Recently there has been a case in my dear old homeland Bolehland, regarding the Death of a robber at the hands of his victim. The victim has been charged with murder, leading to swift satiric comics and comments about how the principle of self-defence works, attached below is such an example.
However based on natural law and most legal scholarship in international Law, the principle of self-defence is tied to the idea of the permissibility of using force for the ideals of self preservation. First things first before you even think about whether self-defence is an inherent right lets first see how the permissibility of use of force works. A use of force may only be used in self defence provided that it fulfils the necessity of said force, even if said necessity is proven the amount of force used must be proportional to the necessity which deems it possible. The cartoon states that it would be illegal for a counter terrorist to use a rifle as it is bigger than a handgun. This is a fallacy where both threats posed by the use of said weapons are proportional where as if it were a machete opposed to a kitchen knife the proportionality is significantly less. In layman’s terms, if you want to defend yourself when necessity provides ensure that you use only as much force that is proportional to prevent harm to yourself.