No Ritual Duck Hunt But...: Memo to Barack Obama: don't mess with Joe Biden's guns. At a fish fry for mine workers in rural Southwest Virginia, the Delaware Senator commiserated on being from coal country himself - and did his damndest to convince the blue collar, mostly white Democrats that he's on the ticket to win over that Obama's one of them as well. One of rural Democrats' biggest fears about Obama? That he'll come after the Second Amendment. Not so, said Biden - and he'd better not try. "I guarantee you, Barack Obama ain't taking my shotguns, so don't buy that malarkey," Biden said angrily. "They're going to start peddling that to you." "I got two, if he tries to fool with my Beretta, he's got a problem." Biden has said he doesn't hunt, but shoots skeet with his two firearms. "I like that little over and under, you know? I'm not bad with it," he said today. (I'm sure that most Virginia mine workers can't afford a Beretta over-under shotgun but that gun is probably a very appropriate symbol of the Obama/Biden view of the Second Amendment.) http://embeds.blogs.foxnews.com/2008/09/20/obama-will-have-a-problem-if-he-tries-to-take-bidens-guns/ --- Rule Five Reminder: Shortly before 2-year-old Wyatt Matteau fatally shot himself with his father's .40-caliber pistol, his mother had warned him that touching the gun meant "bad boo boos." Wyatt had reached for the gun and Rebecca Matteau told him "No!" as she grabbed his hand, according to arrest warrant affidavits...The Smith & Wesson semi-automatic pistol, which did not have a safety, was in a nylon holster with no security strap on the nightstand. Jason Matteau told state police that he kept the pistol there for security... (Rule Five: Maintain control of your firearm. The best place for a handgun used for home defense is on your person. While two years old may be a bit early, the safest course with children who realize that you own firearms is to tell them that they may see them anytime they want, so long as they ask first. Within a few weeks, the demystification process is usually complete.) http://www.courant.com/news/local/hcy-gristoddler-0919,0,6085740.story --- When Guns Are Outlawed...: Police figures released under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that forces in England and Wales are on course to record a total of 38,000 serious knife crimes this year - more than 100 a day. The figure is at least two-thirds higher than last year's total of 22,151 offences, announced by the Home Office in July when it unveiled its first annual count of knife crimes. The sharp rise has come about because ministers have changed the counting rules, in response to complaints that key categories of crime were excluded from last year's total... http://snipurl.com/3se8t --- Today on Liberty Watch/America Armed & Free : At noon Sunday, the threat from Iran with Dr. Lamont Carlucci, former State Department official. At one PM, Dr. Julia Keller about her new book, "Mr. Gatling's terrible Marvel," a look at the history and times of the gatling gun and its creator. Liberty Watch/America Armed & Free is heard live from noon - 2 PM on AM 690 Tucson, AM 930 Douglas, and AM 1240 KJAA Globe. It is also streamed live on the internet at http://kvoi.com/listenlive.php (select "listen live," then Windows Media or Winamp,) and archived at www.libertywatchradio.com/listen . --- From John Farnam: 15 Sept 08 EOTech issue w/polarized sunglasses! A student at an Urban Rifle/Shotgun Course in OH last weekend came to us with an EOTech-equipped M4. He and the rifle performed satisfactorily until we started movement/cover exercises, where he was compelled to move quickly into awkward shooting positions and engage targets at various ranges. I suddenly heard him say, "My sight has gone blank!" Not knowing what he meant, but thinking the batteries may have gone dead, I looked over his rifle and through the EOTech. The reticle appeared regular, and brightness adjustments worked normally. I handed the rifle back to him, and, once more, he reported that he could not see a thing through the optic! Now completely mystified, I again looked through the EOTech, and, again, everything appeared to be functioning normally. The red circle and dot were superimposed on the downrange area as I would expect to see. After several frustrating moments, we finally figured it out! My student was wearing polarizing sunglasses. The rear lens on the EOTech is plane-polarized, necessary for the holographic aspect to work. When my student viewed his EOTech with his head upright, everything worked normally. But, when he turned his head while acquiring an awkward position, his glasses rotated enough to conflict with the polarization of the EOTech. The result was no light coming through the optic, and the shooter thus looking at a blank screen! The lesson here is that plane-polarized optics do not work well in combination with polarizing sunglasses. I'm surprised we haven't seen this phenomenon before now, but the effect was stark indeed in this case. When my student changed over to clear glasses, the problem disappeared. Something to be aware of! /John (You will be hearing more from me in the future about the HexSite sighting system [http://www.goshen-hexsite.com/], which I recently had installed on one of my pistols and its Airsoft equivalent. I am particularly intrigued by its application on shotguns and Tim Sheehan tells me that preliminary tests have shown faster target acquisition with HexSite on M4 carbines than with EOTechs, with none of the problems associated with the latter.) 16 Sept 08 More preparation for the unexpected, from a friend in NYC: "On Friday, 26 Feb 1993, I was on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center, just sitting down to lunch at the Windows of the World Restaurant. We suddenly heard, and felt, a huge explosion in the parking garage far below. Power went out immediately, but emergency power kicked in. However, it soon went out too, being damaged during the explosion. Elevators weren't working, so we all started nervously descending the darkened, never-ending stairway! I made it all the way down to the first floor, mostly because I was wearing hiking boots. But, some of my fellow restaurant-patrons, wearing flip-flops and other non-serious footwear, couldn't make it all the way and eventually had to be carried by firemen, as their feet became badly injured. They, in their wildest nightmares, never imagined they would be taking a hike for their lives that day! As a result, many nearly didn't live through it." Comment: You never know when you will have to hike away from danger, maybe a long distance! Who routinely wear shower shoes and flip-flops, even lightly-made, low-quarter shoes (as can be seen in airports all the time) will have bloody, seriously-damaged feet by the time they hike the first half-mile! They may well die simply because they are insufficiently sure-footed, or are unable to go on. For one, I don't wear shoes. I wear hardy boots with steel toes and rigid support for my ankles. They may not be particularly stylish, but they're waterproof and designed for vigorous hiking. When I am compelled to walk long distances over rough gravel, broken glass, damp foliage, and rubble, I can, and my feet won't be broken when something falls on them, or I have to kick someone in the shin! /John (In May 2007 I was assigned a 15th-floor hotel room while attending the 27th annual IALEFI training conference in San Antonio. On the afternoon of the first day, an electrical storm took out an electrical transformer. When the current did not come back on after about 20 minutes, my German Shepherd Dog and I began making our way down the stairs, with the aid of a flashlight. A few floors down we were joined by an attractive young woman wearing shoes with four-inch stiletto heels. I made it a point to have her behind me in case she ended up tripping on the stairs. Women who wear these shoes are well advised to carry some sort of alternative for emergencies. Personally, I wear ankle-length hiking boots on a daily basis; there are numerous ankle-length duty boots designed for police officers, which offer varying degrees of formal appearance.) 17 Sept 08 Chicken Little? This from a friend in IL: "Where I live, Interstates 80/94 and 65 are closed, due to flooding. They have been so for the last three days! You can't get anywhere. It's one, big parking lot. Expecting UPS to make deliveries, or expecting that you can even get out to buy essentials during a crisis like this is wishful thinking in the extreme!" Comment: Operators need to always be ready. Don't put off until tomorrow preparations that need to be made today! Who haven't thought adequately about self-preparation, garnering gear and essentials, need to look around! Aside from the weather, national fiscal weakness, as exemplified by one financial crisis after another at the federal level, and in the majority of statehouses, means, for the foreseeable future, less and less in the form of emergency aid and "essential services" are going to be forthcoming from governments, at all levels. As a nation, we're voraciously eating our seed corn! As individuals, we need to prepare as best we can. /John (While most of my Mormon neighbors probably keep a larger supply of backup food than I do, knowing that they do so has prompted me to keep a larger supply of non-perishable food than I used to. My house is equipped with a 16-kilowatt backup generator and a 250-gallon propane tank, in case the supply of natural gas is also interrupted.) From Force Science Research Center: I. New research offers hope for cops fighting terrorists "Local law enforcers tend to believe that terrorists come from a long distance away to attack without warning in their jurisdiction," says Dr. Brent Smith, director of the Terrorism Research Center at the University of Arkansas. "Officers often feel they are prey and that there's nothing much they can do about it. We need to alter that mind-set." The results to date of a multi-phase research project Smith is leading for the National Institute of Justice should help do just that. His findings show that Timothy McVeigh, the 9/11 hijackers, and abortion clinic bomber Eric Rudolph, who selected targets hundreds of miles from their homes, are stark exceptions. "Most terrorist types strike close by, often within 30 miles of where they live, and they typically present precursor (pre-event) clues of what's coming," Smith told Force Science News. And while terrorist acts appear unpredictable, there is, in fact, "some predictability" to them. With an awareness of common patterns and the right intelligence gathering, observation, and interviewing skills, local peace officers may be able to disrupt terrorists' plans before they wreak havoc. "If you look at the majority of terrorist acts in North America from the 1960s forward, you'll see that Dr. Smith is right on target," says Dr. Bill Lewinski, executive director of the Force Science Research Center at Minnesota State University-Mankato. "Lives have been imperiled and great damage has been inflicted on our culture with the greatest frequency by terrorism on a local scale. "Smith's work debunks some pervasive false assumptions and should be empowering to local law enforcement." Smith, a professor of sociology and criminal justice and a researcher of terrorism in America for nearly 3 decades, launched his current on-going project in 2003 with curiosity about how terrorist behavior might compare with that of "conventional" criminals, a subject about which "little information has been available," he says. Other studies have shown that "traditional" criminals generally commit their crimes close to home, and as creatures of opportunity, they tend to operate spontaneously. But, in light of terrorism commonly being perceived as a foreign threat, what is the true geographic range of terroristic criminals, Smith wondered? How long do they spend planning their deeds? And do different types of terrorist groups vary in these respects? Using publicly accessible data, Smith and his research team first spent 2 years analyzing 60 cases of terrorism within the U.S., attempting to pinpoint "pre-incident indicators;" that is, the preparatory steps terrorists take before striking. Then the researchers spent another 2 years studying 59 additional cases from the standpoints of preparation time and geography, focusing particularly on environmental and international terrorism. Overall, the cases examined spanned 25 years of terrorist activity in this country. For the most part, these cases resulted in federal indictments, and they represented attacks by 4 major types of groups: left-wing, right-wing, single-issue, and international. The results so far, which were disclosed recently, have been surprising, Smith says. . PRECURSOR ACTS. In a report on his work, Smith writes: "Terrorists most commonly prepared for their attacks with surveillance and intelligence gathering, robberies and thefts to raise funding, weapons violations, and bomb manufacturing. Most of these behaviors took place relatively near their homes and targets." For instance, among the single-issue terrorists studied, such as environmental and anti-abortion extremists, 71% of the preparatory acts occurred within 12 miles of the ultimate target; 92% within 28 miles. These figures may be influenced by "lone wolf" sympathizers who impulsively decided on their own to use tactics of "uncoordinated violence" in support of a single-issue cause. However, even among international terrorists, who typically are more highly organized, nearly 60% "prepared for their attacks within 30 miles of their target sites." Only major illegal fund-raising acts--robberies, burglaries, and thefts--tended to break this pattern. These crimes often occurred "much farther away"--sometimes several hundred miles distant--"apparently to avoid drawing [police] attention to the group's location and target choice," Smith states. According to Smith, about 85% of the counts in federal indictments brought against terrorists in the U.S. relate to precursor activities, such as manufacturing silencers, failing to pay tax on explosive devices, converting semi-auto to fully automatic weapons, and illegal immigration. "Not all preparatory activities are explicitly illegal," he says. The most common precursor activity, for example, is surveillance of a potential target, an activity that "may arouse the suspicions of an alert officer who is not too quick to dismiss what he sees." . TARGET PROXIMITY. When it comes to selecting targets, "terrorists think globally but act locally," Smith says, and law enforcement's focus needs to be on "local events and persons as the primary source of information about terrorist activities." Some differences are evident among terrorist types. "International terrorists lived relatively near their targets, whereas right-wing terrorists lived in rural areas but selected targets reflecting the 'pollutants of urban life' in nearby cities," he reports. Overall, nearly half the terrorists examined lived within 90 miles of their target, with 44% residing within 30 miles. In the international-terrorist category, "nearly three-fifths lived within 30 miles of their targets and over 75% lived within 90 miles," Smith says. . PREPARATION TIME. The researchers found that preparations, including pre-event crimes, "generally began less than 6 months before the attack and ended with a flurry of actions a day or so before. "This pattern varied by group type. Single-issue and right-wing terrorists engaged in substantially less preparatory crime over a shorter period--once again, most likely reflecting the use of 'leaderless resistance' and lone-wolf strategies.' The planning cycle of international terrorists tended to be longer." Compared to environmental extremists, for instance, international terrorists engaged in nearly 3 times as many preparatory acts per incident, and the average planning cycle was considerably longer. "Whereas environmental terrorists committed an overwhelming majority of their preparatory activities in the week before the incident, international terrorists often took up to 6 months to prepare," Smith notes. The "larger number of people usually involved in international incidents" and the "size and scope of the planned incident" may be factors in the difference. So may the fact that environmental extremists often use unstable home-made explosives that can't be stored for long periods. One group that Smith's team studied was an environmentalist organization of at least 16 members known as "The Family," to which 21 terrorist incidents were attributed, including multiple attacks on U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management buildings and the arson of a Colorado ski resort. Although generally eschewing impromptu "uncoordinated violence and lone-wolf strategies," 85% of The Family's "known preparation activities--typically, inspection of the target, purchase of bomb-making items from local stores, and identification of a staging area a short distance from the target--still occurred within 6 days of the planned attack. An explosive device was assembled at the staging area a day or so before the incident and then delivered to the target. Participants usually returned to the staging area to destroy any evidence." With such a tight timetable, Smith points out, police may need to move quickly to harden targets once suspicions surface, rather than try to employ more time-friendly strategies like infiltration of the group." . POLICE IMPLICATIONS. With terrorists of all stripes generally living near their target, preparing for their strike over a period of time, and conducting most of their precursor acts near both their residence and their intended target, Smith believes there is strong potential for many planned terrorist events coming to the attention of local law enforcement before their scheduled occurrence. "For law enforcement, the implications of these patterns are significant," he writes. In a further analysis of terrorist data, he hopes in the next phase of his research to identify in greater detail the specific sequence of pre-event activities that terrorists tend to engage in. Knowing such information may enhance law enforcement's opportunities to intervene. Lewinski shares Smith's hope that what the research is revealing will help stimulate a more proactive mind-set among LEOs. "Terrorists are not just a far-off, foreign threat," he told Force Science News. "A terrorist attack by an extremist group or individual can occur in small towns and rural areas as well as big cities--wherever there is a vulnerable or desirable target. "With that in mind, anticipate what there is in your jurisdiction that might invite attack. Be observant for signs of surveillance or staging activity in and near those potential targets. Develop intelligence contacts in places that may supply ingredients that can be applied to terrorist activity. Probe more deeply with subjects who are unduly nervous or deceptive in your presence. "The fundamentals of good police work can be a strong weapon against terrorism. Dr. Smith's studies should motivate 5%ers to expand their thinking about the terrorist problem, to focus on more thorough investigative tactics, and to commit themselves to being part of the solution to this persistent threat." To read a report on Dr. Smith's work that appears in the NIJ Journal, click here. For more information on the University of Arkansas's Terrorism Research Center, which focuses on "terrorism, extremist violence, and the effectiveness of intervention strategies,"see: click here. Dr. Smith was assisted in directing his research by Dr. Kelly Damphousse, a sociology professor and an associate dean at the University of Oklahoma, and by Dr. Jack Cothren, an assistant professor of geosciences at the Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies at the University of Arkansas. ================ (c) 2008: Force Science Research Center, www.forcescience.org. Reprints allowed by request. For reprint clearance, please e-mail: info@forcesciencenews.com. FORCE SCIENCE is a registered trademark of The Force Science Research Center, a non-profit organization based at Minnesota State University, Mankato. ================ -- Stephen P. Wenger, KE7QBY Firearm safety - It's a matter for education, not legislation. http://www.spw-duf.info .