Heroes or Vigilantes?

Just off to the left, in the shadow cast by my desk lamp not quite shining around the corner of my computer, is the Feb/Mar 2009 copy of The Counterterrorist: Official Journal of the Homeland Security Professional.  Website here.  I guess one day soon we will be able to find in their Archives the article I'm going to mention below, entitled, as you might expect: Heroes or Vigilantes? Citizens Who Foil Terror, by Jonathan Keiler, former Army JAG.  He is a National Board Certified history teacher and author whose work has appeared in many publications dealing with national security, law, education, and military history.  Hey; I'm quoting ~ it says that right in the magazine.

Okay, I can' t see.  I'm turning on the ceiling light.

Using examples from actual incidents, Keiler discusses the Castle Doctrine, Right to Carry laws and the VATech shootings, etc, and how these help form his conclusion, part of which I include here:

It would be wrong to confront a citizen, who acted reasonably, and in the good faith belief that he was thwarting a terror attack, with a prosecution based upon teasing out details that argue against terrorism.  Law enforcement personnel should be trained to cooperate and take advantage of civilian volunteers (particularly in the area of gathering intelligence) while discouraging vigilantism.  Asking civilians to come forward with information before or after a terror act can be the critical factor in preventing or solving the crime.  Civilian vigilance, not vigilantism, should be strongly encouraged, but authorities should be prepared to deal with civilians who, in good faith, don't understand the difference.

Good call.

I found the full article here.

Let's see if we can clarify this a bit so no readers here wander off the reservation.

Vigilant means you're purposefully aware of danger that may be around you.  Being vigilant doesn't suggest that you're going to do anything with any information you may discover in your alertness, it just means you're alert, perhaps more alert than the average citizen.

Vigilantism means you discover or think you have discovered information or activity you believe to be of a criminal or terroristic nature and, without doing anything to inform the appropriate law enforcement agency of your findings a/o suspicions even though you had time and opportunity to do so, you commit some act to stop the activity.

Those are my layman definitions.  I am not an attorney nor have I ever played one on TV.

Using Lee and Malvo, the Beltway Snipers, as his example of vigilantism, Keiler asserts rightly that if an armed civilian came across those two sleeping soundly in a car, the citizen would be wrong to shoot them in their sleep to prevent their escape.  Or, that citizen might be right to kill them where they lay, says Keiler.  And I agree.

Depends on the law enforcement agency/court with primary prosecutorial jurisdiction.

So what's my point?

I've said it many times here: while it might be statistically unlikey that you personally will be involved directly in a terrorist attack of some sort, you still need to be always aware of your surroundings and circumstances developing around and near you.  Report your suspicions a/o obvious danger ASAP, or immediately if at all possible, to the most quickly available security or police officer or agent.

If you're armed legally and trained and the poop about to hit the fan won't permit you to do anything but draw and go to low ready, then that might be just the thing to do.  You decide then and there for you.  I don't. 

Low ready is when you're holding your pistol in a two-hand grip, both arms extended straight with the gun pointed at a spot about 5 feet in front of you.  You can quickly bring your gun onto target from this position. 

Take a look here for some good shooting pointers.

I'll be back. Don't go anywhere.

Comments

[zach]

vigilantes are heroes.