Uechi-Ryu.com

This time last week I was in court in Arizona to speak for an armed citizen who had to shoot and wound two of three people who attacked him. He followed the "Don't speak to the police" advice, and has been under the Sword of Damocles ever since. (The jury deadlocked.)

It has been a very long nightmare for him. Many who are familiar with the case believe that if he had just said a very few things at the scene, it probably would have been ruled justifiable shortly after it took place.

I personally recommend BRIEFLY establishing four things at the scene, and then deferring detailed questioning until after you've consulted with legal counsel.

1. THIS MAN ATTACKED ME. Establish from the beginning that the other guy was the perp and you were the intended victim.

2. I WILL SIGN THE COMPLAINT. Confirmation that you are the victim/complainant, and the man who forced you to shoot him was the perpetrator.

3. POINT OUT THE EVIDENCE. Evidence is perishable, and if the investigators don't know where it is,or even that it exists, the evidence that would prove your innocence may disappear.

4. POINT OUT THE WITNESSES. People are sometimes reluctant to "get involved." Those who saw what happened and can confirm your account of a justifiable shooting may disappear if you don't get the investigators talking to them immediately.

5. YOU WILL HAVE MY FULL COOPERATION AFTER I HAVE SPOKEN WITH COUNSEL. The defender who has just gone through a near death experience will very likely have altered perceptions, and is not prepared to sort out the details.

Police experts in officer-involved shootings, and psychologists alike, recommend a period of time for the shooter to settle down before there is any detailed questioning.

best,
Mas

I absolutely agree that fear of the aftermath can cause fatal hesitation.

I think the best way to deal with it is by training the practitioner in what to expect in that aftermath, and how to handle it. The person who is confident in their ability to cope with what follows, will be more confident in following their training and making the right decision, and acting immediately, when force does have to be used.

Best,
Mas

We've all had our own personal delusions to deal with at times...

The one thing I would hope folks think about is that the "fatal hesitation" might not seem like a hesitation at all. It could be a fraction of a second, but that's all the time it takes to end up dead (or nearly dead).

Friend and colleague, Dr Dave Kahn, puts it well:

"'Ars Gratia Artis' encapsulates it. It's what separates strategy from tactics.

'Strategy' is a behavioral outline, a blueprint consisting of general rules and fundamental goals. Agencies and groups work with strategy, necessarily via consensus (or autocracy) that drives thoughts, that drive actions.

Innovation and intellectual advance are not on their agenda, because constitutionally, they can't be.

'Tactics,' as colleague Massad Ayoob correctly defines them, comprise applying common sense, with a knowledge of relevant disciplines, to personal security issues, as they present themselves.

Only individuals can use tactics. And tactics, though shaped by basic principles (strategy), can only be applied idiosyncratically. That is, tailored to the particular challenge at hand, and the totality of circumstances that define it.

Individuals have ideas! Individuals devise solutions and innovate new approaches that sometimes represent improvements.

Our world occasionally furnishes us with personal security challenges. We agree collectively on the outline of our ultimate goals and general methods. Each of us takes this outline and, on the spot, devises a specific methodology, a particular way through the problem.

The smart among us propose and innovate. They're inspired! The balance of us dispose and imitate. When it works well, and often, we adopt it!

We all do it, despite inherent risks, for the love of the doing, for being personally associated with positive, forward progress.

Ars Gratia Artis! Loosely translated: "Skill defines the artist"

It's the way, and the only way, our Art has advanced, since before history was recorded."

/John

Many feel that if the live a low key lifestyle, avoiding the type of people and places that might bring the hesitation conundrum...they will never have to find out about their 'response action' timing...

...another simple form of denial.

Interesting fact on criminal violence: While guns and blades occupy the stunted imaginations of politicians and media alike, the greatest number of maiming injuries inflicted, world-wide, are imposed by the shod foot, usually striking the head of a victim already on the ground.

Countless have suffered life-altering brain injuries from this single source, many more than have ever suffered a gunshot wound.

As Operators, we thus need to be aware that the most pernicious threat isn't always represented by "armed" VCAs, but rather small groups of miscreants who, having brought down their quarry, will mercilessly lay boots to him.

No glamorous weapons are required, just violent contagion among the mob and the protection of anonymity.

Under such circumstances, we need to remind ourselves to stay in motion and on our feet.

Generations of the world's youth have been immersed in "Identity Politics," shamelessly taught that violence directed at those outside their "Identity " is not only excusable, but is openly encouraged by unblushing politicians who hunger to see those who don't vote for them raped, maimed, robbed, and murdered.

Even America is not immune. Here, unemployed actors openly advocate on behalf of convicted murderers of police officers!

The result is a new wave of amoral, youthful, casual murderers, eager to " punish" all who fall outside their political identity, cheered-on by Washington and Hollywood alike.

The stage is set for some exciting world history! Once again, there is no "justice" aside from what is created by the Righteous, on the spot!