Learn about your full range of options during a violent encounter, from skillfully doing nothing to applying deadly force, and the legal consequences: Use too much force and you are going to jail. Use too little force and you will be hurt.

In this two hour video lesson, you will learn how to:
Stop violence before it happens.
Choose the right response.
Avoid going to jail for defending yourself.

Conflict and violence cover a broad range of behaviors, from intimidation to murder, and they require an equally broad range of responses. A kind word will not resolve all situations, nor will wrist-locks, punches, or even a gun.

In "Scaling Force", Rory Miller and Lawrence A. Kane explain and demonstrate the full range of options during a violent encounter, from skillfully doing nothing to applying deadly force. You will learn to understand the limits of each type of force, when specific levels may be appropriate, the circumstances under which you may have to apply them, and the potential cost of your decision, legally and personally.

• Level 1—Presence. Staving off violence using body language alone.
• Level 2—Voice. Verbally de-escalating conflict before physical methods become necessary.
• Level 3—Touch. Defusing an impending threat or gaining compliance via touch.
• Level 4—Empty-Hand Restraint. Controlling a threat through pain or forcing compliance through leverage.
• Level 5—Less-Lethal Force. Incapacitating a threat while minimizing the likelihood of fatality or permanent injury.
• Level 6—Lethal Force. Stopping a threat with techniques or implements likely to cause death or grievous bodily harm.
• Video Lessons / 120 minutes / 2 hours

It is vital to enter this scale at the right level, and to articulate why what you did was appropriate. If you do not know how to succeed at all six levels, there are situations in which you will have no appropriate options. More often than not, that will end badly.

Lawrence Kane is the best-selling author of nine books, including a USA Book News Best Books Award finalist, an eLit Book Awards Bronze prize, and two ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Award finalists. His solo efforts include Surviving Armed Assaults, Martial Arts Instruction, and Blinded by the Night. Working with Kris Wilder he co-wrote The Way of Kata, The Way to Black Belt, How to Win a Fight, Dirty Ground, and The Little Black Book of Violence, and with Rory Miller, Scaling Force. He co-hosts a podcast with Kris Wilder at stickmanpublications.com.
A founding technical consultant to University of New Mexico’s Institute of Traditional Martial Arts, he also has written numerous articles on martial arts, self-defense, and related topics for prestigious publications such as the International Ryukyu Karate-jutsu Research Society Journal, Jissen, Fighting Arts, and Traditional Karate magazine. His work has also been featured in Fighter’s Fact Book 2: The Street by Loren Christensen, and Wicked Wisdom: Explorations into the Dark Side by Bohdi Sanders and Shawn Kovacich, among others. Since 1970, Lawrence has studied and taught traditional Asian martial arts, medieval European combat, and modern close-quarter weapon techniques. During the 26 years he worked stadium security part-time he was involved in hundreds of violent altercations, but got paid to watch football. He is currently a senior strategist at an aerospace company where he gets to play with billions of dollars of other people’s money and make really important decisions. He lives in Seattle, Washington with his son Joey and wife Julie.

Rory Miller is a writer and teacher living peacefully in the Pacific Northwest. He served for seventeen years in corrections as an officer and sergeant working maximum security, booking and mental health; leading a tactical team; and teaching subjects ranging from Defensive Tactics and Use of Force to First Aid, and Crisis Communications with the Mentally Ill. For fourteen months he was an advisor to the Iraqi Corrections System working in Baghdad and Kurdish Sulaymaniyah. He received a BS degree in Psychology; served in the National Guard as a Combat Medic (91A/B); and earned college varsities in judo and fencing and received a mokuroku in jujutsu.