Fish is the retired schoolteacher who was hiking when attacked by an emotionally disturbed person and his two dogs.  He wound up having to shoot the assailant, who died of three gunshot wounds. The lead investigator originally determined the shooting to be justifiable, but friends of the deceased apparently prevailed on the prosecutor to press charges. You can download a ProArms podcast in which a man close to the case discusses some of what went on, while guest-lecturing at one of my classes in Phoenix last year.

The jury was not allowed to know just how violent the dead man had been. Nor were the jurors given proper instructions on what constitutes self-defense.  Both of these errors are cited in the higher court’s decision to reverse, found in its entirety HERE .

The case is well known to gun people because the death weapon was Fish’s Kimber 10mm semiautomatic pistol, loaded with Federal hollow point ammunition, and the prosecution made a huge deal about the powerful weapon and its deadly dum-dum bullets. These arguments were not effectively countered by defense counsel at trial, and jurors later stated that these factors did indeed influence their decision to convict.  Significantly, none of that is addressed in the appellate court’s opinion, which tells us that it’s wise to be able to explain to lay people on a jury why we use the firearms and ammo we do to protect ourselves.

I personally thought the conviction of Harold Fish was a travesty of justice.  Here’s hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel of the long ordeal this good man has needlessly suffered.

However, I’ve noticed that cute threads on this topic sometimes pop up in the Internet gun forums.  A few years ago there was one called “Ten Reasons Why Guns Are Better Than Women.” (Your primary doesn’t get jealous of your backup. You can get a silencer for a gun. You can trade a .44 for two .22s.)

This was quickly followed by a riposte on the theme of “Ten Reasons Why Guns Are Better Than Men.” (Guns don’t leave spent casings all over the toilet seat.  Guns work whether you stroke their ego or not. And, yes, you can trade a .44 for two .22s.)

I was reminded of this by a recent “joke for guys” on the Internet titled “Spring Classes For Women.”  A self-styled shooterchick of my acquaintance responded.  Apparently, one rule of life that should be right up there with “do not eat the yellow snow” is, “do not tease smart women who carry guns and have shooting trophies.”  Her responses can be found in red, below.

I’ll go hide behind solid cover now…

Spring Classes for Women at
THE ADULT LEARNING CENTER

REGISTRATION MUST BE COMPLETED
by Tuesday, June 23, 2009

NOTE: DUE TO THE COMPLEXITY AND DIFFICULTY LEVEL OF THEIR CONTENTS, CLASS SIZES WILL BE LIMITED TO 8 PARTICIPANTS MAXIMUM.

Class 1
Up in Winter, Down in Summer - How to Adjust a Thermostat
Step by Step, with Slide Presentation.
Meets 4 wks, Monday and Wednesday for 2 hrs beginning at 7:00 PM..

It was Hot, it was cold, go outside if you don’t like it.

Class 2
Which Takes More Energy - Putting the Toilet Seat Down, or Bitching About It for 3 Hours?
Round Table Discussion.
Meets 2 weeks, Saturday 12:00 for 2 hours.

Doesn’t matter bitching is an art form, a means of expression.

Class 3
Is It Possible To Drive Past a Wal-Mart Without Stopping?–Group Debate.
Meets 4 weeks, Saturday 10:00 PM for 2 hours.

Not if they may have ammo.

Class 4
Fundamental Differences Between a Purse and a Suitcase–Pictures and Explanatory Graphics.
Meets Saturdays at 2:00 PM for 3 weeks.

A suitcase is rigid, hard to the touch. A purse needs to hold all your personal items, a camera, a recorder, and all his shit you need to keep track of.

Class 5
Curling Irons–Can They Levitate and Fly Into The Bathroom Cabinet?
Examples on Video.
Meets 4 weeks, Tuesday and Thursday for 2 hours beginning at 7:00 PM

They don’t need to; they can happily coexist with the Hair/beard trimmer that men leave on the counter.

Class 6
How to Ask Questions During Commercials and Be Quiet During the Program.
Help Line Support and Support Groups.
Meets 4 Weeks, Friday and Sunday 7:00 PM

When is there a break on Glocktalk?

Class 7
Can a Bath Be Taken Without 14 Different Kinds of Soaps and Shampoos?
Open Forum.
Monday at 8:00 PM, 2 hours.

No

Class 8
Health Watch–They Make Medicine for PMS - USE IT!
Three nights; Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 7:00 PM for 2 hours.

Do they have an equivalent for crabby men?

Class 9
I Was Wrong and He Was Right!–Real Life Testimonials.
Tuesdays at 6:00 PM Location to be determined.

This is a class on Fantasy/Mythology

Class 10
How to Parallel Park In Less Than 20 Minutes Without an Insurance Claim.
Driving Simulations.
4 weeks, Saturday’s noon, 2 hours.

Or you can be like a man and park 2 blocks away.

Class 11
Learning to Live–How to Apply Brakes Without Throwing Passengers Through the Windshield.
Tuesdays at 7:00 PM, location to be determined

Yeah, slow down two blocks before you need to.

Class 12
How to Shop by Yourself.
Meets 4 wks, Tuesday and Thursday for 2 hours beginning at 7:00 PM.

Leave his butt at home, take the plastic.

Class 13
How to Fight Cerebral Atrophy–Remembering To Take a List To The Store, Avoiding Separate Trips for Each Item Needed.
Cerebral Shock Therapy Sessions and Full Lobotomies Offered..
Three nights; Monday, Wednesday, Friday at 7:00 PM for 2 hours…

Just go to Walgreens, they have everything you need and if you look long enough you will find it all.

Class 14
The Stove/Oven–What It Is and How It Is Used.
Live Demonstration.
Tuesdays at 6:00 PM, location to be determined.

Yes, if he gets the ammo off/out of it, you can actually cook with it.

Upon completion of any of the above courses, diplomas will be issued to the survivors.

There are lots of great knives that are readily available at good prices. Why have a knife custom made? Sometimes, for some people, it’s simply about pride of ownership. My dad was a watchmaker, who sold and repaired Rolexes and even Patek Phillippes, but generally wore a simple Bulova on his wrist. I learned at his feet. I wear a Pulsar because my daughter gave it to me for my birthday years ago. My Hamilton is in the safe somewhere behind my collector Colts and Smith & Wessons.

Sometimes, for some other people (like me) a custom knife means that the thing was built exactly for the needs that you perceived. I’ve designed only two knives over all these years: the now-discontinued C-60 folder from Spyderco, and the fixed-blade “personal knife” I designed back in the day for the Masters of Defense project that was sold as the Razorback and, since MoD was acquired by Blackhawk, has morphed into the current Trocar model.

In the current (May/June 2009) issue of Backwoods Home magazine, I wrote a story on Jason Clark, a custom knifemaker in Florida. Unfortunately, that particular article isn’t on-line. You can find his website at http://clarkcustomknives.com. I’ve known Jason for more than a decade now, and I’ve watched his hobby grow into a business that makes some really nice products…and will make them for YOU, and YOUR particular needs.

When my chief of police bagged it last year after 35 years behind the badge, I asked Jason to make a custom knife for him as a retirement gift. The recipient loves it. Jason does impressive work.

My latest Jason Clark Custom Knife is a fixed-blade working tool. Slim and flat, it’s an homage to the Green River Patch Knife, with a tip that rises from the cutting edge to the spine like the prow of a Teddy Roosevelt-era battleship. There are double finger-grooves that allow the grasping hand to “choke up” for close, precise cutting, or just “grab and go” and get the necessary slicing done reflexively at high speed, depending on user need. Jason made an exquisitely fitted Kydex sheath for it with twin loops that snap over a belt for inside the waistband carry. It’s for cutting, not stabbing, but that serves my daily needs quite well, and if anything needs to be directly punctured and I don’t have remote control instrumentation handy for that, there’s always a folding knife in the right front pocket that’s shaped for such a task.

Best of all, Jason can custom-build a “knife like he built for Mas” for only a hundred bucks, plus shipping. When you sign your name, it’s a little cooler to do it with a Mont Blanc than with a Bic pen. When you check the time, it’s cooler to glance at a Movado wristwatch than at the LED readout on your cell phone. And when you have to “separate matter,” as Spyderco founder and CEO Sal Glesser so eloquently put it, it’s pretty damn cool to do it with a knife that was custom made to your particular specifications.

Which explains why so many of us get off on custom made knives. Touch bases with Jason before the Outside World discovers him, at which time you’ll have to wait a few years and pay a fortune to have him build your dream knife for you.

Each season we’ve filmed my segment at a different venue: Gunsite the first season, my police department the second, and PASA Park in Illinois last year. This time around, we used the Del-Tone/Luth Gun Club range on the edge of St. Cloud, Minnesota, the home of some of the best three-gun practical competitions in the country, lots of traditional trapshooting, and most recently a “zombie shoot.” (Yes, you heard me.) Owner Randy Luth, founder of one of the world’s leading manufacturers of AR15 rifles, DPMS, was a wonderful host for the PDTV crew, and the same was true of his staff.

I got to shoot cool guns. Yep, all made by the show’s sponsors, but fortunately, we have sponsors who make good stuff. Ruger’s P345 auto pistol, and their new little LCR .38 revolver. The new subcompact 1911 .45 from Smith & Wesson, and the same company’s Model 686 service revolver. XD45, the new XD(M)9, and match grade TGO-II 1911 .45 from Springfield Armory. A snub-nose Tracker .45 revolver and a .410 Judge wheel-gun from Taurus. Had occasion to shoot while vertical, and while horizontal; left-hand and right-hand, and then doing it again for slo-mo shots on high-speed camera, close-ups, different angles, and all of that. Even sacrificed what little dignity I have left by demonstrating what to do when you’re legally carrying a concealed handgun in public, and have to drop your drawers in a public rest room.

The first couple of years, Personal Defense TV was one of the two most-watched gun shows on the Outdoor Channel, and some weeks, the most watched. Viewer feedback tells me it still has a very healthy audience, but since the group that owns the production company bought The Sportsman’s Channel, we went to that last year, and it’s not Nielsen-rated, so I don’t know the current numbers.

The season we were shooting for last week will begin to air next October. You can get it on cable via Sportsman Channel, or for a small fee can download it real time at www.sportsmanchannel.com. That website will also tell you more about the show, other cable networks where you can find it, etc. There are also DVDs of past seasons available.

If you get a chance to watch it, I hope you enjoy it as much as we all enjoy putting it together for you. Meanwhile, a Google search should find where you can listen to Tom Gresham’s great radio show “GunTalk” every week. It’s downloadable to iPod in podcast form, and is one of my favorites.

Setting up to film “the New York Reload,” live fire. Hay bales are to catch an empty handgun that will have to be dropped. Blade-Tech holster contains Springfield TGO-II .45 auto pistol.

Erik Fleischhacker lines up Camera 2 on Mas before filming demo of defensive shooting technique.

From left, host and star Tom Gresham, Mas, and lead cameraman Mark Ambroz review last scene in-camera as producer Scott Mayer takes notes on elapsed time. Revolver in Blade-Tech holster is S&W Model 686 .357 Magnum. All filming is done with live ammo, sometimes with remote-control cameras downrange.

One of my pet peeves has always been the practice common among sporting clay bird shooters to rest the shotgun with its muzzle on their shoe, with the “business end” of that power tool literally at muzzle contact with their foot. They’ll tell you, “Don’t worry, it isn’t loaded.” What’s that old saying again, about so many people being accidentally shot with empty guns?

Below, courtesy of a friend who is one of the top small arms experts living in my opinion, are some pictures of what can happen when such a practice goes wrong. I’m told the shooter was resting the shotgun’s muzzle on his foot when something (most likely an errant trigger finger) pressed the shotgun’s trigger to the rear.

This guy was lucky. The muzzle was resting in the space between the great toe and the next one. He may or may not keep the big toe. Had the gun been a couple of inches back, he might have lost the whole foot. I’m told that it was a light clay bird load of small #8 birdshot pellets.

The late, great Colonel Jeff Cooper postulated four cardinal rules of gun safety. 1) All guns are always loaded, and treated as such. 2) Never allow the muzzle to point at anything you are not prepared to see destroyed. 3) Do not let your finger enter the trigger guard unless and until you are in the very act of intentionally firing the weapon. 4) Be certain of your target.

This case is a clear violation of Rule 2 and probably Rule 3. Public schools should teach certain basic safety rules to our children at a very early age. Right up there with “Don’t urinate on the electric fence or the third rail”; “Don’t eat the yellow snow”; and “Don’t stand in the doorway of a Harley bar and scream ‘Kawasaki rules!’; should be…

DO NOT POINT GUN MUZZLES AT YOUR OWN BODY PARTS!

Readers are invited to share anecdotes of their own in this vein

The buzz on the Internet gun boards is one of disappointment. Ho, hum, another drop in the great sea of cloned AR15 semiautomatic rifles.  And, of outrage: “$1995 manufacturer’s suggested retail price?!? They’re out of their minds!!”

I have to respectfully disagree with both assessments.

The founder of the company, the late William B. Ruger, Sr., was a friend of mine.  He positioned his namesake company as a leading manufacturer of robust, high quality, high value firearms that were, for the most part, “sporting arms.”  Bill garnered the lasting enmity of hard core gun rights activists many years ago when he supported a ten-round magazine capacity cap, long before the Bill Clinton Assault Weapons Ban, which thankfully sunsetted in 2004.  I discussed it with him, and disagreed to his face. He told me he did it because he dealt face-to-face with the elected officials on Capitol Hill, and they told him that the anti-gunners were presenting themselves as the voice of reason and compromise, while the pro-gun people were seen in Congress as intractable and not giving an inch.

The introduction of this rifle by Sturm, Ruger strikes me as a positive turnaround in a number of ways that go beyond the hardware.  It follows the introduction of their tiny, pocket size LCP .380 concealed carry pistol and the reinstatement last year of sales to the general public of 20-round magazines for their popular Mini-14 .223 rifles. I see that as a tacit admission that, yes, defensive firearms and not just hunting or target guns are OK for ordinary people to own and use, dammit.

A few years ago another major player in the hunting/target rifle field, Remington, introduced their own AR15 clone, the R15, which they sell as a hunting rifle. (Remington is owned by Cerberus, which also encompasses two major AR15 manufacturers, Bushmaster and DPMS.) In a time when our new President has blatantly announced that he would like to ban such “assault rifles,” the Remington and now the Ruger introduction of AR15s signals a growing public acceptance of a paradigm shift that says even more convincingly, “It’s OK to have these rifles.”

“The Second Amendment isn’t about duck hunting or target shooting.”  I personally believe every law-abiding citizen has a right to have these guns. But it helps our argument when it is realized that the AR15 is the gun that for years has been winning the National rifle championships at Camp Perry, Ohio, and has been accepted as an ideal tool for eradicating large fields of disease-bearing prairie dogs, and for humanely destroying marauding coyotes.  And for that alone I say, “Good for Ruger!”

As to the price, careful analysis shows that it’s not really unreasonable.  First, this is a piston-action AR, which historically has cost significantly more than the original gas-operated Stoner design. Second, it comes with pricey, top-quality components such as MagPul magazines (high capacity, thank you very much, and three per rifle) and premier grade BUIS (back-up iron sights) from Troy Industries. Couple that with the fact that even in today’s sellers’ market, Rugers generally go out the gun shop door for less than MSRP. May not be the bargain of the century, but you’ll get good value received.

I hope to have my hands on one of these rifles next month. If that works out, I’ll let all y’all know how it performs.

That turned out to be a damn good move. They found a 95% blockage in the anterior descending coronary artery, a situation that some cardiologists call “the widowmaker.” The folks at the hospital handled it swiftly and efficiently. He now has a stent in place, inserted through the femoral artery, and by yesterday he was not only out of the hospital but shooting on the pistol range with me. His prognosis is excellent.

Ah, the wonders of modern medicine…and, ah ha, the wisdom of listening to your body (and knowing what to listen for), and not waiting until the pain closes deep inside the center of your chest like an iron claw before you start to take action.

Tonight, though, he and I spent some time talking about something else. I hadn’t learned of his near miss until four days later. When it went down, he and his wife were too busy to notify their friends.

My friend had a lot of time to think in the hospital. It occurred to him that if he had just blinked out, his wife would never have known how much his guns and his guitars are worth, and might have been ripped off and lost their value after he was gone. We talked, and now he’s going to take some time to put together a detailed list of what everything is worth, including the accessories. Some of his collectibles are worth literally a hundred times as much to another collector or enthusiast as a lay person would price them by guesswork at a yard sale or auction. Lists will be made of people who can guide his widow in disposing of his worldly goods to her best financial advantage.

When life-threatening crisis is upon us, there are too many more urgent things to do than to tell everybody that someone is really sick, or hurt really bad. A group of us decided tonight in my living room to put a phone tree network together, and share names, phone numbers, and both snail mail and email addresses of people who should be notified at such times. When the time comes – not “if,” but “when,” because the final exit will come for all of us – pulling the trigger on that list will allow the closest of the loved ones to do the most important things while the next ring(s) out can be handling the less imperative notifications.

I’ve seen too many people die intestate, seen too many people defer the recognition of their own mortality and not keep their last will and testament up to date, and not plan for inheritance taxes…and, as a result, have watched helplessly as what those good people wanted to go to certain designated heirs, instead was devalued and blown away like sand in a duststorm. Or, worse, was stolen by the vultures who prey on the grief of the bereaved. My “after I’m outa here” distribution has been locked in place for a long time (and kept regularly updated), but I learned some things this week. The notification process, and the reaching out and gathering of the extended family and friends circle, are gonna be a LOT better in order now.

The one thing certain in this life is the leaving of it. We all need to remember that if we want the aftermath of that to go the way we want it, it’s up to us to put the mechanism in place now, while there is still time.
The Reaper tends to make his visits unannounced.