The 5 Elements of Self-Defense Law
Attorney Andrew Branca has distilled the self-defense laws in all USA 50 states. He says, “There are at most 5 elements to any self-defense case (and often not even that many). That’s true in every one of the 50 states, and all US territories.”
[ Read SemperVerus articles on the topic of the SELF-DEFENSE ]
Be sure you adhere to them if you believe you are honestly and reasonably confronted by a situation where you need to prevent an immediate, otherwise unavoidable danger of death, great bodily harm (generally considered a crippling or disfiguring injury), or, in some states, sexual assault to yourself or another innocent person you have the right to protect.
[ Read the SemperVerus article, The 4 Basic Rules of Gun Safety ]
The 5 Elements of Self-Defense Law are:
- Innocence
- Imminence (ability, opportunity, jeopardy [manifest intent])
- Proportionality
- Avoidance
- Reasonableness (subjective and objective)