Category: Self Defense

This crap-for-brains ‘allegedly’ needs to end. It either happened or it didn’t

Man Allegedly Crashes SUV Into Home, Gets Shot Dead by Resident

A man allegedly crashed his SUV into a San Tan Valley, Arizona, home around 6:30 p.m. Wednesday and was shot dead by a resident.

AZ Family reported that the driver of the SUV was identified as 34-year-old Jewell Vaughn.

ABC 15 noted that Vaughn allegedly drove the vehicle “through the front of the home and into the backyard.” The incident “[injured] both an adult male and adult female resident inside.”

One of the residents shot Vaughn and he succumbed to his wounds.

The female resident was taken to the hospital to have her injuries treated and the male resident was detained by police for questioning then released. Upon release he, too, was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Vaughn was “a father of five and a grandfather of one.”

Survey: More Americans Are Carrying Concealed Guns
Three in 10 Americans at least occasionally carry a firearm.

Firearms sales went through the roof during COVID and 2020’s social unrest as people scrambled to deal with a world that seemed to be coming apart at the seams. Previously thought of—with a great deal of exaggeration—as the domain of white male rural-dwellers, gun ownership became increasingly diverse as women and minorities acquired the means of self-defense. A recent survey finds that many people among the growing ranks of gun owners are carrying their tools for protection.

Concealed Carry Became More Common Since 2024

“In the survey, 13.2% carry all/most of the time, with another 16.6% carrying sometimes/rarely,” the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) announced last month of the results of a survey conducted by McLaughlin & Associates. “The percent who carry all or most [of] the time is virtually the same as the percent who carried similarly in December 2024. But the percent who carry at [least] some of the time or rarely has increase[d] by 5.4 percentage points (from 11.2% to 16.6%). So the total who are carrying increased by 5.5 percentage points (from 24.3% to 29.8%).”

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An Imperfect Defense was Good Enough

A clerk worked at a convenience store in Tulsa, Oklahoma. An armed robber entered the store and threatened the clerk. The clerk defended himself. That description is true, but the reality was more complicated. Working at a convenience store is a dangerous job. Police officers and sheriff’s deputies call these stores “stop-and-robs” for a reason. Most of us visit a convenience store for gas or a snack every week. Perhaps we can make the job, and our visit, a little less dangerous after we study the incomplete news reports.

What the defender saw– The store clerk saw a man walk into the store carrying a machete. The intruder waved the machete around and threatened the clerk. The news reports don’t mention if there were other customers or employees in the store. The attacker walked behind the counter. The clerk left the store. The attacker pursued the clerk and followed him outside. The clerk retreated to his car where he grabbed his firearm. The attacker and the clerk re-entered the store. The attacker again threatened the clerk and the clerk shot him.

What the defender did– The clerk recognized the threat. Make no mistake that a machete is a lethal threat. The victim created distance between himself and the attacker. The defender retrieved a firearm as a tool of self-defense. The defender recognized an immediate, lethal, and unavoidable threat. That justified the use of lethal force.

The defender stayed at the scene after the attack. He called 911 and asked for both medical help and help from the police. He also secured the surveillance video and showed it to the police.

What we know now– The 61-year-old attacker was a convicted felon. He had an additional history of drug possession. He stopped attacking the clerk when he received a non-life-threatening gunshot to the hip. Police reports said the attacker would be charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon when he was released from the hospital.

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What a graphic example for “Carry Spare Ammo, People!”

Massachusetts Gun Laws Interfered With Armed Citizen’s Response to Mass Shooting

If Massachusetts gun laws worked as advertised, a convicted felon never would have been able to get his hands on a banned firearm and open fire on motorists driving down Cambridge’s busy Memorial Drive last month.

As we all saw, those laws failed to stop a prohibited person from accessing a prohibited firearm. They did, however, impede the armed citizen who helped put an end to the shooting alongside a Massachusetts state trooper.

How many times have we heard anti-gunners proclaim that “nobody needs 20 rounds to shoot a deer” or some such nonsense?

The reality is that when faced with a threat to human life, we need as many rounds as it takes to neutralize that threat. In Massachusetts, though, you get ten rounds per magazine at best.

Tyler Brown, the man accused of the shooting spree on Memorial Drive, allegedly fired about 60 rounds from the BCI Defense Model FF-15 he illegally possessed. The armed citizen who helped stop that shooting spree had just eight rounds for his Glock handgun.

“The witness is an experienced firearm ower with a license to carry, as he is an ex-Marine and used to be a firearm instructor,” the criminal complaint says.

The civilian said he saw a man with a long rifle, which he believeed looked like an AK-47, on foot in front of his vehicle. The civilian had a Glock 9mm pistol in a safe in the backseat of his vehicle, and retrieved it while covering himself. The former Marine said he fired all eight rounds from his gun and then moved to a tree for cover, telling other people to get back. he said he heard sirens, so he put his gun on the ground away from him.

The civilian said he heard two different calibers of gunfire going off, which he believed to be coming from a trooper and the suspect. He heard the shooter yelling something, but did not remember what is was, and he said the shooter eventually fell to the ground. Troopers rendered medical aid, and Brown was taken to Beth Israel Hospital.

As Swearer noted in a follow-up post on X, “once again the lesson is that while most incidents of armed self-defense don’t (strictly speaking) *require* the victim to fire more than 10 rounds, when the outliers occur, they are precisely the types of armed confrontations in which more than 10 rounds can make all the difference between life or death.”

Anti-gun activists can argue all they want that the “average” defensive gun use requires less than ten rounds, but they can’t guarantee that any of us will ever face an “average” situation where we need to use our firearm to protect ourselves or others. Most of us won’t ever pull the trigger of one of our guns in self-defense, but some of us will find ourselves in a situation where ten rounds simply isn’t enough.

That was the case in Cambridge, Massachusetts last month. Thankfully, the state trooper (who is exempt from the state’s ban on “large capacity” magazines) was able to return fire as well, and the two individuals shooting back at the assailant were able to stop his random attack. We can’t count on a cop rushing in to save the day, though… and in Massachusetts you can’t count on having a magazine large enough to help you survive an encounter with a violent predator who ignored the state’s restrictive gun laws and armed himself anyway.

Missouri Making Moves to Bump School Safety Up a Notch or 12

Keeping students safe is as universal of a goal as you’re going to find in such a divided country. The problem, however, is that we’re divided to a point that we can’t even agree on how to keep them safe. Some people want to restrict the rights of ordinary people to such a degree that they can delude themselves into thinking students can’t be hurt by violent people.

The rest of us recognize that violent people aren’t going to be stopped with laws. If they were, the laws against hurting kids would be more than enough.

So, in that vein, it seems Missouri is stepping up the game a few dozen notches and really taking the goal of keeping kids safe seriously.

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The Second Amendment separates us from Britain

If you have been on X lately, you may have seen a horrific video of an attempted murder out of Belfast, Northern Ireland, from earlier this week. The suspect, Hadi Alodid, 30, who is now in police custody, attempted to behead Stephen Ogilvy, an Irishman in his 40s, with a knife. Oglivy suffered severe lacerations on his face and neck and the loss of his left eye. Alodid is a Sudanese migrant who entered the United Kingdom illegally in 2023, requested asylum, and was immediately granted leave to remain until 2028.
This comes after a string of high-profile murders and other crimes across the United Kingdom at the hands of largely Muslim migrants from the third world. Thousands of young girls were raped by grooming gangs across at least 50 cities and towns across Britain, mostly by Pakistani Muslims. British authorities looked the other way to avoid accusations of racism by Muslims until Elon Musk and others blew the lid off the scandal on social media. When Sikh man Vickrum Digwa killed 18-year-old Brit Henry Nowak last December, Digwa cried racism to the police, who proceeded to handcuff Nowak for absolutely no reason as he bled to death.
After the brutal attempted murder of Ogilvy on June 8, Prime Minister Keir Starmer called for “calm,” and Northern Ireland’s Justice Minister Naomi Long continued to placate Muslims instead of pointing out the obvious issue at hand. “I also know that there are many people in our community from ethnic minority backgrounds who are terrified today about any kind of retaliation or backlash against them, which we have seen in the past,” she told the BBC.
Clearly, the British government has no interest in protecting its citizens. Thankfully, an Irish bystander came to Ogilvy’s aid, beating his attempted murderer with a shovel to end the attack. This highlights the difference between America and Britain. In some circumstances, a man with a shovel can beat a man with a knife, but a couple of well-placed hollow points, even at a modest 1,000 feet per second, would have ended the conflict in a far quicker, cleaner, more decisive manner.
We are citizens of the United States; the British are subjects of the crown. Sure, our founding documents lay out the distinctions, but the true difference lies with our half-billion privately owned guns. In the U.K., guns are heavily regulated, and only half a million Brits own roughly 2 million guns, the lion’s share being shotguns used for grouse and pheasant hunting.
In Federalist 46, James Madison references Americans’ “advantage of being armed,” which he contrasts with European nations. In modernity, this advantage means the ability to defend yourself and your family without waiting for the police, which, in Henry Nowak’s case, sided with his killer anyway.
Our guns don’t prevent all violent crime. Of course, there is plenty of violence in most large American cities, but the bloodbath predicted by gun-control activists never came to pass. The murder rate is falling dramatically as the rate of concealed carry sits at an all-time high. Citizens of 29 states, over half of the U.S. population, can now carry a pistol without a permission slip from the government. Fourteen additional states are legally obligated to issue carry permits to qualified applicants. Only citizens of seven states and D.C. have any real trouble obtaining a firearm. Another advantage that Americans enjoy, and I think Madison would agree, is the ease with which we can move across state lines.
The Second Amendment did not prevent unconstitutional surveillance or deranged COVID-19 lockdowns. It did not prevent the government from importing millions of migrants who do not care to learn American values, and it did not prevent governmental atrocities such as Waco. However, we have not seen the type of crackdown on free speech, jailing of citizens en masse for “racism,” or the replacement-level importation of migrants from the third world that has occurred in Britain.
Most importantly, our guns give us a fighting chance. A Pakistani rape gang or a Sudanese beheading-enthusiast would have a rough go of it in most jurisdictions in the U.S. of A.
Brady Leonard (@bradyleonard) is a writer, musician, and host of The No Gimmicks Podcast.

From the article, we again see confirmation that violence can be completely random and come from out of nowhere. Don’t let: “Oh, nothing like that happens here” influence your preparations.

Neighbors Speak Out After Gun Owner Kills Home Intruder

We’re learning more details about a defensive gun use in San Jacinto, California that happened last Friday night and resulted in the death of a home intruder.

According to the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department, 45-year-old Israel Martinez was shot and killed after firing a shotgun at the homeowner, who was visiting with neighbors when he heard screams and the sound of a gunshot coming from his home. The sheriff’s department said that Martinez’s girlfriend was also found about a half-mile away from the armed citizen’s home shortly afterwards, suffering injuries she allegedly received after Martinez assaulted her.

Now neighbors are providing more information about the confrontation between the homeowner and Martinez.

“His goal was to get his daughter out safely, regardless of what happened to him,” neighbor Robert Dorame said. “I’m shattered for them because they’re good people.”

… The family who lives at the home isn’t ready to speak out, but neighbors told KTLA that they, too, were home, and the ordeal was terrifying.

Neighbors said the father was hanging out with neighbors outside when his wife went inside to charge her phone. When she did, she reportedly came face-to-face with a man who had armed himself with guns he found inside the home. He allegedly then started shooting.

“From what I understand, the guy tried shooting at her as she started running,” Dorame said. “Then when she goes into the garage, she yelled out, ‘There’s a stranger in the house with a gun.'”

Her husband then attempted to get inside to save their daughter, who was also inside.

“The guy started loading up again. He got in there and the guy shot at Chris,” Dorame recalled. “He dropped, got up and he unloaded at him and got the guy down.”

He was then able to get his daughter out of the house unharmed.

… “He did more than just save his own family,” Dorame said. “Because if he didn’t take that guy down and that guy took him down, his next step was probably to come to one of our houses and unload because, at that point, he had a death wish. He didn’t care.”

Authorities still have no idea how Martinez ended up in the home. According to investigators, Martinez assaulted his girlfriend with a knife while they were in a car less than a mile from the residence, but it’s unclear why Martinez then made his way to the armed citizen’s home. According to police, there was no connection between Martinez and the homeowner, and it appears that he just randomly chose the home and made his way inside.

While there’s no doubt that the homeowner was justified in using lethal force to defend his family against the home invader, it’s possible that the Riverside County District Attorney could bring charges against him if it’s determined that his firearms were not stored in accordance with California law.

The state requires that all firearms be kept locked up or disabled using a CalDOJ-certified firearm safety device or a gun safe. I think one-size-fits-all storage mandates are unconstitutional, but the California law is actively enforced, and depending on the results of the sheriff’s investigation the homeowner could still find himself the target of a district attorney who wants to make an example out of him.

The penalty for a first offense is only a fine, thankfully, so even if the D.A. decides to go after the homeowner for storing his guns in a way they could be accessed by Martinez, he won’t be facing any jail time or the loss of his Second Amendment rights.

Hazel Park after-prom party shooting suspect released after self-defense claim

Hazel Park police released a man in custody in a fatal shooting at an after-prom party at a short-term rental, saying the man who died allegedly pointed a gun and stole a watch from someone at the party, and the suspect fired his gun in self-defense.

Police said Monday, June 1, that the suspect was released pending further investigation after speaking with him, reviewing witness accounts and evidence at the scene and consulting with the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office.

A 20-year-old Detroit man was pronounced dead at a local hospital, and a 19-year-old Pontiac woman was being treated after the May 29 shooting at 23401 Powell, police said. A 21-year-old man had been in custody. Police did not name anyone.

What police say happened

Police said interviews of those at the party and evidence suggested an armed robbery occurred in the house, and the man who died allegedly pointed a gun and stole a watch from someone at the party.

Why the suspect was released

The man who was in custody has a valid permit to carry a firearm and was present in the home, police said. They said he saw the robbery when he claimed to have fired his gun in self-defense. A witness to the altercation provided supporting information to the robbery and self-defense claim, police said.

Police said they received multiple 911 calls of a shooting in the area of Powell and Orchard. Officers found a crowd of people fleeing a home on Powell. They found the wounded man outside the home and the woman several houses south of the home.Preliminary information was that the house may have been hosting an after-prom party when a dispute occurred, and people exchanged gunfire inside and outside of the home.

Police said the after-prom party did not involve students from the Hazel Park School District.

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Dropped Wallet Leads Tulsa Police Straight To Burglar Shot By Homeowner

TULSA, Okla. — A Tulsa homeowner did exactly what a law-abiding gun owner is supposed to do when a stranger broke into his house overnight, and the suspected burglar is now recovering from a gunshot wound because of it.

According to News On 6, the break-in happened just before midnight near 21st Street and Mingo Road. The homeowner spotted a man outside on his security cameras, watched him look through windows and then saw him come in through a back door.

This is the part that should stick with every one of us who keeps a firearm for protection. The homeowner came down from the second floor and met the intruder inside his own home. Police said the man turned aggressive, and the homeowner fired a single shot.

The suspect ran off after being shot but dropped his wallet on the way out. Investigators used the identification inside it to track him while officers set up a perimeter around the neighborhood.

When officers found him nearby, police said he fought them and bit one of the officers during the arrest. Tulsa Police Lt. JT Snoddy said the man appeared to be impaired, telling reporters that none of the force applications seemed to faze him at all.

Only after taking him into custody did officers realize he had been shot in the chest. He was taken to a hospital and underwent surgery. Authorities believe he is about 46 years old and have not released his name. The bitten officer was also treated and is expected to be fine.

A man who chose to break into an occupied home at midnight and then square up with the person living there found out why that is a bad idea. The homeowner walked away unharmed. That is the outcome the Second Amendment is built to protect.

Many Police agencies have never liked the idea that people can and will -legally- take matters into their own hands

Des Moines Police Issue Bizarre Warning After Self-Defense Shooting

It’s not uncommon for police or sheriffs to issue a warning after a defensive gun use in their communities, but generally they’re admonishing criminals to be aware of the fact that armed citizens have the right to protect themselves.

In a twist, the Des Moines, Iowa police department is warning legal gun carriers after a shooting near a park in Des Moines, Iowa last month that’s been deemed to be a justifiable use of force on the part of an armed citizen.

In that incident, a group of individuals tried to rob a 22-year-old of his belongings, including a gun he was carrying. Little did they know that the armed citizen, who was sitting in his car when he was confronted by the group, had a backup gun on him, and the armed citizen shot and killed one of his attackers in self-defense.

Though the 22-year-old isn’t facing any charges, the Des Moines police appears to be using this as an excuse to chastise those of us who exercise our right to bear arms on a regular basis.

Law enforcement officials explained that self-defense shootings, which are more commonly associated with police officers, are increasingly being seen among civilians.

“There’s been several changes in gun laws here in Iowa over the years. And the one thing that we’ve seen, the byproduct of that is there’s more guns out there,” said DMPD Sgt. Paul Parizek.

Since 2021, Iowa has been a constitutional carry state, allowing any law-abiding adult to carry a handgun without a permit.

Police emphasized that self-defense with a firearm is only justified under strict criteria. Deadly force can only be used if there is a reasonable assumption that one’s life or wellbeing is in immediate danger.

“Somebody can’t drive by and flip you off, and you can’t shoot them. That’s not a response for that. You can’t say I was scared they were going to get out of their car. There has to be a threat,” Parizek said.

Based on Parizek’s comments, folks might be left with the impression that gun owners carrying under Iowa’s permitless carry law are causing all kinds of problems, but that isn’t the case. Last year the city saw ten homicides, which was a 33% decrease compared to 2024. So far this year police have investigated at least eleven homicides, but we know that one of those cases has been deemed a justifiable use of deadly force, and there may be others as well.

We’re also now five years in to Iowa’s experience as a permitless carry state, so if the city does end up seeing a spike in homicides this year I doubt that the law will have anything to do with it. Crime analyst Jeff Asher’s Real Time Crime Index shows other cities in permitless carry states are seeing big declines in murders; with Houston, Fort Worth, Memphis, Kansas City, New Orleans, Birmingham, Cincinnati, and Jacksonville all down by more than 20% so far this year.

If the Des Moines PD wants to remind folks about when it’s appropriate and legally okay to use lethal force, so be it. Still, it’s bizarre to use a legally justified use of deadly force as the reason to do so. It would be far more appropriate to use this incident to warn would-be robbers in the city that they’re putting their lives at risk by engaging in violent crimes, but for some reason I can’t fathom, the DMPD seems more concerned about lawful gun owners than armed robbers.

Here’s Another Reason Cops Aren’t Checking to See If It’s a BB Gun Pointed at Them

[Which one is which? Can YOU tell?-Miles]

When a gun is pointed at you, even for a split second, the barrel seems a whole lot larger than it really is. I’ve been unfortunate enough to experience that due to someone’s unsafe gun handling, so I’m talking from first-hand experience. Because of that, I don’t get worked up when there’s an officer-involved shooting, and the person shot by the police has a BB gun. I hate that it happened, and I feel awful for the officer, because I know that’s got to screw with a person’s head.

They’re not going to measure the barrel diameter before acting because they can’t.

However, there’s another reason why officers shouldn’t be getting blasted by ignorant people when something like that happens. That reason is that BB guns aren’t harmless.

Initial information informed deputies that an adult male, later identified as 33-year-old Geovanni Malacara-Hernandez, had been injured from an accidental discharge of a pellet or BB gun involving a young child.

Once deputies, Othello EMS and Adams County Fire District 5 arrived on scene, they began performing life-saving efforts “for a prolonged period of time,” according to the Adams County Sheriff’s Office. Malacara-Hernandez was then transported to Othello Community Hospital where medical personnel continued performing life-saving measures.
Unfortunately, Malacara-Hernandez succumbed to his injuries and died.

Police are investigating.

Now, there’s not much more available in this story other than what I’ve just shared, so we don’t know the specifics of whether it was an actual BB gun, a pellet gun, or what the weapon was specifically. Pellet guns are useful for hunting small game, which means they’re capable of putting down things a bit larger than a squirrel or rabbit. BB guns typically aren’t, but there have been reports of fatal shootings with them.

These aren’t toys. Yes, we buy them for kids, but responsible parents tend to treat them like firearms, and for a very good reason. They can injure or kill someone.

No, they’re not as deadly as actual firearms, but that’s beside the point.

So, when you consider this, think about a police officer rolling up to a suspect, only for that suspect to produce a BB gun. Either the officer knows it’s a BB gun or he doesn’t. In most cases, he doesn’t, but let’s say he does this time. Should he just assume that he’ll be the rule rather than the exception who gets killed with an air pistol? Should he simply let himself get shot and pray that the odds are in his favor?

What about the armed citizen? We can find ourselves in the exact same position.

I’m not talking about the legality of anything, mind you. I’m not an attorney, and while I’m an opinionated cuss about all kinds of things I probably should remain silent on, I’m not trying to delve into what will happen in a court of law.

I’m talking about what should happen in that courtroom. What should happen is that, whether police officer or private citizen, anyone who points a BB gun at someone should be shot in self-defense, because it’s not a toy they were pointing at the good guy with a gun. It actually shouldn’t get to that courtroom, because like it or not, a BB gun is a lethal weapon, much like a skateboard or a baseball bat can be lethal weapons, even if we buy them for our kids.

Teenager hospitalized in downtown Des Moines shooting

DES MOINES, Iowa —
A teenager is in critical condition after a shooting near the Pappajohn Sculpture Park late Friday night.

Police were called to the area of 14th Street and Grand Avenue shortly after 11 p.m. Friday after multiple 911 callers reported hearing gunfire and said a person was down.

When officers arrived, they found a 17-year-old suffering from gunshot wounds on 14th Street just north of Grand Avenue, according to a news release from the Des Moines Police Department.

Officers began lifesaving measures, including CPR, before Des Moines Fire Department EMS crews arrived and transported the victim to UnityPoint Health – Methodist Medical Center. Police said the male remains hospitalized in critical condition.

Police say the 17-year-old was part of a group of people that committed an armed robbery of a 22-year-old man who was parked in his car. Investigators say the 17-year-old stole a handgun from the 22-year-old. The 22-year-old then grabbed a second handgun and shots were fired back and forth, which is when the 17-year-old was shot.

Officers detained the 22-year-old shooter, but later released him without criminal charges.

Police have not yet released the identities of those involved.

Missouri schools could hire armed ‘rangers’ under bill sent to governor

A bill to create a new faction of school protection officers with “physical fitness superior to a U.S. Marine” got final approval from Missouri lawmakers in the final days of the legislative session.

The legislation seeks to allow schools to hire volunteer or paid guards called “Missouri Rangers” who could carry a gun on school grounds.

The bill’s sponsor, Republican state Sen. David Gregory of Chesterfield, told senators he wanted to give schools “a choice to have a higher trained armed guard.”

He compared current protection-officer requirements to that of a “Walmart guard with a gun.” Currently, schools can appoint teachers and administrators as school protection officers, allowing them to carry a gun or “self-defense spray device” with training and a concealed carry permit.

School protection officers must undergo a minimum of 112 hours of training, according to a Department of Public Safety rule. The state also has school resource officers, which are law enforcement officers with an additional 40+ hours of training related to school safety.

Gregory’s legislation proposes a maximum of 160 hours of training, specifying that the program must include lessons on “close-quarter combat,” bomb and arson training, de-escalation and others.

Prior to training, rangers must pass a physical fitness test. For those 35 and younger, they must “complete a minimum of 40 pushups in less than one minute” and be able to run 1½ miles in less than 12½ minutes. The legislation asks the state’s Peace Office Standards and Training Commission to identify lower standards for older applicants.

The bill’s first pass through the Senate brought little opposition, garnering the support of groups like the St. Louis County Police Association in its first committee hearing. In early April, just two senators voted against the proposal, but Senate Democrats unanimously voted against it when it returned to the chamber last week with less than a day before session adjourned for the year.

House Democrats unanimously rejected the proposal, uncomfortable with the proposition of having more firearms in schools.

“The answer to guns in schools is not more guns in schools,” said state Rep. Elizabeth Fuchs, a St. Louis Democrat, advocating instead for mental health support for students.

Their arguments did not sway House Republicans, who unanimously voted in support of the bill.

State Rep. Burt Whaley, a Republican from Clever, has experience training school staff on what to do in case of a shooting. The key benefit of having a ranger, he said, was being able to quickly respond to threats.

In one school he trained, the local law enforcement estimated that it could take up to 45 minutes for them to arrive.

“It is typically another person with a gun that knows how to use it, that’s trained how to use it … they’re usually the ones that are able to subdue (a threat),” he said.

The bill follows other proposals passed last year addressing security concerns, like laws directing schools to share emergency operations plans with local law enforcement and report school safety incidents to the state’s education department.

Some of the provisions passed in last year’s legislation have yet to be implemented because of a lack of funding, such as a requirement to equip schools with bleeding control kits and train staff on how to apply a tourniquet.

Gov. Mike Kehoe has until mid-July to sign or veto bills before they become law.

Tennessee Legislation Expanding Castle Doctrine Protections Awaits Governor’s Approval

The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –

Legislation that lowers the standard for use of deadly force on private property, expanding Castle Doctrine protections, is awaiting Governor Bill Lee’s approval.

Tennessee lawmakers passed HB1802/SB1847, sponsored by Representative Kip Capley (R-Summertown-District 71) and Senator Joey Hensley (R-Hohenwald-District 28), after intense debate.

The legislation allows for the use of deadly force if a person “reasonably believes deadly force is immediately necessary to prevent the other’s imminent commission of arson, burglary, robbery, aggravated robbery, or aggravated cruelty to animals” in the event the person using deadly force cannot protect their property any other way or if the use of force by other means would expose them or someone else to risk of death, serious bodily injury or grave sexual abuse.

Shooting someone in the back is not justified under the bill’s protections and Tennessee’s current self-defense standards are not erased by the legislation, still requiring a threat involving serious bodily injury or death.

To fall under self-defense statutes, an amendment clarified that in using deadly force, a person must not be engaged in conduct that would constitute a felony or Class A misdemeanor, such as inviting someone onto your property to sell you illegal drugs, and is present where they lawfully reside.

When the bill passed in the Senate, it did not include the House amendment and had to be returned for concurrence, but the legislation is ready for Lee to take action on, and is slated to take effect July 1st, 2026.

When Self-Defense Shapes Probable Cause- Third Circuit Raises the Stakes in Kendig v. Stolar

In a significant Fourth Amendment decision, the Third Circuit held in Kendig v. Stolar, 2026 WL 1145264, that law enforcement may, in certain circumstances, be required to include known affirmative-defense evidence in probable cause affidavits submitted in support of arrest warrants.

Case Snapshot

This case arose after Corey Kendig shot and killed a man during a late-night altercation outside a Pennsylvania bar. Kendig claimed that he acted in self-defense after being outnumbered, attacked first, and placed in a chokehold during the confrontation. Surveillance footage and witness accounts supported portions of that account. Despite those facts, the affidavit of probable cause submitted by the investigating trooper did not include any information suggesting Kendig may have acted in self-defense.

Kendig was charged with homicide and related offenses but was ultimately acquitted by a jury. He later filed a Section 1983 action alleging false arrest, false imprisonment, and malicious prosecution, arguing that the investigating officer omitted material exculpatory information from the warrant affidavit.

The Holding and Its Limits

The Third Circuit agreed that affirmative-defense evidence can, in some cases, be relevant to probable cause. The Court adopted a middle-ground rule, holding that officers must disclose affirmative-defense evidence when a reasonable officer would “conclusively know” that the defense negates the mens rea of the offense or otherwise excuses the conduct. Applying Pennsylvania law, the Court emphasized that self-defense negated the mental-state elements of the crimes Kendig was charged with, homicide and aggravated assault.

The Court pointed to several allegedly omitted facts, including evidence that Kendig was outnumbered, that another individual initiated the confrontation, that Kendig was placed in a chokehold, and that witnesses described the decedent and his companions as violent and intoxicated.

Despite announcing the above rule, the Third Circuit affirmed summary judgment in favor of the trooper on qualified-immunity grounds. The panel concluded that, at the time of the arrest, neither the Third Circuit nor a robust consensus of other courts had clearly established a constitutional requirement that officers include affirmative-defense evidence in warrant affidavits.

Why This Matters

The practical takeaway is clear: officers and prosecutors should expect increased scrutiny of affidavits that omit known exculpatory information bearing on self-defense claims. While Kendig does not impose a blanket requirement to include every potentially favorable fact, it makes clear that law enforcement cannot ignore affirmative defenses that are plainly apparent from the evidence. The decision provides defendants with a potentially important roadmap for challenging arrests and prosecutions based on incomplete probable-cause affidavits.

“The Duty of Self‑Defence”, preached in Philadelphia in 1747 by Rev. Jonathan Dickinson:

He that suffers his life to be taken from him by one that hath no authority for that purpose, when he might preserve it by defence, incurs the Guilt of self murder since God hath enjoined him to seek the continuance of his life, and Nature itself teaches every creature to defend itself.

 

Homeowner shoots, kills suspected burglar in north Harris County
Precinct 4 Constable Deputies said the suspect was found shot to death behind the home near a bayou

A man is dead after investigators say a homeowner woke up to find him inside a house early Wednesday morning, leading to a confrontation that ended in a shooting.

According to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, deputies with Precinct 4 responded around 5:45 a.m. to a home in the 16900 block of Spring Creek Oaks.

When they arrived, they found an unidentified man on a walking trail behind the home. Investigators say he had been shot and was pronounced dead at the scene.

What investigators say happened

Authorities say the homeowner told deputies he woke up and discovered a man inside his house wearing a mask and gloves.

Investigators say the two got into a physical fight inside the home that moved outside.

At some point, the homeowner went back inside, but officials say the suspect returned to the property, leading to a second confrontation in the backyard.

That’s when, according to investigators, the homeowner got a handgun and shot the man.

The suspect then ran, jumped over a fence, and was later found on a nearby walking trail.

Officials say there were three adults and two children, ages 12 and 13, inside the home at the time of the incident.

No one else was injured.

As part of the investigation, detectives are speaking with everyone who was inside the house to better understand what happened.

The suspect has not yet been identified.

Investigators say there were no signs of forced entry, but they believe the man got into the home through a back door.

Authorities are still working to determine exactly what led up to the encounter and why the suspect returned to the home after the first altercation.

No arrests have been made at this time.

The case will be reviewed by the Harris County District Attorney’s Office to determine whether any charges will be filed.