Liberty Minute April 17 2014

Arizona resident Jefferson Duncan was walking by an apartment complex in Phoenix when he and a friend named Jonathan Parker were approached by two off-duty police officers who had been hired as security guards. Despite the fact that it was early in the evening and neither Duncan nor Parker was suspected of a crime, the police ? who were in uniform -- accosted them.

Parker ran, and Duncan would up in an altercation with one of the officers. The officer claimed that Parker seized control of his Taser and used it on him, leaving the officer briefly incapacitated. The officer claims that when he recovered he drew his firearm and shot Parker, killing him before he could use the Taser against him again.

Leaving aside for now the question of why off-duty police officers would be wearing uniforms while working as private security guards, this incident illustrates again that Tasers are not non-lethal weapons. That is, they are not regarded as such when private citizens use them, or threaten to use them, against police, who are allowed to respond with deadly force.

What this should mean is that when police make aggressive ? and therefore unlawful ? use of Tasers, citizens are legally entitled to use lethal force in self-defense.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.