Tant01

Greetings all!

With the recent topic of training priorities in mind I'd like to throw this out for your consideration.

I will freely admit that fighting appeals to some folks, sanctioned or not. I've run across all manner of tough guys and athletes and brawlers and artists but few bring up the legal implications of things like ASSAULT or just disorderly conduct. Disturbing the peace can be as simple as calling someone a name.

Using explatives or yelling, pushing and shoving... even just being in the wrong place at the wrong time can end with being arrested.

What about so called self defense? Can you be sure that using your stop kick or even just taking a (defensive) "stance" outside your home will be justifiable in a court room? The twelve selected jurors will be your peers but will they be martial artists or doormen? Will they be sport fighters? Warriors?Athletes? Will they think what you did was REASONABLE?

What do you think? Do you have an attorney on retainer "Just in case"?


Thanks for your feedback!

~R

__________________
While the old form, jujutsu, was studied solely for fighting purposes, Kano's new system is found to promote the mental as well as the physical faculties.

T. Shidachi, 1892

Hardball

Sorry Tanto I can't resist;

"I'd rather be Judged by 12 than carried by 6"

__________________
The Way of the Warrior is Practice. Daily practice, accumulate practice minute by minute, hour by hour and day by day. {Book of 5 Rings} Mike Brewers 2008 Sit up challenge 29,000/100,000 running balance.(Crunches) Kicks 6,300/100,000

Tant01

Yeah but it's such a pain and expensive to "DEFEND" yourself in court.

I'm serious. Anyone that gets stuck in the cogs of the justice system won't soon forget the lesson(s).

The fact is people will lie to get out of trouble or to get you into it. The oath to tell the truth means very little in reality. Distances are streched out of all reason. Acts and facts are rarely put forth with accuracy by the "victim"(s).

The next thing you know, you're guilty. Often prosecutors will "offer" a lesser charge in exchange for your plea...

Have you ever been arrested?

Always a fun thing when hand cuffs are involved, eh? LOL

__________________
While the old form, jujutsu, was studied solely for fighting purposes, Kano's new system is found to promote the mental as well as the physical faculties.

T. Shidachi, 1892

Hardball

Who has time to think of all that when surrounded by a half dozen bad guys wielding clubs, knives and liquid solvents designed to turn you into cyclob.

__________________
The Way of the Warrior is Practice. Daily practice, accumulate practice minute by minute, hour by hour and day by day. {Book of 5 Rings} Mike Brewers 2008 Sit up challenge 29,000/100,000 running balance.(Crunches) Kicks 6,300/100,000

Mike Brewer

I think the idea, Hardball, is to think about it sufficiently in advance so that you don't have to do so under pressure.

I personally do keep an attorney on retainer through Pre-Paid Legal. It's a cheap way to get a quality law firm to answer questions and represent you in court, and I've used them for everything from contract reviews to traffic court with awesome results. They'll answer questions for members anytime, so I often call them about stuff that just makes me curious. I figure, screw it. I'm paying for the service. Might as well use it. I think it cost me about $19 a month, and I've already gotten that money out of the service by having them represent me in a bogus traffic issue a couple years ago. That single incident paid me back for three years of the service!

As for having charges filed, I can't speak for all states or all situations so take this with a grain of salt. In most of my proressional experience in security, bouncer wrok, etc., I never had to worry about it because I was working in an official capacity and was presumed innocent. I had to go to court on several occasions to testify, but never as a defendant. In the personal fights I got into in my youth outside of any official capacity, I followed one rule to the exclusion of all others. Mike's Law #1, as some of you regulars might recall, is "Don't get caught." I never hung around waiting for the cops if I didn't have to. In most situations, that's a totally justifiable action to take, because you've just been assaulted and you have every reason not to want to hang around an obviously dangerous area. In a few instances, such as the ones involving guns or knives, I waited around because I wanted the guys involved to go to jail, and because I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I was right.

As far as the "rather be tried by twelve than carried by six" quote goes, I know you were quipping, but it's still more hassle than it's worth. As I said before, I've been involved in a lot of cases going to court, and one thing is almost always consistent. It's a pain in the ass. The guy who's sitting there in cuffs may end up being exonerated in the end, but in the mean time, he's hating life. And that still violates the most basic rule preached by most self defense authorities - the goal is to get home at the end of the night. Not jail. Home.

There are plenty of ways to make sure you're legal in your application of self-protection, and the most basic is understand the guiding principles of your local laws. They will outline wheter it is permissable to use deadly force or equal force, and they will tell you the whens, wheres, and whys. Once you know those things, it really is a matter of not getting into confrontations over silly stuff. If you're concerned about legal repercussions, don't break the law. If you break the law, don't wait around to apologize for it. Learn to live with your guilt as a free man.

A wise man once told me that the authorities are never as understanding as you think they ought to be when you're in the wrong. He was right.

Hardball

I knew what he meant but I couldn't resist the wisecrack answer.

__________________
The Way of the Warrior is Practice. Daily practice, accumulate practice minute by minute, hour by hour and day by day. {Book of 5 Rings} Mike Brewers 2008 Sit up challenge 29,000/100,000 running balance.(Crunches) Kicks 6,300/100,000