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Old 01-14-2008, 09:43 AM   #12
lbb
Location: Massachusetts
Join Date: Jun 2006
Posts: 3,202
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Re: Legal right to use Aikido in defense of yourself

Quote:
Don Magee wrote: View Post
In my state, you can kill a man if you feel he is threatening you, your property, or others. So you can kill a man for taking your wallet.
I really doubt that your state is handing out "get out of jail free" cards that allow anyone who feels that his/her property is threatened to kill the source of the threat. Even when you feel your person is threatened, I suspect the truth is a little more nuanced. If the cops come to a scene and find one live person and one dead one, you won't get the following exchange:

"What happened?"
"I felt that he was threatening me."
"Oh, okay. Bye now!"

Whenever a body gets produced, there's 'splainin' to do, and the authorities have to be convinced that the killing was reasonable and doesn't warrant further action. People have made the "I felt threatened" argument before, been taken to trial, lost and gone to prison because the DA didn't think that their response was reasonable, and the jury agreed with the prosecutor. In a society governed by laws, it's never all about what you think.
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