Self-Defense, simply put, it is the protection of a person or property against some injury attempted by another. As such, it is a defense to certain criminal charges, providing that at the trial, one proves the self-defense was justified. However, a person that uses self-defense when it appears reasonably necessary to prevent the harm, should only use so much force to repel the attack. Courts and tribunals have historically accepted this as a defense to legal action as well as regarding public policy, violence or physical force, in this case, is an acceptable response to aggression.

Before using a self-defense method, implying the possibility to produce serious bodily harm or even death, in some cases,  a person ought first to try and attempt to escape, if that possibility is available. However, courts have held that a person is not required to flee from their own property or home, place of business or automobile.

To protect oneself, there can be either a non-fatal or a deadly attack used. One can use deadly force to defend from an attacker who is using this kind of force, but may not for an attacked that is using non-fatal force. If the situation is changing during the fight, even the initial aggressor may be able to claim self-defense, depending on how the situation had modified during the physical encounter. An example of such a case would be when the initial aggressor used non-fatal force and was met with deadly force in return.

Self-defense can be either verbal or physical, and the physical one can be either unarmed or armed. The verbal self-defense is defined as using words to prevent, abate, or end a possible assault, while as previously mentioned, physical force (be it lethal or not), is used to counter an immediate threat of violence. The chance of succeeding in the defense depends on the preparedness (both physical and mental) of the defender, but also to the severity of the threat.

Unarmed self-defense might mean using martial arts or combat sports. Although some of these might not be used primarily for self-defense, they can be effectively applied should the situation occur. There are martial arts that train people on how to attack and others that train them on how to escape from the displeasing situation of being attacked with a knife or gun or simply breaking away from a punch. Nowadays, many schools use a combination of styles and techniques found in martial arts in order to provide practical self-defense that would suit the participants accordingly.

For armed self-defense, a wide variety of weapons can be used. As already stated, it is highly dependable of the threat presented, the experience of both attacked and defender and the number of victims as well as legal restrictions. When it comes to such restrictions, some jurisdictions allow firearms to be carried openly or concealed expressly for the purpose of defense, while others have tight restrictions regarding the ownership of a firearm and the type that can be owned. Other objects, like knives (especially switchblades), pepper sprays, stun guns and Tasers may also be controlled, or legal to carry for certain professions or with a license. To add up, there are also everyday objects that can be used as improvised weapons for self-defense, such as a hair spray in combination with a lighter, kitchen utensils, baseball bats which are evidently legal to use in case of self-defense, as long as the harm done is reasonably proportionate with the harm intended.

In the modern military combative, there are some techniques like Krav-Maga, Defendo, and Spear that are even used by civilians for self-defense. Our international journal brings you brightly written articles that explore methods of self-defense used in the military and bring you the latest techniques, explaining their strengths and weaknesses.