The right to defend yourself is negated when doing so results in you being prosecuted. When people are afraid to protect their selves, assailants are emboldened.
Law enforcement officers are trained to understand the “continuum of force.” The doctrine is that they should always resort to the minimum force required by the situation. If someone begins to assault an officer, they can’t simply pull out their gun and shoot the person. They must always use the minimum force needed to subdue the violator.
There is a simple reason for the continuum of force as it applies to law enforcement: the violator is still a citizen and likely a taxpayer who pays the salary of the police officer. Citizens do not hire police to kill them over any potential conflict. If police used the maximum force to end any dispute, the public would be irate. We hire police to maintain a civil society. In a truly civil society, violence is not tolerated at all. Police are to subdue and arrest a violent person but cause as little harm as possible to the offender.
The United States Constitution states that we have a right to bear arms, yet many states require permits to carry. Carry permit classes are often taught by law enforcement professionals who teach the continuum of force, and courts treat citizens as if they should follow the continuum. The truth is that citizens should not have to follow this rule. The right to self-defense is an ancient right with hundreds of years of English law case precedence. Instituting a continuum of force standard on citizens has empowered violent offenders to engage in violence with little accountability. Innocent people are afraid to defend their selves when they know they will be prosecuted for doing so. Such a situation denies people their right to self-protection.
Guns do not kill most people killed by assailants. Many are stabbed or beaten to death. More people are killed with hammers and blunt-force implements than by firearms. Many are beaten to death with the assailant’s bare hands or kicked to death while down.
A citizen has an absolute right not to be assaulted. When someone assaults you, the situation may become fatal in a fraction of a second. In many instances, the amount of time a person has to respond once the situation has become potentially fatal is less time than it takes to assess the situation fully. If the victim took the time to consider all factors, they may be fatally injured before deciding on a course of action.
Victims should not be judged on how they react in a fraction of a second. When assaulted, your “fight or flight” response kicks in, and you respond instinctively. It is fundamental to human nature to react instinctively; no human can escape this. An innocent person who is assaulted cannot be held responsible for how they react. The person who created the situation (the assailant) bears full responsibility for the outcome of the situation. If they didn’t assault a person, they would be fine.
It only takes one hit to knock a person unconscious. One blow to the head can put you in a situation where you are stunned or disabled to the point of being unable to fend off a fatal attack. If assaulted by a group of people, you will be overwhelmed. Nobody can fight off a large group of people (unless you have 30-round magazines).
If a person assaults you, you have the God-given right to respond with the maximum force you are threatened with. If a mob keeps coming at you, you have the right to draw a weapon. If they keep coming, you have the right to start shooting. If a person attempts to hit your head, you have the right to respond with lethal force since only one hit can lead to your death.
In today’s courts, the victims are treated as the offenders. Violent offenders know this and are not afraid to assault people. If civility is to be restored, then violent offenders need to know that they face death if they attack and know that the victim will be exonerated. They need to know that people are not afraid to shoot them if they don’t back down. You have a right to defend yourself, but that right is denied if your rights aren’t respected and judges who lack fidelity to the Constitution prosecute you.
Self-defense reform requires the continuum of force only to apply to public employees and to implement maximum mandatory prison terms for violent offenders. Citizens have a right to respond with the utmost force they are threatened with without facing prosecution. Nobody can be held responsible for how they react when assaulted. Fight or flight responses are human nature. Victims who are put in a situation where they instinctively react must be protected by law. Only with such reform will civility be restored.
If you don’t want to be killed, don’t assault people because you are responsible for the outcome.
To further restore civility, violence of all forms should come with mandatory jail terms. If you so much as punch somebody, you spend time in jail. If you are a repeat offender, the jail times increase exponentially with each occurrence. People need to know that civil society has no tolerance for violence.