About this time last year, we commented on the annual release of the FBI’s violent crime statistics, showing a continued significant decline in violent crime of all type. At the same time, other FBI statistics showed a steady increase in the number of guns sold each month. Is this a coincidence, we wondered? Or do increased gun sales actually lead to a decrease in violent crime – quite the opposite of what the gun control [...]
We’ve written before about the deceptive perception of safety we all experience in our own homes. We’ve also specifically covered the dangers of opening your door to strangers. But there’s one other dimension of danger to be aware of. This is perhaps counter-intuitive – the danger of entering your own home, yourself, when returning from any absence (whether as short as going over to the mailbox or as long as a several week journey out [...]
Here’s an interesting story about a 19 year old youth in Los Angeles – Abdul Arian – who took police on a high speed chase around the city while at the same time calling 911 and uttering threats about what would happen if the police stopped him. There are two things of interest. The first is what happened after he eventually stopped. He got out of the car, surrounded by growing numbers of LA police, [...]
When someone talks to you about intruders in your house, what does your mind immediately picture? How many intruders do you automatically think of being in your house? Some people will say one, others two. A few might say three, but how many would say four? I ask this question having just read an article about a retired police officer who woke up after a mid-afternoon snooze to find four intruders in his house. One [...]
We’ve written before about the danger of opening your front door to strangers (see here and here), the dangers of selling things, and on other topics to do with protecting yourself at home. It is a vital topic, for two reasons. First, for most of us, it is the place we spend more time at than anywhere else. We probably spend half our lives; maybe even more, at home. That is one of the main [...]
One of our ‘holy grail’ objectives is to replace the current crazy patchwork quilt of state level laws about concealed carry reciprocity with other states, and create instead an integrated nationwide program whereby a single license from your home state would be recognized throughout the country. Sounds impossible? Sounds impractical? Well, certainly before the renaissance in concealed carry laws over the last two decades, it would have been both (and pointless too!) because few states [...]
Here’s an appalling story of a 70 year old man who was abducted and gang-raped by four other men. When you’re 70 years old, and when four younger men come up to you and accost you, you don’t have a lot of options, do you. But that is where a handgun could make all the difference. A handgun truly is ‘the great equalizer’, and in the hands of a 70 yr old gives him as [...]
A sleepy quiet little town of 220 people in rural Washington state with the unusual name of Humptulips, described by writer Terry Pratchett as his favorite place on earth (although it is far from clear if he has ever visited). A law-abiding couple in their 80s, well known locally for how fastidiously they cared for their house and garden, who have been living there peacefully for many decades. Evil seems a long way away from [...]
Hi, folks Just a quick reminder – check out our article that gives a list of five different things you should do each time that daylight saving switches over. Actually, many of these things should be done more often than every six months, but the chances are they tend to be overlooked and forgotten, so each daylight savings switch is a good time to review through this list. Our list is of course far from [...]