Scott Evans
Staff Alumnus
In a self defense situation where by you have made every attempt to avoid a confrontation and you still find it necessary to take physical action at what point do you stop? Where is the line?
As I ponder this I am forming the opinion that if it becomes necessary to put someone down at all then it is just as necessary to insure that he stay down long enough for the defender to make good a retreat from the area of danger. I say this because I have come to the conclusion that a 2nd attempt by an attacker is probably MORE dangerous that the first. With the first attack the attacker may have made assumptions that lead him to believe that the victim was not as capable of self defense as he actually was. By thwarting the initial attack the victim loses any advantage of surprise in defending subsequent attacks. In getting up the Bad Guy now realizes that he underestimated you and he will not make the same mistake again. His second attack will be as focused and as intense as he can make it. His perspective will not only be to get the best of you but to punish you for your initial success. If he has or can find within reach a weapon he will use it. In allowing him to get up you remove the best (and possibly the only) advantage and or chance that you once had to survive …
This scenario goes primarily in instances where you are most likely unarmed and out matched physically. I’m not advocating finishing someone off but I am looking for a prudent and reasonable place to stop the defensive action that will best allow me a retreat from the danger area while not making me one of the bad guys as well.
Help me out with this …
As I ponder this I am forming the opinion that if it becomes necessary to put someone down at all then it is just as necessary to insure that he stay down long enough for the defender to make good a retreat from the area of danger. I say this because I have come to the conclusion that a 2nd attempt by an attacker is probably MORE dangerous that the first. With the first attack the attacker may have made assumptions that lead him to believe that the victim was not as capable of self defense as he actually was. By thwarting the initial attack the victim loses any advantage of surprise in defending subsequent attacks. In getting up the Bad Guy now realizes that he underestimated you and he will not make the same mistake again. His second attack will be as focused and as intense as he can make it. His perspective will not only be to get the best of you but to punish you for your initial success. If he has or can find within reach a weapon he will use it. In allowing him to get up you remove the best (and possibly the only) advantage and or chance that you once had to survive …
This scenario goes primarily in instances where you are most likely unarmed and out matched physically. I’m not advocating finishing someone off but I am looking for a prudent and reasonable place to stop the defensive action that will best allow me a retreat from the danger area while not making me one of the bad guys as well.
Help me out with this …