LAPD’s SWAT team rescues dozens of hostages and manages 120-plus high-risk warrants and approximately 100 barricaded suspect cases per year. It responds to barricade or hostage incidents where the suspect is believed to be armed or an extreme threat to public safety. Typical situations include the presence of weapons, suspected gang activity and heavily fortified locations.
LASD is the largest sheriff’s department in the world. The Special Enforcement Bureau, newly equipped with Team Wendy helmets, is a full-time unit of tactical paramedics and rescue specialists, including a canine detail and a special weapons team. It works hand-in-hand with the department’s arson/explosives and hazardous materials details and coordinates security for visiting dignitaries and politicians, including the United States President and Vice President. SEB responds to an estimated 200-300 tactical operations every year, including barricaded suspects, high-risk warrants and hostage situations.
Team Wendy CEO Jose Rizo-Patron said the company exists for the sole purpose of protecting officers like these.
“The men and women of the LAPD and LASD put their lives on the line every day and we take pride in knowing we play a role in their safety,” he said. “This is why we do what we do.”
Joe Nagy, who works with law enforcement agencies around the country on behalf of Team Wendy, said the EXFIL Ballistic SL is built to do exactly what these agencies need.
“We spent a long time engineering this helmet so it would perform at a high caliber,” he said.
The EXFIL Ballistic SL is the fifth helmet in Team Wendy’s EXFIL line. It has a complete system weight of 2.2 pounds, meets a ballistic rating of NIJ Level III-A (according to NIJ STD 0106.01/0108.01) and exceeds ACH blunt impact protection requirements. It features the newer, lighter EXFIL Rail 3.0 for more efficient accessory mounting and the boltless CAM FIT™ Retention System for individualized fit and superior weight distribution.
LAPD and LASD join Orange County Sheriff’s Office and more than 20 other law enforcement agencies in southern California that wear Team Wendy helmet systems.
ABOUT TEAM WENDY®
Team Wendy is a family-owned company dedicated to providing exceptional head protection systems designed from the inside out for those who risk their lives every day. Founded in 1997, our Cleveland-based company places a strong focus on the prevention of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in honor of the company’s namesake Wendy Moore, who died tragically from a TBI following a ski accident.
As a leading supplier of helmet systems for military, law enforcement, search and rescue, and adventure sports, Team Wendy is steadfast in our dedication to the pursuit of improving head protection research, design and development, bringing more choice, better technology and reliable customer service to the industry.
I had a good reminder this weekend why it’s important to be prepared for the unexpected. Because the unexpected isn’t always the Zombie Apocalypse. Sometimes the unexpected sneaks up on mossy little feet and grabs your car by the tires instead.
I was at an outdoor wedding under a tent in a field, in an unfamiliar area two hours from home. I had planned to return home in the early evening when the festivities started to die down. It was a lovely celebration, but I was tired, so while everyone else was watching the fireworks I took my leave. The field however, had other plans.
I wasn’t familiar with the field and there were people and campers and pick-ups everywhere which I was trying to pick a path through with my AWD wagon. It was dusk and I couldn’t see very well in the gathering darkness. I chose what looked like a clear path through – and drove right into a boggy patch I couldn’t see and got stuck! There was a reason that area was clear of other vehicles – D’oh!
After some pointed swear words, I got out of the car and squished over to some by-standers to see if they had a tow-rope. One little boy ran up and said he would go get his daddy to help me. I thanked him and squished back to the car to get my purse and phone – skirt hiked up and one sandal being sucked off in the process. It wasn’t a mud-hole so much as a classic bog. There was soft moss on my bare foot but about an ankle’s worth of water, and even with AWD, my car just couldn’t get any traction.
Long story short, the little guy’s daddy gave me a ride back up to the wedding tent in his side-by side, and after the fireworks I found the bride and groom (the only people I knew). They changed clothes and between some other people and the groom with his big pick-up, they got my car out.
One of the morals to the story is that if you don’t drive a big 4WD yourself, you should know some people who do. And also, if you need help, don’t ask a guy in a suit and a BMW – ask the guy in cargo shorts and a side-by-side. They assured me that though I was mortified at getting myself stuck, I wasn’t the first and likely would not be the last person who got mired in that spot during events there.
It was getting late, so instead of heading two hours home, I drove my mud splattered pride to a hotel instead. I had a bag in the back of my car – leftover from hunting season – that contained a change of clothes, so I didn’t have to sleep in my muddy skirt and I even had clean underwear!
I was thankful for my own forethought however limited it was. I was also grateful obviously for the intervention of friends – both those I knew and those I didn’t. Even the lady at the hotel at 1030 pm had a smile on her face.
One item I didn’t have and wished I did was a belt. The second thing was spare shoes. The bag had been originally thrown in the back of the car during hunting season with the assumption that I would already be wearing a belt and boots, and might just need to change out of wet clothes. That was fine – right up until I was at an outdoor wedding in maxi skirt and sandals.
What I did have were wool socks, cargo pants, a t-shirt, a fleece, and clean underwear. I had a shirt to sleep in and clean clothes to wear home in the morning, which did wonders for my morale. I looked a little odd at the hotel free breakfast wearing rolled-up cargo pants and muddy sandals, but there are worse problems in the world. And it was the Super 8, sooo…
Later, I started thinking about the what-ifs. (Actually, I laid awake for a couple hours that night stewing about it) What if I had been alone when I got stuck with no help immediately available? What if I had to spend the night in the car until I could rouse a tow truck? I had some water in my insulated cup, and I had a blanket in the car, but it would have been a hungry night. I certainly couldn’t have walked for miles in those sandals. They were flats and fairly sensible, but they weren’t sneakers or hiking boots.
As soon as I got home I set about building myself a new, more deliberate “Get Home Bag”. I started with one of my kids’ old school backpacks that I still had lying around. I salvaged it out of the basement a few years ago and found yet another life for the thing. As a side note, say what you might about LLBean, but this was one of their school backpacks from about 15 years ago, which not only survived a couple years of middle school until it wasn’t cool anymore, but also a few trips through the washing machine, and even range bag duty in the Arizona desert for a class a few years ago.
I decided to use this daypack – even though I own other more tactical or camo options – because I didn’t want any casual observer of my car to think this dusky purple bag with the ink stains was anything worth stealing.
In addition to the pants, wool socks, t-shirt, fleece, and underwear that I already had packed, I added:
-Toothbrush and sugarless mint gum (in place of toothpaste)
-Wet wipes
-Belt
-Ball cap
-Old sneakers for walking
-Plastic bag for wet clothes
-Reflective tarp for warmth and shelter
-Flashlight and headlamp
-Protein bar – I’m going to add an MRE too
-Empty water bottle with a gallon jug in the car
-Bandana
-Pocketknife
-A couple big brass quilting-type safety pins – (I keep these in my travel toiletry bag too. They don’t rust, and can be used to make emergency repairs to clothing, or hold a blanket around your shoulders in an emergency situation.)
I also always keep a first aid bag in the car separately. I may come up with a few more things as I go along, but that’s my preliminary packing list.
The preliminary packing list
All of this additional stuff will give me a little more piece of mind for next time. This bag is still more of an “Oh Sh*t” bag than a true Bug Out Bag though. I’m not exactly planning to hike for three days to my secret lair while shooting hundreds of rounds at the hordes. But in truth the opportunities for life to give you “Oh Sh*t” moments are legion, whereas the likelihood of an actual apocalypse – as much as folks like to talk about it – is hopefully very small.
If I can step up onto my soapbox for just one more minute – I’d like to say that I think it is particularly important for women to have a bag like this in their cars. Men have “Oh Sh*t” moments too, but women are more likely to be wearing flimsy clothing and horrifyingly unsuitable footwear when “Oh Sh*t” happens. I learned that lesson personally. I wasn’t truly stranded this time and the weather was cooperative. But who knows about next time? I want to be ready – even if it’s only for another wedding.
The M14 has received a fair share of criticism in the online gun community in the last few years. Some of that coming from this very source. I and many have pointed out that the M14 was a misplaced rifle for its time. The US Service Rifle was already obsolescent when it was fielded, ignoring many of the hard learned lessons of ground troops for the sake of US Military institutional inertia.
The current production Springfield M1A is the descendant of the M14. It’s a popular rifle while also being maligned. The M14’s short service history did the M1A no favors but it developed a legendary cult reputation. Every alleged Vietnam Veteran I came across also allegedly threw their M16 into the woods in order to get an M14 instead. Little mention of the M14’s own problems, like warping stocks and uncontrollable full-auto fire, make it into the cookie cutter narrative. I suspect the majority were lying.
Well I am of the opinion that the M1A’s overly hyped reputation, due to nostalgia and it being gobbled up for GWOT, had a pendulum backswing that pushed too far the other direction. It went from the golden boy US battle rifle that it never really was to literally the worst thing ever which it also is not.
The M1A is what it is and does what it does as well as it does. Watch the 9-Hole review video, it clears the course with iron sights in 24 rounds, pretty good. InRange is doing a series right now where the M1A shows up too and it does respectably.
So the answer, as usual, is that the M1A really sits somewhere in the middle when it comes to .308 battle rifles. I still want a National Match, like the one shot in the video, just because. It doesn’t have to be the best to be fun to own.
Had, it appears, is the operative word. Reports on the innovative Desert Tech bullpup have shown that the cycling issues and gas system problems on the early rifles, well documented by early users, seem to have been taken care of by the team at DT. Desert Tech is known for their incredibly built bullpup bolt action rifles and the problems with the MDR couldn’t stand if they wanted their reputation to survive and, most importantly, satisfied customers.
The MDR, for those wondering, is the Micro Dynamic Rifle and was built for “future defense needs” as a concept.
Image via Desert Tech
A highly configurable ambidextrous combat rifle usable in 7.62x51mm/.308 Win base case configurations, which does open up several future calibers like 6.5 Creedmoor and .260, as well as 5.56x45mm and its derivatives like .300 BLK.
Heavy emphasis was placed on the rifle’s ambidexterity. From front to back, starting at the charging handle, the controls are meant for left and right handed shooters ease of use. The charging handle can be used to lock the bolt back HK roller-lock style and is non-reciprocating.
The magazine release and safety are also ambidextrous and placed to be familiar to AR rifle users. An additional magazine release is placed behind the pistol grip on the MDR at the front of the magazine well, similar to the original Tavor SAR. This magazine release is disabled in the 5.56 configuration due to the necessary conversion parts, but in .308 it provides a third point of control. The bolt release is positioned behind the magazine well to use with the shooters thumb easily from either side.
The ejection is the final, and probably most important, ambidextrous feature on the rifle. The ejectors are tied to the port covers and depending on which side you place the covers determines the ejection of the rifle. They also forward ejects spent cases making switching shoulders much less of a problem when compared against most bullpup designs, especially the older services rifles out of Europe.
On this July 9th the U.S. Secret Service released a report on mass attacks. Here are the key findings, followed by my analysis:
One-third of the attackers who terrorized schools, houses of worship or businesses nationwide last year had a history of serious domestic violence, two-thirds had mental health issues, and nearly all had made threatening or concerning communications that worried others before they struck.
Most attackers were male, ranging in age from 15 to 64. The domestic violence history often included serious violence. While 67% had mental health issues, only 44% had a diagnosis or known treatment for the issue.
As for motive, more than half of the attackers had a grievance against a spouse or family member, or a personal or workplace dispute. Also, 22% had no known motive. In nearly half the cases, the attacker apparently selected the target in advance.
From the Associated Press on the PBS News Hour July 19, 2019:
“Lina Alathari [head of the Secret Service National Threat Assessment Center] and her colleagues want communities to be aware of concerning behavior and these trends so officials have something to look out for. We want the community to know that prevention is everyone’s responsibility, not just law enforcement. The Secret Service is tasked with researching, training, and sharing information on the prevention of targeted violence, using the agency’s knowledge gleaned from years of watching possible targets that may or may not be out to assassinate the president. Alathari said her team is working on a new report on school shootings and how to prevent them, and investigating attacks to try to figure out why someone didn’t follow through.”
For decades I have been tracking mass murders; thus, I am not surprised by these findings. These are my observations.
First is the disturbing fact that 67% of attackers had a mental illness, but only 44% had previously been diagnosed. Almost none of us with mental illnesses commit violence, but the fact that most mass killers do is striking. But committing psychiatrically ill people to treatment is difficult under our evolved civil rights standards and the mental health system does not currently have the resources to treat everyone who needs it.
Second, whenever I hear of a mass shooting, such as the one that took place at a Chicago hospital November 18 last year or at a plant in Aurora, Illinois this February 15, I immediately suspect a relationship dispute (Chicago) or a workplace dispute (Aurora). And almost invariably, the security at the sites of such shootings proved to be inadequate.
Third, there are warning signs leading up to such shootings that are frequently known to many people, but are not communicated to authorities. The mounting pressure to install “red flag laws” in every state is a misbegotten response to this problem. All the laws necessary to report concerns and for authorities to act are on the books already.
I know: I am a retired licensed clinical social worker, and carried out the Civil Detention Laws of Illinois and Missouri for 9 years. As such, I was able to hospitalize persons involuntarily for a 96-hour period, if they met the criteria of having a mental illness, and being at imminent risk of harming self or others.
Fourth, even when they are communicated, there is too often a breakdown in communication between various systems, i.e., law enforcement, mental health, schools, etc., and therefore in their responses. (Ref: the Parkland shooting.)
All these factors must be addressed if we are to reduce the prevalence of mass shooting attacks in our country. The most serious mental illness tend to strike in adolescence or the early twenties. These are the ages in which alienated, isolated young men are at the highest risk of committing violence anyway.
You’ll notice I did not suggest any new restrictions on firearms. Most mass shooters obtain their weapons through family or by passing background checks and buying them in the marketplace. The few who don’t, didn’t need to bother. Neither category of murderers would be the least bit impeded by universal background checks, the panacea offered by fools and anti-gun politicos.
It’s a paradox. There are no easy answers—yet the answers are already available for those to use who are more serious about intervening to protect the public than about looking “correct” themselves.
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— Warren Lind is a retired licensed clinical social worker and former security officer who writes extensively about crime, survival, and self-defense. He is a member of too many pro-2A organizations to list.
From Springfield Armory’s acclaimed line of XD-S Mod.2® comes their newest, most concealable offering yet. The XD-S Mod.2® in 9mm is a less than one-inch wide pinnacle of reliability. 25K rounds without a stoppage and an integral grip safety for total peace of mind when carrying.
The XD-S Mod.2® ships with two stainless steel magazines: a 7-round mag with a pinkie rest and additional flush floor plate for carry and one 9-round extended magazine – perfect for home defense. An 8-round extended magazine is also available for purchase.
Available in models with Tritium, Fiber Optic, and Viridian Laser.
XD-S MOD.2® 9MM W/ TRITIUM – XDSG9339BT
Caliber 9mm
MSRP $586
Barrel 3.3″ Hammer Forged Steel, Melonite®
Sights Ameriglo Pro-Glo Tritium Front / Tactical Rack Rear
Frame Black Polymer w/ Enhanced Grip Texture
Slide Steel, Melonite®
Recoil System Dual Captive Recoil Spring w/ Full Length Guide Rod
Springfield Armory is offering incredible deals on their Defenders Series XD’s, both the 9mm 4” Service Model and the 9mm 3” Sub-Compact. This limited-time sales event is designed to encourage new shooters to purchase their first firearm, and to drive customers looking for a good value to invest in the Springfield Armory brand. You’ll also receive a Defenders Series Certificate and an invitation to join The Defenders, an online community of enthusiasts who will receive exclusive offers, giveaways, and discounts.
A Self-Defense Precision Rifle (SDPR) should have a number of qualities, the highest of which is pinpoint accuracy at realistic ranges (max distance you can ID a threat). As a survivalist, I consider a realistic range for a self-defense rifle to be a good deal less than what one would suppose the operational ranges of a military sniper would be.
Requirements
My standard for a precision rifle is 1 Minute of Angle (MOA is approximately 1 inch at 100 yards, e.g. 200 yards = 2 inches) groups at any realistic range. Beyond precision, attributes of a SDPR would be reliability, durable design, and comfortably ergonomic. All of these features are embodied in the Springfield Armory Loaded M1A, and at a reasonable price.
The Rifles
I have owned a 7.62×51 NATO caliber Loaded M1A for the last 14 years. It now has had 1260 rounds through its stainless, medium weight, National Match barrel. It consistently produced one half MOA groups with Match ammo.
I was sent a 6.5 Creedmoor Loaded M1A for a comparison shoot. Except for the caliber, the Archangel stock/Springfield scope mount the 6.5CM came with, and the Sightron 6.5-20x scope I put on the 6.5CM for the shoot, both rifles are the same. I was sent a couple hundred rounds of 7.62N and 6.5CM Norma Match ammo for this comparison. The 7.62N is the 168gr Match bullet, and the 6.5CM uses the 130gr Match bullet.
I’ve been wanting some quick access storage for a long gun for several years. I wanted secure bedroom storage for a shotgun or AR, and obviously neither of those fit into my biometric pistol safe. Frustrating. Though my children are grown and gone now, my day job as a pediatrician makes me acutely aware of the need for secure storage for firearms in the home. Grandchildren may show up eventually and I want to be prepared.
Up to this point I have been “making do” with a long gun case secured to the under -bed frame with a combination cable lock. Secure, but not so quick-access. After watching the safe storage products slowly evolving at SHOT Show for the past few years, I finally pulled the trigger on what I wanted. I ordered a SecureIt Fast Box 47
The Fastbox 47 is a light weight keypad combination safe designed to be flat mounted under-bed, or in a vertical mount (as in a closet), or even vehicle mounted. I wanted to do a bed mount because I didn’t want to put any holes in my walls. I own my own home, but I hate wall holes. This can be an issue for apartment dwellers and other renters as well.
The Fast Box has a four-button combination keypad, which is what I wanted for middle-of-the-night access. I didn’t want to be fumbling around for a key in the dark, or have to turn on a light and blind myself.
Besides mounting hardware and leveling feet, the safe also comes with a thin neoprene pad to keep your flat stored gun(s) from scraping around on a metal surface. The vertical mounting hardware is sold separately.
The mounting holes are pre-drilled allowing for a variety of options and there are also ventilation holes to help keep your stored guns from accumulating moisture.
Installing the Fast Box 47
Preparing for installation was initially semi-traumatic, but only because it forced me to confront the reality of how long it had been since I last vacuumed under the bed. There was an entire evolving civilization of dust bunny culture under there. I hated to destroy all of their hard work, and briefly considered tolerance and coexistence, but then bowed to inevitable dominance of humanity. I got out the vacuum and cleared the place out – after a dose of antihistamine of course.
I admit that housekeeping isn’t my strong suit. I’m usually much too involved in things like medicine and guns to notice the dust when I fall into bed exhausted at night. And I’m much too weird about people touching my stuff to allow a cleaning lady into my house. Bottom line – if you want to come to visit you need to give me at least two weeks’ notice, mkay? Even then no guarantees.
But getting back to the Fast Box. This thing is very sturdily built. When it arrived I managed to pull it up into the house from the porch and drag it into the living room to unbox it, but then I had to push it upstairs from behind because it was too heavy for me to carry. I read the directions, got it open, installed the battery and programmed my own security code. So far so good.
But then I discovered a major problem – I didn’t have the right kind of bed frame. Mine was heavy wood, not skinny metal. And the mounting brackets and screws were designed for the skinny metal kind. *sigh* I know I should have thought about this before hand, but how many of you know right off the top of your head what kind of bedframe you have?
I have the wrong kind of bedframe for this hardware.
Installation video
I’m still trying to figure out a different bracket configuration that I can jury rig from the hardware store. I’m sure it’s do-able, I just have to think about it. Work has been crazy, so it might be a little while til I can get this figured out. In the meantime the Fast Box 47 is still in use in my bedroom, even if it isn’t bolted down. It can still fend off curious little fingers and nosy houseguests, and it would take some effort to remove it from the bedroom.
The unit is quite roomy. It easily holds my rebuilt “tactical” Mossberg 500 AND my Aero Precision AR pistol with additional space for a couple boxes of shells and a couple 30 round magazines. There is even a little additional space where I might be able to fit my Gen3 Glock 19 in a holster if I organize carefully.
The shotgun and AR pistol fit inside easily
I’m not really “planning” on needing that much firepower in a home invasion scenario, but better to have and not need, as they say. Besides, my main safe is getting a little crowded anyway, and this decentralizes things a little.
I realize that having a crowded safe isn’t really a bad thing. It just means that I may need to invest in more SecureIt products in which to store my expanding “family”. Fast Boxes can be bolted together, so that is an additional selling point, and incentive for me.
Would you guess there’s a gun safe under there?
If you have gun storage challenges like I do, check out SecureIt for a variety of “decentralized” safe storage options, including the Fast Box 47.
At just 7.8 lbs the all new SAINT Victor .308 hits like a ton of bricks without the weight of a traditional AR-10. Purpose built to offer serious power in a quick handling configuration the SAINT Victor in .308 features a 16” lightweight barrel, M-Lok free float hand guard and included flip-up sights.
It’s a new kind of Gear Up! No more waiting for products in the mail – now you select an Instant Gear Up firearm from a list of qualifying models, contact your retailer, ask for “Springfield Instant Gear Up”, and pick up your new gun and free gear at the same time! It’s up to a $230 value FREE!
Image Credit - Derplist and wherever they meme mined it from
The legislature in the Ohio is currently considering two very different ends of the spectrum when it comes to gun laws. On the one end a bill was introduced, H.B. 316, that would allow family members, roommates, and LEOs to flag someone temporarily (for 180 days) and have their firearms confiscated and be prevented from purchasing any new ones. On the other end HB 174 and 178 would make Ohio a constitutional carry state for residents over 21 years of age and remove the duty to inform clause and a provision to revoke conviction under that clause.
So ultimately the legislative landscape isn’t all bad. Texas recently passed a myriad of pro self defense measures that threw the mainstream media into an apoplexy. They couldn’t fathom why increasing the ease with which law abiding citizens could protect themselves and shoot back in a situation like El Paso might drastically curb the casualties caused in a future incident?
“But Keith, you dunce, that’s what all the gun control is for! ERPO’s and UBC’s and bans will solve this violence problem.”
Uh huh. And I own a suspension bridge spanning the peninsulas of Michigan I can sell your for a steal of a deal.
No! Everything about the structure of every red flag law I have currently read has had a weak mirky standard of proof for the issuance of an ERPO. The language sounds alright on the surface. But digging into the order everything is stacked against the person served with the order. And I am at a loss to define how someone so dangerous they cannot be trusted with weaponry cannot either be committed for their health into a facility or charged with a crime that would result in their ineligibility.
ERPOs add this murky dark middle ground where it doesn’t have to be a criminally threatening act or a high enough risk situation for committal but it is somehow grounds to violate the person’s constitutional rights. The Red Flag is ripe for abuse by hostile persons within family and domestic circumstances whose relationships have soured. Most “due process” seems to consist of one hearing the party must make on short notice (unless it was issued Ex Parte) and then the “flagged” individual gets one hearing opportunity every 6 month period to restore their civil rights.
“To the subject of this protection order: This order is valid until the date and time noted above. You are required to surrender all firearms in your custody, control, or possession. You may not have in your custody or control, purchase, possess, receive, or attempt to purchase or receive, a firearm while this order is in effect. You must immediately surrender to the (insert name of local law enforcement agency) all firearms in your custody, control, or possession and any license to carry a concealed handgun issued to you under section 2923.125 or 2923.1213 of the Revised Code immediately. A hearing will be held on the date and at the time noted above to determine if an extreme risk protection order should be issued. Failure to appear at that hearing may result in a court making an order against you that is valid for one hundred eighty days . You may seek the advice of an attorney as to any matter connected with this order.”
What recourse are the accused given?
(B)(1) No person shall do either of the following: (a) File a petition for an extreme risk protection order under section 2923.26 of the Revised Code alleging that the respondent poses a significant danger of causing personal injury to self or others by having in the respondent’s custody or control, purchasing, possessing, or receiving a firearm if the person knows the allegation is false; (b) File an application for an ex parte extreme risk protection order under section 2923.27 of the Revised Code alleging that the respondent poses a significant danger of causing personal injury to self or others in the near future by having custody or control of a firearm or the ability to purchase, possess, or receive a firearm if the person knows the allegation is false. (2) An individual injured in person or property by a violation of division (B)(1)(a) or (b) of this section has, and may recover full damages in, a civil action under section 2307.60 of the Revised Code. A civil action described in this division is in addition to, and does not preclude, any possible criminal prosecution of the person who violates division (B)(1) (a) or (b) of this section. (3) Whoever violates division (B)(1) (a) or (b) of this H. B. No. 316 Page 67 As Introduced section is guilty of a felony of the fifth degree.
So if it is proven that the person who filed the order did so falsely, which pretty much means they have to admit they did so maliciously and so long as they don’t admit it (and their lawyer will absolutely keep telling them not to admit that) they get hit with a 5th degree felony. That’s 6-12 months incarceration time. Meanwhile a person slapped with the order will be shackled with every violation a firearm prohibition somes with for any violation of the order. Which is still not a criminal conviction or medical commitment that would require forfeiture.
Oh and…
Except as provided in this section, sections 2923.26 to 2923.30 of the Revised Code do not impose criminal or civil liability on any person or entity for acts or omissions related to obtaining an extreme risk protection order or ex parte extreme risk protection order including for reporting, declining to report, investigating, declining to investigate, filing, or declining to file a petition under those sections. [emphasis added]
So again, unless said individual who filed the order makes the legal mistake of admitting they filed maliciously and falsely, they are immune from prosecution for misuse of the order. There isn’t going to be effort expended to independently verify an ERPO is not being maliciously applied.
On Constitutional Carry
On the positive side, 174 and 178 are looking to allowing carry of any deadly weapon, not just a handgun as the law states now, under the current rules of concealed carry. Unless it is otherwise prohibited by law it would also be lawful to carry a weapon without a license for anyone 21 years of age or over.
Additionally the duty to notify requirement for persons stopped by officers would be struck from the law. Convictions for failing to notify would also have a path to be overturned and penalties struck from the public record. Ultimately the goal is to bring less frivolous pressure against lawful gun owners in their more rudimentary interactions with Law Enforcement.
Obviously if an officer were to ask if behoves you to answer the “are you carrying today/tonight?” question but, like “Duty to Retreat” laws it removes a sometimes testy provision.
To continue my commentary on building a deeper pantry, allow me to present:
Why you should consider purchasing and using a home dehydrator.
Do you regularly cook for only one or two people?
Do fresh vegetables rot half-used in your refrigerator?
Do half-bags of frozen veggies get freezer-burned before you can finish them?
Do you buy a lot of beef jerky and fruit snacks?
Do you camp or backpack frequently?
Do you want to build a deeper pantry of shelf-stable food?
Most of these reasons fit me perfectly, so about two years ago I invested in a budget-level dehydrator. I chose a Nesco brand model. There are higher end brands, but I didn’t want to spend a lot to get started.
My dehydrator
Dehydration is one of the world’s oldest preservation methods. Many foods don’t even require electricity to dehydrate. I regularly just hang mint and other herbs to dry on the top of my refrigerator. But other foods can spoil or draw insects before they dry enough to be safe for storage. Thus, I bought an electric dehydrator.
I began with making my own beef jerky. Then I progressed to fruit leather (think fruit roll-ups). Then I advanced to dehydrating apple slices for snacks. (I took jerky and dried apples on the plane to SHOT Show). This year I decided to try dehydrating vegetables for longer-term storage.
To help me in that regard, I bought two books – The Ultimate Dehydrator Cookbook and The Dehydrator Bible. There are loads of other choices, but these are the two I went with to get started. These books have been full of good advice on not only the dehydrating process itself, but also on storage suggestions and cooking suggestions.
The books also cover choices such as Mylar vs jars, Desiccant packs vs oxygen absorbers, and accessories like a vacuum sealer and attachment for jars.
I haven’t invested in the the vacuum sealer yet. I decided to just go with jars I already had for now, and ordered some desiccant packs online. I’m not really looking to store for decades yet – merely a year or so to get started. Plus, double bagging and adding a third layer of Mylar seems like such wasteful packaging to me for my current needs. Besides, I’m in my mid-fifties. In twenty years I could be dead and not need 20 year-old green beans anyway.
So, with a couple years of experience under my belt, I can tell you some of the top reasons that I love dehydrating.
Less Bother than Canning
Canning low acid vegetables requires a pressure canner, which I haven’t delved into yet. Plus, my small efforts at gardening have not yet produced the volumes required to make that kind of canning practical. If I’m going to all that trouble and mess, three jars is not really worth the effort.
With dehydrating though, I can prep and set it up after work and let it do its thing overnight unattended with the batch often done by breakfast. So much less mess and bother than canning.
Shelf Stable
No freezer. No refrigerator. No electricity. Short term to long term storage depending on how you package it.
Space-saving
To give you an idea how much space dehydrated goods save – Two pounds of farmer’s market green beans, blanched and dehydrated, occupied the space of one half of an old spaghetti sauce jar in my cupboard.
Five pounds of frozen peas and carrots after dehydration fit into two old jelly jars with a desiccant pack each. That’s a lot of freezer space freed up. Multiply that by how many vegetable varieties I like to keep on hand, and pretty soon I’ve saved a small chest freezer worth of space. Not to mention how many commercial cans that would save on my shelf.
Five bags of peas and carrots “before”.Five bags of peas and carrots “After”.
Avoids Waste
I usually cook for just myself. I hate buying things like potatoes in onesies or twosies. They’re cheaper by the bag. But I have a hard time using up an entire bag of red potatoes by myself before they start sprouting and going bad. If I slice or shred and dehydrate those potatoes though, they keep long-term in jars in my cupboard, just waiting to be turned into scalloped potatoes or hashbrowns whenever I feel like it.
It’s the same way with buying a whole head of cabbage. I can use maybe half a head for a recipe, and then the rest sits in the refrigerator. But if I slice/shred and dehydrate cabbage, then it’s always on my shelf, ready for coleslaw or soup or fried rice or cabbage and noodles. Nothing slowly growing mold cultures in my fridge. That’s a definite plus.
My window grown cabbage “Before”,My window grown cabbage “After”.
Is your garden producing more than you can eat? Dehydrate that zucchini for later casseroles, soups, breads, etc. No more sneaking a bag of extra zukes into your friends’ cars in the church parking lot just to get rid of it.
Freezer Drawbacks
Why not just freeze the stuff you might ask? Freezer “space” is my first answer. I have a side-by-side unit with limited room. Freezer burn is my second answer. If you don’t use that stuff up within a few months, you end up with a frosted over block of inedible yuck. Power outage is my third answer. If you have an extended power loss due to weather, it can take a week or more to get things restored if you don’t have a generator. Meanwhile the “frozen” food supply that you can’t eat within three days or so goes to rot. My jars of dehydrated veggies sit happily in my cupboard and aren’t bothered by power outages.
Types of Foods
You can easily dehydrate most store bought frozen veggies. In fact, it’s often easier than starting from fresh. Commercially frozen vegetables have already been blanched, so you don’t have to do that yourself. Just open the bag, dump them on your dehydrator trays, set the temp and go. The same goes for frozen fruit slices, although fresh works well too.
Though it sounds counter-intuitive, you can also dehydrate rice and pasta. The cooking and then re-drying process makes the end product rehydrate faster and easier, which is a plus if you are planning for camping or backpacking food. You add boiling water, but you don’t need the extended boil as with uncooked rice or pasta. That saves stove fuel.
You can even dehydrate meats to a certain extent. Though sometimes there are texture issues. I’ve not tried that yet beyond beef jerky. You can dehydrate cooked burger apparently, but you have to rinse it extensively to get rid of the fat to make it more storable. (Fat makes dehydrated foods go rancid very quickly.) Some people dislike the pebbly texture of dehydrated burger, but if you are backpacking or survival storing, texture can be a secondary consideration. In fairness, some people dislike the texture and flavor of home canned burger as well. It’s all in one’s individual tastes.
I’ve seen a website where a guy even talked about dehydrating sliced shrimp pieces to add to rice dishes. And lunch meat ham too. [link] That would certainly break up the chicken and beef monotony if you were eating dehydrated foods for an extended period.
Some people even make their own “instant soup” mixes and powders. I haven’t tried that yet either, but may do so in the future just as an experiment.
The only “bad” experience I’ve had so far has been with fresh blueberries. And it wasn’t even bad per se. They just took for-freaking-EVER to dry. I did all the tricks – freezing first, poking holes in the skins, etc and it still took like three and a half DAYS. High water content and a thick waxy skin has disadvantages. I may try cutting them in half next time. They taste good in oatmeal and cereal though. I want to try them in muffins next.
Pretty much the only foods that are not recommended for home dehydration are dairy and eggs. There are safety considerations for both that make it better and easier to just buy commercially powdered eggs, cheese powder, butter powder and dry milk powder. They are readily available if you want to add them to your shelf supply. Amazon has a wide selection.
Rehydrating
The main issue with using dehydrated foods is the rehydration that is necessary. But it’s actually quite easy.
I make lots of soups for work lunches, so rehydrating for that is virtually zero effort. You just have to remember to add more broth than usual because the veggies will suck up the juice, rather than releasing juice into the broth. Or you can rehydrate separately and then add to your soup when you are ready.
The title page photo veggies after soaking in hot broth for thirty minutes.
For other dishes you can rehydrate in cold water or broth in the fridge overnight, or add a little boiling water and let sit for a half hour or so, depending on what you are making and how big the pieces are. It’s really not any more bother than the forethought required in having to defrost something you had in the freezer.
Have I convinced you yet? I admit that I was a bit skeptical at first, but I am a convert now. My budget dehydrator has paid for itself several times over in savings on jerky, dried fruit snacks, and commercial storage foods. I’ve heard of people who have two or more dehydrators running several batches at once. I’m not sure I’m ready for that yet, but I’m having such a good time that I’m certainly not ruling it out! If you are thinking about getting into prepping, or even just want to build a deeper pantry, a home dehydrator is a good investment.
