self defense in MA

[9000S]

Not as easy as it sounds....

So someone is beating you badly, i know, wait until your so badly beaten
that you fall to the ground with broken arms and a busted head and finally
decide that your life is being threatened. Oh sure.

Here's my cut, avoid confrontation.... always walk away....

If some insists and starts it, make a decision on what may be ahead.

I can't offer any furhter opinions, at this point you need to make a decision.

JimB

I tried to avoid confrontation once on a 3 on 1, I walked away just like them after school specials told me to. And it resulted in donkey punch to the back of the head. Last time I EVER turn my back on a group, if you can't negotiate your way out... f*** em up. Hard and fast. You can figure out pretty quick if some people are just itching for blood. This was like in 6th grade too, if it was nowadays I mighta gotten stabbed in the back. Glad I pack now, but knowing the laws and this state... I hope I never have to draw, once I do that choice is already made.

 

[P-14]

+1 What the hell do they expect you to do punch your way out? If you have a gun it's your only way out simple... If they expect you do lay down and cover up they should offer to have the same treatment done to them...

Be glad you live in a free state, Derek. That thinking would not necessarily work in the People's Republik of MA and you would go to jail.

 

[dwarven1]

Forgive me for being skeptical, but I still have reservations as to whether he's really guilty or he just doesn't feel that he can get a fair trial any more, and just wants it OVER.

A friend of mine was arrested for child endangerment - the local prosecutor was SURE that she knew that her low-life husband was molesting her 13 year old daughter (by a previous marriage). After 2+ years and $60K in legal bills (bye-bye, house!) AND not being able to ever TALK to her daughter about what happened (considered "tampering" with the witness") my friend gave up. She wanted to move on, and talk to her daughter again... so she pled guilty and got 5 years probation.

BTW... on the daughters 18th birthday, she promptly moved out to AZ to live with her mother again. Guess that kind of shows if the daughter thought that mommy knew about it...

But ever since hearing this whole episode, I do NOT trust the legal system. Seems that some (perhaps many?) prosecutors don't want justice; they want convictions. Whether or not the person is guilty.

 

[MaverickNH]

In many places, it all boils down to what a "reasonable man" would judge as the risk of death or great bodily harm. Was there a disparity in weapons in use (fists & feet, sticks & stones, knive & guns), a disparity in physical capability (stronger/weaker, faster/slower, older/younger, larger/smaller), a disparity is perceived capability (gang/biker jacket, a skill at martial arts claim/display), a disparity in numbers (one, two, more). Was a threat to cause death/GBH made ("I'm going to kill you, MF") or was it more vague ("I'm going to kick your butt"). Did you or they start the altercation? Could you have walked away or run away?

Just like the Castle Doctine laws being passed, each state has its own standards. What gets you off in one state gets you in jail in another.

Like the man said, get ye to a seminar on self-defense law. You won't come away thinking you should take a beating, but you might come away more resolved to avoid risk, run away or at least demonstrate that you used lesser means before resorting to deadly force. Not that I advocate the notion or not, but one reputable firearms instructor at a reputable training facility in NH said to fire a pen-sized OC unit off, if you have time, to demonstrate you tried less than lethal force, before resorting to lethal force. The caveat is not to find you have brough an OC-pen to a gunfight....