Why is karate for defense only when they teach you punching and stuff?

L

Louie

Member
Joined
Jun 1, 2008
Messages
61
Reaction score
0
Points
6
Back when I was in martial arts school they always made a big deal out of never using it unless you were being attacked on the street? And even if you WERE being attacked on the street while you were still minding your own buisness, cant you be charged and go to jail for assaulting the person back? And thats what I find absolutely ridicuolous is that self deffense is a felony, but why does karate and other martial arts teach you such destructive things you can do to a person when you cant touch them anyways? Like.... I remember learning how to make someones heart beat stop and such.... Only asking because i'm interested in MA and would like to know.
 
Protecting yourself or your family is no felony. You are not only allowed, but encouraged to protect yourself with enough force to end the threat. Not more. The idea that you must stand and allow someone to attack you is ridiculous. Learning karate is like owning a gun. You have at your disposal a very powerful weapon with which you can defend. It is wrong to just shoot somebody, agreed? They must pose a threat before it is reasonable to shoot them. You also may not just assault someone because you learned a karate punch! You learn destructive things so you will be more easily able to end the threat. Notice the recurring principal here. The entire idea of karate is to end the threat, in what ever manner is prudent at the time. For example, when a guy pulled a knife and cut me with it, I treated him rather roughly, and he was finished fighting in a split second. I ended the threat before he could cut me again. I would not be here writing this had I hesitated and gave him another stroke with his blade. Speak with your instructor(s) about this, it is worth clearing up for yourself.
 
In law self defense must be proven..so if u are attacked you must be able to show that any harm u inflicted on the other person is 'reasonable/appropriate' and that you stopped when you were safe from harm -BASICALLY
That is why in responsible TMA schools you will hear the use of the word 'control' for higher levels.This concept is often mocked by others who assume that it soft/or in some way BS that you do not give everything to the encounter-even in training whereas it is actually just part of the training..to kearn how far you need to go to defend/protect yourself...any further=jail time
 
I always figured that if you take a baseball bat or something and keep pounding on someone's chest that that'd be the way to stop someone's heartbeat...I'm curious as to how you were taught.
 
Those are not "punches".

Or rather - they were not supposed to be.

Karate teaches you principles that you can use any way you want. Yes - they can be used as "punches" but when you break down the Kanji, ,you will see that the ideogram does not imply "punch".

They point to dynamics that are made effective by the body mechanics that govern their shape - their movement - their trajectory.

Now, If you learned how to stop someones heart beat, why are you asking us anything? You should be here teaching us!
 
Self-defense is not a felony. You only get into trouble for defending yourself, IF:

* You harm someone when it was not necessary

* You continue to cause harm, to the attacker after he is no longer a threat. (in other words you do not have the right to do more than what is necessary. So you do not have the right to try to teach them a lesson)

NOTE:
If someone told you that they were teaching you to stop someones heartbeat, as you mentioned, they are lying to you.

...
 
Karate-do say the is no first attack in karate. It is for self defense. This doesn't mean you can't be the first person to strike. If you are threaten and feel that you are in danger you can strike first and it will be considered self defense. Self defense is not a felony. According to the law the is a fine line between self defense and assault. People cross that line all of the time. This is how the line is crossed. Someone attacks you. You defend yourself. The person is no longer attacking or in a position to attack. But you continue to strike. You are no longer defending yourself. You are guilty of assault. Let's say someone slap you or one of your loved ones. They take off and run away. You chase them and beat them up. You cry self defense. The court will say no, that's assault. They were not a threat by running away.

This doesn't matter if you know martial arts or not. The law applies to everyone.

Edit:

I forgot to mention that you aren't stopping anyone's heartbeat. If you begin to train again you should find a different place to train.
 
Back
Top