Summary
At a Lafayette, Indiana anti-Trump rally Saturday, a man pulled an assault-style rifle after clashing with protesters who blocked his truck at a Third Street intersection.
Video shows the man in a MAGA hat yelling at protesters, prompting another man—angered by the confrontation with women—to intervene.
The two exchanged shouts before the protester headbutted the man. He returned to his truck, retrieved a rifle, and reentered the crowd.
Police detained but released him, citing self-defense. The “Hands Off!” rally drew nearly 1,000 people and ended early amid safety concerns.
How does going back to your vehicle and retrieving a n assault rifle count as self defense? That’s premeditated at that point if he were to use it.
The difference between this, and any other mass shooting is just whether this guy decided to pull the trigger, which he obviously wanted too.
I wouldn’t say premeditated as it was in the heat of the moment, but intentional as hell and not self defense at all
He drove there with an assault rifle.
While I get what you’re implying, if he can legally carry it, that means nothing. Going to get it and returning, that’s the real issue
Premeditated has a specific legal definition. He went back to his truck and came back with a gun. I would find it a hard sell to say that wasn’t premeditated if I was on a jury.
What matters is he should be held accountable. I think we agree on that
I think premeditated in the legal sense means planned. So they would probably have to prove he intentionally went to the protest vs happened to be going that way. And they would probably have to prove he doesn’t drive around with that weapon all the time. But I am not a lawyer.
They just have to prove that he intentionally went back to his vehicle and then intentionally left it again to confront the people with the firearm.
If he’d run back to his vehicle and then tried to leave the area while waving his gun, that wouldn’t be premeditated.
But that’s not what he did. He intentionally escalated the situation while not being threatened.
While I was inclined to disagree, this legal thingy seems to support that. https://govt.westlaw.com/wciji/Document/Iefa67921e10d11daade1ae871d9b2cbe?originationContext=document&transitionType=StatuteNavigator&needToInjectTerms=False&viewType=FullText&contextData=(sc.Default)