Including ... Secret Weapon in Court • Getting More Out of Training • President's Message • Vice-President's Message • Attorney Question of the Month • Book Review • Networking • Member Commentary • About this Journal
Get eJournal PDF: click here
The Armed Citizen’s Secret Weapon for Court
by Marty Hayes, J.D.
Imagine being prosecuted for an act of self defense. To set the stage, let’s hypothesize that you were accosted by two unarmed but aggressive homeless people in public, who while not demanding money, certainly implied by asking “for some bread” that your failure to “give it up” would likely result in immediate threat to your well-being. These two are about your size and all three of you are of the same gender. Feeling threatened, you tell them to “back off” and put your hand on your holstered gun. Instead, they close to about ten feet and you draw the gun and yell, “I said to back off!”
The two aggressors stop, immediately take offense and one reaches into his/her pocket for a cell phone to call 9-1-1. Meanwhile, a bystander/witness also calls 9-1-1 to report a crazy person waving a gun around. Of course, you also call 9-1-1 to report that two people just attempted to rob you. Although we are just imagining this situation, it is a scenario that is played out in one variation or another all across America daily.
Getting More Out of Your Training
An Interview with Mike Seeklander
Interview by Gila Hayes
Network members are well aware of the value we put on training to improve defensibility of force used in self defense. With summer nearly here, training opportunities are at an all-time high so it’s a good time to discuss how to get more out of training with Mike Seeklander, who in addition to teaching Shooting Performance classes has launched a training website, American Warrior Society, with instruction ranging from firearms to physical self defense to mindset and more. Let’s switch now to Q & A to learn from Seeklander in his own words.
eJournal: For experienced shooters, it’s difficult in the brief span of a class to overcome years and years of habit, prior training, and technique learned from other instructors. Still, we need to keep learning. What’s your advice?
President’s Message
by Marty Hayes, J.D.
Here at the Network’s home office, we are busily preparing for the NRA Annual Meeting May 20-22 in Louisville, KY. Read all about it in our VP’s column on page 9. We designed and had a new booth back wall produced to attract the attention of even the most tired show attendees.
Members, when attending the show be sure to stop by and say hi to Gila, Vincent and me. Non-members reading this should know that we will be offering a discount on new memberships sold at the show, so if you have been sitting on the fence about joining, do it at the NRA Annual Meeting. I hope to see you there.
Vice President’s Message
Ready for the 2016 NRA Meeting?
by Vincent Shuck
We have posted notices about the upcoming NRA Annual Meeting in previous eJournals but this is your official invitation to join Gila, Marty and me at the NRA Annual Meeting that will be held later this month in Louisville, KY. The meeting will be conducted at the Kentucky Exposition Center, May 20-22.
As noted in the President’s Message, we will have an expanded booth presence with a new appearance so please look for us and visit us in booth # 4231. Spend some time with us but also enjoy the other 500 or so exhibitors, including every major firearm manufacturer, hunting and outfitter company, firearms collection group, shooting accessories corporation, wildlife artist, knife maker, and much more! Educational seminars, special ticketed events and celebrity speakers are on the schedule to break up your walking time in the exhibit hall. Admission to the meeting is free to NRA members and their families.
Attorney Question of the Month
For the past several months, this column has discussed armed citizen interaction with police, including making the 9-1-1 call, what to do after threatening someone with deadly force, and after using deadly force against an attacker who survives to tell his side to police. Now, in this last question regarding use of deadly force and the immediate aftermath, we share the first half of the responses from our Affiliated Attorneys as we near the end of this subject with the following question:
If an armed citizen shoots and kills someone who threatened them with violence (and it is apparent that the criminal is dead) what if anything should the armed citizen say to police when they arrive?
Jerold E. Levine
Law Offices of Jerold E. Levine
5 Sunrise Plaza, Ste. 102, Valley Stream, NY 11580
212-482-8830
http://www.thegunlawyer.net
A dead person changes the emotional/legal landscape, for various reasons. The citizen needs to say something, but much less is far more.
I advise as follows: The citizen simply should keep repeating that he was –
1. afraid for his life,
2. that he feels light-headed and needs to sit down, and
3. that he needs to speak with his lawyer.
Book Review
Reviewed by Gila Hayes
For this month’s book reviews we have several shorter books written by Network members.
Calling the Shots: Self-Protection and Firearm Choices that Work for You
By Jenna Meek; Foreword by Marc MacYoung
ISBN 9780692626580
$14.99, paperback, 133 pages, illustrated
http://carryoncolorado.com/Apparel_and_Books/Book_Calling_the_Shots
Calling the Shots provides empathetic mentoring for women who are interested in becoming armed citizens. Author Jenna Meek introduces, “If learning firearms was not your idea to begin with, [it] makes it that much harder to stay involved when the experience is not pleasant.” Learning about guns does not need to end that way, she exclaims, then goes on to provide guidance and motivation for beginners.
News from our Affiliates
Compiled by Gila Hayes
I’m looking forward to meeting many of our affiliates and Network members at the National Rifle Association Annual Meeting (NRAAM) in Louisville, KY this month. I recently exchanged some emails with affiliated instructor Joshua Gideon of No Soft Targets, who has promised to stop by the Network’s booth at NRAAM to help put a face to a name–well, actually, put a face to a voice, because Joshua is kicking off No Soft Targets Radio, and already has two interesting episodes posted at http://nosofttargets.com/?cat=9. He also blogs at http://nosofttargets.com/?cat=2 where a number of interesting commentaries are just waiting for your reading enjoyment.
Member Commentary
by Mike Wood
I’m a “gun guy.” I always have been. When I was a kid, my buddies read comic books and Sports Illustrated, but I studied gun catalogs and read American Rifleman. Firearms and ammunition have always fascinated me, and over the decades I've delighted in learning everything I can about them and getting my hands on as many examples as possible.
So, when SHOT Show finally rolls around every year, I’m always eager to see the latest guns, ammunition, gadgets and gizmos. However, I must admit that I’m even more excited to see and visit with my industry friends. We certainly enjoy talking about the new hardware on the show floor, but the part of our discussions that I truly enjoy the most is when we talk about the “software” associated with self defense—the mindset, awareness, training and tactics that are so critical to winning the most dangerous of contests.
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.