Free Republic

Washington Gun Law President, William Kirk, discusses a recent video that has been kicking around in the virtual universe which shows an elderly gentleman get surrounded by an angry mob of pro-Palestinian protestors who decided to start smashing his car. This leads us to one of the most common questions we get here at Washington Gun Law which is what can you do when you find you and your car surrounded by an angry mob? The answer is much more complicated than you might think so learn more and arm yourself with education today.Reviewer: It’s astounding that we’ve reached a...

Citizen Free Press @CitizenFreePres Reporter: "Do you think Ashli Babbit was murdered, or do you think the police officer who shot her was doing his job?" McCarthy: "I think the police officer did his job." (video at link)

The question now, of course, is whether the shooter’s use of deadly defensive force to stop Washington’s armed robbery was justified on the legal merits.The answer? Yes, maybe, and almost certainly not.Confused yet? Let’s clarify. BASICS OF LEGAL JUSTIFICATION FOR USE OF DEADLY FORCE UNDER TEXAS LAWShooting someone dead is, of course, normally a crime. Under Texas law, and the law of every other state, however, the use of deadly force upon another might be legally justified, and not a crime, if it meets the conditions for deadly force defense of persons—meaning either defense of self or defense of others....

Former Officer Derek Chauvin was justified in pinning George Floyd to the ground because of his frantic resistance, a use-of-force expert testified for the defense Tuesday, contradicting a parade of authorities from both inside and outside the Minneapolis Police Department. Taking the stand at Chauvin’s murder trial, Barry Brodd, a former Santa Rosa, California, police officer, said officers don’t have to wait for something bad to happen; they need only to have a reasonable fear that there’s a threat and then adjust their actions accordingly. “It’s easy to sit and judge … an officer’s conduct. It’s more of a challenge...

PHOENIX — A woman has been arrested after allegedly shooting a Phoenix Ace Hardware employee while attempting to stop two robbery suspects. According to court paperwork, the incident happened around 9:15 a.m. Saturday, at the Ace Hardware near 32nd Street and Indian School Road. Police say 45-year-old Nya Reyes was walking her dog in the area of the Ace Hardware when she saw two people running from the store holding items, followed by employees who were yelling at the two people telling them to stop. Reyes observed the incident and realized the two people looked to be shoplifting. One of...

The dramatic escalation in authorities granted to the 20,000 Guard troops stationed in D.C. is only the latest response to last week’s massive security failure. THE 20,000 NATIONAL Guard troops preparing for pro-Trump demonstrations this weekend in the nation's capital will be armed and permitted to use lethal force, the headquarters overseeing them says, marking a striking escalation in the way authorities there are preparing for repeat violence after last week's deadly mob. "On January 12, 2021, National Guardsmen were given authorization to be armed in support of the U.S. Capitol Police to protect the U.S. Capitol and individual members...

Americans must resist the push to conflate dissimilar events in order to promote the radical political aims of the Black Lives Matter movement. In the aftermath of George FloydÂ’s death, the subject of racism and police brutality lept to the forefront of our political discourse. While both are important matters to explore and discuss, the fact is that such debate is not being held in an honest fashion. Instead, a chosen narrative has become more important than fact. Worse, there is an intentional effort to conflate even the most dissimilar events in order to promote the political aims of the...

Two recent studies found cops more reluctant to use deadly force against blacks, including one by a black Harvard economist. Professor Roland G. Fryer Jr. concluded: “On the most extreme use of force – officer-involved shootings – we find no racial differences in either the raw data or when contextual factors are taken into account.” But aren’t blacks routinely “racially profiled” by cops? Not according to the Police-Public Contact Survey. Produced every three years by the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics, the survey asks more than 60,000 people about their interactions with the police. It asks respondents’ to...

A newly-released video shows an Arizona police officer shooting and killing an unarmed man in January 2016 after the man, who was crying and begging for his life, made a mistake in complying with his orders. The body camera footage was released on Friday by the judge presiding over Officer Philip Brailsford's trial after Brailsford was acquitted on Thursday for the killing. The victim, 26-year-old pest control worker Daniel Shaver, was staying in the La Quinta Inn & Suites in Mesa, Arizona while on a business trip when police received a call that someone was pointing a gun out of...

A young man with Down syndrome was killed by three cops for wanting to watch a movie—cops claim that suing them sets a bad precedent. The three cops facing a wrongful-death suit in connection with the homicide of a young man with Down syndrome are claiming that they shouldn’t be sued because if the case goes forward, it could set a bad precedent. Apparently, holding police officers accountable for escalating unnecessary force to the point of killing a non-violent, unarmed man with Down syndrome could send a message to other officers that violence against those with disabilities is unwelcome. The...

Tobin Panton entered a guilty plea to a manslaughter charge this week after he fatally shot a sleeping neighbor while firing at a fleeing car thief. (Photo: Q13 FOX News) A man who fired his Glock at a car thief leaving his driveway with his vehicle pled guilty this week to the death of a neighbor struck by one of his bullets. Tobin Panton, 40, of Bonney Lake in the Tacoma area entered a guilty plea on Monday to one count of manslaughter in the first degree for the death of Linda Green, 61. The incident, which occurred last November,...

According to The Blaze, a group of President Donald Trump’s supporters attempting a political march barely made it two blocks before they were violently attacked by left wing radical associated with the so-called “Antifa”or “anti-fascist” movement in Berkeley, California on Saturday. A small riot erupted Saturday afternoon in Berkeley, California, after violent protesters confronted pro-Trump demonstrators and allegedly began a confrontation that turned violent. The confrontation occurred on a day when Americans across the country held peaceful demonstrations in support of President Donald Trump, free speech and America. According to the Los Angeles Times, the pro-Trump demonstrators participating in...

Two Sacramento police officers attempted to run over a mentally ill homeless man with their car less than 35 seconds before they shot and killed him, according to recordings released by police this month. One of the officers says “f--- this guy” in the frantic final minute before they shot Joseph Mann on Del Paso Boulevard. Moments later, the driver says, “I’m going to hit him.” “OK. Go for it. Go for it,” his partner responds. During that sequence, the officers gunned their vehicle toward Mann, backed up, turned and then drove toward him again, based on dashcam video released...

New figures show just how many more people died in fatal police shooting in the US than Germany last year. According to the Washington Post’s database of fatal police shootings, 990 people were killed in 2015. In Germany, ten people were killed by police last year, according to a report on Thursday by publishing group Funke Mediengruppe, citing figures from the German Police University. That means that while the population of the US is roughly four times that of Germany, the number of fatal police shootings there is about 100 times greater. …

I didn't envy Ismael Ozanne in the least when he took the podium for his news conference this last Tuesday. The Dane County district attorney looked visibly nervous, dabbing sweat from his face several times over the course of the long, detailed speech that led to his eventual rationale for and decision not to press criminal charges against Madison police officer Matt Kenny in the shooting death of biracial teenager Tony Robinson. Ozanne is himself biracial, his mother a black woman who was involved in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee during the Freedom Summer of 1964. Ozanne become the first...

Chart from heyjackass.com, a site that tracks Chicago shootings Shooting a person is a deadly serious business.  There is always a chance that the person shot will die.  The latest statistics that we have from Wisconsin is that about one out of eight people shot die.  At the Chicago site shown above, the number for 2014 is about 1 out of 7  (2619 shot/375 killed)    That is from shootings that are treated in hospitals.  At least some people choose not to be treated.  We do not know what number that may be, but prison interviews have found that...

A federal appeals court ruled Friday that three deputy U.S. marshals who shot and wounded a fleeing teenage driver eight years ago cannot be sued for excessive use of force. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit said it was not “clearly established” at the time of the shooting that the deputies violated Michael Fenwick’s constitutional rights when they used deadly force to subdue him. The case in Washington, D.C., unfolded amid a national debate over racially charged incidents of police force in Ferguson, Missouri, and New York City. …

Sometimes these various bits of state gun legislation get a bit confusing for me. In Texas is it apparently already legal for teachers to employ “reasonable force” in disciplinary situations and be protected from legal repercussions. (Good for them.) That applies to normal situations of “discipline” and maintaining order, though.. not a full blown crisis or attack. But in a new bill under consideration in the Lone Star State, deadly force would garner similar protection in the courts under appropriate circumstances. A proposed bill would allow teachers in Texas to use deadly force against students and be protected from...

Are you guilty of murder, because you didn’t act based on your “fears alone,” but based on your reasonable fears plus some other motive? The conventional answer is no: The LaFave treatise, for instance, expressly says that if a defender “acts in proper self-defense, he does not lose the defense because he acts with some less admirable motive in addition to that of defending himself, as where he enjoys using force upon his adversary because he hates him.” The comment to Model Penal Code § 3.04, likewise states that self-defense “does not demand that [the belief of necessity of defensive...

The results of a private autopsy on Michael Brown may escalate tensions in Ferguson, Missouri even further: The examiner says the unarmed teenager was shot at least six times, including twice in the head, and all the bullets came from the front, reports the New York Times. Pathologist Michael Baden, New York City's former chief medical examiner, says all the bullets were fired from at least one or two feet away, and one bullet—apparently the last one fired—hit the top of the 18-year-old's head.