Are you a new gun owner? Did you purchase a firearm to protect your family due to the pandemic? Are you looking for information about firearms safety?
The Self Defense Radio Network along with the Polite Society Podcast has created a series of short videos dealing with safety, safe storage, proper gun handling, and much, much more. These are intended to help the newbie get some training from highly respected instructors while everything is shut down.
The following video goes over the Four Rules. These were rules for gun safety created by Col. Jeff Cooper many years ago that, if followed religiously, will prevent accidents.
You can find the whole series of videos on YouTube. At last count, there are well over 60 of these short videos with more to come. I will be posting as many as possible over the next weeks and months.
If anecdotal evidence is correct, there are a lot of new gun owners. The NSSF-adjusted NICS checks for March was up 80% over the prior year. It was estimated that approximately 2.4 million NICS checks were performed that were firearms purchase related.
In an ideal, non-COVID-19 world, these new gun owners would be getting training face-to-face from firearms trainers. However, these are not normal times.
To help remedy this lack of training, the Self Defense Radio Network (of which the Polite Society Podcast is a part) has put together a whole series of training videos and interviews with leading trainers. In the video below, Paul Carlson of the Safety Solutions Academy discusses and demonstrates safe and responsible gun handling for new gun owners.
I will be posting these videos daily in hopes that new gun owners see and take advantage of them.
As to why there are a lot of newbies buying guns, it is because they correctly foresaw a rise in crime. They knew that a firearm, correctly used, will allow them to protect themselves and their families.
New York City has seen an increase in property crimes in the last 28 days according to the NYPD’s statistics. This includes a 6.9% rise in robberies, a 21.8% increase in burglaries, and a whopping 64.2 increase in grand theft auto. This is taking place in a city that is the nation’s epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic.
You are having criminals being released from prison to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Moreover, you are seeing criminals who are caught be released on virtually no bail even for violent crimes. Bond amounts are equivalent to pocket change. And this is in Texas!
Breitbart Texas reports that even Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo is concerned about the release of prisoners and the expected rise in crime.
Houston Police Department Chief Art Acevedo said burglaries in the city are up 20 percent since the issuance of “Stay-Home, Work-Safe” orders put in place by Harris County.
“Right now, burglaries have spiked 20 percent,” Chief Acevedo told Breitbart Texas in a phone interview. “Some people are seeing the shutdown of businesses as a target-rich opportunity. Habitual burglars should not be released.”
The chief said that there needs to be a plan for what to do with habitual criminals that are being released from the Harris County jail under orders from County Judge Lina Hidalgo. “What happens to these folks after they are released,” the chief asked. “What is the plan?”
Acevedo said Judge Hidalgo did not consult with him about the issue of releasing criminals from the county jail, a large percentage of which were arrested by his officers.
The rise in crime seems to be more place specific as there are locations like the Bay Area reporting a decrease in crime while Minneapolis is reporting an increase especially in business burglaries.
UPDATE: Colion Noir who lives in Houston reports that the mayor is asking criminals to just stay home “and chill”. I agree with Colion Noir’s skepticism.
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