Including ... Surviving an Active Shooter • President's Message • Attorney Question of the Month • Seminar Review • Networking • Editorial • About this Journal
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Surviving an Active Shooter
An Interview with Michael Janich
Interview by Gila Hayes
eJournal: Several months ago, I read with interest an article from your Martial Blade Concepts Distance Learning Program (http://www.martialbladeconcepts.com/training/mbc-distance-learning-program) in which you addressed survival tactics for one caught up in a mass murder attempt. So much is written on the topic that I wonder, has the frequency of this kind of violence really increased or is the media hyper-focused on what they like to call gun violence?
Janich: I think it is both, but it is a real and increasing problem. You can look at the statistics and trends to figure out what is a plausible threat and how to be realistic in preparing for that threat.
In 2014, the FBI did a study of 160 active shooter incidents (see https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/office-of-partner-engagement/active-shooter-incidents/a-study-of-active-shooter-incidents-in-the-u.s.-2000-2013). They found that from 2000 to 2013, the average was 11.4 incidents per year, almost one per month, but that is over that entire 13-year period. When you look at the first seven years, 2000 to 2007, it was 6.4 per year. When you look at the last seven years, there were 16.4 a year. It is becoming a much more substantial and more common problem.
President’s Message
by Marty Hayes, J.D.
The silly season is upon us…and we are set to endure another nine months of presidential politics. I am not sure I can make it! I may need to disconnect from the grid for a while. I consider myself an educated, intelligent man, and it disgusts me to see the negative advertising going on. Candidates, just tell me who you are and how you plan to run the country. Is that too much to ask?
Rangemaster Tactical Conference
I look forward to seeing many of you at Tom Givens’ annual conference of trainers and serious students of the gun in a couple of weeks.
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. This month we asked our affiliated attorneys about the next step in the timeline–
Assuming that the defender has just needed to shoot an attacker in self defense, and the attacker is alive and talking, telling his side of the story to police, what are the issues influencing whether or not the armed defender should give a statement to police in order to counter the statement being given by the wounded attacker?
Seminar Review
The Law of Self Defense
By Andrew Branca
Reviewed by Gila Hayes
Last month, I attended a seminar that I’ve wanted for a long time. After an unsuccessful effort to attend one last fall, I kept my calendar clear for February the 13th and with several close buddies, left home before the sun rose to drive to Portland, OR to attend Andrew Branca’s Law of Self Defense seminar. It was worth the wait!
Nearly two decades earlier, I’d learned a lot from Branca’s book of The Law of Self Defense. After its second edition was published in 2013, he began traveling the nation teaching the application of the book’s principles to the various states’ laws. It seems like a daunting undertaking, but as class started Branca told us that about 80% of self-defense law “is standard, but it is the 20% that will make the difference between you defending yourself and committing a crime.”
News from our Affiliates
Compiled by Gila Hayes
I had a nice conversation earlier this month that was remarkably parallel to many of the topics Michael Janich discussed in this month’s lead interview. It’s funny how sometimes concerns coincide that way.
The subject of campus security arose while I was getting better acquainted with our affiliated instructor in Albuquerque, NM, Dr. Lisa Orick-Martinez. She is NM DPS certified as a concealed carry firearms instructor and has a long list of NRA instructor credentials, including NRA Counselor for the Refuse To Be A Victim program. But the title that interested me the most relates to her “day job” as a Communication Studies professor at Central New Mexico College. In addition to teaching communication, Dr. Orick-Martinez serves as the faculty advisor for the college’s shooting club, which is the longest continuously chartered student activity in the college’s history.
Editor’s Notebook
by Gila Hayes
Sometimes questions from folks who are interested in Network membership benefits start such an interesting discussion that it is useful to share it with readers of this journal.
Earlier this month a non-member emailed to ask, “If I remember correctly, the website states that benefits aren’t available if there are any other criminal weapons charges in addition to the underlying charge related to the self-defense claim. [It reads] ‘I understand that any grant of benefits is limited to lawful acts of self defense with no additional criminal charges (unlawful possession of concealed handgun, for example) associated with the incident.’
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.