[Poohbah]

"Threats" are not sufficient for attacks.

OK, so if someone is waving an automatic weapon in your direction and shouting about how he wants to kill you, you'd just say, "It's only a threat" and do nothing.

[rdb3]

OK, so if someone is waving an automatic weapon in your direction and shouting about how he wants to kill you, you'd just say, "It's only a threat" and do nothing.

That's my point.

[ninenot]

Please note my post carefully: I said that PREPAREDNESS is necessary.

Reducing national preparedness to what you have described on a personal level, it's time to lock, load, aim, and take off the safety. But not YET time to pull the trigger.

Ayoob's book on the topic of armed self-defense )In the Gravest Extreme) is damn near word-for-word applicable to national armed self-defense.