Is there any validity to the supposed Israeli method of extracting water from the air, or is it just a scam? We love your newsletter and advice.

-From Ken K.

Answer: The product you are talking about is the one made by an Israeli company called WaterGen. This company builds machines that are air generators and basically, they take in air and produce drinkable water.

WaterGen has deployed its machines in over 60 countries, and even some U.S. states such as California. The machine can produce about 200 gallons of drinkable purified water a day depending on the climate where the it’s used.

The company is soon going to release a smaller version for use by civilians. With all that being said, we need to wait and see how the civilian version works to see if it’s worth it.

 

What do you think of the Taurus Judge?

-From David H.

Answer: The Judge has been around for over 15 years. Most people either love it or hate it.

It has the appeal of a cool factor. The revolver is capable of shooting both .45 Colt and .410 shotgun shells. A lot of shooters like the the Judge for home defense. Yet, it’s not the most accurate pistol and you have limited shot capacity with any revolver.

Also, unless you are an experienced revolver shooter it might not be the best choice. It’s a heavy and big revolver. It’s not something you would want to carry concealed.

Personally, I mostly stick to semi-auto guns and I don’t own the Judge.

 

I was wondering if you might mention a few points about how to handle an attack by dog… It’s not an uncommon event. 

-From Tom P.

Answer: According to the CDC, approximately 4.7 million dog bites occur in the U.S. each year and 800,000 of those bites result in medical care.

The U.S. population is about 325.7 million people. That means a dog bites 1 out of every 69 people.

If you encounter an aggressive dog never run from it. You will not outrun a dog. But, if you can get safely behind something or on top of something you can put some distance between you and the dog.

If you run a dog’s instinct will be to chase you.

Avoid making eye contact with the dog as this can be perceived as challenge. If you are holding something such as a water bottle throw it away to see if that is what the dog is focused on.

If you do get attacked always fight back. The dog will not stop until it feels pain that isn’t worth biting you. What I mean is, you need to hit the dog in the nose, throat or eyes. And in some cases, you will need to shoot the dog. (If a dog is about to kill me, you better believe I’m going to use my gun.)

 

I think one of my co-workers is picking the lock on my office door. He knows more information that he should. If he picks the lock on a regular basis are there anyways, I would be able to tell? Will the lock eventually be damaged?

-From Paul M.

Answer: There is a possibility the lock could be damaged, especially if the person who may have picked the lock is inexperienced.

When you pick a lock once, there isn’t typically damage to the lock unless the person really didn’t know what they were doing and damaged the lock.

Usually, a lock would have to be picked many times for it to sustain any damage.

Yet, you might want to consider placing a small piece of tape on the door so you could see if the door is being opened when you are gone.

You could also leave notes on your desk with misinformation to see if the person beings it up.

The easiest thing to do would be to install a security camera in your office to see if he’s coming in.

 

The gun range I usually go to won’t allow any drawing from the holster. Any other ideas on where to go shooting if I want to practice my draw?

-From Kelly P.

Answer: I would check around with more ranges to try and find one that will allow you to draw from your holster, even if you have to drive further.

Also, if you live in a more conservative area some local county governments have public ranges that are open for use by the general public. These are usually outdoor ranges and are inexpensive to use.

But, if you can’t find one, then you’ll want to do a bunch of dry fire practice, coming out of your holster at your house with a safe and empty gun.

(When I lived in Northern Virginia, I would drive to West Virginia for a great outdoor range.)

 

As I get older my hands become weaker. I have problems racking the slide on a semi-automatic pistol. Any suggestions on a pistol that has a slide that is easier to pull back?

-From Larry H.

Answer: One of the first things I would do is go to the shooting range and rent different guns to make sure you find one you can easily manipulate.

Now, depending on your hand strength you may not be able to pull the slide back on a semi-auto, so I recommend renting revolvers as well.

But if you do want to try a semi-auto I would start with a Glock 19. This is a medium size, 9mm gun, which is pretty easy to shoot, especially for beginners.

If you want to try a revolver, I would recommend renting a few different .38 caliber revolvers. Smith & Wesson and Ruger make the best revolvers so I would go with those companies.