Tag Archives: safety

Big City: Self Defense Flashlight

by SurvivalGuy Posted on August 11, 2011

I haven’t had a problem with crime in NYC for over 15 years. The place was cleaned up by Mayor Giuliani. A lot of people complained that he was too harsh and a dic(k)tator. I look at it in a different way. You have to be a mother fucker to get anything done in this city. I’m talking about just getting in the subway every morning. He stepped on a lot of toes and he got things done. Ok enough about the former Mayor.

On the rare occasion that I feel that I’m in danger I whip out my trusty flashlight. That’s right a flashlight. Not just any flashlight it’s relatively inexpensive, comes in NYC’s favorite color (Black), it has a 35 hour plus life span on 3 triple AAA batteries and you are not going to get grief from the police about it. The flashlight is made by Coast and the model is V2 LED Lenser Power Chip Flashlight. I’ve never had to use it against an attacker but when this light is turned on the beam is blinding, even on a sunny day. The aggressor is temporarily blinded which gives you a few precious seconds to get away to get help and call the police.

V2 LED Lenser Power Chip Flashlight

I personally do not recommend getting into a physical confrontation if you can help it. There is no shame in running away. I have several friends who are in the NYPD and they regale me with stories of people getting caught in the maw of the justice system trying to protect themselves or their loved ones. The law doesn’t look at circumstance it only see’s a crime and if you are arrested the prosecutor is going to press charges. Call the police and let them do their job. Keep alert and stay safe.

Posted in Knives / Tools, Self Defense | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Keep Your Wits About You – The Little Black Book of Violence

by SurvivalGuy Posted on April 21, 2011

My daily travels take me through a variety of neighborhoods and I come across a wide range of people. 99 percent of the people I encounter are completely reasonable. About 1% are not. They are the few who make others lives miserable and they are best avoided. Depending on your state of awareness or disposition towards other people you might not notice them until it’s too late.

Having common sense and street smarts is a big part of living in a city. I take both of these for granted and it’s hard to instill this knowledge into friends and family who do not live in the city. I have a completely different mental perspective when I walk out my door than someone in the suburbs or the country. You always have to be on point and be careful.

I have a couple of nephews that are growing up in the city and  I am concerned about them and the mistakes they may make to learn what they have to before becoming responsible adults. When they get a little bit older I’m putting this book in their hands. The Little Black Book of Violence: What Every Young Man Needs to Know About Fighting.

It would seem that I was lucky growing up in the city and God was watching over my shoulder when I was doing stupid kid stuff. Hopefully this book could prevent my nephews from learning some of these lessons the hard way.

The Little Black Book of Violence: What Every Young Man Needs to Know About Fighting

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ASE30 Safe Escape Fire and Smoke Hood

by SurvivalGuy Posted on February 21, 2011

My work place just bought a dozen of these just in case we have a fire and we’re walking down a million flights of stairs. At first look the picture on the case made me laugh. After making several jokes with my coworkers the reality of a potential fire situation in a high rise sobered me up. Hopefully I won’t get back to anyone about the fire and escape hood and if I do then hopefully it works really well.

ASE30 Safe Escape Fire and Smoke Hood w/Soft Case - Qty 1

Posted in First Aid, Gear Review | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Politicians and Gun Control Laws

by SurvivalGuy Posted on January 13, 2011

Here are some recent articles about politicians proposing additional gun control laws during the aftermath of the shooting of Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. My prayers go out to all of the people affected by this tragedy.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Rep. Pete King today introduced new legislation that would make it illegal to bring a gun within 1,000 feet of a government official.

Democratic Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy of New York is drafting legislation that would ban the sale of high-capacity gun ammunition magazines to civilians in the aftermath of the tragic shooting in Tucson, Arizona.

Jared Lee Loughner, the suspect in the Tucson, Arizona shootings that left six people dead and U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords critically wounded (was) is crazy. He was an unknown variable in the world that legally was able to purchase a gun because he passed the federal background check. The problem with preventing crazy people from doing horrible things is that if they have not been arrested previously there is no real way of predicting if and when the will become unhinged.

Unfortunately for us law abiding citizens we usually get penalized for the stupid, irresponsible and crazy people out in the world. The percentage of the people who cause these issues is minimal. I like to think that lawmakers are like parents scolding the citizens who they view as children when one of their brood acts up. Instead of placing blame where it is deserved, on the crazy person or the rambunctious child seeking attention, they penalize everyone by taking away their TV rights or in this case limiting or banning our gun rights.

Politicians are a self serving group. Their goal is to stay in office. In order to do so they need to appease most of the people most of the time. In times of tragedy when most people are fueled by emotion and do not take time to think things through is when they pass through legislation that is harmful. In this case our second amendment rights are in jeopardy.

There are over 300 million people in the United States. Yet the only people you hear about in the news are those who have done something wrong. I believe this focus on negative actions makes the rest of the population fearful and callous. Politicians use this fear to further their grasp of power and limit our ability to defend ourselves and our families. The majority of the United States population is overwhelmed with day to day issues to notice the actions of a select few politicians. These select few are changing the political landscape and are concentrating their power.

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KSG Dual Feed Bull-Pup Pump Action Shotgun

by SurvivalGuy Posted on January 3, 2011

A buddy of mine told me about the  KSG Dual Feed Bull-Pup Pump Action Shotgun from Kel Tec today.  It’s not out yet so at the moment it’s just something to lust after. The Kel Tec KSG is based on the NeoStead 2000 which is made in South Africa. I like the KSG’s small size and high capacity dual magazines. I could see myself loading one tubular magazine with #2 shot and the other half with slugs for home defense purposes. I added a few pictures below so you can take a look for yourselves. If the price is not too ridiculous then I should be reviewing this shotgun once it comes out.

Kel Tec KSG

Kel Tec KSG

I have used several Kel Tec products over the years and they are well made. I have never had to contact their customer service but from what I hear you don’t want to either. Maybe they will get around to training their customer service reps now that they have remade their website. If you are thinking of buying any accessories for their products read the reviews on their site before you. Some of the reviews are down right scathing. On the positive side Kel Tec is not censoring the negative reviews which says a lot about the company. For a lot more info about Kel Tec and it’s products I recommend going to the Kel Tec Owners Group Forum.

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Hiking First Aid and Trauma Pack

by SurvivalGuy Posted on December 20, 2010

I was thinking about IFAK’s (Individual First Aid Kit) and BOK’s (Blow Out Kit) the other day for my tactical vest but I’ll go over that in the future. Since I had first aid kit’s on the brain I stopped in Kenco which is located in Kingston, NY. It’s a two story outdoor store.

I was browsing through the first aid section on the second floor and picked up the following two items for when I’m hiking through the woods. I do not expect to ever use them except for a band-aid here and there but as we all know being prepared is the way to go. I like these two kits because they were small, lightweight and water resistant. They were under $30 each so I didn’t feel all that bad about having a dedicated kit in my hiking backpack.

Adventure Medical Kits Ultralight & Watertight 9

Adventure Medical Kits Ultralight & Watertight 9

Adventure Medical Kits Trauma Pack with QuikClot

Adventure Medical Kits Trauma Packwith QuikClot

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Calverton Shooting Range NY Part 2

by SurvivalGuy Posted on November 29, 2010

I hope everyone’s Thanksgiving went well. Here is the continuation of my trip to the Calverton Shooting Range in Long Island New York. Below are pics of my friends Ruger Police Service Six in .38 Caliber and Kel Tec P3AT in .380 caliber. The Kel Tec P3AT is a tiny handgun that you can put anywhere. I fired two 6 round magazines into the target and after wards my hand had the checkering embedded into it. My friend who is 6ft 4in and about 265 lbs keeps it in his pocket. I joke with him that no one in their right mind is going to start messing with him and that his punch would do more damage than his little gun. Since I’m not a huge man I would prefer any gun to nothing at all. I enjoyed shooting the revolver more than I did the Kel Tec pocket .380.  The .38 revolver with the trigger pulled back is very accurate and has little kick. It takes a while to reload with out speed loaders but since it’s only for the range and not for self defense that’s fine. I have a bunch more pics of a variety of weapons that we used at the range so I’m going to continue with Part 3 later on this week.

Ruger Police Service Six

Ruger Police Service Six

Ruger Police Service Six

Ruger Police Service Six Target

Kel Tec P3AT

Kel Tec P3AT

Kel Tec P3AT

Kel Tec P3AT Target

Posted in Gun Review | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Calverton Shooting Range NY Part1

by SurvivalGuy Posted on November 25, 2010

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I have more pictures of guns and targets from a previous trip to the Calverton Shooting Range in NY that I have meant to post. The range I go to is in Long Island, NY. The address is  Calverton Shooting Range, Inc., 395 Nugent Drive (County Road 94), Calverton, NY 11933. It takes about 1 hour and 20 minutes to get to from the city. It’s a good place to go for a day of shooting during the week. It get’s crowded on the weekends so I recommend going early. The range sells ammo so you don’t have to worry about buying some before you go. There is a considerable markup so I wouldn’t buy ammo on-site unless you absolutely have to. When you get to the range one of the range employees will come over to your party and ask you for the range fee. Here are some pics of the range.

Calverton Shooting Range

Calverton Shooting Range - Rifle

Calverton Shooting Range - Pistol

When we arrived at the range we started with the pistols. I do not shoot handguns nearly as often as I would like so I made it a point to get myself up to speed and I went through most of our handgun ammo. My friends didn’t mind since they go more often than I do. Below I have pics of the Kahr K9 DAO pistol in 9mm and the Glock 19 in 9mm. The targets for each follows the guns.

Kahr K9 DAO

Kahr K9 DAO

Kahr K9 DAO

Target Kahr K9 DAO

Glock 19

Glock 19

Glock 19

Target Glock 19

My aim wasn’t all that great as you can see above. I tend to shoot a bit low initially. After I warm up I tend to hit center mass. The targets were 10 yards away and I was shooting rapid fire to see how I would fare against a human sized target at that range under pressure. The Kahr K9 DAO had  along trigger pull and the Glock 19 had a 12 and 1/2 lb trigger pull. Since both guns were owned my friends I didn’t complain too much. I prefer a short crisp trigger pull on my firearms and my performance changes when that differs. I’ve had a long Turkey day and I’m going to cut the post short. If anyone has questions please feel free to contact me. I’ll post part 2 on Friday.

Posted in Gear Review, Gun Review, Training | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments