Note to would-be gun writers:
I know that your publisher has hired their own art director and photographer. And I know that they think that they've got a great idea of how to get your face and the gun in the same shot, close, without looking too aggressive. I recognize that, especially when you're writing for a female market, you're trying to look guarded and ready, rather than in an attack mode.
But don't let yourself get bullied into putting yourself on the cover of an instructional book on self defense while posing in the Full Sabrina or even the Half Sabrina; it makes you seem a little less credible.
That is all.
Labels: guns, jeering, public service message
posted by Matt G @ 10:31 AM
5 Comments:
With a strong martial arts background, many LEO's have been surprised what an operator can do from a position similar to the "Sabrina." Especially with an appropriate knife in the non gun hand. Hell, at very close quarters, I'll more likely use my 5 inch 1911A1 as a yawara stick, maybe as a "come along."
Understand, we're talking of folk who understand your most dangerous weapon is your brain and your intent. That your gun is one of only many tools; sometimes, you have to "mentally keep track of where your gun is," while you stop your opponent - if necessary by killing them - with another close range weapon. Like an elbow.
Personally, I get REAL uncomfortable with trainers advocating practice at drawing a holstered gun on someone who can be within 3 feet of you - or worse - when you finish presenting your gun.
At that kind of distance, you should be using other, more suitable close-in weapons, and still you have to keep track of your sidearm. For God's sake folk, I can't say it enough - Ya gotta keep track of your sidearm and its relationship with everything else in your space, at all times.
Lastly, this is why I like a 2 piece full length guide rod in my 1911A1. Once had to do a right hook putting the muzzle into the side of a guy's neck. Didn't eject a chambered round, but by the way he went down, everyone in the immediate space assumed I'd shot him.
Guy survived, with a couple of cracked vertebrae, and a herniated disk - perhaps digestive problems also. For all I know, he's still alive, many years later. OK, yeah, I'm hoping that after that altercation said guy "got Religion."
Let me reiterate: Your gun is a tool. Your brain and your intent are your real weapons.
Sabrina was hot. But I hear she was a jealous bitch behind the scenes. Then again, Farrah stole her damned how, didn't she?
Hey, make fun of PQ if you want to, BUT, and I wish I knew how to make that BUT a larger size. After reading her Armed and Dangerous book I finallay "got" what JPG had bben trying to teach me all those years about moving stubborn slides. Paxton just phrased it in a way that made sense for me. It was as if hearing it from another woman, the physics or physiology of feminine hands making the same motions to eject a cartridge and catch it in your off hand just gelled in my mind in a way that JPG explaining it didn't.
So she may look comical to you, but the content of her book is still valuable.
James, I have to admit, you're the first person to ever (EVER) give me a reason for a full-length-guide rod.
That said, the reasons against it are numerous enough, I'll just leave the safety on if I need to muzzle-slap someone (which is, BTW, deadly force.).
Holly, I'm not saying that the two writers (who happen to be women on the two books that caught my eye, but that's not necessarily indicative of anything) don't know what they're writing about. I've not read their books. I'm just saying that the FS and the HS hold really undercut their credability.
Matt G: Understood. I've got a 30 second rule. On a save-your-life gun, you've got 30 seconds for a "makes sense" explanation of a particular modification.
Since I started this thread down a twisted track, I've gotta straighten a bit out. Sigh.
Everybody else out there: Anytime my handgun is brandished in a social situation, there better be a damn good reason. Lethal force better be justified.
The average Joe, with his defensive gun, better NOT be in contact distance of a goblin. Physical distance is your friend.
Because that man Murphy was an optimist: Every human being ought to know how to throw a really good "hook." Instead of a closed fist, use an open hand, striking with the heel of the palm. Any boxer will tell you that a properly thrown "hook" is blindingly fast. Learn to throw it "picture perfect." Ask around, you'll find someone to teach you.
To the full and half "Sabrina," and my view of Matt's point. There's 2 to 3 pounds of steel near Henriette Homeowner's head when she goes to check her kids room for intruders. (And show me a mom who won't check her kids!) I'll ignore all the disarm techniques. Say I'm lurking around the corner as she does. I see a FS or HS.
I throw that open-handed hook striking her gun or her hand(s). If I do everything wrong, she's hurt, dazed, and disoriented from her gun slamming into her head. 7 out of 10 times, she's semi or completely unconscious at my feet. 2 out of 10 times she's dead or dying at my feet.
I believe that's Matt's point about a book cover; an author trying to be taken seriously about self defense.
Lastly, the copy of "Armed and Female" I gave my NOW wife after our third date, has Pax Q's bright smiling face superimposed over concentric red rings, like a target. Woman - Target. No gun anywhere in sight. Good book cover.
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