do you know your rights?
 

The college experience for me has been one of enlightenment. Not only because of the classes I'm taking obviously, but because of the people I'm getting to know. From where I'm from, people don't know much about their rights and whenever they see a cop they think that they are automatically guilty of something. I felt the same way.

Until recently. I know people whose entire mindset is based around circumventing or just slightly evading things to not only win arguments but to be confident in know-how enough to not get into a lot of trouble. This is wonderous for me. I want to know my rights, I want to be able to stand ground when shit goes down and save myself from whatever just in case I find myself in a situation where I do whatever.

I want to know my rights Do you know your rights? I'd like to learn of course, what are some good books and/or ways to learn aside from taking school courses? Have any stories, be welcome to share. Free speech, take advantage of it!

What in the bloody hell are you talking about?

Random stuff that people don't really know about, self-defense laws, use of deadly force, concealed weapons, etc.

Exactly. I'm not condoning anyone committing any crimes or anything. But you can save yourself a lot of time and energy if you know your rights and not have to deal with a lot of crap rather than allowing the cops to prosecute you on illegal grounds and forcing you to go through a lot of paperwork and bullshit to come out of it.

You'll really need to be more specific, such as give us examples of situations you'd likely need to know your rights in, in what state, at what time, etc.

Indeed.

So what is your field of study? Criminal Justice? Because I can tell you that a college education alone will not give you more knowledge on such a broad topic as your rights. In a lot of ways, even Criminal Justice won't entirely satisfy your desire to learn more on this topic. What it sounds like you're going to need to do is get acquainted with your local and state laws. There are probably some obscure laws in your city that you might find interesting.

I was able to find my states laws in like...10 minutes on the internet. I haven't used them, but I know I can if there is a law I want to look up. Also, lawyers can tell you what you want to know. Also, if you go to the court house and look behind the judge, they should have lots of neatly organized books on the law

Go out to Barnes & Noble or Borders and buy yourself a copy of the U.S. Constitution. Barnes & Noble had a nice set on sale last year of the Constitution, Declaration, and Articles of Confederation. It can be an interesting read.

Find your State's web site, and find a resource there that lists all current enforced laws.

Also, keep in mind that just because you know what your rights are doesn't mean someone isn't going to shove a nightstick up your sphincter and apply a taser to your balls until you evacuate your bowels all over yourself. Sure, you can hire a lawyer and cry legal foul all over the place, but you're still not going to be able to sit down in your fecal stained pants for a week. This is where street smarts and common sense can save you a lot of pain.