VI – Self-Defense

Jeff Cooper’s Principles of Personal Defense

A vertical image of Jeff Cooper's Situational Awareness color codes

Col. Jeff Cooper, creator of the “Color Code” that sharpens a person’s situational awareness, is also the author of the booklet, Principles of Personal Defense, in which he describes 7 characteristics a person should strengthen in themselves to best be able to ward off a violent attack. They’re primarily technique-oriented.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, The 5 Elements of Self-Defense Law ]

SemperVerus® has added the component of biblical insight as a foundation to each principle, in keeping with the understanding that Scripture inherently supports the right of self-defense as presented in the booklet, The Case for Biblical Self-Defense.

1. ALERTNESS — “Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.” 1 Peter 5:8 (NLT)

2. DECISIVENESS — “An indecisive man is unstable in all his ways.” James 1:8 (HCSB)

3. AGGRESSIVENESS — “Be angry and sin not.” Ephesians 4:26 (KJV)

4. SPEED — “With blinding speed and power he destroys the strong.” Amos 5:9 (NLT)

5. COOLNESS — “God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” 2 Timothy 1:7 (ESV)

6. RUTHLESSNESS — “Hate what is evil.” Romans 12:9 (NIV)

7. SURPRISE — “Be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves.” Matthew 10:16 (NIV)

Read in full the booklet, Principles of Personal Defense.

Invite SemperVerus® to present its 5 life-changing success-generating components—prepare, aware, be, know, do—to your organization to inspire and motivate your members.

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SemperVerus™ Brotherhood/Sisterhood Launches to Help People ‘Stay True’

Comprised of 5 Catalysts + 1 Tactical Agent:
Prepare, Aware, Be, Know, Do, +Self-Defense

SemperVerus™ (Latin for “Stay True”) is a new dynamic motivational communications operative that has as its mission to inform, inspire, persuade, impel, and invigorate men and women to personal life-changing positive commitment, decision-making, and responsible self-defense awareness. It accomplishes this objective through its website and Twitter stream (semperverus.com and @semper_verus), publications, reminder wristbands, the SemperVerus Brotherhood™ and SemperVerus Sisterhood™ pledge, and group presentations.

“The best antidote to a culture shifting to bad behavior is to re-normalize good behavior,” says social observer and author Seth Godin. SemperVerus (the “V” in Verus also stands for the Roman numeral 5) believes the best way for a person to avoid drifting off-course into bad behavior—deviating from his or her life’s “true north” of fulfillment, happiness, and civic well-being—is by attending to 5 transformative catalysts that culminate in 1 tactical agent:

I.    Prepare:  putting your life into proper condition and readiness to successfully handle material and spiritual foreseen and unforeseen circumstances.

II.   Aware:  heightening attentiveness to be alert to—and anticipate—dangerous potentialities and temptations, as well as edifying opportunities.

III.  Be:  developing rich personal leadership character of exemplary moral and ethical quality.

IV.  Know:  becoming a life-long learner to clearly, and with certainty, apprehend situations from which to benefit personally and others.

V.   Do:  resolving to intentionally and skillfully act to accomplish positive and fruitful outcomes.

+    The sum total of these 5 catalysts cultivates the strategic and tactical agent of Self-Defense: the intelligent ability to responsibly protect yourself from menacing spiritual and physical threats.

The SemperVerus website blog is a regularly updated source of developmental information and curated resources for personal leadership and self-defense, with articles focusing on the Prepare, Aware, Be, Know, Do, and Self-Defense categories, such as:

  • A list of links to organizations that support the Second Amendment.
  • A list of links to self-defense training resources.
  • A list of links to mobile apps for instruction in dry fire, self-defense, survival, travel, personal leadership, and more.
  • A list of important judicial decisions regarding self-defense law.
  • A collection of every USA state’s constitution article that establishes the right of armed self-defense for its citizens.
  • The 4 basic rules of gun safety and links to basic gun safety videos.

As a motivational impetus, SemperVerus invites people to join the SemperVerus Brotherhood™ or SemperVerus Sisterhood™, where adherents are invited to pledge to stay true to common virtues as outlined on the website (semperverus.com/brotherhood).

SemperVerus is also the publisher of the pocket-sized booklet, The Case for Biblical Self-Defense (ISBN 978-0-692-08979-8; 26 pp.; $10; available by emailing staytrue@semperverus.com). For those who consider the Bible to be their authoritative guide for life and personal behavior, this booklet answers in the affirmative the question, “Is it biblical and in accordance with Christian faith to be ready to employ lethal force to protect your life from an imminent and wrongful life-threatening attack?”

Contact SemperVerus (staytrue@semperverus.com).

Invite SemperVerus to present its 5 life-changing success-generating components—prepare, aware, be, know, do—to your organization to inspire and motivate your members.

Join the SemperVerus Brotherhood™!

Important Judicial Decisions Regarding Self-Defense Law

The following legal decisions concern the law of self-defense. Some of the rulings are final and others are not. They’re presented here to be read for their excellent judicial logic about the absolute civil right of armed self-defense as established by the framers of the US Constitution.

[ Read the SemperVerus article, USA State Constitutions Providing for Armed Self-Defense ]

US District Court for the Southern District of Illinois ruling: Harrel v. Raoul (November 8, 2024) by US District Judge Stephen P. McGlynn (pdf).
This 168-page ruling declares provisions of the Protect Illinois Communities Act (PICA) which criminalize possession of so-called “assault weapons” and “large-capacity magazines” is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment.

“Why are there small lifeboats on gigantic steel ocean liners? Why do we spend thousands equipping our vehicles with airbags?…And why do we protect ourselves with firearms? In life, we face many perils. Some are natural weather phenomena….Some perils are associated with important products like…automobiles…Too often, the perils we face are forced upon us by other people. By people who are negligent, reckless, insane, impaired, or evil. Sometimes it is the proverbial lone wolf; sometimes, it is the whole wolf pack. And who comes to our aid in times of peril?…Sometimes, it is no one.”

“The AR-15 is the Rorschach test of America’s gun debate. In listening to the political debate and in reading various judicial interpretations of what the AR-15 represents, it is obvious that many are seeing very different creatures. Many see one, but not the other. Our task here is to understand the duality of much of the data and the reasons for varying interpretations. Are they seeing a dragon to be slayed or a horse to pull a carriage? Often, the different perspectives are defined by whom they picture using the weapon—either a menacing criminal or a law-abiding citizen involved in a dangerous confrontation.”

“So much about firearms is contentious, from the political debate to the jurisprudential debate. At the crossroads of this debate stands the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution.”

“The purpose of the Second Amendment is not crime reduction. Its focus is self-defense and the ability of each citizen to be able to either repel an attack by one or more adversaries or to offensively engage an adversary or adversaries to protect oneself and/or others.”

“The Second Amendment is a time-honored civil right that has been enshrined in our Constitution for centuries; it deserves at least the same respect as befitting its status in the Bill of Rights. Even so, it has consistently been treated as a ‘second-class right.’”

“Most importantly, considering all of the evidence presented, the Court holds that the provisions of PICA criminalizing the knowing possession of specific semiautomatic rifles, shotguns, magazines, and attachments are unconstitutional under the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution as applied to the states by the Fourteenth Amendment.” *

Read more excerpts from this ruling in the SemperVerus article, Federal Judge Rules Illinois ‘Assault Weapons’ Ban Unconstitutional

Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals ruling: Reno May, et al. v. Robert Bonta, et al. (September 6, 2024) by US Circuit Judge Susan P. Graber (pdf).
This ruling affirms an injunction against California’s restrictions prohibiting licensed concealed carry of self-defensive arms “with respect to hospitals and similar medical facilities, public transit, gatherings that require a permit, places of worship, financial institutions, parking areas and similar areas connected to those places, and the new default rule as to private property.” *

[ Get the SemperVerus booklet, The Case for Biblical Self-Defense ]

Read More…

Dry Fire and Self-Defense Apps

General Apps

[ Read the SemperVerus article, Prepper Survival, Travel, Leadership, Reader Apps ]

Dry Fire Apps

Shot Timer Apps

Invite SemperVerus to present its 5 life-changing success-generating components—prepare, aware, be, know, do—to your organization to inspire and motivate your members.

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