A Friend Needs Our Help (Updated)

As many of you know, I am a regular co-host of The Polite Society Podcast. Paul Lathrop is the host, producer, and creator of that podcast and he needs our help.

His regular job is that of a long-haul truck driver and he often has student drivers assigned to him. On Friday, he was training a student and they had stopped in Nebraska for refueling. This is where the incident began. The summation below by Frank Fiamingo, a fellow friend and the former president of New Jersey 2A Society, explains it well. Suffice to say, he is facing serious charges due to what I consider a false report.

Paul is a graduate of Massad Ayoob’s MAG-40 class and is sponsoring one in Sioux Falls, SD later this spring. I add this to emphasize the fact that Paul has been trained by the master in what you should and should not do when carrying concealed. Moreover, in our weekly podcasts we review defensive gun uses and what the person did right and wrong. Paul’s comments are well-reasoned and reflect how one should act in a confrontation.

Human Rights Advocate Paul Lathrop needs your help.
(Frank Jack Fiamingo)

Paul is a longtime advocate of the people’s right to self-defense. He is the author of the popular Podcast “Polite Society”. Paul is about as “salt of the earth” as you can get. A truck driver and driving instructor by trade, he and his loving wife Susan are two of the finest people on the planet.

Paul was in Nebraska with a truck driver student perfoming training. The student stopped at a station to refuel. As the student pulled away from the pump, another driver apparently felt that the student was too close to his rig. Although there was no collision, the irate driver of the other truck rushed over to the driver’s side and agressively approached the student to the point that the student felt that he was about to be assaulted.

The student told the other driver to back off. Paul also demanded that the driver back off. After some back and forth, the other driver finally went back to his vehicle and the student drove off. Unfortunately the other driver decided to call the police and accused Paul of threatening him with a gun. The student swears that he never saw a gun at any time during the confrontation, but the police stopped them and Paul was arrested.

Paul is being accused of making “terroristic” threats. Many of you are aware that that is one of the latest ploys used by ambitious prosecutors all over the nation. In addition, they included “Possession of a weapon during the commission of a felony”. Of course the “felony” is the trumped up charge of making terroristic threats. I find that to be a self-referencing, catch 22 type of charge.

In any event, many of you know Paul and those of you who don’t but who know me (Frank) can feel confident that he deserves our help and support. Paul is going to need money for bail and for a defense attorney. I am asking you to please consider helping this very deserving, hard-working advocate of our rights. Paul’s resources are modest and he really needs the help of the 2A and human rights community. Thank you.

(Susan) I am on my way to Nebraska this morning to meet with a lawyer and to hopefully get Paul out of jail. I will keep everyone updated as more information becomes available.

We are working on setting up a Go-Fund me page for Paul’s legal defense and for bail. If you would like to donate before the page is operational, you can send donations through PayPal to disasterjunkiesue@gmail.com

Thanks!

Paul and his wife Susan are not wealthy people. They are salt of the earth, good-hearted people struggling like everyone else in this economy. I can only imagine the financial burden that these false accusations have put on them. I have sent money their way and I hope you will see to it in your heart to do so as well.

While we are working on setting up a donation page or GoFundMe page for Paul’s defense, please consider sending any amount you can spare to Susan by way of PayPal. Send it as a “friend and family” donation which will mean all the money goes to Susan and Paul. The email address is disasterjunkiesue@gmail.com.

UPDATE: Paul was released from jail yesterday morning and arrived home in South Dakota yesterday evening. I spoke with him last night. He is overwhelmed by the level of support he has received from the 2A community. He was rather choked up when we spoke.

He is under orders from his attorney to say nothing about the incident. He will be having a court hearing next month and is hopeful.