Tonight I was watching the news and heard about a terrorist attack in Spain where a truck was driven into a large crowd of people. There was a video of the aftermath, and even with the blurred faces and hidden injuries that the media didn’t want to show, one very obvious thing immediately jumped out at me: There were so many bystanders, well, just standing around.
Twenty years ago today and roughly 3000 miles away from where I’m currently attending college, two masked men walked into a bank and start one of the most influential events in police weapons and tactics since the 1986 FBI Miami Shootout. In all honesty, I didn’t even realize the anniversary until I saw Breach-Bang-Clear’s article on it. For the major changes it started, it amazes me that the event isn’t more widely talked about.
I’ve seen some friends posting links on Facebook petitioning to make their college campus a “Sanctuary Campus,” similar to the sanctuary cities around the country. At first I scrolled past and ignored them. I know far too many people that are constantly posting about all the protests they are taking part in, and figured this was just one of those brief movements that happen at liberal arts schools.
Then I saw one for my school…
Today is October 28th, 2016. One year ago today I was sitting in a hotel room in downtown Washington, D.C. preparing for a two month internship with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, when I posted my conclusions to “The Great Lube Test of 2015,” also known as #Lubegate2015. The results of the testing I performed on 18 different samples were released in groups of like products, and the FireClean vs. Canola Oil data was by far the most popular. Little did I realize that a few months later, it would cause some serious problems for me.
A few days ago I got an email from a reader regarding an article I wrote back in February. If you remember my FrogLube and Seal 1 article, I was contacted by an industry insider who gave me a brief history of Seal 1, TrackLube, and FrogLube. Well, it turns out that not only do people actually read my blog, but at least one of my readers has some history with these lubricants and Scott Lee.
As was posted and shared by many blogs yesterday (including the Granite State Guns Facebook page), Judge Cacheris ruled that the case of FireClean LLC v. Tuohy and Baker is dismissed on jurisdictional grounds.
So yeah, that’s pretty much it, it’s over…
The media is reporting the event as “the deadliest mass shooting in US history.” Other headlines are some form of “Shooter targets LGBT nightclub.” And already calls are coming to push for new gun laws, because “people shouldn’t have dangerous guns.”
The shooting in a Florida nightclub was certainly tragic, and we need to do something to prevent future violence. But I think many people are missing something here. Current reports indicate that the shooter called 911 and told the dispatcher that he had pledged allegiance to ISIS. At least one witness stated that the shooter shouted “allahu akbar” during his rampage. We hear about how this shooting is the worst mass shooting ever, but not about how it’s the worst terrorist attack on US soil since September 11th. Or the third worst terrorist attack to ever occur on US soil, behind September 11th and the Oklahoma City bombings.
I’ve been meaning to share some updates with my readers for a while now, but between finishing college finals, getting a summer job, and a lot of other stuff, I kept putting it off. Hopefully this post can answer some questions for people and prove that I haven’t quit posting.
A few years back I bought some old steel flechettes from a military surplus store because they looked cool, and I could use them in a presentation for a history class I was taking at the time (but mostly because they were cool). Recently, I got the idea to send some to the Youtube channel Taofledermaus to load and shoot out of a 12 gauge shotgun. If you haven’t seen his channel before he shoots all sorts of odd things out of a shotgun, including a lot of projectiles that are custom machined by some of his viewers. Many of them aren’t aerodynamic enough to stabilize at supersonic or near-supersonic speeds, and end up tumbling, resulting in poor accuracy and key-holing on impact. But the flechettes I have were made to be projectiles, so maybe they’d do better.
Over the past few years I’ve noticed a trend in the shooting and concealed carry industry to promote first aid gear as part of your EDC gear. Unfortunately, some of the people promoting this idea are missing some key ideas or in some cases promoting an entirely wrong set of ideas. While I’ve read up on a lot of this information over the years, it was not until I earned my national EMT certification last June that I fully understood some of these errors, and why it is so important to correct them in the shooting community.