*This is a guest post from my friend Doug Deaton. Doug is a retired Texas police officer who now works as an expert witness in use of force court cases. His biography is at the end of this article.
Pay attention to Doug’s analogy and be very smart about poking lions.
-Greg
I recently had a dream that disturbed me enough to wake me up.
In the dream, I watched a group of small mammals harassing a massive African lion. I could not clearly identify the animals. They looked like a mixture of house cats, mongooses, and young dogs. They rushed in close to nip or slap at the lion and then dodged away quickly like a mongoose avoiding a cobra. Their behavior looked playful, but the danger was real. The lion remained calm, controlled, and unmoved.
Most of them got away with it.
Eventually, the lion caught one of the small animals and pinned it to the ground with his massive paws.
The animal began speaking perfect American English. It pleaded with the lion and said, “Wait! Stop! Let’s talk about this.” The lion did not react. It did not hesitate. It began eating the animal alive, starting from the hindquarters and working forward. The dream was brutally realistic. Crunching bones. Blood. Raw meat. Exposed organs. The animal tried to explain itself, begging the lion to listen, and then screamed as the lion ate it without stopping.
Not a lion…but you get the idea
I sat there watching. I did nothing to intervene. Even in the dream, I understood this was simply how things are, regardless of how awful it was.
After the lion finished, the remaining animals went right back to it. They harassed the lion again, rushing in and dodging out. Most escaped. Eventually, the lion caught another.
The same sequence repeated. Clear, articulate English. Reasoned pleas and explanations spoken with increasing fear and panic. No response. The lion again methodically ate the smaller animal alive without speeding up or slowing down.
Again, I watched without acting. There was nothing to be done.
That was when I woke up.
What the Lion Represents
The lion in this dream is not evil or vindictive. It is not driven by anger or cruelty. It operates according to its nature. Overwhelming power that does not negotiate or reconsider once it is engaged.
For private citizens in the self-defense world, the lion represents the criminal justice system after a shooting or serious use of force incident draws its full attention. Jailers taking your book-in photo. Prosecutors building a case. Judges enforcing procedure. Juries forming their own narratives. An impersonal, methodical system that becomes largely indifferent to individual intent once momentum takes hold.
The lion does not care how articulate your explanation is, or how sorry you are.
Who the Small Mammals Are
The small mammals are not passive victims. They choose proximity to danger. They test limits.
They represent armed citizens who take unnecessary risks. People who intervene in volatile situations that don’t involve them. People who knowingly enter environments where violence is probable. Those who willingly initiate conflicts with strangers.
Most of the time, nothing catastrophic happens. The situation resolves. No shots are fired. Sometimes threats are made or lesser force is used but the system never fully engages.
But the system does not need to catch everyone. It only needs to catch one person every now and then.
When it does, the result is often a slow, procedural dismantling. Charging. Hearings. Trial. Conviction. Sentencing. The process is not a single catastrophic moment. It’s a prolonged and merciless consumption.
Talking While Being Eaten
The most telling part of the dream is the talking.
The captured animal did not babble or plead incoherently. It spoke clearly and rationally. It tried to explain itself. It asked the lion to talk things out.
That is a private citizen explaining why they believed deadly force was necessary. That is testimony about fear, perception, timing, and intent. It’s an attempt to offer a reasonable explanation after the fact.
And it does nothing to stop the process.
Clear articulation does not ensure understanding. Good intentions do not guarantee mercy. I have worked on multiple cases where citizens acted in ways that made sense in the face of real threats and stress. They were still convicted and sentenced to lengthy prison terms.
Once the system commits, it proceeds methodically.
The Role of the Observer
In the dream, I did nothing. That was not indifference. It was recognition.
There are moments when intervention is no longer possible. Once the system is moving, the process will continue through to the end. Moral outrage will not stop it. Emotional explanations will not stop it. Good deeds and character references will not stop it.
Anyone who follows self-defense cases closely has seen this. You see where the trial is heading. You know the likely outcome long before it arrives. You also know there is no way to stop the process.
Why This Matters
The repetition in the dream matters. The remaining animals continued their risky behavior even after seeing what happened to their friend.
Some armed citizens will continue to engage in ego-driven conflicts and unnecessary confrontations. They presume they will prevail in all such encounters. They believe articulate post-incident explanations will set them free if something goes wrong.
Most of them will never draw the system’s full attention. Some will.
Reasonableness is not determined by what felt right in the moment. It is what a detached jury decides later. Preparation, training, and abilities matter, but they do not guarantee escape once you attract the lion’s attention.
The message is not to live in fear or refrain from defending yourself. It is to understand the nature of the system and what will happen if you behave in a way that enables the lion to lock on to you.
Once the lion commits to eating you, it will finish.
That is simply how things are.
About the author
This mama lioness looks tired, lazy, and inept…until you mess with her. The “justice” system acts much the same way.