AR AD!

07 Sept 09

AR magazine-release button. This from a colleague in OK:

"During a Carbine Class yesterday evening, a student's right index-finger slipped off the magazine-release button of his AR and landed on the trigger. An AD was the instant result!

Luckily, his muzzle was properly directed at the deck to his front, as he had been trained. The total damage was a divot in the concrete three meters in front of him, and, of course, much astonishment and embarrassment.

Like you, I've always believed the magazine-release button on the Stoner design is in the wrong place, mostly because of all the inadvertent dropping of magazines we see that result from shooters using the magazine-release button as a trigger-finger index while acquiring the register position.

Although this particular species of AD is uncommon, we need to warn our students about it.

From now on, I, for one, am going to!"

Comment: I've seen this happen more than once!

Every weapons system has issues. None are perfect. I wish Gene Stoner had located that magazine-release button somewhere else, but I wish lots of things, and we're probably stuck with it as it is, at least for the rest of the lifetimes of most of us!

Urban Rifle students need to be warned about this. If I've been remiss in the past, I intend to correct the omission immediately!

The second point to be emphasized is, once again, my admonition against light, "target" triggers on serious rifles! Any good, battle rifle will have a trigger pull-weight between five and eight pounds. Triggers under five pounds are an veritable invitation to an AD and are thus highly not recommended!

/John

Fatal Errors!

07 Sept 09

Courtroom Poker in CO. This from one of our Instructors who is also a well-known criminal-defense attorney:

"Just handed down on appeal here in CO:

The defendant had claimed self defense and appealed the judgment of conviction entered on a jury verdict that found him guilty of second-degree assault and conspiracy to commit second-degree assault.

The judgment was just affirmed on appeal.

Two important points:

(1) Defendant contended that the Trial Court's jury instructions with regard to what constitutes legitimate self-defense were inadequate and incomplete. The jury should have been informed that the defendant had 'no duty to retreat' under State Law. But, the Appellate Court ruled that the Trial Court was not required to provide that specific information to the jury, sua sponte (without being asked to do so). Therefore, the Trial Court's omission does not constitute reversible error.

(2) Defendant also argued that the Trial Court erred in permitting the prosecutor to argue that the defendant's flight in the aftermath of the incident demonstrated 'consciousness-of-guilt.' But, the Appellate Court indicated that such an argument on the part of the prosecutor was not improper and that it is indeed reasonable for the jury to infer that the defendant fled because he had a 'guilty conscience.'"

Comment: I know there is a lot of legal mumbo-jumbo that comes out of every court action, but, from the foregoing, we all need to reconfirm.

(1) Get a good lawyer! Not everyone with a law degree is someone your want representing your best interests during the fight of your life. This is no place for amateurs and incompetents!

(2) When involved in a lethal confrontation, or a potentially lethal one, be the first to call the police! Don't run and hide and hope no one will find you. Get a safe distance away when necessary, but get to a phone fast and meet police at the scene, identifying yourself as "the one who called." Much guilt will be inferred when you spontaneously "flee," as we see!

/John