I just read something about the law, not checked by lawyers, but anyway. It made me think of this post I made last month
So, you can’t claim self defense, while committing a crime. The illegal carry seemed like a secondary charge, but it was central, and it has been central to the work of the NRA for 50 years. They want to say they are for certain kinds of gun rights, the right to hunt and the right to self-defense. But, in promoting that, they have made it extremely difficult to create reasonable legislation, like restrictions on non-hunting weapons, background checks, gifting a gun to a minor, when and where you can openly carry a loaded firearm.
Any one of those would have made it the duty of the police to at least hand Kyle a ticket. At that point, he would lose his right to defend himself with that weapon, because the self-defense exemption does not mean you can kill anyone anytime however you want because you feel threatened. We need changes to federal gun laws, but the prosecution really missed the boat on this one. Even though they probably would still have lost the case, they should have started at that charge.