Slightly cooler today out here, but a lot more muggy. No fires, and after the tragedy in AZ, that’s a good thing.
Been watching some of the Zimmerman trial coverage this morning. I noticed that George Zimmerman is left-handed; this from watching him take notes during testimony. The night he shot and killed Trayvon Martin, he was carrying his pistol on his right side or hip in an inside-the-waistband holster. That raises some questions for me:
1. I assume that he fired the shot that killed Martin with his right hand, which I assume was his non-dominant hand. Or is is possible that he writes left and shoots right?
2. If he shoots left-handed, why would he carry his pistol on his right side?
3. If you carry concealed, and even if you were left-handed, would it make sense to carry it, while driving, on your right side and away from the driver’s side door?
1) I’m left-handed -- and footed -- but shoot long guns (as well as putt and bat) right-handed. I think that’s all from having been taught to bat right-handed as a very young kid. I lean toward using my left hand for handguns but am also fairly comfortable using my right hand (although I have to remember to switch eyes…).
2) Perhaps he’s more comfortable cross-drawing and/or simply prefers wearing his gun on the right. (I prefer having my cell holster on my right to avoid feeling as though my dominant hand/arm is impeded by teh phone.)
3) Good question; don’t have the personal experience for a considered response.
I forgot the dominant eye factor. I can shoot with either eye and use the one that matches the hand but some people are left or right handed but have the opposite dominant eye and I think it is easier to learn to shoot weak handed than weak eyed.
Since my left eye’s also dominant, I suspect I’ll never be quite as proficient right-handed…but when you’re left-handed, the tendency is to become fairly ambidextrous because so many day-to-day tasks are oriented toward “righties”.
That’s true. I learned to use my left hand because I have broken my right arm more often. I always did about 25% of my shooting left handed just in case but after injuries accumulated I moved that to 50% plus so now I shoot equally well with either when neither in injured. My left arm is straighter and my left hand was actually a bit stronger but some nerve damage now has my little finger on the left hand partially numb so it is a wash with perhaps a slight advantage to the right hand now. In any case I use both comfortably without thinking when shooting. I do tend to load and clear right handed. I don’t tend to work much on “tactical” reloads. While I want a reload handy I don’t really expect to do it “in action”.
Sven, I am strongly right handed but I shoot a handgun equally well with either hand and I do have both right hand and left hand holsters. When I broke my right shoulder before moving to Texas I just switched my right handed IWB holster to the left side and carried the gun butt forward. I could draw by inserting my left hand between my side and the gun. I found this worked even better than right side carry while seated so I continued to carry this way after my shoulder healed. I did not switch until I changed from a small revolver to a semi-auto.
There can be various reasons to carry on the weak side and you do not have to be ambidextrous to shoot with either hand, it just takes some training or practice. I can not shoot a rifle left handed and I look and feel ridiculous even trying to hold it that way, but many left handed shooters are used to shooting right handed rifles because they are so much more available. Handguns are much better suited to being either handed.
In a car many people like a cross draw holster on the left side for the right hand. With a conventional holster both sides have drawbacks. It can be good to have the gun on the right away from the door but the right side carry also has more problem with the seat belt getting in the way (the shoulder belt coming down to the junction.)
It is rather bad when it gets to 105 but most days have been around 100 and we are just looking at upper 80s to low 90s for the next few days. It is strange to see California getting it worse than us. It is really tough in some areas. Some friends in Washington are suffering because they don’t have AC. They normally don’t need it.
I mostly stay inside in the AC. Poor Elena complains about her car when it has been sitting in the sun. She has hardly been home as she is taking care of both her Sister and her Mother. I will be taking the Sister to the hospital tomorrow as Elena must stay with her Mother. I have hardly seen her for the last month.
Hope that whatever’s going on with Elena’s family isn’t too serious.
And that your AC functions better than ours. đ
We’re planning to replace our entire HVAC system by next Spring. And we’ll be needing a new roof in the next 24 months, too. (I’m surprised teh original three-tab shingles have held up as long as they have…and glad that our roof is well-sloped.)
Fatwa -- too bad you don’t have any roofing resources in Georgia (we’re going to have to replace ours in the not-so-distant future and I’m not looking forward to it).
Good morning/afternoon, Gerbil Nation!
As Sven said, the temperature is down, which is good, but the humidity is up, which isn’t. Going to try to get some things done that I didn’t get to last week -- paperwork, phone calls, cleaning things up, etc.
Thanks for the thread pic, Mac. A good choice for a Monday.
Elena’s sister had surgery scheduled when they got back after June 10th from Cancun for her nieces wedding. It was rather extensive as they had to go in from the front and the back so Elena stayed with her in the hospital and was going to spend nights as much of the days at her house caring for her. Early last week her mother had trouble with a disk in her neck causing pain and making her legs unusable. They called an ambulance and she was in the hospital for four days. She is home now but needs constant care. As the other two sisters work Elena is trying to care for both with the other sisters doing what they can when they can. Elena has not been home more than five or six nights and maybe three or four days in the last month or so.
Being fairly new our AC is doing well. Being new the unit is efficient but not too powerful but as long as we keep the house reasonably cool so it does not have to pull it down drastically then it seems to do well. Since I am almost always home we keep it on all the time so the temperature never gets too high.
âSaying nothing to police until youâve spoken to your lawyer is good advice for people who are really not very brightâtoo much foolish talk can certainly get a person in a great deal of trouble. The police are there to investigate a potential crime, not to salve your trauma. Having said that, anyone of reasonable intelligence can, and should, take a much more sophisticated approach to interacting with the police following a defensive force incident.â
My thought was: Yeah, itâs worked out real well for George Zimmerman. Branca followed it up with:
âI think the idea of saying absolutely nothing except âI want my lawyerâ is silly and harmful because it prevents the preservation of evidence that may be essential to your claim of self-defense, and implicit in the claim of self-defense is the admission that you, indeed, committed the act of force against another so stating that fact would have been necessary under any circumstances at some point in the process. Going so far as not identifying yourself to officers at the scene as the user of force would like qualify as consciousness of guilt evidence, and if youâre going to have to do that anyway what harm can come from addingââbecause I was in fear for my life.â
âI wouldnât say a word beyond that scope-Iâm the guy, I was in fear for my life, that over there is evidence, those people over there are witnesses, happy to talk more after legal counselâuntil I had competent counsel present.â
Monday yet again…gaaaaaaaah!!1!icky!
Hope the SoCal and TX contingents haven’t melted and are doing okay this morning.
K8-E --
It sucks your prospective clients just blew you off; I don’t understand folks who do that sans emergencies.
Mac --
The thread GIF made me smile; guess it appealed to my “bad gerbil” tendencies. đ
While skimming news links this morning, I kept imagining Don LaFontaine (Movie Trailer Guy) saying, “In a world gone mad….”
Good morning!
Slightly cooler today out here, but a lot more muggy. No fires, and after the tragedy in AZ, that’s a good thing.
Been watching some of the Zimmerman trial coverage this morning. I noticed that George Zimmerman is left-handed; this from watching him take notes during testimony. The night he shot and killed Trayvon Martin, he was carrying his pistol on his right side or hip in an inside-the-waistband holster. That raises some questions for me:
1. I assume that he fired the shot that killed Martin with his right hand, which I assume was his non-dominant hand. Or is is possible that he writes left and shoots right?
2. If he shoots left-handed, why would he carry his pistol on his right side?
3. If you carry concealed, and even if you were left-handed, would it make sense to carry it, while driving, on your right side and away from the driver’s side door?
My $0.02:
1) I’m left-handed -- and footed -- but shoot long guns (as well as putt and bat) right-handed. I think that’s all from having been taught to bat right-handed as a very young kid. I lean toward using my left hand for handguns but am also fairly comfortable using my right hand (although I have to remember to switch eyes…).
2) Perhaps he’s more comfortable cross-drawing and/or simply prefers wearing his gun on the right. (I prefer having my cell holster on my right to avoid feeling as though my dominant hand/arm is impeded by teh phone.)
3) Good question; don’t have the personal experience for a considered response.
I forgot the dominant eye factor. I can shoot with either eye and use the one that matches the hand but some people are left or right handed but have the opposite dominant eye and I think it is easier to learn to shoot weak handed than weak eyed.
Since my left eye’s also dominant, I suspect I’ll never be quite as proficient right-handed…but when you’re left-handed, the tendency is to become fairly ambidextrous because so many day-to-day tasks are oriented toward “righties”.
That’s true. I learned to use my left hand because I have broken my right arm more often. I always did about 25% of my shooting left handed just in case but after injuries accumulated I moved that to 50% plus so now I shoot equally well with either when neither in injured. My left arm is straighter and my left hand was actually a bit stronger but some nerve damage now has my little finger on the left hand partially numb so it is a wash with perhaps a slight advantage to the right hand now. In any case I use both comfortably without thinking when shooting. I do tend to load and clear right handed. I don’t tend to work much on “tactical” reloads. While I want a reload handy I don’t really expect to do it “in action”.
Sven, I am strongly right handed but I shoot a handgun equally well with either hand and I do have both right hand and left hand holsters. When I broke my right shoulder before moving to Texas I just switched my right handed IWB holster to the left side and carried the gun butt forward. I could draw by inserting my left hand between my side and the gun. I found this worked even better than right side carry while seated so I continued to carry this way after my shoulder healed. I did not switch until I changed from a small revolver to a semi-auto.
There can be various reasons to carry on the weak side and you do not have to be ambidextrous to shoot with either hand, it just takes some training or practice. I can not shoot a rifle left handed and I look and feel ridiculous even trying to hold it that way, but many left handed shooters are used to shooting right handed rifles because they are so much more available. Handguns are much better suited to being either handed.
Don’t know if that helps.
In a car many people like a cross draw holster on the left side for the right hand. With a conventional holster both sides have drawbacks. It can be good to have the gun on the right away from the door but the right side carry also has more problem with the seat belt getting in the way (the shoulder belt coming down to the junction.)
Heya, Mac!
“Mac —
The thread GIF made me smile; guess it appealed to my âbad gerbilâ tendencies. đ ”
Thank you. It just screamed “It’s Monday, Fool!” to me.
Yup…hee!
Hi Fatwa! (slow typing)
Me, too.
Mac --
How are you guys holding-up with teh hot weather?
It is rather bad when it gets to 105 but most days have been around 100 and we are just looking at upper 80s to low 90s for the next few days. It is strange to see California getting it worse than us. It is really tough in some areas. Some friends in Washington are suffering because they don’t have AC. They normally don’t need it.
I mostly stay inside in the AC. Poor Elena complains about her car when it has been sitting in the sun. She has hardly been home as she is taking care of both her Sister and her Mother. I will be taking the Sister to the hospital tomorrow as Elena must stay with her Mother. I have hardly seen her for the last month.
Hope that whatever’s going on with Elena’s family isn’t too serious.
And that your AC functions better than ours. đ
We’re planning to replace our entire HVAC system by next Spring. And we’ll be needing a new roof in the next 24 months, too. (I’m surprised teh original three-tab shingles have held up as long as they have…and glad that our roof is well-sloped.)
Echoing Fatwa’s sentiments about Elena’s family.
Fatwa -- too bad you don’t have any roofing resources in Georgia (we’re going to have to replace ours in the not-so-distant future and I’m not looking forward to it).
Sorry to hear about the troubles with Elena’s family, Mac. Thoughts and prayers.
Good morning/afternoon, Gerbil Nation!
As Sven said, the temperature is down, which is good, but the humidity is up, which isn’t. Going to try to get some things done that I didn’t get to last week -- paperwork, phone calls, cleaning things up, etc.
Thanks for the thread pic, Mac. A good choice for a Monday.
Elena’s sister had surgery scheduled when they got back after June 10th from Cancun for her nieces wedding. It was rather extensive as they had to go in from the front and the back so Elena stayed with her in the hospital and was going to spend nights as much of the days at her house caring for her. Early last week her mother had trouble with a disk in her neck causing pain and making her legs unusable. They called an ambulance and she was in the hospital for four days. She is home now but needs constant care. As the other two sisters work Elena is trying to care for both with the other sisters doing what they can when they can. Elena has not been home more than five or six nights and maybe three or four days in the last month or so.
Being fairly new our AC is doing well. Being new the unit is efficient but not too powerful but as long as we keep the house reasonably cool so it does not have to pull it down drastically then it seems to do well. Since I am almost always home we keep it on all the time so the temperature never gets too high.
Off to tend to chores. I’ll look in later. Have a safe day and mind the heat, my gentle friends.
Thanks for the responses, guys. I’ve never carried concealed and my experience even with a holstered weapon is pretty limited.
This whole case is a fiasco. Unless there is some blockbuster witness for the prosecution, I can’t see a conviction.
Paddy --
What sort of roof do you have?
Architectural shingle over a shake roof. So that means tear-off of both roofs and installation of plywood decking.
It does indeed.
If you weren’t quite so far south of teh SFV (and if gas prices weren’t so high out there…)
Resser-fresser.
The lesson I’m taking home from the Zimmerman case? Avoid talking to the police and if I have to, do it with my lawyer present.
Sven --
That’s always good advice. Especially because anything you say (or which the cops claim you said) can and absolutely will be used against you.
Remember…it is not your job to make the cops’ job easier.
Addendum(b) --
All interactions with LEOs should also be (at least) audio documented wherever it’s legal to do so.
(I was pleased to learn that my Bluetooth headset works with the audio recorder in my phone.)
Which is a very sad state of affairs. But there you go….
They’ve nobody to blame but themselves, along with slimeball prosecutors and judges.
Andrew Branca has been doing the bulk of the work reporting and commenting on the Zimmerman case over at Legal Insurrection. In a thread over the weekend (http://legalinsurrection.com/2013/06/zimmerman-trial-open-comment-forum-weekend-wrap-up/comment-page-1/#comments) he made this comment :
âSaying nothing to police until youâve spoken to your lawyer is good advice for people who are really not very brightâtoo much foolish talk can certainly get a person in a great deal of trouble. The police are there to investigate a potential crime, not to salve your trauma. Having said that, anyone of reasonable intelligence can, and should, take a much more sophisticated approach to interacting with the police following a defensive force incident.â
My thought was: Yeah, itâs worked out real well for George Zimmerman. Branca followed it up with:
âI think the idea of saying absolutely nothing except âI want my lawyerâ is silly and harmful because it prevents the preservation of evidence that may be essential to your claim of self-defense, and implicit in the claim of self-defense is the admission that you, indeed, committed the act of force against another so stating that fact would have been necessary under any circumstances at some point in the process. Going so far as not identifying yourself to officers at the scene as the user of force would like qualify as consciousness of guilt evidence, and if youâre going to have to do that anyway what harm can come from addingââbecause I was in fear for my life.â
âI wouldnât say a word beyond that scope-Iâm the guy, I was in fear for my life, that over there is evidence, those people over there are witnesses, happy to talk more after legal counselâuntil I had competent counsel present.â
Itâs an interesting discussion.
That’s probably about right for a shooting…but nothing beyond that.