Andrew Branca is one of my favorite YouTube lawyers.
He's a specialist in self-defense law and his book is really good.
Almost two years ago now, as I was bombing around in central Pennsylvania for work, I found myself between audiobooks and not in the mood to start up a new one. As a YouTube Premium subscriber (we exist) I figured I would see if anything interesting was on in the “live” tab. Probably Pat McAfee’s show, or something.
As it turned out, America was watching the Kyle Rittenhouse trial, and Gaige Grosskreutz (Biceps Bro) was on the stand.
Oh. Oh my. Yes, you have my attention.
I tuned in to the recommended channel and listened as I worked around Harrisburg, which is a beautiful part of the country, btw. Rittenhouse’s lawyers were right in the middle of cross-examining Grosskreutz, who recently made the news for breaking his other arm, and the exchange went a little something like this:
(Lawyer) You’re a felon, right?
(GG) That’s…correct.
“And this is you in the video here, right? Standing over Kyle?”
“That’s correct.”
“And that’s a gun in your hand, right?”
“Uh…”
“Pointed at Kyle’s head?”
“I… uhhhhhhh…”
“You’re not sposta do that, right?”
“That’s correct.”
(Paraphrased, but you get the idea.)
Now, the channel I caught just happened to be Rekieta Law, hosted by internet drunkard and professional bastard Nick Rekieta, a guy I happen to like, but can be a hard pill to swallow sometimes. I super-paraphrased that moment, but if you want to see how it played out in real-time, I’ve got you.
Nick had an array of other lawyers on his channel during the trial. Former prosecutors, former defenders, lawyers with firms in different states and across several specialties. It was hilarious and informative and substantive all at once. Even the YouTube lawyers didn’t know what was going to happen, and they argued with each other over different pieces of procedure as the trial played out.
I ended up following the stream every day for the next two weeks. I was immediately hooked. I’ve never listened to a true-crime podcast, which apparently makes me abnormal for my generation, but damn if YouTube lawyer commentary streams aren’t my jam.
Throughout this whole process, I ended up subscribed to three or four other lawyers, most notably Andrew Branca from (I think) Colorado, a man with thirty years of self-defense law under his belt. He’s got a book that he gives away for free so I reached out and got one. I just finished it this week.
The short summary is that it walks you through the things you need to know in order to defend yourself legally from threats. Just as important, he tells you what not to do, and what prosecutors will pounce on.
For a book about the law, it’s highly accessible to the average man, and the arguments follow a very smooth, logical flow from beginning to end. It’s easy to refer back to and brush up on from time to time.
That’s really all there is to it. If you carry a gun, you should also read this book, and check out Branca’s livestreams/videos on his YouTube channel. He’s a smart guy and worth the time. It just might keep you from doing something stupid and ending up in the slammer.