Merry Christmas From Your Instructor The Fastman

To All My Trainees

December 2009

Hi Everyone. I want to wish a Very Merry Christmas to you all, and your loved ones, and a Happy New Year. I hope next year is better and safer and more prosperous for you and yours and for all the brave kids serving proudly everywhere to preserve our freedom. God and Karma bless them and keep them safe and bring them safely home again.

The City of Houston has a new mayor. Anise Parker, whom the media touts as the first openly gay mayor of a major U.S. city (which isn’t correct, she is not the first). Big deal! What worries me about Anise Parker is that she is openly against firearms possession by law abiding citizens and is on record as such.

Before Chuck Rosenthal got stupid and then bounced from his position as AG for Harris county, he had tried to circumvent State law and the CHL statute in particular. He instituted without referendum or consultation with the State AG (attorney general) a regulation prohibiting CHL holders from carrying their weapons in Harris County Parks. He got away with it until the State stepped in and struck the ordinance down as unlawful under State law. It took some time and more than twenty people were arrested and their weapons were confiscated (eventually returned of course) .  Anise Parker in her then city administration position was a very vocal supporter of the ordinance (along with others in city and county govt.) and proposed the City of Houston adopt the same policy.

How does this affect us and our CHL status? The decision on the Second Amendment in Heller v District of Columbia was not just an individual rights decision. It left a broad area of gray wherein local municipalities have the right to make “reasonable” rules and ordinances of their own in regards to “Public Safety” and firearms. In case you haven’t noticed Washington D.C. and the District have as yet to institute a revocation of the ban on individual right of possession of a legally owned firearm (of any type) by its citizenry but are still fighting the decision in court to this day. They have added an unbelievable amount of “reasonable” clauses to the original gun ban and have also appealed the ruling in “.Heller” . Anise Parker has made the centerpiece of her campaign a promise to change policing in the city and the HPD in general needs to be revamped and she will try to get similar restrictions on gun ownership and other “reasonable” gun control measures through city council quickly to help make the city “safe” for citizens and police.  She is on record as being a major opponent of the State of Texas Concealed Handgun License statute and signed a letter to that effect sent to the Governor and legislators in Austin. She plans to add no new cadet classes at HPD and make multi agency policing her priority. If you live in Houston and call 911 for help this means your call will be handled by the nearest available agency. Not the fastest one since the call will have to be routed and screened for availability.

You better hope to God that you live somewhere that the closest police and fire departments have the same “radio” with HPD especially if you are in low income or unincorporated areas. If you have paid any attention you know that the Harris County/City of Houston Communication Center has had it’s more than fair share of problems to this day. Ms. Parker will certainly go after your ability to have guns either in your home or on your person, and she agrees with open registration of all firearms in the City of Houston with bans on certain types a la California. Go figure. Keep an eye on the City council and regulation proposals in the paper and on tv and radio.

 The Department of Public Safety in conjunction with legislators, were not able to get the “Parking Lot” rule placed in effect in the new legislative amendments and laws. This means your employer can enforce and impose regulation of your firearm in the parking lot where you lock it while at work. You can be fired if your company has this type of prohibition and you will have no legal recourse and won’t even be eligible for unemployment benefits.  As I always say use your own judgment, but I won’t abide by any such rule or regulation of my vehicle and property.

 The Department has also had the penalty removed for not displaying both your Texas DL and Texas CHL if you get stopped and are carrying. Your weapon and license can still be confiscated by police and they can file for suspension but this is a case where the Department itself created a grey area and no one has a clue why. Just do as I trained you. If you get stopped by law enforcement, display both licenses you will save yourself a hassle. Just give them both to the cop unless you just have to show him that old crap target of “I know my rights.” Save yourself the trouble and give em to him and go on your way. Remember, “Yes sir, no sir” goes a lot further than “I know my rights” with pretty much any cop you’ll encounter.

 QUESTION:  I was one of the “panic buyers” as you called us, and bought an AR-15, an AK-47 and semi automatic shotgun and as much ammo as I could afford. I took them to the range and fired them all. My buddy had an AR-15 in .308 Winchester and he told me you are wrong about using them in a house. He says he is sure that rifle bullets will not go all the way through my home and injure anyone, and he trusts his  “.308” for his main home defense gun.  Also, I had difficulty hitting anything that came close to a group on targets at twenty five, fifty and a hundred yards. Is something wrong with the guns sights and how could I accessorize them to make them shoot better? I expected the shotgun to kick but the rifles are pretty heavy and they kicked very hard. Is that normal?  The AK-47 safety is hard to move up and down. What Can I do?

ANSWER: First of all you bought battle rifles not sniper rifles. They aren’t meant to shoot groups of target competition grade.  With AKs there are simple things to do. Take a triangle file and open up the rear sight on either side (mark it 1/16” on either side, and file to that mark). With the safety lever, bend it out until it moves easier do this a little at a time don’t just crow bar it away from the receiver.

If you want to see what a rifle or handgun bullet or shotgun shell of any caliber will do in a structure at the very least level try this. Get a couple of 2x4’s a couple of pieces of drywall scrap a couple pieces of OSB or plywood. If at all possible find a trashed piece of furniture. Put together a simulated set of two or three walls and place the furniture between them. You will need a place to do this of course and you should space the walls at least six to eight feet apart or further if you like. Get your buddy with the “.308” to unplug his head from his intestinal egress portal and shoot a round of “.308” through the simulated structure and retrieve the bullet. You, fire one round from each of your weapons through the simulated structure and retrieve the bullets. Then email me again about how wrong I am. Trust me I’m certainly willing to learn BUT please don’t tell me my business.  I won’t criticize your buddy but ask him how many times he’s actually fired his rifle through his house. If you really want to make it interesting set up a stack of cinder blocks and go back about fifteen or twenty yards. Take a few shots at it and see what it does. As an aside, I would not let your kids spend the night at your buddy’s house until he sees what a bullet does in a house.  BTW.. How many bullets did you find?

Accessorizing any AR is totally up to you. Useful things are a good sling, extra 20 & 30 round mags and flashlight rail that mounts on the front sight. Ammo should be specific check the manual . AKs need nothing and cost mucho to add to. If you can hit a paper plate at twenty five and fifty yards that is within spec and parameters for 223/5.56mm AR and 7.62 Russian (x39 or 59) which ever variant)AKs. They all kick.  They are rifles not BB guns. Were you sitting, standing, kneeling or prone when you fired? You didn’t say.

Eddie   …….OUT   and to all a good night.