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BRaptor

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Posts posted by BRaptor

  1. Posted

    Thanks so much for your support and feedback!

     

    By all means, forward the article as you see fit.

     

    The Opinions editor at Times of Trenton, Diana Groden, was extremely willing to work with me. She made suggestions and pointed out areas that I needed to re-word or choose a more palatable wording or examples to keep readers' minds open. She really took time and effort to help me communicate my points without turning off readers (I did let my bias get the better of me by slipping in the "agenda" sentence...oops).

     

    I'm surprised that it also has 7,100 facebook likes!

  2. Posted

    It's been a long time since I've shown my face around here. But, with all the anti-2A articles out there, I decided to try to do something about it.

     

    I had constantly been complaining that no papers were publishing "our" side of the 2A discussion. So, I wrote an article and submitted it to the editor of the Times of Trenton, it was my response to their Jan. 2 guest opinion article ("People have no right to assault weapons").

     

    After some back and fourth discussion and editing, they published it in the Sunday edition! It's on NJ.com.

     

    Link

  6. Posted

    I agree with some of what is said here.

     

    First, you have a duty to retreat from a confrontation where you are threatened with what would be considered to be non-deadly force in NJ. Joe Crook, who is unarmed being of roughly equal size and ability as you threatens to kick your a** is a situation you have to retreat from. You have no duty to retreat from a situation where you are threatened with deadly force. Joe Crook and his three henchmen threaten to kick your a** (they may or may not be armed) would normally be considered a situation where you are threatened with death or severe injury, you do not have to retreat. It is almost always the smart thing to retreat from a deadly force situation if you can do so safely. This is a difference between LEOs and others. If someone else is threatened with deadly force and Mr Citizen happens on the scene, Mr Citizen has no obligation to defend someone else. A LEO does have an obligation.

     

    So, if you are confronted with threat of serious harm or death and you have no means of escape (not because you have to but because it is the smart thing to do), defending yourself with the knife you have long established a legal purpose for carrying would seem reasonable. This would be the same as arming yourself with any weapon of opportunity.

     

    If you couldn't use a firearm to defend yourself (if one were available) you can't use your knife.

     

    If you do use your knife to defend yourself you need to treat the situation the same as if you used a firearm.

     

    This is where my opinion on talking to the police differs from what you hear from most people on gun forums. When the police arrive and ask you what happened and you respond with "I don't want to say. anything. I want my lawyer", you leave the police little option but to arrest you and charge you.

     

    IF YOU ARE CLAIMING SELF DEFENSE YOU MUST AT SOME POINT ADMIT THAT YOU INJURED OR KILLED THE BAD GUY.

     

    This can be done at any time in the process from when it occurred to just before the jury goes into deliberation if you wind up going to trial. The earlier you start to establish your claim of self defense the better (and less expensive) it will be for you.

     

    When the police arrive you tell them "I had to defend myself. I really don't want to talk now. I need to go to the hospital and get checked out". If the police ask for more respond that you really think you need to be checked out at the hospital. Later on you tell the police the whole story with your lawyer present. You've started to establish you did what you did in self defense and you should be medically checked out even if you don't seem to have any apparent injuries.

     

    If you can't limit your response to the police to what I've said you're probably better off saying nothing, getting arrested, and going through some of the criminal justice system.

     

    Masaad Ayoob gives similar advice. Research his articles and you'll find it. He's an established expert witness in most states. Neither of us are lawyers and Ayoob has given expert testimon many more times than I.

     

    I started to write a response tearing this post apart. But I stopped.

     

    I sincerely hope that you are properly licensed and insured to give the type of legal advice that you just gave out. Your advice puts people in the path of both physical harm and unnecessary legal punishment.

     

    I'm out.

  7. Posted

    Just wondering if it is legal.

     

    A lot of the talk on here is if you can simply carry the knife - but I haven't seen much discussion on if it can be used in a self defense situation.

     

    As BlueFish pointed out - many LEOs that I've dealt with - many even outside of my jurisdiction - have said they would not bother me for possessing the knife due to the nature of my job.

     

    I've just never heard of many self defense situations where the victim

    Defended himself with a knife outside the home wherever they may be.

     

    At the end of the day - if it came to a life or death situation with no other choice - i think id use what I had on me.

     

    There is standing precedent (in the NJ appellate division) that intentionally arming yourself with a "weapon" for the purposes of self-defense does not fall within the "lawful purposes" clause of the statute. Not only that, but the defendant in that case was about as sympathetic as you get. She was a battered woman (beaten by her abusive boyfriend), escorting her child home from the park, when her abusive boyfriend attacked her, unprovoked. She defended herself with a box-cutter (not a knife, a friggin BOX CUTTER), and her conviction of unlawful possession of a weapon (or whatever) was upheld!

     

    The court said that spontaneously arming yourself with something that was lying around is OK, but intentionally arming yourself before you left the house, just in case of confrontation is not OK.

     

    I don't know what the outcome would be, now that the US Supreme Court has said that self-defense is a basic human right, fundamental to our principles of ordered liberty. I don't want to be the test case.

     

    My theory is that all your problems start when you talk to the police. If you're ever involved in ANY altercation, do not talk to the police. They're not your friend (they're not really your enemy, either), but, they are there to gather information and evidence, which is then to be presented to a prosecutor (who wants to score high arrest/conviction ratio).

     

    Personally, I carry my EDC everywhere, all the time. Just never for the purposes of self-defense. My knife is a tool that may become useful at any point in time of my daily life, period.

     

    If I am ever in a self-defense situation, and I have used my knife, I will not talk to the police. I will only give identifying information and a request for an attorney.

     

    PS. Yes, I'm an attorney. No, this is not legal advice.

  10. Posted

    Anything by Macanudo, light and tasty.

     

    Funny, when I was a cigar noob, I tried a bunch of Macanudos and they completely turned me off of cigars...they were too "light," and too much like a cigarette.

     

    I would recommend:

    Padilla 1932 (size: Toro)

    Padilla 1948 Edicion Limitada 2010 if you can find them (Torpedo or corona)

     

    I only have 6 Edicion Limtiadas left, but if you want to try a 1932 (I bought a box), PM me your address, I'd be happy to send you one!

     

    Cigars are quite a particular art. A cigar that's wonderful in one size could be "too much" in a larger diameter and too weak in a smaller diameter. Also, try pairing your cigar with a nice bourbon, whiskey, scotch, brandy or red wine.

  11. Posted

    Neither my wife, nor I smoke cigarettes, but we love Jose Padilla 1932's!

     

    FYI. Be careful about admitting to buying Cubans overseas...the way the law is written, I'm 90% sure that it's illegal for you to even purchase them while outside of the U.S.

  12. Posted

    I've found that simply saying you are a gun owner or work in some field that requires logic and reason is usually enough to get tossed from most cases.

     

     

    THIS x10004556334!!!!

     

    During voir dire, I kid you not, my father was asked, "can you set aside the science and training that you received as an engineer, and decide this case solely on the information given to you?"

     

    He was quickly dismissed from the jury pool.

     

    BlueLine: first chance you get, tell the defense that you're a police officer. You should be out by lunch, at the latest.

  13. Posted

    The ceiling and drywall are all perfect above the spots. I highly doubt a roof leak. Breathing in all that lead dust while at the Bullet Hole affected your reasoning..... ;)

     

    Nope, physics is still physics, even when clouded by the slight retardation caused by lead dust! :D

     

    Those droplets came from directly above, no trajectory beyond straight down. So, either something was hovering while it dropped a liquid, or it came from a source directly above the point in the picture.

     

    I've got experience with small water leaks in the ceiling causing funny brown water droplets. If I'm right, at first, there's no evidence of the leaks, but eventually the paint above the droplets will bubble. If I'm wrong, the paint will never bubble, and the droplets came from something other than the roof.

  14. Posted

    I'd be that these occur only when it rains for a couple days.

     

    I'd bet that you've got a small roof leak that dribbles through an mold-soaked area. Water likes to ride from the point of entry to a joint, then down the walls to baseboards or ceilings.

     

    I'd hate to say, but you've probably got a roof leak and a mold issue.

  16. Posted

    First and foremost, I would strongly recommend against camping out with the goal of holding the trespassers at gunpoint. I just don't see that ending well.

     

    I would suggest letting the police know about the trespassing and vandalism. Without power or other utilities, you're pretty much stuck with hoping the police step up patrolling and you could purchase a stand-alone unit that takes photo or video and trying to identify trespassers after the fact.

  18. Posted

    OK, I'll be the first to call Bullisht (well, the first on this board, anyway).

     

    A Phoenix, AZ gun dealer makes a large purchase of .223 and 7.62x39 ammunition to the tune of $100k, pays for it ALL in advance and the driver gets "lost" and "mistakenly" takes a detour into Juarez?

     

    Yes, we have the driver's version of the story, that he "turned around," but what's the real story? Did "turn around" include him pulling into a Juarez commercial zone, where it took him 10 minutes to turn around? Did his truck come back a couple thousand pounds lighter?

     

    I'll consider this guy's version of events as "helpful, if true." But, this story just doesn't smell right. I just have trouble believing that any seasoned truck driver would enter a foreign country with tons of ammunition that could potentially be illegal, and think that everything would be OK.

  19. Posted

    Even Christie, a Republican...

     

    This is what pains me the most. When I continuously see people think that R=Pro-Gun and D=Anti. It's not an R or D thing; just look at Jeff Van Drew and Chris Christie. There are stereotypes and assumptions that can be made based on R vs. D, but, then, you know what they say about stereotypes and assumptions...

     

    That being said, if we completely changed the NJ legislature, we could get a veto-proof bill passed to change CCW, no Governor signature required. Though, I do fear what else a legislative body with such similar agendas or beliefs would do.

  22. Posted

    Where have you been?

     

    LOL! I've been in America!

     

    I'm a Florida native and only moved to this political cesspool in 2007. The abrupt change has left me in shock, mostly. I'm still struggling to appreciate the levels of corruption, hypocrisy and moral turpitude that the politicians have been permitted to sink to here.

     

    I've seen Lionel several times, but he'd previously struck me as a whiner. I don't agree with all that he says, but he is about as close to a constitutionalist as you can get in mainstream media!

  23. Posted

    Every now and then, I tune in to the news, just to make sure nothing's changed.

     

    I turned to PIX 11's 10 o'clock news this evening. To my surprise and wonderment, there was an op-ed piece that was COMPLETELY pro 2A! By a commentator that is pro 2A! Supporting citizen's RTKBA (including carrying)!!!

     

    It's refreshing to hear someone actually speak of the Constitution in the context which it was intended.

     

    http://www.wpix.com/videogallery/69199099/News/here-comes-the-neighborhood-watch#pl-62886862

  24. Posted

    According to the opinion, they could technically hear the case again, but thanks to Gov. Christie's commutation, that would be pointless.

    Footnote 8 on the opinon:

    "Although the State may elect to pursue a retrial, we note that the State has conceded that the gubernatorial commutation of the custodial sentence precludes imposition of any custodial sentence following such a retrial"

     

    You're right, they could retry the first count, because the judge failed to instruct the exemption for possession of the handguns.

     

    But, the state cannot retry the second charge (for the magazines), because of a lack of sufficiency of the evidence to support the jury conviction.

     

    **That's what I get for not reading the opinion before spouting off!**

  25. Posted

    At first I was laughing along with him. His rant started off as funny and poignant. Though, I could "smell" where he was headed. Then, he went off the deep, anti end.

     

    But, as he so "eloquently" points out. Yes, guns in bars, religious services AND the classroom. And I should be so lucky that my first born comes out with a sidearm or a long gun!

     

    Ya lost me, Bill. You could have quit while you were ahead; you stopped being funny right about the 3:40 mark.

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