Massad Ayoob's Blog, page 89

JUSTICE

It is good to read a letter from a prosecutor to the defense lawyer that says, “Since meeting with you and your client I have personally undertaken a thorough review of this matter and am dismissing the charges against your client…Please find enclosed the Nolle Prosequi.”

Last month, about four cases cleared from my personal expert witness docket without having to go to trial.  This one, in the Southeast, involved a murder charge against a woman whose estranged husband had pounced her from the back seat of the car and was strangling her from behind when she drew the handgun she was licensed to carry and fired over her shoulder, ending the assault. The charges had been brought by a senior prosecutor infamous for her obvious dislike of armed citizens. That prosecutor lost the last election.  A highly competent defense lawyer sat down with the prosecutor from the new administration, who took her role as minister of justice seriously.  Kudos to the defense lawyer and prosecutor alike.

Out West, an idiot show-off bully wielded a gun to intimidate a professional rival. He claimed it “went off accidentally” and that he had never fired it before. The bullet inflicted a grievous, personal injury. I was retained by the plaintiff.  The defendant’s insurance company caved and settled for the max of the policy, a couple million dollars. Case closed.

In the heartland, a burglar attacked an armed homeowner who caught him in the act. Bad move: the armed citizen shot and killed him. His survivors sued.  For much less than cost of trial, the case was settled. How much? I figure after the plaintiff’s lawyers take their cut, their clients will get enough money to buy a nice lawnmower.  Full trial might have gone over $100,000; my fee as expert witness for the homeowner’s side would have been among the least of that.

Not far from that one, a manslaughter charge against a homeowner who’d killed a burglar was dropped in return for a plea to a misdemeanor, again saving the ordeal and six-figure expense of trial.  The respected defense lawyer who had retained me had shown all his cards to a respected prosecutor, and the latter had made a decision both sides were happy with.

There’s an analogy between gunfights and court fights.  History shows that when a stalwart, competent cop or civilian alike point a gun at a violent criminal and make it clear that if the assault continues, the criminal will die, the criminal generally surrenders or flees.  When a stalwart, competent legal defense team faces an unmeritorious allegation with facts, the lawyers on the other side often have the same epiphany: realizing they can’t win, they either offer an acceptable compromise or drop the matter entirely.

For the most part, the system works.  Thus the old saying among lawyers: “In the halls of justice, most of the justice is in the halls.”

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CARRY OPTICS

Optical gunsights, in the form of telescopic sights, proved their worth in the 19th century, and today are all but standard on most hunting rifles that aren’t intended for short range.  Red dot optical sights – giving a single focal plane of both aiming index and target, but not necessarily any magnification – showed up in the mid-20th century, as did telescopic sights for handguns.  They were novelties then…but technology moved on.  

Today you see red dot optics on rifles and handguns alike in competition, ranging from standard bulls-eye pistol to action three-gun matches, and red dots have proven themselves fast, accurate, and rugged enough for combat in the Middle East.  The latest evolution, led by the Trijicon RMR (Ruggedized Miniature Reflex), are small enough to sit atop the slide on a concealed carry gun.  I know a couple of cops who carry them on their duty pistols, and more private citizens who are doing so.  They are a logical answer for older shooters with aging eyes.

How well do carry optics work, really?  My friend Karl Rehn at KR Training near Austin, Texas is a grandmaster in the United States Practical Shooting Association’s Carry Optics division, and has done more solid research on the concept than anyone I know.

Here is his lecture given at the MAG-40 class I taught at his place earlier this year, courtesy of ProArms Podcast.  More details of his study are at Karl’s site.

A better mousetrap or not yet ready for prime time in concealed carry?  Ya gotta give ‘em a fair shake before you make your decision, but I know some folks who swear by ‘em.  Let us know here what you think of the concept.

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HIGH TECH DRY-FIRE

Rifleman and pistolero agree: dry-fire – pressing the trigger of a gun confirmed to be unloaded – is important for marksmanship in everything from the introductory phase to advanced skill maintenance. If you see the sight dip or jerk to the side at the “click,” you know what you have to work on.

As a new shooter in California, Jakob Kishon was disappointed that this was all the feedback dry fire afforded, so he has been working on something he and Kevin Creighton call IPTS: Interactive Pistol Training System.  It includes a recoil simulation system that disturbs sight alignment and forces the shooter to come back on target,

It’s electronic, wireless, and comes with a couple of interactive targets.  The Glock-ish pistol gives assorted feedback metrics, and doesn’t require you to lift your head from your sight picture to see where a laser dot is hitting, a downside with the laser-based dry-fire trainers now available.  MSRP is projected at about $400.  Diligent dry-fire work could pay that off in ammo savings on the first day of use.

It’s still in very early stages and looking for investment funding, but seems to have promise.  See lots more info about it on IndieGoGo.

Offered for your consideration.

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INTERESTING CASE ON TV TONIGHT

Tonight at 9PM Eastern on Investigation Discovery, the focus of the case will be the Spencer Newcomer shooting and murder trial in Pennsylvania.

It will be interesting to see how the show treats this.  Marty Hayes, no stranger to readers here, was expert witness for the defense and did a superb job.  I am more than passingly familiar with this case, and I believe the jury’s acquittal, rendered in five hours of deliberation after a week of trial, was absolutely the correct verdict.

Lots of lessons in this one.  You can listen to Spencer describing the whole ordeal in detail at one of my annual MAG-40 classes in Harrisburg, PA on the ProArms Podcast.

 

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GORGEOUS GUN GAL “GLOCK GIRL GAIL” GRATEFULLY GETS HER GLOCK GUN GRAIL

Few things move my cynical old soul to poetry, but when a collector finds a grail, it’s something to celebrate. The grail, of course, is something uncommon that they desperately want to own.

My significant other is the Evil Princess of Podcasts, Pixels, and Polymer Pistols. She bonded with the Glock very early in her shooting career.  Her collection includes this 1911 and that engraved Smith & Wesson, but her daily carry tends toward drastic plastic.  She’ll admit to a long-going fling on the side with the Springfield Armory XD(m) series, but most often, both her daily holster and her competition holster will carry one or another Glock.  Over at glocktalk.com her handle is Glock Girl Gail, and she is not only a certified Glock Armorer but has been to the Mother Ship in Smyrna, Georgia and been certified as an Advanced Armorer with this pre-eminent polymer pistol.

“In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the grail gun sleeps tonight.”

She tested the Glock RTF2 pistols along with me when they first came out a few years ago. The RTF stood for Rough Textured Finish, with little studs they called “polymids” all over the grip to give a more solid hold in slippery hands.  The RTF2 treatment also included gill-shaped slide grasping grooves.  Her reaction at first was “ho-hum.”

As soon as they discontinued the RTF2 (police departments complained that the rough texture on the grips was chewing up uniforms) she discovered an RTF2 Glock 17, the standard size 9mm, in our hangout, the ProArms Gun Shop.  She fell in love with it and so I bought it.  It became her favorite match gun. Partial to the slightly smaller Glock 19 in the same 9mm chambering for daily carry, she started looking for those in RTF2 format.

They were scarce as the proverbial hen’s teeth.

“Why didn’t you develop your fixation when we could still get the damn things,” I moaned. “I prefer 9mm,” she said with the logic that helps women live seven years longer than men, “and  the ones you tested were .40s and .45s.”

Thus began the quest.  We found the same configuration pistol in .40 caliber, an RTF2 Glock 23, and I bought it for her.  “We can convert it to 9mm easy,” I said.  “It’s still not going to be a Glock 19 RTF2,” she replied adamantly, looking at me as if I had suggested solar powered night sights.  The quest continued.

Glock reintroduced a Larry Vickers Signature Model Glock 19 RTF2. “Let me get you one of those,” I pleaded. “No,” she replied with finality. “It has the RTF2 grip, but not the gills.  I gotta have gills.”

And so it went, until a new Best Friend Forever found her a near-mint condition Glock 19 RTF2 earlier this month.  My hand went for my credit card as if it was a fast draw contest.

Life is better now. Thanks again, Bob!

It’s how collectors are.  “This Winchester ’94 is almost perfect but it doesn’t have the saddle ring.”  “No, this Smith & Wesson Model 27 with 4” barrel isn’t the same as the one I want with 3 ½” barrel.”  (My own last gun grail, an itch now scratched twice over.)

How about y’all?  What grail guns are you still searching for to make your collection complete?

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THE VERDICT IN TULSA

I’m sure a lot of the public who saw the acquittal this week of Betty Jo Shelby, the Tulsa police officer charged with Manslaughter in the shooting death of Terence Crutcher, said to themselves “Gosh, Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.”

Well, at the moment, I am in Kansas, teaching a MAG-40 armed citizens rules of engagement class at the superb Thunderbird Firearms Academy in Wichita.  One of the students came in this morning and said, “It looks as if the defense lawyers in that Tulsa case did exactly what you told us our lawyers should do if we were ever charged after a self-defense shooting.”

No kiddin’.  I can’t blame those folks who were puzzled by the acquittal in “the shooting of an unarmed black man.” They live in a world where the media doesn’t bother to tell anyone the difference between murder, manslaughter, and justifiable homicide.

Officer Shelby had observed erratic behavior from a large man who appeared to her to the under the influence of PCP.  This would later be supported by evidence: Crutcher had PCP within his body, and a quantity of it in his car.  After repeatedly ignoring lawful commands, he suddenly reached to the open window of his car, as if for a weapon.  It was enough to cause the male officer present to fire his TASER at Crutcher, and enough to cause Shelby to fire the single pistol shot that killed him.

The public was told that, in this video-taped encounter, Crutcher had his hands up.  At one point he did, but when he was shot, he was reaching as if for a weapon inside the car, with no earthly reason to do so unless he was trying to access a weapon to kill a cop.  The public was told that the window was closed, but by the opening of trial, even the prosecution had to admit that no, it was open.

Talking heads who followed the trial wailed that the defense was foolish to put the defendant on the witness stand, because that just isn’t done.  BS.  In a defensive shooting, what it comes down to is why did she shoot him?  There was only one person who could answer that – and she did.

The defense called material witnesses who confirmed that in police training, Officer Shelby had learned how quickly someone could snatch up a gun and kill a cop with it.  It is supposed to be a jury of one’s peers.  A peer would know what the defendant knew.  Now the jury knew it, too.

The public was told that corrupt investigators had whitewashed Shelby.  That allegation is very decisively refuted, here: http://lawofficer.com/investigations/crutcher-family/.

There turned out to be no gun in Crutcher’s car, but in such cases, the law has never demanded that there be one.  All the law demands is that, within the totality of the circumstances, the defendant reasonably perceived that she and her brother officer were in danger of death or great bodily harm (i.e., crippling injury).  In shorthand, “You don’t have to be right, you have to be reasonable.” The defense team got that across to the jury.

Congratulations to Attorney Shannon MacMurray and the rest of Betty Shelby’s defense team. From everything I’ve seen about the case, they did Justice.

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ANOTHER NEW BOOK

The Evil Princess reminds me that there’s another new book out this week, my own latest.  I think of it as my “Tom Sawyer whitewashing the fence” book.  Teaching at venues like the International Law Enforcement Educators and Trainers Association and the annual Rangemaster Tactical Conference, I’ve been able to get to know – and pick the brains of – the best and the brightest of subject matter experts in the world of threat management.  Thanks to those folks, the new book coming out this week is a most useful compendium, if I do say so myself.  Here’s what the publishers, the Gun Digest folks, have to say about it:

 

Straight Talk on Armed Defense

 

Acquiring a defensive firearm and a concealed carry permit is only one very small part of the armed lifestyle equation. Straight Talk on Armed Defense equips you with the knowledge to responsibly defend yourself and those you love.

 

This volume gathers the advice of Massad Ayoob and 11 other highly respected armed-defense authorities to deliver decades of information from one convenient source. You will come away with a solid grasp on how to avoid becoming a victim, the mental make up of assailants, the psychological preparation for self-defense, the legal details of using deadly force, post-incident trauma management and much, much more.

John Hearne takes us “inside the defender’s head” and reveals the most effective route to train and prepare for self-defense incidents.
Dr. Anthony Semone discusses post-shooting trauma and necessary steps to develop resilience and symptom reduction following a deadly force event.
Dr. Alexis Artwohl explains why understanding how the mind operates is critical to surviving an attack and the legal and emotional challenges that follow.
Dr. William Aprill describes “the face of the enemy” to help us understand violence and those who traffic in it.
Craig “Southnarc” Douglas details the conditions present during the typical criminal assault and how to incorporate those conditions into your training.
Massad Ayoob discusses power, responsibility and the armed lifestyle.
Tom Givens underscores the importance of finding relevant training, through case studies of his own students involved in armed encounters.
“Spencer Blue,” active robbery/homicide detective, reveals patterns that emerged during his investigations and describes the differences in tactics of citizens who won versus those who lost.
Ron Borsch presents dozens of actual cases of armed and unarmed citizens single-handedly stopping mass murders in progress.
Harvey Hedden provides insight and advice on lawfully armed citizens and interactions with law enforcement.
Jim Fleming, Esq. describes the criminal trial process and how it plays out in a “righteous use of deadly force in self-defense” case.
Marty Hayes, JD, provides the critical questions that must be asked to choose a reliable post-self-defense incident support provider.

——————————————————————————————————

Should be available now from Amazon:

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LATEST FROM STEPHEN HUNTER

For months now since I got my early review copy, I’ve been keeping my promised silence, but now at last Stephen Hunter’s latest book “G-Man” is going to officially go on sale May 16.  I can only say – read it!

Regular readers here know I’m a huge fan of Hunter’s work.  He gets the gun stuff right.  He gets the characters right, too.  

In “G-Man,” Hunter creates a character who is a fictional composite of the great manhunters of the early ‘30s who hunts down folks from the Dillinger gang and, in the alternate universe of fiction, ends up facing Baby Face Nelson.

If you’re an NRA member, you’ve seen the current issue of American Rifleman magazine that has Hunter’s superb article on the shootout in Barrington, Illinois in which two federal agents and Nelson killed each other.  Having accessed hitherto unpublished investigative reports on that shooting, Hunter believes Nelson used a Colt Monitor – the civilian version of the BAR, the Browning Automatic Rifle – in that gun battle.  In the novel, however, Nelson is armed for that encounter with the Thompson submachine gun that most historians believed he used in that fight.  My own research, without benefit of the material Stephen accessed, had pointed more toward a .351 Winchester customized by “gunsmith to the outlaws” Hyman Lebman.

Fiction demands the proverbial willing suspension of disbelief.  Bring some of that to the book, and you’ll love it.  Based on the considerable amount that is known of the gunmen involved, Hunter brings them compellingly to life in “G-Man.”

From the reviewer’s side, I was born in 1948. Both my parents, like all of America during the Depression years, had watched the wild ride of all those early ‘30s “celebrity criminals” like Dillinger and Nelson.  I remembered reading about them in my mom’s detective magazines, which were popular in the ‘50s.  Dillinger, Bonnie & Clyde, and Nelson met their ends from police gunfire in 1934.  Those shootings were about 20 years in the past when I first learned of them as a little boy. For perspective, the FBI shootout in Dade County, Florida in 1986 is now more than 30 years in the past, yet today are still widely cited in discussions of ballistics and tactics. So, you can see I was interested before I opened Stephen Hunter’s latest book.

I can only repeat, Read it!  It’s one of the best from one of my favorite authors, and I expect you’ll enjoy it, too.

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THE PROBLEM WITH HANDLOADS FOR DEFENSE

For years, I’ve warned people that there are a couple of serious concerns with using handloaded ammunition for personal or home defense.  The big one is forensic replicability when the shooter is accused, and opposing theories of distance become a factor.

How often does this happen? One time some years ago, that question came up on an internet debate.  I looked through the ten cases I had pending at the time as an expert witness, and gunshot residue (GSR) testing to determine distance from gun muzzle to the person shot was an issue in four of them.  Forty percent is not what I’d call statistically insignificant.

I’ve found this to be perhaps the most visceral and contentious of gun forum debates. When I suggest to someone that the ammo he crafted himself might be a handicap in court, it’s as if they had just prepared a Thanksgiving feast for their family from scratch, and I’d told them “Don’t poison your family with that crap, go out and buy them some KFC.”

They react as if you had told them they had ugly babies.

Here are two very good writeups, at least one by an attorney, explaining how and why handloaded ammunition can muddy the waters if and when you find yourself in court after a self-defense shooting:

https://www.glocktalk.com/a/the-peculiar-problem-of-handloads-in-self-defense-shootings.18/

and

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/carrying-handloads-for-self-defense.618021/

Read, and if you have any friends who use handloads for serious social purposes, please share. You might just save them from the sort of nightmare suffered by the defendant in New Jersey v. Daniel Bias, who was bankrupted by legal fees before the first of his three trials was over, and wound up serving hard time.  Both of his attorneys were convinced he was innocent, and told me they believed that if he had simply had factory ammo in his home defense gun, the case would probably never have even gone to trial.

Discussion is invited here, but PLEASE, read and absorb the two links before posting.

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2017 NRA ANNUAL MEETING: FINISHING UP

Official count of attendees has been announced, and it went over 81,000.  That’s 81,000 people who came to Atlanta on their own dime, against a few buses full of protesters, many of them doubtless paid to be there.  None of whom were at the Convention Center, though it seemed they got about as much publicity as the 81,000 law abiding gun owners.  Sigh…

Overall mood of the conference?  Solidarity, a definite post-November 2016 victory dance…and enough complacency to worry about.  We won a battle, not the culture war that the other side wages on the gun debate.

Sales are down, but in perspective, the general consensus of the industry is that it isn’t a slump, but a return to normalcy.  We’ve had a reprieve from a Presidential candidate who demonized guns and their owners. The mad rush to stock up on gun and ammo prior to the election was caused not a panic, but a perfectly logical rush to buy legal firearms before they were banned by malum prohibitum feel-good fiats by what would have been the most anti-gun (and anti-gun owner) President in history had she not been defeated.

Atlanta proved to be a very welcoming city.  I drove there, but was told that at the airport, there were “Welcome NRA” signs.  If you live in California or Maryland or New Jersey, remember that Georgia accepts refugees.

Some had been worried about “antifas,” the violent self-proclaimed “anti-fascists” who have physically attacked Republicans, Trump supporters, etc. elsewhere.  The antifas were notable by their absence.  I’m told one of their mottos is “Put Your Fist In A Fascist’s Face,” their definition of “fascist” being anyone they disagree with.  How ironic that they don’t understand their behavior is the very exemplar of fascism.

Perhaps they thought if they tried to “Put a Fist in the Face” of an NRA member, they might get a response of “Blast a Bullet Into a Brainless Bully’s Butt.”

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