Posted by One of my biggest fears, is to somehow end up in prison. I have no idea how that could happen, I’m a fairly law abiding citizen, but if it can happen to Martha Stewart, if someone who builds Christmas trees out of pipe cleaners and love gets thrown in the slammer, then what chance do I have?
One of the only scenarios I could imagine where I’d end up in prison is if I got into some sort of street brawl with a hooligan, and I ended up seriously injuring or killing my attacker. Aside from the weather, there are few things in this world more chaotic than violence. Someone tries to swing at you, you step aside and throw him into a lamp post, he falls and cracks his skull on the pavement, turning his brain to pudding, and now you’ve got the right to remain silent. Hopefully an emergency response team arrives in time. You were trying to defend yourself from a mugger, now you’re defending yourself in a court of law.
Of course when it comes to self-defense I’ve always believed in the expression “Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6.” If your life is being threatened, you need to do whatever it takes to survive, and you can’t have your sharpest instincts about you if your head is all muddled with thoughts of legal ramifications. However, if you can prove that your attacker encroached on your personal space, to the point where you felt threatened, you will be more justified in how you dealt with them. This is why before any violent encounter you should have already defined what your “limits” are. In the U.S. if you beat a burglar’s head in with a 9 Iron, all you have say is “they were on my property, and I was defending my family.” The same applies if you break someone’s arm in three places, you’ll need to prove how “they were in my space, and I was defending my body.” One example of someone infiltrating your space is someone laying their hands on you or grabbing you in any way. You should consider this a strike that has already landed, and you should react accordingly.
But on the street you’ll also need to prove that you:
1. Did everything you could to verbally de-escalate the situation.
2. Could not escape and was responding to your attacker’s levels of aggression.
3. Felt that your life was in danger.
The Use of Weapons
All this being said, when is it okay to use a weapon on an attacker, and which weapons are acceptable to carry on your person at all times? We’ve used this graphic before, but it serves as an effective indicator as to when weapons can come into play without getting you into legal hot water:
Technically anything you can find can turn into a weapon. As all three Bourne movies have proven you can cause consideral damage to an opponent using a pen, a book, or a magazine, and these of course do not limit you from using your wallet, keys, your cell phone (for calling 9-11 or as a beating tool), or an umbrella to ward off an attacker.
As for actual weapons you are legally allowed to carry, the laws vary from state to state, province to province. For example in some states it is perfectly acceptable to carry pepper spray, a taser, extendable batons, knives, throwing stars and even a hand gun, as long as you have the appropriate paperwork and authorization to do so. While in others, knives, tasers, batons and guns are strictly prohibited.
So before you start roaming the streets at night with your shotgun and a pocket full of ninja stars, make sure they’re legal, make sure you’re trained in how to use them, and make sure to only pull out your weapons as a last resort. Remember, the goal is to survive, not to brutally beat someone into an unrecognizable pulp. In a world where you can get sued or even go to prison for defending yourself, make sure to define you physical limits, to keep in mind the amount of force needed for every level of aggression, and to know the laws concerning concealed weapons in your neck of the woods. Once these things are solidified in the back of your mind, you can focus all your attention on the deconstruction of your assailant.
