California Western Law Review Volume 56 Number 2 Article 3 7-1-2020 Self-Defense Under Siege: Creeping Criminalization of Individual Self-Defense in the U.S. Military Brian L. Bengs Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarlycommons.law.cwsl.edu/cwlr Recommended Citation Bengs, Brian L. (2020) "Self-Defense Under Siege: Creeping Criminalization of Individual Self-Defense in the U.S. Military," California Western Law Review: Vol. 56 : No. 2 , Article 3. Available at: https://scholarlycommons.law.cwsl.edu/cwlr/vol56/iss2/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by CWSL Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in California Western Law Review by an authorized editor of CWSL Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Bengs: Self-Defense Under Siege: Creeping Criminalization of Individual Bengs camera ready FINAL (Do Not Delete) 6/29/2020 9:26 AM SELF-DEFENSE UNDER SIEGE: CREEPING CRIMINALIZATION OF INDIVIDUAL SELF-DEFENSE IN THE U.S. MILITARY BRIAN L. BENGS*† All U.S. jurisdictions recognize individual self-defense as an inherent right belonging to each person. As an inherent right, self-defense is rooted firmly in natural law, as opposed to positive law, which entails a revocable grant from a sovereign. This article contends that prior legal recognition of such an inherent right precludes a sovereign from unilaterally limiting an individual military member’s exercise of or claim to self-defense. The story of U.S. Marine Corps Medal of Honor recipient Sergeant Dakota L. Meyer serves as a vehicle for the argument that the U.S.