There are many in the self defense community who say you shouldn’t have certain types of firearm accessories, shouldn’t use certain symbols on firearm accessories, shouldn’t, shouldn’t, because it will be used to make you look bad in court.
Whatever. A prosecutor will use anything that he can. An example is the trial of the critter in the school shooting that occurred in Parkland Florida back in 2018. The prosecutor in that case is using the lyrics from a song that the shooter listened to before the shooting as evidence of his mindset.
In my opinion, this is a First Amendment issue. Using a song, a stupid cliche, or any other item should not be used against you. Having a dustcover that says “Smile and Wait For the Flash” doesn’t change the circumstances of the shoot and neither does listening to a song, but prosecutors are gonna do what the courts let them get away with.
13 Comments
Don Curton · February 26, 2022 at 5:24 pm
The problem is that the justice system has very little to do with justice. I agree with you in theory, but the prosecutor has all the resources of the state at his disposal and will use everything he has against you. No need to give him something extra. Want to dress up your range toy? By all means. But your primary self-defense piece should be as clean as possible. It’s never going be a fair fight for our side.
Don Curton · February 26, 2022 at 5:35 pm
In the same vein, swat officer Brailsford shot and killed a drunk young man who worked as a pest exterminator in the hallway of a hotel in Arizona. His AR had “You’re Fucked” and Molon Labe engraved on it. The officer was later tried for second degree murder and found not guilty.
The officer was initially fired, then brought back on the job long enough to declare that he had PTSD and then medically retire with pension.
So i guess if you’re a special person you can engrave whatever you want and get away with murder. Must be nice.
Will · February 26, 2022 at 6:39 pm
I don’t care what others do but I don’t feel the need for slogans on my firearms. It doesn’t make me a better shooter. Also, I don’t put anything on my home or vehicle that might indicate a weapon inside. No sense making them a target for thief.
Punisher Goatee · February 26, 2022 at 6:52 pm
Shoot and scoot.
Revolvers are your friend as you keep the shell casings.
Practice up with some FMJ until you can shoot a happy face like Riggs.
Those jogger patrollers in GA should’ve known better than to record anything on muh sailfawn or cellphone.
joe · February 26, 2022 at 6:53 pm
justice in this era is tried in the court of public opinion…right or wrong, the public judges you…before, during, and after…no sense in adding to that judgement…
Roy · February 26, 2022 at 6:54 pm
I don’t know where it came from or what it is supposed to symbolize, but I have always thought that image of a skull with the 4 inch long teeth was just stupid looking.
Ratus · February 26, 2022 at 7:46 pm
It’s from a comic book character named the “Punisher” originally from a 1974 issue of Spider Man.
There’s a couple of movies and TV show in addition to decades of comics.
Roy · February 27, 2022 at 9:45 pm
Okay, from a comic book. That makes perfect sense.
I stopped reading comic books at about age 11, long before 1974.
Ratus · February 26, 2022 at 7:38 pm
I don’t do anything like this because it’s very cringe.
Firearms are tools not fashion accessories.
e · February 26, 2022 at 8:37 pm
I think Mas Ayoob explains it pretty well. You’re right that whatever is engraved on your gun shouldn’t change the facts of your armed defensive encounter. It shouldn’t. But even though you’re right, it’s kind of irrelevant.
An aha moment for me was when it was explained as, if you (armed citizen in a legit self-defense shooting) are going to get into trouble with the law over it, it’s most likely that you’ll be looking at Manslaughter charges. Some kind of Murder charge is possible but unlikely, since that’s harder to prove for the prosecution.
Manslaughter however (and I’m not a lawyer, this isn’t legal advice etc) amounts to you were careless or reckless, and someone died due to that. So the question is, if they’re going to charge you with being careless or reckless, does whatever you had engraved on your gun or what mod you had done, does that make it easier for the prosecution to make their case?
If a modification makes it easier to shoot accurately (better sights, a light) then you have an easy to understand counter-arguement.
If you had a punisher skull or something similar on the gun, it doesn’t make you shoot any better or more safely, but it *does* make it easier for them to argue you were careless or reckless. Doesn’t mean you were, it just means they can present that to a jury and you’re going to have to work to overcome that if you can.
So that said, do what you want with your gun. But you’re really shooting yourself in the dick if you do something like a punisher skull.
If you think you’ll shoot better and stop an attack more safely with that, have at it. You’re the one who’ll have to explain it to a jury, if it becomes an issue. The idea being, if you do end up on trial for defending yourself, at least don’t go giving the prosecution extra things to work with that you don’t have to.
That “you’re fucked” example on the cop’s AR ended up AFIK not being shown to the jury, so the jury didn’t know about that piece of info until after the verdict.
Don Curton · February 27, 2022 at 3:28 pm
so the jury didn’t know about that piece of info until after the verdict.
As I said in my post, must be nice to be a “special” person. I have no doubt that they didn’t show the jury that. I also have no doubt that you or I won’t get that same benefit.
Steve S · February 27, 2022 at 11:32 am
Don’t make your defense attorney’s job any harder than it already is. Doesn’t make it right but nobody promised you fair in this world.
wewwew · February 27, 2022 at 4:33 pm
a song about song lyrics, that seems related to the lawyer’s BS argument- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPVaJoNxyS8
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