Scaling Force:
Dynamic Decision-Making Under Threat of Violence

by Rory Miller and Lawrence A. Kane
YMAA, 2012, 309 pages
reviewed by T. Nelson

America is experiencing widespread rioting and looting again. This time the cause is political: the Democrats have threatened to continue the violence unless the public votes against President Trump. So people are buying firearms in record numbers.

This book tells you what to expect. If you kill an attacker in self-defense, you have committed a crime and the burden falls on you to prove that you acted in self-defense. If you shoot your attacker in a fight, it will be at close range, your firearm (if it's an automatic) will probably jam, and the results will be horrific. Best-case scenario is you get seriously injured, burned, suffer hearing loss, and get sprayed with HIV- or hepatitis-infected blood.

It will not be as people on the Internet portray it. You will go to jail. Everything you have ever said and done will be used against you. Even if you don't go to prison, you are likely to be sued into bankruptcy, lied about by the press, fired from your job, threatened by your attacker's friends, suffer PTSD, and be racked with guilt for the rest of your life. The only thing worse is the alternative.

The authors are experts in martial arts; one is a former corrections officer. They describe the six levels of force: removing yourself from the scene, using your voice, touch, empty-hand restraint, less-lethal force, and lethal force. They give many examples of how they used their martial arts skills to control and dissuade their opponents. They also give examples of people who failed, like the student who successfully fought off her attacker with krav maga, then let her guard down and died a horrible death. Their advice is the same as most every other self-defense expert: the best fight is the one you don't have.

sep 06, 2020