Podcasts

A Texas mother of four children is compelled to shoot a burglar violently entering her home at night after she’s unable to get the police to respond to her repeated 911 calls for help. An Oregon woman facing a similar violent home intruder spends minutes talking with 911 as her home is breached, her pleas […]

Last Friday USCCA Chairman Tim Schmidt released a YouTube video responding to varied criticisms of that organization. In particular, Tim spoke to criticism of how USCCA managed its legal defense obligations to two of its members–Kayla Giles (later found guilty of murder at trial and sentenced to life) and Alan Colie (found guilty on a

You use deadly defensive force because you believe your attacker is coming at you with a knife in hand, and you kill that aggressor–but it later turns out the “knife” was merely a large, black magic marker. In fact, you were MISTAKEN about the threat you perceived. Does that mistake invalidate your legal justification of

Attorney David Betras, a self-described “Super Lawyer” out of Ohio, with claimed expertise in criminal defense law, recently published an opinion piece entitled “Age of dueling returns with ’stand your ground’ gun laws in U.S.” In that article he concludes: “The stand-your-ground law is dangerous enough, it shouldn’t be the avenue for the resurgence of

Yesterday the internet fed my email a whole series of e-articles written by various (purportedly human) authors on the topic of Stand-Your-Ground law in different states. The legal accuracy of these articles ranged from OK to just wrong. It then occurred to me that all these suddenly produced articles on the same topic and of

Father and son farmers in South Carolina have been charged with murder after they killed an armed trespasser who they say was threatening their land and livestock. In today’s show we’ll consider the question whether it’s lawful to kill a simple trespasser, in the context of the news report on this event, as well as

Today’s Law of Self Defense Show answers questions sent into us by our Platinum Members, who have access to a Platinum-only Q&A form for submitting such questions directly to me. Answered during today’s show are the following questions (with time stamps): 7:53  When can I use force to prevent theft of another person’s property? 24:30 

Alivia Schwab, a 40-year-old mother of three, was under the care of mental health counselors for serious mental issues, and had only recently been returned to her apartment from institutionalization. On September 29, Schwab had her counselor on the phone, and was threatening to kill herself with a knife. The counselor notified the police so

An apparently crazy woman apparently attempted to burn down the birth home of Martin Luther King Jr. in Atlanta. Fortunately, two tourists from Utah saw what was happening and intervneed to stop her. Next, two off-duty police from New York City made a citizen’s arrest and held her for Atlanta police. This is, of course,

Today I read through a recent #NRA magazine article by Sheriff Jim Wilson–whose work I much enjoy, including this piece I’ll be treating with some modest criticism. Sheriff Wilson has much good advice and accurate observations in this article, but nevertheless falls prey to perhaps the most common failing in otherwise well-informed people when it