It depends, pacifist is a catch all term not unlike vegetarian. There are total pacifist who will not utilize violence in any form. Then their are pacifist that

It depends, pacifist is a catch all term not unlike vegetarian. There are total pacifist who will not utilize violence in any form. Then their are pacifist that believe in personal self defence (and that of family) but not offensive violence in any form. Then their are pacifist that don't reason about it on a personal level, rather they do not believe in the validity of government sanctioned violence, but are OK with getting into a prison fight over a disagreement. Pacifism is a philosophical viewpoint and like most things philosophical it has a spectrum. I consider myself to be a pacifist, but not to the extent that Buddha or Jesus where pacifists, I would be hard pressed to not defend my children or my wife if they were being attacked. For me personally, if I were assaulted, I would try to reach reason and understanding before the violence escalated. If I were being attacked, I would defend myself to the extent that I could get away from the assailant.