Summary
At a Lafayette, Indiana anti-Trump rally Saturday, a man pulled an assault-style rifle after clashing with protesters who blocked his truck at a Third Street intersection.
Video shows the man in a MAGA hat yelling at protesters, prompting another man—angered by the confrontation with women—to intervene.
The two exchanged shouts before the protester headbutted the man. He returned to his truck, retrieved a rifle, and reentered the crowd.
Police detained but released him, citing self-defense. The “Hands Off!” rally drew nearly 1,000 people and ended early amid safety concerns.
ACAB.
Gravy Seal Clown
Meal team six
Of course. If he was black the story would be different
Self defense would be a headbutt back or fists, not the AmRepublican-14.
there’s video, no one was doing anything to him. he got out of his SUV, started yelling at people, returned to the vehicle, got back out with the weapon at his side. self defense would have been (a) for literally anyone to have threatened him and (b) for him to simply leave the scene.
Since you didn’t link the video, here it is on reddit.
I can see the headbutt, it’s at second 12.
Still an insane overreaction of course, but the truth is important.
Can someone share a mirror?
Found it on Twitter… but I guess that doesn’t help.
Maybe it’s easier to download, but I haven’t tried from either site before. I’ll drop the link in case anybody wants to try.
It is Indiana. Basically wild west style gun laws. You buy the gun, its yours … done. No permit, no concealed carry, nothing. You bought the gun, take it where you want. Pretty much anywhere. If people are yelling at you on the street then Indiana’s stand your ground style law basically kicks in. The state is very much “fuck around and find out”.
This is what we’re up against.
I’ll be damned if I let these people continue to run our country
What an actual POS, but do we really expect anything else from a Trump supporter. Clear as day he should not have been released citing any self-defence. Anyone who argues against this fact shows they should not even own a gun. US is going US though, not even dead kids can separate them from their guns.
Inserts himself into a situation he wasn’t invited to, or welcome at, instigates people for the purpose of “justified” retaliation- whips out his loaded lib-killer , and is summarily released by law enforcement.
I’d say those folks dun’ got Rittenhoused!
I agree with you. That’s not how “self-defense works”. If the snowflake geot hit, walks away from the situation, gets armed, and returns to attack the person that attacked such a fragile sheep, this is not self-defense, it’s retaliation.
The sheep crybaby and whoever proclaimed this as self-defense are just a bunch of puppets.
That’s most likely why the police changed the order of events around.
“During the event, an adult male driver attempted to make a lawful turn at the intersection of Third Street andColumbia Street when his path was obstructed by protesters standing in the roadway. A verbal altercationensued between the driver and protesters,” the release said. "The situation escalated when the driver exited his vehicle and was subsequently pushed and battered by individuals in the crowd. The driver then retrieved a firearm from his vehicle in what he described as an act of self-defense.
“He did not discharge the weapon and promptly returned it to his truck. Shortly after, a male protester approachedthe driver and head-butted him, causing injury,” police said.
Even though multiple protesters described it otherwise. ACAB.
It’s not a lawful turn if there is a pedestrian in the path of the vehicle.
There was an altercation and then he retreated and came back with a firearm. That’s not self defense, that’s brandishing.
I can understand the police not making that determination at the time, their goal should be to de-escalate and separate the conflicting parties, but they should send someone round to pick this guy up and book him for the felony he committed afterwards.
There’s also video of the events that clearly shows the police statement is fucked.
How does going back to your vehicle and retrieving a n assault rifle count as self defense? That’s premeditated at that point if he were to use it.
The difference between this, and any other mass shooting is just whether this guy decided to pull the trigger, which he obviously wanted too.
I wouldn’t say premeditated as it was in the heat of the moment, but intentional as hell and not self defense at all
He drove there with an assault rifle.
Premeditated has a specific legal definition. He went back to his truck and came back with a gun. I would find it a hard sell to say that wasn’t premeditated if I was on a jury.
I think premeditated in the legal sense means planned. So they would probably have to prove he intentionally went to the protest vs happened to be going that way. And they would probably have to prove he doesn’t drive around with that weapon all the time. But I am not a lawyer.
They just have to prove that he intentionally went back to his vehicle and then intentionally left it again to confront the people with the firearm.
If he’d run back to his vehicle and then tried to leave the area while waving his gun, that wouldn’t be premeditated.
But that’s not what he did. He intentionally escalated the situation while not being threatened.
What matters is he should be held accountable. I think we agree on that
He will shoot next time. Like a not so smart missile they just aimed him at decent human beings.
Why does it feel like he was a failed attempt at inciting violence in protests to make them look unreasonable?
An Agent Provocateur.
Judging by the US rhetoric over the past few years … protestors of any side for any political movement, whether left or right, legitimate or not, moral or immoral … are figuring out that you need a gun to stand your ground.
It would be easy to destabilize any protest by just drawing a gun … then someone else answers the challenge and pulls their own gun … then more people join in … next you have a Mexican stand off… and given enough occurrences you now have a fire fight.
It’s so volatile because of the freedom to own guns.
It’s like watching a group of people fighting with torches next to an open pool of gasoline.
He fucked around and found out most of them were exceedingly reasonable, except the one that busted his face 😊
Looks like he slipped
Well I mean it was a reasonable breakage of said face, since y’know… Nazi… but your point is valid
It shocks me every time again, seeing how casually people carry guns in the US
It’s for self defense. It says so right there in the article!
The sad thing is for a lot of us it’s incredibly normal. I hate to admit it. I don’t even blink when I see someone carrying in my city.
In fact what is far more concerning is we got rid of concealed carry permits about a year ago, so I don’t even need to see them anymore. I just assume people are packing basically everywhere I go. It’s basically the wild West down here
Texas?
Texas still has license to carry, with distinctions for where/when you can open/concealed carry… but that was from 2016/2017. The gentry probably isn’t talking about texas.
Louisiana
If you can leave the situation safely - like being able to go back to your truck - it’s not self defense.
But what about pre-emptive self defense? That’s a thing, right?
It’ll get you on a talk show circuit
You don’t understand, your honor, I know I was gonna say something that would make them threaten my life! I had to start shooting.
yup. as soon as he grabbed the gun and went back to threaten people with it… he committed the felony.
Louder. For the people in the back.
Fat fuck wants to be another Rittenhouse
Remember when Rittenhouse got away with it 😆
This whole post is filled with people squeaking about what the rules are. Like what the fuck
Tell that to the police…
They are too busy
fabricating…planting… finding the evidence they need to arrest some protestors.
Doesn’t matter. They even determined that planning to get yourself in an unsafe situation with the purpose of shooting protesters, travelling across states with a gun to again very intentionally get yourself in a situation where you’d need to use it, is still self defense. Even when you shoot someone without actually being in danger, it becomes self defense when other people are trying to stop you. All of this, as long as your victims are protesting against right-wing policies, has been determined in court to be self defense.
Only if you’re white and conservative.
I wonder if I could legally defend myself in this manner at one of the neo nazi rallies in Springfield or Charlottesville? Somehow I doubt the police would characterize it the same way.
Exactly. It’s obvious who the cops were siding with here.
Self-defense isn’t going back to your vehicle to get a weapon to come back and terrorize people. That’s assault.
If he had returned with his weapon, and someone killed him, THAT would be self-defense.
So Indiana is a “stand your ground” state. That generally removes any duty to retreat. I’d be curious how they rule when he clearly retreated to his vehicle already, and only then retrieved a weapon, brandished it, and reentered a crowd. If they allow self defense, how far is someone allowed to retreat in order to retrieve a weapon and re-engage? Can I go all the way back to my house and get a gun to defend myself?
Of course this will only be litigated if the public can pressure the prosecutor to press charges. If not it’ll be easy for the cops to disproportionately apply that defense to like minded miscreants.
It removes your duty to retreat if you are in a life-threatening situation, whether on private or public property. It essentially extends the castle doctrine to include your personal space at all times.
If after being headbutted, he pulled a CCW, or even had the AR on his person, I think he could make a reasonable claim of self defense. If the protestor followed him back to his truck, he could make a claim of self defense, but if you have the time and security to go back to your truck, get your gun, and the return to confront someone, I think you’ve gone outside the realm of being in a life-threatening situation, and therefore self-defense no longer applies.
Protestors should bear arms. Soon enough, the Rittenhouses of the right will need to be put down when they behave like rabid DOGEs.
Conservatives escalate, and must be met in kind when they do so.
Protestors should bear arms.
I do. Concealed, for the moment, because my liberal NYS made it illegal to keep and bear arms while exercising your first amendment right.
And, I’m of the wrong political persuasion to test that law.
hey, new guy. Searg said you bring him donuts ASAP. also while you go there stop by the other department and tell the guys there that boss wants to entrap even more mentally ill muslims into trying to join ISIS this month.
That would require forward thinking. Protestors don’t do that. Not on the left. The guy that head butt this guy didn’t think beyond that moment.
Wonder if the boots taste different in Indiana…
Less like cow leather. More like cow shit.
the boot type is also accurate, this is well done
