In my last self/home defense ramble we started to talk about self defense when you're out and about, and I assigned you some homework; namely to check into the carry laws for your home state and/or town.  Since that time, I found out a few things that I hadn't paid enough attention to myself.  Did you know that some states require a permit to carry pepper spray and others ban it completely?  Doesn't make sense to me, but it is a prime example of why I advised you to research the laws of your home state thoroughly first.  Still, I promised we'd start to discuss carry guns in this post so let's be on with the task at hand.

Now that we're actually starting to talk guns, I have to ask yet another question or two (yes, I know.  I'm almost as bad as a college professor with pop quizzes,but hang with me here).  How comfortable are you and how experienced are you with guns?  Do you shoot a lot, occasionally, or seldom if at all?  Trust me, it does make a difference and that difference can be huge.  It all comes down to what type of gun you're comfortable with and can handle well, and how able you will be to effectively handle that gun when the chips are down.  If you're going to carry any gun for self defense, you're going to have to practice with it on a regular basis.  Why?  Because when it comes down to shoot or be shot, the only thing you'll be able to count on is what's called muscle memory.

So what exactly is muscle memory?  Do your muscles actually have memory cells built into them that will remember what to do in stressful situations?  Well, no.  Not really.  What actually happens is the same thing that happens with anything we do over and over again, such as driving a car or riding a bike.  When you first learn, you have to think about every little thing you're doing down to the last detail.  The result is that you're slow to react in a pinch because first you have to realize that something must be down, then you have to analyze what your choices are, then you have to evaluate each choice to choose the right action; and all of that takes time that you may not have.  But as you drive or ride more and more, the decisions start to become routine and start being made at a subconscious level until eventually you get to the point where you can drive yourself to work and not even realize how you did it, or sometimes even what route you took to get there. You just drive.  This is what is referred to as muscle memory, and it's the same thing boxers and martial artists do with their fighting skills.  It's also what you are going to need to do with your gun if you're really going to be able to use it effectively in any situation that may arise.  So if you're planning to buy a gun and then never go to the range with it more than once or twice a year, don't bother.  Find yourself a piece of rock about the size of a baseball instead, it will serve you just as well if not better.

If you are willing to make the time to practice on a regular basis, then things begin to come down to what you are comfortable with; but that might not be what you're expecting.  To explain why, we need to go into the physics behind the gun.

The biggest thing that takes getting used to is the recoil, or kick, that a gun has; and that comes from two things.  One is the ammunition used, and the other is the mass of the gun being used.  For the ammo, the amount of recoil it can impart is directly related to how much powder is in the cartridge.  Thus a very small caliber such as a .22 Long Rifle has so little kick it can almost be ignored as being non-excistent, while a .454 Casual or a .50 caliber such as used in the largest handguns out there carry enough kick to take even a Mr. Universe contestant by surprise. The most commonly used calibers for self defense, 9mm, .40, and .38 fall somewhere in the middle of this range.

What reduces the recoil, at least to some extant is the design of the gun. At it's simplest, the more mass the gun has the less the recoil is transmitted to the shooter. There's a multitude of ways to achieve this mass, from the material the gun is made from to the recoil springs used in automatics; but in the end it all comes down to achieving or simulating mass.

Next comes managing, or handling if you prefer, the recoil that does come through to your hands. The two biggest things that come into play here are directly related to the size of the gun, and they are barrel length and grip size. The larger they are, the easier it is to control the kick. Not sure you believe me? Think back to the first time you ever shot a handgun. Remember how the muzzle tried to rise and the grip tried to twist in your hand? With a longer barrel, you have more mass that not only helps absorb recoil but also puts more weight at the end which helps reduce muzzle rise while a longer grip that allows you to get more of your hand on it will give you a firmer grip so you can better contain and control the twisting caused by the recoil.

Of course, you the shooter have a big part to play in all this as well. Some of you will be perfectly at home with the tiny grip and stubby barrel of a modern pocket pistol while others will feel more comfortable with the added mass and size of a full sized handgun. Or maybe what feels best to you is a compact that's somewhere in between the two for size. And that brings us to your home work this week. Go on out to your local range and try out different guns of every size. See what feels good to you, and on Friday we'll start talking about the advantages and disadvantages of each type. Until then, have fun; but most importantly, do it with attitude!

It has been said that the death stroke of any cartoonist is to go more than a couple of days without putting out something new, even if it's a twist on the old " I Told You I Was Sick" line. And while I'm still what would have to be considered a Noob at blogging, I suspect it's true here as well. So I definitely owe my readers an apology. Unfortunately for me, over the past week I've become intimately familiar with more waiting rooms at doctor'so offices, outpatient centers and hospitals than I really want to admit. Seems like the only one in the house who hasn't needed to go has been my daughter! Still I hope to catch up tonight and tomorrow so that I'll be back on track by Monday at the latest.

Also, for those of you in the Greenville/Spartanburg area, my daughter and I will be manning a booth at the Barnyard Flea Market off Rt 101 on Saturday good Lord willing and the creek don't rise. In addition to our line of targets, I've been teaching Jannie how to weave paracord and we plan to have a selection of bracelets, key chains, lanyards, and dog collars available as well. So come on out and see what we have first hand. We'd love to see you in person.

Once again it's Election Day, a day when we can exercise both our right to vote & our duty to vote wisely. I won't tell you how to vote, I'll simply say I hope you've done your homework and vote for the person you honestly think will do the best job and not the one some political hack tells you to vote for.

Personally, I'll admit that this year I've been torn in many ways. Just as an example, what has come to be known as "Obamacare" offers my son his best shot at receiving decent medical care for the rest of his life, but what will be the final cost to my daughter? What's more, the very politicians who are most likely to make sure my son gets what he will need for a comfortable life inspite of his autisms are also the ones most likely to try to take away my rights to own a gun.

So exercise your right to vote, but do it well. Think before you pull that handle or punch that button. What you decide today will shape our nation for years to come. Make sure you vote for the person who will really do what you want and need, not just make pretty promises.

Hey, and welcome back to Targets With Attitude.  Hope you had a great weekend and that your kids made out like bandits on Halloween night.  Well, it's another Monday and that means it's time for another ramble about Autism and Special Needs.  One of the hotter items in the world of autism right now is service dogs, and right away I can hear some of you out there going "Service Dogs?  But these children aren't blind!".  True, most of us do think of Seeing Eye Dogs whenever we think about service dogs, but dogs can and are used for so much more now-a-days.  In fact, there are even some dogs trained to help epileptics since some dogs seem to be able to sense when a seizure is coming and can help warn their person of that fact as well as help protect them while they are in the midst of one.

But we are talking about service dogs for autistic children like my son.  A properly trained service dog can do so much for an autistic child that it can almost seem like a miracle.  For one thing, dogs seem to act like what one researcher called a "social catalyst".  People just seem to open up with dogs, and the same seems to be true for many people on the autism spectrum.  For instance, when therapy dogs are used during sessions the children seem to be more talkative and socially engaged during the session plus some who tend to be overly aggressive seem to be less so when the dog is around.  They also seem to some how encourage adults to be more open with the child in question as well.  In another study done at Hospital Bohars in France, children on the autism spectrum who got either a dog or a cat after the age of five showed more improvement in both offering comfort to others and in sharing their belongings than their peers who did not.  Now admittedly, the study was a rather small one and more studies with larger numbers of subjects will need to be done before the results can be proved, but it still gives us hope that there might be something there.

Another thing a properly trained service dog seems to be able to do is help these children bring their emotions and impulses under better control.  As anyone who has ever seen an autistic child fly into a full blown meltdown over something only they know about, this can be a god send.  Imagine sitting at the kitchen table discussing what to have for dinner or what to get Aunt Lisa for her birthday when all of a sudden you hear your son who has been sitting quietly playing at the computer suddenly start talking in an agitated voice and before you can even get up from the table, much less make into the other room to see what's wrong, he's suddenly running through the house screaming at the top of his lungs, babbling on about something that makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, and pounding on anything within reach, including himself.  Believe me, as scary as it sounds it's even scarier in real life, and your fear isn't always just for your child.  If there's an frail, elderly relative in the house or a younger, weaker sibling, you may fear that they may be unintentionally hurt as much as you fear for the safety of the child having the meltdown.  Yet a well trained service dog can sometimes help head these sort of meltdowns off or at least help the child regain control much more quickly than they would otherwise.  I've also heard stories from some families of how their service dog helps their children on the spectrum get to sleep with fewer hassles and problems; and once asleep, they seem to help the child stay asleep instead of waking up at odd hours of the night for no reason that anyone could figure out. 

Finally, a well trained service dog can help safe guard a child on the spectrum.  It's a sad fact that children with autism are more than 4 times more likely to wonder off than their neurotypical siblings.  Why this is, no one is really sure yet.  Sometimes it seems like the child is wandering to something that has caught their eye or imagination, other times they seem to be trying to get away from something that is causing them stress; but either way it can be a real danger since autistic children do not seem to understand danger as well as we, their families, could wish.  If the child is small enough, and the service dog big enough, the two can be tethered together in such a way that the child cannot wander off without the dog actively going along with it.  Plus, when the child is older, if he or she is used to being tethered to the dog then he/she won't even think of trying to pull the dog along because they "know" that the dog won't allow it.  Plus, while children on the autism spectrum tend to be very trusting and innocent, dogs have been bred since time began to protect their owners so a parent's fear of someone kidnapping their naive child is greatly diminished.

Still, these dogs are not, and cannot be for everyone.  Some cases are like my son's.  You see Wills was hurt by an overly friendly and over active large puppy when he was only 3.  Ever since then he has been absolutely terrified of dogs, and while he no longer runs from them even today he tries his best to make sure that I'm between him and any dog he might see.  For another thing, the cost of training a service dog can be almost astronomical, and the dog is likely to need additional training every year over the course of his or her lifespan.  Thus even if you have very good insurance indeed, it's possible you may not be able to afford one.  And finally, the number of dogs that are of the right temperament to be a good service dog for an autistic child are limited.  After all, you need a dog that's gentle enough that it will never hurt the child, intelligent enough to understand it's training, steady enough to deal with it's child suddenly going off in a bazaar way with no warning, patient enough to deal with a child that "just never learns", and loving enough to make that strange, unpredictable child it's own special human.  Hell, it's hard enough just finding a human with those qualities; finding them in a dog can sometimes seem like a miracle.  None the less, when the right dog can be matched up with a child that can really benefit from all that the service dog has to offer, it is one of the most touching things you've ever seen.

If you'd like to find out more about service dogs for special needs children, check out our links under the "more" tab above. In the meantime, thanks for stopping by my little corner of cyberspace and I hope to see again.

Hey, welcome to the Demented Ramblings of a Warped Muse on the Targets With Attitude website.  I hope you all are enjoying a welcome rest this morning after a night of Trick or Treating with your kids or grandkids.  Thought I'd take a moment or two this morning to post a quick introduction to this site for those of you who are new to us.

Demented Ramblings of a Warped Muse is my own personal blog, and, at least for now, the page you'll land on when you come to my site; but it's by no means the only page here.  You'll notice a list above of a variety of pages including About, which is, as it sounds, a brief introduction to who I am and my autistic son who is the whole reason I started this company. Recommended Goodies & Toys is an Amazon.com based mini-store where some of the things I recommend or review in my ramblings can be found, as well as links to a few things Amazon thinks you may like.  And yes, I do get a small finder's fee if you buy any of these things using my mini-store.  It's not very much, but it helps pay the cost of running this site.  Cool Products is my own store where you can find the splatter targets I make.  As of this rambling, my targets are only available here and at guns shows where I have a booth, plus I have an assortment of the large NRA approved B27 silhouette targets available.  It kind of blew my mind, but at the last 2 gun shows I ran a booth at I had a large number of people tell me that they had a hard time finding these silhouettes for sale, so since I currently am having no problems getting them in I went ahead and added them to my on-line store.  I am also working on getting a selection of M16A1 Site In Targets printed up since I've had several people ask if I had them.  You will notice that the cost of Shipping and Handling is built into the price I'm asking for my targets, and if you're interested in buying in quantity please don't hesitate to contact me.  If the order is large enough, I'm more than willing to discuss price.

Finally, as the site is currently set up (and that may change without notice, I'm not entirely satisfied with my current layout) you'll notice a tag that simply reads more.  This tag generates a drop down menu with a contact form on it, as well as a page of links entitled Various Resources and Recommended Links.  I know it's not "cool" anymore to have a page of links to other websites on your website, but let's be honest, no one website run by a single person can cover everything no matter how hard they try.  This link page will be my attempt to remedy that problem and will be split into 2 sections, one on guns and self defense, the other on autism and other special needs.

And there you have it, a quick verbal map of my site as it's currently laid out.  As for my ramblings, at the moment I am only promising new posts every Monday and Friday.  My Monday ramblings will center around my son and what it means to raise a child with autism, while my Friday ramblings will cover a host of self and home defense topics ranging from guns to ways to be safer and even a number of articles on non-lethal alternatives since it's not always necessary to kill your attacker, nor should you from a moral, ethical, and legal stand point if there is any reasonable alternative.  I hope you will come along for the ride, it promises to be entertaining if nothing else.  Until next time, God keep you safe and remember, if you're going to do something, do it with Attitude!