Marsy’s Law, Being Debated in NH, is Anti-Self-Defense

By Evan Nappen

by Evan F. Nappen, Attorney at Law

USA – -(Ammoland.com)- “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” ~ Proverb

Marsy’s Law is well-intended: any sensible person cares about victims of crime. However, the unintended consequences of this proposed Constitutional Amendment are bad news for those who might lawfully use force to defend themselves.

It is not uncommon for law-abiding defenders who use force to defend themselves, often with a firearm, to end up criminally charged even though they were justified in their use of force. This is because “Self-Defense” (known as “Justification” in the legal world) is an “affirmative defense” that first must be demonstrated by the defender before the State is burdened with having to disprove the defense beyond a reasonable doubt.

Marsy’s Law would grant so-called “victims” of a lawful defender’s use of force special rights, which will make the defenders task of proving self-defense much more difficult.

In other words, if you shoot a bad guy and are criminally charged, the bad guy would then be the “victim” and …Read the Rest

Source:: AmmoLand