Is Self-Defense Legal in Massachusetts?

Surely this is a sign of End Times, or something. Self-defense plea upheld in Springfield deadly shooting

The Hampden District Attorney’s Office announced Tuesday that no charges will be filed in connection with a deadly shooting in Springfield after investigators determined the involved individual acted in lawful self-defense.

According to Hampden District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni, the investigation into the July 5 shooting found that the incident began with a dispute on social media involving 35-year-old Robert Murchison of Springfield.

Robert Murchison did not survive.

A Massachusetts District Attorney makes a determination of lawful self-defense in less than a month. I'm flabbergasted. It was actually less than a week. The incident took place on the 5th, and the first article on self-defense being upheld was published on 9 July. (Though it didn't end up in my news searches until more recently.)

Springfield, which is the county seat of Hampden County, is about a 90 mile drive west of downtown Boston.

For a Massachusetts DA to move this fast, the evidence must be overwhelming.

According to the DA’s Office, investigators reviewed statements from those involved, an independent eyewitness account, Ring camera footage, 911 recordings, physical evidence collected at the scene, and text messages and social media communications exchanged before the incident.

Hat tip to AmmoLand News: Armed Wife Fires One Shot to Save Husband From Gunman at Massachusetts Home

A Firearm Made the Difference

This case presents another straightforward example of why the right to keep and bear arms includes the ability to protect not only yourself but also the people you love.

The woman did not go looking for a confrontation. According to investigators, the confrontation came to her home. She did not initiate the physical altercation, and she did not introduce a firearm into the dispute. She acted only after an armed man allegedly pointed a handgun at her husband and pursued him.

Self-Defense or Murder? In Massachusetts They Can't Decide

If this happened in Texas ... ‘I Didn’t Want to Die’: Murder Suspect Surrenders After Cape Cod Restaurant Shooting

A 26-year-old man who turned himself in to police after fatally shooting a 35-year-old man in the head at a popular Cape Cod restaurant has told investigators he acted in self-defense after being jumped, punched, and struck repeatedly in the head with a hard object during a confrontation inside the Moonfish restaurant.

He was bleeding from a head wound, that was inflicted during the assault. The cops in Massachusetts still couldn't ID this as likely self-defense, and they arrested him.

He said during an interview that he tried to walk away, the guy who got shot (the the reporters in MA keep calling a victim) hit him in the head with something.

Detectives observed dried blood on his head; he refused medical treatment.

West Dennis, Massachusetts, is about an 80 mile drive south and east of Boston.

I hope I can find more about this incident, because it is clearly more complicated than the tiny minds of New England police and reporters can deal with.

The Massachusetts Justice System Doesn't Care about Public Safety

If the state was worried about public safety, they would lock up criminals. They do not. Focusing on Gun Control Rather Than Criminal Control Forces Armed Citizens to Act in Self-Defense - Shooting News Weekly

Okay, so there was the recent shooting in Cambridge, Massachusetts that was stopped by a citizen with a concealed carry license, and a state trooper. (More on that below.)

What I learned today (the 19th) was that the bad guy in question had been convicted for a shooting in 2020, and was out of prison already.

The then District Attorney, D.A. Rachael Rollins, requested 10 to 12 years for this guy. He would still be in prison, and he would probably not have been shot. But the judge in that 2020 case, didn't think that was fair, so he was sentenced to 5 to 6 years in prison. That judge is Judge Janet Sanders.

Thus, another police officer, and an armed citizen were forced to temporarily incapacitate this dangerous individual where the state’s criminal justice system proved unwilling to do so. Law-abiding gun owners have every right to be disgusted with a government that fails in its most basic duty to protect the public from criminal violence while it works hard to prevent decent people from providing for their own protection.

As has been noted in several places, Massachusetts is not the most open state when it comes to concealed carry.

For details on the incident in Cambridge, see this link: Good Guy With a Gun Helps Stop Bad Guy

Hat tip to Stephen Green at Instapundit: PUTTING YOU AT RISK BY DESIGN

Good Guy With a Gun Helps Stop Bad Guy

Isn't this one of the things that the Left says never happens? Good guy with a gun stops mass shooting - The Horn News

A Marine veteran with a concealed carry permit teamed up with a Massachusetts State Police trooper and stopped an active shooter on Cambridge’s Memorial Drive Monday afternoon.

The gunman had already fired more than 50 rounds at rush-hour traffic before the trooper and Marine combined to put him down.

And why say Crazy People Are Dangerous?

Brown had been released from McLean Hospital, a psychiatric facility in Belmont, just three days earlier.

This is the Liberty Doll video Gun Owner Stops Mass Shooting in Gun Control State

There are a lot of questions, but the local DA has apparently said that he helped to stop the incident early on.

The video is 10 minutes.

Massachusetts Chases Away High Earners

It is almost like economic incentives work. Massachusetts saw $4.2B income outflow after millionaire surtax took effect - InvestmentNews

Massachusetts residents who left the state took a net $4.2 billion in adjusted gross income with them in 2023, a year that marked the first full year of a new surtax on millionaires, according to recently released Internal Revenue Service migration data.

The outflow was among the largest totals in the country and represented an 8% increase from the prior year, even as the pace of departures slowed. The net number of tax returns from outgoing residents fell 36% from 2022 to 2023, the data from February showed, suggesting fewer movers overall but more income attached to those moves.

So they raised taxes on the "rich" - top earners - nearly doubling the tax rate from 5 percent to 9 percent. Is anyone shocked that those high earners left the state?

Beyond Massachusetts, several Democrat-led states have approved or are considering similar taxes on top earners – with California and New York being on the front lines – and Washington lawmakers advanced a millionaires tax proposal this month, with an effective date of Jan. 1, 2028.

Two states people are already leaving as fast as they can find a UHaul truck.

It is always about raising taxes, never about cutting costs. It is never about rooting out the fraud, that we know exists. It is always about taking more money from the citizens.

Democrat Wants to Limit Your Freedom to Move Around

I don't think this qualifies as "saying the quiet part out loud." It has been clear to some of us for a long time that they want the serfs to stay put. Why? They hate your freedom. "Reduce the Need for Personal Vehicles": Top Massachusetts Democrat Wants to Limit How Many Miles Residents Can Drive or Drive at All, Because 'Climate Change' | The Gateway Pundit | by Kristinn Taylor

Massachusetts Senate Majority Leader Cynthia Stone Creem (D) introduced a bill this year to create a commission with the goal of reducing the number of miles driven by residents in their cars because of ‘climate change’, with an ultimate goal to “reduce the need for personal vehicles.”

Because they hate your freedom, and they love control. Control of every aspect of your life.

Justice Has Not Been Served in This Case

This case should probably never have been brought to trial, but prosecutors in deep blue Massachusetts HATE self-defense. Woman Acquitted In Fatal Stabbing At Stone Horse Dormitories In 2022

According to police reports of the incident, Brown and Drysdale were together in her room that morning, and she was making breakfast when he made sexual advances. Brown’s defense team argued that she had suffered a history of domestic violence at Drysdale’s hands, and the stabbing was an act of self defense.

But prosecutors charged her, and held her in jail for 2 years awaiting trial.

It took the jury less than 24 hours to hand down not guilty verdicts in the case, one for the charge of murder and one for assault and battery with a dangerous weapon causing serious bodily injury.

Harwich, Massachusetts is on Cape Cod, about an 80 mile drive from Boston.

Why does any sane person live in Massachusetts?

While she was in jail awaiting trial, her visa expired.

Self-defense is a human right, but they don't like that in Massachusetts.

Self-Defense Is Illegal In Massachusetts

Are we shocked that a liberal city would arrest and charge a pro-Israel man for defending himself from a terrorist-supporting man? In Massachusetts, self-defense is off limits | Israel National News - Arutz Sheva

Scott Hayes, an Iraq War Veteran was attacked on Thursday evening by Caleb Gannon, a terrorist supporter, while Hayes was peacefully attending a rally. A long-standing ally and friend to the Jewish community, Hayes attended a pro-Israel rally in Newton, Massachusetts on Thursday evening where participants were holding American and Israeli flags.

While standing on the street, he was attacked by Gannon, who is seen on video charging at him from across the street before attacking him.

At one point, Gannon had his arms around Hayes’ neck choking him. Hayes, in self-defense, allegedly shot Gannon with a legal weapon. Hayes has been arrested and charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon as well as violation of a constitutional right, causing injury.

A bigger miscarriage of justice I cannot imagine.

Massachusetts Gun Sales at Record Levels

I hope they also get training. Gun sales in deep blue Massachusetts hit record levels beginning in 2020, sparked by fear: Report | Fox News

The WBUR analysis published Wednesday found gun dealers in the state sold nearly 276,000 firearms from 2020 through 2021, with the majority of sales being handguns, at 64%, while 23% of the sales were for rifles.

There is a lot of room for growth, as Massachusetts is tied with New Jersey for the lowest percentage of households owning at least 1 firearm.

Massachusetts gun sales overall in 2021 were up 57% from 2019 and doubled that year compared to 10 years ago, WBUR found.

They also cover some of the national trends.

The national surge in gun sales in 2020 was also partially driven by first-time gun owners, including women and minorities. Leary reported similar findings, saying women and minorities are more frequently visiting the shop and added that even his middle school lunch lady made a visit.

Overall it is a good article. They talk of crime, and police response times. They interview gun store owners, and one person who owns a firearm in Deep Blue Mass.

How's That Bail Reform Working Out?

Good thing there weren't any guns in the home, the intruder might be dead, and that would be a tragedy. For someone. Brave 14-year-old girl arms herself with steak knives and scares away intruder | Daily Mail Online

Avery Cormie was home with her 12-year-old sister when Joseph Ridge broke in. She grabbed a couple of steak knives and told him to "get out of my house!"

As he was leaving she recorded his truck, so she was able to provide the license plate number to police. He was arrested.

Ridge, described by police as a 'career criminal', was out on bail at the time of the alleged break-in and was apprehended shortly after and charged with aggravated breaking and entering during the day, trespassing and disorderly conduct, police said.

They don't say what he was out on bail for, and I'm not interested enough to go search. It is enough to know that a "career criminal" was granted bail.

Self-defense is a human-right.

Even in Deep Blue States, People Are Waking Up

Imagine a law enforcement official calling for law and order. In Massachusetts. Springfield police commissioner says ‘quick release’ of repeat offenders must end (Viewpoint)

Cheryl C. Clapprood , the police commissioner of Springfield, Massachusetts is frustrated by the continual release of violent criminals. And the general inability of the Criminal Justice system to maintain order.

society deserves to be protected from those who are determined to harm us and cause us to live in fear. Unfortunately, there are those individuals who are not going to change.

They are dangerous people who hurt, kill and disrupt lives without a second thought. The innocent, law-abiding citizens deserve protection.

And Massachusetts in general, and Springfield in particular, isn't experiencing the worst of this.

No Mention of Right and Wrong

And of course no mention of Good and Evil. Boy, 15, shot dead in Holyoke

So this is the story of a tragedy. A completely predictable tragedy, but... A 15-year-old was shot and killed by 22-year-old.

Hernandez said the shootings could have been connected with the drug dealing that takes place in that area, and that for many young people in the city’s lower wards the lack of economic opportunity leaves them vulnerable to the drug trade.

The police have responded with more patrols, which the community is viewing with alarm. But they have no real answers.

“We need to figure out a way to work together. It’s not trying to pick on someone, it’s trying to make the community a safer, better place to live,” [City Councilor Terrence Murphy] said.

Figure out way. With no reference to good and evil. With no consequences for people who do commit crime. Keeping violent offenders in jail would be unfair.

For 70 years the governments of this country, local, state and federal, have worked to destroy the family. The people in Hollywood have worked to remove religion from our culture. No consequences in this life, or in the hereafter. And they are shocked and amazed to discover that with no consequences, things devolve into Hobbes' State of War.

Someone will say the schools need to be better. And they do, but you won't get there by throwing more money at the problem. That is what they have been doing for 50 years. They need to find some way to reintroduce discipline into the schools, or at least remove all the students who are disruptive. How many students will be left? I don't know, but it should be the only ones who want to learn. But that is unfair, I will be told.

Someone will say that more after school activities are required.

Anyone who brings up "economic opportunity" should have to account for all the damage done in all the riots this year.