Self defence: an original right

Self-defence has been recognised as a right for thousands of years. In the thirteenth century BCE the Hebrews, who fled slavery in Egypt, incorporated it in the Hebrew Bible.

If someone comes to kill you, rise up and kill him first.

It remains in the Talmud, the source of Jewish civil and ceremonial law, and in the Old Testament.

The Romans viewed the right of self-defence as fundamental. Cicero wrote:

There exists a law, not written down anywhere, but inborn in our hearts; a law which comes to us not by training or custom or reading but by derivation and absorption and adoption from nature itself; a law which has come to us not from theory but from practice, not by instruction but by natural intuition. I refer to the law which lays it down that, if our lives are endangered by plots or violence or armed robbers or enemies, any and every method of protecting ourselves is morally right.

Christianity also recognised the importance of self-defence. At the Last Supper, Jesus asked the apostles:

"When I sent you without purse, bag or sandals, did you lack anything?"

"Nothing," the apostles answered.

Jesus continued: "But now, if you have a purse, take it, and also a bag; and if you don't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one."

While some Biblical scholars claim Jesus was referring to 'the sword of spirit', the right and duty to use necessary force against aggressors is also affirmed in the current Catechism of the Catholic Church:

The legitimate defence of persons and societies is not an exception to the prohibition against the murder of the innocent that constitutes intentional killing. 'The act of self-defence can have a double effect: the preservation of one's own life; and the killing of the aggressor … The one is intended, the other is not.'

Legitimate defence can be not only a right but a grave duty for one who is responsible for the lives of others. The defence of the common good requires that an unjust aggressor be rendered unable to cause harm.

None of this is controversial in most countries of the world. Owning and carrying weapons for self-defence, even when guns are not permitted, is seen as normal.

Not in Australia.

Technically, Australians have a legal right of self-defence. If we are attacked and in fear of our lives, or defending someone else whose life is threatened, we will not be found guilty of an offence if we harm or even kill the attacker. But in practical terms we are highly restricted in our ability to exercise that right.