They just announced that he was found guilty on all charges. I’m a bit surprised given the evidence and the courtroom demonstration, but he did make the decision to go out looking for the men that confronted and followed his daughter rather than calling the police. I think that was the major factor.
Let this be a lesson to everyone – you simply don’t want to be there.
The trial – as some of you may be aware – is underway. If you read further down in the blog, you will find my analysis based on the 911 Call (with a link to it) and the Probable Cause Statement (with a link to it). It has been VERY interesting to see how things have progressed.
I had an individual question my credibility based on the fact that I pointed out that it is entirely possible for the safety on the firearm to have changed position based on the statement that Mr. Serbeck put his gun down and kicked it away. They claimed that it was highly unlikely.
Yesterday in the courtroom, an expert dropped the gun and kicked it away. The safety lever moved from deactivated to activated. The gun was also stepped on, and again the lever moved from deactivated to activated. Apparently, not only was the gun kicked away from Mr. Serbeck, but it was also turned again by the foot of another individual. It also had blood on it. Interesting that it would have blood on it when Mr. Serbeck claimed to have kicked it away before he was shot.
I have always said that there is something not right about what Mr. Serbeck claimed – how he was holding the firearm and what he did with it. I think we are starting to see that his story is not making much sense.
NEITHER ONE of these men should have been where they were. This situation was the result of an entire series of bad decisions made by both men – starting with the bad decision by two older white males to confront two underage females. In an age where avoiding even the appearance of evil is a good idea (schools are locked down over incidents like this), they really screwed up. They also apparently tailgated the girls at another point. Again, a VERY bad decision on the part of two people that were acting as if they were on a neighborhood watch – even though they apparently have no training to do so (where you are trained to OBSERVE and REPORT, not to confront) and there was no officially organized or recognized neighborhood watch program.
At each point in the situation there were decision points where it could have been stopped. Even Mr. Campos confronting them did not have to be such a tragic decision.
This incident does need to be analyzed decision-by-decision. Right up to the decision where Mr. Campos decided to fire his gun.
The moral of the story is that NEITHER MAN SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE. Both parties made a series of very bad decisions, and they are now paying for them.My advice to you is to simply keep a clear head at all times. Don’t be there.
I have been having a lot of folks seeing advertisements for Taser devices, and asking about them for both home and outside-the-home protection. Some are worried about their judgment and feel that a less-lethal option may be better for them. Others want to add another tool to the toolbox. Either way, you need to think it through.
First, you need to understand that Tasers are considered “less lethal” options. They are NOT non-lethal. Although the company has not lost a lawsuit yet, the fact is that people have indeed died after being Tased. Usually they are on illegal drugs or medications for mental conditions, but they have still died after exposure to the device.
Second, the most common Taser device for non-LE is the C2. It’s designed to hit a subject at a range of up to 15 feet and leave them incapacitated (actively Tasing them) for 30 seconds. It’s designed so that the victim deploys it, drops it, and uses that 30 seconds to get away.
If you miss or if the person is wearing body armor, what’s your backup? What if it doesn’t work? What will you do?
If you are thinking of home defense with it, well, if you get a hit and the guy goes down, you have 30 seconds. What do you do when that 30 seconds is up?
Do you run away, leaving him in your house? I wouldn’t. When he gets up, he is going to be seriously pissed off, giving him time to do who-knows-what.
Do you have handcuffs or other restraints and training on how to employ them? If not, you may have to keep shocking him until the police arrive. Then he might just go after you for pain and suffering.
In reality, Police Officers have a whole duty belt full of tools they can use to facilitate compliance in relation to an ARREST. It’s not practical for most of us to carry all of that around – that’s what we pay them for.
The question is – are you planning to ARREST your assailant, or are you planning to DEFEND YOUR LIFE?
I have also heard from some students from other instructors who have been told that .22lr (long rifle) firearms are very small and easy to conceal. They apparently neglected to mention that .22lr has VERY little stopping power, and is not seriously recommended by ANYONE.
Yes, those little derringer-style revolvers from North American are cute novelty items and make for interesting conversation pieces. They are NOT truly effective as a defensive firearm. They are intended to be used at contact range if employed at all.
Have you ever seen a police officer carrying a .22 on duty? No. They carry mainline calibers (9mm, .40 S&W, .45 ACP, .357 Magnum, .357 SIG, or 10mm) that have proven stopping power. If you have to shoot, you are shooting to stop the threat.
I know a gentleman that was shot in the abdomen with a .22. He didn’t know he was shot until he felt an itching and realized he had been shot.
You do NOT want to rely on a .22 to save your life. Yes, they can be small. But so can a good, reliable 9mm, .38 special, or even a .380 ACP. Any any one of those give you a far better chance of stopping the threat than a .22.
We have a lot to be thankful for, starting with the men that were willing to pen their names in support and affirmation of this….
“And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.”
That took a great deal of courage, as in doing so they literally put their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred Honor on the line.
Moving to this day, we have a Constitution that they put together as a restraint on the Government they formed, that it would be limited and constrained only to those purposes which they set forth.
Some of them, feeling that it was further necessary to specially protect certain rights, pushed for a “Bill Of Rights” to enumerate God-given rights that the Government must never harm. Among these is the Right to Keep and Bear Arms.
It is interesting to note that it is the only one which specifically states “shall not be infringed”. They felt strongly enough about it that they gave it extra protection.
Just last week, the Supreme Court of the United States by a vote of only 5 to 4 (meaning that 4 Justices were not willing to accept the plain language that it is written in) voted that the 2nd Amendment applies equally to all levels of government as do the rest of the Bill of Rights.
There is yet a long fight ahead to fully restore that which has been infringed. It should not be any fight at all, but there are yet those that can be rightly considered “enemies domestic” that persist in trying to infringe on that basic right.
I am personally thankful that the Founding Fathers were willing to stand in the places they stood in their day, and give their best to provide for us a nation which is free.
I hope that we can restore and strengthen it, so that they can smile upon us when we see them again. As of right now, that free nation stands tenuous at best, and we must be vigilant in pressing forward to give our best.
Let us keep that Republic they gave us, and not have to hang our heads in shame at what could otherwise be a glorious meeting when we see them again.
I’ve been working on a project idea relating to home defense, and I got some trigger time with an FN P90 this week. Unfortunately, it’s not available to non-LE/non-military since it’s fully automatic and was made after 1986. Hopefully, the Supreme Court ruling this week will one day lead to the 2nd Amendment being respected fully, and the removal of such restrictions.
In the meantime, the P90 is a very nice firearm. It was an older one with the older, discontinued sight – but it was still very balanced, easy to manage, and allowed for some comparably tight shooting even in FA.
The civilian-legal PS90 is available, which has a longer barrel and no “happy switch”. More on that later.
Some days, I just love my line of work.