"Shovel Control" from Cooper's Commentaries

[JimR]

This is great! From the latest of Jeff Cooper's Commentaries

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SHOVELS

by Art Hammer
(of the Gunsite African Rifles)

A murderer serving life-without-parole for five separate gruesome murders escaped from his Oregon maximum-security prison this past week. He stole a car and made his first stop outside Pocatello, Idaho. He watched a residence and saw a family pack their suitcases into their car and leave. He immediately pulled his vehicle into their driveway, then broke into their house from the rear. Unfortunately for one, the traveling residents realized they had forgotten something for their trip and returned within a few minutes, finding their house broken into. The father confronted the intruder (not knowing the felon's history) and ordered him to leave. The felon said he just wanted some food and clothes. At this point, the father rattled the felon with a shovel across the head. One more smack with the shovel ended the conversation. When the police arrived, the father was in the backyard with the felon lying at his feet. The father was resting, leaning on the shovel. After the police picked up the felon the family continued on their trip.

Many important questions arise. Which shovel is best for self-defense? A dirt shovel? A snow shovel? A coal scoop? Is a lightweight model with a shortened grip better? Would this make it a "concealed shovel"? If the shovel had been purchased at a nationwide home-improvement retail chain, would they have to issue new policies and have a press release expressing regret? Could the father's shovel be construed as an assault shovel? The father used only two blows. If this shovel had been capable of more than ten blows, would that make it an evil shovel without any sporting use? (My son claims that no shovel has a sporting use.)

The police did not confiscate all the father's shovels. He may have more. He also did not keep a safety lock on the shovel. Rumor has it that his children had easy access to the shovel without parental guidance, though there is no evidence that they ever used it without constant parental supervision.

The father has not suffered any post traumatic syndrome. In fact, no member of the family has sought psychiatric counseling. Believe it or not, that very night they all attended the state high school basketball championships in Boise. The father didn't even care to be interviewed by the press and go on Larry King Live. How will a plaintiff's attorney in a wrongful recapture case present this to a sympathetic jury? (Wait. This is Idaho. There will be no sympathetic jury. Heck, there won't even be a lawyer to entertain such a case.)

The father happened to be an American Indian living on a reservation. The felon was white. Could this have been a hate crime caused by centuries of social injustice? Or since the father had a home and the felon had none, was this a case of economic class warfare?

So many questions!

More thought is required than I am capable of.

[Dfariswheel]

For concealed carry, I like the Viet Nam era colapsable model. For home defense I'll only use the extra heavy hard hat type. And for full dress occasions, I have a gold plated ground breaking model.

[Rich Lucibella]

Seems I been chasing Art Hammer around the globe for half a decade now.

I've never met the man, but whatever shooting affair I attend, he just left. Perhaps, soon.
Great post.
Rich

[skevlar]

isn't this the only use for the so-called "Special Forces Shovel"?

[quantico]

My shovel has a black handle and the metal is covered in a camo power coat. Whenever I take it out my neighbors ( several that garden and otherwise seem to be pro - garden tool ) tell me that my shovel is only for hitting people and should be banned . I tell them that my right to hang any type of shovel I want is guaranteed by my GRA , the garden recreation association membership. I have a new camo shovel hidden in the basement. You know , for my daughter... some day. In case you can't get them anymore.

[mussi]

I prefer the good ole Swiss Army spade.

One whack to the head, and the perp is very dead. Because that thing
is made out of high-grade steel, and it's HEAVY.

And, oh, they're being surplussed.

[Dennis]

"... being surplussed"?

Great! Soon there will be bunches at Shovel Shows and we can pick those with the least wear. Increased supply should reduce price and if government permission is required (NICS, etc.) then we'll just drive to McDonald's and buy one in the parking lot for cash!

[Hal]

46" DOZER BLADE mounted on a 20HP twin Briggs and Stratton powered yard eater at casa RAE.

Shovels? We don't need no steenkin shovels!

hehe, now Art's gonna brag on the REAL big stuff I guess.

[Keith Rogan]

What I hate are those gawdammed plastic shovels - call them "polymer" if you want, but it doesn't change the facts. A shovel should be made out of steel and hardwood and have a square blade for "knock-down" power.

Hehe

[George Hill]

When it comes to shovels I really like the Glock.
(Yes, GLOCK makes an E-tool, which is a fold shovel)

This is the first time GLOCK is at the top of my list.
(I like the Glock field knife a great deal as well)

[Southla1]

Like a full sized rifle ala M1, M14, 03 Springfield etc. I have to go with a full sized shovel! The short ones like the coal shovel, "Sharpshooter", Folding shovel etc. are lightweight and nice to carry but don't have the "knockdown" power or range of a full sized shovel, besides that they are hell to lean on! Just imagine if government workers (road crews etc.) that use shovels had to use a short handled shovel. What would they lean against to pass the hours of the day?????

[Monkeyleg]

My father-in-law worked for the city for 45 years, and spirited away dozens of Ames shovels. The really heavy-duty type that could thump 60 bad guys a minute. If the ATF (Alcohol, Terra and Firma) ever gets wind of this, there'll be hordes of helicopters swirling around his house.

Dick

[Watchman]

I have a long range shovel...and it's blued steel, no plastic for me.

The handle is 8 feet long. It is used for long range "projects".

It disassembles for ease of storage and if the need be, it can be carried concealed.

One of my neighbors saw it and voiced their concern about having the "need" for a long range shovel. After several minutes of conversation, he wanted to try it. Shortly there after he went to Walmart and tried to but one for his own personal use, but he was told that they had to order it "special" because they generally dont sell a lot of longer range shovels.

My shovel is a bit heavier than most, but it really reaches out and touches !

I love my shovel. It anyone wants to take it, they'll have to pry it from my cold dead hands...

[HankL]

Southla1 , I kinda like the "Sharpshooter" style. It's light and narrow enough to give you the velocity that you like The handle might be a little controversial however

[MAD DOG]

Where I was raised, we had shovels with sporting purposes for sure. We called them clam shovels.
We dug clams with them.

My personal, day to day carry shovel is a custom, hand made Mad Dog "Deathdigger 2000" with a custom Kydex sheath.
It has no sporting purposes.

Anyone interested in obtaining the finest and deadliest custom made lawn and garden equipmemt can contact me by email.

Mad Dog

[224Man]

I currently own a full size battle shovel. Its a very reliable Yellow-Label Craftsman with a high capacity moment of inertia. I am considering a compact pocket digger rocket. Cold Steel seems to make a nice model. I am trying to get SHS(short handle shovel) application signed after that I'm good to go.

[bookkie]

Anyone know where I can get a 50 BMG sniper shovel?

[George Hill]

I heard the ATGTF (Alcohol, Tobaco, Gardening Tools and Firearms) busted a guy for packing a Garden Weasle...
It falls under the Any Other Digger laws and requires special permits to carry...

[Redlg155]

I have a shovel made by Keltec. I had to send it back to the company a couple of times, but now it does great!

I also decided to get the chrome plating on my shovel. I know..my shovel isn't as big as your shovel, but remember, it's not the size of your shovel, it's how you use it!

Good SHooting
RED

[38Mike]

My shovel is an ordinary Walmart spade...that'll hold 'em off till I can get to the shed and pull out the heavy artillery.....
a fiberglass handled post hole digger........

[Navy joe]

Would you please give up your wuss load shovels and step up a real man's weapon, I mean a genuine, made by your wife and uncle's daughter, Amish Fighting Rake! No Compromise I say!

[Scott Evans]

I say the guy was lucky he ran into the man with the shovel. Ever see an angry woman with a frying pan?

New market item … defensive frying, doubles as body armor.

Mad Dog; can you point me to a photo of your death digger?


Excellent point in the article by the way; thanks for posting it.

[Eat more possum]

You guys are gonna hee haw me big time for this but I swear what follows is the absolute truth. Yes, Virginia, there are sporting shovels. I have a modest but still nice collection of shovels that are either custom made or imported, or have imported blades and shanks that were fitted with solid fiberglass handles in the U.S. The sporting purpose these shovels are used for is digging terriers out that have "gone to ground" in search of their quarry. Terriers are used to hunt groundhogs, raccoons, fox and opossums in natural and manmade structures that their quarry use for home. The terrier uses his sense of smell to locate the quarry and enters the earth to either drive the quarry from the earth or hold it at bay until dug to. I have dug terriers in seven states in the U.S. and also in the U.K. The deepest I have personally dug to a dog was a measured 10 and a half feet. While it sounds ridiculous to go hunting with a shovel I can assure you that terrier hunting is one of the most exciting activities I have ever engaged in.

The shovels I own and dig dogs with make the run of the mill tools you find at sears or lowes look like... well, run of the mill tools. The heaviest shovel I have was custom made and has a blade of 1/4" stainless with a handle of 1" schedule 80 steel pipe. It probably weighs around 40 pounds and is useful in really heavy going - dried clay and rocky soil and the like. My more usual shovel is a Hisco. It has a half moon shaped blade and a very straight shank. The blade and shank were made in Ireland, the Solid Fiberglass handle is U.S. A well made shovel will stand all the stress I can put on it (I weigh 260 and am not too bad out of shape) and will take and hold an edge.

So point being, don't ban all shovels as non-sporting and the guy that got shovel hit was lucky he warn't shovel hit by little ole me.

[George Hill]

I've heard of Clam digging, but Dog Digging?
Sounds almost obscene.

Terrier... small yapping dog... In ground... Shovel in hand...
I'm thinking just fill the hole in.

[Ed Brunner]

Here is a Saga of the Shovel.
Many years ago when I was a company commander, one of my troops was found laid out in a barracks hallway, beaten bloody and unconscious. This was curious as he was a large healthy boy from the hills of Kentucky. The CQ got him taken to the infirmary where he was sewn up etc and stated that he had no idea what had happened to him.
My First Sergeant told me about it in the morning, and suggested that if I wanted to get to the bottom of the mystery, I might want to talk to Sp4 Soandso. Sp4 S. who was about 125 lbs, told me that the injured man had been drinking and started to smack him around. I asked what he had done and all he would say was "Sir, I restrained him". Obviously somebody had got to him, possibly the First Sergeant???
Further investigation revealed that he had indeed restrained him a LOT and did it with an entrenching tool.
The big guy quit drinking and I never had another problem from him until about a year later when Major General Somebody, who, at the time was LBJ's Military Aide, called me half way around the world about him.