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Randy England

Book Review: Deadly Force- Understanding Your Right to Self Defense, Massad Ayoob


This book was written by Massad Ayoob and published in 2014. Massad Ayoob discusses in depth, Ability, Opportunity, and Jeopardy. Further explaining, when all three are present at the same time, they create a situation of immediate danger of death or grave bodily harm. Ayoob describes some less lethal options that can be useful to carry in order to have steps before using the gun as the answer to deescalate the situation or if a person isn’t willing to carry a gun in order to protect themselves and their family the OC sprays or ERD’s might be something to think about. He goes into great detail in describing pre-assaultive behavior and indicators to watch for. Ayoob covers a few modern cases in order to better show the reader how a topic might come up in court. He covered the State of Arizona v. Larry Hickey in order to better explain disparity of force and how hard it can be in a anti-gun community to convince the Jury your case of disparity of force. This case also shows how it can really benefit someone to become a member of Marty Haye’s Armed Citizens Legal Defense Network. Ayoob covers the State of Florida v. George Zimmerman to cover disparity of force, he explains this case in great detail and explains the political factors that complicated the case. Ayoob shows the reader that even with clear cut cases of self-defense, it can become very difficult to become acquitted now that politics has made its way into the courtroom. Judges don’t always rule in favor of right and wrong, nowadays some Judges push their own personal beliefs into the outcome of the case or use the case to try and increase the health of their business relations with the pubic. This is exactly what the Judge handling the Zimmerman case did, she was trying to better her pubic relations with the black community. Ayoob explains the difference for when to claim the castle doctrine and when to claim stand your ground and explains the differences in way that is very easily understood. Ayoob covers a couple very interesting topics that can be useful in court such as the doctrine of competing arms and he also talks about Jury Nullification. I found this to be a very worthwhile book to read. I got a lot of new information out of it and Masaad Ayoob explains things in a way that is very easy to understand, especially in the legal section.

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