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Monker10 wrote:In Karders post it states that the off duty fireman came over to give first aid and secured the firearm. If a police officer came on the scene I am sure he would secure the weapon as well. I am sure the fireman was well intentioned But did he have any authority in doing this? I would be very skeptical of anyone that claims to be an authority that is in plain clothes.

If one is in this situation it's best to remain as calm as humanly possible given the stressful situation,do not flee the scene, tell the store owner or manager that you have a chl so that they can relay that info to emergency personal. That way when the police arrive they can be informed and hopefully view you as less of a threat.

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As stated above, no.

He also introduced an unnecessary complication into the chain of custody for the firearms evidence.

Monker10 wrote:It took me a while to find this info. But what most of the news outlets failed to mention was that the group of guys that came into the restaurant and were harassing and threading the "shooter" with a knife. He produced his firearm but the guy still continued to threaten him with the knife. At this point he fired a single shot. This is when the fireman confiscated his gun. This group of guys are being charged with counts of criminal gang activity while there is no charge on the shooter(chl holder). This seems to be a case of self defense but most of the media is twisting it to seem like the big bad chler shot an innocent youth. Lol. Maybe this group of thugs will now think twice before pulling something like that again.

This case also brings up an interesting point. What is the best method of identifying one self as one of the good guys when you do have to draw your weapon in public as to prevent confusion? Such as what happened with the fireman in this case.

Well, from a IFF standpoint, here are a couple of general rules that may be helpful:

1. The guy who's been quietly eating breakfast when he's suddenly confronted by a thug who is one of a group of 4 such individuals and threatens the diner with a knife is the good guy unless proven otherwise.

2. The thug with the knife doing the threatening is the bad guy.

3. The intended victim who fires a gun at the thug is still a good guy. The recently shot thug on the ground is still the bad guy.

4. Any non LEO who attempts to take the gun from a good guy should be warned off or managed as a threat. It doesn't matter if he's wearing a uniform of any type unless it's an LEO - a fireman, EMT, or UPS driver has no more authority to seize a firearm from someone else than the cook. As batman complex doesn't count.

Consider what things would look like if the fireman had placed his finger inside the trigger guard as many untrained people do and fired a shot that struck an innocent bystander. When the cops arrive, his story would be that the original good guy gave him the gun and it "went off". Good luck getting out of that one unscathed.

dewayneward wrote:"off duty firefighter"????????

Wait a minute. Some off duty firefighter grabbed the chl guys gun?!!??! Are you kidding me. I am trying to figure out how that one happened. I wasnt there, obviously, but if some other guy is coming at me after I stop the first guy, he is getting shot as well. Of course, this is arm chair QB'ing. The level of adreneline and everything else going on, who knows what would have happened, but wow!

In the close quarters of a restaurant, "coming after you" may consist of simply reaching from contact distance.