The Ethics of Personal Defense

It’s easy to get caught up in discussing specific subject matter having to do with personal defense, such as calibers, guns, ballistics, tactics, etc. We can become so mired in the bottomless pit of technical minutiae to the point that it’s quite easy to sound as if we’re addressing a subject that is as amoral to us as preparing a meal or repairing a car. Though we don’t feel that way (at least I hope we don’t), to the uninitiated it may sound as if we do. We need to remain mindful of this. Personally, I approach this subject from the perspective of the Judeo/Christian ethic, to which I subscribe.

We have all known people who would sooner die (or let other innocent people die) than risk taking the life of another. I’m not one of them, and I think I can safely assume that you aren’t either, or you probably wouldn’t be reading this. Ironically, the people with whom I’ve talked that seem to subscribe to this philosophy of total passivity rarely do so on traditional religious grounds, but rather on an emotional, secular-humanistic level. They seem to take such a stance in the belief that practicing non-violence as an answer to violence is somehow a way to promote a peaceful coexistence. The result is that it perpetuates violence by tacitly accepting and even rewarding it.

It’s my belief that the most fundamental right we possess as humans is the right to life itself. This right is universal to all humanity, so each of us individually possess it from the moment we become a unique procreated product of two donors (our parents), until our last breath, merely on the basis that we exist as a human. Based on that foundational premise, we also possess, by extension, the right to protect our life. There is no logical separation between these two positions, which makes them basically one and the same. Without the second, the first becomes utterly meaningless, and in practical terms doesn’t exist. This is the basis for our belief in our right to self-defense. We can further posit that if we are deprived of effective means to defend ourselves, then our underlying right to defend ourselves and, by extension, the right to life itself is usurped. This, then, is the basis for our Second Amendment. This is also the reason why the Second Amendment is listed immediately after the first. Without the Second, the First becomes meaningless. There would also be no rational point to define the rest of our rights as enumerated in the remaining eight amendments because, without the first two, they too become meaningless. Actually, for all intents and purposes, just taking away the second amendment makes them all meaningless. A study of the rise of virtually every despotic power since the dawn of civilization is evidential to this truth. Quite simply, a populace cannot be controlled as long as its individual members have an effective means of self-defense. The first and most critical step for a totalitarian government to seize and maintain control is to disarm its individual subjects. A free people cannot live in fear of their government, but a government in fear of its people is a healthy situation indeed!

Regardless of the circumstances surrounding a situation in which you must defend yourself with deadly force, it will almost certainly be a tragic experience that will have an extremely negative impact on you, possibly for the rest of your life. I also believe that whenever a human life is lost, even when there is no doubt as to the innocence of the person whose actions resulted in the loss of that life, it is always a tragedy. For these reasons, the decision to use lethal force in a defensive encounter must be made only when the situation offers no viable alternative. A person who cannot adopt this frame of mind, and existentially live by it without exception, shouldn’t carry or use a gun for self-defense.

We owe it to ourselves, our loved ones, and everyone around us, to keep ourselves prepared to safely and responsibly exercise our right to defend ourselves and others. It can be difficult to remain vigilant and prepared to successfully cope with a situation that we hope will never happen and, for most of us, never will happen. Nevertheless, that is what we must strive to do.