New laws go into effect September 30th

SB17 and HB54 go into effect on September 30th, 2011. Be sure to follow current Ohio law until then!

HB54 changes how Ohio handles judicial restoration of rights to bring Ohio law in line with Federal law.

SB17 removes the blanket prohibition for carrying concealed in an establishment that serves alcohol. On September 30th, concealed handgun license holders will be able to take their defensive firearm into any such establishment provided he or she does not consume any alcohol, is not already under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and the establishment does not post a sign prohibiting guns.

In addition, the car carry rules are simplified to remove the "on your person in a holster" requirement and the restrictions on carrying in containers. On Sept. 30th, you can have your handgun in your vehicle pretty much anyway you want (though driving around with it in your hand might bring unwanted law enforcement contact!

For more detailed analysis, click here.

Restoration of Rights and Restaurant Carry Pass Ohio House

The Ohio House of Representatives passed two pro-gun bills today. Both bills now go to the Senate for consideration.

House Bill 54 was considered first. This bill was originally considered quite controversial, but ended up with a low key passage 78-18. The issue was that Ohio law allows for restoration of firearms rights lost due to a felony conviction, but not for "dangerous ordinance." One of the definitions of dangerous ordinance includes automatic firearms. In CARON v. UNITED STATES, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that "that a state weapons limitation activates the uniform federal ban on possessing any firearms at all" [Ohio Legislative Service Commission bill analysis]. So, if a person who committed a felony turned his life around and the court granted restoration of firearms rights, Federal law would still deny them. So, passage of this bill brought Ohio law in line with Federal law.

Next up was House Bill 45. Dubbed the "Restaurant Carry" bill, it also had provisions for car carry reforms.

For car carry, it basically removes the confusing stipulations on how a firearm can be transported in a motor vehicle by a concealed handgun license holder. If enacted, it will be legal for a licensee to have a loaded handgun anywhere in the vehicle carried in any fashion. Well, not driving around waving it out the window, but you get the idea. All the in a holster or closed box or locked box in plain site stipulations would be removed.

The main provision of the bill removes the Class D liquor restriction. Under current Ohio law, "no person shall possess a firearm in any room in which any person is consuming liquor in premises for which a D permit has been issued". There are a couple of exemptions, the one affecting most people is for retail stores (grocery stores doing wine tastings, for example). The exemption lets CHL holders carry in such establishments as long as they do not drink. HB 45 changes the Ohio Revised Code to remove the entire stipulation "as long as the person is not consuming liquor or under the influence of alcohol or a drug of abuse."

Opponents seized on the fact that a licensee could carry in a bar as long as he or she wasn't drinking saying it would lead to shootouts. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth and other states who have similar laws have experienced no problems. Debate of the bill did drag out for over an hour and a half with many hair-brained amendments proposed in an attempt to derail the bill. Read my twitter feed for a play-by-play of the debate.

It is important for everyone to remember that the process is not over yet. However, it is expected that the Senate will pass the legislation since they already passed similar bills. Reports are that Governor Kasich has said he will sign the bill. The biggest question is whether this can be accomplished before the summer recess. If it does, it will still be 90 days after that until it passes into law.

NRA adds shooting standards to Basic Pistol

The following announcement was made today on the NRA blog:

As promised last year, we have revised the Basic Pistol Course outline and lesson plans. In previous Basic Pistol lesson plans, the shooting portion required students to repeat the multi-shot exercise until instructors were comfortable with their performance. The vast majority take great pride in their role as NRA Certified Instructors and place very reasonable expectations on their students to ensure they are able to shoot well prior to receiving an NRA Certificate.

Therefore, the objective had worked properly as indicated, until recently. We have been notified on several occasions by students that received a certificate, but did not feel confident in their shooting skills. They indicated that they took the course for their "carry permit" and only fired a few rounds in their class. The specific revisions are on pages III-7 through III-9 and incorporates an actual "skill standard" that must be met by students before moving onto the next step, and most importantly, before receiving an NRA Basic Pistol course completion certificate.

Watch for this change to be implemented in every NRA Basic Firearm Training course as they become due for reprint. In a nutshell, the optional shooting skill requirement that is currently in the basic practical rocker worksheet will become a standard skill requirement in each basic shooting discipline. People expect a high level of quality from training programs bearing the NRA name, and we cannot lose focus on the goal of any NRA Basic Firearm Training course: "To Teach the Basic Knowledge, Skills, and Attitude to own and use (the specific firearm) safely."

As NRA Instructors, it is imperative that your students feel confident in handling their firearms and that they develop the skill to be able to group their shots in the center of their targets with consistency before they receive your endorsement. We have placed these pages at your sign-in screen at NRAInstructors.org under "Useful links for instructors" as Basic Pistol LP Revision 2-2011. Please print it and replace it in your Basic Pistol Course outline and lesson plans.

Attention NRA Training Counselors: check your credentials to see if they've been revoked!

 To all NRA Training Counselors:

I recommend you immediately log in to NRAInstructors.org and check on your TC credentials.

As you all know, last February the NRA sent a letter to all NRA Training Counselors reminding about the NRA's policies and procedures. As part of that, there was a postcard that you had to sign and return to acknowledge that you read the letter and agreed to continue to follow all requirements. At the end of that letter was this statement:

We need you to affirm your understanding of and agreement to help us tighten our procedures for processing new instructor or additional instructor disciplines. Consequently, we are requiring that you sign and return the enclosed postage-paid card no later than March 31, 2009. If we do not receive your card, indicating your reaffirmation and commitment, it will serve as our notification that you are no longer interested in representing the NRA Training Department as an Appointed Training Counselor.

I signed and returned mine the day I received it.

About a week ago, I logged in to the NRA website to order materials for an instructor class. The website kept saying I wasn't authorized to purchase the instructor candidate packets. I made some calls this Monday and discovered that my TC credentials had been revoked, though I had no idea why. It turned out in the end that the reason was that my postcard response had gotten lost in the mail!

Since that was almost a year ago, I had completely forgotten about it. My last order for materials was in September, so my credentials were revoked at some point after that. I was told that I was not the only one who had their card get lost, and I'm told from talking to people who do mass mailings that it is common for small postcards to get caught up in other mail and lost.

If you do discover a problem, call Mark Richardson, the Training Counselor Program Coordinator, at (703) 267-1422. He helped me fix mine by emailing a copy of the letter and postcard for me to sign and fax/email/mail back.

Please pass this along to any TCs you know.

Dry fire

Today we're going to talk about a type of shooting practice called dry fire.

Dry firing is simply pulling the trigger on a gun that is not loaded with live ammunition. The gun can be empty or can be loaded with dummy rounds or snap caps. Both dummy rounds and snap caps look and may feel like real cartridges but are fake and cannot be fired. They are designed to reduce wear on a guns firing pin by giving it something to hit and transfer its energy to.

Dry firing guns can have many useful results. One benefit is that it helps you become familiar with a new gun. With dummy rounds, you can practice loading and unloading the gun safely. You can get used to the weight of the gun and the feel of it in your hand. And you can get used to the trigger pull (every gun is different!).

Dry firing can also be used to overcome common problems new shooters have, such as flinching. Flinching often happens when a shooter anticipates the recoil of the gun and tightens up their muscles right before the gun fires. This can result in a badly spoiled shot. Dry fire can be a cure for this problem as it allows the shooter to focus on the fundamentals of pistol shooting without worrying about the recoil. The body becomes accustomed to the process of firing a gun without flinching and that can translate to greater success on the gun range.

Dry fire is also far cheaper than going to the range and can be done from the comfort of your own home. This lets a shooter work on proper grip, stance, sight alignment, sight picture, trigger squeeze, and follow through on a more regular basis. It is also very useful for practicing drawing and reholstering a firearm.

I like using dry fire to help with target acquisition and decision making. A good monster movie or crime thriller is good for this. Because the camera jumps from person to person quickly, when the bad guy or monster appears on the screen you have to quickly recognize the threat and engage.

However, there are several serious safety issues requiring careful precautions to be taken before every dry fire session to reduce the possibility of an accident.

First, no live ammunition is to be present in any room where dry firing is taking place. Not in magazines, speed-loaders, pockets, bags, boxes, or lying around. This is a zero tolerance policy!

Second, you should always dry fire with the gun pointed at something that could stop a bullet should there be an accident. A bookcase, solid door, brick wall, gun safe, etc. are all good choices.

Third, keep distractions to a minimum. Don't talk on the phone, surf the web, or carry on conversations with others. Keep your focus on what you are doing. If you set your gun down for any reason, check to be sure it is unloaded when you pick it up again.

Fourth, when dry fire is done it is done. I know of one person who after a dry fire session was putting his stuff away and decided to fire "one last shot." Unfortunately, he had forgotten that he had reloaded his gun and the gun went "boom" instead of "click." Luckily, nobody was injured.

Dry fire can be a great practice tool and can be done safely as long as those basic rules are followed religiously.

Improving accuracy

Many new shooters, and to be truthful many experienced shooters, get discouraged at the shooting range by targets that look like they were hit by a shotgun blast. The problem is, they don't know what to do about it.

The best way to correct accuracy issues is to get help from a professional trainer. If you don't know or can't afford one, there are a few things you can do to improve your shot grouping.

Make sure the gun fits you
A gun that doesn't fit your hand well is much more difficult to shoot well, particularly one that is too big. Not only the size of the grip is important, but the weight of the gun and the amount of recoil (kick) as well. A big, heavy gun that noticeably rises with ever shot can be very difficult to control. If this is a problem for you, consider downsizing. Shooting accurate groups is far more impressive than shooting a big, loud, magnum caliber.

Conversely, a very small gun is inherently less accurate because of the shorter barrel. This gives less time for the bullet to develop a stable flight path as well as making for a shorter sight radius. A medium sized gun in a small caliber (.22, .38 or 9mm) is often the best choice for a newer shooter.

Take your time
The vast majority of shooters have accuracy problems while shooting quickly. Take your time and be sure to aim carefully with each shot.

Proper grip
I see a lot of shooters who hold a pistol incorrectly. A proper, consistent grip can go a long way towards improving accuracy. Your hand should be high on the grip in order to line the gun up as closely as possible with the bones in your arm as well as providing maximum grip surface area for your second hand. For a semi-automatic, the top of your hand should press against the beavertail (a small projection at the top of the grip below the hammer) if your gun has one. Be careful on a semi-automatic to not hold too high or your hand will be cut by the slide (slide-bite).

Take a firm grip with your shooting hand and then add your non-shooting hand getting as much contact between your hands and the grip as possible. You want your non-shooting hand to have considerable contact with the grip as opposed to simply closing around your shooting hand.

Grip pressure is important as well. You want firm pressure, but not so much that you get muscle tremors. You also want a little less grip strength with the fingers of your shooting hand so there is not too much tension interfering with a smooth trigger squeeze. A good rule is to apply 40% of the grip pressure with your shooting hand and 60% with your non-shooting hand.

Trigger squeeze
Proper trigger control is one of the most common problems shooters face. The trigger should be smoothly "rolled" to the rear in a continuous motion while disturbing the sight alignment and sight picture as little as possible. For the proper motion, it is helpful to think of a medicine shopper. If you squeeze a medicine dropper hard and fast, it sprays all over the place. However, if you squeeze it slowly and smoothly a perfectly formed drop will fall.

Be careful to not anticipate the shot. You should not know the exact moment the shot will break. Again, a medicine dropper is a good example. The drop slowly gets bigger and bigger until it falls, but you do not know exactly when it will do so. Anticipating the shot (mentally telling yourself to FIRE!) leads to flinching which will ruin your aim.

I also see a lot of people "slapping" the trigger. After each shot their finger flies off the trigger and outside the trigger guard, returning with force to take a swing at the trigger. This leads to a jerky shot.

Don't forget your follow through! After the gun fires, continue depressing the trigger those last few millimeters until it stops. Like in many other sports, correct follow through will help you be successful because it minimizes unnecessary movements.

Sight alignment and sight picture
This can be a difficult concept for some people.

Proper sight alignment means the top of the front sight is aligned with the top of the rear sight. It should also be centered in the rear sight with an equal amount of light visible on both sides.

Sight picture is aligning the sights with the target. Some people shoot better with the sights splitting the target like a pie, others shoot better with the target sitting on top of the sight alignment like a pumpkin on a fence. Use whichever works best for you.

The front sight is the most important part of the sight picture. The front sight should be in crisp focus with the rear sight and target slightly blurry. Think of it as looking through the rear sight at the front sight.

Shooting stance
Like a building,  it is important to have a good foundation for your shooting position. You feet should be about shoulder width apart and your knees slightly bent. You should lean forward slightly and resist the urge to lean backwards to counterbalance your gun. You want to be stable and balanced. Some people find it more stable to have one foot ahead of the other and their body turned at an angle to the target, similar to a boxing stance. Whichever works best for you is fine as long as you are stable and balanced.

Breath control
Proper breathing is essential for good accuracy. At an extreme, gasping for breath creates a lot of muscle movement which will disturb your sight alignment and sight picture. You should take slow, controlled breaths. Breath in, let it out slightly, and then hold your breath while squeezing the trigger as you try to minimize the arc of movement of the sights over the target (the movement of the gun). If your trigger squeeze is taking too long and you need to breath simply stop squeezing the trigger, take a few seconds to breath, and then start the process over again.

These are just a few general tips to help improve your accuracy. There is far more to it than just these and as I said earlier, the best solution for poor accuracy is to get help from an experienced trainer.

Wearing a belt holster

Wearing a belt holster seems like a pretty straightforward process. Take a holster, stick your belt thought it, put the belt on. In reality, just attaching the holster to your belt is the easy part. You also have to decide where on your belt to put the holster.

Most people have seen police officers wearing a gun on their strong side hip (right side if they're right handed). This works great for open carry, but not as much for concealed carry. With your gun protruding from your hip, you are more likely to print (show the outline of your gun through the cover garment).

To keep the gun as close to your body as possible, it is recommended to instead carry in front of your hip (appendix carry) or behind the hip.

In front of your hip can be a good strategy if you are wearing a cover garment that closes in the front, a t-shirt, buttoned shirt, sweater, zipped jacket, etc. Having the gun at the front of your waist tends to allow for a faster draw. Whether you wear it on your strong side or weak side (cross draw) is a matter of personal preference.

If you're like me and wear an open cover garment (unbuttoned shirt, vest, or unzipped jacket) this is a less desirable position. The gun can easily become visible if your movement or the wind opens the cover garment even slightly. It also can be very uncomfortable if you have a few extra pounds around the midsection.

My preferred position is right behind my strong side hip bone. As illustrated in the picture above, this does keep your gun tight against your body, aiding in concealment. It is also close enough to the front of your body that you don't have to reach too far around to draw the gun, a particular concern if you need to draw quickly.

It does bring up the question of exactly where to position the gun, a question that can only be answered by what feels most comfortable for you. For me, it works best if the rear sight of my gun is lined up with the seam in my pants. The picture above (click on it to enlarge) shows this position.

Some people like to carry their gun all the way around to the small of their back (SOB). This natural indention does make for a convenient place to carry, however there are several drawbacks.

First, it can be very uncomfortable to sit down and your gun tends to dig into your back because you're leaning directly on it. It is also much more difficult to draw the gun quickly because you have to reach all the way around. The most important reason I recommend against this method of carry, though, is that if you happen to fall on your back your gun could be smashed into your spine and cause serious damage. For this last reason, some holster manufacturers won't even make holsters designed for SOB carry.

Regardless of which location on your belt to place the holster, there is one additional consideration: which cant to use.

Cant refers to the tilt of the holster on your belt, and can be in varying degrees. This is best illustrated in the following pictures.

Backward or Rear cant

Vertical cant

Forward cant

The location of the holster and how you prefer to perform the motion for drawing the firearm all determine which cant to use. Most holsters have a fixed cant, but some are adjustable. The cant could eliminate certain positions on your belt. For example, if you want to carry weak side in front of the hip, it would be very difficult to draw from a rear canting holster.

My recommendation is to try several different positions on your belt until you find the one that works best for you, and then stick with it. You always want to carry your gun in the same place whenever possible so that you know exactly where it is and can rely on muscle memory to draw it quickly if you are suddenly attacked.