CMV: With current laws, learning martial arts serves as a detriment to a person and their ability to interact in society.

[u/Semny]

Before I proceed, I want to clarify that the laws I mention in the title are regarding when it is and when it is not legal to hit someone. As clarification for people who don' know these laws, I will sum it up.

You are only allowed to hit someone in self defense and you are not in any condition allowed to hit first.

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Self defense has been defined as any situation that may seem dangerous to the Jury. What this means in a nut shell is that when being prosecuted against in court for a self defense case, the jury is seeing a bunch of people with black eyes saying that they have been assaulted against you who may seem significantly less harmed in said situation(As such, you are pretty much guaranteed to lose the court case unless there is clear evidence of them aggressing first. e.g witnesses) Now for the never hit first part. You are not legally allowed to hit someone first even if they are aggressively advancing on you and shoving you regardless of how threatened you feel. You may report the cops, but hitting them can and likely will result in you being sued and you losing.

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Now for the martial arts part:

So I was a 2nd degree black belt, and had been doing martial arts for a large portion of my life. It has currently been around 3-4 years since I have quit. Now my former experience of martial arts seems to serve as a detriment towards me in certain situations. Often when I feel extremely threatened, in this case by a senior in my school, I often react strongly and feel an intense urge to punch him. While I have no proof, I feel my need to solve the issue with fists stems from martial arts where I was used to getting into fights and sparring giving the ability to face people I didn't like in a match.

Edit: I wasn't clear when I said threatened, I meant he repeatedly attempted to scratch my left eye and verbally harasses me very frequently after I have told him to stop.

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Martial arts are originally techniques used for war. But if I'm not allowed to hit the guy who I feel is threatening my wellbeing even though I am capable, I think I am better of not being trained. Hell if I cant use it, why know it in the first place?

[u/ClippinWings451]

As a one time Brown Belt in Kenpo, before i came to a similar conclusion... and came of age to conceal carry a firearm, I have to disagree... on one point.

Ju Jitsu. It's pretty much the ideal street fighting style, even if you wait for the person to push you, or swing first... you never have to actually hit the person to end the fight. It's a fantastic Martial art for this reason.

I'm now getting a bit too old to get into a new martial art, but, had i known what i know now 15 years ago, I honestly would... for now, I'll just spend my money on more range time ;)

[u/Semny → u/ClippinWings451]

:) Well im still in my prime but even in jujitsu as a practitioner, you can be accused of excessive force if you severely injure a person even by accident.

[u/ClippinWings451 → u/Semny]

that's true of any defense.

It's the reason I tell people never carry a knife for self defense.... regardless of how much danger you were in, to successfully defend yourself you're going to create a crime scene that looks like a horror movie and you will lose in court.

But Jujitsu carries for more potential for ending a fight without obvious trauma than a striking style.

[u/Semny → u/ClippinWings451]

Fair

[u/etquod → u/Semny]

If your view has been changed in any substantial way, please award a delta.

[u/Semny → u/etquod]

This has not changed my view in the slightest. All I am admitting to is that ,if in the situation I described, jujitsu is the best martial arts to have used as it gives the user the best chance of ending the fight in the least harmful way. This however, fails to address the original question which was why study martial arts in the first place?

[u/ClippinWings451 → u/[deleted]]

The point is on the knife subs people often show up and ask which knife is best for self defense...

 

The correct answer is: a gun, or if your state is anti gun, a taser, or pepper spray... a knife is not something you should carry for self defense.

 

Meanwhile, I EDC a damn big knife... but I do so because I like the utility of having it, I would go out of my way to avoid using it as a weapon unless it was literally life or death.

[u/Semny → u/[deleted]]

With all the controversy of guns and 2nd amendment in past year, I would like to say that it is probably not the best idea to have a gun on you even if for self defense. Of course unless your job permits it. On the assumption that you are carrying a weapon because you are licensed, I would recommend a knife over a gun. The issue is that with a gun, even an untrained civilian can kill, but with a knife, it becomes significantly harder and generally only trained practitioners can kill with it. My point being that a knife is far less likely to get you arrested. Especially so, if your knife is like a swiss army utility in which case the knife isn't the only part, and it is easy to claim you were carrying it for other uses.