When Is Self Defense A Crime

 There are two extreme teachings in the self-defense world. Some are extreme on waiting until you are punched, kicked, or choked before you should ever self-defense. Some self-defense practitioners are on the other side of that, and they say if someone pinches your wife's ass in a bar and walks away, you should run up and kill them immediately. I lean a little bit more towards the latter of the two, but I'm not to that extreme, by any means. If someone grabbed my beautiful brides, but in a bar and walked away, I would, by no means Run up behind him and kill him, but he definitely would not get away Scot-free. On the other side of that, I would not let anyone put their hands on me before I defended myself. Physically, I would be much more proactive.

I believe the golden rule in martial arts is "stop the threat". I am not gonna wait till they lay their hands on me if I feel they are a threat to me physically, not emotionally, guys; sorry, but you can't physically defend yourself against verbal harassment. I sure wish we could, but we can't. And I don't necessarily preach about always taking the high road. You can probably be better off always taking the high road, but I am just not evolved enough. If somebody verbally attacks me, puts me down, or insults me, I am not above verbally attacking them back. I'm not saying that's the best or smartest way to do it, in fact, I think it's the opposite, but like I said, I'm not self acualized enough for that. If somebody verbally attacks me, I'm gonna come back with verbal attacks of my own, But I think it is morally and ethically. OK, but legally very not OK to respond to a verbal attack using physical needs like I say, I think if somebody is rude enough to someone else morally, the person should be able to attack them physically, but I know that it's legally very not OK, and since I want to be on the outside of a prison, I will Abide by that rule. Now I feel I am an imminent danger by someone, whether they are verbally attacking me, or I just feel that way by their actions that I am an imminent danger of a physical attack, I will attack first. Basically the bottom line is, I don't care if they're saying anything, or even if they're giving me compliments, if for any reason, I honestly feel that I am in imminent danger of being physically attacked by that person, I will attack first. the biggest argument about that is that many judges, and jury members don't really feel that unless you are struck first, you should not physically attack anyone. Since I know too well, what terrible things can happen to you physically, from a strike, a takedown, or even a hard push, where you could trip on your way back and bounce your head off the concrete leaving yourself with a subdural hematoma in a coma.  That's why I'm a firm believer. If you truly believe you are in imminent danger of being attacked, you should always attack proactively, because that helps mitigate the physical harm that could come to you.

This might be an overused phrase, and I know that soft a weak martial artist mock it. I'd rather be tried by 12, then carried by six. Weak people hate this phrase because it exposes their cowardice. It exposes the fact that they're too cowardly to defend themselves or their family, it would be easier for them just to take a beating, so they think we should as well. I don't believe that, and I would rather have to go to court, or even prison than fail at protecting my family and end up in a nursing home with a tracheostomy or even in a morgue.

Bottom line is if you feel you are in any imminent physical danger, you have the legal, ethical, and moral obligation to protect yourself, your loved ones, and even your community by being proactive.