The reality in Democratic cities and jurisdictions is that Democratic prosecutors want to make self-defense illegal because their worldview is warped to view criminals as victims rather than to protect actual victims from criminals.
Scott Hayes was arrested in Newtown, Massachusetts, and charged with assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and violation of a constitutional right causing injury. Hayes was taking part in a pro-Israel protest when a pro-Hamas agitator, Caleb Gannon, ran across the road to attack Hayes. Hayes ended up shooting Gannon, who was not arrested at the scene and was only later charged after backlash grew.
That backlash came from a video that showed Gannon yelling at pro-Israel protesters from the other side of the street before sprinting through traffic to attack them. Gannon was the aggressor and the only one here who should be charged with anything, but Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan, a Democrat, is focusing the weight of her office on Hayes, who was the victim. Ryan has also prosecuted a homeless woman for owning a stun gun after that woman had used it to protect herself from her abusive ex-boyfriend, who had previously beaten her so bad she was hospitalized, a case that made it up to the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, in New York City, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is continuing his shameless prosecution of Daniel Penny. You may remember Penny as the man who subdued Jordan Neely, who was acting erratic and threatening subway passengers. Penny put Neely in a chokehold that ended up killing him. Bragg is now trying to destroy Penny’s life, recently asking the court to ban testimony about Neely’s deteriorated mental state in an effort to paint him as an innocent bystander instead of the aggressor that he was — because that would undermine Penny’s defense.
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Bragg, too, had a history of criminalizing self-defense prior to this moment. He had tried to prosecute an elderly bodega worker for defending himself from a violent criminal who was threatening and assaulting him. Bragg only backed down when a video showed just how ludicrous his decision was, but not after locking up the bodega worker in Rikers Island.
The message Bragg and Ryan are sending is that self-defense against violent criminals is not allowed in their jurisdictions. Criminals are a protected class according to their warped views of the justice system, meaning that protecting yourself, or, in Penny’s case, protecting others, is actually a heinous criminal act. Democratic prosecutors across the country have shown that they will not prosecute actual criminals. Bragg and Ryan are taking that further, showing they would rather treat victims of crime as criminals than lock criminals up in the first place.