Hunting Murders Update...

Self-defense or not?

Chai Vang says the other guys fired first. Well, that probably buys him one justifiable homicide and five murders, if it turns out to be true.

Here's a link to the original Wisconsin police report of the incident. Click on the "Hunting Homicides" link, then on the "Suspect Statement" to download a PDF of the scanned report. Apparently, I'm not blog-saavy enough to make the link work directly!

As civilians, we live in a world of civilian rules of engagement. That's an important point as more and more of us get advanced training that was originally crafted for police and military units. Under military rules of engagement, Vang's actions make perfectly good sense. He was an individual under attack by a group known to have firearms. But he wasn't a military man behind enemy lines when he acted. He was, and is, a civilian.

If the police report is accurate, the rifle was not an SKS, but rather a SAIGA, which is, ironically given the earlier reports, a sporterized hunting rifle built on the tried-and-true AK-47 action at the IZHMASH arms plant in Izhevsk, Russia. The gun has been imported into the U.S. for a number of years by European American Armory in Florida and sells in the $300-400 range with a number of options.

Read the antigun spin from the Violence Policy Center (VPC), which still includes references to the "SKS assault rifle."