Republished from the Federal Way Mirror/The Firearms Lawyer

Jun 03 2010, 4:35 PM · UPDATED

Over the past several years, I have attended several firearms training programs and have begun teaching firearms law classes in Federal Way.

One thing I have learned is that anyone who thinks he or she will get a medal for killing a perpetrator is sorely deluded. If the public often suspects that officers have killed suspects because of racial prejudice or malice, how will the public view armed citizens? The question often arises as to whether shooting to wound would be preferable than shots that are apt to kill. Is it realistic to require anyone to attempt nonlethal shots?

When Vice President Joe Biden was asked about a “minimum force” bill that would require officers to shoot an assailant in the arm or the leg, the VP called the legislation a “John Wayne Bill” because officers cannot reasonably be expected to shoot like they do in Hollywood. See “No-Kill Bill Surfaces in New York.”

In 2009, a Federal Way police officer shot and wounded an assailant armed with a knife. Because of the fact that the belligerent and naked man was charging the officers, the Federal Way officers’ training required them to aim for center of body mass.

There are no circumstances where officer training would require shooting at the arms or legs. Even if officers could achieve such unrealistic training standards, the unreasonable risk to the officer - and the risk of wounding an innocent bystander - makes “shooting-to-wound” an impractical standard for law enforcement or armed civilians.

Training in use of lethal force almost always involves discussions of cases like the Amadou Diallo case in New York City. Mr. Diallo, struck by at least 19 bullets, was apparently reaching for something in his pocket. Officers thought he was reaching for a weapon. New York lawmakers reacted to the Diallo case and others like it by proposing the legislation requiring that officers deploy the minimum amount of force needed to control a suspect. See Sean Bell.

Graham v. Connor, the benchmark U.S. Supreme Court decision on police use of force, recognizes that gunfights are “tense, uncertain and rapidly evolving.” When an officer’s life or that of a third party is in jeopardy, the decision as to whether or not to shoot is based on the reasonable man standard. The three targets for a reasonably prudent man or woman confronted with armed force are center of body mass, the pelvis and the head. The center of the chest is preferable under most circumstances because such a target minimizes many risks, including the risk of missing the target. The target is often shooting back!

Even two or three shots to the heart or the brain do not ensure that an opponent will stop returning fire. Many departments, including Federal Way, are beginning to focus on shooting under low-light situations and use various simulated shooting scenarios to develop officers’ ability to react while assessing situations.

There are no shoot-to-wound laws proposed in Washington state. Nevertheless, Hollywood myths can influence juries and review boards. Lawyers and journalists are also susceptible to the John Wayne syndrome. The solution lies in educating the public so that all the issues are clearly understood.

Israel presently faces an indictment in the court of world opinion because of the allegation that the IDF deployed unjustified lethal force against “peace activists” when it boarded the MAVI MARMARA. Nine activists were killed including a U.S. citizen with dual Turkish citizenship. Would Tea Party activists armed with steel poles and grenades, knives and possibly guns be identified as peace activists?

Egypt and Israel’s blockade against Gaza prevents Iranian missiles and other weapons from entering Gaza. Egypt and Israel have waged war with the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas (the terrorist group that rules Gaza) for longer than most nations even recognized the existence of Islamic terrorism. Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood are the same organization with different names.

It is clear that approximately forty Turkish activists on board the MAVI MARMARA attacked IDF personnel. The IDF boarding was clearly within well-recognized rules of international maritime law and the IHH attack was clearly premeditated.

“I am going to be a martyr. I dreamed about it,” a Turkish activist reportedly told his family before leaving to join the flotilla.

Forty people on board the MAVI MARMARA armed with slingshots, knives, stun grenades and steel poles attacked IDF personnel forcing the IDF boarding party to deploy weapons. Despite the grave threat to the IDF, the international media and the world community are ready to convict Israel of massacring peaceful demonstrators.

Some key people that are ideologically close to President Obama are involved in IHH- Van Jones and Bill Ayers are two such individuals and so is Jodie Evans, co-founder of Code Pink.

The FREE GAZA MOVEMENT denies the allegation of an extremist presence on the Turkish ship. “Every person on that boat was a civilian. The terrorists on board those boats belonged to Israel,” a spokeswoman exclaimed.

Despite the spokeswoman’s indignant protest, however, Jean-Louis Bruguiere, a French counterterrorism magistrate who testified at the Ahmed Ressam trial in Seattle, states otherwise. IHH played an “important role” in the Millenium bomb plot- an Al Qaeda affiliated operation.

According to the Christian Science Monitor, Bruguiere testified at trial that Al Qaeda and other jihadist groups were previously linked to IHH in financing and other assistance to jihadists headed to Bosnia, Chechnya, and Afghanistan. The Turkish government unearthed weapons, explosives, and bomb making instructions in a 1997 raid.

Is IHH still linked to Al Qaeda? Whatever the answer turns out to be, the symbiotic relationship between Islamic extremism and the radical left has been longstanding.

Bruguiere is renowned for tracking down Carlos the Jackal, a professional Communist assassin known to have worked for radical Palestinian groups.

Thus, Mssr. Bruguiere would have had opportunity to closely observe how the radical left coalesced with radical Palestinian movements during the Seventies when modern Islamic terrorism was barely recognized by the news media. Bruguiere now coordinates tracking of terrorist financing for a joint European/American program.

Since 1948, Israel has been surrounded by predatory neighbors just waiting for the first signs of weakness.

The war against “Zionist aggression” will continue to be aided and abetted by an international media-government complex that has willingly lent itself to leftist manipulation for many years.

Meanwhile, the ship RACHEL CORRIE, named after the Evergreen College student killed by a bulldozer in Israel in 2003, is awaiting instructions.

Would the news media have called Ms. Corrie an anti-Semitic racist if she had also been standing in front of the Congressional bulldozer called Healthcare Reform?