Including ... The Network: With you at Home and On the Road • President's Message • Attorney Question of the Month • Book Review • Networking • Guest Commentary • About this Journal
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The Network: With You at Home and On the Road
by Marty Hayes, President
As the Network grows (over 10,500 as of this writing) we receive an increasing number of calls and e-mail questions asking how Network members can access the benefits of the Network while traveling and in their home areas, too. Consequently, the lead article for this month will describe in detail this facet of Network membership benefits. While the topic is in the spot light, we will, in addition, attempt to educate members about the realities of interacting with the police and courts after a self-defense incident, whether on the road or at home. Let’s first discuss at home.
If you live in an area where the Network has one or more Network Affiliated Attorneys, (click http://armedcitizensnetwork.org/members/affiliated-attorneys to see list for your home state—member log in required) then we would strongly recommend getting to know them before a self-defense incident. This can be as simple as a ten-minute meeting, or lunch, or a full consultation.
Then, that attorney (assuming you and the lawyer agree to it) will become your go-to attorney after a self-defense incident. The attorney, being a full member of the Network knows that he or she will be paid an up-front deposit against fees by the Network to start your legal representation if you call him or her for help after a self defense use of force. In rare circumstances, the attorney may require you, the member, to pay an initial deposit. If that occurs, the Network will reimburse up to $10,000 of that amount.
President’s Message
Gravitas
by Marty Hayes, J.D.
Gravitas is defined as: Seriousness or solemnity in demeanor or treatment.
I was with Gila heading home after SHOT Show and we were discussing our advisory board dinner and meeting, when it struck me that what we do here at the Network is described by the word “gravitas.”
When I started the Network, I sought out those firearms trainers whom I thought would add an air of gravitas to the Network.
(Photo–clockwise, from lower left: Tom Givens, Emanuel Kapelsohn, John Farnam, Vincent Shuck, Dennis Tueller, James Fleming, Massad Ayoob and Marty Hayes)
Nine years later, I only wish our late friend Jim Cirillo could have enjoyed the last nine years with us, as he was one of those first gentlemen who agreed to join the Network’s advisory board in the early days. He was tragically killed in an auto accident shortly after the Network got off the ground. We miss him. Jim had gravitas.
Attorney Question of the Month
For the past few months, this column has been dedicated to protecting the armed citizen’s rights after self defense. We started by studying what if anything the armed citizen should tell the 9-1-1 operator. Now we wrap up a multi-month discussion of statements, if any, given to investigating officers. The new question is–
If a Network member has threatened to use force in self defense up to and including display of a firearm without shooting, what should he or she say or not say to responding law enforcement officers?
Jon H. Gutmacher, Esq.
Attorney at Law
1861 South Patrick Drive, Box 194, Indian Harbour Beach, Fl. 32937
407-279-1029
You ask what a member should say if the police respond to a situation where you have threatened to use deadly force, but not discharged the firearm. In Florida, this is a very delicate question because in 2014 the laws of self defense were radically changed such that a “threat” of using deadly force may only be made if reasonable to stop the imminent commission of a “forcible felony,” or if reasonable to stop or prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to yourself or another. This should mean that “in the hand” display will almost always be a “threat,” and technically, even if such is “reasonable” in a non-deadly force situation, it will not be legal.
Book Review
Left of Bang: How the Marine Corps’ Combat Hunter Program Can Save Your Life
By Jason A. Riley and Patrick Van Horne
Black Irish Entertainment LLC (June 13, 2014)
http://shop.blackirishbooks.com/products/left-of-bang
ISBN-13: 978-1936891306
MSRP: eBook: $9.95; paperback: 228 pages, $19.95
Reviewed by Gila Hayes
Left of Bang had languished in my reading queue for several months until Guy Rossi, the defensive tactics expert giving this journal’s January 2016 lead interview, cited its value in honing awareness and acting on warning signals to avoid attack. I am glad he recommended it!
Written by two USMC veterans, and based on the Marine Corps’ combat hunter training, this book teaches recognition-primed decision-making, by which “people with expertise intuitively identify a pattern in a situation and quickly determine a course of responses, without any analysis or comparing different courses of action.” Intuition is fed by experience, however, and unless one grew up “in tough, do-or-die neighborhoods,” how can we filter the incredible volume of sensory input to know what equals danger?
News from our Affiliates
Compiled by Gila Hayes
Business is booming in Las Vegas, NV, and that is without even considering the recent influx of SHOT Show conventioneers to that fair city. Our Affiliated Instructor Eric Loden, of ADAPT – Academy of Defensive and Protective Training recently asked if we could double his supplies of our educational foundation’s booklet What Every Gun Owner Needs to Know About Self-Defense Law, having “passed out the last of the pamphlets at the NSSF First Shots event that we hosted with the Nevada Firearms Coalition.” He added that ADAPT has even more special events coming up, at which he plans to give out this publication.
A quick cruise through his website at http://www.adaptacademy.com shows an extremely full February calendar of NV and UT CCW permit classes, advanced concealed carry courses, three gun programs and more. In addition, training in a mobile combat simulator is available, as are close contact combat programs and programs just for women, including a 40-hour close contact combat course focused on “the most probably scenarios or threat situations that the applicant might encounter in their professional careers, and day to day life.” This is some good stuff! Learn more at http://adaptacademy.com/store/category/2-courses/.
Guest Commentary
Perception is a Strange Thing
Occasionally a Network member tells a story so full of lessons that although it is not specifically focused on the legal aspects of armed self defense, we must find a forum in which to share the report with other members. The following is told by our member, Tony P. of North Carolina. We appreciate his interest in telling us his experience so we can all learn.
-- Gila Hayes
Although it is possible to be involved in a lethal force encounter on any given day, in many respects I was not adequately prepared for when it visited my world. What follows are the details of what happened to me, or perhaps to be more accurate, what occurred “around” me.
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.