Opening Round

October 26, 2007

This is the first day of my CHL blog.

As the many students that have graduated from my class will attest, I am very strong in my beliefs about what is right and what is wrong with today's marketing of handguns to the general public. It is more attuned to the opinion of the salesman and the efficacy of marketing by the manufacturers. Too many times, I have had students show up for class with a handgun completely inappropriate to their imagines purpose. It was the biggest, baddest one in the display case or simply the "gun du jour" at the store.

I can thank the media for all their hype and overplaying of not-so-common oocurances regarding the "armed citizen". It is one thing to be prepared. It is wholly another to be paranoid. When I teach a class, I teach as a private citizen, not some para-military, SWAT guru. I am a private citizen. I have carried a pistol for thirty years. I have not yet had to draw it in self-defense. I don't need to know how to accomplish a tactical sweep of a house or store. My training and instinct says run like hell and call 911. I don't wear BDUs or tactical black to teach a class. I wear shorts and a Hawaiian shirt. After all, isn't that how I would normally dress?

Through these pages, I will offer opinion, advice, and criticism. There are certain guns I like and others I don't think are right for the average person, man or woman. I will discuss many of those here and will get particular on brands and models. I will not slam any brand, except the "Saturday Night Specials".

A gun is a tool you hope never to have to use, but you need to know how it works...thoroughly. They are my opinions, and those of no one else.