Georgia Supreme Court Finds Students Have Right To Self-Defense

By Tom Knighton

To say the right to self-defense is essential is like saying water is wet. While technically true, it fails to encompass the complete magnitude of its importance.

However, one group of people typically gets screwed out of this right: students.

Back in my school days, I was kind of a small, geeky kid who was the unending target of bullies. Invariably, once every few years, someone would push me too far and a fight would ensue, then we would both be punished equally because the rules said so. I was supposed to tell a teacher or someone else, even if there was absolutely no way to tell anyone.

Luckily, in my home state of Georgia, that’s no longer the case.

In its first decision in a school discipline case, the Georgia Supreme Court ruled zero tolerance policies on school fighting cannot deny students the right to assert they were defending themselves. The court said Georgia law gives students the legal right to argue self-defense as a justification.

Georgia Code states, “A person is justified in threatening or using force against another when…he or she reasonably believes that such threat or force is necessary to defend himself or herself or a third person against …Read the Rest

Source:: Bearing Arms