If You Carry a Firearm…

On February 14, 2015, my son and I took the PDH1, Personal Defense Handgun level 1 class at the REACT training facility near Bend, OR. I am submitting this brief review.

This basic class is packed with very high level instruction that advances the student beyond what most basic, entry level classes will. Please don’t miss what you just read. The class starts you with advanced level habits (which of course depend on your personal practice after taking the class).

The class is 8 hours, come well rested and ready to learn. The instructor was very student friendly, welcoming all questions, and very able to segue back to his topic. The experience was positive, personal, and professionally conducted. The class is SAFE and promotes the very best in firearms handling with safety habits practiced always.

Three primary areas are covered thoroughly. First is Oregon law regarding firearms, an actual read through of statutory law. Time wise, this is the longest portion of the class which is good. Firearms ownership and bearing of arms is a most serious responsibility of citizenship.

Second, interlaced with the classroom instruction, and a welcome opportunity to stretch, was practical instruction on holstering, elements of the draw, and specific handling necessary to safety and self defense.

Third, came the live fire training, expending about 50 rounds from your firearm, and learning range rules and safety protocols around other students. Individual instruction was paramount here, with much time spent answering questions and addressing introductory matters appropriate to an introductory class.

Fourth, and very unusual in an entry level class, was the simulation training. This I believe to be unusual in a basic class, and is a real bonus. The simulation tested in as real an environment as possible the things learned throughout the day. A debriefing after the session was most interesting. It was fun, humbling, and revealing for each individual. Airsoft weapons were used, along with appropriate safety gear, giving the simulation a very real feel.

I highly recommend you get training such as this if you plan to carry your gun. I doubt you’ll find a better instruction experience anywhere. REACT has additional training available with multiple weapon choices and expert instructors. I cannot recommend them any higher.

Whether you are in law enforcement, or a citizen carrying a gun for personal protection, nothing is more important than knowing the law, and knowing the fight involving the weapon system of your choice. The responsibilities are enormous and life changing. So, please, get training from professionals, not from TV! Proper handling, storage, safe use are all well developed in their sophistication. There are many things to learn. Please take advantage of the many fine opportunities available!

I must close with an important caveat. I do not believe in compulsory, government enforced training. I believe in freedom, and the responsibilities it demands. Perhaps the best way to lose freedom, is to be ignorant of the freedom we love.

Take a look at reacttraining.com

“Aim small, Miss small.”

PROTECTING THE SECOND AMENDMENT

I want to protect and defend the entire constitution of the United States of America. I pledge to do so. In particular, though, the 2nd Amendment stands out to me as preeminent. It demands responsibility of all who enjoy it. It condemns those who abuse it.

Throughout history, tyrants have first sought to separate their subjects from this right to self defense for obvious reasons. After all, it is difficult to abuse those who can and will fight back. That is what makes the USA so very unique, indeed, exceptional in world history. Our founding principle was to protect citizens, so that we would never become subjects.

Yet, in the state of Oregon, history has brought us to a culmination of hatred for the freedoms and obligations that I’m addressing. In the following link, let the reader peruse Democrat proposals in our new legislative session. I’ll place the link at the bottom of my remarks, in order that my reader might actually finish reading my thoughts here.

My criticism of these several bills may be generally summed up in that they have one common theme, that is not mentioned. Everyone of them has an underlying strategy. That is to reveal to the government exactly who owns what weapon. The real goal of each bill is to discreetly encase in law the registration of firearms. Grandpa’s old gun, sitting quietly in some safe now, will be insured…and that process alone will suffice to register it with the government. And registration, history teaches us, leads to confiscation. It is already happening in CA, NY and CT. These schemes, if passed, are going to paralyze the exercise of freedom, of the 2nd Amendment in Oregon. Full of toxic, paralyzing, infringing, entangling rules and regulations, they will have their intended effect: the ban on the free exercise of the right to self defense. Yes, every tyrant’s wet dream.

Do you doubt me? I would urge you to research the regulations already in effect in many other states. CA, NJ, NY IL, and on and on. In other words, the enemies of freedom know they can’t get an outright ban or repeal of the 2nd Amendment. But with the funding of billionaires like Paul Allen, Bill Gates, and Michael Bloomberg to name a few, they know that states where citizens are lulled into a false sense of security, will be ensnared by these laws before even knowing of their passage.

The 2nd Amendment stands out among our God given freedoms. The 2nd Amendment is there to protect the other enumerated rights in the constitution. The 2nd Amendment is the only one that demands, “…shall not be infringed.” This is a categorical imperative ruling out feckless encroachments upon the right to keep and to bear arms by individual citizens.

So wake up, my fellow Oregonians! Wake up, before it is too late. The crime rates have gone down in the last 20 years or so, even though gun ownership has risen dramatically. We don’t need these draconian, freedom killing, unconstitutional laws. We need responsible citizens, and we need responsible politicians too. Let’s do this!