The level of misunderstanding in this thread is scary.
The behavior exhibited by the villian is pretty typical of someone putting his toe in the water to see if he can jump in. He’s working up his courage, testing boundries and becoming more menacing and aggressive - his behavior is typical of a prelude to an attack. For instance, no law enforcement officer would sit idly by and allow it. It’s dangerous. The black belt took a lot of chances. LOL @ knife defense in general by the way. He could have easily been hit or stabbed. That it turned out Okay for him is not evidence that “he did the right thing” or was “impressive”. I think however that we can all cheer and say chalk one up for the good guys, another asshole down on the ground. But if the asshole was more capable, it’s the poor nice guy on the ground.
Here in the States, he has a legal right to defend himself against this type of threat or aggression. Generally, the legal and permitted response follows a continuum. In other words, his response has to be commensurate with the threat. I fear you’re risking a charge if you go to pull a gun FIRST. What everyone has thus far ignored is that he could have attempted to retreat to his home. If the villian attempted to block him from doing so, the good guy then can escalate to evade or protect himself or property. If he chooses not to return to his home, he is certainly within his right to protect his immediate personal space. Allowing someone acting in this manner to get within inches of you is not reasonable.
Legally you generally cannot escalate beyond what is reasonable to extinguish or avoid the threat. But you are not legally bound to suffer an attack before you respond. If you have a REASONABLE fear for your safety, you may respond to that threat REASONABLY to protect persons or property. As for the good guy making a great bouncer, I’d NEVER want to work with him is this is his general demeanor. He’d get himself hurt and you eventually.
