CCW Safe

In this fifth video in the Aftermath of a Shooting series, Kyle Eastridge, owner of Eastridge PI and former homicide detective, talks about the Investigative process of a shooting investigation. Kyle talks about Investigators, Crime Scene Technicians, and Medical Death Investigators from the Medical Examiners Office.

If you missed other videos from this series , you can watch them all here.  Mike Darter, co-founder and CEO of CCW Safe, also talks briefly about administrative actions.

In this fourth video of the series, Mike and John Risenhoover, Critical Response Coordinator for CCW Safe, talk about the role of the victim in a self defense shooting case, and the importance of identifying yourself as such.  Now, with all the physiological effects and confusion that is produced from them,  it would not be advised to give a full interview or statement directly after a shooting.  But by simply stating that you are the victim, identifying the suspect, and that you had to use deadly force to defend yourself,  immediately identifies you as the victim.  As we have seen in other cases, such as the Christian Gunter case in Sarasota, Florida, not doing so might result in spending a few days in jail.  Many will tell you that if you shoot someone in self defense you are going to go to jail, but that simply is not true in most cases.  One of the main reasons why Zimmerman was not initially charged was the fact that he cooperated with police and even did a walk through the next day.  That is not what I would have done in his case, but his actions did identified him as the victim to law enforcement.   It wasn’t until months later that he was arrested due to pressure from special interest groups and media.   Here is a timeline of that case up to the trial.

If you are a involved in a legitimate self defense incident, you are a victim!  That’s the one thing that gets lost in translation.  You’ve been attacked.  That within itself may be a significant critical incident, then add on top of that, you had to shoot someone.  Another critical incident…The problem is that within the criminal justice system, the fact that you were just attacked, sometimes gets lost in the latter investigation of a shooting, or homicide if the attacker is killed.  This is why we say to identify yourself as the victim.

In this last video in the series of the Aftermath of a Shooting, Mike Darter, co-founder and CEO of CCW Safe, talks about bail bonds in the event that you are arrested, civil litigation, and long term effects.

• BAIL BONDS
  

Typically, your bail will be set by a judge the following day at a bond hearing.  Now, if this falls on a holiday, or a weekend, it is possible for the bond hearing to be days later.  In one case we represented a member in a shooting, the bond hearing was originally set for a week later, which meant that they would have had to sit in jail for that long.  Luckily, in that case, we were able to press for a hearing and were granted one within a few days and were able to get our member out of jail.   At the bond hearing, lets say a judge sets bail at $500k.  You will have to meet the collateral for that bond, meaning that you will have to show the bondsman that you are capable of paying that amount, or have assets to cover that amount, bank accounts, property, house, etc. if you flee after you are released.  Once that is established, then you will be responsible for the bond fee, which is generally 10%.  Now, this fee can be negotiated, but in most cases it will be 10%.  That means that on a $500k bond,  you will have to pay $50k to get released.  This money will not be recovered, it’s gone. This is one reason we recommend the added bail bond protection on our accounts up to $1M.  You can be a standing member of society, act accordingly and be a legitimate victim and still be facing a large bond, especially if there are special interest groups or political motivation involved.

We had a question from one of our members, Daniel, to expand a bit on our last video in reference to trigger modifications.  We had some other requests to expand on firearms and ammo selection, so here we go.

Firearms selection for concealed carry.  There are several things to think about here.  Performance, skill level, capacity, comfort.  First off, we recommend looking at your area law enforcement and what they carry.  Law enforcement has strict guidelines and policies on what they carry.  These are based on evaluation and testing on the function and performance of firearms in various conditions.  Police officers have to have firearms that are reliable and function properly.  Therefore, we highly recommend you look at reliable and proven firearms for your self protection.

Caliber is another question.  When I was a police officer on the street, I carried a .45.  Today, as a concealed carrier, I carry a 9mm.  The ammunition has gotten better, and 9mm is easier to conceal, and offers more capacity.  Whether its 9, 40, 45 or some anything else, I think this is going to be a decision that you will need to make based on your comfort.  Not only comfort in shooting and feeling confident shooting with it, but also physical comfort in actually carrying it.  If it’s not comfortable to you, then chances are you won’t carry it.