Self Defense

[bmaup1]

When are you legally able to defend yourself? Like from a physical threat or situation?

[Mr. Reactionary]

What state are you in?

[bmaup1]

What state are you in?

Tennessee

[Mr. Reactionary]

www.collinsfirmtn.com/news-events/blog/2013/august/self-defense-in-tennessee-stand-your-ground/

Heres a good summary

[bmaup1]

Heres a good summary

How does it treat fist fights? Like if a person walks up and punches another you are able to like hit back right? Or is it supposed to be you walk away since its not "serious bodily harm" in some cases?

[dead0man]

Yes, you can defend yourself if someone walks up and punches you.  You can't (generally) beat the person to death, but you can (generally) beat them until they are no longer in a fighting condition/mood.  If you're noticeably bigger, a man getting attacked by a woman or much more healthy than the attacker the courts might not look to kindly on you for doing more than restraining them, but that's up to the local DA and judge.

[bmaup1]

Yes, you can defend yourself if someone walks up and punches you.  You can't (generally) beat the person to death, but you can (generally) beat them until they are no longer in a fighting condition/mood.  If you're noticeably bigger, a man getting attacked by a woman or much more healthy than the attacker the courts might not look to kindly on you for doing more than restraining them, but that's up to the local DA and judge.

So like gender does play a big part into it? Like if a girl hits me and i hit back im more than likely to get bigger trouble than hitting another guy?

[Dereich]

The traditional self-defense rule is essentially this

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As far as I'm aware this is the law (unchanged from common law) everywhere, possibly phrased in slightly different ways. Differences arise when it comes to the use of deadly force in self-defense. As killing people is a big deal, traditionally this required multiple extra things:

1. A reasonable belief that someone is about to cause death, serious injury, or one or two other very violent crimes to your person

2. A reasonable belief that ONLY deadly force could prevent this; if you could have shot your aggressor in the foot or head just as easily the law doesn't like it if you go for headshots.

3. You can't have instigated the conflict yourself (the "initial aggressor rule")

4. You don't have the option of attaining safety walking away without using deadly force (the "duty to retreat").

Note that rule 4 never applied to your house; since "a man's house is his castle" it was treated as the place where you should feel safest, so you had no duty to retreat out of it (the "Castle Doctrine"). What "Stand Your Ground laws" do is extend this everywhere: in states with SYG laws, you only need to go with the first three rules to use deadly force. Here's how all this looks in the Model Penal Code:

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[dead0man]

Yes, you can defend yourself if someone walks up and punches you.  You can't (generally) beat the person to death, but you can (generally) beat them until they are no longer in a fighting condition/mood.  If you're noticeably bigger, a man getting attacked by a woman or much more healthy than the attacker the courts might not look to kindly on you for doing more than restraining them, but that's up to the local DA and judge.

So like gender does play a big part into it? Like if a girl hits me and i hit back im more than likely to get bigger trouble than hitting another guy?

I don't know if it's a big part, but it will often play into it.

We don't REALLY want equality in all things, just the good stuff