First degree defense, defined
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- Category: Joomla!
- Published on Tuesday, 29 March 2011 00:00
- Written by H3
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Violent crime has only 3 rules
- There is always a victim.
- Don't BE the victim.
- Nobody gives a damn about rule #3.
Every single minute of every single day, someone, somewhere falls victim to violent crime. None of them believe themselves substantially responsible for their injury, robbery, rape or death, nor do they usually blame themselves if the victim was their friend, neighbor, co-worker, husband, wife, brother, sister, teacher, priest, child or parent. Most attribute it to bad luck, bad timing, being in the wrong place at the wrong time, an unavoidable, unforeseeable 'fluke', a series of unfortunate events or perhaps simply write it off to fate.
The truth is that they are wrong, on all counts but the last, and in that instance, fate favors the prepared.
The harder truth is that they most likely could have avoided the incident, and the hardest is that they actually made the decision not to. Sounds far fetched, doesn't it?
Nobody PLANS on being hurt, robbed, raped or killed, or any of those things happening to anyone they care about do they? In the context of survival, being a victim surely can not be considered a success by any stretch. The absence of success is failure.
My point is that while nobody EVER plans to fail, many people fail to plan, and the outcome of either is identical in every regard.
By not planning and practicing NOT to be a victim, you are making a De facto decision to become one. By not planning and practicing how to protect your children, wife, family or neighbor, you are implicitly choosing not to protect them effectively, if at all.
Very few people would even consider denying protection to their family if the need presented itself, and nature instills in every living being an instinct to defend itself that is all but impossible to override. If an object moves quickly towards your eye, you blink .... it is reflexive and uncontrollable. A newborn falling into water holds it's breath without thought or training. Even a mouse will fight if cornered and attacked.
The problem is that BECAUSE it's instinctive and natural, there are those who feel it must be 'uncivilized' or 'barbaric' to plan on, practice and become proficient at defense either of yourself or others, against a violent attack. In actuality, it is foolhardy, irresponsible and quite possibly suicidal NOT to.
A first degree crime is one that is premeditated, thought through beforehand and executed according to a willful plan. It is considered a more serious crime than if the same act were committed in an unplanned spontaneous situation, and carries much more severe penalties. These are not crimes of opportunity, where the criminal stumbles upon an irresistible temptation and acts without a moment's thought. The reason the punishment is more severe is due to the sad fact that a well planned, diligently executed crime is more likely to be successfully completed, more likely to cause grievous loss to the victim(s), is usually a much more serious crime to begin with, and has a greater chance of being perpetrated without detection. Running a stop sign would likely not be premeditated whereas a bank robbery or mass slaying almost certainly would. Second degree and lesser classified crimes can be coincidental to another act, or spontaneously just taking advantage of a opportunistic situation without any forethought.
As the possible undesirable outcomes escalate, so, logically, does the likelihood of a premeditated plan to avoid those results.
Now let's turn the tables. Millions of people purchase the insurance for their cell phones. For a few dollars a month, the agency promises to reimburse them should they lose or damage their phone. Almost all of us pay for auto insurance, to at least partially protect us against the loss of our cars. People routinely buy flood insurance, fire insurance, and household insurance to at least partially proect themselves against the loss of their buildings and possessions. Most believe it's a reasonable investment to protect things they would rather not lose. They see a potential loss and take steps to protect themselves from that loss, and nobody gives it much thought or scrutiny.
Most people will live in several houses over their lifetime, and most Americans will have many different cars. Most will have more phones than they can remember, and countless possessions will come and go in any given year. All these things, in the grand scheme of life, are fairly easily protected, and if not, can be replaced without any survival-related impact overall. It always strikes me as odd that virtually everyone will accept the wisdom of insuring these replaceable material things, but an alarming number of those same people work tirelessly to make certain that none of us can protect our self or our families from an armed assailant.
The fact remains that as human beings, each of us has only ONE life. Spiritual philosophies aside, ONE is all anyone gets on this earth. You may have several children but none could ever be replaced in any way by any other. Each life is unique and each life, in some way, has an everlasting impact on every other life, however small. A lost life is irretrievably, irreparably and undeniably lost forever, and leaves a hole amidst all surviving lives. A raped child, mother, daughter, wife or sister is forever injured and violated beyond comprehension. Armed robbers take much more than just cash or belongings - they steal healing sleep, peace and any sense of security for years on end from their victims. The initial violent act can transpire in a heartbeat, but the effects can linger infinitely.
Why do so many deny the possibility (if not probability) that at some point, sooner or later, you or someone close to you WILL be the target of a violent crime? Why would so many plan and protect themselves against the loss of a cell phone, but not their very life, or the life of their children? What dysfunctional moral allows 'civilized' people to protect their cars from harm, but not their family? Why is it acceptable to deny criminals access to our belongings with hardened locks and elaborate alarms, but give them free reign to decide when, where and how our neighbor's life will end?
It almost seems as if the higher the value of the item being sought by the criminal, the less acceptable it is for us to defend it. It is universally acceptable to keep your money (which most of us get more of every day) locked in a bank or a safe, but according to some, totally unacceptable to arm ourselves to defend our children (none of which could ever conceivably be replaced) from the same perpetrators.
Do not believe for an instant that these people have your (or anyone else's) best interest at heart. The core of the matter is that they are unwilling to prepare, train and educate themselves to effectively protect their own life, and fear that if you do, they become the only viable target. Disarming an elephant does not deter the lion - it just multiplies his options by creating more gazelles.
Your defense must be MORE carefully planned, better thought through, more expertly executed, better equipped, more thoroughly practiced and more sudden, determined and relentless than the assault upon you, if you are to survive intact. A spontaneous, untrained, instinctual reflex reaction is inadequate to prevent or deter an intentional, deliberate, premeditated attack. You must know and grasp the situation you are in, the options available, the means and ability to utilize those options, and the will and confidence to act resolutely without hesitation with whatever force is required to protect your life, or any innocent life you are possibly able to defend at any given moment.
This is First Degree Defense. The informed, educated, trained, practiced, conscious, willful, legal, moral, righteous, acutely aware performance of whatever is necessary, whenever it is necessary, as long as it is necessary to preserve your own life, or anyone else's unable to do so themselves. It is your natural right, your moral obligation, and the most human act imaginable. In that instant between life and death, there is no number you can call, there is nowhere to hide, there is no logic or reason, no debate or argument, no police, lock or shield, and no second chance. You are either prepared, or you chose at some forgotten point in the past to be a victim.
Here and now.
Black and white.
Life and death.
This is First Degree Defense