Here is a quick update on the state of the Hendrix cheating scandal: Paul Hendrix’s Range Officer credentials have been suspended effective immediately, pending a further investigation by USPSA. According to USPSA by-laws, it takes a minimum of 7 days to convene a full meeting of the Board of Directors. Chuck Anderson, Area 1 director has been charged with investigating the incident further, and has solicited those affected to send videos, names, and any relevant information to his attention at [email protected].
A couple of weeks back Chris Fry of MDTS training sent me an email asking me to try out a little invention that I’d been hearing rumors about for quite some time. A device designed to make carrying self defense related tools in what is termed the “non-permissive environment” easier.
Before we can even begin talking about the product and my experience with it, it’s probably necessary to talk about the “non-permissive environment” or NPE. There are places in our country where you can legally carry a gun and, if you’re spotted carrying one, nobody will much care. There are other places where being caught carrying a weapon of any sort can lead to life-altering consequences. People often think of this in terms of criminal charges, but it goes far beyond that. Being fired because you were carrying an effective defensive tool, for example, would be a real bummer. Most workplaces frown on the idea of employees being armed while at work whether that’s with a firearm or an edged weapon of some sort. Items like OC spray or even some flashlights can also be prohibited in various circumstances.
Frequently these environments also have a dress code that isn’t favorable for concealment of defensive instruments. There are certainly some places where you could show up looking like a model from a 5.11 catalog and never get noticed, but in a number of workplaces you cannot get away with a prolifically pocketed vest (or “gun burkha”, as Tam might call it) sort of covering a utility belt loaded with goodies. Batman has a utility belt but Bruce Wayne can’t exactly show up to a charity fundraiser wearing it without drawing attention to things he’d rather keep hidden from public knowledge. A police officer on duty has to wear a Sam Browne when he’s in uniform to carry all the weapons and tools he needs to perform his duties, but while off-duty or on special assignment in plain clothes or a suit the officer is going to need to carry a smaller subset of gear without it being obvious.
Things like the pocket clips for knives or flashlights or the outline of a small handgun in the pocket are clues that somebody paying attention…or with whom you have to interact regularly…can pick up on to determine that you might have a weapon. If you’re an accountant, this can mean getting fired. If you’re working plainclothes security for an elected official, celebrity, or political dissident from another land under threat by an authoritarian regime, this can mean you get shot first. There are a lot of people on forums and youtube who have opinions on concealed carry, but in my experience few of them seem to have significant experience dealing with the restrictions and requirements of the NPE day in and day out. It’s one thing to not have total strangers who interact with you for brief periods of time occasionally notice that you’re carrying a weapon. It’s quite another to have people who know you pretty well and who are in close proximity to you for at least 40 hours per week not notice that you’re carrying a weapon.
That’s where the Moduloader Pocket Shield made by Raven Concealment Systems comes in. I discussed the philosophy behind the product with Chris to sort of wrap my head around what he was going for.
Photo of the RCS Moduloader from the RCS Website…because my pictures stunk.
“The shield provided me the ability to carry a myriad of weapons, tools, items, whatever I chose to EDC that I did not want anyone to get visual on while still providing consistent orientation of the item in the pocket. This is the overreaching issue with any type of pocket carry system. Most, if not all, until the pocket shield, would move around during the day, change position, shift and you would lose orientation of the item you may have to rapidly access like a folder, small fixed blade, spare pistol magazine, pepper spray, flashlight, whatever. With the pocket shield, the items outline or profile is masked, it is moldable and contours to the end-users leg and pocket AND the item, when attached, will maintain consistent orientation allowing rapid access and draw-stroke. No ‘fishing’ in the pocket you dropped your folder into because you didn’t want anyone to see the clip and so on. The shield also allows the opportunity to mount a small frame pistol or small fixed blade, which is where it really shines.”
I’ve done pocket carry in everything from gym shorts to suit pants and I get where he’s coming from. If you carry regularly you generally rely pretty heavily on your pockets to keep stuff like a backup gun, a spare mag, or an edged weapon out of sight because you’re either not wearing a belt or have to have a tucked-in shirt…but that stuff gets shifted around so much it’s often difficult to access quickly. I’ve taken to carrying my Surefire E2E (with LED conversion head) in a rear back pocket simply because I was never able to draw the bloody thing in a hurry when it was in a front pocket. With the Shield I can guarantee that it stays in pretty much the same spot and orientation so I can get hold of it in a hurry. The clip on my E2E doesn’t work ideally with the Pocket Shield, so I’d advise a different light…but I’d wager most who would want to carry a flashlight in a front pocket are going to pick a different light anyway.
Chris told me up front that the Pocket Shield wasn’t intended to work in jeans, but I found that it fits into most of my jean pockets pretty well and does a good job of hiding the outline of whatever I have attached to it. So far I’ve attached my Clinch Pick, flashlight, and Leatherman Skele-tool to the Pocket Shield chassis and it’s hidden them all nicely in my pocket while allowing me to access them without too much fuss. I will say at least for the gear I’ve tried using so far, two items on the Pocket Shield seems to be the best way to go, as three gets a tad crowded and can impede the draw a bit. The PS comes with some mounting hardware that works well with riveted kydex knife sheaths, magazine pouches, tourniquet holders, and even small handgun holsters.
I’ve been playing with it for a couple of weeks and I’m thinking having one in each pocket just to serve as a pocket organizer that will hold stuff like my cell phone in a consistent orientation and location in the pocket would be useful in and of itself even if I never carried any sort of defensive implement with it. The PS keeps your pocket from collapsing when you sit, making access to pocketed items easier.
…and I don’t know about you, but I carry so much stuff around all the time that I’m forever giving myself a pat-down just to make sure I’m not leaving something important (like my cell phone) when I’m about to walk out. Having a PS for each front pocket that has the stuff I need mounted to it that I can just drop into each pocket has some appeal.
If you’re looking for something that will let you discretely carry defensive implements or even more mundane items in your pocket while making access easier, the RCS Moduloader Pocket Shield might be just the ticket.
The 5 inch barrel on the 1911 is often lauded for delivering a long sight radius to the gun, which according to its proponents helps make the gun more shootable. How come then its sight radius is basically the same as a 4 inch HK VP9 and a 4.5 inch Glock 17?
Hayden, ID – Old Faithful Holsters, the makers of quality, concealed carry holsters and accessories, announces that they are merging with Alien Gear Holsters, also a manufacturer of concealed carry holsters, to become the leading hybrid holster manufacturer in the United States.
The merger of Alien Gear Holsters, based in Hayden, Idaho, further increases Old Faithful Holster’s share in the concealed carry holster market. “The acquisition is also expected to result in greater efficiencies and significantly increase our market share,” said Thomas Tedder, president of Tedder Industries.
“A merger was arranged between Old Faithful Holsters and Alien Gear Holsters to strengthen our market position,” commented Tedder. “Our combined assets will allow both companies to continue to create quality products, allowing us to pass the savings on to our customers.”
The combined companies now have 45 employees.
About Old Faithful Holsters
Founded in 2010, Old Faithful Holsters is the maker of the popular Stealth Tuck and High Rider concealed carry holsters. Old Faithful Holsters are an online holster store providing the most comfortable, concealable gun holsters available. For more information about Old Faithful Holsters, visit www.oldfaithfulholsters.com.
About Alien Gear Holsters
Founded in 2013, Alien Gear Holsters manufactures premium, incredibly comfortable holsters for concealed carry. Alien Gear Holsters are the most comfortable holsters on the planet. Any planet. For more information about Alien Gear Holsters, visit www.aliengearholsters.com.
Contact
To learn more about this merger, please contact:
Tedder Industries
827 W. Prairie Ave, Hayden, ID 83835
Office: (208) 215-2046
Fax: (208) 545-6903 [email protected]
I had planned to sign up for one or two small club matches to practice my 3 gun skills prior to the ladies major match in October. I now find myself preparing for the Freedom Munitions 3 Gun match being held at Clinton House Plantation in South Carolina this weekend. This match seems to be shaping up to be more than just a small monthly match. I have discovered that many of the big name pros will be in attendance, and now I’ve been told that there will be a 375 yard rifle shot!
Long time USPSA RO Paul Hendrix caught doctoring shooter’s stage times, improved his friends’ stage times while adding time to other shooter’s scores.
Why cheat at USPSA?
Paul Hendrix is a USPSA (United States Practical Shooting Association) Range Officer, and a competitor in the same sport. Before yesterday, no one outside of USPSA’s Area 6 really knew who he was…until he was accused of doctoring shooter’s scores. It appears that Paul had been altering the scores of his friends, particularly Rob Jessee by reducing the times by whole seconds, usually 1-3. Not only that, he apparently would also increase the times of other shooters, with no clear motivation as to why.
This story originally broke on The Doodie Project Forums, and I encourage everyone to read the specific post linked here. That by and large breaks down the allegations against Paul, and makes very clear what he’s been doing. The Doodies actually deserve a lot of credit for this one, as they have done an incredible amount of legwork running this down and posting video evidence of the cheating. Perhaps the most damming is this video posted by Matt Olinchak, who goes by the youtube handle Super-Tactical.com. Here is Matt’s video, in which you can clearly see Paul at the start of the video. The comparison was done using the excellent Shot Coach app, which is capable of recording shot times and start/stops from video footage.
I also pulled one of the videos from the original link down to ShotCoach on my iPad to do a comparison. In this video, Shot Coach calculates the stage time to be 23.75, of which I grant a margin for error of +/- 0.50 seconds based off video quality. However, in this video you can see and hear Paul call the time as 20.59, which is nowhere near the 23 second time calculated by ShotCoach. You can even run it yourself using a stopwatch, and you still won’t get anywhere near 20 seconds.
There are countless other videos where you can see similar behavior. As mentioned, even if you lack the ShotCoach app, you can run these figures using a stopwatch, and still come within a reasonable degree of accuracy. But the evidence from ShotCoach that has been pulled in is pretty damning.
It would appear to be 100% conclusive then that Paul Hendrix is doctoring shooter’s scores; cheating to help his close friends win, and cheating to hurt other shooters for what appear to be completely arbitrary reasons. Closest to the scandal is Rob Jessee, the subject of our video and in whose videos Paul is frequently seen running the timer. Already, Paul has taken to social media to deny the allegations of cheating, saying
I…just became ware [sic] of some trash talking on something called the Doodie project. I was not aware that this forum if that is what it is existed. There appears to be some questions as to times called when ROing some friend of mine. I only called the time displayed on the timer.
And yet in the face of mounting video evidence, Paul has since gone silent, preferring to not speak in his own defense.
With all the evidence that’s been presented by shooters, we can only draw one of two conclusions. The first is to not assume malice when incompetence is a better solution; essentially saying that Paul Hendrix, a retired LEO is completely incapable of performing the duties of a range officer to the point that he cannot even read a timer correctly, a skill which an 8 year old child could successfully manage. Unfortunately in this case assuming incompetence stretches credulity too far. That leaves us with option 2, which is to assume intentional malfeasance on Paul’s part.
That opens a considerable can of worms. Paul Hendrix has been a member of USPSA since 1988. He is a fixture in Area 6, and has RO’d countless major matches at the state, section, and area level. His apparent cheating casts the legitimacy of every single event he has officiated into doubt. It also raises an entire bushel of questions, starting with “why?” Other questions raised include the legitimacy of his friend’s state championships, won while shooting on Paul’s squad. Perhaps even more importantly is the question of whether or not the shooters who Paul “helped” with his cheating were aware that their scores were being doctored. It’s obviously clear that the shooters Paul chose to punish were not aware of the damage done to their match standing until news of this broke.
How far does this go? There is little doubt that Paul Hendrix has doctored shooter’s scores, going as far back as 2011 matches. Every match he’s worked is now in doubt. People are questioning the legitimacy of titles won by his friends. Word on the street is that the USPSA Board of Directors convened an emergency meeting specifically to address this issue.
We’re not in the lynch mob business here. I try to report the facts. The facts, in this case, appear to be damning. Paul Hendrix has been cheating, fixing scores in USPSA. To what gain we don’t know, and that is perhaps the most puzzling aspect of this whole affair. It all raises the question, why? Why cheat at USPSA?
Personally, I’d like to extend Paul the opportunity to speak with me directly. I’d like to hear your side of the story, Paul. My direct email address is [email protected] – please feel free to email me directly.
Since the VP9 isn’t yet on the USPSA Production gun list, if I wanted to shoot it in a match, I’d have to shoot in Limited. So if I’m going to do it, might as well go all out, right? HK VP9 in Blade-Tech DOH Race holster. I have a Taylor freelance magazine extension on the way as well.
Pro-Gun advocates were dealt a bit of a set-back yesterday when the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in a case that was seeking to roll back a provision of the GCA ’68 law, specifically the definition of a straw purchase. I’ll give you the short particulars of the case first:
Mr. Abramski buys a gun for his friend in PA, and his friend in PA later gives him the money to reimburse him for the gun. Mr. Abramski is picked up later on other charges (which were eventually dropped) but is charged with violating the law and committing a straw purchase. His defense was that because his friend was not a prohibited person then the transaction was not a straw purchase.
Now, here’s word for word what it says on the 4473 form regarding straw purchases:
Are you the actual transferee/buyer of the firearm(s) listed on this form? Warning: You are not the actual buyer if you are acquiring the firearm(s) on behalf of another person. If you are not the actual buyer, the dealer cannot transfer the firearm(s) to you.(See Instructions for Question 11.a.)
If you flip the form over to the back to read the instructions for Question 11.a, you get a pretty handy definition of what a straw purchase is or isn’t. Direct from the form again:
For the purposes of this form, you are the actual transferee/buyer if you are purchasing the firearm for yourself or otherwise acquiring the firearm for yourself (e.g., redeeming the firearm from pawn/retrieving it from consignment, firearm raffle winner). You are also the actual transferee/buyer if you are legitimately purchasing the firearm as a gift for a third party. ACTUAL TRANSFEREE/BUYER EXAMPLES: Mr. Smith asks Mr. Jones to purchase a firearm for Mr. Smith. Mr. Smith gives Mr. Jones the money for the firearm. Mr. Jones is NOT THE ACTUAL TRANSFEREE/BUYER of the firearm and must answer “NO” to question 11.a. The licensee may not transfer the firearm to Mr. Jones.
The form goes on to further elaborate on the fact that buying a gun as a legitimate gift is perfectly acceptable. However, if we look at the example detailed on 4473, you’ll note that it says nothing whatsoever about whether or not the 3rd party is a prohibited person. That’s because it doesn’t matter, at least according to the letter of the law. In fact, the example provided on the 4473 is almost an exact description of what Mr. Abramski did, so it’s really no surprise that the Court ruled the way it did. Would I have liked to see this case go another way? Certainly, but this was a long shot to begin with, and unlike Otis MacDonald or Dick Heller, Abramski wasn’t exactly and ideal vehicle for the case.
This is why court cases are so important, and why bad cases are so dangerous. We didn’t really lose anything in the Abramski case, and we also didn’t stand to gain very much. Still, it’s cases like this that make me shake my head and wonder what people are thinking.
You know what the most common argument I hear from pro Open Carry people? “We’re desensitize and educating the public!” Then last night, someone send this image to me in a tweet:
Desensitizing and educating the public? With Mike “Kill the ATF” Vanderboegh (or however the hell you spell it) there? Yeah sure, pull the other one pal, it’s got bells on it. You know what’s frustrating about all of this? There are GOOD examples of open carry out there. Look at Virginia, where they had a stupid law that prohibited CCW in restaurants. The VCDL went out, OC’d in restaurants, most importantly were not cocks about it, and got the law changed. That’s a win. Or look at Robb Allen and Florida Carry – their OC law is so screwed up that it’s only legal to OC while fishing or some nonsense like that. So what are they doing? Trying to get the law changed and not being dicks about it.
Then you have these guys in Open Carry Texas. It’s like no matter how many times they grab the live wire, they just keep going back to do it again. You want to prove that you’re not in this for the attention? Don’t hold big stupid rallies with no political point. Do something useful, like meet with your state representatives and ask them what kind of support they need from you to get open carry of handguns passed in Texas.
I would like to point out that is what they say their stated goal is: to get open carry of handguns legalized in Texas. It’s currently against the law, which likely comes as a shock to most people since they assume “Texas = Wild West and guns everywhere”, but the fact is that it’s illegal. So Open Carry ClownShow has decided the best route to legalization is to…carry rifles. How does that make any kind of sense?
Open carry should be legal in every state. Concealed carry should be legal in every state. In a perfect world, as long as you’re not a convicted felon, you should be able to carry your legally concealed gun in all 50 states as easily as you’d drive a car. But you can’t, and so we work within the system to change the laws.
Tell me exactly how getting a professional agitator and shit-talker like Mike V is going to help your cause? If you’re really interested in “education” why not do some PSAs on local cable? Or put up a booth at the local fair or something?
Tam says it best: “There’s a difference between carrying a gun, and carrying a gun at people.”
I still don’t like OC as a primary carry method. But if you are going to OC, just carry your gun. Don’t make your day revolve around the act of OC, and don’t define your political identity in terms of obeying the law in an annoying fashion. If Open Carry Texas was really serious about affecting political change, they’d knock off all this attention whoring BS and go sit down with their legislators.
The MARCK-15 AR Hydra Platform in 9mm packaged with 5.56 NATO, 7.62×39 and .300 Blackout conversions all in one rifle case
OLD TOWN, ME (June 2014) – MG Industries, manufacturers of the MARCK 15 “Hydra” platform, announce the creation of several “packages” of their famous, highly-configurable, modular AR-15 style rifle with certain calibers to create kits targeted to specific markets.
For the individual who takes survival and preparation seriously, the MGI Survival Package is the kit to purchase. The kit comes packaged in a rugged, lockable rifle case with specially cut foam inserts. The package is built on the MARCK-15 “Hydra,” the base system in 9mm with a modular lower receiver, a 9mm magazine well, a QCB-D upper receiver, a 16-inch bull barrel and a 9mm Colt-style bolt.
Additionally, the Survival package contains three of the most popular calibers on the market: 5.56 NATO, 7.62×39 and .300 Blackout. The 5.56 NATO conversion package includes the 5.56 barrel, complete bolt carrier group and the AR magwell. The 7.62×39, or AK47 conversion kit, comes with a 7.62×39 barrel, MGI’s enhanced 7.62×39 bolt and firing pin installed in MGI’s modified bolt carrier and the AK47 magwell. A complete .300 Blackout barrel is also included and ready for use.
The MARCK-15 Hydra is the only truly modular rifle that can convert into multiple calibers in just minutes. Designed by an industry innovator and Veteran, the MARCK-15 is the only rifle you will ever need. Sold separately, the rifle and conversions would cost over $3,000.00. Available for a limited time as the Survival Package at $2,799.00.
For more information, visit www.mgi-military.com or your local retailer. Retailers, contact MGI at [email protected] to find out more about carrying the most modular rifle system in the world.
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