Defend University Newsletter February 2000

LAW ENFORCEMENT LITIGATION LOTTERY

Shame on the children of North Hollywood Bank of America robber Emil
Matasareanu (and their attorney Stephen Yagman) who are suing the City of
Los Angeles, the LAPD,  and individual police officers (Officer Testifies
in L.A. Case, by Linda Deutsch, Associated Press, Feb. 18).   They claim
Matasareanu's civil rights were violated because officers, who were under
a hail of murderous automatic fire from Matasareanu and his partner Larry
Eugene Phillips Jr., allowed the criminal to bleed to death following the
infamous 44-minute gunbattle. 

There seems to be some sort of unwritten rule emerging in our politically
correct society that criminals can shoot, rob, kill, rape and pillage at
will, yet law enforcement officers must be able to stop this mayhem
without injury or death to the criminal.  The ugliest truth you will have
to face on the street is that force can only be stopped by the threat or
application of an equal or greater amount of force.  

One has to suppose the children are seeking damages because Matasareanu's
earning power as a criminal has been greatly diminished by his death.


FLYING HIGH TO BEAT CARJACKERS

According to the New York Times, wealthy Brazilians living in Sao Paulo
are commuting in helicopters to avoid the crime associated with roadways
clogged with traffic.  The article (Feb. 15, 2000) said "carjackings,
kidnappings of executives and roadside robberies have become a part of the
risks of daily life for anyone perceived to have money."  Crime - and the
crowded roadways - have made Sao Paulo the third largest center for
helicopters in the world after New York and Tokyo.  "Why settle for an
armored BMW when you can afford a helicopter?" said a sales rep for Bell
Helicopter.  Paula Doria, a 21-year-old student said, "If I had enough
money to buy a helicopter I would, because it's a way to escape from
crime."



SEMINARS

February 26 
"Masters Series" seminar taught by Master Willie Lim, 7th dan, Ryukyu
Kempo; 5th dan, Tae Kwon Do; Master Instructor -Tai Chi.
Location: Goshin Karate & Judo Academy, 6245 East Bell Rd. Scottsdale 
Time:2:00 - 5:00 PM
Cost: $30.00 prepaid by February 25, $40.00 at the door
For more information call Willie Lim at 480 483-2853 or call Goshin
Karate & Judo Academy at 480 951-2236

March 11, 12
National Association of Professional Martial Artists EZ Defense Seminar
and Cardio Karate level 1 and 2 Certification Seminars
Location: Los Angeles Airport Hilton, 5711 W. Century Blvd.
Cost:  Cardio Karate, $99 for NAPMA members, $199 Non-NAPMA members
EZ Defense, $299 NAPMA, $499 Non-members.
To register call 1-800-973-6734

March 18, 19
Relson Gracie, one of the famous Gracie Brothers, has a two-day seminar
featuring new techniques from the Brazilian tournament circuit as well as
Gracie Jiu-Jitsu techniques for the street.
Location:  Relson Gracie Jiu-Jitsu Training Association (located in the
Paradise Valley School of Karate), southeast corner of 32nd Street and
Thunderbird, Phoenix, Arizona.
Cost:  $130 for both days in advance, $160 at the door.
For more information call Nathan Zigler at 602-321-6544 or e-mail
defenduniversity@yahoo.com.


INTERNET TOOL FOR STALKERS?

A STALKER used the Internet to track down British TV personality Jill
Dando's home address and a map of surrounding streets months before she
was murdered, detectives said.  Be aware that Internet sites like
www.unlisted-numbers.com, www.anywho.com and www.infosearch.com as well as
others supply information like your address from your phone number and
vise-versa, your car registration info from your VIN, and some can
generate a map of your neighborhood from your name and/or phone number.


GUN CONTROL A BLUNDER DOWN UNDER

A $500 million program to force 18.5 million Australians to hand in
virtually all of their firearms last year resulted in burgeoning crime and
chaos. Australians were forced to surrender 640,381 personal firearms,
including semi-automatic .22 rifles and shotguns.

According to the latest statistics in Australia, homicides are up by 3.2
percent, assaults are up 8.6 percent and armed robberies have increased by
a whopping 44 percent.

In the Australian state of Victoria homicides with firearms are up 300
percent.  The most common victims are the elderly and women living alone -
precisely the two groups who probably need a weapon to defend themselves
effectively.


THE DOCTOR IS IN

Something to think about:

Number of physicians in the US -700,000 
Accidental deaths caused /year - 120,000 
Accidental deaths/physician = 0.171 
 
Number of gun owners in the US =80,000,000 
Number of accidental gun deaths/year (all age groups) =1,500 
Accidental deaths/gun owner =0.0000188 
 
Therefore, doctors are approximately 9000 times more dangerous than 
gun owners.


DON'T OWN A GUN, IT COULD GET TAKEN AWAY FROM YOU

ASDI highlights the following story which is aimed at the
anti-self-defense faction that says if you own a firearm you're just as
likely to have it taken away and used against you.

A case in point from the book, "Best Defense: True Stories of Intended
Victims Who Defended Themselves With a Firearm," by Robert A. Waters
($14.95 from Cumberland House, 431 Harding Industrial Drive, Nashville
37211.)

"Take the case of 49-year-old divorcee Sammie Foust of Cape Coral, Fla.
'I used to love to open the windows and doors and feel the gulf breezes 
flowing through my house,' Ms. Foust told interviewer Waters. I got 
pleasure from watching sailboats pass by in the canal behind my home.
Now I sit in a closed-up room. I'm even afraid to answer the door.'

"Foust had fallen asleep cleaning house on the evening of May 9, 1996. 
The bed where she lay was piled with bags of old clothing she'd decided to
give away, along with old purses and boxes of odds and ends.
In her housecleaning, she'd also come across a tiny .25 caliber 
semiautomatic handgun a friend had long ago insisted she take for 
self-defense, though Sammie's father had warned her it was too small, 
advising: 'Get a bigger gun. Wounded dogs will bite you. Dead dogs
don't bite.'

"The magazine of the .25 held four rounds. She'd checked it the night 
before, snapped the little slide to chamber the top round, and then
fallen asleep with the little gun next to her pile of pillows. When she
heard the blinds rattle in the living room at dawn, she assumed it was her
cat returning. But it wasn't. It was three-time prison inmate James Wayne
Horne, who had been released for the third time only a few weeks before,
after serving slightly more than one year of a 10-year sentence for
aggravated assault.

"The robber-assailant rushed into the bedroom and slashed Foust's face
with a box-cutter knife. She offered him her purse, which he dumped on the
bed, finding $400 in bills. He then demanded Foust tell him the location
of her jewelry box, which she did. But the man was upset with the cheap
quality of the costume jewelry, returning to demand 'her diamonds' and to
continue viciously slashing and beating her about the face.

'You know I'm going to kill you,' he hissed. 'So you might as well give it
up. Die easy or die hard, bitch.'

"Foust directed the man to a second credenza. She knew it contained only
more costume jewelry, but she needed space and time. Time to pick up the
little .25, which she was amazed her assailant had not spotted ... and to
figure out what to do with it. You see, Sammie Foust had never fired a gun
in her life. She aimed for the man's center of mass and pulled the
trigger. It sounded like a little cap pistol. There was no recoil, no
blood. The man did not fly backwards or keel over dead. She figured the
gun had misfired. But she'd certainly managed to upset James Wayne Horne,
who flew back across the room, punching her square in the face. 'She
literally heard her nose implode back into her skull,' Waters reports.

"'Dear God,' she prayed, 'don't let me pass out. Dear God, please let me
hold onto this gun.'

"The assailant pulled her to her feet, grabbed her wrist, and tried to
wrench the gun away her with one hand while pummelling her with jackhammer
blows to the face with his other fist. Police later told her James Wayne
Horne had knocked out four of her teeth, which she'd swallowed. The bones
in her gums were crushed, and her left cheekbone was fractured. Her nose
was broken and her larynx fractured. Horne pounded and slashed at her face
with his knife until one eyeball was hanging out of its socket.

But he did not get the gun.

Assuming her first two shots had missed, Foust resolved to save her two
remaining cartridges until she had a clear shot. Finally, as the man drew
back his arm for a knockout punch, she pointed the .25 at his stomach and
fired again.

"'Bitch!' he whispered, as he dragged her into the living room and
continued beating her. 'Now I'm gonna take that gun and blow your brains
out!' Instead, Foust shot Horne a fourth time, in the abdomen. With the
man atop her, pounding and pounding, Sammie Foust believed she could not
survive. But finally, James Wayne Horne lay still.

"When police arrived, they found tables knocked over, chairs broken,
dishes shattered, the walls and floors smeared with blood. They found
James Wayne Horne where she had left him. The medical examiner concluded
the first shot had entered his mouth, the second his heart, the third and
fourth bullets his abdomen and groin. He had taken nearly an hour to bleed
to death.

"Sammie Foust noticed the police and ambulance personnel wincing
whenever they looked at her, cursing her attacker under their breath. When
she finally found a mirror, she realized why. Her eye was surgically
reattached that day, and permanent loss of sight was minimal. She has
since run out of funds to pay for the proper repair of her gums and teeth.
To this day, she eats only soft food.

"As an afterthought, as they hauled James Wayne Horne's body away, Sammie
Foust pulled her hand from her pocket and asked a police interviewer:
'Would you like to have this?'

Foust recalled for author Waters: 'A policeman came back and knelt down on
the driveway. He tried to pry my fingers from the gun. And he started
crying and said 'I'm gonna break your fingers. I can't get them loose.'
But I couldn't let go of the handle. My knuckles were swollen up, I was
holding it so tight. The grip I had on that gun was what kept my attacker
from getting it from me. Even as big a man as he was, he couldn't take it
away.'

"And here I thought people like Sammie Foust would be better off if we 
banned all handguns. Because if she had a handgun, you see, it would
just as likely be taken away and used against her. Right?"


RAPE ESCAPE

Brad Parker and Nathan Zigler recently completed giving two Rape Escape
level 1 classes for approximately 40 women.  Now the women are ready to go
on to Rape Escape level 2.  For more information on Rape Escape, go to
www.defendu.com/rape.htm.  The Rape Escape site has been expanded with
more information from the "Rape Escape" workbook.  Look for the Rape
Escape video soon.

GIVE US YOUR LINKS

Send me any of your favorite links which you would like to share with the
rest of the hundreds of people who visit Defend University. We will be
expanding the Links page so visitors can navigate back and forth between
the best and most information sites on self-defense.

You only have one life, fight for it.
Defend University
www.defendu.com
defenduniversity@yahoo.com