Andrew Branca
Well-Known Fanatic
Hi folks,
A friendly member of the forum suggested that I might post here. I'm a lawyer specializing in self defense law, and I have written and lectured extensively on the subject (I wrote my first book on the subject way back in 1997--boy, I'm getting old). One of my favorite past-times is casually exploring various facets of the law of self defense with fellow armed citizens, as you'll see I am wont to do on this forum.
Having said that, I am NOT an attorney in SC, or any other state, except MA. Working with clients outside of MA requires that they have their own local counsel, and in essence my working relationship is with that counsel.
Hopefully, none of us will ever find ourselves in a situation where anything like that is required. Much of my effort is intended to help people become sufficiently informed about the law of self defense that they can successfully avoid getting in legal trouble in the first place. Or, at least, to know enough that if you do resort to using force in self defense that you did so in as fully informed a manner as possible. And should the necessity to act in self defense arrive, having a really well-informed understanding of self defense in your jurisdiction--not just the statutes, but the court cases in which those statutes are applied and the jury instructions by which those statutes are explained to jurors--and having conducted yourself consistent with those laws is going to make a prosecution enormously more difficult.
Prosecutors, like most hunters (and, make no mistake, they are hunters) prefer easy prey. Don't allow yourself to look like easy prey.
Anyway, with the understanding that I can't (and won't) provide legal advice in this forum, and that anything I say is simply my non-professional, if well-informed, opinion intended for entertainment purposes only, feel free to post or PM me about self defense law matters if you have a HYPOTHETICAL question. If you have a REAL and IMMEDIATE need for legal counsel, you need to get yourself a real lawyer, a competent one, in your jurisdiction, ASAP--don't waste your time with me, at least until you've done that, and even then only if your counsel agrees.
I should also mention that I maintain a blog on the subject of the law of self defense, called (shocker) www.lawofselfdefense.com . On that site I maintain what is, to my knowledge, the single most comprehensive collection of self-defense specific statutes, case law, and jury instructions. Unfortunately, it's not very user friendly to search, but if you have a particular statute number or case citation, it should be helpful in tracking down the full-text.
Finally, on that same blog I also offer the most recent edition of my book, (another shocker) "The Law of Self Defense, 2nd Edition". Technically, it doesn't ship for another four weeks or so, and we're still just taking pre-orders (at a 20% discount off the list price, by the way, for those of you who are penny pinchers, like me), but I thought I'd mention it for those who might be interested. There's more information about the book on the blog site, naturally.
Well, I guess that's it. I look forward to posting with many of you in the weeks and months ahead.
Best,
Andrew
A friendly member of the forum suggested that I might post here. I'm a lawyer specializing in self defense law, and I have written and lectured extensively on the subject (I wrote my first book on the subject way back in 1997--boy, I'm getting old). One of my favorite past-times is casually exploring various facets of the law of self defense with fellow armed citizens, as you'll see I am wont to do on this forum.
Having said that, I am NOT an attorney in SC, or any other state, except MA. Working with clients outside of MA requires that they have their own local counsel, and in essence my working relationship is with that counsel.
Hopefully, none of us will ever find ourselves in a situation where anything like that is required. Much of my effort is intended to help people become sufficiently informed about the law of self defense that they can successfully avoid getting in legal trouble in the first place. Or, at least, to know enough that if you do resort to using force in self defense that you did so in as fully informed a manner as possible. And should the necessity to act in self defense arrive, having a really well-informed understanding of self defense in your jurisdiction--not just the statutes, but the court cases in which those statutes are applied and the jury instructions by which those statutes are explained to jurors--and having conducted yourself consistent with those laws is going to make a prosecution enormously more difficult.
Prosecutors, like most hunters (and, make no mistake, they are hunters) prefer easy prey. Don't allow yourself to look like easy prey.
Anyway, with the understanding that I can't (and won't) provide legal advice in this forum, and that anything I say is simply my non-professional, if well-informed, opinion intended for entertainment purposes only, feel free to post or PM me about self defense law matters if you have a HYPOTHETICAL question. If you have a REAL and IMMEDIATE need for legal counsel, you need to get yourself a real lawyer, a competent one, in your jurisdiction, ASAP--don't waste your time with me, at least until you've done that, and even then only if your counsel agrees.
I should also mention that I maintain a blog on the subject of the law of self defense, called (shocker) www.lawofselfdefense.com . On that site I maintain what is, to my knowledge, the single most comprehensive collection of self-defense specific statutes, case law, and jury instructions. Unfortunately, it's not very user friendly to search, but if you have a particular statute number or case citation, it should be helpful in tracking down the full-text.
Finally, on that same blog I also offer the most recent edition of my book, (another shocker) "The Law of Self Defense, 2nd Edition". Technically, it doesn't ship for another four weeks or so, and we're still just taking pre-orders (at a 20% discount off the list price, by the way, for those of you who are penny pinchers, like me), but I thought I'd mention it for those who might be interested. There's more information about the book on the blog site, naturally.
Well, I guess that's it. I look forward to posting with many of you in the weeks and months ahead.
Best,
Andrew
