The Andrew Branca Show

This past Sunday night Jason Pass was filmed fatally shooting Bladimy Mathurin (47) and Chinwai Mode (27) in a Brooklyn NY hallway. This morning, Pass charged at police with a 6" knife, and this time it was he who was fatally shot, by police. The shooting on Sunday involving Pass and his two victims have raised some questions on social media about whether this use of deadly force could potent...

This past Saturday, October 28, hockey player Adam Johnson had his neck fatally slashed by the ice skate of opposing player Matt Petgrave.  The event was captured on video, which we'll share in today's show. CAUTION: The video shows the infliction of a fatal injury. The legal questions then arise:  First, was this an intentional use of force by Petgrave on Johnson? Second, if intentional...

On Wednesday night a man identified as Robert Card engaged in a mass shooting, with news reports indicating as many as 18 people killed and many more wounded.  Photos indicated he used an AR-pattern rifle to commit his vicious attack on innocents. It may seem counterintuitive that a madman gunning down innocent victims represents one of the SIMPLEST self-defense scenarios an armed citizen might en...

Late last week several purported Seattle police officers began attempting a violent intrusion into an Auburn WA home (Auburn, incidentally is a full 17 miles outside of the Seattle city limits). The homeowner, perhaps finding the claims of these intruders to be police as less than credible, responds by firing a fussilade of rounds through his own front door at the intruders, inducing them to flee....

Today's show is a reading of an amicus curiae ("friend of the court") filed in the case of US v. Rahimi , which is proceeding to the US Supreme Court from the 5th Circuit. Rahimi involves the question of whether a presumptively law-abiding American citizen can be denied their Second Amendment rights when constrained by a domestic violence restraining order, in the absence of any fin...

The Federal case of US v. Rahimi , working its way to the Supreme Court involves the question of whether a presumptively law-abiding American citizen can be denied their Second Amendment rights when constrained by a domestic violence restraining order, in the absence of any finding of dangerous on behalf of the person constrained by the order. Although gun control propagandists will argue that Rah...

No lawyer can be said to be engaged in good faith critical thinking if he’s not amenable to a reasoned change in opinion. I was reminded of this reality last evening while standing in line for the “Rise of the Resistance” ride at Disneyland in Orlando, Florida, reading a particular comment in response to a Law of Self Defense video I’d hurriedly posted that morning. I produce this morning’s video...

I was recently sent video of an instance in which a bystander's modest Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu skills were nevertheless sufficient to save the life of a pregnant police officer who was struggling with a violent and apparently deranged criminal suspect. It's also notable that I started my own BJJ just over a year ago (with about half that time off for medical reasons), and I share some of my...

I was just a guest on Mark Walter's Armed America Radio program again, and we discussed a bunch of topics including the Israeli massacre, the Second Amendment, gun control, the Brooklyn stabbing death of the white BLM activist by a young black man, the offensive use of pepper spray, the mere reasonable appearance of a threat, and much, much more! Enjoy the show! THERE IS ONLY ONE SELF-DEFENSE...

I was interviewed today on the Ross Kaminsky show, KOA radio, a 50,000 watt radio station heard all over Colorado and adjoining states, to discuss the madness of the Office of the State Public Defender, Colorado. Enjoy! THERE IS ONLY ONE SELF-DEFENSE "INSURANCE" PROVIDER I TRUST! There are lots of self-defense "insurance" companies out there. Some are hot garbage. Some have lim...

This week the 9th Circuit, sitting en banc , granted a request by California's Attorney General to leave in place the state's current ban on standard-capacity magazines. In doing so, they stand in open rebellion against the United States Supreme Court--purportedly their superiors--in their refusal to even pretend to apply the constitutional legal analysis required the the Court's de...

Although I previously read the "Letter of Banishment" from the Office of the State Public Defender, Colorado, signed by Jennifer L. Ahnstedt, Lead State Training Director, the previous reading involved the participation of some lawyer friends, and I've been told that it could be a bit more time-consuming and less easy to follow than would be a straight reading. So in today's sh...

We normally think of OC (pepper) spray as being a less-than-lethal defensive weapon useful for dealing with non-deadly attacks. But what happens when OC is used OFFENSIVELY?  In this real-world case captured on video, that offensive use of OC led directly to the death of the OC aggressor. Worth considering also is how an OFFENSIVE use of OC differs from a DEFENSIVE use, in terms of use-of-force la...

A masked aggressor arguing with two men appears to pretend to be presenting a knife, when one of his two victims decides to take decisive defensive action against the mere APPEARANCE of threat. Lawful? Let's take a look at the video of this use-of-force event and talk about it! THERE IS ONLY ONE SELF-DEFENSE INSURANCE PROVIDE I TRUST! There are lots of self-defense "insurance" compa...

A motorcyclists riding amidst a crowd of others in Philadelphia got angry enough with a car driver that he decided to jump on the car's rear window and smash it into the vehicle. Would the occupants of that car have been legally justified in simply shooting that motorcyclists dead? What if that same motorcyclists had a pistol in hand when the car driver exited the vehicle to confront  the rid...

Watching hundreds of Israeli citizens being massacred, raped, and kidnapped by violent Hamas invaders has been utterly horrific. Sadly, these atrocities were made all the easier because Israel generally prohibits the private possession of arms for purposes of self-defense. There is no "Israeli version" of America's Second Amendment. How differently would the last days have been if t...

So, yesterday I got a 4-page, single-spaced, physically mailed, paper hate letter from the head of the CO Public Defender's Training Director.    Backstory: Earlier this year at their request I did a FREE (pro bono) legal consult/expert witness testimony for one of their indigent clients charged with MURDER & MANSLAUGHTER. Normally I charge a minimum of $10,000+ for this, did it forR FREE...

A masked aggressor arguing with two men appears to pretend to be presenting a knife, when one of his two victims decides to take decisive defensive action against the mere APPEARANCE of threat. Lawful?  Let's take a look at the video of this use-of-force event and talk about it! Join me at Noon ET on Friday, Oct. 6 to DISCUSS. LAW OF SELF DEFENSE ADVANCED CLASS: LAST FOR 2023! This is our ful...

A motorcyclists riding amidst a crowd of others in Philadelphia got angry enough with a car driver that he decided to jump on the car's rear window and smash it into the vehicle. Would the occupants of that car have been legally justified in simply shooting that motorcyclists dead? What if that same motorcyclists had a pistol in hand when the car driver exited the vehicle to confront the ride...

A Texas driver fails to proper return his shopping cart, and is aggressively approached by a "CartNarc" activist who chides the driver and attempts to place an embarrassing magnet on the driver's vehicle. The driver responds by pulling out a pistol and cycling the slide, causing the activist to prudently flee. Lawful threat of deadly force? Maybe generally not, but possibly in Texas...

Last Thursday a delivery man was acquitted in the shooting of a prankster who confronted him in a mall. The prankster never presented a weapon, so how could the delivery man's use of deadly defensive force have been reasonable self-defense? In fact, there are at least SIX FACTORS in this shooting that are highly consistent with lawful deadly force self-defense in this case. LAW OF SELF DEFENS...

Several folks have frantically sent me a video clip of President Donald #Trump giving a speech in which it is said that he advocates that #looters be summarily shot. In fact, the video clip is more nuanced than that summary suggests, but I thought it interesting to enough to warrant an unplanned Law of Self Defense Show. Join me LIVE to discuss what President Trump ACTUALLY said, and to understand...

Earlier this week I read the 71-page decision of Judge Roger Benitez, a Federal trial court judge, in holding (FOR THE SECOND TIME) that California's standard-capacity magazine violates the Second Amendment. Obviously, the gun controllers are losing their minds over this decision, and so it was well-anticipated that the California Attorney General, Bonta, would appeal the ruling to the 9th Ci...

This is part 2 of 2 of our discussion/reading of Duncan v. Bonta . Last week US District Court (Federal) Judge Roger Benitez handed down a ruling that California's ban on standard capacity magazines for firearms is unconstitutional. While this conclusion is simply obvious common sense, Judge Benitez was kind enough to explain the underlying constitutional reasoning behind this conclusion in a...

Yesterday a judge dropped all charges, including murder, against former Philly police officer Mark Dial over the August 14 shooting death of non-compliant suspect Eddie Irizarry.  The immediate result was rioting and widespread looting throughout Philadelphia.  We have the full unedited body worn camera (BWC) footage of both officers involved in the encounter with Irizarry, as well as local survei...