Dear New York Times, Self-Defense Is Not Vigilantism

Over at the New York Times ”Opinionator” blog, Firmin DeBrander, an associate professor at the Maryland Institute College of Art, takes issue with a post I wrote last year outlining the biblical and natural-law right of self-defense. My argument was rather simple: From the Noahic Covenant to the New Testament, there were ample biblical examples of self-defense being not only permitted but in some cases actually mandated. I also – borrowing from Jim Lindgren’s excellent work at the Volokh Conspiracy — quoted John Locke for the proposition that the right of self defense wasn’t just a biblical right but a right located in natural law.

This is a critical conversation. If the right of self-defense predates and supersedes the state itself, then the circumstances where the state can abrogate that right are limited indeed. In fact, the right of self-defense includes a right of self-defense against the state itself, when the state attempts to harm its citizens.

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