Today’s post involves the defensive shooting of an armed suspect by a North Carolina deputy almost exactly a year ago but is back in the news this week because the suspect’s family has decided his shooting was inappropriate. Why did the deputy shoot him? Well, when the deputy responded in his patrol car to a 3 AM domestic disturbance call the suspect, standing outside the residence in question, brandished a gun at the deputy, fired …
This is a “not original content” blog post that’s really just a link to an article by the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) that I thought many of you might be interested in. Enjoy! More People Use a Gun in Self-Defense Each Year Than Die in Car Accidents Remember: You carry a gun so you’re hard to kill. Know the law so you’re hard to convict. –Andrew Attorney Andrew F. Branca Law of Self Defense …
LINK: “More People Use a Gun in Self-Defense Each Year Than Die in Car Accidents” Read More »
Wyoming adopted a form of self-defense immunity in a change to its self-defense statute, 6-2-602 Use of force in self defense, that became effective on July 1, 2018. While that’s good news for law-abiding people who are compelled to defend themselves in the great state of Wyoming, the updated statute fell far short of fully implementing self-defense immunity in a practical way. As often happens with statutory adoption of self-defense immunity, the legislature basically said, …
One of the most common misconceptions I see held in the gun community by the ill-informed is the belief that if they are ever facing a criminal charge for the use of force against another person, all they need to do to escape criminal liability is “articulate their narrative of self-defense.” Well, no, I’m afraid that’s completely inadequate. What matters is not that a defender has some narrative of self-defense. That’s naturally required, but it’s …
WRONG: “You just need to be able to articulate self-defense!” Read More »
Today’s post is prompted by a long-time member of the Law of Self Defense community, Anthony S. (many thanks!), and it involves a Federal Court of Appeals decision filed just this past July that involves consideration of the Tueller Drill (which the decision refers to as the “21-foot-rule”). What’s perhaps most interesting about this decision is how both the majority and the dissent manage to improperly understand and apply the core lesson of the Tueller …
NEW DECISION: “Tueller Drill” in Federal Court Read More »
A New York woman was convicted earlier this year of murdering her live-in boyfriend and father of their two children, by shooting him through the head as he slept on a couch. Now she’s looking at being sentenced for second-degree murder as well as a second conviction for felony gun possession. Her possible sentence for murder and felony gun possession under a New York law that took effect this year? As little as five years …
Self-Defense & Domestic Abuse Read More »
Jury selection begins today in the murder trial of former police officer Amber Guyger, who shot and killed 26-year-old Botham Jean in his own apartment. Guyger claims that she mistakenly believed she had entered her own apartment and stumbled upon a home intruder inside her residence. It’s uncontested that Jean was doing nothing to deserve getting shot by Guyger, yet it’s quite possible that Guyger’s killing of Jean could be legally justified. We’ve covered …
Jury Selection Begins in “Wrong Apartment” Shooting Trial Read More »
A few days ago a video of a cell phone store robbery started going viral, in which the store clerk does a mag dump into the armed robber, and requests began to come into Law of Self Defense asking for my comment and analysis. So, buckle up, here we go. Incidentally, my apologies for only getting to this today, but I spent the last few days on a motorcycle trip around Colorado before the …
MAG DUMP! Lawful, or Excessive Force? Read More »
I just have a quick post today as a follow up to last Wednesday’s post entitled “REQUIRED: Reasonable, Not Perfect, Decisions.” In that blog post I wrote about the shooting of an unarmed 17-year-old black suspect by Florida Deputy Daniel Estanislau. The suspect ended up paralyzed from the neck down from the deputy’s gunfire after the suspect did everything possible to convince Deputy Estanislau that he was pointing a gun at the deputy. The details …
OFFICIAL REPORT: LEO Shooting of Unarmed Black Suspect Read More »
Today’s post is prompted by a strange and horrifying knife attack—strange because it happened on a public street, strange because it involved the theft of property almost certain to be worthless, and horrifying because it involved slashing attacks to the faces of two small children. [Note: I initially thought the black bag visible in the video was taken from the first child attacked; in fact, it was in the possession of the attacker from the …
SHOOT OR NO SHOOT: Knife Attack on Children Read More »
