I can answer this one

THIS POST HAS BEEN CORRECTED FROM THE ORIGINAL. Thanks to Hammer.

Someone Googled "what is minimum caliber for concealed carry texas."

It depends. You must use at least a .32 caliber to qualify, but you can carry anything you want.

Which means you can qualify with a wimpy .32 ACP, but not the much more powerful 7.62x25mm Tokarev, because 7.62mm is only .30 caliber. Not logical, but since when do governmental restrictions operate by logic?

But after you qualify with your P-32, you can carry whatever.

By the way another restriction is that if you want to carry a semi-auto, you must qualify with a semi-auto. If you qualify with a revolver, you can't carry a semi-auto.

You can download a pdf of the current CHL laws at the DPS website.

The answer is obvious

Man Attended Church Mass Before Going To Nearby School With Gun

Police don't know why he showed up at the school.

Obviously because he knew that there were going to be lots of easy targets there, and no opposition. He only had the bad luck to run into an off-duty deputy who held him in check until reinforcements arrived. And if the deputy had not been there, what then?

via Strange in San Antonio

Church shootings

The Copycat Effect reports that there were two church shootings. Just a couple of more examples for your "yes, I do have a good reason" files.

Right and Duty

The Constitutional Right and Social Obligation to Carry a Gun, chapter 20 of the book Living With Glocks, is reproduced in full at the USCCA website.

That loaded pistol in your holster is a powerful expression of your Constitutionally guaranteed liberty as an American citizen, your recognition of the solemn duty you have to your fellow man, and your willingness to accept the full weight of a life-and-death responsibility.

When you are prepared to defend yourself, you are equally prepared to defend all of society and all of its guiding principles. Your responsibilities are therefore many -- moral, legal and tactical. That is why most people, including lifelong gun owners, experienced hunters and competitive shooters, even in states that freely issue concealed carry permits, do not choose to carry a gun.

Your moral responsibilities are to fire your gun into another human being only when the line of necessity has clearly been reached, and then to fire without hesitation and to full effect.

And this quote from the Roman philosopher Cicero, some 2,000 years before the Constitution was written:

There exists a law, not written down anywhere but inborn in our hearts; a law which comes to us not by training or custom or reading but by derivation and absorption and adoption from nature itself; a law which has come to us not from theory but from practice, not by instruction but by natural intuition. I refer to the law which lays it down that, if our lives are endangered by plots or violence or armed robbers or enemies, any and every method of protecting ourselves is morally right.

The author is Robert H. Boatman, and his books are available at boatmanbooks.com.

The Concealed Cartoonist

Cartoons by Joe Chaim at The Concealed Cartoonist. Via the USCCA newsletter.

Avoiding the Kill Zone

Perhaps foremost in my own personal philosophy of self defense is: stay out of dangerous places to begin with. Although adhering to this rule may not always be possible, it should be among the first things that are considered in staying safe.

USCCA has a good article on avoiding the Kill Zone.

While the concept of Kill Zones developed out of the ambush tactic,
their use is not restricted to ambushes, nor are they used only by the
military anymore.

Kill Zones are used by terrorists all the time as well as by common
street criminals. Targets of ambushes now include ordinary citizens
along with government officials and corporate executives. And many
violent crimes are committed in what could be classified as Kill Zones.
(We will continue to refer to them as “Kill Zones” even though the street
criminal may more often use them for robbery, rape or assault.)

Kill Zones are a subject you should know about if you are serious about
tactics and survival. It’s the last place you want to be if you are the
target of an attack. Conversely, it’s the place you want to draw
potential threats into.

I assume that most folks who regularly carry a firearm are already familiar with this concept. Still, it's good reading, especially for those who might be new to the concept of personal self defense.

Bullet-Proofing the Mind

Lt. Col Dave Grossman's Bullet-Proofing the Mind: today's must read from the Buckeye Firearms Association.

Naked bigotry at Facebook

From Forbes.com:

Last week Ignatius Piazza submitted pay-per-click ads on Facebook, one of the nation's largest online communities, offering a Front Sight 4 Day Handgun Training course, plus 1 Day 30 State Concealed Weapon Permit Course for pennies-on-the-dollar and capped off the offer with a free Springfield Armory XD Handgun in 9mm, .40SW, or .45 ACP for the first 5,000 who respond -- thus making a commitment of over $3 million dollars in free handguns.

Piazza was stunned when Facebook rejected his ad stating, it violated Point 6 of Facebook's advertising guidelines which reads, "Provocative images will not be accepted. Ads may not contain, facilitate or promote adult content, including nudity, sexual terms and/or images of people in positions or activities that are excessively suggestive or sexual. Ads may not contain, facilitate or promote offensive, profane, vulgar, obscene, or inappropriate language. Ads may not contain, facilitate or promote defamatory, libelous, slanderous and/or unlawful content."

I love it when the enemy makes it so clear where they stand.

via Conservative Scalawag