Right of Self Defense

In 2005 15 states passed laws expanding the right of self defense, to allow crime victims to use deadly force. Since the new laws took effect in Florida, lawyers agree that less people claiming self defense are being charged and convicted for it. The Florida law has served as a model for others. It gives people the right to utilize deadly force against trespassers in their own homes. They are no longer required to prove that they were in fear for their safety.

The law further states that someone attacked in public is not required to retreat before employing violent force, and that the victim has the right to stand his ground. Opponents of this law feel that it is basically giving citizens a license to kill.

Defensive force needs to be restricted to resisting invasive actions against person or property. The invasive actions can also include intimidation- as in the direct threat of physical harm and theft. The intimidating threat must be immediate (not a threat of future violence), clear and direct.

If one has the right of self defense, one also must have the right to hire or accept the assistance of another person to do the defending. No one, in an effort to implement his right to self defense, may force another into defending him. That would make him as much a criminal assailant as the original aggressor.

One has the right of self defense until he starts to violate the rights of another. No physical force can be used against an innocent person, that would constitute infringing on his rights. Legal violent defensive force is limited to violent assault.

So, in the end common sense must prevail. If you make a decision in a split second to save your life- or the lives of your loved ones- when you are being attacked, the law will be on your side. In every crime there is a victim (plaintiff) and an alleged criminal (defendant). It will be the purpose of the court- to the best of their ability- to determine which is which.

We do what our own instincts lead us to do and hopefully we haven’t misinterpreted the situation. One way or another we must live with our decisions, whether we did nothing- resulting in serious injury or death (ours or someone else’), reacted appropriately, or went ballistic unnecessarily- in which case we may convicted and or sued.

Click here to learn more about the law and self defense.

It should be stated that this entire page refers to the laws of the United States. I would not even venture a guess at the laws of other countries, please find web pages dedicated to your specific location.

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