Poll :: duty weapons

HF would like to know: What duty weapon do you use?

• Glock .40
• Glock 9mm
• Glock .45
• Sig 226
• Sig 228
• Sig 229
• 1911 (any make) .45
• Beretta 92F
• Other

Obviously, HF told me the names of the guns to post. I didn't just pull these from my own knowledge. I have no idea what any of these are. I do know that HF has the Glock .40. He would like a 1911 though (Wilson Combat or Kimber). I thought it seemed ridiculous to have so many options, but HF said that he has met officers from all over that have carried one of these options. If you're not a cop, please answer for the cop or cops in your life.

Poll is over there on the top of the sidebar.      ------------------->

guns n kids

I've had a hectic past several days! That's all I'll say about that.

Recently, I've been thinking about gun safety in our home. It's never been a concern for me having guns in the house. I grew up with them. My parents never had the ammunition where we could get to it. We knew not to play with them and to never point them at each other. We were taught how to use them, and they were never locked up! There were no gun safes in our home. In retrospect, maybe it's lucky that one or more of us weren't seriously harmed growing up. Not just because of the guns, but because of other careless behaviors, or redneck ways as HF likes to point out. He has called me on more than one occasion, a California Hillbilly. I like to think I grew up in the best of both worlds.

Anyway, I've mentioned in the past that HF often updates me on the status of his gun. I never understood why. I would just say, "Uh, cool. Thanks for that." Now I get it. Our 3 year old boy pushed a small table, climbed on top, and was reaching at where the gun is kept (Just so you know, the gun is kept secure and out of reach and there was no way he could've reached it-at least for a couple more years). I was in the shower and HF walked in to see our 3 year old dressed to the nines in his cowboy getup sans pants begging for the "poke" (that's what he calls guns). While I admire his authenticity, I realized for the first time that it's time to do some gun safety training.

HF is good about this. When they ask about the guns, or they want to see them, he stops what he's doing and gets them out. He takes the time to answer their questions and to teach them. When he and I talk about this, two things always come to my mind: 1. I've always heard the expression, "No safe is child proof", and 2. I am the one that is at home with the kids the majority of the time with guns in the house and I need to be more trained about guns myself and help with the training of our children.

It just so happens that at the right time I was reading past articles on Women of Caliber and found a four-part series of articles that Kellene wrote entitled, Children and Guns. I was especially interested in parts II and III, the myths of gun safety and children, and how to educate them, but they are all very interesting, informative, and well written.

Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV

Tell me how you seasoned LEO families have handled gun safety with your children. Any advice or other words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

And here is a clip from 90210 that I totally remember watching as a teen. Even though I knew it was a ridiculous show back then, I don't think I was smart enough to realize that television introduced heated issues into the story line. So this little clip has bad acting, and as HF says, it would be incredibly unlikely for the Glock to go off when hitting the floor.

women of caliber

A few weeks ago, Blue Sheepdog did a post entitled, Teaching Citizens Real Self-Defense. I was curious about the women of caliber website after reading his post so I decided to check it out.

LOVED IT.

Their philosophy on women carrying weapons is exciting. After looking around their site, I have a new found desire to, not only carry a gun when I choose to do so, but also learn how to effectively wield it in a combat situation. Guns don't have to be scary, they don't have to be just for the men in our lives, they can be just as effective in our hands if we have have the right training. I'm just speaking as a rookie police wife without any training whatsoever, excluding my redneck shotgun experiences growing up. This is a great website with a lot of resources and valuable information.

I'm curious to know what the female officers think of all this. How do you think the civilian self defense courses measure up when compared to what you know as an officer? Are self defense classes worth my time? Do you think the best self defense for a woman is a gun? I just don't want to end up in a class like this one:

target practice

Hot Fuzz's future department has been taking him shooting once a week for the past 6 months. They want him to do well when he starts the shooting portion of the academy. This is one of his targets from early on. He used a glock 22 from 15 yards away. He was aiming for the tape in the center. What I don't have pictured is a little piece of paper with a dime-sized dot that he hit square and center from 21 feet. It was posted on another target. He said that when he shot it, the range master told everyone to cease fire and come check it out. They had him date it, mark the distance, and sign it. That's why I don't have it pictured. Hot Fuzz wants to remain completely anonymous. Even his messy and illegible signature could "give too much away". And he doesn't want to brag about it. Because he's never satisfied. "I can always do better on the range". I guess that's what I'm here for. To do all the bragging.

Another thing. I'm aware, all you English majors out there, that I have violated multiple rules such as starting sentences with 'And', 'Because', and 'But'. I tend to do that. I think because I talk like that.

I just realized that there are dirty diapers pictured in the above photo. Sorry about that. This is by the front door and the diapers were on their way out. Eventually.

shootin' guns fer Jesus

Our little 3 year old boy doesn't speak very well still, but means what he says and says what he means. He loves guns. He gets very excited when HF gets out his guns. He says, "Mine! Mine! Mine! Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" Last night HF brought home his brand new AR-15. Luke just about exploded with sheer excitement. "Gimme! Mine!" Of course the kids aren't allowed to handle guns without permission and supervision, but Luke and HF have reached a compromise. Luke is alowed to play with HF's red gun from the academy. He calls it a "poke". Because he likes to poke people with it. He usually says something like, "I a cowboy! Poke! Poke! Poke!" We think it's pretty cute.

On Sunday nights we have family night. We read scriptures together, say family prayer, sing songs, tell stories, have dessert, just spend time together. Last night Luke comes running into the room when we were getting started, and he said, "My Jesus! My poke!" This meant he wanted a binder I made of bible stories and his gun. We were laughing so hard because there he is on the couch flipping through scripture story pictures with one hand, while holding a gun with the other. "My Jesus. My Poke." I don't know about you, but I feel kind of weird putting guns and Jesus together.