The Anarchists believe in the family; they only insist that free competition and experiment shall always be allowed in order that it may be determine… - Benjamin Tucker

Defence was an afterthought, prompted by necessity; and its introduction as a State function, though effected doubtless with a view to the strengthening of the State, was really and in principle the initiation of the State's destruction. Its growth in importance is but an evidence of the tendency of progress toward the abolition of the State.

Taking this view of the matter, the Anarchists contend that defence is not an essential of the State, but that aggression is.

I insist that there is nothing sacred in the life of an invader, and there is no valid principle of human society that forbids the invaded to protect themselves in whatever way they can.