Rogue Elite

I know that most people don’t need to carry two firearms unless they really have a dangerous lifestyle, but there is a time and place for everything.  For Combat soldiers, carrying a sidearm is important because in close up fighting weapons can jam or go down and having a sidearm gives you time to get your primary weapon back up and running.   For those in Law Enforcement, you have your training, batons, mace and tasers to use before your firearm but many CCW holders think carrying a firearm means not needing pepper spray.

It doesn’t always have to be a gun nor should it have to be.   If you consider using something from the Sabre Defense Pepper Sprays or the Kimber Pepper Blaster II your chances of being a lawsuit are far less of a reality than if you pull a firearm.   People forget that dealing with minors with a sidearm and dealing with dogs or other animals and using a less lethal weapon is going to save you lawyers fees in the end.   Many discussions about what type of firearm is best to deal with a bear in the wild, but any Game Commission employee will tell you pepper spray and mace do the job.

In Philadelphia there have been numerous instances of minors using weapons in crimes, but by Law these individuals are Children and are not considered to be adults.   With the level of violence that is occuring in some areas of the Country, carrying a firearm is very important but just because you have a gun doesn’t mean that the trigger always needs to be pulled when dealing with a threat.  There are deeply misguided individuals that pickup a gun and know nothing about morality or have any idea of what the consequences of their actions are.

As an adult, I am aware that the youth can display bad judgement especially when there is group think.   ASP pepper sprays are a good option even if you are packing a firearm because having good situational awareness and knowing that you can stay ahead of a threat and possible completely diffuse a problem before things get out of  hand with pepper spray or mace may save you the problem of dealing with lawyers and a not so friendly news media.  The Kimber Pepper Blaster II is probable the best thing to carry because it is shaped like a gun and lasts 3x’s longer than most bottle pepper sprays.

I have been having fun watching the YouTube videos and information.   There is a lot of copy written stuff and I’ve been trying to avoid watching firearm instructional videos and gunsmithing stuff just because I’m in the minority that thinks that is stealing.  I have been buying  handguns that I’m not really fond of, but since they are fairly popular I have been enjoying looking up amatuer videos from other gun owners talk about the guns they own and being their own gun video writers.   Some of the stuff is pathetically bad and the inability to pronounce words like Kimber and are acting like they know something I don’t know.  It’s KIMBER not KIMBALL.

There have been some interested changes to the previous Kimber Guardian Angel and there is now the Kimber Pepper Blaster II out that they gives the ASP Pepper Sprays some real competition.   I think any type of pepper spray is a must even if you are carrying a firearm.   If you read some of these gun forums and discussion about carrying firearms into the woods or in bear Country, you will be just as safe carrying mace with you as you are in carrying a  44 magnum.   I have had numerous conversations with game commission workers about bear contact and they have actually had to put black bears down, they recommended that bear sprays and pepper sprays will do as much keep a bear off you as firing a gun.   The only real issue is range.

The new Kimber Guardian Angel pepper spray is no longer called the Life-Act or Guardian Angel.   We’re now on the 3rd installment of the device and I agree with all of the modifications.   My initial response to the device was that it was expensive, but then I realized that it actually lasts longer than any of the bottle sprays I own and it points easier, and has a trigger.   The original design fit my hands fine, but for anyone with smaller hands, it was a little too big and it had a slippery plastic feel to it.   I have several friends that have taken grip tape that skateboarders use on theirs and it worked well, but why didn’t Kimber do something like this?

The new Kimber device is called the Kimber Pepper Blaster II.   This is a radically new pepper spray design that is still a 2 shot device but it will look at feel like a small firearm and this actually comes with sights.   The previous design was used with a funky hand hold that was very goofy and somewhat unrealistically deployed.   Why not just put sights on the gun?  Well, now they did, and the only thing I can think of that would be a drawback would be that it might snag where the previous design fit very well into a pocket.   My Eotac Style 205 jeans and the Style 204 canvas designs had a side pocket that I could keep the guns in and they always pointed down and never would snag.

In my humble opinion, there are different levels of training for self defense, but mulitiple lethal and less lethal options.   With an ever advancing less lethal defensive market,  I would have to say that I recommend that the majorty consider those options.   One of the issues I am coming across more and more today are first time CCW holders.   I am not one to push people towards carrying a firearm for defensive because I am very much aware that many of those that are considering carrying them, are not mentally strong enough to physically put up a fight and may be in the high risk of having their CCW used against them.

With an increasing unemployment and small business owners becoming the targets of home invasions and robbery, there are always backup plans.  Less lethal technology is getting so good that I think that in another decade or so, carrying lethal weapons might really not be the primary weapon.   Pepper sprays and tasers are being used by law enforcement with few repurcussions.  I highly recommend those that are considering carrying 2 firearms, one as a primary and the other as a backup, the Kimber guardian, and ASP Pepper sprays are Sabre defense have less lethal weapons for consideration.

There seems to be a new craze in competition shooting in recent years.   I’ve seen more high school boys coming home from class with Zombie survival guides, the recent 28 Days later type movies and the doomsday virus outbreaks.    I guess IDPA has lost some traction to the present generation, but I’ve attended a few Zombie survival competitions and they were very good training events.   The best thing about it was the amount of tactical gear that I watched fail, and the number of really novice mistakes people made.   Out of the 5 stages I attended, there was 1 stage that we saw about 18 firearms go down.   About half of those were AK variants and they were mostly magazine related.  Some guys never knew how hard it was to do a tactical reload on an AK if there was a round in the chamber and a fully loaded 30rd magazine.  People found out what happens after firing off the 1st round and the magazine falls out.

Do search for gun clubs and shooting ranges in your State to find out if anyone is holding a Zombie shoot.   They usually occur in the September to October months.   Having some good tactical clothing that will securely hold your gear.   The Eotac Style 201 pants are my favorite because they hold 6- 30rd PMAGS and they are easy to run in.   Tactical vests like the Style 101 are not heavy and don’t make you feel like you are wearing a flak jacket.   There is a time and a place for different types of tactical vests, but mobility is important.  You may want to try getting your magazines loaded up with all of your gear and then try running 100yds with it and see what it feels like and if stuff starts to fly out of your pockets.   Mobility is extremely important.

I’ve been watching the growing trend towards pocket guns and CCW weapons that I would defanitely consider to be minimal.    Years ago the debates were about which was better, 9mm or 45acp for stopping threats.   Now that so many first time CCW carriers are getting into the fold, but they seem to think that a .380 is good enough for them.   We have to balance between our skills as a CCW carrier and what is practical and what can be concealed.   Confronting a nut on PCP at close range may require an FAL in 7.62 NATO, but we may not be fortunate to have one.   In all honesty, there are just some situations where retreating and running full speed away is the best option.

Now that we have been becoming more and more aware of what actually “stops” a threat, we have to get into the realm of less-lethal weapons.   Tasers have been known to kill people, but they are more effective in stopping threats than firearms.   After seeing and reading about some pretty pathetic robberies and hold ups in the Trenton and Philadelphia area, I was wondering if someone just had a can of mace that the drug addict could have been taken down without putting several holes in the ceiling and walls of the stores.  The Kimber Life Act is my favorite less lethal weapon  because it has a trigger and its easy to tell which direction it is pointing unlike bottle sprays.  2nd choice is followed by the ASP pepper sprays. I have nothing against people that just want to carry one gun, but I think a firearm, knife and less lethal weapon are my suggestions for CCW 7 days a week.

While I am a strong supporter of the 2nd Amendment, I actually advise some of my students and family and friends that a firearm should not always  be your primary weapon.   If you use your firearm to defend yourself,  you are going to be going to be hiring a lawyer and sitting in a courtroom in the very near future regardless of whether or not you were in your right.  There have been several recent crime reports coming out of the Country where 14-17yr old youths were involved with violent crimes, but as in much of the Urban environments, the bad kids get played like they are the victims when a good guy uses force against them, usually police officers.

There is a reason you hear about Cops using tasers more and more.   In some situations there has even been complaints that they are using them too much.   The reality is this, yes people can die from being tasered, or even have alergic reactions to pepper sprays and mace,  I was even involved with an incident where a man on PCP actually dies from being maced, but statistically speaking, it is almost always better than if a firearm was used in these incidencies.    Public places are probable the most likely places you will need to defend yourself, and even bullet you send, may not hit the bg, but may hit a wall or other person.   If you are dealing with a hostile drunk or a 16yr old juvenile drugged up, your physical well being may be in danger, but using deadly force will mean hiring a lawyer and a long drawn out case.   If you have a means to carry mace, pepper spray or a taser, you can solve the problem, walk away and call 911 without too much to worry about in the aftermath.

I recently spoke to a friend who manages a gun shop.   We had a discussion about taking new shooters to the range and trying to break people in to not having a fear of having a firearm in their home.   I know of several family members who normally vote Democrat in National elections that all said that they thought about the fact that they did not have access to firearms if something like that ever ocurred in their hometown.    The idea of having extra food in the house before a snow storm isn’t paranoid, the idea of having smoke detectors in the home incase of fire is being paranoid, is having the ability to put out a fire in your house crazy when you can just let the fire company do it?   What about having some level of defense in  your home if some drunk shows up at your door at 2am or your husbands employee that was just fired wants to make an unexpected visit?

I never pressure people into owning firearms.   I always let that decision fall on the person buying a gun.   My job is to show them that having a firearm in their hands should be something that gives them confidence.   I’ve seen my share of CCW holders that I would not want to stand next to on a firing line due to poor firearm safety skills, so someone is going to have to put some time in to train with me before I tell them I think they are ready to carry one.   One thing I have heard several times recently is that somebody has a wife that says ” I will never have a gun in my home”.   I understand that, that is a mindset that probable can’t be negotiated with, but one thing I am not sympathetic to is any person with a family that does not have some defensive measures in place.   Guns are a lethal weapon that in untrained hands can be a hazard, and there are several other things that any Father or Mother should know are around to be used as weapons.    Kimber Guardian Angel, Tazers, Baseball bats, and last but not least, CO2 fire extinguishers can also be very effective.   If a women won’t consider having items like that around for self defense, I’m all for an annulment.

If you are looking to carry mace or pepper spray, I would absolutely have to urge you to do some research on the Kimber Guardian Angels also known as the Life Act.    At first you might get sticker shock, and I think you may want to consider buying 2 of them and test firing 1 of them before you really get comfortable carrying one.   I’ve earned my merit badges in seeing evil in the world I know walking around with the smallest pepper spray bottle to fend off a potential rapist, robber, or worse isn’t going to give you much of an edge.   There are many reasons to consider carrying a less lethal defensive measure.   You can blast someone with something like this without much of a worry about legal ramifications.   I’ve seen pepper spray used against 0bnoxious drunks which in my opinion were justified.

Why is the Kimber Guardian Angel a good choose over bottled pepper sprays?   I’m not sure if there is anything else as innovative as the Kimber Guardian, but if there is feel free to fill me in on it.   Bottled defensive measures have 2 flaws for the most part.   Number one is that you are going to have to figure out which end is the one to point it when in a hostile situation and the other is the shelf life of the product.   The Kimber is easy to point and you will know in micro seconds which end to point at  your attacker.   There is a safety mechanism that prevents accidental discharge which is something that does occur with the flip tabs that bottle sprays have.   The Kimber Guardian Angel will fit comfortable in most 5.11 Tactical, Woolrich Elite Series or Eotac front pockets.  The Kimber also has a shelf life of over 2yrs and if you are buying bottle mace every year, the Kimber costs you only $20 a year for 2yrs to help  you not get that $40 sticker shock.