.
There is a thing, no one was thinking about. I was waiting if someone would touch that. It's about the distance. Let me ask you a question. When is an attacker near enough to be a real threat to you? And? Does that open a door in your minds... 
I am standing somewhere. Let's ay I'm waiting for a bus. To my right there is a guy. Black leather jacket, tattoos on his hands, bald head. He looks at me with a dark look. Then he draws a knife. Lucky enough I have a whip with me! I unroll the whip and hit him straight to the face! I cut his face open and his left eye is bleeding. I am a hero. I defended myself successfully with a whip.
That guy was far away from me so that I could use the whip. It was the perfect distance. But was it the perfect distance for him to attack me...? No. He was way too far away. The police comes and I'll face court.
Why?
He had a knife and he looked like a real bad guy. So I HAD to strike first to survive. Later on I hear that his mother died in the hospital an hour ago - therefore the sinister look on his face - and he draw the knife to cut a string from a button on his jacket. And the last thing, the judge will ask me is this:
"Mr. Amper. You felt threatened by that man, is that correct?"
"Yes, Sir. He looked at me and pulled a knife from his jacket."
"How close was he?"
"Pardon me?"
"Was he close enough to stab you with his knife? Was he close enough to hurt you with that knife?"
"Sir, I felt threatened by the knife!"
"My question is: Was that man close enough to you to reach you with the blade?"
"Ahm, ohm, I'm not sure..."
"You hit that man with a whip, which had an overall reach/length of nearly seven feet. 5 feet braided and two feet of some cord with some fluffy thing at the end. That means, the man was about 2,5 meters away from you. I see that this man doesn't have arms like an ape. So it was absolutely impossible for him to reach you with his knife. So - please - explain me where the threat was..."
Conclusion: I hurt a man who was way too far away from me to be a real & physical threat to me. Even if would've yelled at me - he-was-too-far-away-from-me. And even if someone yells at you: I kill you!!!! As long as he's not close enough, it's not more than yelling. Got the point...? I think, I'll go to jail and pay for the poor man for the rest of my life. That good a whip is as weapon!
If the man would have had a gun, pointing at me - then it is a serious and real attack. But then I wouldn't take my whip. Would you?
You can't justify the attack at another person which is obviously too far away as he could do any harm to you. You carry a gun. Suddenly a person - let's say about 30 feet away from you - looks at you and starts to run straight into your direction. You draw the gun and shoot him. Pitty, that he was realizing that he's going to miss the bus, he was waiting for. And so he started to run, and the bus station was 40 feet behind you...
There is a huge difference in difference. As long as you defend yourself against someone who's close enough to be a threat - hands, knife, screwdriver, broken bottle... - you are the defender. But the same moment you hit someone who is NOT near enough to hurt you - with a knife, screwdriver, bottle etc. - YOU will be the attacker! And the same moment, you hit someone with a whip, you're hitting a person which is not close enough to be a real and physical threat. YOU are the attacker, then.
That was a long story, but it's worth to be told. That's the story I tell my students on every seminar I give, when the (unavoidable) question comes "Can I defend myself with a whip?" Now think again. What would you say when you read an article in a newspaper, which says that someone defended himself with a 7 ft. long spear against someone who was yelling at him? Of course you would say first: "What idiot is this to carry a spear?" Careful, friends, careful. If someone would read such an article, that one defended himself with a whip, others would say instantly "Which idiot carries a whip...?"
In my opinion and experience it's a wishful, romantic and adventurous thinking to be a hero like Indy or Zorro out on the streets. In fact you'll be an inmate in the state prison for hurting someone without reason...
Robby
I have a screwdriver. I am Legend...