How I Spent My Weekend

While the Complementary Spouse spent the weekend playing with our granddaughter Olivia, I spent the weekend at Andrew Branca's The Law of Self Defense Level 1 and Level 2 classes. They were held at the Triangle Shooting Academy in Raleigh, NC. 

I learn best by taking notes and I came home with pages and pages of notes. There was so much information presented that I will be digesting and processing what I learned for weeks. I plan to go through my handwritten notes and type them out so as to reinforce what I learned and to make sure I'll be able to translate my semi-legible scribblings while it is still fresh in my mind.

Speaking generally, we think we know what legal self defense is but I'd wager even most criminal lawyers don't know what it takes to be legitimate. Legally, self defense is composed of five parts and all must be present for it to be valid. If you are missing even one small part, then it all falls apart and you will be at the mercy of either prosecutorial discretion or 12 people who couldn't get out of jury duty.

The five parts are:

• Innocence

• Imminence

• Reasonableness

• Avoidance

• Proportionality

Another key thing to remember about the law of self defense is that it has developed out of not only the black letter law but appellate rulings involving people named Poo Poo who date drug addicts and 16-year old baby mamas out clubbing. These people are not the squeaky clean plaintiffs like a Dick Heller or an Otis McDonald or a Rhonda Ezell that you find in Second Amendment civil rights case brought by Alan Gura. They are what they are and the consequences of their actions impact us legally every day as we go about our daily lives and try to stay alive and out of trouble.

We discuss DGUs or defensive gun uses every episode of the Polite Society Podcast. It is always the most downloaded segment of each show. Knowing what I know now I will be looking at these DGUs with a much more critical eye.

I attended Andrew's live classes. Both the Level 1 and Level 2 classes are available online. Given that each cost $249, you may not be able to afford that and I can understand that. Nonetheless, you should buy a copy of his book, The Law of Self Defense, 3rd Edition. I'd buy the paperback edition so that you can make notes in it and highlight passages. Better yet, get the paperback edition and then purchase the Kindle version which is only $2.99 if you have the paperback.

You hope you never are ever involved in any incident involving armed self defense. If you are, then you must, as Andrew continually pointed out in the class, win both the physical battle and the legal battle. The first you need to win to preserve your life and the second you need to win to preserve your freedom.