Attorney Andrew Branca

Nasty Moms Demand Wants to Financially Crush Lawful Defenders

By / May 1, 2019

There are few political groups as nasty and reprehensible as the “Moms Demand” gun control fascists, and news reports on Indiana’s self-defense immunity law being debated this week in that state’s legislature provide yet another example. We’ve written previously about Indiana’s proposed civil self-defense immunity law, HB 1284, so I refer you to those prior posts for details on this bill: POTD: Self-Defense Immunity Advances in Indiana, Tennessee (2/4/19) POTD: Indiana Senate Advances Civil Self-Defense …

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Legal Issues Around Engaging Active Shooters

By / May 20, 2019

Today’s Post of the Day takes a brief look at a recent FBI report on active shooter incidents, places some modest context around these monstrous attacks on innocent people, and shares some insight distinguishing the legal issues around engaging an active shooter versus a more typical defense of others situation. FBI Report: Active Shooter Victims Killed and Wounded The Federal Bureau of Investigation has released a report on active shooter incidents, titled (appropriately enough) “Active …

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NEW EPISODE! “Calling the Shots” Self-Defense Law Q&A Show

By / May 20, 2019

Hey folks, Today’s Post of the Day is the video and audio replay of yesterday’s episode of “Calling the Shots,” my new self-defense law Q&A show, hosted by Alien Gear Holsters. The show airs live periodically at the Alien Gear Holsters Facebook page, usually on Wednesdays at 3PM Pacific time. In this latest episode of “Calling the Shots” we addressed the following self-defense law topics: Gun stickers and decals on your vehicle Carrying at workplace …

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Doing it Wrong: “I shot him because he threatened to kill me … eventually.”

By / May 17, 2019

Today’s Law of Self Defense Post of the Day is based on a shooting this past Monday evening in Alaska. The news reports that a homeowner confronted two trespassers. The homeowner was threatened with death by one of them as the two trespassers sat in a car. The homeowner shot and killed the man who threatened him, then emptied his pistol into the second man who lunged towards the rear of the vehicle, killing him, …

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Top 5 Self-Defense Insurance Traps THEY Don’t Tell You About

By / May 16, 2019

If you’ve been around the self-defense community for any length of time you’ve come across some form or another of self-defense “insurance.” I put insurance in “scare quotes” because most of these plans are not, in fact, as a legal matter, insurance policies for the individuals “covered.” Rather than get into a detailed discussion of insurance law, however, and to keep this stuff reasonably understandable, I’ll continue to use the phrase “self-defense insurance,” however technically …

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When your “Taser” Shoots Lead: Criminal Recklessness in Action

By / May 15, 2019

Twice in the last few weeks we’ve seen news stories about police officers who unlawfully shot suspects by accidentally deploying their handgun rather than the Taser. One such instance took place in Kansas, and the other in Pennsylvania, and if you access the video version of this Post of the Day you can view video of each event. Kansas Gun/Taser Error: Pennsylvania Gun/Taser Error: [Note: Many thanks to James O’Malley of the Bucks County PA …

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Proving State of Mind: “Trespassers Will Be Shot, Survivors Shot Again”

By / May 13, 2019

Today’s Post of the Day involves a murder trial that just wrapped up in Alabama, in which the defendant was charged with murder for killing his brother-in-law over a dispute about lawn mowing. A key issue in the case involved the defendant’s subjective state of mind—had he possessed the state of mind required for lawful self-defense, in which case an acquittal would be the appropriate verdict, or was his state of mind other than that …

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Inferring a Deadly Threat from Circumstantial Evidence

By / May 13, 2019

Today’s Post of the Day involves a murder trial in Ohio that began with opening statements yesterday, in which the defendant claims he killed the victim in self-defense, believing that the victim was about to shoot him. The interesting facet of this case is that the defendant, however, didn’t actually see the victim’s gun before shooting and killing him—instead, the defendant inferred the threat that the victim was about to shoot him entirely from circumstantial …

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Analysis: Was McDonald’s Guard Justified in Going to His Gun?

By / May 10, 2019

There’s a video of an apparent security guard outside a McDonald’s in Chicago being attacked by two young black men that’s making the internet rounds, and I’m being asked if the guard pointing his gun at the two was a lawful threat of deadly defensive force, on the one hand, or a crime, on the other. So here’s that analysis as this week’s Law of Self Defense Case of the Week. Before we begin with …

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Yes, Even Criminals Can Claim Self-Defense for a Killing

By / May 9, 2019

It may seem counter-intuitive that a person engaged in criminal conduct could kill someone and then be permitted to attempt to justify the killing as lawful self-defense. After all, just yesterday I wrote in the Post of the Day that an armed robber who suddenly finds himself facing his victim’s gun, and who shoots the victim in order to avoid being shot by the victim, cannot justify his shooting of the victim as self-defense. The …

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