Gedanate

I’ve heard people ask, what to carry for self defense, and my reply to them is a simple ‘That depends…’

The need for self defense can happen any place and at any time. Every threat is different, the laws in every country, and state differ widely, and so do the police forces, and the law courts too. In short, it is a quagmire, and it is very easy to make a mistake when you try to defend yourself.

Now let’s make one thing very clear right away. I am not a legal expert. If you want to get a legal opinion, go and pay a good lawyer or take a law student out to dinner. But I’ll tell you now, the first thing you need to understand about self defense is that under-reacting can get you killed, injured or raped and over-reacting will get you jailed, where you can expect to be injured and raped as well. It’s not much of a choice, is it?

Under-reaction is where you fail to fight back hard enough, and your attacker is free to do whatever he likes with you.

That’s okay if he just wants your wallet or purse. But how do you know that’s all he wants? There is no guarantee he will play by the rules, and who said there were any rules to play by in the first place. This is not about playing. This is you being threatened with violence by somebody, who wants to cow you into accepting whatever they plan on doing to you.

That is not a position you want to be placed in.

But over-reaction is where fear kicks in and overrides your better judgment.

Some guy threatens to punch you, so you pull out a knife or a handgun and you blow him away…

Hmmm. It looks so impressive in the movies, but now this confrontation has become a homicide. The police will have to investigate, and crying ‘self defense’ really isn’t going to impress them too much.

Your would-be attacker didn’t have a weapon. You are unharmed in any way. There are no witnesses who will testify that he threatened you. So now, you’re in the shite. Up to the neck in deep, smelly doo-doo.

You can expect to be arrested. If the cops aren’t impressed with your story, you will probably be charged with unlawful manslaughter – or whatever. If they don’t like your face it could even be murder. If you are fortunate enough to be offered bail, you will have to pay the bail to get out, and then go and hire a good criminal lawyer. Lawyers are expensive. Good ones are very expensive.

If you own your own home, chances are you’ll have to sell it to finance the lawyer. So by the time the case has finished going through the courts, he’ll be richer, you’ll be poorer. And who’s to guarantee you won’t do jail time? I mean, win or lose, that lawyer gets his fee.

Even if you don’t get sent to jail, the family of the guy you shot or stabbed is just as likely to try and sue you… that’s if you’ve got any assets (money) left for them to grab. They hate you so they may sue you anyhow. And if they aren’t law-abiding folks, they may decide to get their revenge more directly.

Are you starting to understand there are consequences if you kill somebody, or even injure them severely? The law generally doesn’t approve of citizens being hurt by violence.

Generally speaking, the law does recognize a person’s right to defend themselves from violence; but the law also expects that the amount of violence you use to defend yourself should be the minimum necessary to get the job done. And the job is to make you safe… not necessarily to place your attacker in the mortuary or cripple the guy for life.

Every response you make should be appropriate to the threat. If he’s just loud-mouthing you and calling you names, that doesn’t legally give you the right to beat the cr*p out of him. Even though he may have said he was going to do it to you. Socially it may be okay. Like if you hit him a couple of times and he stays down, the group as a whole may approve of your teaching him a lesson and, hopefully, nobody will have you arrested. But who is going to guarantee that’s the way it will happen?

Ideally, if he wants to punch your nose, then you both could have a nice clean boxing match together. There would be a referee to make sure that nobody gets hurt badly, and everyone goes home as pals. That’s a dream.

The reality is you think you’re going to have a boxing match, but he decks you while you’re getting ready, and if you are lucky, that’s the end of the fight. He has shown his superiority to the group and everyone has witnessed your defeat.

Your pride is bruised, but you aren’t hurt. Learn from it and move on. Grow up.

So if the local bully wants to make you look like a jerk in front of everyone in a bar or a diner someplace, you ought to decline and walk away. He still gets to ‘win’ by making you look chicken. Live with that.

You do not have the right to pull a weapon on him if he is unarmed. And if you fight him, you have chosen to fight him. If you could have walked away and avoided a fight, then you cannot call it self defense when you fight him. It doesn’t matter if you win or lose. You chose to fight.

There is no ‘moral superiority’ here. You are just as much to blame as he is, and the law won’t sympathize with you if he gets injured. I mean, if walking or even running away was an option, and yet you chose to fight instead. It is not self-defense, it is a duel… And duels are illegal.

If the person threatening you really is a criminal, and he is armed with any weapon, then you don’t fight. You give him your money. Give him your watch. If you are sure he is going to kill or rape you, then you may have to choose to fight. You’d better be trained, and you had better know exactly what you are doing.

Sometimes you may have to fight back even if the odds are stacked heavily against you.

I suggest you spend serious time, money and effort and do a self defense course and / or learn a martial art. It could one day save your life or, let’s face it, it might get you killed. But I think it is better to have the skills and knowledge than not have anything to fall back on in an emergency.

As for carrying a weapon for self defense, well you can only really do that in some of those places where there is no law and order. Certain parts of South America, Africa and the Middle East come to mind here. But if you live in a so-called civilized country with a functional police force and a legal system then you have no excuse to carry a weapon. It is meant to be up to the police to protect you.

The best weapon you can carry is your brain. Use it, don’t bruise it.

Best self-defense for a complete beginner?