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In principle, any form of pre-emptive strike, capture, revenge, or firing the first actual shot or throwing the first actual blow is against the defensivist standpoint. If an action must be halted to stop an aggressor from achieving a goal to harm, defensivism allows for actions that assist in removing an imminent threat such as searching an airline passenger for bombs, stopping an aggressor from detonating a bomb, and stopping an aggressor from harming an innocent person. Pre-emptive action must be taken only to mitigate an imminent threat, not to remove a potential threat.
Any form of combative action must cease once the opposition stops fighting, withdraws, surrenders, or ceases the aggressive action.
That does not apply if an aggressor remains an imminent threat upon retreat, as in the case of a gunman shooting a police officer and then fleeing into the public still armed. In such cases, the assailant's "retreat" from the first scene still poses an imminent threat to the public, which gives defenders the right to pursue the threat and to use force to defend the public from further danger by apprehending the assailant or using any force that is necessary to mitigate the danger.
Generally, defensivism allows the taking of life only if the life that would be taken actively threatens another person's life, including significant bodily harm.
In foreign policy, defensivism is equated with the policy of a free society, which stresses the social primacy of liberty.
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