Including ...Managing Unknown Subjects • Leveraging Tech for Better Personal Safety Pt 2• President’s Message • Attorney Question • Book Review • Editor's Notebook • About this Journal
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Managing Unknown Subjects
An Interview with John Farnam
by Gila Hayes
The subject of this important interview could be termed safe disengagements perhaps also known as stranger danger or perhaps more professionally called managing unknown subjects. Who better than John Farnam to advise about disengagement before contact and how to discourage predators by just putting too much work between them and their goal? John serves on our Network Advisory Board, for which we are grateful, and I never miss the chance to pick his brain on emerging threats and the tactics that we need to counter them and that was a topic we discussed when he was in town several months ago. For learners who enjoy video, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOXzhEPUVm0 for a more casual version of this conversation with John Farnam.
For the few who may not know him, John Farnam is one of the longest serving instructors, teaching military, law enforcement and private citizens starting in the 1960s as a young marine officer and since then teaching under the imprimatur of Defense Training International influencing thousands of soldiers, police, and private citizens. I met John and his wife Vicki about three decades ago when I became their student and they have influenced my thinking ever since. We switch now to our Q & A format so you, too, can learn from John Farnam in his own words.
eJournal: At the foundational level, John, we recognize the need to stay out of the control of people we don’t know, but predators use subtle approaches to get inside of our boundaries. That’s often characterized by requests for change or cigarettes or inquiries about the time. This approach is so common that you teach a series of standard responses called “tape loops.” What do you commonly say in reaction to approaches like, “Do you have the time, buddy? “Hey, have you got a match, buddy?
Farnam: You don’t answer questions. I think the important thing is not to engage in a conversation. What you want to do is disengage and separate as quickly as possible. When possible, never stop moving. When the person approaches you do not ever stop moving. One of their tactics is to get you stopped and so they can start a conversation. When possible, keep moving or if you’re not moving, start moving away.
Leveraging Tech for Personal Safety Pt 2
An Interview with Felicia King
Interview by Gila Hayes
In our November edition, we enjoyed a comprehensive interview with Felicia King from Quality Plus Consulting and QPC Security who shared a number of ways to safeguard our communications so criminals can’t jam cell or Wi Fi signals and make it impossible to phone 9-1-1 to report a home invasion or other attacks against you and your family. In talking with Felicia, it became apparent that not only is her experience very well-suited to coaching and guiding people who often feel that using technology for security is too complex and, as a result of that mistaken conclusion, fail to take advantage of many options that can, indeed, improve our prevention of and defenses against physical attack, as well as defending against cyber risks, as well. If you missed the first installment of our talk with Felicia, please browse first to https://armedcitizensnetwork.org/november-2024-front-page.
President’s Message
by Marty Hayes, J.D.
A disturbing trend has become fashionable in the “Land of YouTube” regarding incidents of self defense. It seems that broadcasting the defender’s “story” on YouTube generates many sign-ups for the promoter’s “after self-defense service.” Generally, I think this a good thing, because from an educational standpoint, the more information in circulation about lawful self-defense incidents the better. There is, however, a BIG issue that I have not seen addressed: What about potential CIVIL claims?
Despite the rush for the publicity these incidents can garner, the possibility that the client may be sued is still a huge issue. The client is vulnerable to being sued for an intentional tort of battery if the dude lived, or wrongful death if he died and the family sues. I have not seen this concern addressed in any of the current crop of exposé videos.
Attorney Question of the Month
State to state, laws vary about using deadly force in defense of one’s home and its occupants. We recently queried our affiliated attorneys about how broadly the principle allowing defense of one’s home is applied in the various states in which they practice. Because this was a multi-part question, we deviate from our usual commentary format to attribute the answers to each question separately to avoid repeating each question for each response. We asked–
Does your state require citizens to retreat before using deadly force in self defense inside the confines of their homes?
How stringently or expansively does your state define one’s dwelling, habitation, or abode as regards home defense rights? (Does it extend onto the home’s porch or steps? Attached garage? The yard?)
Some have asserted that laws allowing defense of dwellings extends to tents and automobiles (and indeed some do live in cars and tents). Is that true in your state?
When citizens in your state discuss lawful defense of the home, what mistaken beliefs most often need to be corrected?
The attorneys’ responses to our specific questions follow:
Book Review
Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War
by Nathaniel Philbrick
Penguin Books May 2006
480 pgs., hardcover, $19.99 at Amazon
Reviewed by Gila Hayes
The myths and legends of Thanksgiving feature stories of shared feasts, not hard-fought and bloody battles. Unvarnished history suggests there was a lot more fighting and a whole lot less feasting. A book I read this month comments that most American school books regaled us with stories about the Plymouth landing then unceremoniously jump to 1776 and the struggles of the Revolutionary War. The bloodshed in the intervening years – and its cause – is rarely mentioned. In November, I indulged my interest in early American history, starting with In Their Own Words, a book that attempted to translate the journals of Edward Winslow and William Bradford from the language of the early 1600s into comprehensible sentences. While authentic, those pages were awfully dry, so I closed the book without finishing Bradford and Winslow’s reports and journals. Instead, I read Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War, by historian Nathaniel Philbrick.
Editor’s Notebook
by Gila Hayes
This holiday season, we have much for which to be thankful and even more about which to exercise caution. The fraught 2024 election season should leave us with the motto, Humble in Victory; Gracious in Defeat. Unfortunately, our nation’s leaders seem to have, if possible, grown more strident with each passing day.
Our interview with John Farnam this month, warned against attending events where emotions run high. Speaking for myself, I doubt any amount of compensation could lead me to the capital for inauguration day 2025, for example. Of even greater concern, in my opinion, is the resurgence of political violence in big cities where police forces have been gutted by years of hostility to stopping and prosecuting crime.
The election may have been national, but more often than not, the violence is local. Optional visits to the downtowns of big cities, to big college campuses, public squares where protestors gather, and even going to the state capitol might not be a good idea right now.
About this Journal
The eJournal of the Armed Citizens’ Legal Defense Network, Inc. is published monthly on the Network’s website at http://armedcitizensnetwork.org/our-journal. Content is copyrighted by the Armed Citizens’ Legal Defense Network, Inc.
Do not mistake information presented in this online publication for legal advice; it is not. The Network strives to assure that information published in this journal is both accurate and useful. Reader, it is your responsibility to consult your own attorney to receive professional assurance that this information and your interpretation or understanding of it is accurate, complete and appropriate with respect to your particular situation.