Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Okey Dokey…I'm here...

Bombs away!

My Plans for MASS CASUALTY EVENT Wednesday!

Here's what I'm planning to do tonight...I promised you guys that I would be available during and after the airing of our special, THE BEST DEFENSE: MASS CASUALTY EVENT, which begins at 8PM ET.

I'm going to bounce back and forth between this blog (http://michaelbane.blogspot.com), 
Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/michael.bane.395)  and DOWN RANGE TV's "The Best Defense" Forum (http://www.downrange.tv/forum/index.php?board=22.0).

If you have questions or comment or just want to express your venom, I'll be here! And I'll have a margarita, too.

Monday, September 26, 2016

TBD MASS CASUALTY EVENT @ 8PM Wednesday Nite on OC!


THE BEST DEFENSE: MASS CASUALTY EVENT TO PREMIER THIS WEDNESDAY, 28 SEPTEMBER, ON OUTDOOR CHANNEL, 8:00 PM Eastern

Link to video teaser: https://www.facebook.com/downrangetv/videos/10157497065140635/?pnref=story

Masonville, CO — The two scariest words in the English language are “what it?” There have been a dozen terror attacks in the United States in 2016; “what if” you or your family are trapped in the worst case you can imagine?

Award-winning producers of THE BEST DEFENSE, Michael Bane and Jeff Murray, decided to tackle that question head on in a compelling, and terrifying, special premiering on OUTDOOR CHANNEL at 8:00 PM ET Wednesday, September 28, encoring November 2 (Time to be announced).

“‘What if’ is a simple question with a hellish answer,” said Bane. “Literally days before the San Bernardino attacks, Jeff and I began discussing an idea to create the most realistic terrorist attack simulation possible, then use the tools we’ve developed in THE BEST DEFENSE over multiple seasons to help people survive.”

The producers’ number one goal was to create a scenario so realistic that it was hard to turn away. Working from the basics of the Paris concert hall attacks, Bane and Murray reached out to both law enforcement and military counterterrorism experts and trainers who studied mass casualty events, THE BEST DEFENSE training team of Mike Seeklander and Michael Janich, paramedics specializing in first response and even renowned mental health experts to build the scenario and capture as much as possible the reality of being trapped in a mass casualty attack.

“We made the decision to use FX to make the scenario more realistic,” Bane said. “We were lucky enough to have the help of the Larimer County (CO) SWAT team and local paramedics. The Mass Casualty Event is certainly the most complex sim I’ve ever been involved with.”

A film team headed by award-winning documentarian Brandon Green shot the whole event in ultra-high resolution 4K. Green worked with the FX team to make every shot fired as realistic as possible.

“Essentially, this is the most ‘vetted’ scenario we could build. Every move, every action taken is based in reality and run through some of the most knowledgeable experts in the world,” Bane said. “Even the crowd reaction is based on cutting edge research from Dr. William Aprill…as each ‘extra’ arrived, that person was given a card explaining how he or she should react when the attack started. We were lucky enough to have Michael Janich’s highly trained cadre of martial arts experts to create an even more realistic sim. In fact, our main ‘terrorist’ served in the Israeli Defense Force as a sniper and Master Breacher, and is an expert in counterterrorism techniques.”

On-screen experts, in addition to the TBD Team of Seeklander and Janich, include Ken Hackathorn, considered one of the top firearms trainers in the world; Gabe Suarez, probably the most experienced trainer in studying and dissecting mass casualty events and teaching civilian response; Dr. Dan Olesnicky, SWAT team physician, a first responder in terrorist events and one of the leading trainers of tactical medicine; Dr. William Aprill of Aprill Risk Consulting, considered the national expert on criminal and terrorist mindset; former SEAL Jimmy Graham, who also served as Lead Instructor for elite Federal Government Protective details in high risk environments and presently heads up the Active Shooter Response Training Center in the Denver area.

“Our team is tremendously proud of this effort, and we thank OUTDOOR CHANNEL for putting this information in front of so many people,” Bane said. “Since we began planning for this special, there have been 12 terrorism events in the United States and literally one a day around the world. We believe this information is critical, and we hope our viewers never have to use it.”

FLYING DRAGON LTD currently produces or co-produces SHOOTING GALLERY, THE BEST DEFENSE, SHOOTOUT LANE and GUN STORIES WITH JOE MANTEGNA exclusively on OUTDOOR CHANNEL.

Thursday, September 22, 2016

The Hour is Late...

From Facebook…

DEF-CON 1, everybody! There are three absolute certainties in DEF-CON 1:

-- The government always lies.
-- Systems always fail.
-- YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN!


Below are some points to think about, things we've learned from similar situations, things I've learned from my own experiences, our research from THE BEST DEFENSE, etc. None of this was handed down on a marble tablets from a big scary cloud hovering over a mountain, so to borrow a phrase from Bruce Lee, “Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless and add what is specifically your own."

1) Secure your home! We've talked about this for years on THE BEST DEFENSE.

2) Consider being armed while you are in your home — that's the great strength of pocket pistols. If you have a gun in your pocket (or your EDC), you do not have to answer the question, "How far am I from the gun?"

3) Be armed EVERY SINGLE TIME you go out of your house, even if you're just running down to the Stop And Rob for a quart of milk. Carry extra ammo. Guns jam, and sometimes you have to strip the magazine and reload.

4) Know what is going on in your community in your community, your city, your state. And assume the worst…what may look like a perfectly legitimate police shooting can trigger major rioting. For instance, if you hear on the radio that there has been a violent "incident" near your office, if might be an excellent day to come down with a bad cold. I have extensive experience in urban riots, and trust me, you do NOT want to be caught in one.

5) Always err on the side of caution…do you have alternative routes to your place of work and back home, to your children's schools, to your friends' homes? Routes that may be longer but keep you away from city centers, questionable neighborhoods, locales in your neighborhood that have been the sites of other protests?

6) DO NOT DRIVE, WALK, CRAWL, BICYCLE, ROLLERBLADE, RIDE HORSEBACK, whatever into an active "protest!" You have no idea how quickly a peaceful protest can turn into a lethal riot, and you have no idea how quickly you can be "it." Get the hell out of Dodge!

7) If you are trapped in "peaceful protest," think in terms of going to ground. Get off the street…into an office building, a commercial establishment, a restaurant. Make sure you immediately identify all entrances and exits…in the event of a Molotov cocktail, you want to know which way to run…and don't inadvertanty back yourself into a corner. I hid under a restaurant table once as the violence passed over me. Call me a coward, but I didn't want to pull my Combat Commander and turn what was essentially a fistfight into a bloodbath.

8) Keep your gun holstered until it's time to bring it into play. Do not brandish your gun — assuming no one else, especially one of the bad guys, is armed is a fool's game. Brandish your gun, and you become Target #1. One of the lessons I have learned from numeorus sims and F-on-F training is that if I can arrange myself where the gun remains hidden and, if I have to use it, the aggressor literally isn't sure where the shot came from, I (and those under my protection) become less of a bullet magnet from return fire from the aggressor or her BFFs.

9) We have increasingly seen violent protests seeking to block traffic on main arteries like interstate and state highways. My inclination is to NOT STOP! Notice I didn't say attempt to run down protestors or cause any injuries, but blocking roadways is a crime. I want to keep moving because I want to get as far away from the violence as I can….the violence may likely get worse. A moving, even a slowly moving, big steel box is compelling safety. I just saw on television where the police chief in Charlotte said if you encountered just such an event as I described that you stop, lock the doors and wait, because help is on the way. I refer you back to my three certainties — help is not on the way, or, at least, not on the way in any sane timeframe. Help arriving tomorrow does you no good today. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once noted, "When skating over thin ice our safety is in our speed."

10) If you are trapped in your car, DO NOT EXIT THE CAR UNLESS YOU SEE MOLOTOV COCKTAILS BEING USED! I once dove under a car to get clear of flying debris when the car next to the one I was hiding under caught a Molotov cocktail…Michael considered wetting himself and moved very quickly to a different point of cover.

11) If you are in the car and the car is attacked by aggressors with bricks, concrete blocks, pipes or clubs that can shatter the windshield, allowing you to be pulled out of the car or pummeled to death in the car, or you see someone approaching your car with a Molotov cocktail, you are now in a lethal threat situation. Remember, the aggressor with the weapon — concrete block, pipe, Molotov cocktail, firearm — is the lethal threat. Other people might be cheering the aggressor on, but they do not necessarily represent the lethal threat. Your target is the armed aggressor who is threatening your or your family's lives…it's not a case of "spray and pray." In any case you WILL have dialed 911, given them your exact location, that you are under attack and notify them that you are armed, right?

12) If you have to, consider how you will exit the car and how you will remain in contact with your family/friends as you move through the crowd. We have an episode of SHOOTING GALLERY on that specific subject coming up in January…yeah, I know…but the key point is your family, especially children need to remain in physical contact with the adults (holding onto belt, etc.). The person with the gun leads. Do not brandish, or in any way wave around, the gun…I would suggest a compressed ready position, muzzle slightly down. If you stick your arm out, someone WILL grab it. With the gun in a compressed ready position, the gun is more protected and still ready to fire.

13) Your biggest challenge will be STAYING TOGETHER. I cannot emphasize to you how chaotic a full blown riot is and how easy it is to get separated from someone,..it is the equivalent of a human riptide. Your initial movement is to GET SOMETHING SOLID BEHIND YOU! You and yours do not want to be in the middle of a 360-degree ring of chaos. I always moved toward walls, business fronts, even park equipment in one case, because I wanted to limit my exposure to the panicked people running around. Be careful not to get trapped, but your worst position in in the center. If possible (and it probably won't be) have one adult stay in contact with 911 updating them on your position.

14) Try to get to a position where you can catch your breath and PLAN YOUR MOVEMENT! A riot is fluid, and it doesn't make much sense to move in the direction of the larger mass of people. THINK, then move!

15) In a terrorism situation, you're going to have to consider what has happened. If it is an explosion as what happened in New York City recently yoju need to get as far from the scene as you can as quickly as you can. Ideally, don't run with with crowds…as an Israeli counterterrorist expert once told me, the Israeli word for "Crowd" is "Target." The bomber will likely be in the vicinity, and the explosion may be signal to begin a larger attack with firearms or additional explosives.

16) If you do not have people in your care, the decision to render aid is yours. My first overwhelming responsibility is to get the people under my care out of the kill zone and to safety.

17) If it is a shooting situation — terrorist or active shooter — your response must be SPEED TO COVER. Your next response will depend on whether you have people in your care or are alone. If you have family, children people in your care with you. you need to plan your moves from cover to cover to get the people in your charge to safety, clear of the killing zone. If you must run in the open, RUN, ZIG ZAG, don't provide the aggressor with an easy target. Always remember that all cover comes with a timer — the minute you arrive at cover, the clock is running. Immediately plan your next move.

18) If you are alone and choose to respond, as was the case in the recent mall slashing attack, I refer you to Jeff Cooper's PRINCIPLES OF PERSONAL DEFENSE, specifically Decisiveness, Speed, Coolness, Ruthlessness and Surprise. A clean head shot to the back of an aggressor's head before he/she even knew you were in the fight solves many problems. This isn't a game, and there are no points for fairness.

19) Practice practice practice…the balloon has already gone up; the hour is late.

Thursday, September 15, 2016

GOOD NEWS!


THE BEST DEFENSE: MASS CASUALTY EVENT, our special on how to stay alive in the hell of a terrorist/active shooter attack, will air on OUTDOOR CHANNEL 28 September, with an encore on 2 November. I don't have the times yet, but we'll get them up on DRTV and Facebook ASAP.

The 46-minute "Director's Cut" will air on My Outdoor TV (myoutdoortv.com) later in the month.

BTW, MOTV is a Y-U-U-U-U-G-E OUTDOOR CHANNEL paysite with thousands of our back episodes, including SHOOTING GALLERY and THE BEST DEFENSE. There's already a ton of content there, with more being loaded every day. In fact, Marshal Halloway is actually chained to an editing station uploading back episodes.

More importantly, at least to me, will be the original material. We launch SGO With Michael Bane, [Shooting Gallery Online, get it?] next week in beta. "Beta"is a software term that means, loosely, we're not sure what we're doing, but we want to put the stake into the ground and get to work. My long-term plan for SGO is to have it much more like the DOWN RANGE Radio podcast, looser, less structured, what's on my mind every week. We can get reviews up very quickly, cover events, etc.

Both Marshal and I are working with cutting edge video technology to to build out the studio and help us with other opportunities. For example, what if we could pull a Howard Stern and stream the video recording of DOWN RANGE Radio a couple of days before we launch the audio version Wednesday AM? When I was recording last week, I had 3 or 4 guns and a bunch of accessories on my desk…with a live video stream, you'd be able to see them.

MOTV is $9.99 a month…there are no long-term commitments or any of the usual bullshit. That's less than you'd  pay for one of the overpriced swill served at Starbucks that gets funneled to our blood enemies' coffers! Get your coffee at Dunkin' Donuts and sign up for MOTV!

I have a  magic code to get you your first month for $0.99 so you can see what we're doing, Go to the splash page, myoutdoortv.com, and clock on "Sign Up Today" on the lower right side of the page. That'll take you to the "fill in the blank page" we're all familiar with. Fill in the blanks, then click to the second age, which is the payment page.

You'll see a block there for "Promotional Code.:

Fill in the page and then enter SGO into the promotion code box. You get your first month for $0.99.

The "formal" launch of SGO With Michael Bane will be at the semi-legendary "Michael Buys the Beer" event at the NRA Show April 28-30 in Hot'lanta! Our plan there, if Marshal and I can work out the Internet issues, is that when you check in for your free beer, we'll sign you up for your first month of MOTV right there on the spot. Then for the first 200 people, we'll hand you a dollar bill to cover your cost. You can use the extra $0.01 to, say, buy a new Land Rover or an expedition in search of the source of the White Nile…the sky's the limit when you roll with Marshal and I!

If you've already signed up for MOTV, we'll have a little morale patch surprise for you!

Just to be clear, I don't get anything out of this, so I'm not shilling it for bucks. MOTV is something Marshal and I have dreamed about for years, and we think it can truly be rock and roll.


Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Sunday, September 11, 2016

Candles in the Rain


If you are a Muslim and this offends you, go to hell. 

We said we would never forget, and yet we did. We staged futile show wars, where our sons and daughters — the best of us — died in the sand for land we never intended to hold, for reasons we could never articulate, for strategies we never bothered to create. We elected a president with  his Muslim ""advisors," who funded the jihad with our money and warned us to be nice to those who seek to destroy us…or else.
On this day in 2014 The American Spectator wrote this:

"What is so troubling is the ongoing insistence that there is no connection between the attacks of September 11, 2001 and Islam. It isn’t to say that every single Muslim in the world bears responsibility for 9/11. But if we insist on pretending their isn’t a critical mass of Muslims prepared to murder innocent civilians, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, in the name of Islam, then we only succeed in insulting our intelligence, thus ensuring that this will continue to happen. There is a problem within Islam and the consequences of this problem is the 9/11 attacks by al Qaeda and the beheadings of journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff by ISIS and numerous incidents in between. According to the website, the Religion of Peace, there have been 23,795 acts of Islamic terrorism since September 11, 2001."
We forgot. 
They won.
Their victory is so profound that the President of the United States can't even bring himself to say the names of our executioners. Until the public outcry, some high school students in Florida was requited to recite the shahada, "There is no god, but God. Muhammad is the messenger of God" BTW, recitation of the shahada in front of witnesses is also the first and only formal step in conversion to Islam.
We are no longer appalled, or even surprised at the beheadings, the burning children alive, boiling captured enemies in oil, the slave markets in Syria, the poisonous tendrils of the 11th Century weaving their way into our 21st Century lives.
You've heard my story before. I went to New York as soon as I could, so I could go with my best friend back to his loft across the street from where the South Tower stood. He was one of the heroes of that day, and his story is nothing less than incredible. But it is his story, not mine, to tell. And he has chosen not to tell it.
I have told you about standing in my friend's loft — he was 3-S, my old loft was 4-S, one floor up — ankle deep in ash, shredded paper and pieces of furniture and…other things... blown through the windows and walls as the South Tower collapsed. We had to wear hazmat gear because of the "high organic content" of the ash.
"High organic content"
Think about that.
I remember holding the cop who was required to accompany us as he sobbed. "We couldn't save anyone," he kept saying. "We couldn't save anyone."
I remember standing with my friend the night before, in the cold rain, while the site still burned and responders were still collecting pieces of Americans, my brothers and sisters, in 5 gallon plastic buckets. All around us were handmade posters — "Have you seen….my wife, my husband, my child, my friend…" — fading, the photos and words vanishing in the rain. The couple next to us were in evening wear, him a tuxedo, her in an evening gown. On the other side was an Hassidic family. Everyone was crying and no one made an attempt to get out of the rain.
It stank of ash, of seared metal, of something else, something horrible and primeval, that lodged in the back of your throat.
Fifteen years ago
We are, I fear, facing the last free American election.
If we lose, the next election will be all for show, bread and circuses for the rabble. If we lose, Americans will learn the sick fear of the knock on the door in the middle of night. We will learn the close-mouthedness of the old USSR and the real meaning of "Irish Democracy." We will come to hate our neighbors, and our children will become our informers, the instruments of our doom.
Once again, we will hear the muted rattlings of the boxcars, feel the hopelessness of the wire and the Dead Line.
We will finally understand the true meaning of dhimmitude, and by then it will be too late.
For the sake of the Founders…
For the sake of the Shining City on the Hill… 
For the sake of your children and their children…
For the sake of the millions who gave their last full measure of devotion to preserve this country, our country…
Before you cast your ballot this November, close you eyes for just a moment…
...and remember.
BTW, the number of attacks recorded on Religion of Peace since September 11, 2001 is now 29,197.

Thursday, September 08, 2016

Ever Think You Need Something a Little Extra in the Car?


Angstadt Arms 9mm pistol
Shockwave Blade stabilizing system
Glock magazines

Add a UW bandoleer to carry 3 33-round Glock mags and a med kit, and viola, a calming drive through Detroit!

How much did I like this gun?

One magazine followed immediately by an email to the Prez of Angstadt Arms asking the price. The proverbial check is in the proverbial mail!

C'mon...You Know You Want It!!!!!


May 2017

Tuesday, September 06, 2016

Clown Sightings Grip America, Nation Nears Panic


We need to be on top of this:
Clown tries to lure kids in Winston-Salem, two clown sightings reported

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Winston-Salem police say someone in a clown costume tried to lure kids into the woods Sunday night 
The incident happened in the 1200 block of East 29th Street off Hwy. 52 about 8:30 p.m.
The "clown" was described as wearing white overalls, white gloves, red shoes with red bushy hair, a white face and a red nose. 
The suspect allegedly tried to lure the kids with treats. The suspect was reportedly seen by two children and heard, but not seen, by one adult. The suspect fled the area when officers arrived.
Of course, many of the clown sightings are from Washington D.C., which hardly counts…it's hard to say which is creepier, visiting the Senate and House of Representatives or the offices of the National Review…"clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right"…you can't walk thorough Washington D.C. without hearing the stead flap flap flap of floppy shoes.

Cough cough cough cough cough cough cough cough cough cough cough cough

Sorry…I wanted to see what it felt like to be a Presidential candidate.

Anyway, back to the clown sightings. Don't worry, I'm on top of it. My biggest question is whether the Hornady Zombie Ammo will actually take down an older bull clown. Perhaps it's time to ask the U.S. ammo industry to consider a clown-specific round, perhaps #00 buck packed with multicolored confetti, or maybe flechette rounds that deploy a little tiny flag that say "BANG!" when fired.

My biggest fear is the clowns linking up with the beaver assaults that have been plaguing the world for months (you've only seen it here…there's more a a media clampdown on beaver attacks than Hillary Clinton's coughing fits). Weaponized beavers in the hands of evil clowns represents an existential threat, or at the very least the plot of a new Rob Zombie movie.

I just finished beaver-proofing the Secret Hidden Bunker — razor wire 2 feet off the ground and dummy trees laced with Tannerite. I have written my Congress-slimeball calling for legislation to legalize mortars for civilians, specifically for the beaver threat. For clowns, I've been thinking of faux cotton candy made with the sticky ingredient of flypaper.

I wonder if there's any more coffee?

Cough cough cough cough cough cough cough cough cough cough cough cough...