CCW Safe

The Firing Line with Stan Campbell- The Recent 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Decision

Stan Campbell, Co-Founder and COO for CCW Safe, recently hosted the Firing Line Radio Show for Phillip Naman, as he was on vacation.  This show is now in podcast form at CCW Safe.  

The show features attorneys Matthew Cubiero and Kyle Sweet.  Matthew Cubeiro’s primary practice areas include firearm regulatory compliance and litigation. He also assists with local ordinance issues, legislative analysis, civil rights advocacy, and general civil litigation with Michel and Associates in Long Beach, California.

Kyle Sweet is a Co-Founder and the general counsel for CCW Safe, and founder owner of Sweet Law Firm in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  

The three talk about the recent Second Amendment case out of Hawaii, where the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that Hawaii officials had violated George Young’s rights when he was denied a permit to openly carry a loaded gun in public to protect himself.  They also discuss other Second Amendment and self defense topics. 

 

In Self Defense- The Handicapped Spot Shooter- Clearwater, Florida

This episode of "In Self Defense" features Don and Shawn talking about the recent shooting in Clearwater, FL over a handicapped parking spot at a convenience store. 

On Thursday, July 19th, Markeis McGlockton parked in a handicap spot with his girlfriend and three young kids before going inside a convenience store with his five-year-old son to buy snacks. Outside, Michael Drejka approached McGlockton's girlfriend, Britany Jacobs. Jacobs says Drejka yelled at her for parking in a handicapped spot without a permit.

Surveillance footage shows McGlockton then walked out of the store and shoved Drejka to the ground. Seconds later, Drejka pulled out his gun and fired a single shot at McGlockton in the chest. The 28-year-old stumbled back into the store and collapsed in front of his son.

Drejka has a concealed weapons permit and told police he shot McGlockton because he feared for his life.

Don and Shawn talk about the case in relation to Florida's self defense laws, and the "Stand Your Ground" law.  

Below are a couple of news links to the case:

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/clearwater-florida-stand-your-ground-shooting-markeis-mcglockton-parking-spot/

https://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/No-arrest-in-fatal-shooting-during-argument-over-handicap-parking-space_170174041

 

In Self Defense: The Gasser Case

Don West and Shawn Vincent talk about the Gasser case out of Lousiana.

56-year-old Louisiana man Ronald Gasser had been arrested for a road rage incident before. In 2006, a motorist dialed the “How's My Driving?” bumper sticker on Gasser's work truck to complain. The number went to Gasser's cell phone, and he took umbrage with the criticism. At the intersection of Holmes Boulevard and Behrman Highway -- just outside New Orleans -- Gasser got out of his truck and confronted the motorist, punching him several times in the head and body.

While the charges were eventually dropped, Gasser’s attorneys were desperate for the judge in his 2018 murder trial to rule that jurors would not learn their client once wound up in cuffs for beating up a guy at the exact intersection where, ten years later, he would shoot and kill local sports hero and former New York Jets running back Joe McKnight.

The judge did, however, allow prosecutors to present this “prior bad act,” and an appeals court agreed, writing in their opinion that the previous road rage incident “helped establish intent and lack of accident and mistake.”

It proved devastating at trial. The jury took seven hours to render a manslaughter conviction, and the judge sentenced Gasser to 30 years behind bars.

In Self Defense- Residence Series Follow up

 

In this episode, Don and Shawn talk about the last 3 shooting cases, which all happened in residences, and all ended up with felony convictions.  Kaarma, Smith and Wafer are all currently serving prison sentences.  Don and Shawn talk about the series and give more insight on the cases, and what could have been done to avoid convictions.

In Self Defense 4- The Ted Wafer Case

In this episode, Don West and Shawn Vincent talk about the Ted Wafer/Renisha McBride shooting.

Ted Wafer, a 54-year-old airport maintenance worker, fell asleep in front of the television in his Dearborn Heights home on the night of November 1, 2013. He lived alone in the house he had purchased in 1994. The intervening twenty years had seen many changes to the Detroit suburb -- including a rising crime rate. In the middle of the night (around 3:45 am), loud banging startled Wafer out of his sleep. The noise came first from the side door, then from the front door. It was a “boom, boom, boom pounding” his lawyer Cheryl Carpenter told jurors at trial. “The floor was shaking.”

Don and Shawn talk about the differences in this case from the past two cases that also happened in a residence, and the outcome of the trial.  

LIVE! From Wilshire Gun

Tonight Gary and Mike talked with Earnest Langdon live from Wilshire Gun.  Earnest will be teaching over the weekend at the OKC Gun Club.  

Langdon Tactical, Inc. specializes in firearms training, consulting, custom trigger jobs and gun work. Ernest Langdon has been providing advanced tactical pistol and rifle training to military, law enforcement and civilians for almost 30 years. Langdon Tactical, Inc. combines more than 40 years of military, industry and competition experience to bring the latest in tactical shooting techniques and equipment knowledge.

Earnest talked about his history in the Marine Corp, competition shooting, and gunsmithing, and also introduced the new Beretta 92 Elite LTT, which can be pre ordered on langdontactical.com

 

In Self Defense 3- The Bryon David Smith Case

In this episode, Don and Shawn talk about the Bryon David Smith case, in Minnesota.  Another shooting that took place in a residence, this one left two burglars dead, and one homeowner in prison.  Listen to the facts of the case and see why this pressed the Castle Doctrine beyond it's limits.  

The Survival Triangle with Alexis Artwohl

Dr. Alexis Artwohl, Behavioral Science Expert, and panel advisor for CCW Safe, starts an exciting new series on The Survival Triangle.  The Survival Triangle that Dr. Artwohl talks about involves your physical survival, your emotional- psychological survival, and your legal survival.    

Cognitive Issues

Cognitive issues can happen in any event and become critical to all three areas. Most of us think we have good memories, but research shows that our ability for to account for accurate details is quite impaired. Our memory for detail is bad because we are almost never challenged on it. Our view is almost always a sketchy representation. 

The criminal justice system becomes very focused on your recollection if there is an incident. It is important for you to understand your testimony may be unreliable and with gaps. You may not remember parts of the events, such as your own behavior. 

For example, officers have made phone calls to family and do not remember doing this in the aftermath. This is evidence of the subconscious mind making actions. This illustrates the complexity of our mind, where our subconsciousness is directing a side routine that we have no memory of. 

The criminal justice system can be naive about how the brain operates with human memory. 

Our memory for detail is highly inaccurate, and people can have false memories that turn out to be very different or totally incorrect. 
Selective attention means that we think we are paying attention, but research shows that we only pay attention to a very small part of our environment at any time. 

If our being is focused on event A, the less we will notice around event A. This is called inattentional blindness. You can look at a face and have a ten minute conversation with a certain person and not know what shirt color that person was wearing, because you tuned it out. This is a common phenomenon that does not just happen in critical events, but it happens to people all the time. 
Even the events we do pay attention to, we may not be to recollect. This also happens with selective hearing, where the human becomes less reactive to sound by paying more attention to visual works. 

Officers in shootings often don’t hear gunfire or screams. Victims of car wrecks recall silence on the moment of impact. Other sounds may sound amplified for unknown reasons; this causes confusion and can really impact the human memory. This will cause the memory to not match witnesses, tapes, and other evidence.

It is very important to stick with what you know, and to not fill in the gaps to please any person or interviewer. Try not to make up things under pressure to fill in the gaps of your memory. You do not need to feel any social pressure to state things you do not know are true. Dr. Alexis Artwohl illustrates that your truth may or may not match reality. 

Chronic Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
 
Most people who are faced with defending themselves in a lethal, or critical self-defense incident are resilient and will get past the incident quickly, but about 10% of people will face chronic post-traumatic stress disorder. 

If you are involved in a lethal self-defense incident, everyone is upset, which is normal.  You need to realize that through dealing with the incident, you will also deal with attorneys, investigators, and others involved in the process, and it can be chaotic.  
All this will contribute to the acute stress disorder that will go on for awhile.  Most people get through that in a few weeks or months, and while many people understand that they won’t be the same following a critical stress, or lethal self-defense incident, most will also learn that they will not be worse off emotionally-psychologically following the incident than they were before.
However, about 10% of people will develop chronic post-traumatic stress disorder, and if a month has gone by and you are still feeling a lot of disruption due to the event, at that point you should really think about seeing a therapist to move beyond the event.
Sometimes you may be fine, but some of your family members may develop a post-traumatic stress disorder. 

One thing that happens following a critical stress, or lethal self-defense incident, is that we find out that the world is not as safe as we thought it was.  For some, it can be a brutal reminder that it can happen to anyone, including you or someone you love.  It can change our world view forever.  Once you are involved in something like this or are close to someone who is involved in something like this, you will likely experience post-traumatic growth, which can give you insight to life that you didn’t have before.  Something to the effect that you wouldn’t want to go through it again, but you learned some valuable lessons from it and are better off.  Or, you will experience post-traumatic stress.  Chronic post-traumatic stress is a great intensification of something that happened where you constantly think about it, and are affected by it to the point that you can’t think about anything else, and have a hard time getting past it.

Having a better understanding of the survival triangle, what you may face, and an understanding of the different ways that people are affected can greatly help you if you are ever involved in a lethal self-defense incident. 

Understanding Legal Risk

In the legal aftermath of an event, you must understand that you will be at legal risk, and if you ever have to use your firearm, be prepared in the fact that you may go to jail, it just comes with the territory. 

The legal aftermath will be complex and intense no matter how justified you were in the event, which is even more reason not to attempt to navigate this by yourself. If you have been forced to defend yourself, you don’t have to face the risks alone. Have legal help aligned up ahead of time to help you make decisions. 
When the first responders show up, they won’t know who the victim and offenders are, and which category you are in. The officers cannot count on a 911 phone call, so the officers will be cautious for their safety and the safety of responders and bystanders. Let them know you are not a threat, and make sure you have training on how to interact with them. 

You will be in a stage of heightened emotional reactions, so be careful how you act. You are own stage now, and you will be observed for reports in preparation for the criminal justice system. It is beneficial to rehearse the focus needed to interact with officers and behave in a reasonably calm manner that will not cause concern to anyone. 
The ability to control your emotional intensity is a vital survival skill in everyday life. In this situation, discipline is important and will decide your future. Stay calm and focus at the task at hand. 
Officers will want to know what happened, so you need to decide what to tell the first responders. If you decide to interact with the criminal justice system, never give a full, formal, detailed tape interview right after the event. Keep the information to the first responders brief, and talk with your attorney before giving full details. 

Get a few sleep cycles, and try to calm yourself down after the incident.  Research shows you will give a better and more accurate interview if you are rested, that is why most police departments don’t even have officers give a full interview for 24-48 hours following a shooting. To wait a few days after is a more ideal time than immediately after the event. This is where you and the attorney will act as a team to decide your actions, and your future. 

Second Guessing

In the immediate aftermath of a critical self defense incident, or any critical incident, it's very normal for people to think about what happened, and play that over in your mind, however, sometimes people get stuck there.  Second guessing is really irrational, and when people do get stuck in intense second guessing, it's usually about things that they couldn't change, or had no control over.  At some point, you have to move on, and accept the facts of what occurred, or you will start experiencing guilt, loss of confidence, or other feelings that can cause greater problems.  

Second guessing is very important to remember during any interviews if you are involved in a self defense shooting or lethal self defense incident. You will need to be aware of second guessing, and try to keep your testimony to the relevant facts of the case. Understand the emotional impact of second guessing, and remember that during an interview, that is not the place or time to express what you could have done, or maybe should have done differently.   

Psychotherapy with a trauma incident specialist can be a good idea, at least one session, where you can have a safe and confidential place to work your way through any second guessing or other emotional issues that you may experience.  It is always good to have an attorney involved if you are being interviewed for a lethal self defense incident. 

Confidentiality

Confidentiality following a lethal self defense case should be of upmost importance for your emotional and legal survival.
You will want to talk to someone about your experience, and that is perfectly normal. You just need to make sure that your discussion is confidential and protected. The number one person who you can have a conversation with that is protected will be an attorney. It is always good to have an attorney if you are involved in a lethal self defense incident so you can dump all of those feelings of anger, fear, consternation and worry, with full confidentiality. You may also talk to a trauma specialist, or other licensed mental health professional, or possibly an ordained minister.

I would strongly discourage you from talking to anyone else, friends, family members, and most importantly anyone on social media. There have been some very unfortunate incidents where information has ended up on social media, either by the person involved, or by other who they have talked to, and it never comes out well.

Confidentiality will need to be of the upmost priority not only directly following an incident, but for some time after everything settles as well. Due to statues of limitations and civil proceedings, for your own protection, this timeframe may be a long time.

In Self Defense- 2: The Kaarma Case

In this episode, Don West and Shawn Vincent talk about the Kaarma Case, and walk through the 4 elements of location, escalation, reasonable fear, and post incident actions, and how they affected the outcome of the case and trial.  

 

In Self Defense- Introduction

Don West and Shawn Vincent look at high profile self defense shootings in the new series In Self Defense. 

In this first series, Don and Shawn look at the 4 major areas that are present in all self defense cases.  These areas are location, escalation, reasonable fear, and post incident actions.  

In this first episode, they talk about each element and how they can impact the case and the outcome of a trial.