NW Training & Consulting

07/20/2026

We have similar problems of manipulated stats here:

https://www.ammoland.com/2026/07/rcmp-crime-gun-story-has-a-major-numbers-problem

For more info on how this kind of stuff is done, get this book and have your kids read it, too.

https://amzn.to/4vGRyYe

Darrell Huff runs the gamut of every popularly used type of statistic, probes such things as the sample study, the tabulation method, the interview technique, or the way the results are derived from the figures, and points up the countless number of dodges which are used to full rather than to ...

06/16/2026

Not happy to see this infringement on your rights, but if you don't have the required training, I can provide it to you. Let me know via the page or [email protected]

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1BeuxaDSTJ/

State fees are going ballistic!

Just a reminder that on July 1, Washington State Patrols increases their background check fee by nearly double. The state continues to increase the cost of exercising your constitutional rights. CPL fees are going up. Permit to purchase is going to be expensive. Live fire training required June 1 2027 (for CPL and Permit to Purchase).

The State of Washington hates your rights, but loves your money.

Pricing people out of their rights, as unconstitutional as it gets.

05/12/2026

Preparedness note…

First, a disclosure. If you click on any of these links and then purchase, I get a tiny commission, a few cents per transaction but your cost stays the same. So if any of these recommendations help you out, please make sure to use my link to purchase. If you feel like a tip is in order, you can Paypal a buck or five to [email protected]

We use a lot of batteries in my household. And many devices that we rely on for safety in a pinch require batteries, but we often find ourselves with dead batteries from neglect, basic out of sight out of mind syndrome. And spares are kind of an issue because the shelf life is finite.

We have flashlights, smoke detectors, even hand-held radios. Some of these things are dual purpose for normal and emergency needs. Fuel transfer siphon pumps. Internal/external thermometer and humidity sensors. Plus it is nice to have things like a wireless mouse for the computer, and TV remotes. And did you know you can use a wireless mouse with most Smart TVs? It really helps with the search function.

So battery consumption becomes a cost worth looking at, as well as a preparedness issue. Rechargeable batteries have been a thing for a long time, but traditional chemical batteries had a sharp drop-off in recharge lifespan. And were significantly more expensive than one and done disposable batteries- we’re talking AA, AAA, C, and D cells, and 9 Volt. And then you needed a charger that plugs into the wall, and if you leave them in the charger too long, they corrode, or even burst. You could recharge regular batteries, but they would not take a really full charge, wouldn’t charge many times, and the risk of them getting too hot and causing fires, corroding, and exploding were even higher.

But the last couple years have seen some real game changers in battery technology. The battery advances have been amazing. There are NiMH batteries that are rechargeable 500 or more times. NIMH is Nickel-metal hydride. It’s a pretty safe tech. I started using it exclusively for my AA battery needs last year. It charges reasonably fast. Holds a decent charge in mAh. The Amazon Basics brand of NiMH batteries hold 2000 mAh compared to Duracell Premium at 2600mAh, and costs about 70% more for an 8 pack. But the NiMH battery has a lifetime of about 100,000 mAh with recharges. Of course, you also have to buy the battery charger, which may not last as long as the battery. So that makes the total cost for an 8 pack of batteries about 4 times the cost of premium carbon batteries for 384 times the delivered electricity.

I did note the Amazon basics brand is ever so slightly thicker than as standard AA. It fits snugly in some tubular battery compartments.

Here is a link to that product:
https://amzn.to/4toU9ox (AA)
And the charger:
https://amzn.to/42Pqtq5 (also works for trad rechargeable batteries).
https://amzn.to/3OZ4Tw1 (C Cells)
https://amzn.to/42qPfMZ (D cells)
https://amzn.to/4nrTz8b (AAA)

But after purchasing a couple 8 packs of those, and finding great success, I decide to try something that I have found to be even better: USB-C rechargeable smart batteries.

These are lithium batteries. They have up to 1600 charge cycles. They cost more than carbon batteries, and a little bit more than the NiMH batteries, but they have a longer recharge life cycle, and they charge more mAh (3,000 and up for some brands). Nearly double the NiMH charge and 25-40% more than premium carbon batteries (which means longer use per charge.) They discharge slower than carbon batteries- shelf life, not use. So they have a much longer ability to sit unused in a device or out of it, before needing to be replaced or recharged. This is really good for things like flashlights that you might need in an emergency and otherwise not use for months at a time.

**They also do not need a dedicated battery charger.**

I’ve experienced the same frustration you probably have over the years. Battery charger can’t be found, it gets corroded and needs to be replaced. You need a different charger for AA, AA, C and D cell. Or phones/MP3 players- howe many versions of proprietary charger did we go through, that didn’t work for anything else?!?

Then we got USB, USB-mini, USB-micro. Kind of a step up- it was smart charging tech. It was also a data connection. But PITA- you always needed up flipping the charging 3 or 4 times before getting it into the slot. Got damaged a lot.

USB-C solves some of the problems from all the various USB standards that went before. It’s higher available wattage (faster). USB-C devices can charge in either direction. So you can power a phone off your laptop, or plug a USB C wall charger into it and charge the computer. You can use the same wall charger from your computer to charge your phone, and it goes way faster with a 60-90w power wart from the wall. While still safely smart charging and monitoring the flow. USB-C is ambidextrous. Doesn’t matter which side is up, the shell is oval and fits and works either way. Less damage due to jamming it in wrong.

I have a long background in electronics and computing, and I think USB-C will last considerably longer than most of the previous charger/communication cable standards. Most laptops have already gone to this rather than round power plugs. Most phones, tablets, and a great many other devices are going to it as well- handheld two-way radios. Dog training collars. Wireless headphone charging. Ear bud caddies. Flashlights. Solar connections from portable panels- even modest-sized stationary installations.

So it seems like a reasonable investment in battery infrastructure if you use a lot of batteries or need portable power.

https://amzn.to/4fhOnla This one includes a (AA) battery recharging caddy, but each battery can also be recharged using a USB-C cable.
https://amzn.to/3R45ZHu I’ve been using these AA’s for 2-way GMRS radios around the farm. They last really well on a charge. The “octopus cable” provided with them charges them reasonably fast on a standard small wall-wart. They light up to show their charging status.
https://amzn.to/4npVR7H I got D-cells these for a big mag-lite (also LED ‘bulb’, so super bright AND energy efficient.) I also used these in a small fuel transfer pump similar to this one: https://amzn.to/42vkcj6 - a really nice piece of kit for emergencies and for people who have difficulty lugging and pouring from gas cans.)
https://www.amazon.com/Artman-Rechargeable-Batteries-Charging-Floodlight/dp/B0DNYN4Y7V/ C-cell
https://amzn.to/4nmscMG USB-C 9volt for those pesky chirping smoke detectors, charge once or twice a year, practically forever.

And of course, everyone has something like this phone-sized external battery pack with a solar charging function, and multiple USB power output options, right?
https://amzn.to/4u8kbO0

Final note: these smart charging batteries do have a flaw, but it’s really a wash compared to traditional batteries. If they COMPLETELY lose their charge, they cannot “negotiate” charge rates with the charger (it’s a safety feature to prevent overheating- lacking when recharging ‘dumb’ batteries) and will appear inert to it and therefore not charge. If you leave them sitting *in a discharged state* for a couple years, they probably will not take a charge again. But the same problem of shelf life exists with any battery.

03/24/2026

A Tale of Two Headlines

(Involving vehicles and assault)

Out of Lexington Kentucky we have the story of 20-year-old Kaydence Carpenter.

Last Sunday morning (Saturday night after the bars closed, really) young Ms. Carpenter found herself with a considerable number of people milling about in the parking lot, apparently exchanged some words, got into her Tesla and after some preliminaries, drove through the crowd, striking multiples persons with her car.

In other news, celebrity star of “Reacher” and other TV and movies, Alan Ritchson was involved in an altercation with a neighbor while Mr. Ritchson was on his motorcycle. Mr. Ritchson was with his two sons on their own motorcycles during daylight when confronted by the neighbor, and subsequently a fistfight broke out between the two men.

So let’s discuss road rage for a moment. Links to articles will be in comments on the original post- click through to this page).

I have said before on numerous occasions that being trapped in your vehicle in an aggressive crowd of pedestrians is a dangerous situation that can, in some circumstances justify using your vehicle as a weapon to force your way free of danger. It’s not a light decision and we certainly want to avoid it if at all possible.

Witness testimony and video from Ms. Carpenter’s incident is pretty clear. There was a crowd of unruly people. Very likely most of them had been drinking. There may have been a racial and or sexual component to comments tossed about towards Ms. Carpenter. What we don’t see on the video is any attempt to physically accost her or damage her car. There is some disrespectful and unjustified contact with her vehicle. A guy plops his rear on her hood and slides down it. Not particularly showing intent to damage it; just disrespect and disdain- ‘coup-counting’.

Carpenter backs her car up into the ‘lane’ of the parking lot. She then moves her car back into the parking stall. One might opine it is abruptly, in a threatening manner. She backs up again. She does not turn her wheels during these maneuvers as if she will exit the parking lot via the designated exit. After backing up the second time, she guns the vehicle forward into the parking stall, over the concrete curb stop, over the sidewalk, and over the curb into the street.

She strikes several people and risks striking several more. A narrator of cell phone video captured makes it clear her intentions were obvious; the narrator warns people repeatedly that Carpenter is about to ram them.

Police pull Carpenter over soon after, not far away, going the wrong direction down the street. Officers assessed her as impaired due to drinking (refused breath test, smelled of alcohol, slurred speech, eyes showed signs of intoxication, failed field sobriety test at the station.) She was also in possession of a fake ID. They charged her with multiple assaults and DUII.

Some people are holding this girl up like a poster child… I can only because she is white and most of the crowd were black. They cite a “rowdy mob”. This young lady is no hero, and she is not a victim. Yes, there was a rowdy crowd of drunk people there. She was part of it. No matter what anybody said, there is no visible justification for a claim of self defense or need to escape. She made multiple threatening gestures with her car, but never tried to simply drive it to the exit and leave before ramming pedestrians. She used her car to punish people for disrespect (to stretch the point in her favor) not to defend herself or even avoid damage to property. In fact, driving over the curb stop almost certainly caused more damage to her car than anything else.

On to Mr. Ritchson.

The neighbor involved claims Ritchson has made a habit of riding his motorcycle at high speed through the neighborhood, revving loudly, and making a nuisance/danger of himself. The altercation was first published as a view from inside a house with no audio, showing Ritchson off his motorcycle bike laid down) and punching Mr. Taylor. Subsequent video posted by Mr. Taylor himself admits to pushing Ritchson while the latter was on his bike, and attempts to justify it. A body or helmet cam from Mr. Ritchson shows a more complete view from the beginning and includes some audio.

Mr. Taylor steps into the street to confront Mr. Ritchson. Whatever may have happened earlier, Mr. Ritchson’s video shows his speed as under 25 MPH which is consistent with neighborhood streets. Mr. Ritchson’s sons are on minibikes behind him and do not take part in the confrontation, but it is significant to note that a parent with their children in tow are more likely to feed a reasonable need to respond defensively.

Mr. Taylor physically blocks the road with his body while haranguing Ritchson. Video is less than perfectly clear, but witness statements, video, and Mr. Taylor’s statements all seem to agree Taylor pushed or struck Ritchson hard enough to knock him over and drop his bike at least twice. The video shows Mr. Taylor being pretty aggressive from the beginning, no attempt to wave down for a civil discussion, not preliminary conversation, just yelling and pushing. Ritchson gets off the bike (apparently still idling while laid down). At this point the men struggle and Ritchson punches Taylor several times. At least some of the punching is while Taylor is standing fully upright, and perhaps even while he is on the ground. Ritchson gives multiple directions to “stay down”. This may give a shallow impression being a dominance move, but remember that “violence often comes with instructions on how to avoid it.”

Taylor started the physical aggression and participated in it with more shoving and possibly punching while being punched by Ritchson, despite the fight seeming to go mostly one way (Ritchson is a very large, physically fit man, and Taylor appears to be older, smaller, and less fit- the whole incident is pretty questionable wisdom on his part) Ritchson doesn’t kick Taylor or hit him more than seems necessary to make him stop returning to engagement. Once Taylor stays put for a few seconds, Ritchson retreats to his bike and puts his helmet back on to leave. Taylor then approaches once again, but wisely stays just out of punching range. Reasonable interpretation: Ritchson uses enough force to gain compliance and stop the threat, and retreats when it is safe and feasible. The interaction counts as road rage because Taylor initiated an interaction with a driver based on his perception of the driver’s behavior, blocking traffic and battering the driver (assault and battery- the assault is the threat or risk of physical damage, the laying on of hands is the battery part. Specifics of how this plays out vary slightly in legal language from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.) Mr. Taylor has a British accent, perhaps he hasn’t fully grasped American jurisprudence on assault and self-defense.

I would not be surprised to see charges filed on Mr. Taylor. Potentially a civil suit as well. Pushing a person over on a motorcycle could quite easily result in a serious bodily injury such as a broken leg. That bike weighs several hundred pounds. It undoubtedly resulted in damages to the bike itself.

03/08/2026

I made a comment on a post in a group and thought it worthwhile to expand upon the idea here.

You know, people look for all kinds of reasons for things going wrong that don't reflect on our choices. There is also a ton of wrong, even outright bad advice on these here interwebs.

Here goes:

As an instructor, I always caution people against topping off their pistol mag after clambering a round.

"X+1" is marketing hype, not best practice. A significant number of failures to feed during range training come down to failing to feed the next round after topping off the mag. (Lots of instructors see this, and it's a common discussion from instructors with national reputation and high volumes of students).

FtF also includes any variation of not coming back into battery due to *feeding problems*, not just failing to get the round out of the mag. So action jamming open, round not chambered/not fully chambered, chamber not locking up, whatever. Even a failure to extract if it is due to slide not freely traversing to the rear due to friction from top round.

The additional tension/friction from it makes feeding the top round just too unpredictable. I'm not going to opine as to whether any specific gun brand is better or worse. It's a problem common across many brands.

When you manually cycle the action the first time to chamber the top round, your mechanical force pulling the slide to the rear is much greater (and slower) than the blowback action.

The additional round in a topped-off mag is not worth sacrificing reliable feeding. After all, if you have to tap/rack you're losing both time and probably a cartridge too.

Lots of magazines are really *expletive deleted* hard to fill to rated capacity anyway. 17 rd mags get really stiff at the top. We often recommend running them "downloaded" a round or two until the firearm has several hundred to a couple thousand rounds through it, just so it is "broken in" and any microscopic mfg variations are worn off. The magazine follower spring gets softer (or breaks, this is "metal fatigue") from duty cycles, not from being in a compressed state, but over-stretching or over-compressing a spring can also damage it.

Many casual shooters will literally take years to achieve 2000 rounds through their gun, much less all their magazines.

I'd far rather see people focus on shot placement than shot volume, this is one area the Fudds aren't completely wrong. I'd like to see you have both available to you, skill AND capacity.

But risk management is a game of trade-offs. Nothing comes for free. It's okay to spend more money for "insurance" but sometimes we take actions *assuming they improve our risk posture* that actually *make our exposure worse*, and if we don't test them until the hazard manifests, we don't know the problems that can occur.

So, how would you test for this problem?

You're going to need SEVERAL magazines. These should be the standard capacity mags designed for your firearm (i.e. if you have low cap mags designed for compliance with some benighted and unconstitutional state law, this is less of an issue). If you have two different capacity mags (15rd and 17rd) you would want to test them with other, like magazines, 15s with 15s, 17s with 17s.

Fill the all the way. Chamber a round and back-fill your first mag.

Now your drill is controlled pairs and mag switch. Two shots back-to-back as quickly as you can reliably put them center mass, drop the mag and insert fresh fully-topped off mag, 2 shots, repeat.

When you get to the last of your mags, you can move on to other drills. But start your range time with this drill until you have a reasonable sample set. For example, you have 5 mags, you might do this drill the next 20 times you hit the range and have z sample set of 100 shots from topped off x+1 state.

Take note of ANY failures. One failure in 100 is 1%. This is still a small sample, and you may not produce the problem, but if you get a handful of failures out of 100 test shots, you know you have a problem to address.

You should also STRONGLY consider numbering your mags. Magazines are a semi-expendable. Sometimes a specific magazine is damaged and cannot be repaired, but they all look pretty much the same, so numbering allows you to get a sense of one that is consistently associated with problems. (Thanks to a reader for reminding me to include this.)

We're going to presume that you have an adequate grip and are not limp-wristing, but be aware a minor tendency to limp wrist at the same time as this could become a "stacking" failure mode that otherwise would not be an issue. Just like other issues could stack: feed ramp polish/geometry of feedramp/bullet nose interface, recoil spring weight vs. specific bullet weight and powder charge etc.

As always, stay safe out there.

02/27/2026

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02/26/2026

Interesting how poor some organizations' support can be.

I've been a CPR instructor for several years. I started with PADI's (professional Association of Dive Instructors) Emergency First Response instructor.

I had an absolutely outstanding master instructor in that program, Nicolle Pratt, who is a PADI Course Director. But the instructor support website and procedures were always a bit lacking. The EFR program is treated separately from the Dive Professional Instructor website, even though it's part of their instructor development to become an EFR instructor.

So renewals and student registration and stuff like that was never really strongly and smoothly supported while I was in that program. The marketing materials for getting courses posted online was basically non-existent, so reaching students depended very strongly on being associated with a specific dive shop driving students your way as part of another program leading toward advanced divers, dive master or dive instructor. Outside of dive shops, the EFR program was poorly recognized as meeting OSHA/workplace certification requirements, so it was a constant matter of explaining to potential non-diving students that it would cover their professional workplace needs.

When I started, there was a bridge program (reciprocal recognition plus a nominal administrative training and some specifics of course materials) from EFR instructor to American Red Cross (ARC) instructor and possibly some other programs, but this no longer exists I carried both Red Cross and EFR certifications for several years but eventually dropped EFR due to low student interest and lack of openness to affiliation with dive shops. There are a couple shops around that offer EFR, but they like to keep all their courses to in-house employees, not an independent training business like mine.

Red cross has a LOT of support materials in the instructor site. I can get all digital materials, or order course materials and training aids from the Red Cross store pretty easily. It does get a little confusing (and expensive) when trying to register courses on their website for advertising, and to get student course completion registered.

Also, despite public name recognition, there seems to be a strong preference in this region for American Heart Association courses, and pretty much every professional medical organization that requires CPR training for their employees and associates, doesn't accept Red Cross to fulfill BLS for healthcare providers.

I've been looking into adding AHA (w/o dropping ARC). The problem is their website and email support have been abysmal about finding criteria for Training Center/Training Site other than becoming an instructor under someone else's organization. I've been given multiple pointers to website resources (pages) that don't exist or have automatic re-direct configured to the splash page. 3 responses repeating useless advice I specifically pointed out in the previous email. Very frustrating.

Nevertheless, I shall persevere, and expect to be offering AHA courses by summertime.

02/25/2026

The explosion of AI-generated images and video has really reached critical mass in the last few months. Everybody is using it. Heck- I've used it, it simply means getting left in the dust to not use it.

But it comes with lots of problems of accuracy. Once particularly relevant issue to my passion for safety, is depicting poor fi****ms handling practices. To do my tiny part in stemming the flood of images depicting unsafe practices, I present some AI prompt generation cues her (copy the whole thing into a document format for easier understanding and modification).

Introduction: AI image generation is now providing tools to everybody that are super easy and cheaper than ever before. But it does come with some learning curve and frustration, and some inherent sloppiness due to the AI being non-determinative (it’s not precise, it just emulates examples in a general way.)
To build a high-quality set of prompts and rules generating images for fi****ms instruction purposes, you can use the JSONL (JSON Lines) format. Each line in the file represents a single training "example" consisting of a system instruction, a user prompt, and the ideal model response. Use the content between the asterisks:

***********************************************************************

{"contents": [{"role": "user", "parts": [{"text": "How should a person hold a firearm while walking to a firing line?"}]}, {"role": "model", "parts": [{"text": "The firearm must be pointed in a safe direction (usually downrange or holstered). Crucially, the finger must remain outside the trigger guard and indexed along the frame. The finger only touches the trigger when the shooter is on target and has made the conscious decision to fire."}]}]}
{"contents": [{"role": "user", "parts": [{"text": "Describe the correct way to hand a pistol to another person."}]}, {"role": "model", "parts": [{"text": "First, ensure the action is open and the chamber is empty. Point the muzzle in a safe direction. As you hand it over, your finger must be straight and away from the trigger. The recipient must also keep their finger off the trigger until they are ready to engage a target."}]}]}
{"contents": [{"role": "user", "parts": [{"text": "What is the rule regarding the trigger during the loading process?"}]}, {"role": "model", "parts": [{"text": "While loading or unloading a firearm, the finger must never be on the trigger. It should be placed flat against the receiver or frame. You only move your finger to the trigger once the gun is aimed at a identified target and you are prepared to shoot."}]}]}
{"contents": [{"role": "user", "parts": [{"text": "Is it acceptable to rest your finger on the trigger if the safety is on?"}]}, {"role": "model", "parts": [{"text": "No. Mechanical safeties can fail. A primary rule of gun safety is to keep your finger off the trigger and outside the trigger guard until you have identified a safe target and are about to fire. The safety is a supplement to, not a substitute for, proper finger discipline."}]}]}

***********************************************************************
Alternatively, if the above is too confusing or intimidating, you can keep it in descriptive English and set up permanent instructions. Add these preferences to your 'Your instructions for Gemini' setting at https://gemini-dot-google-dot-com/saved-info. Other AI agents will have similar options.
Safety Alignment: When deploying this, you can set "System Instructions" that force the model to reject generating any images or text where a character is casually "resting" a finger on a trigger.
Validation: Use a separate "Golden Set" of questions to test if the model correctly identifies safety errors in provided text. For example, "is the finger position in accordance with NRA's rules for safe gun handling?"

Proposed System Prompt for Firearm Safety Compliance
You can paste the following block into a new chat or your "Instructions" setting to lock in these behaviors:
System Instruction: You are an expert advisor on firearm safety, strictly adhering to NRA fundamental rules. For every response involving fi****ms, you must:
Enforce Finger Discipline: In any text-based description or hypothetical image generation/analysis, the finger must remain indexed along the frame/receiver and off the trigger unless the character has identified a target, is in a safe environment to shoot, and is actively in the process of firing.
Contextual Policing: Explicitly flag and correct any scenario where a finger is on the trigger during:
Loading or unloading.
Handing a firearm to another person.
Cleaning or displaying a firearm.
Holding a firearm in a neutral, "low ready," or "high ready" position.
The Three Rules: Always prioritize (1) Safe Direction, (2) Finger off the trigger until ready to fire, and (3) Keep the gun unloaded until ready for use.

Verification Example
To ensure the "training" is working, we can run a test. If I were to describe a scene under these rules, it would look like this:
User: "Describe a soldier standing guard with a rifle."
Model: "The soldier stands at a high-port position. Their muzzle is pointed upward in a safe direction. Their trigger finger is straight and pressed firmly against the side of the rifle's receiver, well away from the trigger guard, as they are not currently engaging a target."