Aug
13
By chltx  //  No Comments

Trends in CHL class enrollment, revisited

Demand for CHL training seems to be easing up a bit.

Jul
19
By chltx  //  No Comments

A Florist Went to the Barber…

One day a florist went to a barber for a haircut.

Jul
15
By chltx  //  No Comments

The psychology behind the SEP field

I came across a very good article on another blog which has some research on what is commonly known as the “Bystander Effect”. Read more about it [...]

Jul
4
By chltx  //  No Comments

Independence Day 2010

On this July 4th, consider just how close we are to losing what our forefathers fought to give us.

Jul
3
By chltx  //  No Comments

Security in the Home: Vacation Electrical Timer

One of the items mentioned in the NRA Refuse to be a Victim class is a simple electrical timer to turn lamps or TVs on/off at various times in order to make it look like someone is home. Such timers are also good for other purposes…

Jun
27
By chltx  //  No Comments

Trends in CHL Class Enrollment

The CHL course prepares you for a gunfight about as well as buying a piano makes you a musician. That, and other changes, have led me to branch out into NRA classes.

Jun
13
By chltx  //  No Comments

Large CHL classes vs. small CHL classes

The GDR Fundraiser was a huge success, but I found that some of the techniques I use for smaller classes don’t scale very well, so I am adjusting my procedures accordingly.

Jun
11
By chltx  //  No Comments

Break the SEP Field

The SEP Field can kill you. Here’s a way to break the SEP Field.

May
29
By chltx  //  No Comments

Clear Your Space

The typical criminal considers himself successful if he gets away, regardless of whether he accomplishes possession of whatever it is he is trying to steal.

May
29
By chltx  //  No Comments

You Will Fight the way you Practice

The last thing I mentioned in the last post is “Just be sure you practice the correct things.” So this is really just a continuation of the [...]

May
28
By chltx  //  No Comments

Understand Combat Stress

Stress is a marksmanship-killer. It is estimated that the typical police officer loses up to 80% of his marksmanship skills during his first deadly-force encounter.

May
23
By chltx  //  No Comments

Listen to your Fear

Fear is a very important survival tool.

Apr
29
By chltx  //  No Comments

Stay out of that Car

If some lowlife is trying to force you to enter a car, why do suppose that might be?

Apr
28
By chltx  //  No Comments

Lock the Door

Once upon a time, folks left doors unlocked, and didn’t have to worry about it. I know my grandmother did back when she lived in Dexter, NM.

Apr
16
By chltx  //  No Comments

It’s not Possible to Out-Draw an Already-Drawn Gun

There is a saying in aviation that the superior pilot conscientiously avoids situations that might call for his superior piloting skills. That should be the practice of the skilled CHL holder, too.

Apr
3
By chltx  //  No Comments

Get Away ASAP

If you are facing a bad guy pulling a gun at close range, your best course of action is probably to get as far away as quickly as possible, and NOT to try to out-draw an already-drawn gun.

Apr
1
By chltx  //  3 Comments

Keep it hidden

I am not philosophically opposed to open carry. In fact, I would be all for it. But I would not openly carry my handgun even if legal, unless there was no other choice.

Mar
26
By chltx  //  1 Comment

Rules That May Save Your Life

I have three collections of various “rules” from a variety of places that I use in my CHL classes. This post covers the set that I call “Ten Rules That May Save Your Life.”

Mar
20
By chltx  //  No Comments

Greater Dallas Republican Fund-Raising Class

I have arranged with the Greater Dallas Republicans to do a fund-raising CHL class for them on May 30

Mar
12
By chltx  //  No Comments

The Reason Behind the Dry-Firing Rules

In my last post, I wrote about the rules for dry firing, and hinted about the story behind those rules. Probably the most important of those rules is the one about making a definite mental break after you are done dry firing.

Mar
3
By chltx  //  1 Comment

Dry Firing Rules

Last week, I gave my justifications for using dry firing as a regular technique for improving marksmanship. I mentioned that I cover some rules meant to make [...]

Feb
24
By chltx  //  No Comments

Dry Firing

One of the things I cover in my CHL class is how to dry-fire safely. I present some rules for dry firing that arose from an unfortunate [...]

Feb
18
By chltx  //  No Comments

SmartCarry review, revisited

I got my SmartCarry holster back in July (See my initial review). At the time it was my favorite holster, the only one that I could find [...]

Feb
12
By chltx  //  No Comments

Important change in Texas CHL Law, section 411.171

Sealed Juvenile convictions are no longer considered when applying for a Texas CHL. You still have to report the arrest, and provide documentation of the order to seal the records.

Feb
11
By chltx  //  No Comments

Changes coming to CHL-TX.COM

Even though I have more than 30 years experience as a programmer, I am fairly new to web programming (after all, from my perspective, the Web is [...]

Feb
7
By chltx  //  No Comments

Phishing and social engineering

My ‘little’ brother (also a CHL Instructor) has been collecting and investigating phishing and related scam emails lately. Here is one of the ‘better’ ones, employing some [...]

Jan
28
By chltx  //  2 Comments

Is it time to buy a gun?

For me, it’s time to buy a gun pretty much anytime I can afford another one. In fact, I’m shopping for a couple of them right now. [...]

Jan
25
By chltx  //  No Comments

It seems strange to have to wear earplugs at a symphony concert…

As a CHL instructor, I have gotten into the habit of always having a set of those memory-foam earplugs in a little case in my pocket. I [...]

Jan
17
By chltx  //  No Comments

It’s a small world after all…

The name Bob Taylor isn’t particularly rare, so I didn’t really think much about my cruise dining companion for the first couple of days. I was on [...]

Jan
7
By chltx  //  No Comments

Icy streets in Dallas, Snow in London

It’s cold this morning in Dallas, but the streets appear to be passible, and I don’t anticipate any problems getting to work. Unlike some folks in other [...]

Nov
22
By chltx  //  No Comments

Video is the new ‘net cancer

I have had some semi-serious interest in internet marketing for some time now, although I have been thoroughly turned off by MLM and other obvious scams targeted [...]

Oct
28
By chltx  //  No Comments

Contesting: The Name it and Claim it Game (Book Review)

Contesting: The Name It and Claim It Game : Wineuvers for Wishcraft by Helen Hadsell, published by Top of the Mountain Publishing. I saw this book super-hyped [...]

Oct
21
By chltx  //  2 Comments

Funny thing happened on the way to El Paso…

I got on the plane, put my stuff in the overhead bin, and sat down & fastened my seat belt. After a few minutes, a female voice [...]

Oct
18
By chltx  //  No Comments

40-year High School Reunion

I’m about 5 book reviews behind (yes, I read a lot), but life just happens while you are busy making other plans. I’ve been really busy the [...]

Sep
27
By chltx  //  1 Comment

How to Get the Best Deal on Health Care

Healthcare has been in the news a lot lately, and that has caused me to reflect on some of my own experiences with healthcare. I had a [...]

Sep
8
By chltx  //  No Comments

Project 2996, Remembering Michael J. Berkeley

I signed up for project 2996 about a month ago, and was assigned a name of one of the 2,996 people killed in the WTC atrocity. The [...]

Sep
5
By chltx  //  No Comments

What kind of gun should I buy?

A handgun is not a “one-size-fits-all” sort of thing. But there are some general guidelines that will help you buy a gun that fits you.

Aug
26
By chltx  //  No Comments

RIP

Rest in Peace, Mary Jo Kopechne.

Aug
16
By chltx  //  No Comments

BRASS: Key to Good Marksmanship

A common acronym used by the military to teach elementary marksmanship is BRASS. I use this in my CHL classes. It stands for: Breathe. The sequence of [...]

Jul
30
By chltx  //  No Comments

Book Review: The End of Overeating

It’s been a while since I did a book review, so I thought I would plug one of the most important books that I have read in [...]

Jul
21
By chltx  //  No Comments

A review: The SmartCarry

Back when I first got my CHL, my instructor warned me that I would probably spend more on holsters than guns. I didn’t believe him. For a [...]

Jul
3
By chltx  //  No Comments

My Marksmanship Epiphany

Epiphany (n): A sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or [...]

Jul
1
By chltx  //  No Comments

Independence Day Parade in Plano

Now that I’m no longer president of the Plano Early Lions Club (http://www.planolions.org), I should have a little more time for other things — including being more [...]

Jun
29
By chltx  //  No Comments

NRA Basic Pistol Instructor Certification

I had a busy weekend. I made the trip up to ShootSafe Academy to take the 20-hour instructor’s course to qualify to teach the NRA Basic Pistol [...]

Jun
1
By chltx  //  No Comments

CPR and First Aid

I now have an up-to-date CPR card good for two years; I took the CPR refresher course yesterday, and also took the basic first aid course. I’m [...]

May
26
By chltx  //  No Comments

Blog move

It was both easier and harder than I anticipated to move the blog. Easier because the WordPress software did a lot of the work for me, harder [...]

May
25
By chltx  //  No Comments

Ironic

When I went back to correct a typo in the last post, I discovered that the word count in that post was 380.

May
24
By chltx  //  No Comments

Where did the .380 ammo go?

You have probably noticed that .380 rounds are simply not available anywhere at any price, and if you carry a .380, you are probably wondering what happened. [...]

Apr
30
By chltx  //  No Comments

The Constitution of the United States

Have you read the Constitution? Lately? Are you generally familiar with what it says? If not, why not? It’s easily available (at least for now) on the [...]

Apr
26
By chltx  //  1 Comment

Swine Flu Hysteria

20 Confirmed cases of Swine Flu across the US, and there is a National Emergency. Sometimes I wonder how this sort of thing grabs the headlines. The [...]

Apr
22
By chltx  //  No Comments

Summarize

Well, I finally got around to writing about the last step in the LEAPS sequence. “Solve” would also work here, except that you just can’t solve every [...]

Mar
27
By chltx  //  No Comments

Paraphrase

This is the feedback step, one of the most important parts of the LEAPS process. This is how you confirm that you really understand what the other [...]

Mar
19
By chltx  //  No Comments

Ask

In order to communicate your empathy, it is necessary to ask questions. Your questions need to be neutral and obviously geared toward soliciting the other person’s viewpoint. [...]

Mar
6
By chltx  //  No Comments

Empathize

To have empathy for someone does not mean that you agree with that person. It means that you understand what that person is feeling, and perhaps why [...]

Feb
2
By chltx  //  No Comments

Listen

The first letter of LEAPS stands for listen, a typically underdeveloped skill in most folks. I know that I’ve personally found this to be a challenge. There [...]

Jan
29
By chltx  //  No Comments

LEAPS

There is a highly effective way to improve interpersonal communication that is taught as a regular part of the Texas CHL course, in the section entitled “Non-Violent [...]

Nov
28
By chltx  //  No Comments

Black Friday, indeed

This morning, a WalMart clerk was trampled to death by a mob of morons that charged the door as it was opened. This Black Friday crap has [...]

Nov
4
By chltx  //  No Comments

Why not just sit this one out?

If you aren’t sure about who to vote for, just consider that you do not have any duty to vote. You should just sit this one out, [...]

Oct
12
By chltx  //  No Comments

Bigotry

The subject of bigotry came up in my last class, and I didn’t really get around to discussing it in much depth. It occurred to me that [...]

Oct
10
By chltx  //  No Comments

New Applicants Increase, Renewals Taper Off

Over the last 8 or 9 months, I have noticed that even as my new-applicant classes have been consistently full (and occasionally, I have to turn away [...]

Sep
11
By chltx  //  No Comments

September 11th, 2008

Seven years ago today, a handful of young Arab terrorists were able to murder more than 3,000 people because US airline crews were unarmed. Terrorists and other [...]

Sep
10
By chltx  //  No Comments

WordPress Upgrade

Silly me, I have been running an old version of WordPress for this blog ever since I started it. I was blissfully unaware of the existence of [...]

Jun
20
By chltx  //  No Comments

DPS is SWAMPED

I have been hearing from my March and April students that they haven’t gotten their licenses yet. According to a local radio news story, the DPS is [...]

Apr
23
By chltx  //  4 Comments

Shady dealings in Internet marketing?

I mentioned before that I was interested in internet marketing in general. Well, I finally broke down and bought one of those $9.95 e-books, mainly because it [...]

Mar
28
By chltx  //  1 Comment

Overbooking

I don’t much care for overbooking. Airlines do it, even with the possibility of having to deny boarding to some passengers if everybody actually shows up. They [...]

Dec
29
By chltx  //  3 Comments

Followup on Blog course

Ok, I finally got a chance to look at Joyner’s multi-media blogging course. Kind of amusing, in a melancholy sort of way. I’ve been following several different [...]

Dec
20
By chltx  //  No Comments

A multimedia blogging course

I see that I’m not exactly setting the world afire with this blog, so I thought I’d try something different. I follow a number of mailing lists [...]

Oct
6
By chltx  //  No Comments

Funky Winkerbean

For those of you who are not Funky Winkerbean fans, you are missing out on a great comic strip. This strip is a bit out of the [...]

Jul
22
By chltx  //  No Comments

The strangest gig I ever had

Back in early 2005, I got what turned out to be the strangest gig I have ever landed. I was chosen to be a soloist for a [...]

Jun
20
By chltx  //  1 Comment

Starting a new blog

I have tried posting book reviews before (a couple of years ago), but I was doing it by hand in HTML, and it got so tedious that [...]

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