What Would You do in a Violent Situation?

3 min readDec 20, 2020

When you are forced to defend yourself against a violent criminal, you may just have to use violence of your own to fight against the attacker’s violence.

Are you prepared to do that?

Violence isn’t always “bad”

Violence is a swift and intense force. When someone uses the force of violence for criminal intent, that is definitely bad.

But when someone uses force (violence) to defend themselves or others, to save their life, is it still bad?

Isn’t violence, at that point, simply a defensive tool?

“One-Plus-One”

As a staff instructor for a prison system, I taught a use-of-force theory called “one-plus-one.” It simply meant that we could use one level of force higher than the level of an offender’s resistance in order to control him.

As a concept, it was relatively simple to teach. However, in practical terms… well… not so simple.

If the offender was trying to punch someone, what would be one level above the punch?

It really depended on several variables including size, ability, gender, age, number of offenders or staff, and so on.

We would spend time working on techniques and principles to control the offender during violent situations.

But then someone would invariably ask, “What if they are trying to seriously injure or kill you?”

Discussions were heated at times but, essentially, I told them that they not only had a right to protect themselves, but they also had a duty to protect themselves.

Staff members were taught where the line was between deadly force and non-deadly force. And they could use deadly force techniques if necessary to protect themselves from death or serious bodily injury.

Is it appropriate to use violence when defending yourself?

I read an article where a woman said, “It’s certainly appropriate to defend yourself if your life is in danger. [However,] I really have to wonder why [the cashier] would want to kill another human being over the money in the cash register.”

The advice of “not resisting a criminal assault and giving the bad guy what he wants” is based on the notion that no amount of property is worth a life (even the criminal’s).

But is that good advice?

Does the woman mentioned above think that when a criminal points a weapon at you and says “Give me the money or I’ll kill you,” that they also mean, “Give me the money and I won’t kill you”?

I worked in the prison system long enough to understand that the first statement does not necessarily equate to the second.

Just like we now understand that the crime of rape is not always about sex, but about domination and control, crimes like kidnapping, carjacking, robbery and assault are not always just about property.

No matter what the situation, when you are in fear for your life from an imminent assault, the best defense is a good offense.

At that point, don’t hesitate to use whatever tools you may have for personal defense (firearm, knife, baseball bat, frying pan, etc.).

If you don’t have any tools available at the time, use your own body weapons (hands, elbows, knees, feet, etc.). And aim for the attacker’s most vulnerable targets (eyes, nose, throat, groin, knee, etc.).

Like Tim Larkin says, “Violence is rarely the answer, but when it is the answer, it is the only answer.”

Violence can save your life when used for self defense

Make the decision now to use violence, if necessary, to defend yourself. Then take some defense classes and prepare to defend yourself against violent situations.

Make sure you are familiar with the self defense laws of your State!

Stay Safe…

~Dave

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