Commonality

             Massad Ayoob explores "What Cops and Armed Citizens Have In Common" in the January 2025 issue of American Handgunner.

I’d like to believe “America’s police and nation’s armed citizens have much in common…natural allies in the war on crime.”  But I can’t fully accept it.

In all the CCW courses I’ve taught, I stressed that your carry permit does not make you an ‘associate’ police officer or give you special powers.  That’s the first big difference.  While it is an attractive fantasy that during a spree shooting or armed robbery, the armed citizen would, by force of arms, stop the crime.  Perhaps even apprehend the criminal for the police.  I fall victim to this myself.  I cannot tell you how often while watching the news I think, if only an armed citizen was present.

But ask the next question.  Who would I shoot?  You might assume the criminal is trying to drag another person from behind the vehicle’s steering wheel.  But are they?  Did you see all of it?  Could that be the rightful owner attempting to regain their property?

There are different standards for police and citizen’s use of force that apply to all of us.  The police are allowed to use necessary force to stop violent action or make an arrest.

A citizen is usually restricted to equal force.  The concept of 'citizen arrest' is double-edged, and if you forcibly restrain the wrong person, you could be facing kidnapping charges and/or civil suits.

When unavoidable, society recognizes three hallmarks that justify using lethal force for defense and accompanied by invisible trap.  Most of us use the shorthand of AOJ.

Ability:  The person has the ability to use deadly force,

Opportunity:  The person has the real-time opportunity to use deadly force,

Jeopardy:  The person acts in a manner the reasonable person would interpret as using lethal force.

What’s the invisible trap that people fall into?  You must be innocent and not responsible for escalating the situation.

For the police, these hallmarks are passed through the prism of 'what would the trained, prudent, experienced officer done in that case.’  That's a meatier prism than the civilian standard of what the reasonable man, knowing what you knew, would do in your case.  Most officers have significantly more training in dealing with criminals than most of us.  They also have a better support system than you.

I don't think most police officers see the armed citizen as a natural ally.  Most of us have minimal training.  Most of us have minimal experience.  Years ago, maybe several decades ago, in Barberton, Ohio, an armed citizen joined an understrength police search for a prowler.  The prowler was cornered in the bushes in front of a home as an officer and civilian approached, weapons drawn.  One officer told the civilian, “Get him.”  The citizen fired his weapon, missed and killed the homeowner, who was asleep on the couch.  The officer testified, "I told him to get him, not shoot him."  It's a story I'll never forget.

If anything, we are more likely to be seen as an impediment than an ally.

I'd be the last person to say don't use force when required to protect yourself and your loved ones.  But don’t expect the responding officers to be your buddies, either.