Jon Low of Defensive Pistolcraft has posted a new newsletter (link here). His newsletters are always detailed and contain a substantial number of links, excerpts from articles or training notes, and commentary. I always like to pick out a couple things that in particular struck me as important points for my readers to consider.
I think this is something that everyone should keep uppermost in mind when it comes to civilian self-defense:
As a civilian defender, your goal is to ESCAPE! This goal gives you the highest probability of NOT GETTING HURT. Not getting your loved ones hurt. Not getting innocent bystanders hurt.
If you're at a stage in life where no one loves you, no one depends on you, no one would care if you died, and you don't care about spending the rest of your life in a cage; then maybe some other goal might be possible. But, it would not be reasonable.
Ya, I saw "Gran Torino" with Clint Eastwood et al. But, that was a Hollywood movie, not reality. It's all fun and games until the first shot.
Also this:
Our criminal/justice system, as currently administered, obviously has no intention to fulfill its legitimate function of protecting innocent people from violent criminals. Demonstrably vicious predators, instead of being jailed, are out and looking for victims, as we see!
But what we do see are prosecutors using any means possible to convict private citizens trying to defend themselves against these violent criminals. We saw this in Portland where a journalist was arrested for drawing a weapon when threatened by a mob. We saw this in New York City where a young man is currently awaiting trial when he choked out a crazy, homeless man threatening people on the subway. There are no rewards or pats on the back for the armed citizen that defends himself. Thus, as Jon later comments: "The purpose of shooting the assailant is to facilitate your escape, not to kill the bad guy. We shoot to stop the attack."
This may seem at odds with a later quote from Kyle Lamb that reads:
Normalcy is relative. Normal for me is being surrounded by folks who are ready to do what needs to be done. They don't stand by and watch others take care of business. This group is not considered a strange field of friends to me; this is my normal. Why would I want to hang out with people who don't want to make things better by standing in the gap, protecting the innocent or seeking out and destroying those who deserve nothing better?
But that is the difference between someone whose experience with violence is as part of the military rather than as an armed civilian. The armed civilian is on risky ground "protecting the innocent" (outside of his immediate family)--even assuming you can accurately judge who is the innocent--and does not have the license to "destroy[ ] those who deserve nothing better". Perhaps the tide will change and we will return to something akin to the days of yore when the local sheriff relied on a vigilance committee to back him up, but that is not today.
On this subject, be sure to check out Jon's comments about leaving the scene if possible. An excerpt from his lengthier discussion:
If innocent persons get convicted, do you really want to help the prosecutor by staying at the scene and reporting the incident? Do you really want to confess to all of the elements of a murder? Ya, you might get acquitted based on a self-defense argument, or you might not. As Andrew Branca says, "Even if you are innocent, there is a 10% that you will be convicted. That's just the noise in the system."
Be sure to read the whole thing.
Women and those men with wives or girlfriends might consider this that Jon mentions:
Stav [of She Equips Herself] is offering a neat boutique service.
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Ever since starting She Equips Herself, https://www.sheequipsherself.com/ my goal has been to help women learn how to integrate a firearm into their daily life in a simple, sustainable way. While my videos and content show you different ways to do this, I now have a more personalized option available on my website!
I'm so excited to announce this new service available on my site: you can now schedule a concealed carry consult with me.
Email: stav@sheequipsherself.com
Here are some ideas of topics we could work out together:
🔘 roadblocks stopping you from comfortably carrying a gun
🔘 storage and/or safety
🔘 holster options
🔘 are you carrying the right gun for you?
🔘 and more!
A lot more there (including stuff for the science/engineering/math geeks) so be sure to check it out.
I was glad to see Jon address the topic of leaving the scene after a defensive shooting. Many times over the years I have taken flak on various websites for suggesting that the first thing you do after a defensive shooting is to look around and see if there were any witnesses before you go reporting yourself to the police and suffering all that follows. I've also commented on the choice available to a homeowner who shoots a lone intruder in the privacy of their home...opening up the question of whether or not it is wise to simply dispose of the body since no one knows the bad guy was there. Boy Scout types attacked me relentlessly for saying those things...usually arguing that, once you decide to keep it a secret, you become a criminal, even a murderer. I would agree that 20 or more years ago, that may very well have been true. But as Jon and Mark have stated above, the present criminal justice system seems to favor the rights of the criminal over the victim. But, even if one chooses to clean up the aftermath discreetly, it still does not change the fact that you were an honest, law-abiding Citizen who was assaulted by a criminal, predatory type and you were forced to defend yourself via lethal force. Yes, you might get charged with leaving the scene, failing to report an incident and/or abuse of a corpse, but IMO that does not mean it wasn't a legitimate use of force on your part.
ReplyDeleteI suspect that it is not discussed more in the self-defense community because (a) no instructor or writer wants to be seen as telling someone to violate the law and (b) many instructors and writers believe the system still works.
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