Wednesday Wisdom: 14 January 2026

Medal of Honor: Staff Sergeant Earl D. Plumlee

Sergeant Plumlee instantly responded to an enemy attack on Forward Operating Base Ghazni—Ghazni Province, Afghanistan —that began with an explosion that tore a 60-foot breach in the base’s perimeter wall. Ten insurgents wearing Afghan National Army uniforms and suicide vests poured through the breach. Sergeant Plumlee and five others mounted two vehicles and raced toward the explosion. When his vehicle was engaged by enemy fire, Sergeant Plumlee reacted instinctively, using his body to shield the driver prior to exiting the vehicle and engaging an enemy insurgent 15 meters to the vehicle’s right with his pistol. Without cover and in complete disregard for his own safety, he advanced on the enemy, engaging multiple insurgents with only his pistol. Upon reaching cover, he killed two insurgents —one with a grenade and the other by detonating the insurgent’s suicide vest using precision sniper fire. Again, disregarding his own safety, Sergeant Plumlee advanced alone against the enemy, engaging several insurgents at close range, including one whose suicide vest exploded a mere seven meters from his position.

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Breaking Contact by Avoidance Pt 2 

Claude Werner provided one piece of advice that encapsulates many of the lessons we’ve learned from studying high-profile self-defense cases, lessons that include the importance of avoidance, de-escalation, disengagement, and the use of less lethal force. Claude said, “Our goal in personal protection is to force a break in contact. We want them to go away, or we want to go away. One or the other.”

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Values as Revealed Commitments, Not Slogans

American public life is full of references to “values.” Schools publish lists of them, corporations celebrate them, political movements claim them, and the military codifies them in the well-known set of Army Values. But whether we are speaking of a Soldier or a civilian, a society or an individual, values are not what we say they are. They are what our actions reveal we truly place value upon. Economists call these “revealed preferences.” Anthropology describes them as “lived norms.” In ordinary language, they are simply what we prove we care about when it costs us something.

The problem in modern America is that publicly stated values have increasingly taken on the character of platitudes, statements affirmed out of habit or social expectation, detached from the lived commitments they demand. People can repeat words like loyalty, duty, or community while living in ways that demonstrate radically different priorities. Institutions, including the Army, sometimes reinforce this problem by presenting values as lists to memorize rather than deep obligations to understand.

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‘If It Dries It Dies’: A Surgeon's Guide to Wound Care

Excellent information on wound care from someone who is qualified to have an opinion. Disclaimer: If you’ve recently had surgery or an injury and are being treated by another physician, please follow their instructions, not these. There are some differences in thinking about how to care for wounds, especially in different places around the body. 

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The Hidden Benefit of Firearms Competition: An Anecdote

“I bet these old guys pushing their buggies around are going to kick our ass.” Quote from a SWAT team member whose team was shooting a Steel Challenge match in preparation for the TTPOA 2025 SWAT competition. (Although his team members shot well, he was right. The “old” guys – all of whom were Steel Challenge Masters or Grand Masters – smoked them in the match.) Firearms competition can help or hurt if you don’t approach it with the correct mindset. Competition puts you under stress and learning to shoot well under stress is a valuable skill. 

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Cell Phone Spy Apps: What You Need to Know

Good to know information concerning cell phone spy applications. Mobile spy apps have surged in popularity—and controversy in recent years. Whether it’s a parent trying to protect a child, a business owner safeguarding sensitive company data, or someone crossing ethical lines in a relationship, these tools offer powerful capabilities that can easily blur the line between safety and surveillance. 

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Scaling Penetration Depth from Clear Ballistics Gelatin to FBI 10% Porcine Ballistic Gelatin

I often see discussions concerning whether gelatin tests truly reflect what a bullet does when striking living flesh. Gelatin does not; however, what gelatin does do is allow apples to apples testing and comparisons of different bullet designs. Many (me included) use the Clear Ballistics 10% synthetic gelatin for ammunition testing due to convenience. However, Clear Ballistics 10% synthetic gelatin does not directly replicate the 10% nominal porcine gelatin that the FBI uses. This article compares the two gelatin types and tests their performance. 

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Pattern Your Home Defense Shotgun

I personally believe that the shotgun is an excellent choice of a home defense weapon. I teach home defense shotgun classes and often run competitions where we allow the use of home defense shotguns in the match. A critical but often overlooked aspect of being prepared to use your home defense shotgun is determining the pattern that your shotgun produces with a particular buckshot load. In shotgun circles, this process is called patterning your shotgun.

Without patterning you will not know the size and shape of your shotgun’s pattern with a given load at a given distance. You must do this with the ammunition you intend to use in your home defense shotgun. The way manufacturers produce shotgun barrels means that no two guns will pattern exactly alike--even with the exact same ammunition. Your gun may pattern very poorly with one brand or size of buckshot yet do very well with another. The only way to know is to shoot the buckshot loads at varying distances. This article discusses the process of patterning your shotgun with a given 00 buckshot load. If you are interested in more information on the home defense shotgun, you can download my Home Defense Shotgun Manual for the nominal sum of $5.00 here. 

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Wi-Fi Jamming Attacks Are on the Rise -- How They Affect Your Smart Home Security.

With more than a third of North American homes protected by a video doorbell or some other Wi-Fi-dependent device, it’s reasonable to worry about the growing threat of Wi-Fi jammers. These devices can override your smart home security system’s ability to communicate making it easier than ever for criminals to block your security system’s primary communications signal. With that signal blocked, the burglars can break into your home without you noticing—until it’s too late.

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The Legend of Scarface

Scarface roamed the Masai Mara, Kenya’s famed game reserve teeming with wildlife and home to every species of the iconic “Big Five.” When one conjures up classical images of Africa, those visions most assuredly come from this massive sanctuary that runs contiguous with Tanzania’s Serengeti. This is Hemingway’s Africa in its fullest grandeur. And this is where Scarface ruled for an incomparable 14 years or more.

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Understanding Primal Aggression vs. Cognitive Aggression

Although written for a police audience, the discussion has applicability for the private citizen as well.

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Ian’s Thoughts

A discussion about random internet assholes who suggest and push breaking the law on weapons carry. Especially the ones who spout such bumper sticker wisdom as: "Better to be judged by twelve than carried by six." Before you suggest that young woman carry a weapon in violation of State and Federal laws, why don't you show us the escrow account where you've set aside $10,000 in bond money, and another $50,000 in legal fees for her?

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Wednesday Wisdom: 7 January 2026

Happy New Year, and belated welcome to 2026.  Hopefully the progress started in 2025 will continue. 

Why the Department of War is Afraid of Guns

Current events provide a glimpse into some of the forces that impact training processes and competency for armed professionals.

The recent attack on members of the National Guard in Washington D.C. struck a bit of a personal chord. Video (note that this video is behind a paywall) obtained by the Wall Street Journal showed soldiers scrambling under fire with what appeared to be unloaded weapons—clearly struggling to rectify the issue. This event touched a nerve because it is reminiscent of so many of the experiences that led to the writing and publication of the book Building Shooters and, ultimately, to the development of the NURO® Shooting System.

To be clear, we have no inside knowledge. We don’t know for sure what the standing orders for the National Guard members were. As a result, we are making some educated assumptions based on experience as to what most likely led to the events shown in the video.

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 Big Talk, but Scant Change!

Our new Secretary of War is aggressively emphasizing “The Warrior Ethos,” and inspiring all our troops to embrace his way of thinking: “Everyone who serves must be individually ready to defend himself and our nation, instantly and enthusiastically, with lethal force when necessary.” The (Nov 25) fatal armed attack on two of our uniformed National Guardsmen in Washington DC by a lone Islamic terrorist unhappily reveals that little has changed at the base level.

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A Triple Barrel Shotgun?

The concept of a three-barrel shotgun is not new. As early as the late 19th and early 20th centuries, prestigious gunmakers from Britain — such as Boss & Co. and John Dickson & Sons — produced triple-barrel shotguns.

American Tactical Cavalry 3B is making an affordable triple-barrel shotgun that would be a extreme home-defense shotgun. 

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Breaking Contact

Lead prosecutor Jason Hermus cross-examined Amber Guyger during the former Dallas police officer’s trial for the murder of Botham Jean. Coming off a long double shift, Guyger mistakenly entered the wrong apartment — one floor above her own. When she encountered the occupant in a dimly-lit living room, she shot him, thinking he was an intruder in her own home. The shot was fatal.

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The "Twilight Zone" of Wound Ballistics 

The (now defunct) International Wound Ballistics Review had a wealth of information from actual experts. (Note: This article references the television show The Twilight Zone, which featured actor Rod Sterling) There is one common misconception which has done much to confuse and mislead people about wound ballistics: the belief that there is some mysterious mechanism by which a bullet can cause sudden incapacitation without disruption of the central nervous system or rapid blood loss. Rod Serling might have introduced it this way: "There is another method of incapacitation beyond that which is known to man. It is in the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition and it lies between the pit of man's ignorance and the summit of his imagination. It is a mechanism we call:

(Chose any or all:)

- Stopping power

- Hydrostatic shock

- Relative Incapacitation Index

- Remote effects

- Kinetic energy transfer

- Temporary cavitation

- "Chi" vibrations

- Reticular activating system shutdown

- Shocking power

While the above exotic, mysterious, and always ambiguous definitions have a powerful attraction to many people, the reality of incapacitation is much more banal. The only reliable mechanisms by which bullets can cause rapid incapacitation are:

1. The bullet either struck and damaged the central nervous system, the heart, a major vessel, organ or bone rendering the suspect physically incapable of continuing or;

2. The person being shot consciously and voluntarily decided to cease his assault or escape.

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 War on Heroes: The Hidden Battle That’s Unmaking Our Sons

The heroes our sons admire forge their souls, and our future. They Still Matter. Walk into a cinema today and you will be surrounded by heroes, or at least, by figures dressed in the costume of heroism. Capes flutter, swords clash, superpowers are flung about in a riot of special effects. Never before has the screen been so crowded with champions, and yet never before has the idea of heroism felt so hollow. These luminous figures entertain, but they do not instruct. They dazzle, but they do not inspire. For all their spectacle, they do not serve the ancient function of the hero: to teach men and women how to live.

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Emergency Eating: Survival Food for When the Stores are Empty!

Being prepared for the unexpected is not paranoia, but smart, sound thinking. Whether a manmade emergency strikes or Mother Nature displays her power, the norm of everyday living can get disrupted quickly. With such crises, the food supply chain can be broken with many people left scavenging for whatever they can find. Don’t be these people. Instead, prepare well ahead of any problems. The survival food listed below is a great starting point. They offer needed calories, durable packaging, and an incredibly long shelf-life that will go the distance until things get back to the status quo, whenever that may be.

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Beware Old Men--They are Dangerous

Back in high school, I had a wrestling and football coach who constantly said none of us would be able to beat him in Oklahoma drills or a bout on the mats because he was “old man tough.” I severely doubted his bold statement, given that he was only 5’ 6” and maybe weighed 160 pounds soaking wet. Moreover, I was confused as to how being old would be of any benefit in a test of physical strength.

While I am certainly not at an age that can be qualified as old myself, as the pages of the calendar are torn away, I am beginning to understand what he meant. Age breeds experience, specifically the experience of handling difficult circumstances, and while the body may be weaker, you are left with a more resilient spirit that cannot be as easily crushed.

Such was the case with my gray-haired coach (who, might I add, pinned even our best wrestlers every time they faced him), and such was the case of Captain Samuel Whittemore.

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Man attacks Wash. SRO who stopped to help at crash, tries to grab her gun 

After a TASER was ineffective, the man began fighting with the Thurston County SRO and others who arrived to assist, including a tribal officer and an off-duty corrections officer.

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Could You Really?

A female relative approached me with some concerns she had. “Kathy,” she asked me, with somewhat elaborate casualness, “your husband tells me you’ve been taking a lot of shooting classes…?”

“Yep,” I told her, “I’ve got another class coming up in March, an advanced class which I’m taking over again because I didn’t do as well on the test at the end as I’d hoped. It’s pretty challenging stuff.”

She shot me a weird, sidelong glance, and then said, “Well, as long as you enjoy it. You know, guns really scare me. I like shooting at paper a little bit, but … I’d never be able to shoot it, like at another person I mean. And guns really do scare me.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I know what you mean.”

“My husband kept telling me I should carry one, back when I was doing all that driving every weekend by myself. But I thought, you know, I’m not going to use it, I really wouldn’t.”

I told her, “I understand what you’re saying. I think you’re safer without a gun than with one, if you aren’t sure you could use it.”

She nodded. “Anyway, um, er (stammer stammer stutter), I wanted to ask you. Do you think you could use a gun, like that? Really?” 

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Carry a Firearm - FBI Disrupts Alleged New Year’s Eve Attack

The Justice Department and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of North Carolina announced that a Mint Hill, North Carolina man that allegedly planned to use knives and hammers to execute a deadly New Year’s Eve attack at a grocery store and a fast food restaurant in support of the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) has been arrested and charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization. The criminal complaint was filed on Dec. 31, 2025, and was unsealed on Jan. 2, 2026 after Christian Sturdivant, 18, appeared in federal court in Charlotte.

 

Yet another reminder of why all competent private citizens should carry a firearm at all times. 

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Are Lever Action Rifles a Viable Home Defense Tool?

There are literally thousands of lever action riles in use in the United States and some of them likely date back to the 1800’s. A lot of people are writing about using levers in a defensive role. But, are they practical for home defense? Perhaps. I have recently used a Winchester Model 94 lever action chambered in .44 magnum for my Sensible Self Defense Academy (SSD-A) Short Range Match with reasonable results.

The Match

The SSD-A Short Range Match follows IDPA-style safety principles and generally will have all targets at no more than 10-15 yards from the shooter. Most stages are based upon real-life events such as armed robberies, home invasions, an occasional terrorist attack, etc. that were recorded on video and adapted for a square range. Otherwise, the stages are regular courses of fire, with many stages requiring a reload.

The targets we use are a modified ShootSteel.com cardboard target. I first encountered this target in Tom Givens Shotgun Instructor Course and have been using it in Short Range matches ever since. We score the targets in IDPA-style with hits in the B zone down zero, the D zone down three, and any hit with the full diameter of the bullet above the shoulders in the head or neck also down zero. There is no “down one” in this match. We cover all threat targets and non-threats with a T-shirt to prevent the shooter from having a reference aiming point (typically a blob of masking tape as the match progresses).

A short-range course of fire match makes firearms suitable for self-defense and home defense more competitive. We encourage competitors to use their everyday carry pistol in the regular short range matches and we have two pistol divisions: concealed, and unconcealed. We also periodically have home-defense short range matches where competitors can use their home-defense shotgun in the match.

We also permit pistol caliber carbines (PCC) and have added a manual PCC division. If the manual PCC is loaded to .357 magnum full power loads or higher, then only one “zero-down” hit is required to neutralize a target. This precludes having a “reload fest” during a stage since most manual PCCs have limited ammo capacity. However, it does require greater accuracy on the shooter’s part because a down three hit requires a second shot.

Lever Actions for Home Defense

I doubt that anyone knowledgeable about firearms would argue that a full-power .357 magnum would be an inadequate home defense caliber. The .357 magnum is even more powerful from a PCC.  Lucky Gunner did a comprehensive series of tests with lever PCCs in .357 magnum and .44 magnum.(1) They found that the velocity from a lever PCC versus a handgun was from approximately 25 to almost 50 percent higher in the lever PCC depending upon the load. 

However, the lever action does have some potential limitations. Two of which are ammunition capacity and reloading speed. My Winchester lever .44 PCC holds ten rounds in the gun, and I have a butt cuff that holds an additional six rounds for sixteen available rounds. My Winchester lever action .44 PCC probably has enough available ammunition to handle almost any home defense situation.(2) Of course, I could load hot .44 Special rounds and get a few more in the magazine tube.

Taking one round at a time from the butt cuff makes reloading a necessarily slow proposition. Would this be a serious limitation in an actual incident? Probably not. I doubt that home invaders will stick around and engage in a gunfight when facing a rifle-armed defender, so I suspect that a reload requirement during a home invasion incident is unlikely.

Reliability?

Are lever actions reliable enough for this task? Mine is. I have had no difficulties using my lever action PCC in five SSD-A matches as of this article. That is not the case with one of my friends, however. He purchased a new Ruger/Marlin 1894 in .357 magnum and has had numerous problems with it. If he runs the action at any speed above slow, it tends to jam and lock up (see below). He sent the rifle back to Ruger and they told him that the problem was resolved; however, in the last match it resurfaced. He runs his guns with a degree of enthusiasm and he does not baby them, but he does not use excessive force. The rifle is now in the hands of a gunsmith who specializes in modifying lever actions for cowboy action shooting. We’ll see how that comes out.

Action is Locked Up

In Closing

I like lever actions and I own several including a couple of Marlins, several Winchesters, and a Big Horn Armory 500 Linebaugh. I would not choose a lever action rifle as a home defense weapon unless that was my only option. That said, if I was limited to using a manual rifle for home defense, I would not feel too under gunned with a lever action—particularly with the .44 magnum, the 500 Linebaugh, or one of the rifle cartridges. The Lucky Gunner test results indicate that the .357 magnum PCCs would be more than adequate as well with the right factory load.

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(1) .357 Magnum vs .44 Magnum Lever Actions, October 16, 2020; Chris Baker; https://www.luckygunner.com/lounge/357-magnum-vs-44-magnum-lever-actions/

(2) I review home invasion videos when I research incidents for potential Short Range Match scenarios. Three to five home invaders is not uncommon and I encountered a video of one incident that had nine home invaders.

Wednesday Wisdom: 31 December 2025

Medal of Honor: Donald Gilbert Cook

Captain Cook willingly and unselfishly put the interests of his comrades before that of his own well-being and, eventually, his life. Giving more needy men his medicine and drug allowance while constantly nursing them, he risked infection from contagious diseases while in a rapidly deteriorating state of health. This unselfish and exemplary conduct, coupled with his refusal to stray even the slightest from the Code of Conduct, earned him the deepest respect from not only his fellow prisoners, but his captors as well. Rather than negotiate for his own release or better treatment, he steadfastly frustrated attempts by the Viet Cong to break his indomitable spirit, and passed this same resolve on to the men with whose well-being he so closely associated himself.

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A New Anonymous Phone Carrier Lets You Sign Up with Nothing but a Zip Code

An offer of cellular service for your existing phone that makes near-total mobile privacy the permanent, boring default of daily life in the US. “We're not looking to cater to people doing bad things,” says Merrill. “We're trying to help people feel more comfortable living their normal lives, where they're not doing anything wrong, and not feel watched and exploited by giant surveillance and data mining operations. I think it’s not controversial to say most people want that.”

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Gunfight Training That Works: A Case Study

“If I can’t hit my opponent, I can’t possibly win.” A case study in producing gunfight winning performance at scale is to place zero emphasis on qualification, apply training process frequently and consistently over time, and adopt an “All basics—All the time” approach with an emphasis on hitting small targets at speed.

“Evidence-based” is one of the hot new buzzwords in professional firearms and tactical training circles. As a general concept, of course, everyone should support this. We all should just want to do what works.

In practice things are a bit more complex. We simply don’t have a lot of good data regarding successful performance in gunfights. The big data sets that we do have (i.e., LEOKA and UCR) are mostly based on failure.

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Heckler & Koch Close Assault Weapon System (CAWS)

In the early 1980s the US military’s Joint Service Small Arms Program (JSSAP) launched the Close Assault Weapon System program. The CAWS program evolved from several other efforts, including RHINO and Multipurpose Individual Weapon System (MIWS) to create a new combat shotgun. CAWS aimed to create a shotgun with greater range and more firepower than a conventional shotgun which could engage targets within 100m to 150m. The weapon was to be used in anti-area, material and personnel roles using a variety of specialized shotgun cartridge loads. The need for a CAWS was based on both British experience during the Malayan Emergency and American experiences during the Vietnam War when shotguns had played an important tactical role during close range engagements.

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Shots Fired: Skokie, Illinois 08/25/2008

There were 17 total hits on his body including three fatal shots to his head, a couple to his torso, and one to his abdomen," Gramins says. "Which means that even though Maddox was mortally wounded before the head shots, he was still able to engage me.

"People don't die the way we think they do," Gramins says. "I had 17 rounds in the guy. That will teach you how critical shot placement is."

Gramins' inability to successfully place rounds in the early part of the engagement is readily understandable given both the spontaneous nature of the attack and the confined environment he'd found himself in. Still, he'd made the most out of suppressive fire.

"Early in the fight, I didn't see where my rounds were going," says Gramins. "I had a favorable backdrop but didn't have my front sight. You need to find that front sight as fast as you can.

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Davidson’s Exclusive Smith & Wesson J-Frame Revolvers

Smith & Wesson has just added two new options in the form of the Davidson’s Exclusive Model 432 and Model 632, both J-Frames chambered for .32 H&R Magnum. The two wheelguns are functionally the same besides their finish colors, with the 432 sporting a black-anodized aluminum matte finish and the 632 featuring a matte silver finish.

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Finding Your Reason

“It’ll just get taken away from you and used against you.”

This annoying and offensive sentence, with its unspoken accusations of female inferiority and lack of resolve, is nevertheless based on an important truth: If you carry a gun and are not prepared to use it if necessary, you are indeed at risk for a gun grab or worse.

A lot of concealed carry folks swim in a sea of euphemisms; I just did it myself. “Use it if necessary” avoids the blunter but more honest, “to kill another human being in order to save an innocent life.” If speaking bluntly about the purpose of our concealed weapons doesn’t come easily to most of us, how much more difficult would the deed itself be? Socially, psychologically, and emotionally, few people unwaveringly consider the full implications of carrying a deadly weapon for self defense.

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There Are Many Like It: 250 Years of Marine Corps Service Rifles

Since its founding in 1775, the United States Marine Corps has earned a distinguished reputation as one of the world's premier naval infantry forces. This legacy is built on an unwavering fighting spirit, strict adherence to the highest standards, and formidable marksmanship skills; forged in combat using a tool of warfare that has evolved dramatically over the last 250 years - the rifle.

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Point of Law: The Limits of Electronic Searches

In March 2025 the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued a decision in United States v. Holcomb, 23-469 (9th Cir. 2025), where the court considered “whether an individual can be prosecuted for despicable criminal conduct based on evidence obtained in violation of the United States Constitution. Ultimately, the Ninth Circuit judges wrote, “In the circumstances of this case, respect for the Constitution and the rule of law requires an answer of “no.”

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Raising Boys into Men: Reclaiming the Game

There was a time in America when boys learned how to become men not from lectures, school counselors, or influencers on the internet, but from the direct example of older men who lived lives worth imitating. Fathers, uncles, veterans, tradesmen, and community leaders used to take boys out into the woods, onto the water, or into the workshop and teach them through doing. For several generations, the greatest expression of this was something Robert Baden-Powell called a “game for boys.” That is all Scouting originally was, just a game, but one so well-designed that it shaped the character of millions.

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When you outsource your security to the government--You get government security

Please correct me if I’m mistaken, but it seems to me that two terrorists rampaged with a five-round bolt-action Beretta BRX1, and a tube-fed shotgun for AT LEAST ten minutes — on bloody video — while four (4) armed Australian police officers … didn’t stop them.

Four armed officers on-scene while two bastards armed with weapons that don’t reload quickly played Whack-A-Mole … and a citizen had to be the one to rush them.

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