This is the second post in the series on legal aspects of self-defense. We will cover the five elements of a physical encounter that must be demonstrated to the criminal justice system in order to make a successful claim of “self defense.” I am basing these on the highly informative book “The Law of Self Defense” by Andrew Branca, whose…
March 23 was our semi-annual exam for kyu ranks (non-black belt testing), and the awarding of new ranks was Thursday. I was proud of all those who tested; everyone did close to their “personal best” and in a couple cases even seemed to exceed it. I and the other sensei noted some systematic technical shortcomings, which indicates flaws in our…