It's surprising to me, the number of people who think the purpose of carrying a gun is to "kill someone." Most emphatically, it is not. Firearms are indeed useful for defense, but their usefulness does not happen simply because they can be lethal. Rather, they are useful because, to date, they are the most effective (and perhaps the only reliable) means for stopping a determined criminal attack before an innocent person is gravely injured, maimed for life, or killed.
For those who would rather use a less-lethal means of defense, I absolutely support your right to choose whatever tools or techniques you feel you need in order to protect yourself. Kudos to you for your determination to stay safe! Like you, I see that awareness, avoidance, de-escalation, and deterrence are the absolute best first line of defense. Whenever possible, the smart choice is to avoid situations which may make physical self defense necessary. Stay away from dangerous people and places. Pay attention to what is happening around you. Listen to the little voice that tells you something might be wrong, and get away before trouble starts. Do not escalate unpleasant encounters, but rather use your calm, confident demeanor to remove yourself from the situation as quickly as possible. Use whatever means you can contrive to convince the potential attacker that it is not worth the effort it will take to assault you. Learn the body language of empowerment and capability and use it. If you do get attacked and cannot defend yourself physically, remember that negotiation, misdirection, and outright lying in order to escape are all perfectly acceptable. If the criminal just wants stuff, give him stuff; stuff is less valuable than human lives. These simple, intelligent precautions can save you from a world of grief.
But when all that fails, what's left? Do we ignore the danger from a brutal, determined, vicious assailant simply because we are afraid of the consequences of an effective defense? Do we choose not to defend ourselves to the uttermost because our best means of defense may result in the criminal's death?
Here is what it boils down to, for me. If the attacker pushes the incident clear to the desperate place where someone -- either the intended victim herself, or the arriving officers who are armed with deadly weapons -- must make a choice between saving either the attacker's life or the victim's, I really believe that the intended victim's innocent life should be the one that is spared, without question and without hesitation.
If a criminal attacks me without provocation, why should he -- the aggressor, the malefactor, the bad actor -- get to choose which one of us survives our encounter? In initiating such extreme violence, the criminal has already chosen that at least one person will die or be seriously injured as a result of his acts. The law allows for lethal self-defense because wise people through the ages have recognized that in some circumstances, literally the only choice left for another person to make is whether the intended victim or the person who attacked her will be the one to survive.
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Of course, what the police need to do in order to fulfill their jobs, I do not need to do as a private citizen. I do not need to seek out wrongdoers and bring them to justice. That's not my job. As a private person, if I am interacting with a criminal at all, it is because the criminal brought the fight to me and attacked me without provocation. The criminal gets the element of surprise, and he chooses when, where, and whether to attack me. I may get to choose my response, but I don't get to choose the time or the place. And I do not get to choose whether or not the conflict is "worth" a human life; the attacker does.
Whatever form my response to the attack might take, it has to happen right now and it simply will not wait for someone else to arrive on scene. Unlike the typical police officer dealing with a criminal, the ordinary citizen does not have the luxury of waiting to initiate contact until the time is right. The criminal attacks with little or no warning. The odds are already stacked against the intended victim, or the criminal would not have chosen that time and that place to attack her.
Because ordinary people do not seek out criminals, our chances of being criminally assaulted are significantly lower than those faced by a police officer. But by the same token, if we are physically assaulted, it is relatively more likely that the criminal will intend to maim or kill ... and very much less likely that we will have anyone else standing by prepared to protect us if our first response fails. Whatever defense I choose to carry with me is very likely the only defense I will have available when the conflict begins, and perhaps for some time thereafter.
