Crime

Finals Are Over

I have been offline for a couple of days because I just took the final exam for my last class to get (yet another) Bachelor’s Degree. This time, it was a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. When I went to campus to take those exams, I carried a can of pepper spray and an expandable baton on my person and a firearm locked in my truck. Why? Because of the behavior in the video that JKB over at GFZ posted. Watch the video on the right:

As I posted in the comments there, Florida law says:

A person is justified in using or threatening to use force, except deadly force, against another when and to the extent that the person reasonably believes that such conduct is necessary to defend himself or herself or another against the other’s imminent use of unlawful force. A person who uses or threatens to use force in accordance with this subsection does not have a duty to retreat before using or threatening to use such force.

Assault doesn’t include a physical touch:

An “assault” is an intentional, unlawful threat by word or act to do violence to the person of another, coupled with an apparent ability to do so, and doing some act which creates a well-founded fear in such other person that such violence is imminent.

What is battery? While assault is defined as the threat to cause physical bodily harm, battery is the actual act of doing so. it is the crime of battery if you touch another person against his or her will or deliberately cause an injury to another person, however temporary or minor that injury may be. From the state statute:

The offense of battery occurs when a person:
1. Actually and intentionally touches or strikes another person against the will of the other; or
2. Intentionally causes bodily harm to another person.

Under section 784.03 of the Florida Statutes, indirect contact, such as throwing an object, can constitute battery if the indirect contact was intentionally caused by the accused and was against the other person’s will. Even spitting can constitute a battery. Mohansingh v. State, 824 So.2d 1053 (Fla. 5th DCA 2002) For that reason, I believe that shining a strobe in someone’s eye is either battery (the strobe is causing pain and disorientation), or assault (shining the light is intended to temporarily blind the victim and make it impossible for that victim to detect or defend against an attack).

Note that the law requires intent to touch, strike, or cause injury. That is referred to as mens rea.

All the law requires for nonlethal self defense is that you be in a place where you lawfully can be, and are the recipient of someone else’s imminent delivery of unlawful force. So:

  1. Are you where you can lawfully be? Yes. I am a student here to take an exam.
  2. Is the other person threatening to imminently use, or are they using unlawful force?
  3. Would a reasonable person believe that the attacker intended to touch, strike, or injure you in any way?
  4. Would a reasonable person believe that the person was about to (or was already attempting to) carry out that intent?

This meets the absolute lowest threshold for self defense. The real issue here is that you probably will get arrested, and it will cost you some money to defend yourself in court. Make sure that you have good CCW insurance, so it will pay for your legal defense.

I want you to note that there are perhaps half a dozen people that are assaulting him. That means the attackers will likely gang up on you, and that will likely mean that someone will be shot by the end of the fight.

Think about where this is headed.

By Divemedic, ago

Quelle Surprise

Police have identified the 16 year old from the shooting that happened at the night club early this morning in Sanford that I blogged about this morning. Looking at the suspect’s picture, I was not surprised at all.

it was a fist fight that he was uninvolved in at the time he “turned around and pulled out a black and silver handgun (9mm) and began shooting towards a crowd of people.

Calling a spade, a spade. This story repeats itself over and over again, every day.

By Divemedic, ago

Breaking: Mass Shooting Near Orlando

An argument at a nightclub in Sanford, which is near Orlando, resulted in a 16 year old choirboy who was just turning his life around shooting a total of 10 people in the legs, because he can’t shoot for shit. For anyone who wants to use this as support for gun laws, let’s recap:

So explain to me how one more law would have changed this.

By Divemedic, ago

Found Gun

An 11 year old was killed in St. Petersburg, Florida after being shot by his 14 year old brother with a stolen gun while the two boys and their 13 year old sister were home alone.

The gun had been reported stolen from a car less than 48 hours before the shooting. Amir’s 14-year-old brother told detectives he found the gun in a nearby alley, and said the family didn’t know it was in the home.

Sure- he “found” it. I will bet you that the kid is the one who stole it. A kid uses a stolen gun to shoot and kill his younger brother, and the people who get blamed are honest gun owners, specifically the one whose gun was stolen.

“It’s easy access for them to get the guns and that’s not good, and like I was telling them before, me and some friends of mine, we’re in the process of trying to get a program together, a youth program together, to guide these youth and do some sort of prevention stuff, because when it gets to this point, it’s too late. You got a family grieving, got an 11-year-old gone,” Walls said. “He was a good kid and at this point, it’s too late.”

Kovacsev said the teen will not likely be charged 

Last year, 251 guns were reported stolen in St. Pete and 173 of them were taken from cars. Don’t leave a gun in your car. That is where it is more likely to be stolen than anywhere else. If you have kids in the house, don’t leave it unsecured at home. Lock that shit up when you aren’t home. Be a responsible gun owner.

A side note. What’s up with the names?

By Divemedic, ago

Our Politicians are Criminals

One of the Democrat Senators from Minnesota, Nicole Mitchell, was arrested inside of her stepmother’s house during what appeared to be an attempted burglary. When caught, her statement was “Clearly, I am not good at this.” Below is a copy of the probable cause affidavit:

Because of the recent history with my mother and her husband, I can sympathize with her, even if I don’t agree with how she handled it. However, she didn’t just take stuff that belonged to her deceased father. She was stealing other things like laptop computers, and that is where my sympathy ends.

By Divemedic, ago

My Florida Opinion

JKB over at GunFreeZone asks if it would be legal to shoot if this were to happen in [your state]. Here is my opinion on how Florida law would handle this:


At the beginning of the video, the three in it were committing a felony (grand larceny) as well as trespassing. You cannot use deadly force to protect property. However, as soon as they saw that the homeowner was there, they threatened to shoot him if he came out of his house. That immediately raises the offence to carjacking, which Florida law 812.133 defines thusly:

“Carjacking” means the taking of a motor vehicle which may be the subject of larceny from the person or custody of another, with intent to either permanently or temporarily deprive the person or the owner of the motor vehicle, when in the course of the taking there is the use of force, violence, assault, or putting in fear.

It also constitutes robbery with a firearm, 812.13 (a first degree felony)

“Robbery” means the taking of money or other property which may be the subject of larceny from the person or custody of another, with intent to either permanently or temporarily deprive the person or the owner of the money or other property, when in the course of the taking there is the use of force, violence, assault, or putting in fear.

The felons here are shouting that they have a gun and are willing to kill you to take the car. That creates another felony, aggravated assault 784.021:

(1) An “aggravated assault” is an assault:

(a) With a deadly weapon without intent to kill; or

(b) With an intent to commit a felony.

Since both felonies use the threat of force, they are forcible felonies. A forcible felony is defined in Florida 776.08 as:

“Forcible felony” means treason; murder; manslaughter; sexual battery; carjacking; home-invasion robbery; robbery; burglary; arson; kidnapping; aggravated assault; aggravated battery; aggravated stalking; aircraft piracy; unlawful throwing, placing, or discharging of a destructive device or bomb; and any other felony which involves the use or threat of physical force or violence against any individual.

emphais added

So what can you do about stopping a forcible felony? Florida 776.031 explains that:

A person is justified in using or threatening to use deadly force only if he or she reasonably believes that such conduct is necessary to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony. A person who uses or threatens to use deadly force in accordance with this subsection does not have a duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground if the person using or threatening to use the deadly force is not engaged in a criminal activity and is in a place where he or she has a right to be.

So in Florida, you would be legally justified in shooting all of them.

By Divemedic, ago

More on the Carjacking

The car jacking turned kidnapping I posted about a few days ago? The victim’s burned out vehicle was found 30 miles away with a dead body inside of it. The cops are saying that the carjacker used a 10mm handgun in the carjacking. That means there was spent brass recovered at the scene. (Too early to have recovered bullets and had them analyzed in a lab)

The husband said his wife was traveling to Central Florida to visit family, but the cops say that they are not aware of any relatives living in the area, nor are there any records of the victim or her husband having any connections to the area. The victim was from the Dominican Republic and had lived in South Florida for the past five years.

My theory is that one of the following two scenarios are most likely:

  • the woman was acting a drug mule for her husband and she was carjacked in connection with those activities
  • the husband had his wife killed for some reason

I think that the first of those is the most likely of those two.

By Divemedic, ago