[h=1]Have a Plan When Things Go Wrong[/h] By Kevin Michalowski



Very few self-defense incidents play out as we imagine them. The dynamic nature of a fight and the intensity of the investigation afterward means the worst 10 seconds of your life could drag on for years.
We play the “what if?” game all the time. What if the bad guy comes from your left side? What if you can’t back up? What if the best cover means you have to move closer to the threat? There are just so many “what ifs” that we can’t cover them all in this column, ever, no matter how long we keep running this column.


You can’t predict what will happen on the streets and you can’t accurately predict what you will need to do to protect yourself. This is why you need a good lawyer and the ability to pay for expert witnesses.


One of those big “what ifs” revolves around the first strike. What will happen to you legally if you strike first during a self-defense incident? The “lawyer” answer is, “It depends.” The actions taken by police and prosecutors will depend on the totality of the circumstances. But know this: You do not need to wait for someone to attack you before you act to protect yourself.
You need to be able to articulate that you reasonably feared an imminent attack that was likely to cause death or great bodily harm. In some states, you need to prove that you could not safely retreat. In every state, the amount of force has to be objectively reasonable and most places will use what is called the reasonable person test; that is to say that prosecutors will ask, “What would a reasonable person do in the same situation with the same information that you had?”


I have yet to find out the exact definition of a “reasonable” person, but that is another story.
Understanding pre-threat indicators and the nature of violent attacks and the expected responses will go a long way toward keeping you safe on the street and out of jail. Studying a book like The Crucial Advantage, written by Steve Tarani and published by the USCCA, will be a big help in letting you know when things are likely to get bad, but having an experienced attorney on your side will be just as important.


Remember, much of what we do in a self-defense incident could be considered a crime in most other circumstances. Displaying your weapon may be a crime. Shooting someone is a crime. Punching someone is a crime. But you are allowed to do these things in self-defense. So the investigation becomes a question of whether or not your actions were allowed under the state’s definition of self-defense. For that, you will need effective legal representation.


Concealed carry is not just about strapping a gun on your hip and calling it good. Concealed carry is just one part of a personal defense plan. The remainder of that plan is for you to know exactly what you will do after things go terribly wrong. Failing to have a plan for your defense after your use of self-defense could make the worst day of your life drag on for many months or years after the initial incident.

 

Herb Andersen There is a problem with our legal system, our lawyers depend upon precedent and court rulings and past cases, however all of which are subject to as much twisting and lying, cheating and misinterpretation as any lawyer, cop or judge can get away with. When you take a class in order to understand you rights and obligations in order to carry a weapon it is all based upon theory, and the idea of the instructor whom you are taking the class from, and he/she is a gun person.

In the real world, what your instructor told you will have no baring upon how you will be treated by the legal system, on a given day and the mood of the cop or the DA may tip the scale in one way or another, and that is the problem. The best example is the current problem with the FBI, people who are paid to be impartial have an agenda, they twist the facts to prove the outcome they wish rather than letting the facts lead them to the outcome of the case with the actual facts.

Therefore, the "reasonable man" standard will change depending upon the person who is determining what that man would be, in this case and at this time. So, the truth of the matter is the system is rigged against you by people who have made up their mind before they even know your name, do not even think you will get justice, that blind woman holding a scale weighing the facts and only the facts with out past experience and prejudice!


That said, you will have no control as to how badly you will be hosed, the only thing you do have control of, in a small way, is how you will act when you are forced to defend yourself. You see, even if you act first and are justified doing so, there is another guy in the fight and what he does and how you change your fight so that you will overcome may force you into that questionable area that the lawyers love, the main thing is that you win, that it is your story which is being told and evaluated by people who are not interested in your well being.

When you are forced into a fight, you are actually forced into 2 fights and you must win both, the first is physical, the second is legal and neither will be fair. If every battle plan is going to change due to how Mr. Murphy and your enemy react you must be willing to react on the fly and hope that you are the winner in both fights. Isn't it sad that the people whom you pay with your tax money will be the enemy who presents your biggest financial loss or loss of liberty, but you do have to fight!