I frequently come across outlandish claims being made by self-proclaimed experts of self-defense. One such claim is that their system is "the most lethal self-defense system on the planet" or something similar. Why anyone would want to make such a claim is beyond me. Even if it were true (which it isn't) why would anyone brag about their self-defense program being lethal which contradicts the whole concept of "self-defense"? Obviously these experts don't understand their own intended audience. If they did, they would know that the majority of men and women that need and seek out self-defense training have little desire to hurt others and most have no interest in taking a human life. Therefore the act of marketing a program as "lethal" will increase the likelihood of turning away those people that likely need the training the most.


Now, to be clear...I am all for the application of lethal force during those situations where lethal force is both warranted and required to save lives. However, the entire training program should not be based exclusively on lethal force techniques because the reality is that 99% of the altercations a person may be forced to face will require less-than-lethal force. Even when a program includes potentially-lethal techniques it should not be promoted in such a way to lead people to believe that they will be forced to kill in self-defense which may go against their belief system. People should also not be lead to believe they will become some super-duper unstoppable killing machine which could ultimately lead to false confidence and undesirable consequences like engaging a threat when they should have run away.

The point is, any legitimate self-defense instructor will avoid marketing scams like this. If you come across one of these scams while looking for self-defense training do yourself a huge favor and keep looking.

Take care and stay safe!

Steve