31 Aug 01

NJSP Update:

"New holsters had to be ordered for our worn-out H&K P-7 pistols. They only have to last a year, as new pistols will be provided in 2002. Glocks or SIGs we are told. Of course, we've heard this sorry song and dance for six years now. Interestingly enough, they found enough money to equip all our beat cars with video cameras, but it seems there is just no money for new pistols to replace the ones which were declared unsafe and in need of replacement in 1996.

The ill-fated S&W P-99 project is now in federal court. We've been told we'll never see that pistol again. None of us want to see it again.

Yet another moral booster occurred last Saturday. Our lame-duck Colonel, Dunbar, was clocked on radar by one of his own troopers at eighty-eight miles per hour in a fifty-five zone. The trooper, a good friend, had no idea whom he was pulling over. Dunbar chewed out and threatened the trooper, then insisted he had not been speeding. In an interview the next day, he indicated that his traffic incident was an example of 'racial profiling." It got into the local papers. He has since made no comment.

This is our current 'leadership.' "

/John

31 Aug 01

Comment from a colleague on defensive handgun training:

"During a recent class at the S&W Academy, I noticed a number of students compulsively relax their support hand and then regrasp between shots. Often the fingers on their support hand would completely extend forward before the pistol's grip was again regrasped just prior to the next shot being fired.

The students who had this habit were consistently the poorest shots in the class, and, to a man, they were unaware they were doing it."

My reply:

"Yes, compulsive regrasping between shots is a common defect in shooting technique. We see it all the time and correct it immediately, as it again and again leads to missed shots. I'm not sure that I'm ready to theorize with regard to what causes this compulsive, nervous habit, but it is always associated with poor performance, both in accuracy and speed.

/John