The use of a firearm in self-defense is, ultimately, at the heart of the Second Amendment. Frankly, using anything in self-defense is at the heart of the Second Amendment, which isn’t limited to firearms.

Yet from time to time, good people who do so face murder charges.

A prime example of this, of course, is Kyle Rittenhouse. The young man defended himself and ended up in court having to defend himself all over again.

However, Rittenhouse isn’t the only example. Here’s another.

The event unfolded when [Alejandro] Gonzalez packed his two sons and girlfriend in their car and headed from Atlanta, Georgia to Baltimore, according to Stark. The family was headed to pickup Gonzalez’s mother and then continue north to New York City to visit Gonzalez’s grandmother.

When Gonzalez arrived at his mother’s home, several feral cats were occupying the front patio, with Gonzalez’s mother explaining her upstairs neighbor stacked his trash on the balcony rather than bringing it to the dumpster. When the trash leaks, it drips down to the patio and attracts vermin so she had begun to feed the cats to keep the mice away, his mother told him, according to Stark.

Gonzalez’s mother told her son she attempted to talk to the neighbor but he was allegedly disrespectful and they had a “hostile relationship.”

Stark said his client then tried talking to the neighbor. The neighbor allegedly began threatening Gonzalez before telling him to “stay there, we’re going to take care of this,” according to Stark.

“He’s nobody’s fool, I think he knew,” Stark said, noting Gonzalez immediately thought the neighbor was calling for backup and that he was part of a gang.

Stark said Gonzalez grabbed his mother’s legal 9mm handgun as a precaution and loaded his family back into the vehicle.

“He did the right thing as far as I’m concerned. ‘Alright, we’re out of here,’” Stark said.

As Gonzalez tried to assist his mother, the neighbor allegedly came downstairs with a wooden chair, bashed it into the sidewalk and advanced on Gonzalez with one of the broken legs. As the neighbor allegedly approached Gonzalez, Gonzalez fired three shots, according to Stark.

Now, Gonzalez is being charged with murder.

Oh, but folks in Maryland have a duty to retreat, right? Doesn’t matter.

Stark notes that with the state of the yard, Gonzalez couldn’t retreat. A duty to retreat only comes into play if retreat is possible. It apparently wasn’t here.

But that’s just one side of the story, right?

Well, yeah, but it’s one that’s supported by the physical evidence. Police reportedly found a busted chair in the yard near where they found Gonzalez’s attacker. That at least adds a great deal of credibility to his claims.

The truth is that it appears Gonzalez is guilty of not allowing himself to be brutally beaten to death by his attacker. Again, much like Rittenhouse, he was doing nothing wrong, was attacked, couldn’t get away, and was forced to use lethal force to protect himself. Also again, now he’s being prosecuted because he refused to allow himself to be murdered.

Honestly, there are some states that are just too screwed up to live in, and Maryland is definitely one of them. Especially if this is allowed to go on.

Gonzalez appears to have done everything right. He went to have a chat with a neighbor for his mother–nothing wrong with that–and everything went downhill from there. He tried to extricate himself and his family from the situation and was unable to do so before needing to act in self-defense.

Supposedly, he did what anti-gun folks say they want, and he’s being labeled a murderer now for his troubles.

Not only should he walk on any murder charges, since the guy he shot appears to have been a known gang member, but it also sounds like they should give him the key to the freaking city.

Unfortunately, Gonzalez doesn’t have any kind of self-defense insurance. That means he’s got an expensive court case ahead of him. There’s a GoFundMe to help fund his defense. (Edit: It appear GoFundMe took the page down.)