Use of Force Laws

Agree with Sentoguy. Self defense laws are state-specific, and some states impose a “duty to retreat.” If you’re really not sure, your school’s insurance company probably knows someone familiar with the law who can advise you.

When the cops show up and there’s a fight going on, they’re going to put you both in cuffs and sort it out later. Right or wrong, be ready for a lawsuit from the other guy. You can be right, and still face both criminal and civil suits. Be ready for the other guy’s lawyer to make you out to be the second coming of Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, and Muhammad Ali rolled into one, and the other guy to be a poor, innocent schmuck you decided to brutalize without provocation. It helps if you shout things that sound defensive for any witnesses to remember (stop, get off me, go away, etc). That way when it comes up in court, any witnesses remember you as the defender instead of the aggressor. Attacks on a downed opponent also look very aggressive, better to disengage and retreat if at all possible. I know this isn’t fun to hear, and I wish that once someone attacked you the law would let you keep him from making that mistake again, but the truth is that getting in a fight is not going to be a fun experience if it goes to court.

From everything I have been taught regarding “Use of Force”… whether it be in the military, concealed carry classes, self defense classes, combat instructor classes, Criminal Justice, Martial Arts, or honestly many other places… there is one defining constant, even across state lines.

The words “I acted out of fear of my own personal safety”!

Anything from pushing someone to killing someone is mandated by law in terms of this overarching concept.

In terms as this post was started- As a Krav Maga Player thru “Master”, you do not stop until the threat is nullified! You would not need to kill someone who punches you and goes down after your first strike or throw, and you wouldn’t need to stop short of their death had the threat they presented upon you stopped before they died!

You legally, and morally if anyone cares, acted out of fear of your own personal safety right up until the threat ceased to exist. NO MATTER HOW TRAINED YOU ARE, you are within the “Use of Force” until you exceed the threat. A cop isn’t at fault for deadly force violation because he’s trained to kill someone, unless he kills someone that didn’t need to die. The same applies for ANY other training that would legally categorize you as capable of “Deadly Force”.

My 2cents= NEVER teach a player anything other than what you are… anything else wouldn’t be KRAV!!!

[quote]devildog_jim wrote:
Agree with Sentoguy. Self defense laws are state-specific, and some states impose a “duty to retreat.” If you’re really not sure, your school’s insurance company probably knows someone familiar with the law who can advise you.

When the cops show up and there’s a fight going on, they’re going to put you both in cuffs and sort it out later. Right or wrong, be ready for a lawsuit from the other guy. You can be right, and still face both criminal and civil suits. Be ready for the other guy’s lawyer to make you out to be the second coming of Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, and Muhammad Ali rolled into one, and the other guy to be a poor, innocent schmuck you decided to brutalize without provocation. It helps if you shout things that sound defensive for any witnesses to remember (stop, get off me, go away, etc). That way when it comes up in court, any witnesses remember you as the defender instead of the aggressor. Attacks on a downed opponent also look very aggressive, better to disengage and retreat if at all possible. I know this isn’t fun to hear, and I wish that once someone attacked you the law would let you keep him from making that mistake again, but the truth is that getting in a fight is not going to be a fun experience if it goes to court.[/quote]

Great post.

[quote]FightinIrish26 wrote:

[quote]devildog_jim wrote:
Agree with Sentoguy. Self defense laws are state-specific, and some states impose a “duty to retreat.” If you’re really not sure, your school’s insurance company probably knows someone familiar with the law who can advise you.

When the cops show up and there’s a fight going on, they’re going to put you both in cuffs and sort it out later. Right or wrong, be ready for a lawsuit from the other guy. You can be right, and still face both criminal and civil suits. Be ready for the other guy’s lawyer to make you out to be the second coming of Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, and Muhammad Ali rolled into one, and the other guy to be a poor, innocent schmuck you decided to brutalize without provocation. It helps if you shout things that sound defensive for any witnesses to remember (stop, get off me, go away, etc). That way when it comes up in court, any witnesses remember you as the defender instead of the aggressor. Attacks on a downed opponent also look very aggressive, better to disengage and retreat if at all possible. I know this isn’t fun to hear, and I wish that once someone attacked you the law would let you keep him from making that mistake again, but the truth is that getting in a fight is not going to be a fun experience if it goes to court.[/quote]

Great post.[/quote]

AGREED!!!

In Belgium we can only call in “Self-Defense” when one of these 2 conditions are present:

  1. We believe to be in danger of our lives or feel threatened by a person.
  2. We believe another person was in danger if his/her life and was not able to defend him or herself.

And in addition to the above:

  1. Any reaction of violence must be in proportion to the act that threatened us.

For example: If a person comes up to me with a knife and I punch him out cold, I would unlikely be prosecuted for excessive use of force or battery.

On the other hand if a person comes up to me and taps me on the shoulder and I beat him half to death for this, I would be prosecuted for excessive use of force. (being a mixed martial artist would also not favor me in court)