Self Defense

Stupid Pranks

I have posted about stupid pranks that the current generation is playing, thinking that placing people in fear for their lives to get views of their social media is funny. Two years ago, it was staging a scene where unsuspecting people came upon what looked like a person dressed as a clown that had just murdered someone then began chasing the prank victim.

Let me show you an example of the current trend in these so-called prank videos:

This idiot approaches people saying, “I am gonna burn your car up, bro” before pouring a liquid from a gas can onto the hood while holding a lighter, then compounding it by chasing the victim with the gas can and lighter.

I am going to shoot your ass just as quickly as I can clear leather. Then I am going to keep shooting you until you fall to the ground, and I am going to walk away without being convicted of a crime, AND I am going to be paid for my troubles. Let me explain:

It doesn’t matter that the liquid is not a flammable one, just like it doesn’t matter if a person robs you with a toy gun. What matters is the person defending themselves reasonably believes that the threat is a real one. The moron clearly indicated that it was his intent to set my car, and possibly me, on fire before pouring what appears to be a flammable liquid on my car. It’s clearly his intent to make the person being “pranked” to believe they are imminently going to be the victim of arson. After all, if that belief didn’t exist, the prank wouldn’t work as a prank. Therefore, it is reasonable for a person to believe that an arson is imminent.

In Florida, arson is a felony.

(1) Any person who willfully and unlawfully, or while in the commission of any felony, by fire or explosion, damages or causes to be damaged:

(a) Any dwelling, whether occupied or not, or its contents;

<snip irrelevant legalese>

(3) As used in this chapter, “structure” means any building of any kind, any enclosed area with a roof over it, any real property and appurtenances thereto, any tent or other portable building, and any vehicle, vessel, watercraft, or aircraft.

Not only that, but arson is also a forcible felony. In Florida, I can use deadly force to stop the imminent commission of a forcible felony. I could even argue that pouring a flammable liquid on a vehicle where I am in close proximity is a deadly threat upon my person. It doesn’t even have to be my car. It can be a car that I am standing close to. That isn’t even considering that this rocket scientist was chasing people with the gas can and lighter in his hand.

(2) A person is justified in using or threatening to use deadly force if he or she reasonably believes that using or threatening to use such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or 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.

It isn’t just vehicles. Now they have progressed to pouring a liquid from a gas can onto people.

The morons even brag about how “epic” it is that so many people were fooled.

After I shoot and kill you in self defense, every person involved in this production is now guilty of felony murder. They are also liable to me when I sue everyone involved in this so-called prank for the “emotional trauma” and PTSD I now have experienced because I had to shoot someone.

and yeah, I am going to include Youtube in the lawsuit because they allow these videos to be monetized.

By Divemedic, ago

Defense of Others?

Read this situation:

Aaron Carbo began speaking to me about the incident, where he informed me that he was approached by [REDACTED] in an aggressive manner, being asked to hurry up as he was holding other golfers up.

A “heated” argument ensued, causing Carbo to push the other person to the ground.

Carbo stated he then stood over [REDACTED] and called him a ‘pussy,’ at which time Carbo’s girlfriend pulled him away.

As Carbo was being pulled away by his girlfriend, Scott Throne ran over and punched Carbo in the face, which caused Carbo’s mouth to bleed.

Throne was arrested for battery for striking Carbo, and Carbo was arrested for battery on a person 65 years or older for striking [REDACTED]

I did a bit of editing on the original story to make it more readable, but the details are the same. Now let’s discuss my logic here:

So to me, this all comes down to the timing of the above events. If Cabo’s girlfriend had already pulled Cabo away from the altercation, and the altercation was over, then Throne was not justified in using force. If Cabo was still engaged in fighting with the elderly victim, or was attempting to do so then the altercation was not over, and Throne was legally justified in using force to stop his felonious attack on [REDACTED}.

No matter what, this case is a mess and is going to cost Throne a lot of money in legal bills.

EDITED TO ADD: So I pulled the case file from the court record, and the elderly victim was a 79 year old man. The report also reads:

Had [Scott] Throne punched him before the fight was over, then Throne would not have been arrested. As it is, getting involved is going to result in some trouble with the law. Again, better to mind your own business, especially if you aren’t sure of the law or the situation.

On a side note, Cabo is listed with the state as being a habitual felony offender.

By Divemedic, ago

Tulsa Cop Shooting

This is a great video of a police shooting from February 2023. Police responded to a local bar for a reported domestic violence incident as well as a hit and run. When the officer arrived, the female victim pointed out her assailant, who wound up being her boyfriend. I won’t describe what happened next, you can see it for yourself. I do marvel at how every shooting video seems to have a screaming woman in it. Righteous shoot, in my opinion.

The idiot tried drawing on a person who already had him at gunpoint. The cop dumped 10 rounds into him, moved to an area of semi-cover behind a vehicle, then executed a tactical reload, all while keeping the guy in his sight. Great tactics.

By Divemedic, ago

Self Defense Experts

There are morons on the Internet who are claiming the shooting of the CEO of UnitedHealth was self defense, because it is violence to refuse to pay for medical expenses.

These morons are claiming that New York, the state that just tried to prosecute Daniel Penny for holding a man down, authorizes you to shoot someone in the back if they are in charge of a company that won’t pay for your health care.

The claim here is actually a scary one. The left wants to use force against anyone who does anything that they don’t like. Remember that they thing speech is violence. They thing refusing to use their preferred pronouns is violence. They think refusing to give them anything that they want is violence.

This is the attitude that makes a Civil War inevitable.

By Divemedic, ago

Guns and Tasers

One of the questions we hear all of the time is “Why don’t you just carry a Taser? You don’t need a gun unless you want to kill someone.”

Today’s video is from Blount County, Tennessee. This happened in February of this year, and it is a video of a guy who was pulled over for DUI. You can see from the video that he was swerving all over the road, so a deputy initiated a traffic stop. He refused to get out of the car, claiming that the stop was only because he is black.

Once backup arrived, he continued to refuse to the point that a Taser was deployed several times. In the course of this, the primary deputy was shocked with the Taser. She stepped back, and with her out of the way, the suspect shot and killed the Deputy holding the Taser before getting away.

You can watch the video here, where it is cued up to the last Taser deployment. Because it contains a shooting with a fatality, Youtube will not allow it to be embedded.

Note that the Taser was being actively used and the critter managed to reach a firearm, shoot one deputy in the head and the other in the leg. This is the prime reason why Tasers are useless as self defense weapons. Carry a gun. Don’t bet your life on less lethal tools.

The fine young aspiring rapper who killed the cop was eventually caught after a massive manhunt and is now facing the death penalty. When he was arrested, he told the cop who was taking him to jail, “You black. You allowin’ this?” He is a convicted felon with a long history of committing violent crimes. As a result, he can’t legally possess a firearm or ammunition, but he does anyhow. Why? It’s his culture.

For too many blacks, it isn’t about right and wrong. It’s about race. If you are black, you can do no wrong. If you are white, you are evil. For them, it is a race war.

Look at the Change.org petition for him.

The charge is 1st Degree Murder, premeditated. There is an entire community of citizens that believe this charge is fueled by racism and hate…

It is unclear why Officers Eggers refuses this request of K9 and acts upon the excessive force of multiple taser deployments. Leading up to a firearm being discharged. He acted in self-defense, maybe even a state of shock and cannot be tried for first-degree murder/premeditated murder.

He is on video shooting two cops and killing one of them. It isn’t self defense. He was illegally carrying a firearm because he is a violent criminal.

He isn’t, as the petition claims, an upstanding member of the community. At 42 years old, he had already been in prison multiple times for aggravated assault, domestic violence, and a multitude of other violent crimes.

By Divemedic, ago

Today’s Lesson

Today’s video is of a police involved shooting in Salmon Creek, Washington that occurred in April of this year. I can’t embed the video because it shows someone getting shot, and Youtube won’t allow it. Watch it here.

The guy is a suspect in at least two armed carjackings from the previous 24 hours. He and a female had robbed one man of his vehicle at gunpoint, and were also suspected of having done the same thing a couple of hours before.

I don’t think that they shot him soon enough. When they initially confronted him in the parking lot, they saw that he was armed with a handgun. After that, he ran into a crowded building. I believe that they should have shot him as soon as he brandished his handgun. The chances of a bystander getting hit in that crowded building were unacceptably high, in my opinion.

My second issue with this video is they were chasing a man that they knew to be armed, yet no one showed up with a long gun until the US Marshalls appear at the end of the video, more than 3 minutes after shots were fired.

The dead critter’s accomplice was arrested and is awaiting trial. She was caught after a homeowner found her in his garage. This is why I never investigate odd noises in my house unless I am armed.

By Divemedic, ago

Tasers

There are many people who ask: “Why do you need to carry a gun? Can’t you just have a TASER? There is no need to kill someone.” Well, here is a great video that explains why TASERs aren’t really effective all that often. (Sorry, YouTube has age restricted this video and it can’t be embedded.)

Note that this guy took two solid Taser hits, shook them off, and then attacked the cop. The cop then had to shoot this critter. Even after being shot three times, he still managed to keep fleeing for another 31 seconds. Sadly, Norway lost another of its fine, upstanding children.

By Divemedic, ago

Missing the Point

Many of the comments to this post missed the point. The question wasn’t about the legality or morality of engaging the thieves, nor was it about chest thumping bravado.

It was about the wisdom of going outside to confront armed felons when outnumbered three or more to one, and getting yourself shot in defending property that will cost you less than the cost of the ambulance ride you will take from even the most minor of gunshot wounds.

Part of life is being able to look at risks versus benefits and deciding if the juice is worth the squeeze. My family and I aren’t going to care that I made society better by three dead goblins if I spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair, eating through a straw because I caught a bullet through the spine from the accomplice I didn’t know was on my flank in the dark.

Insurance will replace losses from car theft. It can’t replace you. Sometimes, the most tactically sound thing is not to walk into a fight that will cause you to lose more than you gain.

if we can’t learn that lesson, we will lose the fight for our nation by fighting one losing battle after another. The wise fighter only engages in fights he can win and avoids those with no clear path to victory.

By Divemedic, ago