stand one's ground

As Ferzan put it in her law review article: “What is defense? What is reasonable? When may one stand one’s ground and when must one retreat? And, when is a citizen entitled to step in as an aggressor in the name of the state?”

“What is defense? What is reasonable? When may one stand one’s ground and when must one retreat? And, when is a citizen entitled to step in as an aggressor in the name of the state?”

This principle places idealized, “law-abiding citizens” — not all citizens — in the service of lethal self-defense and equates good citizenship with the capacity to stand one’s ground against criminal strangers.

There are 86,400 seconds a day—to stand exposed, and yet stand one’s ground, to begin to grasp in fundamental, naked terms who one really is, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Jones didn't settle there himself - he didn't really approve of emigration - the better option, in his view, was to stand one's ground in Wales itself.