A CCW Item That No One Thinks About

Posted Jan 10th 2012 | By:  

christophereger

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So, you are ready to begin your new dedication to exercising your 2nd Amendment rights by carrying a legally acquired handgun in a permitted CCW area. You attended the 8-40 hour long class that your state requires to carry your weapon and if not, hopefully you attended at
least an NRA basic pistol class or come from a sufficient military, security or law-enforcement background to where you have at least basic knowledge of your weapon, its operation, limitations, and retention.

You get your carefully chosen weapon, holster, and possibly a second magazine and/or speed loader and hit the road, confident of being the most heavily armed man in the produce section of your local grocery store. You have a checkmark in every box. You have everything covered, right?

Well, maybe not.

King 5 News in Seattle recently (repeated here in the Escapist) carried the story of a CCW holder who carried something extra. After being confronted by an armed assailant at an ATM, the CCW holder, a software employee named Jeff Fletcher produced his weapon and confronted the suspect.

"I told him to drop his weapon, he dropped his weapon," Fletcher said. "I told him to get on the ground, he got on the ground."  Minutes later, Fletcher said he remembered he was carrying his father's old handcuffs. That's reasonable. I never leave home without at least one pair, either. He detained the suspect, searched the shooter, and sat the man on the curb to wait until law enforcement arrived.

Fletcher warned against ordinary citizens engaging in this risky behavior, but "to ex-police or ex-army, or somebody who's got sufficient training and who's willing to take on that kind
of risk for their loved ones or their community and has the capacity to do it, absolutely."

Let us talk contingency and liability. 

In most CCW instances, you want to use your weapon to as an escape device to get you away from danger. Most citizen self-defense CCW incidents result in the assailant being chased off. In the world of going home to your family, this is a win. So the bad guy didn’t get caught? Maybe you have enough information to lead to his arrest and prosecution. Maybe they will be so scared that the next victim of theirs will have a CCW and not as much patience as you did and will go apply for a job at McDonalds instead. The point is, you do not have to apprehend an assailant to walk away from a self-defense situation a winner,—being able to walk away itself is the big win.

However, what if the act of producing a weapon in self-defense during the commission of a felony upon yourself or someone under your protection does not result in the chase-off? What if there are rounds fired? What if some of them are yours and you wind up eliminating your threat? Now an overzealous district attorney will be looking at the shooting to see if you are some modern day gunslinger who was just out to shoot people.

Say the family of the assailant sues you personally for wrongful death even if the DA rules it a self-defense situation. Now you are going to court and a jury will be shown a picture of the assailant in his high school graduation photo, hear about how he was on the honor roll in 7th
grade, and was the favorite darling of his church choir a few years ago. Then the attorney for his family will ask if you had any other means of self-defense or detention of the slain young man other than your pistol. After all, if the only thing you have is a pistol, what more were you looking to do than shoot someone?

Here is the case for your handcuffs. Granted, in most instances you will never need them. In many instances should you draw your CCW weapon it is likely that you will never have to fire it. In some instances, if you detain a suspect for undue cause you can risk false
imprisonment or even kidnapping charges. This cuts the chances of you ever touching your handcuffs down tremendously.

Nevertheless, they are too big, cumbersome, awkward, etc. to carry, you say. Then make or buy a set of paracord handcuffs. They can be used very simply: insert hands to the wrist, tighten, and tie a knot. Can be ideal when tied around a tree, lamppost, street sign etc. You can buy them on eBay or make a pair for about $2.

It is very important that if you carry handcuffs in your EDC kit that you do three things:

1. Check your local laws as far as citizen’s arrest. It is very important that if you detain an individual you do it only after you have personally witnessed a felony committed by them and
at no time refer to yourself as a law-enforcement agent or that you are placing them under legal arrest, unless of course you are a law-enforcement officer.

2. If you carry either paracord-type or chain-type handcuffs, be sure that you are able to use them, and practice using them. There are several courses of  instruction offered by self-defense and security companies across the country.

3. Know that restraining any individual no matter the reason is not easy and can go wrong in a heartbeat. With the exception of a very small possibility, handcuffing an assailant if you are alone is foolhardy. Preventing harm to yourself and those around you is the primary reason to be a CCW holder, not detaining criminals.

The decision is not for everyone. However, like most of your EDC kit, to some it is better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it.

Posted in

Technical Article

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CCW carry, EDC options, handcuffs CCW, EDC handcuff, civilian handcuff

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8 COMMENTS

 Leave Comment

orangello

Posted: 

January 13, 2012  •  02:01 PM

Interesting article. I don't currently carry concealed other than in my car & home, as i do not have a permit (none required for car carry in MS). So, i may be looking at this from the "wrong" point of view",
but i am NOT looking to restrain anybody in any type of armed encounter. In the unfortunate event that i have to defend myself in my car, home, or business with a firearm, keeping the attacker at MY LOCATION doesn't seem like a
good idea to me. If such an unfortunate event were to occur, the local LEO's will receive as accurate a description as i can give them and my best recolection of the direction the attacker left in, assuming the attacker did not
die at my location. IMO, it is only my "job" to eliminate a deadly threat to me & to those near me; restraining the perpetrator is not for me to risk.

 

Tackleberry1

Posted: 

January 13, 2012  •  04:13 PM

I agree that apprehension is NOT the CCW holders responsibility. I also recognize the argument for having cuffs even if only to counter a $/): bags family attorney.

I'm adding a couple of zip ties to my kit today.

Tack

 

firedawg60

Posted: 

January 14, 2012  •  10:38 AM

It just seems if you detain someone, that could bring more legal issues. I feel if you're concealing it's for you protection and the protection of your family. Carrying cuffs or other devices to detain someone I feel is for law
enforcement personnel.

To me even if you're an ex-cop, ex-military, ect, the "ex" is the key phrase. I just get a bad feeling about this detaining thing.

 

Pjj342

Posted: 

January 15, 2012  •  08:57 PM

I would see handcuffing as only being used in a very rare situation. But you can also say the same about carrying a weapon in general.

Its good to live in a 'castle docterine' state. Now the law actually protects the victim
who takes things in to their own hands, to a certain extent. Maybe some say 'shoot to kill, with no recourse', personally I would rather injure and detain, if it came down to it. I think cuffs of some sort are a good idea, if
you know the legal risks and how to use them.

 

REDTAIL

Posted: 

January 19, 2012  •  09:15 PM

In NYS here I don't see any laws saying that a citizen cannot own or carry any hand cuffs on them at any time etc.When I worked in the Personnel Security & Courier field before Retiring, I always carried a set of handcuffs
while working.? Now using them as a private citizen.? is a new issue.?

 

michigan0626

Posted: 

January 20, 2012  •  04:55 PM

I can see a benefit of having them at the house. If you do happen to be unlucky enough to be subject to a break in where you do have to protect self/family and shoot a BG they can come in handy. If BG is laying there bleeding,
ensure he has no weapons, role him over and handcuff from back, roll back over then proceed to prove life saving techniques. Even if you have Castle Doctrine, having an EMT/cop come in the house and witness you attempting to stop
bleeding or performing cpr could go a long way towards any possible family lawsuits.

Dead BG mother: "He just wanted to kill my baby. I want 5 million dollars."

Defense attorney: "My client protected his family
in self defense by stopping the threat. Afterwhich he attempted to save the life of the man who attempted to take his life."

Judge: "Case dismissed."


As far as ccw, Im not sure I would use cuffs just to detain
someone without that person being shot. Too many variables of someone possibly attemting to overtake you. Maybe if there was someone with you. But simply having them I think could be benifitial.

 

JeffnReno

Posted: 

June 22, 2012  •  12:38 PM

Having in your possession any restraining devices could be seen as part of your rape/kidnap kit. My CCW instructor told our class that if you detain someone at gun point, they can charge you with kidnapping or unlawful detention
which could led to your arrest. My reply to that is, do not pull your weapon unless you fear for your life and in such a case, use it until the threat is eliminated. I would rather worry about the civil suits while still
breathing in court and being confronted by legal unarmed litigants than the other choice. To pull your gun just to scare someone is brandishing, so make sure of the reason you carry in the first place.

 

X-Raycer

Posted: 

June 24, 2012  •  12:51 PM

If you're not properly trained in Safe Handcuffing Procedure, don't even consider using them.
During my training, it was demonstrated how things can go bad quickly with only one 'Cuff on and then the suspect has a Very Dangerous
weapon attached to their wrist to use against you.
You've been Warned.