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

Abstract

The privilege to defend oneself with lethal force under certain circumstances is generally justified as codifying a paramount law of self-preservation. This article argues that the law of self-defense is not one of self-preservation alone or even primarily, but is aimed at minimizing violent confrontations between people, strangers especially. Because every hostile confrontation has a greater-than-zero chance of leading to bloodshed, keeping hostile confrontations to a minimum ought to be what the law of self-defense aims at primarily, and at self-preservation only secondarily.