Reddit reviews The Law of Self Defense: The Indispensable Guide to the Armed Citizen
We found 15 Reddit comments about The Law of Self Defense: The Indispensable Guide to the Armed Citizen. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
The Law of Self Defense 3rd Edition
You’re doing the right thing by asking this question first.
First, read up on self defense law as much as you can. Read The Law of Self Defense. Read it again.
There are a lot of details during a home defense situation that could lead you to be prosecuted, and those reasons vary by state. If you decide to arm yourself, you’re on the hook to know and understand the complex landscape of self defense law. Learn as much as you can and then learn some more.
Most importantly, never trust that if a specific case went right for someone, the exact same case would have the same outcome for you. The law, justice, and the way it is served is inconsistent at best. You have to prepare for the aftermath as much as the act itself.
I assume you mean home defense. I’m not familiar with CA laws but I suspect that getting a Concealed Carry permit is a rather difficult process.
So for home defense either caliber would be effective. But there are some things you may want to consider before buying. Assuming you are choosing between the two calibers you me mentioned.
The brand, size, cost of the gun is less important than your ability under stress to fire at your target and get a first round hit in a critical area.
Think about that statement carefully because it really matters. So your ability to build up your skill level, comfortability, muscle memory and situational awareness with your chosen firearm must be priority number one when preparing to defend yourself.
You build those skills through a lot of practice and discipline. Unless money is not a problem for you, you should plan on firing at hundreds of rounds per practice session at the range. The cost of ammo is a factor then, so thats one good reason to choose 9mm.
Now when getting to the type of gun. If it’s for home, meaning you are not carrying this thing on your belt every day, bigger with more the most rounds your state will allow in the magazine is better. A full size gun with roughly a 5” barrel would be a good start. Something like a CZ 75B is not a bad starter. It’s all steel which helps reduce the felt recoil. You cant go wrong with a Glock G17 either, but there are many more good sub $650 options.
If you can swing the extra $100 get a set of Tritium Night Sights.
Lastly if you are a new gun owner I recommend reading either or both of these great books about defending yourself.
Deadly Force: Understanding Your Right to Self Defense Ayoob Massad
And/or
The Law of Self Defense: The Indispensable Guide to the Armed Citizen
Good Luck during your journey
This is a great place to start.
https://www.amazon.com/Law-Self-Defense-Indispensable-Citizen/dp/1943809143/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1527623662&sr=8-1&keywords=the+law+of+self-defense
if you haven't read Branca's Book, you need too! It is the best book out there covering this stuff.
The Laws of Self Defense by Andrew Branca
Start there and supplement with the state statutes found online.
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First thing I recommend is this book: https://www.amazon.com/Law-Self-Defense-Indispensable-Citizen/dp/1943809143/ref=sr_1_17?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1485730913&sr=1-17&keywords=concealed+carry
Use that as a start point and then get into the practical stuff from there. JMO
Check out your state laws. In my state deadly force can be used to defend others from the same kind of threats that justify using deadly force for self defense.
This is a good spot to pitch Andrew Branca’s excellent Law Of Self-Defense
> but all of these novels are 10+ years old
Books (especially the dead-tree variety) become outdated rapidly. I recommend reading a book to understand the legal principles, then reading the state statute directly.
I recommend reading either (or both actually), Massad Ayoob's Deadly Force book, or Andrew Branca's Law of Self Defense book. The Branca book includes a index/table of each state's self-defense laws. Branca also sells state supplements of most states with a more detailed analysis of state-specific laws.. The Kindle version of each
bothbook is also available <$11.http://www.handgunlaw.us/states/northcarolina.pdf
The state write-ups at www.HandgunLaw.us summarize and directly link to relevant statutes. If you enjoy the work at HandgunLaw.us, hit the Donate link at the website; u/Gary_Slider will appreciate the help with server fees.
Good post. I very highly recommend "The Law of Self Defense" by Andrew Branca. It is written from a gun owners perspective but it applies to us, too.
He says to consider you're going to be judged by people who 1) weren't there and 2) have never been in a fight themselves. The book explains duty to retreat, 'stand your ground', and a lot of legal concepts the media has never gotten right.
https://www.amazon.com/Law-Self-Defense-Indispensable-Citizen/dp/1943809143
PS: if you're in a self-defense situation, I would never hit anyone that is already incapacitated on the ground. No jury would look kindly on that.
I'm about to sit down to have dinner with someone so I can't type out a proper reply, so i will try to edit this comment later this evening with a more detailed reply.
In a nutshell, you're going to have a hard time justifying shooting someone if they were threatening you with nondeadly force absent any mitigating circumstances (like specialized knowledge of attacker or disparity of force). If in the course of the fight risk of death, passing out, etc were to become present then then the unarmed force could turn into deadly force, like in the Travon/Zimmerman case. But as much as you or I might agree that a fist fight is a serious matter, the legal system would most likely not agree and you'd be having to defend yourself legally.
Edit: Here's the update with more info I promised. I base a lot of my knowledge on legal matters based on attorney Andrew Branca's book on The Law of Self Defense. Here's two excerpts from his book that touch on nondeadly force and guns (I can't give page numbers because I have the kindle version):
>Escalation
>Escalation occurs when someone in the fight escalates what was a non-deadly force fight into a deadly force fight. There are two ways that escalation can affect the element of innocence. The first is if it is you who escalates the fight. This can cause you to lose the element of innocence, and lose self-defense. The second is if the other guy escalates the fight. This can cause you to regain your innocence, if you’ve somehow managed to lose it. Let’s talk about the first scenario, in which you escalate. (We’ll discuss regaining innocence in a few pages.) If your attacker merely slaps you, but you respond with your gun, the law sees two separate and distinct conflicts. The first is considered non-deadly and the other guy was the aggressor. The second is a deadly force fight and you were the aggressor. The courts do not like seeing what ought to have been “just” a fistfight escalate into a deadly force confrontation. Let’s pretend that even though his slaps weren’t deadly you drew your gun anyway. The law permits him to now draw his own gun and shoot you in self-defense, even though he “started the whole thing.” In this circumstance, he can still be convicted for the slap that started the first non-deadly fight, but not for your death. Conversely, if you win the fight you shouldn’t be held liable for the first non-deadly fight but may still be found guilty of killing him because you lacked legal justification for escalating the dispute into a deadly force fight.
>Deadly Force
>One would think that the difference between deadly and non-deadly force was self-apparent. One results in death while the other doesn’t. But in practice things are a bit more complicated. Legally speaking deadly force is any force that can cause death or grave bodily harm. Grave bodily harm includes permanent disfigurement, long-term damage to a part of the body (such as a broken bone), rape, and even kidnapping. Non-deadly force, in contrast, is any force less than that capable of causing death or grave bodily harm.
>Then, to muddy the water even more, there is the fistfight. We all know that bare hands can cause death. Human beings have been strangling each other for as long as there have been human beings. Unfortunately, (or fortunately, as the case may be), the courts consider bare hands to be non-deadly weapons by default. Police, prosecutors, judges, and juries view using a gun to prevent being punched skeptically. This is because people only very rarely die or suffer serious physical harm from a punch. On the other hand, if an attacker uses his hands in a deadly force way (by wrapping them around your throat and squeezing, for example), then his hands are now deadly, and justify a deadly force response. The courts could decide a punch is deadly, but only if the other guy is much bigger or better at fighting, if there are multiple attackers, or if the attacker keeps punching you after you are no longer able to defend yourself. In such cases the fight would be far more devastating than normal.
>EXAMPLE CASE: State v. George Zimmerman Florida trial court 2013
Just a few parts of the full case study
>Moments later Martin emerged from the shadows, verbally challenged Zimmerman, knocked him to the ground with a single punch, mounted him, and viciously beat him. Martin smashed Zimmerman’s head against the sidewalk in what was described by an eyewitness as an “MMA-style pound-and-ground”. . . .
skipping ahead a little
> . . . In the struggle Zimmerman’s jacket fell open, revealing his licensed pistol. Martin’s hands moved to the side of Zimmerman’s body near his gun, and Martin told Zimmerman that he was going to die. Unable to escape, believing that Martin was trying to take his firearm, and fearing unconsciousness and death, Zimmerman drew and fired a single, fatal shot into Martin’s heart. If Zimmerman had shot Martin while they were upright and fighting with fists, he would have violated proportionality. But after Martin knocked him to the ground, straddled his body, and beat him to near unconsciousness, Martin’s barehanded attack transformed into deadly force.
You don't have to take my word for it (some rando on the internet) but hopefully the words of an attorney who specializes in self defense law, and has over 25 years of experience dealing with real life cases, gives you at least some pause to reflect. Yes, there are situations where you can legally draw on an unarmed person but it's very risky to do so and you had better be damn sure one of the mitigating circumstances applies to your case. I hate reading about stories where "one of us" good guy armed citizens uses a gun in self defense and winds up getting charged with something like aggravated assault or worse; I don't want that to be you!
Source: The Law of Self Defense: The Indispensable Guide to the Armed Citizen https://www.amazon.com/dp/1943809143/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_7mz7ybY2CK8Q6
Also, here's a free podcast you can listen to featuring this author. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-american-warrior-show/id969281516?mt=2&amp;i=1000365079402
I paid for his course back when I first got my CCW. Excellent material. Excellent hands-on/live-fire. I highly recommend his training.
It was very heavy on the when and the why of using.
Combined with Andrew Branca's excellent Law of Self Defense (unrelated to fpftraining) and you should have a very solid foundation of the mechanics, the morals, the situational awareness, and the laws of concealed carry and self defense.
https://www.amazon.com/Law-Self-Defense-Indispensable-Citizen/dp/1943809143/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1466103628&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=the+law+of+self+defense
Depending on what state you're in, a CCW class is a good idea for a first class, not because of basic skill development, but in my class at least, it was an excellent introduction to the law of self defense and use of force.
But get this book either way: https://www.amazon.com/Law-Self-Defense-Indispensable-Citizen/dp/1943809143/
I'd have to double check, but I think that they actually arrest you for a short time span. The book I think I read this from was The Law of Self Defense by Andrew Bracca, I need to buy it again because I loaned my copy out and I'm not gonna see it again.
EDIT: Correction on the author, it's Branca, not Bracca. Here's the book: https://www.amazon.com/Law-Self-Defense-Indispensable-Citizen/dp/1943809143/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=the+law+of+self+defense&amp;qid=1563071783&amp;s=gateway&amp;sr=8-2