Tag: law enforcement

  • Open-Carry of a Shotgun: A Good Idea in an Apartment Complex?

    Open-Carry of a Shotgun: A Good Idea in an Apartment Complex?

    The day before Thanksgiving (2023), the Law Office of Mark Knapp PLLC obtained an acquittal in a case alleging Second Degree Assault (with a firearm enhancement) in Snohomish County today. The three-day jury trial focused on open-carry issues and whether the complaining witness (the alleged victim) was justified in grabbing a loaded shotgun from our client. Grabbing a weapon is only justified where a threat of imminent deadly force exists.

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    Self-Defense or Criminal Assault? Grabbing a shotgun—other than in self-defense—constitutes Assault in the Second Degree and could include Robbery charges, and a Firearms Enhancement. Our client told the police and the jury that he just went to the parking lot to check on his motorcycle when his neighbor approached him aggressively, demanding to know why he was carrying a shotgun in a common area.

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  • The Time to Stop the Carnage is Now; Enforcing Washington State’s Firearms Preemption Law

    The Time to Stop the Carnage is Now; Enforcing Washington State’s Firearms Preemption Law

    Advocates for Change. The Law Office of Mark Knapp PLLC has persuaded many municipalities to make municipal laws and policies compliant with Washington State’s Firearms Preemption law.  Thus, state, municipal, and private institutions are discussing whether to change their policies. There is increasing recognition that armed citizens can help stop random violence. Throughout these institutions there is also a tendency not to discuss the issue publicly. Some will not discuss the issue at all. We all need to bring pressure to bear to call attention to state and municipal organizations that interpret laws in ways that violate plain legislative intent and endanger the public.

    Statistics Can Prove Anything. Many articles have now been written by security experts, public safety professionals, economists, doctors and Second Amendment advocates. Most of the discussions only generate massive statistics that confirm whatever you want to believe. Nevertheless, the Spokane Public Facilities District that operates the Spokane Arena, Performing Arts Center (Opera House) and the Convention Center in Spokane has made up its mind that it will continue violating the plain language of Washington state law. Apparently it’s Board intends to do so until forced to change the policy of prohibiting concealed carry permit holders on its premises.

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  • The Road to Perpetual Warfare

    The United States seems to have embarked on a dangerous road toward perpetual warfare. Many people have recognized that the Iraq War and the promises of opening the Middle East to Democracy were more about opening we the People of the United States to manipulation.  

    In a sense it was about oil. But the overarching objective for global corporatists has been to maintain the dollar as the currency in which the IMF requires international banking reserves to be held. International bankers, like the Rockefellers and other family dynasties, have quietly stayed behind the scenes by working through groups like the Council on Foreign Relations and tax, exempt foundations that fund university studies. For example, the Ford Foundation is allegedly the biggest contributor to Black Lives Matter.

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  • Arming Teachers

    Arming Teachers

    Retired Special Agent of the US Army Criminal Investigation Command (CID) and tactical use of force instructor, Gary Griffiths, offered the following observations related to ongoing discussions related to arming teachers and other school personnel as specially trained employees of a school district. These employees work in a capacity other than as security staff but are trained to protect themselves and others when threats arise in their working environment. Proposed legislation empowering school districts to implement the “embedded” school personnel concept utilizes the term School Marshals.  Please feel free to network with us in reaching out to elected officials, law enforcement agencies and school districts interested in advocating for School Marshal programs:

    “There is simply no way to absolutely prevent school shootings from happening in this or any other free country.  Even requiring all students to enter the school campus through a metal detector, like they’re entering an airport is not 100% certain to prevent this sort of tragedy. (Google Red Lake Minnesota, 21 March 2005). The recent tragedy at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX also illustrates that even excellent physical security can be instantly negated by a staff member too lazy to follow security protocol.”

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  • Uvalde Schools Implemented Extensive Security Measures Including School Resource Officers

    Uvalde Schools Implemented Extensive Security Measures Including School Resource Officers

    The school district in Uvalde, Texas, had an extensive safety plan in place when nineteen children were killed. The killer accessed an open door and killed children and teachers for about 74 minutes while police officers allegedly refused to enter the barricaded room where the slaughter was taking place. These things occurred even though Uvalde’s spending on school security and monitoring services in Uvalde more than doubled since 2017, rising from about $200,000 to about $435,000 for the current school year, according to school budget documents.

    The district adopted an array of security measures that included its own police force, threat assessment teams at each school, a threat reporting system, social media monitoring software, fences around schools and a requirement that teachers lock their classroom doors, according to the security plan posted on the district’s website. Texas police are now saying that the armed school officer who was first reported to have engaged the gunman in a firefight was not on campus when the shooting started.

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  • Machine Guns & Automatic Weapons in Washington State

    Machine Guns & Automatic Weapons in Washington State

    We sometimes get questions as to whether a machine gun qualifies for Curio/Relic status under federal regulations. Any such items must comply with the National Firearms Act of 1934 and also local state law.

    The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives will not allow transfer of ANY automatic weapon into Washington state since July 1, 1994 (except departmental purchases). Thus, there are no exceptions for antiques under Washington state law per RCW 9.41.190 and the definitions under RCW 9.41.010.

    Prior to legislative changes in RCW 9.41.190, it was theoretically legal to own an automatic weapon if you were in the armed forces, provided that BATFE would provide the $200.00 tax stamp.

    RCW 9.41.190 stated the following: (more…)

  • Gray Men & Patriots

    Being a Spokane area Firearms Lawyer who shoots with many folks from law enforcement and military backgrounds, I am acquainted with a few people in law enforcement. As the political and legal environment becomes more hostile to law enforcement officers, it has become apparent to me that cops and armed citizens need to look out for each other.

    I told one law enforcement acquaintance that the John Birch Society is a good source of information with which to study the vast influence of the Council on Foreign Relations. CFR members occupy key roles in the corporate, academic and media-political complex. The CFR’s elite members constitute a virtual hiring hall for government, military, the most well endowed tax-exempt foundations and law enforcement at the federal and international levels.

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  • Why Armed Citizens Are Critical in the Next War

    The recent war in which Azerbaijan quickly defeated Armenia is the first war to demonstrate how unmanned weapons and electronic surveillance are now a critical factor in conflicts involving smaller states and/or irregular forces. 

    In this recent war, the Turkish-made BAYRAKTAR TB2 Unmanned Air Combat Vehicle (UCAV) and the Israeli-made HAROP Loitering Munition (LM) dominated the fighting and provided Azerbaijan with a war-winning advantage. The following are some lessons from that war that indicate the shape of battlespaces in the future. From Ten Lessons from the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War,
    By John Antal. See American Partisan.

    Azerbaijan outspent Armenia six-to-one, investing more than $24 billion in the decade before the war to purchase the latest Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), UCAV, and LM technology from Turkey and Israel. One of the primary lessons of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War was to “know yourself and know your enemy.”

    Gaining Initiative in Action & Technology. Japan is an example of a low technology nation that created the first successful carrier groups and managed to do this virtually overnight in the years before Pearl Harbor. Buying the best carriers and taking the initiative, however, did not alone guarantee success in war. Training, organization, and leadership are key.

    KNOW YOUR ENEMY. The Azerbaijanis researched recent changes in warfare, adopted the latest weapons and looked at how Turkish forces operated in Syria.

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  • Jihad Swarming & Counter-Terrorist Tactics

    The manner in which societies organize for war has always been dependent on a number of interrelated factors. Technology is an important factor but there are many instances where societies that are behind in the technology of warfare or even behind in industrial strength and other economic factors have been able to become better organized than their opponents. Japan, for example, created the first successful carrier groups and managed to do this virtually overnight in the years before Pearl Harbor.

    At Pearl Harbor, the Japanese executed tactics gleaned from systematic study of the British attack on Taranto that destroyed a major portion of the Italian Navy.

    Just prior to WW II, theorists like Liddell Hart advocated in favor of integrating fast moving armored vehicles with smaller infantry units and air cover. The only authorities in a position to follow Hart’s innovative doctrine who actually listened were members of the German High Command.

    The German execution of the lightning-fast tactics that the world came to know as Blitzkrieg overran France’s “state of the art” defenses in a matter of a few days with a loss of German lives that was almost nil!

    The ability of the U.S. to mobilize and organize a civilian industrial base in order to convert to the building of carriers and planes and other military armament was one important factor that turned the tables on the Japanese and the Germans. (more…)

  • Watch & Pray for our Military Leadership

    Kudos to President Biden! The U.S. should maintain America’s military support for Taiwan but reject the “one China” framework. President Biden has not repudiated the “one China” policy. But he has indicated strong support for Taiwan’s national security.

    For more than 40 years, the Doctrine of Ambiguity and a “one China” policy have created confusion regarding U.S. commitments to Taiwan.

    The Biden Administration gets kudos for stepping up to the plate—if they are prepared to do what it takes. Ambiguity & the “one China” policy has invited chaos while China has made it’s intentions clear and unambiguous.

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