In my six previous columns, pre-emptive striking featured prominently. One reason for this was to highlight its importance in self-defense when you have to use physical violence as a last resort because avoidance and/or verbal de-escalation failed or were not viable options. As I’ve said, the most practical way for a smaller, weaker, slower, less-skilled person to physically prevail against a bigger, stronger, faster, more-skilled adversary is to employ a pre-emptive attack to immediately neutralize him, optimally by knockout. There is no better tactic for most people. Everything else is secondary.
With that said, there are instances when you can’t or won’t use this option — for example, when combating domestic violence with a
