not mean I hate or fear other cars.

Beta-boys and Girly men

Basically these are men who do not embrace stereotypical male characteristics of competition, dominance and strength, or projecting authority confidence and courage. They are weak mentally and physically, whiny, sniveling, and entitled. They don’t even dress or look like men.

They have no motivation, initiative or ambition; they wear pink and other pastel colors, and skinny jeans. The ideal traditional male values include finding humor in that which is crude and graphic, acting decisive, forceful, assertive, confrontational, competitive, insistent, and strong, but protective of the weak, and compassionate toward all.

Toxic masculinity

When the left talks about toxic masculinity, they are referring to the very worst male behaviors. There is another word for this. It is called immaturity, which by definition typically fades over time, or at it’s very worst, sociopathy, which only gets worse. These bad behaviors are found in both genders and all races.

Some people hurt others, in whatever way they can, with a casual indifference, or sadistic pleasure. Most people grow up, grow out of these behaviors, learn to treat people better, and feel a good amount of shame and remorse when they recall their past behaviors. What about toxic femininity? There is such a thing. In my town I saw an ad for a discussion on toxic whiteness. Imagine the outrage if there had been a discussion on toxic blackness. Bad behavior is human and transcends race and gender.

Male privilege

Male privilege is another catchphrase. I am all for it. Where do I go to get mine? How do I sign up for this? I am not trying to be the victim or feel sorry for myself but I do not feel too privileged. Life is hard; life is a struggle at times. It is not easy making an honest living. I am in debt with student loans, and I have to work very hard every day to maintain my life; there are so many obstacles and barriers to success.

I am heavily taxed for being self-employed; I don’t have health insurance because I can’t justify $800 a month off the ObamaCare disaster Health Exchange. I work with the unwanted of society (addicts and criminals) and get very little thanks for it, and don’t get paid enough for it. I am much more predisposed to heart disease than women, and have a shorter lifespan, and there is fucking hair growing everywhere on me except my head. So if there is a place where I can get my Male Privilege, some government office where I need to fill out some forms, please tell me.

Male privilege is a real thing, but not the way the hand wringing whiners on the left say. It is a privilege to be a man, and I am proud to be a man. There is also Female privilege. If you are a man or a woman, embrace it and all of the advantages it entails. Delight in who you are.

If you feel confused about who you are there is psychotherapy (find a good psychotherapist who listens, not a social justice warrior with an agenda to push) and medication that can be used before things are taken to an extreme. The epidemic proportions of transgenderism is a psychosocial trend which many youth, trying to find their identity, are embracing. It is sick. Gender re-assignment surgery aka mutilation is also irreversible. Choose carefully.

There are two genders’ men and women. Those who have gender dysphoric disorder suffer terribly. To look in the mirror and not recognize the most fundamental aspect of one’s identity must be torturous. The answer is not to dress in the clothing of the opposite sex. The answer is not to have yourself surgically mutilated. The answer is psychotherapy, medication, and working on acceptance of oneself.

One last point on masculinity and the diminishment thereof:

Here is a little thing which drives me crazy. Creamy aftershaves. It rubs the lotion all over; it does this when it’s told. Oh no, it stings and burns my sensitive face. I want something creamy that will soothe and moisturize my face.

Don’t be a pussy. Try traditional Men’s aftershaves, loaded with alcohol which will sting when you slap it on. Good classic aftershaves are Brut, Old Spice, or Aqua Velva Or try Midnight Stag by Chiseled face aftershave, which is a newcomer to the market. How can you not get behind an aftershave with a name like that?

It is disgusting what men have become, and it is not over yet. Men, act like men. Eat bacon and a steak, wrap the steak in bacon and serve it with ketchup. Drink black coffee. Go to the gym, and do bench presses, squats, and deadlifts. Go to a range and fire a gun. Use alcohol –based aftershaves. We have become pussified and weakened. Let’s put a stop to the weakening of American men.

The impact of political correctness: Personal responsibility vs victimhood

I was taking a Social Problems course, a survey course of various problems in the US, including drugs, crime, poverty, domestic violence and child abuse. Various theories as to the root of social problems were explored, such as labeling theory, learning theory, sociocultural theory, differential association theory, and positivism theory.

The Common denominator in all of these theories was that every human behavior was attributed to some external cause, which reduced or negated personal responsibility. I asked the professor is anything anyone’s fault anymore, he answered, yeah, that is Classical theory; we were not really get into that.

Why not? Because is it a counterpoint to all of the social Marxism poison that student’s minds are being injected with? I found this thinking to become very prominent in academia: because we understand the cause of a behavior, it excuses the behavior. we understand the behavior, so it absolves responsibility.

Years later I am teaching college students. I teach classical theory to my students along with the other theories that I don’t even agree with, so they can choose.

The premises of classical theory are, according to Cesare Beccaria, author of On Crimes and Punishments (1763) stated:

1) People have free will to choose how to act, including choices that are harmful to oneself or others.

2) Deterrence is based upon the human being as a hedonist who seeks pleasure and avoids pain, and a rational calculator weighing up the costs/benefits of the consequences of each action. Is the juice worth the squeeze?

3) Punishment can deter people from crime, as the costs outweigh benefits.

4) The more swift and certain the punishment, the more effective it is in deterring criminal behavior.

5) Therefore, one chooses criminal and other bad behavior

In a rational human being, our intellect operates over our emotions. We are ultimately responsible for our behavior. We make choices. When we make bad choices; we have to assume the consequences. This theory emphasizes the role of free will, and the power inherent within the act of free will.

We are constantly weighing our options, we are asking ourselves is the juice worth the squeeze? Will there be a reward or consequences I don’t want to deal with. This is how we go about our decision making process.

Many factors influence our behavior but we still have free will, including genetics and environment, and socio-cultural factors influence out behavior. There is a big leap from understand a behavior to excusing the behavior.

There is a predominant lack of responsibility among too many Americans. We have become such a wonderfully tolerant society. Our tolerance has been broadly expanded and is sadly misguided. The consequence is a no-fault society. We tolerate terrorists and pedophiles. I find it so ironic that so many people on the left are so tolerant, but are so intolerant of white straight male republicans.

It seem like there is an assumed right to not be offended? You can sue someone if they hurt your feelings. Where do I sign up for this? I am going to crank up my sensitivity level to maximize my profits. I am offended 20 times a day.

I was having a discussion with a colleague in the break room. Someone walking by in the hallway thought I was speaking “too graphically”. They reported me to the head of the Gestapo; excuse me, the corporate compliance officer. I get them and the Gestapo mixed up so often. They went to the Thought Police, oops, I mean HR, who went to my supervisor. I was called in for a corrective interview. I am surprised they didn’t send me to room 101. (Read Orwell’s 1984 for clarification).

Another place where victimhood is manifested and embraces is the workplace. Too many workplaces are full of people who have no loyalty to their coworkers. They betray and backstab over slights, consulting a third party, e.g., management or HR over the most minor conflicts. Those in charge indulge their whining.

This promotes an atmosphere of paranoia, lack of trust, poor morale, lowered productivity, and high turnover. People do not learn how to communicate compromise, negotiate, or resolve interpersonal conflict. These are all basic business and life skills. Crying to a supervisor is a behavior that should have been discarded by third grade.

The Impact of Political Correctness: Cultural & Moral Relativism

This is the idea that all cultures are of equal value. The hypocrisy and contradictions of the left are at work again. Part of culture is the historical time period. If all cultures are of equal value, why do leftists have such a big problem with American history?

Are there things we could be doing better in the US? Yes, absolutely. Don’t struggle to re-invent the wheel. If someone, somewhere in the world is already doing something that works well, let’s learn from it, and adapt it. For example, we should be consulting more with our Israeli friends on matters of counter terrorism and school security.

Moral relativism goes hand in hand with cultural relativism. Anything goes. Anything goes thinking and action is dangerous. Limits and boundaries are good things. They keep you from falling off the edge of the cliff. I will not value cultural practices such as honor killings.

Conclusion: Political Correctness is the greatest Threat to Western Civilization

The greatest threat to western civilization is not ISIS, al-Qaeda, fascists, communists, or illegal aliens, or interstellar aliens, killer cyborgs or psychotic clones. It is out of control political correctness.

Hypersensitivity leading to suppression of free speech

The capital of the state of Vermont is called Montpelier. People around New England refer to the city as Mt. Peculiar. It is meant to reflect some of the quirkiness of the city. Quirky is the word to describe it, it is intended as a compliment. Even the local liberal newspaper calls it Mt. Peculiar. I had someone come up to me and say that you shouldn’t say that, someone from Montpelier might be offended. Give me a break. Are you serious? I think it time to dial down the sensitivity levels a little bit if you find that offensive.

Is there anything you can say these days that does not offend someone? I am meta-offended; I am offended by those who are offended. Social fascism is here. Anything you say can get you in trouble. Some group or some individual will find it offensive. You will be accused of inflicting of a microaggression in someone. Where do people come up with this shit?

I think this another clear example how liberal politically thought is a mental illness. It just progresses and spreads out. Political correctness is s cancer, a virus, a poison. It removes all joy from life, renders us all emotionally sterile, where we will focus on one thing only, not offending anyone. When I am offended, I do not get paid in compensation, I often do not get an apology for it or do I expect any. Suck it up and deal with it.

But the precious little snowflakes as they have come to be called, have to take offense at the most minor petty, trivial words, and with their greatly inflated sense of sensitivity have to blow things very much out of proportion. They become outraged, dramatic and hysterical. This is not healthy on multiple levels. It is stifling and weakens people. Why would you want to do things that make you weaker like being protected from all offense? That is insane.

Erosion of out cherished traditions

I had a supervisor who epitomized political correctness. We had to call Thanksgiving Fall Harvest day so we don’t offend someone’s delicate sensitivity. We received an email telling us not to say Merry Christmas as it might offend someone who doesn’t celebrate Christmas.

This type of nonsense reached levels of insanity. This is thought control and brainwashing. PC speech makes heinous things presentable to public consumption. It takes very ugly things and makes them acceptable. It takes the mundane and trivial and makes it offensive, and re-writes the past. Thought, then behavior, anything can be made normal with sufficient exposure. Those on the right want to be righteous, but they have no idea they have no limits or boundaries.

National suicide

The first time I recall being exposed to someone who made hateful statements about our nation was about 1994. The US was victorious in Desert Storm, aka the first gulf war. Saddam Hussein had been spared, and was again threatening the US. I was discussing this with a colleague who said with awe, you gotta admire him, he just keeps comin back. I hope he kicks our asses.

I was stunned. You admire Saddam Hussein because he survived a war with his neighbor Iran, then the US led invasion when he grabbed Kuwait. He keeps coming back so you admire him. That is like admiring cancer that keeps coming back. You hope he kicks our asses.

You want to see Americans killed, and our military defeated. I don’t understand. Why do too many Americans hate America? Our government has its problems. Our history is bloody and violent. We are flawed and imperfect human beings

But the solution is to hate your nation, and wish victory to our enemies and death and defeat to our military? The solution to our bloodied past is to take down statues of slave owners or confederate generals? To refuse to stand for our national anthem? To stomp on the American flag?

There are injustices in our country, I don’t deny that. Can you show me a nation where there are not? It is a matter of degree. On the extreme end, you have Iran and North Korea. The US is on the opposite far end. We are not perfect, but we have a system of checks and balance which keeps the injustice to a minimum compared to other parts of the world.

Final Thoughts

I draw the conclusions I have based on current world and national events, trends, and patterns. I am saddened and afraid for the future of our nation. The nature of change is that it is often a gradual process; especially change which takes hold and endures. But the changes resulting from PC are toxic, are moving too fast, and have too much momentum.

Where will this end? If trends continue unchecked, it will lead to a sterile, joyless, rigid, totalitarian state where people are disarmed, freedom of speech and expression is heavily regulated, our traditions are gone, and worship is not allowed except to pay homage to the state. It will be the end of America as we know it and the end of Western civilization as we have known it.

As I review the prior sentences, I reflect on how at one time I would have thought these words the rantings of a paranoid, cynical individual who had lost perspective. But perspective changes with life experience and exposure to new ideas.

Fight back against the poison of political correctness wherever and however you can. Do not be silent.

via Modern Survival Online https://ift.tt/2LsVJCq