Esquire's Shotgun

Well, this was something I never expected. A major mainstream men's magazine came out and said you need to own a home defense weapon.

Of course, it was couched in a "60 Things Worth Shortening Your Life For" article, but I say it still counts as progress.

You can read the full 60 things by clicking here. But I'm particularly interested in #43...

"#43. A Home Firearm.

My entire life is a series of hedged bets. As the fifty-four-year-old dad of a seven-year-old, I take no uncalculated risks. I don't let the gas-gauge needle fall below the quarter-tank mark. I set the ADT alarm every night. You could not pay me to travel outside the northern half of the Western Hemisphere. Everywhere lurks doom; I acknowledge its inevitability by avoiding all danger at every turn. When I can, I avoid turns.

I spent a long time living dangerously. I was the guy they sent into the pharmacy with the forged quaalude prescription. The guy who sold weed by the pound to the outlaw bikers. The guy who ate ham-and-cheese sandwiches on Yom Kippur. Now I'm the guy who insists that his wife clean the dryer vent twice a year so the lint doesn't catch fire.

Still, a few feet from where I now sit typing on the third floor of our home in a Garden State suburb of leafy calm sits my shotgun. The safety's on, but it is loaded. I don't hunt. And though my penis would win no bar bets, the shotgun doesn't make me feel larger. It is what it is: the most fearsome, effective, legal home-protection device around. Is it a danger to me and mine as well? Many studies say so, but I haven't seen a study yet that helps me get to sleep at night.

Call me crazy. Call me an ugly American. But don't expect me to call 911 if you break into my house -- not till I've blown your head and neck clean off your shoulders.

-- Scott Raab"

Short, to the point, and 100 percent true. Kudos to Esquire.

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25 years... no murders

Did you hear all the stories coming out about a small town in Georgia since 1982? About all the crazy loons running around in Kennesaw killing each other? About the gunfights every night as the town burned so brightly you could see the flames over in Texas? No?

That's because Kennesaw Georgia is one of the safest towns in the United States.

Not a single resident has been involved in a fatal shooting in 25 years. That's as a victim or as an attacker. 28,189 people live in that town. 28,189 people and not one murder. Not. One.

So how do they do it? Better schools? Prison reform? Superior healthcare?

I think it has something to do with the fact that in 1982 Kennesaw mandated all of their citizens own a firearm.

No, really. Think about it.

Greatly simplifying the matter and assuming there are four people living per house, that's still at least 7,047 firearms in that one town alone. All those guns and not one shooting? All those firearms and not one person killed in 25 years?

So much for "guns kill people". About 7,047 of them have been completely silent for 25 years.

What really bothers me is that all the gun "activists" and people who want to ban guns have the same narrow minded view. They all assume people are as ignorant and hot-headed as they are about firearms. A column by Art Buchwald claimed the city "would (become) a place where routine arguments... would be settled by shootouts." Hey Art, maybe thats how YOU would like to settle an argument, but I bet you would re-think that idea pretty quick if you knew the person you were screaming at had a firearm as well.

And that's another point all those anti-gun people miss. If everyone has a firearm, everyone is going to think twice... about everything. Is it really important? Do I really want to rob this guy if he has a pistol to defend himself with? Do I really want to throw a punch at someone who I just had a car accident with? Do I really need to escalate matters all the time? You think about these things when you carry a firearm. You do keep civil. You do think things through. Détente. You don't pull a firearm out and wave it around or menace people with it. That's a fast way to (a) wind up in prison for life and/or (b) get shot and killed yourself.

I found this article buried online and thought it deserved one more mention. Did you hear about this town on CNN? MSNBC? Or even FOX? I didn't. And you probably won't hear of it from either party in the coming elections either.

You can read the full article (and see where I stole the quotes above) by clicking here.

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Disassemble a Glock (basic)

This photo blog entry goes over how to disassemble a Glock for maintenance and cleaning. This information also generally applies to most modern handguns on the market today. (IE: Springfield Armory, Smith and Wesson, H&K, etc). Click any of the photos to enlarge them.

The first step in disassembling a Glock is to make CERTAIN it is unloaded.

Then, as always, the dead horse gets a say...

#1 ALL FIREARMS ARE ALWAYS LOADED

# 2 NEVER POINT THE MUZZLE AT ANYTHING YOU ARE NOT PREPARED TO DESTROY

# 3 KEEP YOUR FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER UNTIL YOUR SIGHTS ARE ON THE TARGET

# 4 - BE SURE OF YOUR TARGET

Once you are CERTAIN the Glock is NOT loaded, proceed by gripping the Glock in a very particular way. Using your strong hand, grip the Glock as the photo below illustrates...


... thumb arcing around and all four fingers overlapping the top of the slide.

Now place the thumb of your weak hand over the Disassembly Lever. In the next photo, we will move it downward while moving the slide back slightly.


The photo above shows the direction the Disassembly Lever needs to move for the next step. It might help if you use your index finger on the other side in a pincher motion to get the Disassembly Lever to move downward.

This next photo looks more complicated than it actually is. While sliding the Disassembly Lever down with the thumb of your weak hand (and your index finger on the other side in a pincher motion), move the slide backward slightly with your fingers of your strong hand, using your thumb of your strong hand to steady the Glock.


You don't want to move the slide all the way back. Just maybe 1/4 an inch. You will feel when it is ready to take apart.

Now press the trigger. This will disengage the slide and you can begin to move it forward.


The slide will come completely off the top of the Glock! You have just successfully completed a major portion of the disassembly of a Glock.


The next photo is a top view of the frame of the Glock on the right and the slide turned upside down on the left (the muzzle is facing down).


In future blog entries I will discuss how to disassemble the Glock a little further for cleaning and maintenance.

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What Are Grip Extenders?

Grip extenders are lifesavers for those full to mid-sized firearms that just do not fit perfectly in some people's hands. The following photos show a Glock before and after grip extenders are installed. Click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

This is the same Glock 19 that has been used so far throughout the blog.


In some of the photos, you may have noticed my pinkie finger was a little low on the firearm. This is because I was using a grip that felt natural to me on the Glock, and as a result, sometimes one of my fingers was hanging over the grip at the bottom. Its a strange feeling and doesn't feel "right".

There's nothing wrong with the Glock. But to get my pinkie finger up to where it feels comfortable, I need to tighten up my fingers a little on the grip like in the next photo.


That "squished" grip isn't too comfortable for the rest of my fingers. Catch-22.

So what can be done? I changed the bottom plate of the Glock's magazine to a grip extender. A grip extender is either an addition to your magazine that adds some room at the bottom, or a complete overhaul of the magazine that adds one or two more rounds of ammunition capacity.


I went with the Pearce Grip Extender on this Glock. It is just a addition piece and did not add any more rounds of ammunition to the magazine.

As you can see in the next photo, the grip extender adds a little length to the bottom of the firearm and fits the magazine inside the Glock the same as the original magazine floorplate did.


With a grip extender in place, my fingers fit better on the firearm and are not crowded together at the top. Much better!

Grip extenders are not made for every firearm, and you do need to order a model specifically made for your particular firearm. And getting a grip extender on a brand new magazine from a Glock will be a real test of your patience. But if your hand is cramped, five seconds holding the same firearm with a grip extender installed will be all the sales pitch you need.

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Loading a Glock when the slide is closed

This blog entry discusses how to load a Glock firearm with a magazine when the slide is closed. This information can also apply to most handguns for sale on the market today (IE: Springfield Armory, Smith and Wesson, H&K, etc). Click on any of the photos below to enlarge them.

Loading a Glock firearm when the slide is closed is even easier than loading when the slide is open. First, take the magazine with ammunition and align it at the bottom of the firearm. Then press the magazine upward into the Glock.


Press upward on the magazine until it "clicks" into place. You do not need to slam or force the magazine into place. Just press up until you hear the "click".

Now grab the rear of the slide and pull it directly back away from the muzzle of the firearm in one strong motion. If you are new to firearms, don't be afraid to exert some force to get the slide to move on the Glock.


Once the slide has moved as far to the back as it can, let go of the slide. At this point, when the slide moves forward, a round of ammunition will be loaded from the magazine into the chamber. The Glock is now ready to fire.

You can see the light reflect off a round of ammunition that has been loaded into the firearm in the next photo.


As always, here comes the dead horse...

DO NOT FORGET THE FOUR RULES!

#1 ALL FIREARMS ARE ALWAYS LOADED

# 2 NEVER POINT THE MUZZLE AT ANYTHING YOU ARE NOT PREPARED TO DESTROY

# 3 KEEP YOUR FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER UNTIL YOUR SIGHTS ARE ON THE TARGET

# 4 - BE SURE OF YOUR TARGET

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Loading a Glock when the slide is open

This blog entry discusses how to load a Glock firearm with a loaded magazine when the slide has been locked open. This information can also apply to most handguns for sale on the market today (IE: Springfield Armory, Smith and Wesson, H&K, etc). Click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Loading a Glock firearm when the slide is open is a fairly straightforward task. First, take the magazine with ammunition and align it at the bottom of the firearm (NOTE: In the photo below, the magazine has been turned to face the camera for illustrative purposes only)


Now, press the magazine into the Glock firearm using a smooth upward motion. Press upward on the magazine until it "clicks" into place. You do not need to slam or force the magazine into place. Just press up until you hear the "click" of the magazine locking into place.


After the magazine has been inserted, you can see the first round of ammunition in the magzazine from the top of the firearm through the open slide. Releasing the slide will force the first round of ammunition into the chamber of the firearm.


The easiest way to release the slide is to press downward on the SLIDE STOP LEVER. This will require some strength for some models of firearms as the slide is locked open and is resting on the SLIDE STOP LEVER.

In the photo below, I am pressing downward with my right thumb. You can also use your opposing hand's thumb to assist.


Another way to release the slide is to use both hands. This is easier to do for those people with insufficient hand strength to release the SLIDE STOP LEVER for a particular firearm.

To start, use your weaker hand to pull the slide back slightly. Then, with your strong hand's thumb, press the SLIDE STOP LEVER down. Then let go of the slide with your weaker hand. The slide should move forward, loading the first round of ammunition into the firearm.


After releasing the slide, the firearm will be loaded. If you look closely in the photo below, you can see the initial round of ammunition in place.


The firearm is now loaded and ready to use. And let me pull out the dead horse once more and say...

DO NOT FORGET THE FOUR RULES!


#1 ALL FIREARMS ARE ALWAYS LOADED

# 2 NEVER POINT THE MUZZLE AT ANYTHING YOU ARE NOT PREPARED TO DESTROY

# 3 KEEP YOUR FINGER OFF THE TRIGGER UNTIL YOUR SIGHTS ARE ON THE TARGET

# 4 - BE SURE OF YOUR TARGET

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