We are currently planning two options for “night sights”. One will be what we call the “stealth light” and the other will be a light charged front sight. Both will be options, via upgrades for all current and future ATS users.

Light charged front sight: Until now, this has been an alternative that I’ve avoided, because of the short amount of glow time after exposure to a light source. However, ever evolving technology has produced longer post light exposure glow times. Some variations will glow for 12 hours and another claims that a 24-hour glow response is available. We are now evaluating the length of the effective glow of these newer technologies. Producing a light charged front sight that will last many years longer than a tritium insert, be less delicate, and one where a single light exposure will produce an effective 12 hour glow (effective is the key word here) from a single exposure to light, would be a great upgrade to have. That means that a police officer could charge a front sight before leaving for his or her shift, and have that front sight stay activated throughout the entire shift. We would continue to upgrade to the newest (the longest lasting) glow technology as they became available. When and if an effective 24 and 36 hour and even longer glow durations are available, we will incorporate them. Should the glow time durations become that long, it would mean that just the casual ambient light encountered by the normal daily handling a firearm, could be enough for continued activation. When we have completed our testing, we’ll announce a ship date and the colors that will be affected. This upgrade is not too far away.

“Stealth Light”: The Stealth Light was conceptualized for the professional, though these units will be available to all. Given a particular tactical task, drawing attention to a continually illuminated sight may be counter-indicated. The Stealth Light will be no larger than most blue tooth devices and will attach around one’s ear, to glasses, or even to a cap or helmet. A switch will activate and deactivate the device. With the Stealth Light, almost all extraneous light waves, other than the ones needed to illuminate the Advantage Tactical Sight, will be suppressed. In a completely darkened room, with zero visibility, the prototype Stealth Light emits an almost undetectable, unless you are specifically searching for it, purple glow. With the addition of even the slightest ambient light, the difficult to detect purple glow disappears. We now have a viable candidate to produce the Stealth Light for us. More will be announced, as the project progresses. We expect that the actual production Stealth Light will operate even efficiently than the prototype.

About night sights: I’ve written before that I’ve always thought that night sights (tritiums), as we’ve mostly known them, were more for mental comfort than an actual tactical necessity. It is a very heartening, for some people, to bring home that new pistol, go into the bathroom, turn out the lights, and observe their sights glow in complete darkness. It is human nature to be encouraged by a light source, when enveloped in total darkness. However, with the need to identify one’s target, and the arm’s length reality of truly darkened encounters, one may wonder about the actual tactical relevance that night sights provide, as well as what may be compromised with the single-minded sight attentiveness of some who would use 3- dot night sights in darkened situations.

However, after having made the above statements, I believe there may be darkened situations were sight perception would make a difference, as infrequent as those circumstances may be. At very close to medium/close range, all one needs is a visible front sight. Identifying one larger and pointed light source would certainly be quicker than trying to find 3 small light sources, when adrenalin is running high and time is measured in fractions of a second. For the professional, by which I mean entry teams, special forces, swat teams, etc., controlling sight illumination via our Stealth Light could also make a difference in particular situations. The Stealth Light will utilize a minute light source, along with our patent pending non-essential wavelength suppression technology, and will be powered by the most energy efficient hearing aid batteries. Even with continued activation, the stealth light will be operable for very long periods of time without battery replacement.

This is where we are in the development of night sight options, for those ATS users who perceive the need for sight illumination beyond our normal ambient light sensitive florescent inserts. Your thoughts about these “night sight” options are always welcome.

Richard

SOME TECHNICAL THINGS worth considering about alignment, color selection, and elevation adjustments before finalizing your set-up:

ATS ACCLIMATION

Buyers of Advantage Tactical Sights come in three acclimation categories: 1) those that get the sight right away and can shoot it well from the get-go; 2) those that need some learning curve time, before the sight kicks in for them. 3) and finally those that have difficulty with the concept, because their motor memory is so programmed to traditional sight usage.

Fortunately, at least 85% fall in the first category, about another 10% may fall in the second category, and maybe 2-3% may actually fall in the final category. The following is for those very few in the last category, who are having trouble with the transition:

First, before a shooting session, sit in a place quiet, relax, close your eyes and visualize the sight picture. Make sure you visualize the very tip-top of the pyramid as being where the bullet will go. Next, at the range, just before you shoot, look at the target and look at where you want the bullet to impact. Continue to look at the place of intended bullet impact on the target and don’t look anywhere or at anything else. Then, present the pistol; the instinctively aligned pyramid sight picture will be there, without any need to consciously align anything. Lastly, while still looking at the intended point of impact on the target, as you look through the pyramid sight picture, fire your pistol. You’ll hit where you were looking. Continue to fire, even rapidly, and you’ll punch out the target where you were looking. This method works well, out to about 12 to 15 yards or so. I’ve taught many to do this in a manner of minutes. Anyone can learn to do this with our sights. Most do this with both eyes open and some even learn to do it a greater distances. Personally, beyond about 15 yards, I need to close one eye and precisely aim.

SHIMMING

I’ve read customer comments from different sources, where certain ATS users seem to be joyous that they didn’t need to use shims. Those statements were made as if shimming were a bad thing and somehow they had escaped having to do it. With a properly formed sight picture and good trigger control, utilizing the very tip-top of the pyramid as the focal point for bullet impact, the ATS will most surely shoot high at 25 yards without shim, especially now that we are making our front sight base floors thinner with a little more room for even more shim.

We want everyone to shoot high at 25 yards without shim, because that means somewhere between almost no shim and .060” of shim everyone will find his or her zero, given their particular barrel and load. Sixty thousands of an inch of shim will impact one’s zero by 25” to 30” at 25 yards. There is plenty of room in there for zeroing to your load, barrel and eyes. Eyes are also another factor, because even with traditional sights, two people might have a slightly different zero when using the same pistol and load, for reasons I don’t quite understand. Furthermore, one may adjust elevation by using our shims in increments of .002”. Two thousands of an inch will affect elevation by less than an inch at 25 yards. So, one may make precise elevation adjustments when needed. I guess if one confines one’s shooting to close range, amount of needed shim may be less relevant. As an action pistol competitor, I always shim so that I’m shooting around 2” high at 25 yards. That way I’m on at 50 and even 75 yards with my handgun. It’s also fun to get together with my shooting buddies to see how the ATS fairs on combat targets placed out to 100 yards.

One last thing about shimming: Always insert the thinnest shims first. In other words, when using a combination of shim thicknesses, place the thinnest shim under the next thinnest shim, and the thickest shim that you use on top. It makes shimming easier and it makes adding the most amount of shim easier. Some sight packages will include up to .059” of shim. One should be able to use all .059”, where necessary.

COLOR-COMBO SELECTION

A frequent question to Advantage Tactical has to do with color combo selections. It seems that men, more than women, have color perception challenges. When I show up at an action pistol match were several are using our sight system, everyone seems to be sporting a different color combo, and each will swear by the particular choice that was made. What are the factors that decide one’s color choices? As I understand it, though I am not an ophthalmologist, there are four main factors:

1. how one perceives a particular color by itself.
2. how one perceives the intensity of a particular color by itself.
3. how one perceives the color itself, along with the intensity of the color, in combination with other colors.
4. how one experiences the 3 above factors, in regards to barrel length.*

*That’s right! The color combo you prefer on a 3 1/2” barrel, may not be your color combo choice on a longer barrel. The perception of color, color contrast and intensity of color may be experienced differently, as barrel length changes. This is especially so with our long gun sights. So, choose the best color combo for you in the majority of your shooting environments with a particular firearm, knowing that a different color combo may (not always) be more suitable for another firearm.

In regards to limited light shooting, any color combo featuring green, yellow, orange, or white seems to be good. The primary colors are red, blue and yellow; white is not really a color. However, white as well as anything with yellow in it, like orange or green, and yellow itself, of course, will show better in diminished lighting.

For me, I like green rear and orange (not red) front for all around shooting. A close second is red rear and yellow front. The more ambient light sensitive yellow front sight stands out well for me in low light, against the larger though less ambient light sensitive red rear. At any rate, those two are what I like on most of my pistols. However, on my Glock 17L, and all other 6” barrels, the only thing that really works for me is green rear and red front, for outdoor, daytime shooting. Currently, when we send out our sight system, we always factory install a green rear insert and a red front insert. It seems to be a good place for most to start, and many do stay with that particular color combo.

If any of you seasoned ATS shooters out there have any additional tips for those just starting out, please share them in the comments below.

Richard Nasef

It’s seems that it’s such a common belief among my shooting companions that using one’s own hand loads for self defense is a “no-no”.  The stated reason is that, should one use a firearm defensively, the impeaching attorney would skewer you on the stand and make you look like a fiend who was just waiting for an opportunity to use his concoctions against the public.  My question is, is that really so?

I often hike with a .45 stoked with my hand load of 5.9 grains of American Select powder behind a 200 grain lead semi-wadcutter. It’s much cheaper than factory hollow points, always works in my pistol, is accurate, and has taken small game and certainly would work adequately in a defensive situation.  Is ammunition that important of an issue when a firearm is used for defensive purposes?  Aren’t the circumstances surrounding the use of a firearm ultimately more important than the ammo in determining the outcome of a questioned shooting incident?  Shouldn’t we expect that an opposing attorney would utilize all available information to prove a case, and not just focus on ammo.  I don’t know the answers to any of these questions, but I’d certainly prefer my own loads for all around use, as opposed to buying expensive factory ammo that I may never get around to adequately test in my handguns, let alone shoot for recreation.

So, is this admonition to never use hand loads for self defense that is bandied about by so many of my shooting acquaintances valid? I can’t really say and I don’t think many others can, either.  Are there any lawyers or people connected to the legal profession out there with a seasoned opinion about this?

Richard

Almost anywhere you go, you’re going to encounter anti-gun types from all walks of life.  Believe me, there are as many anti-gunners on the right as there are on the left.  I have many acquaintances on all sides of the political spectrum, from real lefty “pinkos” to the most opposite extreme one could imagine.  People with an aversion to firearms and shooting are no different than anyone else burdened with irrational fears.  It is a prejudice bedrocked in lack of knowledge, fear, and false information.

As many of you know, my first profession, before I got into the gun sight making business, was as a psychotherapist.  So, I like to help people; it’s in my blood.  Rather than argue the meaning of the 2nd amendment or confronting the logic of anti-gun belief systems head on, I do something different:

I calmly listen and try to understand why a particular person is so disinclined toward firearms.  I don’t, in any way, take an adversarial position.  I just let them talk it all out.  At some point, I usually ask if he or she has ever fired a weapon or, maybe I should say, a “handgun or rifle”, because the word “weapon” could be unnerving to some.  The answer to my question is almost always that they haven’t, but they would like to.  At that point, I inquire if they’d like to go shooting sometime, just to experience, first hand, an activity about which they possess such intense feelings.  Most everyone confirms my invitation, with very excited and anticipatory facial expressions.  Why this 180° turn-about, I can’t really say, though this is could be a subject worthy of much speculation.  The point is, they want to go.

At the outdoor range (it should always be outdoors for newbies) I try to make the experience as pleasant and fun as possible.  I bring out .22’s and nothing over 9mm or .38.  I’ve found that creating a penny arcade atmosphere with tin cans to shoot, steel that falls, and combat targets that really look like bad guys, is the way to go.  Other than detailed safety instructions, I watch over them, as they shoot tin cans, steel that falls, bad guy targets, and attempt to shoot tighter groups on paper.  I try not to be too fussy, at this point anyway, about shooting technique, as I just want these guys and gals to have a positive experience and enjoy themselves.  The shooting session is usually followed by lunch at a restaurant known for good food and a relaxed atmosphere.

Through this first shooting session and lunch afterword, everyone is smiling and relaxed.  To the person, everyone admits to having had a good time as well as experiencing a sense of accomplishment.  Armed with new knowledge and some degree of mastery, fear and the negativity it earlier generated has dwindled.

I’ve done this now many times and always with a positive result.  Most say they would like to go out again.  All seem to be more rational about their firearm opinions and about 1/3 have actually purchased their own gun.  If you argue with and browbeat someone whose position on an issue is largely emotional, that person will just become more entrenched in his or her emotion based beliefs.  You cannot win an argument with anyone using logic and facts, if that person’s belief system is strongly emotion based.  At first, the only way to make progress with those with emotion based belief systems is to help them change how they feel about a particular subject which, in this case, is about firearms.  When feelings are no longer so negative, people are more open to logic, facts, and new information.  I believe this is the way to make inroads with anti-gunners, if you have the will and patience to do it.

Richard

You know, some people are describing the ATS as a “geezer and/or training wheels” sight, even though there have been several articles describing the benefits of the ATS for those who are, to some degree, vision challenged. I really don’t mind that reputation, as the American population is aging and there will always be a fresh crop of new shooters. Articles mentioning the virtues of the ATS for the vision challenged and being a quick-learn for new shooters are not new. However, there is no doubt that among a few, some of these articles have contributed to the ATS reputation as a “something other than a real man” sight. That reputation has actually enhanced the attributes of the sight, in my mind anyway, as one that is quick to learn and easy to see.

The fact that ATS prevailed in an unbiased test of handgun sights by the Calif. Dept, of Insurance, Fraud Division (on the home page of our website), and was acclaimed as the sight of choice for the vision challenged by Alex Hamilton in the 2012 Jan/Feb “pistol smithing” section of the American Handgunner magazine, actually speaks highly to our new reputation. Do real men shoot traditional sights? And will those with ATS sights be scorned, laughed at, and ultimately replaced by spouses and girlfriends for a real man with a prominent post-and-notch sight?

To all you ATS daredevils out there with solid male identities, and to their devoted and steadfast significant others, thank you for your loyalty and your willingness to embrace new concepts. And to those dumped by spouses and girlfriends for men who possessed an old post-and-notch, I salute you, along with my sympathies and condolences.

I’m still laughing; I hope you are, too!

Richard

Local Market Vegetable Stand

Have you ever noticed that the top guy in any shooting discipline looks and seems to be relatively fit?  The 2^nd and 3^rd place winners may or may not always be so, but the very top shooters cut a nice profile on the shooting range.  I’ve noticed this phenomenon over the history of my competitive shooting years, as an action pistol shooter with a little bit of silhouette and high power shooting thrown in.  Through those years, while participating in those shooting disciplines, I’ve noticed how, for the most part, in shape the top shooters looked.  It does seem that being fit and in good health optimizes one’s shooting ability.

Recently, I’ve overcome some minor, though annoying, physical symptoms by adjusting what I ate.  For many years, I’ve been bothered by heartburn, post nasal drip, frequent coughing, and slow weight gain, despite eating relatively healthy and living an active life which included going to the gym 4 or 5 times a week.  So, one day I decided to stop eating anything with gluten.  All of a sudden, in just three days, those symptoms cleared up, except the ability to control my weight.  The next thing was to go for broke and see what would happen if I cut out grains all together.   In three months after no grain intake of any kind, I found that I had lost 20 lbs., my bad cholesterol went down, my good cholesterol amazingly went up, and my low vitamin D levels went up, too.  I then began to do some  research, via the internet, on why the no-grain eating style positively affected my health.  Though I’m not an MD or licensed nutritionist, I thought I’d like to share this info that has personally worked for me with friends and customers.  Though I failed to consult with a professional myself, it is wise to check out things first with licensed pros, before embarking on a new eating or health regimen.  Here is what worked for me, and my current understanding of why it worked:

1) All true grains are technically from the grass family, with the exception of quinoa, a seed more related to the beet and spinach family.  There seems to be no real and/or trustworthy whole grains, unless you pull them off the plant and eat them out in the field.  Cracking, cutting, and the flaking of grains for retail consumption, since we have no knowledge of the how those “whole grains” were processed, may alter their nutritional content and the way your body responds to them.

2) Carbohydrates (carbs) from processed grains (most “whole grains” are processed in some way) are metabolized more quickly than the carbs from fruits and vegetables.

3) Faster metabolizing leads to increased insulin levels and, for some, a craving for more carbs that is often the culprit in carb addiction.

4) When insulin levels are low, the body looks for other sources of fuel — the nutrients in the more slowly metabolizing protein, fruits and vegetables.  In other words, higher insulin levels lead to less absorption of nutrients.

5) Therefore, when insulin levels are high, the body does not seek other food sources and those calories and carbs from other good food sources are metabolized to a lesser degree and end up stored on the body in terms of fat.  So, I was not only absorbing less nutrients by eating grains, my body couldn’t properly metabolize my food intake and stored the remainder as fat.

6) Inadequate absorption of nutrients leads to a vicious circle of more hunger and unhealthy food intake, as the body strives for nourishment.

Therefore, maybe more of us should be eating organic, naturally processed (no hormones, antibiotics, or nitrates) protein, even fatty protein, and a good portion vegetables (be creative and have fun with your vegetable preparation) with every meal.  Finish off every meal with fresh fruit.  Include conservative portions of legumes in your meal plan, have  nuts for snacks, and eat avocado everyday.  Avocado contains several anti-inflammatory properties and facilitates the absorption of nutrients.  Stay away from desserts, sugar, and artificial sweeteners. Fruits will soon satisfy your sweet tooth and be much better for you.

So, I am not consuming any kind of grain, as I get the carbs I need from a healthy portion of slower to metabolize fruits and vegetables. There is plenty of fiber in veggies, fruits, legumes and nuts, so I don’t believe I need the grains for fiber.  I began eating this way and observed my weight go down, my overall health improve, and my mood and energy levels go up, too.  Counting calories and points, etc., has never worked for me, because one day I’d just stop counting.  It seems that as my body more efficiently learned to process and absorb nutrients, I naturally began eating less. This is an eating life style change that I seem to be embracing and not fighting, and one where I don’t have to starve myself in order to lose weight.  However, after having said all this, I am aware that this “no grainer” concept may not work for everyone, as some seem to do well with other types of eating styles.

One last note is to remember to combine good eating with some sort of exercise 5 times a week.  It’s best to find some physical activity or exercise regimen that you actually enjoy, so that your interest won’t wane, and it’s even better if you can find someone to exercise with.  With my new good eating and an exercise routine that includes, weight lifting, swimming, pilates, speed walks and hiking, I am actually moving a little quicker at our action pistol matches and don’t seem to be getting as fatigued as I once did.  I am 69 this year and if it’s not too late for me, it’s not too late for anyone to strive for better health.  You’ll see the results in your shooting scores.

To all:  Happy New Year, be safe, good shooting, and good health.

Richard

Shot Show Announcement:

Well, very soon we’ll be off to Shot Show 2012. Shot Show 2012 is in Las Vegas, Nevada, from Jan. 17 – Jan. 20, at the Sands Expo Convention Center. This will be our first time in the Law Enforcement section, which has traditionally drawn the most attention to our products, according to other companies who have displayed our products in that section in the past. Our booth no. is 6106.
In addition, for the first time, we’ll be displaying suppressed pistols adorned with an ATS. According to the largest U.S. importer / distributor of suppressors, the ATS is ideal for suppressors, as it is just tall enough to see over the can, yet low enough to fit in almost all holsters when the can is removed. We’ll also have two really impressive looking Mossberg tactical shotguns on display. Both, along with our Advantage Tactical Split-Ring Mossberg sight, have been completely camo finished.

Our booth will be more occupied this year than previous years. We’ll have our South American reps, some local reps, along with my wife and I to answer any questions you may have. Should you be in Vegas at that time, please stop by and visit.

For The Coming Year:

We are now starting our 4th generation of sights and the year 2012 will be one with more new products and a revamping of current ones. With each generation, we have added improvement to our sight system. This year we will do the same, as well as add to our product line.

Over the past 6 years, we have made ATS installation more user friendly, strengthened our front sight securing system, and made colored insert changes more stable and more flush fitting with the front and rear sights. We’ve also changed our rear sight insert pin from a dowel pin to a spring pin. The spring pin secures the insert and prevents against drifting during recoil. For 2012, we are looking at alternative compounds for our front and rear sight colored inserts. We are pretty happy with our current nylon 66 application, but we’ll be experimenting with even hardier compounds with the utmost humidity shield. Though you may not visually recognize the difference, a new front sight / rear sight insert compound may be just around the corner. Also, for 2012, the Glock and Springfield XD / XDm rear sights will have the same narrower profile as our Sig Sauer, Springfield and Kimber 1911, and S&W m&p rear sights. Customer surveys have shown either a preference for the narrower look or no preference at all.

During these past six years, we have also managed to manufacture 90% of our product in the U.S., along with 100% assembly and packaging in the U.S. By definition of several governmental agencies, the ATS is now “made in America”. At one time, most of our product was made overseas, but we have managed to bring it home and are working to get that last 10% home, too. Our largest, and very much appreciated vendors, Brownells, Inc., Midway USA, and Lone Wolf Distributors, have all been very supportive of the small price changes needed to bring our manufacturing home.

For new products in 2012, there will be a sight for the latest Taurus 709 / 740 and the Taurus 24/7 G2 pistols. Customer demand (you know what they say about the proverbial squeaky wheel) led to the Taurus project. Still to come is the “ATS Stealth Light” project. We have received favorable and not so favorable responses from customers about our answer for a true darkness “night sight”. In a posting to come, we’ll discuss more about this and address the subject of night sights, in general. Another project for 2012 will be the HK 45 and HK p30, as we have had many requests for sights for those pistols from U.S., as well as from European customers. Also, those European customers and customers from South American have been pressing for CZ 75 and Browning Hi-power sights. There are countless owners of those pistols in the U.S. and abroad that are seeking alternatives to the post-and-notch sights originally attached to those pistols. We hope to respond to those requests in the coming year. In one last addition to our proposed product line for 2012, we will be extending our split-ring shotgun sight line to accommodate FN shotgun barrel diameters. Now, certainly one of our split-ring shotgun sights should accommodate almost any shotgun. So, please call if you have a shotgun that is not listed on our website store.

There are two project upgrades for 2012. One will be facelift for the Guardian sight. We’ll give it more elevation flexibility, minimize the picatinny mount clamp, shorten the length of the mount itself, and radius everything to help prevent snagging. We may even provide a space on the clamp for a tactical light. A tactical light in that spot would also provide illumination to the front sight. The other big project that we’ll attempt to complete for 2012 will be a revamping of our S&W revolver sights. With any luck, the design overhaul may extend to Ruger revolvers as well, though we won’t have a definitive answer until we get more into the project.

Well, that’s a lot for us in 2012 but we’ll do our best to complete those projects. Oh, one last thing, we’ve just received our patent for our shim and color change systems, and our “stealth light” technology is now patent pending.

Richard

Regardless of their political leanings, it’s not hard to find urban parents that are not only opposed to their children being around firearms, even in the most responsible of environments, but many seem to oppose their boys or girls playing “cops and robbers” or any sort of imaginary play that would involve play guns, swords, etc.  Even parents more neutral about these topics often preclude certain types of children’s fantasy play, so as not to upset other parents with whom they socialize.  Reports of school officials who have harshly admonished children for making impromptu guns out of sticks and fingers are common knowledge. The erroneous belief is that such play (or, God forbid, being in the vicinity of responsible and educational firearm handling), would stimulate their children’s brains toward realistic violence, perhaps even using real versions of the same toys of their fantasy play.  Is toy weapon fantasy play bad?  How should parents handle children that are unrelentingly interested in guns, swords, knives, and the typical fantasies of childhood play, especially among boys?  Many who know me also know that my first profession, before I got into the gun sight making business, was as a licensed psychotherapist with a specialization in child clinical psychology.  The following was a real case of a boy with a knife obsession. This child had loving parents who were very against all suggestions of violence, including their son watching super hero movies, engaging in fantasy sword or gun play, etc., etc.  The more they opposed their son’s knife preoccupation, the more obsessed their son became.  One might say that his obsession with knives was partly due to his parents’ opposition to them in their son’s life.  For legal and ethical reasons, the names, some situations, and other identifying characteristics of this family have been altered or obscured.

CASE OF THE BOY WHO WAS OBSESSED WITH KNIVES:

The mother of an eight-year-old came to me with the following complaint.  “My son is obsessed with guns and knives, especially knives.  He has begun to collect them.  He begs me constantly to buy him yet another knife.  He wants to handle even our kitchen knives.  My husband and I have made every attempt to discourage our son’s interest in weapons, play that involves toy weapons, movies that exploit violence, even super-hero movies, and I have kept them from him and out of our home.  These things are not attitudes or values that we want to maintain.  However, this has made life with my son sometimes unbearable.  We fight a lot, especially about he is wanting another jack knife.  He recently has had bad dreams that wake him in the night.  The theme is always the same.  He says foreign soldiers are attacking our house and he wakes up frightened and disoriented.  Because he has had these dreams, I now firmly believe that I must continue to oppose any violent theme, which I believe is the cause of his nightmares.  My sone is often angry and disrespectful to me and his father.  Anymore, I just don’t know what to do.

The following is a synopsis of my advise to this mother and father, after having spent some time with this family:

“Barring other issues that may be at play in your child’s and family’s life, aggressive thoughts and interest in weaponry and play that involves toy weapons is normal for boys of your son’s age.  An interest in collecting things is also normal for grade school boys.  When a parent, for seemingly good reasons, overly suppresses normal “aggressive” feelings in his or her child, those feelings go underground and the child may feel guilty and even unacceptable to his parents for having them.  Your son’s foreign soldiers dream, I believe, represents his unacceptable aggressive feelings that he is unable, in his mind, to completely suppress to the satisfaction of his parents.  They are, to your son, a bad part of him that compromises his relationship with his parents.  This can be a very frightening concept for a child.  The result is that he may become more fascinated with this subject and be resentful toward you for not understanding.

There are a series of things that you can do to help your son with his knife fascination.  I think it is now obvious that the more you oppose your son’s normal pursuit of “aggressive” play, interests in toy weapons, knives, and movies of suitable age-appropriate violent content, the more fascinated he becomes with those themes.  To begin helping your son, he needs you to understand and accept his, if you will, normal male aggressive parts of  his personality.  Denying and/or not accepting those aspects of your son does not give him an avenue to safely explore, with your help and guidance, his emerging and sometimes distorted emotions.  Parental inattention to those normal aspects of a child’s emotional development can sometimes cause the negative behaviors you were hoping to squelch.  So, rather than completely oppose his cutlery interest, teach him how to safely handle knives, how to sharpen them and, in general, how to be a responsible knife owner.  Maybe you could even help him come up with a way to display his knife collection.  Of course you must continue to monitor his behaviors with knives and correct and admonish any misuses of them.

These suggestions or similar ones convey to your son that you as a parent do understand and can find a way to deal with the various and sometimes complicated aspects of his emotional life.  This is enormously comforting and reassuring to a child.  Your son needs this from you.  As time goes on, his interest in knives and knife collecting may or may not continue but his obsession with them should diminish.   The outcome of parental acceptance, along with thoughtful guidance, of normal childhood expressions of aggression in play and fascination with super heroes may eventually contribute to self-confidence and other successes in later life.”

Playing with toy swords, guns, knives, etc. is normal boy (many girls, too) behavior.  It is one of the ways a child can experiment with the limits of his personal power, work out concepts of good vs. bad, right vs. wrong, the need to make contact with others, and establish himself as a player in the universe and then leave it all behind, healthfully completed in his fantasy world.”

If you are the parents of a child steadfastly interested in guns, and whether or not you come from a shooting tradition in your family or origin, it might be a good idea to see that your son gets some firearm education.  It also may even bring a stronger bond between parent and child, if one of the parents became interested and took part in that education.  This kind of monitored approach, along with parental involvement, will most likely lead to healthy and responsible behavior in the presence of firearms, and perhaps could even extend to other situations that may require a virtuous response in your child.  These days fewer fathers have been in the military and/or have had experience with firearms.  It is so unfortunate that many of our children have a generally distorted view of firearms, not at all helped by TV and video games. To so many urban children, given the various social environments in which they find themselves, a gun has become a status symbol and not a tool that has an appropriate place in our history.  It is up to us as parents to correct those distortions, in whatever way we can.  However, in saying all this, I also realize that these suggestions may not be for every parent and child.  Ultimately, it is the responsibility of each parent to understand his and her child and to know the limitations of what may or may not be appropriate for that child.

This is how I advised the parents of the boy who liked knives and is also my position when it comes to firearms and an interested youngster. I realize that there is no real end to this discussion. If you have different ideas or opinions, please share them with us in the comments section below.

Richard

Smith & Wesson SD9 with an Advantage Tactical Sight

It has always been an enjoyment to discover exemplary firearms, especially when their exemplariness was, at first, unforeseen.  Such was the case of the Sig Sauer 2022, either in 9mm or .40 cal and the S&W SD9 and SD40.  Because we make sights for the Smith & Wesson M&P and Sig Sauer pistols, it was serendipitous to discover that our M&P sights would also fit the S&W SD9 and SD40, and our Sig sights would also fit their 2022, either in 9mm or .40 cal.  I further happily discovered that these modestly priced pistols were hardy, flawless in operation, accurate, and had easily acclimatized to trigger systems.

I am now the proud owner of an SD9 and two 2022’s — one in 9mm and the other in 40. cal. The SD9 holds 15 rounds and is little slimmer than a Glock 19.  Its trigger is somewhere between a double action and single action experience, though most would say it’s closer to a single action.  It’s like an extremely short-stroked revolver and has a very consistent feel with each shot.  It also lets off softly, without the shimmy and clunk associated with some polymer pistols.  Accuracy wise, I get about the same size groups as I do with my Glock 19.  I paid $425 for the SD9.

Of the two 2022’s the 15-round 9mm had a better single trigger out of the box than the 12-round.40 cal, though the .40’s double action was smoother.  The 9mm’s double action did get smoother with wear and the single action was crisp out of the box.  Again, the accuracy of 9mm 2022 was about the same as my 9mm Glocks. The 2022 40 cal., on the other hand, had a very smooth and relatively light double action stroke, though the single action was a bit mushy for me.  So, I sent the .40 off to Grayguns (grayguns.com) for an action job.  Their 2022 package includes a crisp single action, shorter trigger re-set, and a plating of some of the internals.  I’ll get it back next week and let you know how I like it.  The 40. cal 2022 was extremely accurate with all rounds that I tried.  I could shoot a 2” group, off-hand, with certain brands of ammo.  The price for each 2022 was, again, $425.  The action job on the .40 cal was $225.  The 9mm was good enough for me out of the box and the .40 will be a custom tuned pistol, still cheaper than any other brand new DA/SA Sig.

Have you had positive experiences with these pistols or other sleeper pistols? Let us know in the comments below!

…stay tuned for the next topic, “night sights”–sure to raise some controversy!  

Because we make a tactical shotgun sight to be used with slugs and buckshot, and a back-up sight for the AR style .223, I try to keep my ear to the ground about what is happening in the tactical world of shoulder mounted tactical weapons for urban law enforcement use. After some time having been deployed by various police departments, it seems that perhaps there may be some grumplings, concerning the appropriateness of the .223 in an inner city or urban environment.

At the same time, a resurgence of the interest in the shotgun could be on the upswing. Though the reasons are numerous, here are a few: The cost of an AR style weapon in the current economic environment; the astronomical numbers of Remington 870’s, as well as other shotguns already deployed throughout the U.S. and elsewhere; the need for one weapon to be capable of double duty — less than lethal and/or standard tactical usages; the possible over penetration danger of the .223 round in an urban environment; and, finally, the stopping power of a 12 gauge slug, even when encountering body armor.

After the North Hollywood incident some years ago by body armored criminals, interest in patrol rifles for law enforcement took off. However, the 223 patrol rifle, though it has many fans, also has some fault-finders. The detractors say it’s too expensive to outfit an agency with patrol rifles; they already have a lot of shotguns, they don’t want to deal with the liability of over-penetration of a .223 round in an urban environment and, though a shotgun slug may not penetrate body armor, it’s impact, even through body armor, would certainly put a bad guy down with possible broken bones and internal injuries. It is true that it is hard to find a body armored volunteer that is willing to take a shotgun slug for research purposes, though volunteers do come forward for less than lethal testing like cs gas and tasers.

Do you think the .223 patrol rifle is appropriate for use in an inner city or urban environment? Share your opinions in the comments below.