What Happens After A Self-Defense Shooting In A Blue State?

All normal people go through life hoping and praying that they never have to be involved in a self-defense shooting (on either end of the gun).

Wise people prepare for the possibility of having to deal with that situation by training with their firearm and carrying every day so that they don’t get caught with their metaphorical pants down if someone attacks them.

Many people don’t think about the after effects of a self-defense shooting incident, though, so they are completely unprepared for the legal and other difficult things that come up.

Especially if they live in a blue state.

What do I mean?

Well, in a red state, usually a self-defense shooting will be taken as what it is (if it really was a shooting in self-defense): an effort to stop violence, not an effort to commit violence for any other reason. And in that type of situation, that’s usually the end of the legal issues from the government side of things in those states (though, there are often both emotional and civil lawsuit issues that come up).

That’s reasonable, isn’t it? The state doesn’t punish you for trying to save your own life or someone else’s life.

If you live in a blue state, though, it can be a completely different situation (hat tip to here and here for the lead). Jennifer Sinco Kelleher writes,

A man who was arrested on suspicion of murder after shooting and killing a neighbor who opened fire at a Hawaii gathering was released from custody and it wasn’t yet clear whether there will be any criminal charges, police said Tuesday.

Three people were killed and two others injured in a shooting at a home stemming from a dispute between neighbors on Saturday night in Waianae, a west Oahu community. The shooter was also fatally shot by a resident, who was arrested on a second-degree murder charge, police said.

Honolulu police said the 42-year-old man was released pending investigation on Sunday night. The Honolulu prosecuting attorney’s office will ultimately decide if there are any charges, Police Chief Joe Logan said Tuesday.

“In Hawaii, we are a non ‘stand your ground’ state,” he said. “Even if you have a license to carry, if you’re an individual that discharges a firearm that is involved in injuring another person, … you’re going to be arrested.”

Read that last paragraph again. You will be arrested if you have to shoot someone in self-defense.

Translation: In Hawaii, they’d prefer that you die than survive when a criminal tries to kill you.

That’s absolutely insane, and if you didn’t have enough other reasons to leave blue states, this one reason alone should be enough to get you to move some place more sane.

So, the lesson to remember is this: Blue state governments want their people dead instead of surviving violent attacks. After all, how else are you going to interpret that statement from the Honolulu police chief?

People deserve better than that insane idea.