Podcasts

Today’s Post of the Day is prompted by the news report of a murder conviction out of Tennessee this week, in a case that touches on the issue of “soft” v. “hard” stand-your-ground. (Yesterday’s Post of the Day also discussed this case, in the context of the self-defense elements of proportionality and innocence.) The defendant […]

Today’s Post of the Day is prompted by the news report of a murder conviction out of Tennessee this week, in a case that involved the self-defense elements of innocence, proportionality, and a tree branch used as a deadly weapon. (It also touches on the issue of “soft” versus “hard” stand-your-ground, but we’ll cover that

Today’s Post of the Day is prompted by a news story about a man attempting to abduct a 9-year-old boy from a Walmart. The boy escaped to his mom, and the police arrived promptly made the arrest., but this raises the question of what degree of force the mother herself would have been privileged to

Today’s Post of the Day focuses on the recently failed attempt by Maine to adopt a “stand-your-ground” law, meaning Maine remains one of the small minority of states that imposes a legal duty to retreat even when facing an imminent, unlawful, unprovoked lethal attack. Good job, Maine. What’s most surprising about this story, however, is

Today’s Post of the Day focuses on reports that “handicap parking spot shooter” Michael Drejka is declining to pursue self-defense immunity under Florida law. That raises the question of how self-defense immunity actually works (and doesn’t work) and why Drejka might choose to decline this generous opportunity under Florida law to have his case resolved

Today’s Post of the Day examines a Utah Supreme Court decision, State v. Bess, 2019 UT 22 (UT Sup. Ct. 2019), handed down earlier this week that affirms the misdemeanor conviction of a police officer for the crime of threatening with a dangerous weapon. But wait—don’t police routinely have to threaten people with dangerous weapons

Today’s Post of the Day takes a look at the recent appeals of ex-cop Michael Slager, currently serving 20 years for the shooting death of Walter Scott in South Carolina in 2015. This was a high-profile case because Slager, white, shot Scott, black, in the back as Scott was fleeing. (Video of the shooting is

Today’s Post of the Day involves a confrontation between two Pittsburg tow truck operators who got into a rapidly escalating scuffle that resulted in one of them being shot and paralyzed. Good shoot or unlawful use of deadly force? Tow-truck operation is often a highly competitive and sometimes confrontational business, and Pittsburgh is no exception.

Today’s Post of the Day arises out of an event in Florida in which a motorcyclist fired three rounds into a man who punched him in the face, even though the motorcyclist did not first observe a weapon in the man’s possession. Is this “gun versus fist” scenario a violation of the element of proportionality?

Today’s Post of the Day involves the sentencing of an Illinois man for murder. The interesting part of this case for gun owners? The man was sentenced to 40 years for the murder and then an additional 40 years as a firearms sentencing enhancement. Before we dive into firearms sentencing enhancements, however, let me make