The Rules

Last night I respond to a disturbance call.  I find one of the parties involved away from the scene.  The guy is huge so as I am talking to him I put on my carbon fiber knuckled gloves.  The poker match had started, and me by putting on my gloves it was like I threw a big ass bet down after looking at my cards.  I did not know at the time but he was an old school criminal and he knows the rules of the street.  He metaphorically looks at his cards and folds.  He knows respect gets respect and static gets static.  He politely tells me he has served five different prison sentences for nearly 20 years and knows the rules and does not want trouble.  This means he has at least once, been at the crossroads of “The easy way and the hard way” with the cops before, so he knows the pain that comes with the hard way.  He knew the cops had been called so he was smart enough to not have any weapons or contraband on him since he was expecting to get contacted by the police and being a seasoned professional in the justice system knew the situation would likely not lead to his arrest. 

Now just because we are using please and thank you’s and I am not kneeling on his head with him spitting out blood does not mean I am not aware that this is a person to keep my guard up and never turn my back too.  History has shown it could pop off at any time and just because he is being cool now, doesn’t mean that he isn’t in his head, planning to hurt or kill me.  I know that as I am talking to him I am envisioning scenarios of things he might do to attack me and what my response will be.  Our interaction is congenial and in the end he is released because the disturbance has not risen to a criminal level.   As he is starting to leave (me still watching him until I am safe to stop) he asks “So what do you think of all of these new gun laws”   Earlier in the day President Obama presented his first 23 steps to reduce gun violence.  I responded “well I like the fact that they are looking to tie the mental health to background checks and stiffer penalties for lying on the application and such, but banning high caps and assault weapons is not going to be terribly effective.  In the end I’m still gonna have mine and your still gonna have yours” and I chuckle.  Understand that this is a person who has been prohibited from firearm possession since his first felony conviction in 1990.  Him having a single bullet is a crime.  He chuckled “well…you know how it is” I quipped “so will you start obeying the new and improved laws” he laughed “You know the laws don’t make no difference to me” My response “tru dat”.  Then we went our separate ways.

So later the same night around 2300 hours and I am finally getting a chance to eat my Double Double with grilled onions.  I hear a shooting call come out.  I cram into my gullet as much as I can and run out to my car.  I respond to the scene which ultimately ends up being a murder scene.  I am tasked with certain tasks which I complete and report back to the scene supervisor so he can brief the homicide detectives when they arrive.  Not to toot my own horn but beep beep, I’m kind of an intel expert and have access to more databases than the average officers from my time as a criminal intelligence detective and the scene supervisor recognized this so I get those tasks.  The last few hours on the call I am stuck freezing my nuggets off in the uncharacteristically cold weather on the outer perimeter.  Since its 0200 in an industrial area there isn’t much traffic to move along so my duty is pretty much raise the crime scene tape when the detectives arrive and let them into the crime scene.

It’s during this mindless time that my mind wanders to try and comprehend how the new gun laws announced earlier today will impact this crime that I am standing at right now.  The gun used here was not an assault weapon and it didn’t appear to be a high capacity gun either.  It was a small caliber, pistol most likely based on the spent casings found.  The victim was a lifelong criminal with a longtime addiction to illegal drugs.  Statistics will ultimately bear out that he knew the suspect and they too were a criminal and probably a 90% chance that this was a “drug deal gone bad” and the suspect was a prohibited possessor of firearms.   So what has changed?

It got me thinking, so banning high caps from law abiding citizens that haven’t done anything wrong yet is kind of nutty.  I hear the common phrase that normal people don’t need them so they shouldn’t have them.  It seems to be a common belief that only Military and Law Enforcement should have high capacity mags and assault weapons.  Okay, so let’s dissect this.  It’s likely that there are people bad enough in the world that cops and military need to be armed up to deal with them.  But the average citizen that hasn’t done anything wrong shouldn’t.  For demonstrative purposes I will use hyperbole to illustrate this. 

When I am at work in uniform or when I was in the military I am fully capable of possessing these tools to defend others, but when I want to defend myself at home in my jeans and T shirt I should be limited to low capacity mags and no assault weapons.  So when I am willing to die to keep others safe it’s okay but not when I am off duty at home.  Well guess what I am still willing to die to protect myself and family.  And if my NFA registered SBR with a 30 round magazine is the first weapon I grab, I will use that tool off duty as well. So when I am not at work I am now not worthy or capable of buying or possessing these weapons because what?  I may go on a shooting spree in my civilian clothes?  Or I may go in a shooting spree because I have 30 round mags and I won’t if I have 10 round mags?  I can’t be trusted when I am off duty but I can when I am on duty.   So we will take away the ability of those that don’t commit the crimes to posses these tools because we don’t want criminals to commit crimes.  Right? 

Look, I am more motivated than the average person to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and nut jobs but this makes no sense to me.  I am all for linking mental health to the background checks and actually prosecuting those that lie on the applications.  What is tragic is that it took a tragedy like Sandy Hook to make this happen.  I just don’t see how restricting those that don’t commit crimes will solve the problem.  In fact I am going out on a limb and going to call it now.  The ban will go into effect and there will be another tragic school shooting.  There I said it.  Does anyone besides me find it ridiculous that David Gregory committed a crime by showing a high capacity magazine on TV?  That makes sense to someone?  How about making it legal for David Gregory to show the magazine on TV (as long as he doesn’t use it to commit a crime, he is sane and not a felon) and lock Mr. 5 trips to prison up forever instead.  What is the likely hood that David Gregory is going to feloniously kill people or steal from them or assault them?  Just guessing not very high.  How about Mr. 5 trips to prison?  What are his chances to commit those crimes?  Based on his violent history, I’m going to say pretty good.  You, Mr. Gregory and everyone else including Mr. 5 trips to prison is not going to be allowed to posses high cap mags, which in the group do you think will obey this?   Who is going to follow the rules of society and who is going to follow the rules of the street?

So standing there in the cold I had to wonder how any of the proposed gun legislation would have kept my dead dude from getting dead.  

HTG Eureka (Black Rain Ordnance)

(It should be noted that Black Rain Ordnance purchased HTG recently so if you have questions about suppressors contact Black Rain Ordnance in Neosho Missouri directly 888-836-2620. I do not know if they plan to make the Eureka still, personally I think it has a very strong place in the LE market but contact BRO if you have questions or are looking to buy one of these suppressors. Black Rain Ordance)

A patrol rifle is in my opinion a critical tool in the modern police officers tool box.  It gives officers much greater range to deliver accurate and controlled fire when needed.  This gives officers much greater opportunity to find adequate cover for the situation.  In the environment that I work (suburban) most distances are a house or two away so the typical distance is 30-50 yards.  With and handgun under perfect conditions and what not, could I make a head shot if needed?  I have done it on targets at the range but they were not shooting back and such so, would I be willing to bet my life or a fellow officers life on a handgun shot at that distance.  Not unless it was my only option.  Now with a rifle, that’s a much easier shot.  At that range you can even select which portion of the head you want to target. 

My personal patrol rifle has evolved from a department issued Colt 6920 (a great weapon) to a Noveske 10.5 Short Barreled Rifle with Aimpoint micro and not too many other gadgets.  I do have a weapon light.  Currently I have been on a massive weight loss kick for my rifle.  With weapon light and optics I have it down to 6.5 lbs.  Now this is after having it a nearly 9 lbs. with Trijcon optics massive weapon light, forend grip hydration pack, just kidding no hydration pack.  But after having it strapped to my chest for hours at a time on SWAT callouts I decided to lighten it up.  I spent lots of money buying fitting and replacing with even lighter items to get my weapon as light as possible. 

However I recently took a major departure from my weight loss kick on my rifle.  During basic SWAT school and more so in HRT (Hostage Rescue Tactics) school we did lots and lots of live fire in different shoot houses.  It was there that I really felt the teeth loosening, bone shattering blast of a 10” rifle.  I remember in one scenario I was slicing a door way on a “Slow and deliberate” search and had to engage a threat into the room.  As I shot into the room my team that was stacked up to my right was getting blasted by the concussion.  Now it’s not quite as bad but it’s close to a DD (Diversionary Device) going off in their face.  Now I’m not looking to upset their OODA loop but the reality is with a blast that prominent you may be jacking up your team and momentarily putting them in a reboot or flinch. 

So with this I decided to acquire a suppressor for my weapon.  The choices are abundant.  I was looking for the best performance in the smallest package I could find.  Weight was not my first priority but length and noise reduction were.  I settled on The HTG Eureka.  Its 4.5 in in overall length and that is noticeably shorter than most of the competition in the 28db reduction range.  I found a dealer SEDNAtek and placed my order.  If any of you have any class III needs Rob at SEDNAtek is who you should contact.  He is knowledgeable and very helpful and has a keen understanding of LE needs.  He contacted the ATF on my behalf and explained the LE use this was for and the ATF expedited my form and I got my tax stamp in an exceptionally short time.

I have to be honest, I was blown away at how much it cut the noise and flash down.  With a standard A2 flash hider my rifle is a fire belching boom stick.  To say its LOUD is an understatement.  I cannot even imagine how much pain my ears would feel firing it with unprotected ears.  However with the Eureka attached I can shoot it without any hearing protection without any discomfort.  I do not have any empirical scientific data to support how much reduction there is, I will use my favorite Napoleon Dynamite unit of measure, it’s a butt load of sound reduction.  The massive fire ball that is even visible during the day time is gone.  It’s pretty amazing.   Now factor in that when it’s threaded on it only adds about 2.5 inches of length to the weapon over an existing flash hider.  AMAZING!!

I put it on my 18” barreled SPR precession rifle and with hearing protection on I could hear the bullet hitting a steel plate at 300 yards louder than the report of the weapon.  And suddenly I have this nasty thwangy spring sound I have never heard before that is louder than the report of the weapon.  I guess the boom is normally so loud you can’t hear the recoil spring and buffer moving.  Now I can.  I guess the longer the barrel the better the results.  But even with my shorty it’s fantastic.

I put about 300 rounds through it and was surprised how much change there was to my zero.  I’m a firm believer in rechecking zero after ANY changes to the weapon.  Just because you never know.

Do suppressors have a place on a patrol rifle or entry weapon?  In my opinion unequivocally yes.  The weight penalty well worth the reward. 

No gloves, no love!

A while back I assisted in taking a violent criminal into custody that ended up throwing a wrench onto my personal life.  I won’t get into any specifics about the case because has not been adjudicated and will likely end up being a death penalty case.  Regardless, when I went hands on with the suspect I experienced a signifigant blood exposure.  The suspect was very bloody from the way he was taken into custody (he lost a fight with the land shark that sniffed him out).  Now the call up to that point was pretty tense and because we had been preparing for an ambush, when I exited my car I didn’t  glove up and grabbed my rifle. 

Let’s face it,  if I can choose which tool to take to an ambush,  my 10.5" barreled AR-15 with Aimpoint Micro optics and light and more importantly multiple 30 round mags (loaded to 28 rounds of course to stay within department policy) is going to be pretty high on the list, much higher than gloves.  I was already wearing my vest but as far as other PPE (personal protective equipment) I could have done better.  Sure my ballistic helmet would have been a good idea but even the basics would have been a good idea.  I had two pair of black nitril gloves in my vest and another pair in the my pants pockets, but waited too long to get them on.

Once the tempo of the call slowed down I should have gloved up before touching anyone.  But this time I didn’t and really wish I had.  I am a pretty serious germ-a-phobe and really prefer to glove up before touching people regardless.  But like I said I didn’t this time.  And when I looked down I had his blood covering my hand and running down the back my hand over some scabs from working on my car and down my arm.   As soon as I could I cleaned it off and went through three bottles of hand sanitizer to clean up. 

Later when the suspect was receiving medical treatment it was determined that he had MRSA, this combined with the fact the he was a little guy and had been in prison for several years, I assumed he got passed around like a playboy so who knows what else he had.  So I completed the appropriate blood exposure paperwork and went through the processes prescribed.  I went to the doctor several times and they drew my blood several times for testing and gave me some guidelines.  Because they had not analyzed the suspects blood yet they put me on the worst case scenario precautions.  Among them was no unprotected sex with my wife for six months.  There were some other even more intrusive personal limitations given to me that I will spare you the details of.  To confirm, I asked, “Okay so no unprotected sex with my wife but unprotected sex with hookers is still good right?”  He had a stunned look on his face so I let him off the hook and told him, “I’m joking you know, right?”

 Suffice it to say, this momentary of lapse of not putting PPE gloves on had complicated my life comprehensively.  Because of no gloves, I was forced into the scenario of no glove no love.  I learned now that no matter what when it comes time to touch people, take the time to glove up.  Not just for the six months of probation, but just to avoid the stuff you can bring home to the rest of the family.         

Freak out!

The other day I had a bit of a freak out at work.  With my new assignment my car choice for work changes on a daily basis.  Some days I drive a normal patrol car.  Most days I drive a plain wrap unmarked Crown Victoria with hidden lights so I can still pull traffic.  Sometimes I drive an undercover (UC) car depending on what I am doing.  (I know most people refer to the unmarked crown vics as UC cars but the reality a true UC car you would not be able to pick out, it’s not going to be a crown vic).   Anyway, On Monday I picked a plain wrap pickup truck.  I loaded up my normal kit of stuff in the back of the cab.  Patrol bag with forms, extra gloves, extra pens, extra batteries and such.  My Kevlar helmet and gas mask and binoculars.  My “Go” bag  a man purse with 4 extra 30 round AR-15 Mags, 4 extra handgun mags, a shooting trauma kit, extra radio battery, small binoculars, some energy bars and a bottle of water.  My rifle A (10.5” Barreled Noveske AR-15 with aimpoint Micro sight and weapon light system).  My 870 shotgun with Surefire flashlight forend I use for a Less Lethal (Bean bag) gun. I also had my ballistic (Bust) vest with, taser, OC spray, flashlight and 30 round AR mag mounted on the front.    

I went out and checked a few target locations for my targets for the day and came back to the station and parked it in front (not behind the security gate).  I went in and did some more research on my computer for about 20 minutes .  I came back out and the truck was gone.  I had to think about if I parked it out front or in back.  I checked the back lot quickly, not luck.  Damn!  I went back out front to check down the block a bit to see of someone had moved it passed the library.  I had just been telling someone at work how pissed I was when someone moved my patrol car at the hospital one day.  My buddy heard me ask permission of the dispatcher to eat lunch at the hospital.  He got the spare key from the station and moved my car.  So I assumed that since I told people at work about this I was again the butt of someone’s joke.  So I scoured the lot.  I even checked inside the fire station that is adjoined to our police substation for my truck.  Nothing.  I was starting to get a little stressed at this point.  I called dispatch to see if anyone else was logged onto the car.  She told me no.  I called some of the other specialty units to see if they had it. Nope.  Now I am really starting to stress out.  I mean really stressed out.  I am getting to the point where I need to call a supervisor and tell him a city vehicle with guns and a vest was just stolen.  I check one last place.  Some of the detectives from my station were at a murder scene executing a search warrant.  I called them on their cell phones.  No answer.  I tried to raise them on the radio.  No answer. 

At this point I am taking deep breaths to try to calm down.  It’s not so much the money thing, because I had my rifle insured for its appraised value of $2975.00, but it’s a NFA registered item.  Those that know guns know what Class III weapons are.  It means I have to apply with the ATF to have the right to possess a rifle with a barrel with less than 16 inches and pay a $200 tax.  With it being gone I have to report it to the ATF and if I am found to have not acted properly I can get up to 10 years and prison and a $100,000 fine.  This is on top of the internal affairs investigation and everything else. 

So call the patrol sergeant and brief him.  His speech gets rapid as he is feeling the same pucker inducing stress I was feeling.  I doubt as much as I was, but he too didn’t want this to take a bad turn.  I told him my last place to check was the murder scene to see if the dick’s (nick name for detectives, I know I am a detective too so yes that makes me a dick too) have the truck.  He told me to call dispatch and send someone over there.  I told him there were no 10-8 (available or ready to go) units.  He said “grab a patrol car and get your ass over there now, and call me as soon as you know one way or another”.  As he was hanging up I heard him voice a few colorful adjectives, expressing his displeasure with the fact that he may have to call up the chain of command and report that a city vehicle had been stolen and it was filled with expensive stuff that we don’t want in the hands of criminals. 

I hopped into my old steed 1531D my very first black and white patrol car, (I called her Deloris back when she was mine) and sped (I mean obeyed all traffic laws) off to the murder scene.  When I arrived I saw the pickup.  I relaxed and released the small bundle of vinyl that had been puckered up, well you know where.  I got out and smelled the decomposition of a decaying body.  I don’t understand why when bodies look like beef jerky they don’t smell like it.  Anyway, the dicks needed to take something large from the murder scene as evidence so they needed the truck and used a back up set of keys.  And not being very good observers didn’t seem to notice my vest sitting on the passenger side and all of my equipment in the back seat.  I think the Detective Sgt, saw the panic on my face and it clicked when he saw all of the stuff in the back seat.  He apologized and all was well.  I called the patrol sergeant and told him he was off the hook.  I loaded up my stuff into Deloris and drove off.  Now they played it like they didn’t know it was my stuff and it was all a big mistake.  Now is it a coincidence that it happened the same day I told people about being the butt of a joke by moving my car the same thing happens?  I think not.  I believe payback in order.  Since revenge is a dish best served cold, one day down the road when the dicks hop into their car and find a stray dog in the back seat and it scares the poop out of them.  I will get the last laugh.