Possibly pedantic drift:

"our laws regarding assault say that if you cock back your fist while facing me, you've already committed the crime of assault."

Just one comment on that, and Dickens put it best: "If the law supposes that," said Mr. Bumble, squeezing his hat emphatically in both hands, "the law is a ass — a idiot."

A threat to commit an assault is a threat, not an assault. It may be justifiable to react to it as if it had been an actual assault, but that is a different matter.