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Reflections on Violence, Guns, and the Defensive Use of Lethal Force

NCJ Number
108274
Journal
Law and Contemporary Problems Volume: 49 Issue: 1 Dated: (Winter 1986) Pages: 89-124
Author(s)
D D Polsby
Date Published
1986
Length
36 pages
Annotation
This article examines the pros and cons of current laws permitting lethal self-defense under certain circumstances and a hypothetical law that would prohibit violence for any reason.
Abstract
Although no violence would occur if all persons would abide by a law prohibiting violence under all circumstances, such a scenario would not occur in the real world of human behavior. The current law correctly presumes that there are aggressive and predatory people who will attempt to kill and injure others without rational or legal cause and that those who are attacked by such persons have the legal right to survive by using the minimal force required to repel the attack. This law supports reciprocal behavior, i.e., that persons who treat others nonviolently should be treated nonviolently, and those who treat others violently should expect to receive the same treatment. The exception to reciprocity under the law is the legal right of persons to kill intruders in their homes, even though the intruder may not be armed or intend to harm the resident. This law is based on the presumption that a person who enters the home of another unlawfully has committed an aggression that has an inherent intention to do lethal harm to the resident. The existence of self-defense laws and the right to private gun possession, rather than increasing violence, should deter aggressors who would otherwise pursue violent predatory behavior without fear of the consequences. 67 footnotes.

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