Disparity of Force

"Cameron Poe, you have pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the first degree. With your military skills, you are a deadly weapon, and are not subject to the same laws as other people that are provoked--because you can respond with deadly force. It is the order of this court that you be remanded to a federal penetentiary, where you will remain incarcerated for a term not less than seven to ten years."
--Sentencing Judge (Con Air)

Some people seem to believe that there is no justification for an individual to shoot someone who is 'unarmed.' These people ignore the legal principle of disparity of force.

In the eyes of the law, a gun is not a magical source of power. It is one of myriad ways of exerting deadly force. Disparity of force recognizes that even without a gun, knife, or other ostensible weapon, a violent attacker may possess a physical advantage over the intended victim that, if the assault is permitted to continue, the totality of circumstances suggest that the victim is likely to badly hurt or killed. This situation authorizes the victim to use lethal force (a.k.a. proportionality of force), including use of a gun, against the attacker.

Factors that establish disparity of force conditions include:

Age. Young attacking old (man in 20s attacking man in 70s), or old attacking young (man in 20s attacking young teen).

Size. Big attacking small.

Fitness. Highly fit attacking weak or unfit.

Numbers. Many attacking few.

Fighting skill. Highly skilled hand-to-hand fighter attacking someone with low unarmed fighting skill.

Position of advantage. Attacker has freedom of movement and leverage while the victim does not.

Furtive movement. As part of attack or credible threat of attack, attacker reaches into concealed area for what appears to be a gun or other lethal weapon.

Attempt to gain control of victim's weapon. Attacker seeks to gain control of victim's gun or other lethal weapon.

Impaired victim. Attacker assaults previously injured or handicapped victim, or during the fight an attacker impairs victim's ability to fight back, escape, or evade continuing blows.

Being armed does not require a weapon. Being without a weapon does not make one unarmed.

Principled self-defense requires thorough understandinging of disparity of force.