The Process is the Punishment
#tacticaltuesday
Here’s a good example of “The Process is the Punishment.”
Trial judge overturns guilty verdict in Bellingham self-defense case | Bellingham Herald
“Kamuran Daniel Chabuk, 30, shot his neighbor, Joshua Mark Kiener, the night of May 11, 2013, outside the front door to Chabuk’s apartment at 2633 Nevada St.”
Note: May 11, 2013 was the date of the incident.
I ran across the incident while going through my database yesterday, so I decided to follow up on it.
His trial was 2 1/2 years later in November of 2015. He was found guilty of assault; Mr. Kiener was injured not killed. BTW, Kiener is also suing Chabuk civilly.
In April of 2016, 5 months [during which I assume he had to sit in jail or prison] after his conviction, a judge ordered that he be given a new trial. The prosecution appealed the trial set aside.
The hearing before the Appeals Court was scheduled for January of 2019. So far, I am unable to determine the outcome.
So, about 6 years with the Sword of Damocles hanging over his head. Just to get a new trial, not to be found Not Guilty or have the verdict set aside with prejudice.
Just imagine what his legal bills and bondsman’s fee are for this whole process. While the State of Washington reimburses lost wages and legal fees in self-defense cases when a Not Guilty verdict is received, that doesn’t apply if the charges are dismissed prior to a Not Guilty verdict.
What was the proximate cause of the whole incident? Going outside to investigate some sounds he heard. The platitude goes, “If you wouldn’t go there without a gun, why would you go there with a gun?”
Although I generally try to refrain from using platitudes, in this case it applies. Would he have gone over to the fight without his gun? Call 911, stay inside, and be a good witness. There is rarely any good reason for a Private Citizen to leave their home to do an investigation. The potential for a Negative Outcome is high and there is no upside for doing so.
I hated guns
My friend Ralph Mroz wrote the following in his book Defensive Shooting for Real-Life Encounters.
I hated guns (no, I’m not joking). In my mind they were for fat, lazy rednecks without the ambition or self-discipline to sweat in the dojo! Then one day, about 10 years into the [martial] arts, I had an honest conversation with myself:
“OK, you’ve got 10 years of training. You get into a fight with someone without much training or experience. What are your odds?”
“Good.”
“Right. Now this guy has training and/or experience. What’re your odds now?”
“50/50?”
“Close enough. Now there’s two guys, both without training, but mean. Odds?”
“I dunno, probably less than 50/50, in all honesty.”
“Right. Now two guys with training.”
“My odds suck.”
“One guy with a knife?”
“Oh shit!”
The conversation went on for a few more steps, but you get the idea.
The next week I was looking for a pistol…
The entire book is available for download https://thestreetstandards.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/defensive-shooting-for-real-life-encounters-text-bw1.pdf on his blog The Street Standards.
It works both ways, though. People who think that owning a gun without having any degree of physical skills are not setting themselves up for success, either.
Independence Day
Independence Day is the holiday when we in the United States of America celebrate our Declaration of Independence from Great Britain in 1776. It is probably the most significant date in our great Nation’s history. I never use the colloquial term ‘Fourth of July’ because I think it dilutes the memory of what the holiday’s meaning is.
We should keep in mind that July 4th is not the day that the Declaration of Independence was signed nor is it the date that the Founding Fathers declared our independence from the British Empire. Rather, it was the date that The Continental Congress approved the final wording of the declaration that had been decided two days earlier on July 2nd. https://www.constitutionfacts.com/us-declaration-of-independence/fourth-of-july/
Something else we should keep in mind is that Independence Day does not commemorate the start of the American Revolution. That was 14 months earlier in April of 1775 when ‘the shot heard around the world’ was fired in Lexington, Massachusetts on the 19th of April. The Battle of Lexington and two days later in Concord were the start of the American Revolution. The Battles were the result of the British Army trying to seize and destroy the Colonists’ cache of arms and ammunition. Whenever politicians try to remove weapons from the populace, it means they have something unpleasant in mind.
In political science, there still is no universally accepted definition of ‘government.’ There are indicators, though; one of the principal criteria being the ‘monopoly of force.’ In the Gettysburg Address, Abraham Lincoln said the object of the Civil War was “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.“ Using the criterion of the monopoly of force, when the people do not possess arms, we might have government OF the people and perhaps, in a benevolent autocracy, FOR the people but certainly not BY the people.
I will be shooting with friends today and I hope you will be, too. The firearm I’ll be using to commemorate the date is a Marlin Model 60, a modern day equivalent of the simple firearms many of the colonists began our Revolution with.
A sidenote about today’s post:
Vet (verify) your sources.
As part of this blog post, I wanted to include the reference to “government of the people, by the people, for the people,” from Lincoln’s Gettysburg address. I think the phrase has strong implications in the arena of the controversy of about the Right of the people to keep and bear arms.
The question has arisen as to whether Lincoln actually coined the phrase himself or whether he had another inspiration. Many generally reputable sources claim that Lincoln actually was inspired by the 1397 General Prologue to the Wycliffe1382 Bible translation from Latin to Middle English. Even the Washington Post published this theory in 2017.
A question was whether the original phrasing was ‘The Bible is for the government…’ or ‘This Bible is for the government…’ I wanted to be sure of the wording I was going to quote so I did a little research. However, in looking through several different sources of the General Prologue, I was unable to find anything remotely resembling the phrase. More research uncovered the fact that this has puzzled numerous people and no one is able to find the phrase in any reading of the General Prologue.
So the idea that Lincoln lifted the phrase from somewhere else seems to be pure poppycock that has been repeated for decades without actually being verified. In the days before we had a free and near instantaneous repository of most of the knowledge of human history, this might be forgivable. Now, there’s just no excuse for it.
Don’t be a parrot. Czech your sources. It doesn’t take long and it’s really not that difficult.
FTC note: I bought the Marlin 60 with my own money and receive no compensation for mentioning it.
Advanced Pistol Practice – Book and MP3s
The ebook about Advanced Skills and how to practice them is now available. Recognizing the value of dry practice, the download also includes two MP3 files to easily guide your dry practice sessions.
Introduction
A commonly heard statement in the firearms training community is “There are no such things as ‘advanced’ tasks, only ‘fundamental’ tasks done at greater speed.” While this statement is true to an extent, there is a broader perspective to be considered.
There are three components of Advanced tasks, all of which have equal importance.
- Consistency
- Performance Measurement
- Context
Consistency
The ability to perform a given task in the same way and achieve the same results each time is a characteristic of advanced shooters. We have all experienced that day when we were ‘on’ and could do everything well. The difference between those days and our worst days is the measure of our consistency and what we are able to produce ‘on demand.’
Performance Measurement
Measuring our performance regularly and recording our results is the only way to know whether we are being at least consistent and hopefully improving our skill level. Performance measurement has two components: accuracy and time. Our personal perceptions of how competent we are at any given time are often flawed. The target and the timer, not our perceptions, tell us the true story of our competency. The ‘observer effect’ of performance measurement can also change a fundamental task into an advanced task.
Context
The element of ‘context’ is a key component of ‘advanced’ tasks. Any fundamental task has to be applied in a certain way to different situations. Analyzing situations provides us with the context for a task. Studying incidents in detail over time can give us a broader view of the tasks and circumstances involved in using firearms for personal protection. This book had the input of an in-depth analysis of a database of over 5,000 Defensive Gun Uses (DGU) by Armed Citizens. From that analysis, the tasks involved in DGU were broken out along with the context in which the tasks were applied to a situation. Due to significant differences in Mission and Circumstances (METT-TC for Army veterans) between Armed Citizens and Law Enforcement Officers, on-duty law enforcement incidents were not included in the analysis. A few well documented off-duty incidents that paralleled incidents involving Armed Citizens were included
Another aspect of Advanced Practice is that some very common tasks in personal protection either physically cannot be practiced at indoor ranges or outdoor gun clubs, either due to rules or feasibility. Practicing drawing from the holster is the most obvious, because this is prohibited at most indoor ranges.
A less obvious personal protection task is shooting with innocent people downrange or in the midst of innocent people. This situation occurs much more frequently in real life than most gunowners realize. Think of how many times gunowners speak of ‘protecting their family.’ This statement implies that the family may be present during a Defensive Gun Use. However, the family members are often in between the criminal and the gunowner.
While it’s currently fashionable to talk about keeping a gun on one’s person at home, this isn’t the reality for most people. Among those who have Licenses To Carry, actual on-body carry is still rare. More likely, the gun is kept in some (hopefully secure) place of storage, either at home or in a vehicle. At home, this reality creates two implied tasks for personal protection; 1) access the pistol from a place of storage and 2) move safely from place to place with a loaded firearm. Since many people are uncomfortable with having a round in the chamber of an autoloading pistol, yet another implied task is possibly, 3) chamber a round and render the pistol safe for movement.
Note that in this book, the term ‘personal protection’ is used in place of ‘self-defense.’ The reason for this term substitution is that the person being protected is often not ourselves but rather other innocent parties. As an example, Armed Citizens often refer to ‘protecting their families’. We can refer to this relationship as The Myth of the Lone Gunman, which easily distorts the apparent relevance of both tasks and standards. This fact introduces a higher level of complexity into both the psychology and the tactics of the encounter, even when the technical marksmanship problem is the same as in a self-defense (Lone Gunman) situation.
The Mingle 2019
The Mingle is an Invite Only Ladies event for women in the firearms and personal protection industries. It is hosted by The Complete Combatant and sponsored by numerous organizations and manufacturers of the industry. The 2019 Mingle was held on May 18-19. This was the first year that it was a two day event. Day 1, as in years past, was a networking event featuring a short presentation by a guest speaker. This year’s speaker was Chief Deputy Lee Weems of the Oconee County Sheriff’s Office. He gave an abbreviated version of his ‘Standing Your Ground’ class, which is about the dynamics of using deadly force. Lee’s presentation was sponsored by the Armed Citizens Legal Defense Network.
After the presentation, a buffet lunch was served and the ladies had some time for networking. Approximately 60 ladies attended and had a good opportunity to meet others from their own and other segments of the industry. At the end of the event, a multitude of door prizes was given away, including a Glock pistol. Each attendee also received a goodie bag with various and sundry small items.
This was the first year that a second day was added. Day 2 was devoted to live fire training at The Complete Combatant’s Dahlonega Georgia range. Day 2 was limited to 24 ladies who had to either be instructors or have had attended a previous training class of some sort.
The day’s events started with a demonstration and trial fire of the VP9 pistol by Heckler & Koch. H&K presented a short briefing about the pistol and then provided both pistols and ammunition for the attendees to try out.
The balance of the day’s activities consisted of three blocks of instruction and finally a short Qualification Course for the ladies to fire at the end of the day. Each block was two hours, with a lunch break between the first and the second. The Qualification was conducted concurrent with the third block. Each lady brought her own pistol and holster. All the major pistol manufacturers were represented in the ladies’ choices. They shot approximately 300 rounds during the day.
The first block of instruction was Developing the Concealed Draw by Brian Hill, head coach of The Complete Combatant. This class focused on Fundamentals and developing a repeatable, efficient, and accurate draw stroke. Some of the ladies had not drawn from a holster previous to Day 2, so this was an important piece of instruction.
Second came Close Range Precision Marksmanship by Claude Werner, the Tactical Professor. This class focused on developing the ability to accurately engage small targets within conversational distance.
Several innovative targets from Advanced Pistol Practice were included in the class to provide a more realistic approach to target engagement.
The final block of instruction was Image Based Decision Drills by Shelley Hill of The Complete Combatant. Each lady had to react to four different scenarios based on images on cards they turned over at random. The scenarios required a variety of responses ranging from disengagement to using deadly force. Tools such as inert cell phones, flashlights, and pepper spray were included in the drills.
The group was split into two and while half were doing the Image Based Decision Drills, the other half shot a short Qualification Course derived from the Los Angeles POlice Department’s Retired Officer Course. In this Qualification, the shooters had to use several different skills.
- Draw from a holster and Shoot
- Challenge an attacker
- Shoot from Low Ready
- Shoot with the Dominant Hand Only
- Reload
- Make a Head Shot
It was a challenging course but all the ladies were able to make the requisite 70% passing score. Several made clean runs.
After the shooting tasks were completed, the ladies cleaned up the range, had a short debrief of the day, and then departed. All the ladies said the day had been an enjoyable and enlightening experience.
The Mingle 2020 will be held May 16-17, 2020. Interested ladies should contact The Complete Combatant for an invitation.
I’m back
As some of you know, I have had some very serious health problems this year. The near death experience has taken some time for me to recover from.
I’m doing much better now and I’ll be back to posting.
For those who ordered Advanced Pistol Practice, I completely rewrote it during my convalescence and turned it into a downloadable format. I think the 2.0 version is much better than 1.0.
Everyone who ordered it should have received the download link. If not, please let me know and I will resend it to you. For those who ordered the USB version, I will be refunding you the $3.00 surcharge shortly.
For anyone who didn’t order it but would like some instant gratification, the download is available here http://store.payloadz.com/go?id=2613612 .
Thanks to everyone for your patience and understanding. I’m looking forward to putting out some interesting material in the near future. As the Romulans said in The Neutral Zone, “We are back.”
Claude and Clint Eastwood’s Excellent Adventure
Clint Eastwood and Claude were held captive in a little shack back in the Louisiana bayou. They escaped their bonds and Clint found a shotgun but there was no weapon for Claude. Two guards were outside hunkered down behind another little shack facing the shack Claude and Clint were in. While Clint covered from the shack they had been held captive in, Claude maneuvered around behind the two guards.
Claude got behind one guard and tried to break his neck but the guard was like the man with no neck so it didn’t work. To make the kill, Claude had to twist the guard’s head completely around in a circle and tear it off. At the same time, Clint took out the other guard with the shotgun and then held his position. The twisted off guard’s gun couldn’t be found so Claude took his gun belt and holster to use as a whip‑like impact weapon.
Two more guards approached but didn’t see Claude at the shack. The guards were Ice-T and Paul Blart, Mall Cop. Claude moved around to the front of the shack and waited in ambush. When Ice-T rounded the corner, Claude nailed him with the gun belt and holster and then closed to disarm him. After disarming him, Claude shot Ice-T twice in a clinch, which caused Ice-T to back up. Then Claude shot Blart several times. His shots were accurate and his cadence about one-half second per shot. Claude congratulated himself about keeping his cool and maintaining his accuracy and cadence. Those rounds put Blart down and hors de combat.
Ice-T had backed up but was still on his feet. Clint wasn’t doing anything so Claude shot Ice-T several more times. As Claude then retreated, Ice-T followed him. The pace was slow and the path was more or less a circle. While Ice-T followed, the pistol morphed into an Uzi submachinegun with the stock folded.
Claude then leaped up high into the air like a kung fu artist in a Chinese action film. As he came down, he smashed the butt of the Uzi’s grip onto the top of Ice-T’s head. Ice-T then fell down and Clint stepped out of the shack.
Then Claude woke up from his dream. It took place between 7:15 am and 7:40 am this morning.
The Newhall Incident – April 1970
At 11:55 p.m., April 5, 1970, two Officers of the California Highway Patrol stopped a car for brandishing a firearm at another vehicle hours earlier. Minutes later, they and two other CHP Officers would lie dead in the parking lot of the restaurant where the stop took place. Their murderers would escape into the night, virtually unscathed in the gunfire.
The officers were all young; two were 23 and two were 24. They were all married and had seven children between them. All of them had been CHP officers for less than two years.
The murderers were hardened criminals. Both had served prison time and one had killed another prisoner in self-defense while he was confined in Alcatraz. They were heavily armed with revolvers, autoloading pistols, and shotguns in preparation for committing bank robberies and armored truck heists.
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An apology to my friends and clients
I apologize for the delay in shipping the Advance Pistol Practice materials. I had a slight cardiac event the day after I made the APP announcement and it really slowed me down for a week. Then my apartment complex management breached my lease and I had to move on two days notice. By the time I got finished moving, it was time to leave for the 2019 Tactical Conference. It was a series of events I hadn’t anticipated.
I’m burning a special set of disks and USBs that include recordings of my presentations at the Tactical Conference as an apology for being so tardy with delivery. I’ll begin shipping them tomorrow or Wednesday. I hope that will be okay. If not, please let me know.
Claude
tacticalprofessor 
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