The Right of Self-Defense

A frightened St. Petersburg resident called the police for advice on how to handle a prowler. "If you catch this guy at your front door," said the officer, "it's O.K. to shoot him, but make sure he falls inside." Reason: in Florida it is legal to shoot an intruder in one's house, but not in one's yard. In few other cities can citizens expect such straightforward advice from their police. Yet with crimes of violence increasing, more and more Americans are concerned about how to protect themselves and still stay within the law.

Duty to Run. It isn't easy. U.S. laws governing self-protection derive from the ancient English common law that held that a medieval Briton was obliged to retreat until his back was literally to a wall or a ditch before he was justified in fighting off an assailant. This so-called "retreat law" has been substantially modified in American courts, which have generally ruled that though a person must attempt to avoid trouble, he is not legally bound to flee if such action would increase his peril. Only Texas law ignores retreat altogether and permits an attacked person to stand and fight it out under any circumstances.

In any state, once the fighting has begun, the law becomes a matter of interpretation. An attacked person is legally permitted to exert only as much force as is necessary to repel the aggressor. But what is reasonable? In Washington last month, as Frances Clark, a comely 24-year-old, sat in a Chinese restaurant, a man named Zebedee Lee, 42, walked over and, by his own admission, "patted her on the buttocks." Grabbing a knife, Miss Clark stabbed him in the stomach, putting him in the hospital. Though Lee's act was technically an assault, the district attorney felt that the girl used more than reasonable force to repel it. As a result, Miss Clark, not Lee, was charged with assault.

Self-protection becomes even more complicated in cities that require licenses for firearms. Yet never have New Yorkers, for example, needed protection so desperately. Only last week a 63-year-old lawyer, Leonard Simpson, was shot to death in the self-service elevator of his West Side apartment house. An 84-year-old New York shopkeeper, Frank Felicetti, recently shot and killed an intruder who, he said, had robbed and beaten him twice before. Felicetti was arrested for violating the city's Sullivan Law, which forbids owning unlicensed concealable weapons. He faces a maximum penalty of seven years in prison and a $1,000 fine.

Aiding others under attack is fraught with more legal perils than protecting one's self. Most Americans find it outrageous that New Yorkers fail to aid fellow citizens who are being mauled by thugs on streets and subways. Yet no matter how cowardly New Yorkers may be, the fact is that under the law anyone who intervenes in an attack exposes himself to the possibility of severe penalties. If a good Samaritan repels an attacker too aggressively, or inadvertently jumps in on the wrong side, he may wind up under arrest for assault.

Do-It-Yourself Protection. In an attempt to obey the law and also stay alive, many people are turning to weapons that are guaranteed to repel attack yet not inflict lasting injury. Most popular are cylindrical Penguns, which shoot a jet of tear gas and are legal in most states (with the notable exceptions of California, New York and Illinois). Where tear gas is barred, pocket-size aerosol sprays that discharge a temporarily eye-stinging chemical are usually allowed. Fittingly, girls who work nights in the Wonderful World of Chemistry at the World's Fair all pack such protection. Another gimmick: a walking stick that conceals a cattle prod delivering 4,000 volts.

Reassuring as such weaponry may be to a worried public's peace of mind, most police officials are increasingly nervous that the trend toward do-it-yourself protection may lead trigger-happy matrons to mass mayhem. The best advice, claims a top Baltimore cop, is still: "learn to run." The question is, can nervous citizens run fast enough--or far enough?

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