Month: June 2023
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Its National Martini Day!! NSFW
Now stop fucking around and get to work as somebody has to pay for my Teachers Pension!!! Thanks Grumpy
Huu Can Tran used a decades-old gun like this M11/9 (bottom) during his murderous attack.
At 10:22 p.m. on Jan. 21, 2023, a 72-year-old Vietnamese-born man named Huu Can Tran walked into the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park, Calif., with a Cobray M11/9 9mm pistol.
A cursory analysis of his gun in retrospect showed that it was a fairly unremarkable example of the genre configured with a 32-round box magazine and what appeared to be a homebuilt sound suppressor. The man wore a black leather jacket along with an oversized knit beanie. Without uttering a word, Tran opened fire on the assembled crowd gathered to celebrate the Lunar New Year.
Police arrived three minutes after the first 911 call. In that brief interim, Tran fired 42 rounds, killing 10 innocent people at the scene. Another person later died at the hospital. A further nine were badly wounded.
Ming Wei Ma, the owner of the dance studio, charged the shooter in a heroic attempt to stop the carnage. He was later counted among the dead. A dancer named Yu Kao also perished attempting to shield others from danger. There was ample courage exhibited on the part of the victims. Huu Can Tran fled the scene.
Seventeen minutes later, this homicidal maniac walked into the Lai Lai Ballroom in Alhambra, some three miles from the scene of the initial shooting. As he entered this facility, he encountered a 26-year-old computer programmer named Brandon Tsay. Tsay saw the man with the gun and reacted immediately, wresting the weapon from the killer’s hands. He then threatened the shooter with the captured firearm and chased him away. His heroic actions were rightfully praised across the country.
Huu Can Tran left the second scene in a white Chevrolet Express 3500 cargo van. As you might imagine, local, state and federal law enforcement were by now thoroughly energized. The local sheriff later described the seized weapon as “an assault pistol with an extended magazine clip.” Sigh …
The following afternoon some 22 miles distant, local police made a traffic stop of a white van meeting the description of Tran’s getaway vehicle. The van’s license plates appeared to have been stolen. As police officers approached the vehicle, they heard a single gunshot. They retreated and wisely called for the SWAT team.
Huu Can Tran had shot himself in the head with what sounds like a Norinco Tokarev TT-33 7.62x25mm handgun. While he had a tenuous connection to the two dance studios, and there was some rumor of an ex-wife in the mix, as of this writing, nobody has any idea why he did this horrible thing. Tran was the second-oldest mass shooter in American history.
A top-quality compact concealed carry gun like this
Springfield Armory Hellcat RDP is my constant companion.
In the aftermath of such egregious carnage, everyone of all political stripes waxes introspective. The sordid question of what might have been done to have prevented such a tragedy weighs heavily on us all. Amidst a sea of vapid platitudes put forth by sundry politicians, I would suggest the one thing that might have actually stopped such a horrific event. That would be to have had this loser attempt his gutless assault not in California but in my own home state of Mississippi.
The gun and the magazine were likely already illegal in the Golden State. The homemade sound suppressor was most definitely contraband. And then there’s the obvious fact that shooting people is against the law. Laws did not stop this maniac. Laws did not even slow him down. The only thing that could have conceivably ended this lunatic’s rampage would have been an armed citizen. Unlike California, we have plenty of those down where I live.
Ours is a nation of 328 million people. It is estimated that we own around 400 million guns. We cannot be compared to such countries as Japan, Australia, Holland, and the UK because we are so fundamentally dissimilar to those places. No amount of hand-wringing or well-intentioned legislation will ever make a dent in that number. Gun control via legislative fiat cannot and will not ever work here. That ship sailed about 350 million guns ago. American criminals will have access to firearms until the sun burns out.
There are ample examples from which to choose, and they need not be expensive.
Law-abiding Americans in the 21st century ought to be armed.
The cops arrived on the scene three minutes after Tran started shooting. That’s phenomenal service, but it still wasn’t fast enough. By contrast, in every crowd in Mississippi a statistically significant percentage of the population is packing heat. Whether it is Wal-Mart, Kroger, the doctor’s office, or church, somebody has a gun handy all the time. I certainly do my part. And in a nation that is simply awash in readily-accessible firearms, that is something that actually works.
California has some of the strictest gun control laws in the country, yet they endured three mass shootings in the past 48 hours. There have been at least six such episodes since the beginning of the pandemic. As the president is quick to observe, stuff like this is happening all the time.
My heart aches for those whose lives were wrecked by the tragedy in Monterey Park. However, if you really want to do something about mass violence in America disregard the politicians. They are ignorant, insincere and impotent. Buy yourself a gun and learn how to use it well. Secure it religiously around kids and carry it safely every time you leave your home. Right, wrong, or otherwise, America is now and forever will be the Wild West. That is not ever going to change. This deep into the Information Age, we are our own first responders.
———————————————————————————— As to this dirt bag offing himself, Thanks from a California Taxpayer! Grumpy 
Why anyone makes the decisions they make is an interesting topic. What are the Whys behind the firearm someone chooses, taking their first class, venturing across the country to train once, and then doing it again?
One of the advantages of teaching at Gunsite is having access to a student base that comes from all over. I recently helped teach an Intermediate Pistol class, Gunsite #350. There were four women in the class, and they agreed to talk to me about this article. Please share this information – you don’t have to be a steely-eyed commando or a barrel-chested freedom fighter to take a class, especially not at Gunsite or most other facilities. Like any other field of study, solid initial training is a good thing. Recurrent training is a must – lest your skills atrophy.
When there’s competition, everyone competes against each other. Megan is shooting against a classmate.
Megan, mom & wife, business owner
She started training once she realized she wanted to adopt a more protective mindset for “my family!” Not enough people were doing that. She absolutely did not want to be a victim.
She chose Gunsite because a friend had been there. After returning home from school, they told her it not only enhanced their mindset but that the class had enhanced their abilities too.
Returning for her #350 pistol class, she liked how she was able to build her skills once immersed in the material by being “here” for several days.
A sense of humor is a good thing in classes. Stuff can break, but she didn’t let it wreck her experience.
Megan prefers the Sig P320 platform, going with the metal frame Scorpion, because of both performance and feel.
Working the roof simulator on a Urban Scrambler run – and getting her hits!
Ashley, wedding photographer, part-time firearms instructor, and retail sales
After being robbed at gunpoint in the United States and experiencing several other “spicey” situations here and abroad, she sought training. A concealed carry permit class opened her eyes to training and the importance of learning when and how to use her defensive tools.
She came to Gunsite based on a co-worker’s recommendation. When asked, Ashley told me she returns because of each instructor’s real-world experience and actual application versus those with just’ book learning.’
Her Canik TP-9 SFX pistol with a Holosun optic.
Her handgun is a Canik TP9-SFX. She’d gone to buy a Glock 34 when she saw the Canik on the rental board at the range. The quality of the trigger was the best she felt of the guns that had come through the store, and its “crisp re-set” sealed the deal. She went with a Holosun optic based on retail cost and co-worker recommendations.
Smith & Wesson M&P CORE 9mm pistol after a shot. Note the spent case in the air.
Christine, trauma surgeon from the Midwest
She described herself now as a competent shooter, not a gun enthusiast. After the 2020 events came to her front yard, she had to consider whether she could use deadly force to defend herself and her loved ones. After making the decision, she began to work with a .22 handgun.
She went to Gunsite because, as a long-time educator, she wanted professional, efficiently & well-presented training because she didn’t want to be “that person who has been shooting thirty years but only learned to shoot 2-3 years ago.”
With her medical background, she wanted a safe training environment because she did not want to worry about being injured or having to treat someone who was hurt.
Her husband started her on an M&P .22 because that’s what was available, and they could buy the ammunition for it. Once they were both comfortable with her abilities, they headed to Gunsite for a #250 Pistol class. A 9mm M&P was available as a rental for the class. Afterward, she found a 9mm M&P CORE pistol at a local gun store and bought it.
She practiced the material for 18 months after the class before returning to take the #350 Intermediate Defensive Pistol course.
She chose the M&P pistol because of its availability. Not only for a .22 trainer but the full-size defensive handgun as well.
One equipment issue for Christine was that her holster was designed for an M&P with a smaller Streamlight pistol light, like the TLR7. Because she was not using a light on her pistol, she had issues with how it fit the holster. The school’s Pro Shop was able to help her out with that.
Utilizing the van on the Urban Scrambler for cover while pieing around it to engage a steel target.
Lissa is a wife, mom, and part-time firearms instructor.
She started training because she wanted to be more involved with running a “The Well-Armed Women/Armed Women of America” chapter. She was concerned about education on pending gun laws. She keeps training to give back to her community. As for Gunsite, she keeps returning because the classes are realistic, relevant, and applicable to her life, not “tacticool.”
Putting in repetitions during the school drills and hardwiring in the optics presentation.
Lissa has put, by her estimate, about fifteen thousand rounds through her Sig M18 over the last two years. She also uses it when teaching. The pistol’s thumb safety was a driving factor for her choosing this handgun. A Wilson Combat modified P320 frame was her introduction to these pistols.
The end of class shoot-off. You have to drop three different pieces of steel, do a speed reload, and then drop a split popper.
Final Thoughts
Four different students with some similar reasons for starting to train. Interesting overlaps and divergences in the Whys behind their equipment as well. Regardless, get your loved ones to good training.
If you are in the upper midwest and you want to support a gun store (and range) that takes training and your rights seriously, consider visiting Fletcher Arms (https://fletcherarms.com).