-In Penal Code section 417, California law
defines brandishing a weapon as drawing, exhibiting,
or using a deadly weapon in a rude, angry,
or threatening manner.
So if you point a gun at somebody,
if you draw a switchblade and threaten someone with it,
if you lift up your shirt to demonstrate
that you have a gun in your waistband,
and this is in a threatening manner,
then those are examples of brandishing a weapon.
Now, brandishing a weapon is a serious crime.
It can be charged as a felony or a misdemeanor.
Even as a misdemeanor, it can result in you losing your right
to own, possess, or use firearms in the future.
There's a couple of typical defenses in a brandishing case.
One is to say that our client didn't do it.
And, as with any crime, it's not uncommon for false accusations
to be made for a variety of reasons.
But another typical defense is to say
that our client did brandish the weapon,
but did so in self-defense.
So it might be a situation where our client legitimately felt
threatened, was being harassed, was
being intimidated by the accuser and so displayed,
or brandished a weapon, in order to quell the situation,
in order to get the person to back off and leave them alone.
And it wasn't really to incite further violence.
It was to stop violence from occurring.
If we can show that it was legitimate self-defense, then
we can almost always get the brandishing charge dismissed.
I had a client recently who was charged
with brandishing and displaying a gun to another driver
on the freeway, a road rage incident.
And my client was arrested.
But when I spoke with my client and his witness,
what I found out is that the other driver
was harassing him and threatening him.
And he did have a gun and he did display it,
but he displayed it in order to get the other person
to leave him alone.
I was able to get a statement from my client,
and the witness, and bring it to the district attorney.
And when they looked at all of the evidence,
they decided not to prosecute.