Massad Ayoob's Blog, page 121
June 14, 2014
A GREAT NOVEL ABOUT A GREAT COP
Every now and then, I read a historical novel in which the writer diligently researched the times and career of their protagonist, but didn’t really understand him or what he did, and let that slip out. They transfer their own values to someone in a world and a job where things had to be done differently, and it shows, and spoils the whole effort. People who’ve never ridden a horse or fired a Colt Single Action probably shouldn’t try to create words or thoughts for real cowboys, and maybe it takes a real physician to write a historical novel about a great doctor.
I offer you a real cop who has brilliantly executed a first novel about a real – and great – Twentieth Century lawman. I know Mike Conti, who retired a while back after a distinguished career with the Massachusetts State Police. He’s still a master firearms instructor, and if the name seems familiar, you may have read his well-written training manual or met him at a conference of IALEFI, the International Association of Law Enforcement Firearms Instructors.
One of Conti’s passions is studying the great police gunfighters, which leads us to his new historical novel, “Jelly Bryce: the Legend Begins.” Delf Bryce began as an Oklahoma country boy with a phenomenal talent for shooting, a talent which got him recruited onto the Oklahoma City Police Department’s pistol team. Once he was patrolling that city’s mean streets, he had to use his gun more than once “on the two-way range.” Promoted to detective more for his skill in relating to people than for his wizardry with his favorite Smith & Wesson revolver, he found himself in still more shootouts. A natty dresser, he got his nickname from a would-be cop-killer whom Bryce trumped at his own game. As the downed gunman lay dying from the wounds Bryce had inflicted on him with his trademark S&W .44 Special, he gurgled to the stylishly-attired detective, “I can’t believe I was killed by a jellybean like you!” Those famous last words became a nickname, and he would ever after be known as “Jelly” Bryce.
Conti’s book mixes meticulous research into Bryce’s life with the insight of a real policeman. At one point, Bryce sadly tells an older and wiser cop that he considers himself a monster, because he feels good after gun battles in which he has killed his opponents. The old head explains to him, without using the modern term, that what he’s feeling is survival euphoria: the exhilaration comes, not from having caused death, but from having escaped it. Your ordinary wordsmith would have missed that, but Conti absolutely nails it – and that kind of insight, again and again, brings the book to life.
Beginning at Bryce’s birth and going up to the turbulent “Dillinger Days” when J. Edgar Hoover decided to reinforce the ranks of the fledgling FBI with street-proven police gunfighters, “Jelly Bryce: the Legend Begins” is a riveting read. Mike tells me it’s the first of a trilogy, and I for one am eager to read the next volume. I found “Jelly Bryce: the Legend Begins” a wonderful read. You can order the book from www.sabergroup.com, which also offers Mike’s work on police pistolcraft for modern times.
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June 10, 2014
ANOTHER SLICE OF SMALL TOWN AMERICA
I recently taught a class at the Illinois State Rifle Range in Kankakee, Illinois. Set in the “breadbasket of the nation” farmlands surrounding that small city, it’s a great range and getting greater, with substantial construction going on as I write this. More ranges, and also a spacious classroom are being built. However, there’s not yet a classroom on the range per se, so we rented the nearest hall for that part of the program. This year and last, that was the Lions Club in Bonfield, IL.
With a listed population of 364, there isn’t exactly a “downtown Bonfield.” They used to have a café there. The village restaurant is where the locals gather to talk about everything from crops to local politics to solving the problems of the world and hey, how are the grandkids? When the café closed its doors, the Lions stepped in to fill the gap.
They configured part of their meeting hall to a separate-able coffee shop, specifically a coffee-and-continental-breakfast shop. Menu prices look as if they came back from the past in a time machine. Think “donation,” not “bill.” I learned that the coffee shop is not run for profit. They just ask enough to cover expenses. The Lions Club is one of our great civic groups, and their purpose in opening their club for this purpose was to serve the community. To maintain a gathering place for the citizens.
For the four ten-hour days of a MAG-40 immersion course, the ladies of the Lions did noble service feeding the thirty-some students and seven staff that MAG and its host entity, MTG, brought in. They fed us splendidly, and we collectively groveled in gratitude.
I discovered that, at least in this chapter of the Lions, the ladies who fed us so well are not to be called Lionesses. Apparently, that element of the Lions Club is falling by the wayside and the women are, in most chapters, Lions like the men.
The Lions Club is one of our greatest civic groups, particularly important to the smaller and more rural communities. They embody all the best values of America. Our time there was sort of a Norman Rockwell moment.
Have I mentioned lately that I love this country?
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June 3, 2014
“IN THE HALLS OF JUSTICE…
…most of the justice is in the halls.”
That classic phrase among lawyers aptly describes how things work. When criminal charges are levied by the authorities, far more cases are closed by plea bargains than go to trial. In civil lawsuits, far more result in out-of-court settlements than in full blown trials.
My own schedule as an expert witness in cases involving weapons, shootings, and assorted homicides is a good example. Let’s look at the second quarter of 2014 from the perspective of one denizen of The System.
April, 2014: Three cases, done.
Case One: A Federal lawsuit with heavy political overtones, which had to go to trial, both sides being implacable in their positions. I testified for somewhere between two and a half and three hours (I don’t keep a clock, but it turns out the judge had a “Chess Clock” on the bench, having allowed a certain amount of hours for each side to state their case). The opposing side chose not to cross-examine. Never a bad thing. We are waiting now for judge in this bench trial to give a ruling, because it is a complicated matter. And, whichever side is ruled against, is sure to appeal, so the case is sure to remain alive…
Case Two: An excessive force case filed against a law enforcement agency, in which I was retained as expert witness on behalf of the involved officer and his department. Plaintiff claimed that he was shot and wounded for nothing by out-of-control rogue officer; officer who unleashed his department-issue SIG stated that the suspect was trying to run him over when he fired. Case ends shortly after deposition of plaintiff, who claims under oath that he was backing up away from officer when officer shot him for no reason; plaintiff and his attorney are shown the video of the shooting in which the plaintiff can be clearly seen attempting to crush a police officer to death with his vehicle, at which time the cop opens fire. Because judges in civil cases know how costly it is to the taxpayers to pay for days or weeks or months of trial – particularly when the plaintiffs have a bullshit case – they encourage the defendants in civil suits to at least attempt to settle. A chump change offer has been put on the table accordingly, shortly after the case was filed. After seeing the video of the actual incident, plaintiff and lawyer take the chump change and run. Case closed. It would have cost far more to try the case and win. (I don’t like it… the lawyers defending the cops didn’t particularly like it…and the wrongfully accused officer couldn’t have liked it, but that’s how things work in this society.)
Case Three: Big strong guy tries to beat the crap out of little guy for no good reason. Little guy pulls out his legally carried gun, shoots big guy, makes big guy stop. Big guy lies about it; little guy does what the Internet told him and doesn’t say anything; having only big guy’s word for it The State charges little guy with attempted murder. I and another expert analyze the case, send in our reports, and wait. Initial prosecuting attorney believes the big guy, who after all is the Injured Party and the Victim, and trial is scheduled. New prosecuting attorney is assigned, and smart defense attorney sits down with new prosecuting attorney and explains exactly what is going on here. Smart new prosecutor analyses the evidence and realizes, “Holy crap, this was clear-cut self-defense! I’m supposed to try to prosecute this? No Way!” Case is dropped, ordeal is over. Nobody gives the defendant back the money he spent on his defense team, but justice has finally been done.
May,2014:
Quiet month for this sort of stuff on my end. One coast-to-coast trip to view shooting scene and interview the involved officers I’ve been retained to speak for. Evidence absolutely confirms what the criminal justice system has already determined to be a justifiable shooting…trial in the civil lawsuit over the matter is down the road.
Take-away lesson: Most of these things end without going to trial. By and large, the system works. MOST prosecutors take seriously their role as ministers of justice, responsible for the exoneration of the innocent just as much as they’re responsible for the prosecution of the guilty. SOME plaintiffs’ cases are absolutely righteous, but SOME are nothing less than legalized extortion.
June, 2014:
Well, the month is young…
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May 29, 2014
A BRIEF PAUSE FOR A COMMERCIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
I try not to use this blog to blow my own horn or profit, but one of my publishers has just offered a ten-dollar saving deal on my newest book:
We now resume regular programming…
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May 25, 2014
REFLECTIONS ON LOSERS
The latest mass murder spree, this one in California, has once again led the media to focus on guns. The killer’s family has announced through their attorney that they are in favor of gun control and “staunchly against guns.” The family’s attorney added something that makes more sense: “My client’s mission in life will be to try to prevent any such tragedies from happening again. This country, this world, needs to address mental illness and the ramifications from not recognizing these illnesses.”
The father of one of the victims blames guns and gun people too, apparently. “…craven, irresponsible politicians and the NRA” are the focus of a fist-waving emotional tirade, here.
I can understand and forgive the emotions generated by the terrible grief the loved ones of innocent murder victims experience. The tool of the murderer becomes a symbol, and then the focus, of their pain. At the time the last statement was made, the speaker may not have known that the killer committed his first three murders with a knife.
The killer’s family is “staunchly against guns”? Did that include the killer himself? Like the disgruntled ex-cop who turned rogue and gunned down a series of cops and innocent victims in SoCal some fifteen months ago, using the same “assault weapons” he railed against in his sick manifesto, the same document in which he praised the gun prohibitionists? Food for thought, there. This latest homicidal creature has left behind a long manifesto, a self-portrait of a psychopathic, misogynistic narcissist. He writes in part that he is “…Divine.! I am the closest thing there is to a living god. Humanity is a disgusting, depraved, and evil species. It is my purpose to punish them all. On the Day of Retribution, I will truly be a powerful god, punishing everyone I deem to be impure and depraved.” Read his screed yourself
Elliot Rodger, Santa Barbara mass shooting suspect, "My Twisted World" manifesto by Matthew Keys
Before this latest killer’s YouTube videos were taken down, I was able to review some of them. Watch it below before it disappears again. He comes across as a creepy reincarnation of Sal Mineo, but with much less acting ability. He overdramatically recites an obviously rehearsed tirade, complete with a repeated, hokey “heh-heh-heh” chuckle that reminds one of cartoon villains. Celebrating his own magnificence as “a supreme gentleman” and an “alpha male,” he bemoans the fact that he’s a 22-year-old virgin whom girls don’t want. If his approach to people in real life was anything like his video selfies, it’s no wonder he creeped them out.
I’m one of those who’ve long bemoaned the publicity mass murderers get, which in turn makes more of these thwarted losers want to commit murder to get their fifteen minutes of fame. “I wanna see my smiling face on the cover of the Rolling Stone”? That would be Tsarnev, the Boston Marathon bomber, who wound up exactly there. Make the cover of Time or Newsweek? The monsters of Columbine and Virginia Tech did. Other losers were apparently inspired to follow their example.
Maybe the world SHOULD see this latest aberration’s YouTube videos, to see what kind of thwarted loser does things like this.
But, instead, we’ll hear demands for gun bans and lower-capacity magazines. Like that impaired this one: early reports are that he had three “high-capacity” 9mm pistols and some forty loaded magazines, all of California-compliant ten-round capacity.
I wonder how many will overlook the most glaringly obvious lesson of this atrocity: That the slaughter of the innocent stopped as soon as the perpetrator met lawfully-armed resistance.
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May 20, 2014
A DISPATCH FROM TOAD SUCK
I recently spent a few days in Toad Suck, Arkansas. Click the link, and see where the place got its name. Might explain why it sits in a dry county these days.
It’s the kind of place limousine liberals make fun of, and not just because of the name. There’s a definite Old South feel to it, and lots of folks haven’t taken kindly to the recent court decisions allowing same-sex marriage in Arkansas. We weren’t there at the right time for the Toad Suck Daze Festival, darn it, but we noticed that the Concierge Guide to Faulkner County lists Little Caesar’s Pizza among cuisine options, and several thrift shops among the shopping opportunities. 
Elitists would have a ball mocking this place.
But the elitists would ignore some other things, no doubt. A quick survey of house of worship architecture, for example, shows more in the way of the eclectic and innovative, and less of the vaulting cathedrals America’s rich used to tour Europe to see. And elitists would miss the way black and white and rich and poor pitched in together for tornado relief efforts after the storms that devastated this area. A visitor gets a strong sense of…community. A place where neighbor helps neighbor, and where a dark-skinned stranger with a Yankee accent is treated as cordially as a good ol’ home town boy.
And a place where people can attend the Arkansas Shakespeare Theater, and the Conway Symphony Orchestra.
Those who piously preach diversity often overlook the fact that places like Faulkner County are part and parcel of that diversity.
I love this country…
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May 15, 2014
ANTI-GUNNERS PURSUE GRAND SLAM OF HYPOCRISY
A few weeks ago we shared the story of the armed Men In Black surrounding Shannon Watts at her Moms Demand Action anti-gun soiree in Indianapolis. When called on it, her minions claimed that it was necessary because of death threats from our side. (Where’s that rolling eyes emoticon when I need it?)
Now, our friend Dave Workman at Second Amendment Foundation is quoted here once again. Seems the head of the Brady Organization was also surrounded by armed protectors at a recent speech in Washington state: http://www.examiner.com/article/gross-hypocrisy-brady-campaign-head-talks-gun-control-with-armed-security . In a “gun-free zone,” of course. The rules are apparently only us peasants, whose lives aren’t worthy of protection from lethal threat…
Former Mayor Bloomberg was always surrounded by an ample staff of NYPD bodyguards, at least one allegedly concealing an HK MP5K machine pistol. Anybody know whether the NYC taxpayers are still paying for his armed guard phalanx, or is the sixteenth richest guy around paying for his own hired guns now?
One of his predecessors, Mayor John Lindsay, was anti-gun…but it turned out he had a concealed carry permit, and was a bit embarrassed when the press got hold of that fact. Decades ago, I outed Dianne Feinstein, the queen of the anti-gunners, for having a concealed carry permit. She and her minions ducked that one for a long time.
Today’s high profile anti-gunners are apparently more blatantly out of the closet with their hypocrisy.
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May 9, 2014
WHO DO YOU WANT ON YOUR JURY?
So here I am, sitting in the back of the classroom with a laptop. My co-instructor Attorney Jim Fleming and I are teaching a CLE (continuing legal education) course geared for attorneys, on the topic of self-defense cases. Jim is talking about jury selection.
Some of his advice is counterintuitive, but hell, if trial law was all intuitive, no one would need continuing training, would they? And some in the audience are shocked when he says that as a criminal defense lawyer, he LOVES to have cops on his clients’ juries. Of course, this is 180 degrees counter to conventional wisdom. If the game is cops and robbers and your client has been cast in the role of the accused robber, wouldn’t a member “of the other team” be the LAST person you wanted on your jury?
Jim explains that police officers mediate disputes almost daily, from two angry drivers at an accident scene to spouses in mortal rage when the officers arrive to break up a “domestic.” They’re attuned to listening to both sides. During voir dire, the jury selection process, he’ll make a point of asking any cops in the jury pool if they can be fair to someone other cops have arrested. He has found over the decades that these cops can be the most scrupulous of jurors…and other jurors, having heard this discussion with them, are reminded of their own duty to be fair and impartial.
Many of you reading this have served jury duty yourselves. What are your thoughts and observations on this topic? If you were, let’s say, charged or sued after a self-defense shooting, who would you want on – and off! – the jury that judged you?
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May 1, 2014
A GIANT PASSES
A professor friend sent along this clipping from the New York Times on the death of Walter Walsh, one of the great gunfighters of the 20th Century. It’s a very well done obit; my only quibble would be that in most accounts I’ve read, the Japanese sniper he killed with his .45 pistol was 90 yards away, not 80.
I had the privilege of meeting Mr. Walsh back in the 1990s, when we were both nominees for the Outstanding American Handgunner of the Year. He won that award well before I did, and he certainly deserved to. He wasn’t a big man, but courage and fighting skill aren’t necessarily measured by physical size. Walter Walsh was very hard of hearing, the occupational hazard of serious shooters of his time; effective muff-type hearing protection wasn’t really available until Gil Hebard popularized it in mid-20th century.
Said to have killed eleven gunmen as an FBI agent, and many of the enemy in the Pacific Theater during WWII, Walter Walsh was indomitable. In his most famous gunfight, with the notorious Brady Gang in Maine, he was shot three times including a .45 slug through his chest. With one of the first Smith & Wesson .357 Magnums in his dominant left hand and a Colt .45 automatic in his right, Walsh returned fire and killed the gangster who shot him…and then proceeded to apply his .357 to the gang leader, with equally fatal results.
Above all, he was a gentleman…kind, and soft-spoken. Most of the real gunfighters I’ve met over the decades share those traits.
Walter Walsh made it to 106. It was an honor to have known him. May this Guardian rest in peace.
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April 27, 2014
“GUNS FOR PRIVILEGED WE, NOT PEASANT THEE”
The Evil Princess and I took a pleasant spring day walk from the NRA meeting at the convention center in Indianapolis to the Veterans Park, where the Bloomberg-financed Everytown crew was holding forth. How ironic that they would speak for diminution of gun owners’ civil rights in the shadow of a monument to those who died fighting for those rights…
We couldn’t help but notice the guys straight out of central casting, burly fellas with black suits, Oakley style black glasses, and most with obligatory shaven heads. One confirmed to me that they were “private security,” and “three or four” in number. Didn’t look quite like the 300 protesters they claimed. Photos and commentary can be found at Gun Free Zone.
Reportedly, several of those folks had to be bused in, courtesy of the Bloomberg money. Meanwhile, some 18,000 women came on their own to the NRA meeting, according to the Indianapolis Star, which seems to be giving fair and balanced coverage.
The whole anti-gun group in the park wouldn’t have filled one aisle in the nine acres of gun displays at the NRA meeting. Yet they claim to represent the majority. Clearly, New York City chutzpah was imported to Hoosier country along with the New York City dollars.
Editorial cartoon, Indianapolis Star, last Friday
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