How prepared is enough?

In the online gun community, preparedness for every situation is well-discussed. People of course advocate carrying a gun, but many also advocate carrying spare ammo for the gun, a backup gun, and sometimes spare ammo for the backup. A high-quality assisted opening knife is also a must, plus several classes at elite gun training schools. All this is used to fight your way to your trunk or armored saferoom, where you keep a bug-out-bag that has a combat rifle with at least 15 fully loaded 30 round magazines, and supplies to live for several days. If you take this sort of thing that seriously, you have not only crossed from prepared to paranoid, you are now spending your time preparing for disaster instead of living. If you are not law enforcement and there is any significant chance that you will need more than 15 rounds of ammo, you probably need to make some changes to your lifestyle. I'm not saying that everyone who trains hard is paranoid. If shooting is a hobby and training is part of that, it is no more paranoid than a race car driving school. So what is enough? A basic gun safety course, preferably with live fire--The NRA course that most Ohio CCW trainers use is a good start, although with 10 hours of classroom time, some extra should be covered. 2 hours range time is decent, if it isn't split with one instructor and 15 students. You should have some training or practice in fast "close enough" shooting--have someone else signal when to start, and shoot 5 fast shots at a paper plate (or even better an IPSC target) at about 7 yards. If you miss the plate (or A zone) often, you are going too fast. If your shots are all centered in the plate, you are going too slow. Working with a shot timer is an added bonus--Time does funny things, and what feels like half speed may drastically improve accuracy with a minor increase in time. "You can't miss fast enough to win". If you will carry, it makes sense to do some practice from the holster--This is hard to do with live ammo, because most ranges won't allow it. I really can't argue with that rule, there are lots of people who shouldn't draw and fire unsupervised. I'm lucky that my club range allows "known action shooters" to shoot from the holster. You can also get some benefit from practicing with an empty gun, or even better an airsoft or BB gun. If you get a chance to shoot IPSC, IDPA or even Cowboy Action shooting, you will learn a lot in a few matches. These are sports designed aroudn scenerios--you will draw, fire and move around on the clock, and your score is based on time, with time added for poor accuracy. Much beyond that should be considered only if it is fun--If it isn't enjoyable, you should look at other ways to improve your safety. For strict time and cost-effectiveness, I should get a car with airbags before I spend money on self-defense stuff--I've been in far more car accidents than violent assaults.

E-Voting

I don't know how much mainstream press the problems in touchscreen voting has got, but it is an amazingly scary situation.

This is just the top result from Google "Ohio Voting" on Google News.

An article from Wired: Magnet and PDA can change votes

It may seem odd to non-geeks, but the most secure cryptographic systems are the ones where the program source code is public--This lets experts verify that the code works as stated, and that there are not back doors. The code is public, but without the proper keys, the data is still secure. This is a bit like being able to examine the design of a lock to make sure that only your key or combination will open it, and there isn't a passkey or default combination.

Many (possibly most, or all) of the voting machine companies resisted having a human readable paper ballots as part of the system--Coincidentally the only way to verify that their machines are working properly. The problem here is not (primarily) random error, but either biased error or more importantly intentionally introduced error. In the Wired article they found that a person with a PDA and a magnet could make significant changes to iVotronic systems, even if they didn't know the passwords. In addition, there is an undocumented account that bypasses security--Essentially a master key, not unique to a particular machine, but common to all of them that lets an unauthorized user take complete control of the machine. iVotronic is not the only system with poor security--All the top systems have significant, exploitable flaws.

Premier Election Systems used to be a part of Diebold, who also makes Automatic Teller Machines. Odd that they have figured out security there (which includes a mechanically-printed audit tape...)

Various quotes from the voting machine companies say things that basically amount to "not fair, we fixed that in the next version". I reluctantly believe that this is incompetence and laziness rather than deliberate action. It doesn't matter though--Incompetence exploited by others is just as dangerous, and the amount of paranoia that is reasonable in this situation is nearly infinite.

The bare minimum standard is that there is a voter-verified paper ballot printed and saved. Machines should be randomly spot-checked, to make sure that the paper ballots match what is being reported. Any company that resists that should be immediately disqualified from building voting machines. Encryption, security and all software specific to the voting machine should have the source code available for examination--Ideally, all code would have source available.

More zero-tolerance

Student Arrested After Cutting Food With Knife. The horror!

It should probably be against school rules for students to bring steak knives in, even if they are just for food. Pressing charges on this is utterly silly. Does this mean that staff can't have a Swiss Army knife? How do the cooks make lunch?

(H/T to Of Arms and the Law)

CCW class audit

My brother-in-law recently figured out he could get his CCW, despite a colorful past--None of his "youthful indiscretions" were serious enough for him to fail a NICS check, and from what he's told me, none should give him problems with a license. An added problem is that he grew up as a migrant, and can't read. We convinced my mother in law to go also--She can't read either, so my wife and I went along to help them with paperwork and such, even though both of us already have our licenses.

I found the instructor online. I'd talked with him briefly at his shop, and thought he would get along with my BIL. I'd explained the situation, asked about sitting in, and he said it would be fine. Day of class, it changed to us sitting in if there was still room.

He would be OK for someone who already knows what they need to and just needs the course certificate with minimum hassle, but he was not the right one for someone who needs to actually learn.

Misinformation:

Claimed it was illegal for a CCW holder to keep a loaded gun in a locked container under your seat. Ohio law says the container must be either locked OR in plain sight. I questioned this, read the part of the book that explained and he was all "I'm the expert here" about it. I didn't continue to argue, but he kept on the subject for a few minutes.

Was wearing a Concealed Carry badge to carry next to your gun. Technically legal, but the long-term gun guys I've talked to are about 95% against. Said that someone irresponsible wanted one, he refused to tell them were it came from. (Google search turned that site up as the first result)

Claimed that Extreme Shock was the best ammo ever, made out of powdered titanium (according to him). This ammo only does well when tested by people involved in selling it--In independent tests it is well below average, despite the cost of nearly $2 per round.

Said that carrying a gun where a business has posted signs against is only a $60 fine--Like a ticket. Advocated carrying a gun into a rest stop, despite the law, and didn't mention that it is a felony.

If he were injured by violent crime where guns were banned, or if a policeman violated his rights, "I would OWN them. I would OWN their ass!!!!" Probably 5 different scenarios caused him to say this, always at least twice.

A .22 will bounce around inside the body and cause more damage. (Um, no. )

Range time was mostly with a scoped .22 that malfunctioned often. He did have a variety of other guns of various calibers. The range was 25 yards--Not his fault, but fairly difficult to actually see what you are doing at that range. I got to shoot a Keltec PF-9, a gun I've been considering. Recoil was less than I expected, so I may get one later.

Gun cleaning was "Here's some Hoppes, oil and Q tips, go to it".. No explanation, no organization.

Maybe 6 hours was spent actually teaching. That is probably enough to cover the minimum course requirements, but since Ohio requires 12 hours of attendance, there is no reason not to use it.

I won't be recommending him over a random instructor advertised on a telephone pole.

Marko gets it right again:

The number of casualties at the site of an attempted mass shooting is usually determined by whether the gun used to stop the killer is already at the site, or whether it must be carried there in the holster of a police officer.

(Text by Marko, links mine)