The Aftermath: Knife Beats Cane

He has - I am his child (age is not really relevant) and He loves and provides for me. Celebrated 61 years of walking in faith by the Holy Spirit on April 26th, and cherish my relationship with Him through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Have been a Platinum member of USCCA since May 2013, after realizing my need for a different approach to protecting myself and loved ones from an increasingly violent world. I cherish our Bill of Rights described in the US Constitution and have taken appropriate actions (of several kinds) to ensure the preservation of that document. Getting increasingly difficult, though, these days.

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Kudos to the kid for successfully defending himself. Itā€™s easy to second guess everything after the fact, but in the split seconds you have while someone lunges for you and begins beating you with a metal cane, the ability to think clearly and successfully take the proper action to come out of the encounter alive is all one can hope for. The lawyers will twist and re-interpret and treat every situation like those involved were experts on self defense with all the time in the world to consider their actions. This is why states have instituted Castle Doctrine and Stand Your Ground laws. In a home intrusion, this teen wasnā€™t worried about what the state felt about his rights, and he damn sure wasnā€™t counting how many times he stabbed the guy to make sure he didnā€™t potentially stab him one too many times and get in trouble. Iā€™m also not giving my kids pepper spray to use in an enclosed space. The over-spray from that will fill a room and just as readily put my kids out of the fight, and when you consider that many home intruders are under the influence and not as greatly affected by pepper sprays, this is the last thing I want happening. Finally, absolutely, if the kid can safely get to cover, this is always one of the first things you do in a defensive situation, however, the situation dictates the response and it sounds like this teen used the proper response since heā€™s alive and the attacker isnā€™t.

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Welcome to the family and god bless you brother.

The teen did everything correct, except perhaps for answering the doorā€¦ but we do not know. Based on the information, all we were told is the intruder ā€˜forcedā€™ his way in, and that could have been breaking down the door.
The parents on the other hand, should teach the teen to use a firearm and the teen should be capable. Many of us were taught firearms as young childrenā€¦ at least 40, 50 or more years ago.

While stab wounds may raise questions, just as with 12 shots from a firearmā€¦ you defend yourself until the attack stops. That question can and should be answered and the number of stab wounds should not be used against the ā€˜victimā€™ (self defender)ā€¦ though we know there are prosecutors and local government officials that ignore law, ignore the Constitution and simply want to punish anyone who defends themselves.

The idea of ā€˜retreatingā€™ to a safe room sounds good, but in practiceā€¦ do you have the time to do so if someone bursts through the door and is immediately on top of you swinging or stabbing or clubbing, and once in the safe room, is it totally secure and can the intruder actually get in.

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Valid points, but consider. If the intruder is within inches of you when they bust through the door, can you actually turn and run with enough space and distance to be able to get to another room, to close a door, lock itā€¦ and / or barricade it?

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The teen was **acquitted ** of any wrongdoing. Iā€™m just saying that if new evidence shows that this was not a self-defense situation, the teen could not be tried twice for the same crime. Hence, Double Jeopardy.
Iā€™m not saying that is was, or was not, self-defense. Iā€™m saying that the details are too sketchy to know for sure. :thinking:

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Very good point.

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The teen was not ā€˜acquittedā€™. He was never charged, indicted or proscuted.

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We should stop excessively focusing our attention on the perps rights. The perp should not have violated the victimā€™s rights of security in oneā€™s home. He got what he deserved. Our Courts continue to protect the perps by spinning the legal position of the crime, whoā€™s the victim and whoā€™s the perp. Our laws seem to be written as if itā€™s a perfect scenario. It could be very simpleā€¦the perp used necessary force to gain entryā€¦the victim used THEIR necessary force to protect himself AT THAT MOMENT!

Few lawmakers have ever been a victim of life or death situation where there is little or no time to analyze their actions as it relates to the current law of the land, not to mention, it could be different based upon what State you are in at the time.

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Sighsā€¦ My brain has been fried lately. I re-read the post, and realizedā€¦ too lateā€¦ and missed that point. Thank you.

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Agreed

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The teen reacted as he did. I will not second guess him.
His mission was to stop the threat. He did that quite well.

Yes he might have used a bazooka too. The point here is, he used what he had on hand.
That perp will not do it again.

Yes weapons training would have been nice. How many children have had such training?
But really, get off the high horse and be pleased that the lad was able to stop the threat.
I am confident the boys parents didnā€™t debate the stab count, but rather the reality that their son was alive after his encounter.

How would it have been had the boy used a hand gun and emptied the gun into the intruder?
Same ending, teen one, bad guy zero.

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IMHO if the teen died in this case, it wouldnā€™t have made the news. But, because it was a self defense issue, they need to pounce on it and make it news worthy.
Teen saves own life and wins is more newsworthy, they report this as if itā€™s an abnormality to protect oneself.
It just goes to show, never bring a cane to a knife fight!

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@Brian175 I understand where youā€™re coming from. May God Bless and Protect you in Jesus Name. If that would happen to me, Iā€™m disabled & unable to run, so I would have no choice but grab my gun & defend myself. Now we do have cameras round our house witch make a sound to let us know , so as I stated I would arm myself inside my house.

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@Trevor11, you are spot on about the pepper spray. A little surprised at USCCAā€™s support of this.

PEPPER IS A CONDIMENT. Sure, if you get it your eyes, itā€™s uncomfortable, but it belongs on the dinner table and not in an aerosol can for defense.

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As a Martial Arts Instructor with over 50 years of experience, Its very hard to judge the situation. This child in the home may not have had the ability to run to another room before the guy started beating him. Depending on the type of cane, some are stronger than others, they can be equivalent to a baseball bat. I know. I own one.
When a person is in fight or flight mode, they donā€™t always think about what is happening so the boy may have just stabbed until the guy stopped hitting him.
Their are too many variables to give an accurate decision to this problem. Obviously the law saw it in favor of the child.

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We all do it at some pointā€¦

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Welcome to the family brother and you are blessed to be here.

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Thatā€™s where the change needs to occur. If you are in another manā€™s domain, uninvited, you get what you get!

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