???

[DragonMind]

I seem to recall in that movie (and if my faulty recollection of a fictional story I saw several years ago isn't proof enough, then I don't know what is! ) that the judge who passed sentence on Nicolas Cage made some mention of his combat training and basically said that since his body has been trained as a weapon, any use of force on his part could be considered assault with a deadly weapon, hence the stiffer penalty. I'm a legal dunce, so I have no idea if this is true or not. Anyone know?

The law itself doesn't make any distinction. That story line has been around since at least the 60s; used to be you must register your hands with the police as a deadly weapon.

What a smart prosecutor would do is try to convince the judge/jury that because of your training you should be held to a higher standard of restraint, much like a LEO. The law (and it varies by state) is usually phrased based on a reasonable person standard, i.e what would a reasonable person do under these circumstances. In all cases, the prevailing issue is the reasonableness of the level of force used. That level of force is determined by the level of threat, e.g. you can't use deadly force because someone took a swing at you.

[topgun3442]

If you jump up and try to get involved the air marshals are going to treat you the same as a terrorist until you can prove otherwise and that's a quick way to catch a bullet! If there are no air marshals on the plane, which would be rare depending on the size of the plane and this day and time, then you still don't need to jump into anything until everyone is revealed. No need to jump someone and then get shot by another one that was still hidden.

[wab25]

I just bought a revolver. So, now I feel that I need to carry it with me, unconsealed of coarse, every time I go to the convenience store, just in case they get robbed while I am there. Since I bought a gun, I now have the personal responsibility of using it to protect the general public when ever I can.

As rediculous as this sounds, its the same as replacing the word gun, with martial arts training, in the above stated paragraph. I bought some martial arts lessons from the ymca or local dojo, and now I have the personal responsibility to protect the general public.... It doesn't work that way. First and foremost, taking martials arts does not give you any authority to be a vigilante.

Should you jump in and help someone out? Yes. Should you go around announcing who and what you are, trying to take charge of every situation, and save the poor LEO from the bad guys? No. Oh and your first step in helping out someone on the street should be to call the police right away, before you both get incapacitated.

[Grei]

It seems to me that people are misinterpreting the meaning of vigilante. A vigilante is someone who takes the law into his own hands. Kills a man as punishment for a crime, for instance, outside of the law.

It should be perfectly legal to detain an offender untill the proper authorities arrive. Anyone heard of citizen's arrest?