In-depth research between 2004 to 2008 shows that more than 400,000 violent victimizations occurred in garages.
At the same time, another study shows a staggering increase in robbery victimization from 2016 to 2017. Plus, the FBI Uniform Crime Report reveals 1,247,321 violent crimes like rape, murder, robbery, and assault in a single year.
All these alarming statistics show that it’s vital you protect yourself at all times. To ensure that, you need to weaponize practical self-defense items in your pockets and car at all times.
Below we discuss the top self-defense weapons you should keep in your car for maximum on the road protection:
How to Choose a Self-Defense Weapon
Present-day, the self-defense industry offers an extensive range of weapons, which may make choosing the perfect self-defense weapon a challenging task.
Typically, buyers pick the ideal self-defense weapon through personal preference and how they’ll be carrying it. But apart from that, consumers should consider the following things:
1. Can You Injure Someone with the Weapon?
You should also decide on if you will be able to use the weapon when you need to? Some people’s response to danger is freezing up. Therefore tools like panic alarms and other audible alerts are a necessity. That way, they can either chase away the perpetrator or alarm people about your location.
Related: How To Prepare Your Car In Case You Have To Live In It
Otherwise, self-defense devices like tasers, pepper spray, pocket knives, tactical pens are tools you can keep in your car, as well as use to injure the offender.
2. The Weapon’s Size
The size of your weapon defines its functionality. You can hide the pocket knife in your purse or pocket, as the name suggests. However, it’s difficult to hide an ax.
3. Affordability
While it’s true your safety should be your priority, some weapons aren’t necessarily the best but cost a lot. Thus, before stepping into the market, be sure to craft a budget for yourself.
4. Local and State Regulations
You should also check that your state allows you to employ your chosen weapon. Since some areas require residents to carry a permit for self-defense tools, it’s best if you check in with your state and local regulations on weapons.
Self Defense and Safety Items to Always Keep in Your Car at All Times
Here’s a comprehensive list of the top self-defense and safety items you should keep on you in the car at all times:
Pepper Spray
Pepper spray is probably the most popular self-defense weapon due to its ease of functionality and portability.
The small defense tool can easily fit in your car, purse, or your pocket.
Plus, it’s pretty easy to spray the assailant with pepper spray. The spray not only causes instant pain but also inflames the mucous membranes. The effects of which make it difficult for your perpetrator to open their eyes or breath properly.
Pepper sprays are available in an array of ranges and spray patterns.
Related: How To Make Pepper Spray
Typically, mists and sprays that boast a shorter range are comparatively easy to inhale. On the flip side, pepper sprays with remarkable range don’t affect the assailants breathing by much.
Tactical Flashlight
One self-defense tool users often overlook tactical flashlights. Manufacturers fabricate flashlights from airplane-grade aluminum to ensure the product is robust, shock-resistant, and weather-resistant.
Moreover, tactical flashlights are comparatively brighter than conventional flashlights and provide visibility across the length of a football field, i.e., about 50 feet. In addition to this, you can choose between three settings; low, medium, and high. That way, you can use the brightest strobe to blind your assailant temporarily.
Manufacturers serrate the edge of the flashlights to allow users to use them in a plethora of different ways. You may use it to hit the perpetrator, as a digging tool, or even to break out of your car’s window.
Taser Device or Stun Gun
Taser devices and stun guns are two potent weapons buyers can use to protect themselves.
These futuristic and compact devices are the perfect alternative to carrying a gun. Plus, they are available in different styles, sizes, and capabilities.
However, before purchasing these tools, vital buyers know that there’s a difference between taser devices and stun guns.
Both tasers and stun guns employ wires to attach to the assailant’s clothes/skin to deliver a powerful electric shock.
However, the difference is that you can shoot tasers from a distance, whereas you need to be near the target to use a stun gun.
These non-lethal devices require you to pull a trigger to allow the prongs to reach your target and render them immobile. That way, you get sufficient time to make a hefty escape.
Self Defense Keychain
If you aim to purchase easy-to-carry self-defense tools, then a self-defense keychain is a must-have.
Available in plenty of various styles like stun guns, keychain balls, knives, kubotans, and pepper sprays, self-defense keychain offer top-notch compatibility and effectiveness.
You can even purchase safety keychains that double as full brass knuckles.
Self Defense Lipstick
If you’re seeking a small and easily concealable self-defense product, the self-defense lipstick stun gun is the perfect tool for you.
Not only do these fit in your purse perfectly, but they’re the ideal alternative to typical hand-held tasers as well.
Related: The Most Powerful Non-Lethal Weapon Against Invading Rioters
Tactical Knife
What makes a tactical knife the perfect self-defense item is its convenient disguises and substantial impacts.
You can choose between knives boasting sharp points and blunt ones depending on personal preference.
Moreover, you can clip tactical knives to your clothing, belt, or the inside of your purse. It ensures you can quickly and swiftly grab the knife when necessary.
When purchasing a tactical knife, you should follow the 3/3 rule, which refers to choosing a 3mm thick and 3 inches long blade.
Personal Safety Alarms
Our brain’s design triggers either one of two physical responses; fight or flight. Unfortunately, not everyone can fight back during such dangerous situations.
For this reason, it’s always a smart idea to keep personal safety alarms on you at all times.
That way, you can utilize the loud emissions to scare away your assailant. If not that, you’ll at least grab the attention of passersby.
A bonus tip for users is to sound the alarm and throw it further from you. It ensures your attacker is unable to silence the alarm.
Tactical Pen
The best multifunctional weapon that transforms everyday objects into fantastic self-defense items is the tactical pen.
These devices perform similar to writing instruments, but you can use them to stab or jab your attacker as well.
If you purchase a fancy version, you can even enjoy using tools like screwdrivers, knives, and flashlights.
Self Defense Ring
Self-defense is paramount in the modern world, so the market offers diverse tools and weapons.
Jewelry is probably the last thing that crosses your mind when considering easily concealable products.
Realted: How to Conceal Weapons in Your Vehicle
A self-defense ring is ideal for those going on a run since you can wear it similar to a standard ring.
However, if someone attacks you, you can punch the target and hurt them via the spikes on the ring.
Brass Knuckles
Brass knuckles blend functionality with portability.
All with a dash of contemporary style! These self-defense items are available in a wide variety of styles and designs, although each offers the same effect.
In fact, these sturdy and somewhat heavy self-defense items can be brutal enough to break your attacker’s nose.
Related: Best MMA Self-Defense Techniques
Sap Gloves
Sap gloves, otherwise known as weighted gloves, are the ideal way to amplify your hits and punches.
These are super discreet, which means buyers can wear them without the attacker realizing the intensity of the punches about to come.
The best part?
You can choose between sap gloves and hard knuckle gloves to select gloves that best meet your functionality needs.
The Strike Light
The Strike Light is a revolutionary self-defense item featuring an array of different tools in a compact design.
The device combines features of a flashlight with a baseball bat to produce the perfect self-defense tool.
The LED flashlight of the device offers users to sift through multiple light settings.
That way, you can use its powerful beam to blind your attacker.
On the flip side, the sustainable, top-grade aluminum construction of the device allows you to use it like a baton.
The sharp teeth and endpoints of the flashlight ensure a powerful impact on your assailant.
The Takeaway
Living in a violent world where crime is prevalent, you must always prepare for the worst. That’s why you must select the best self-defense weapons to protect yourself and your property.
Moreover, the market offers an extensive range of self-defense tools featuring various sizes and features. It means you can easily find the best self-defense weapon for you.
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If you are really concerned about defending yourself then a gun is the best choice.
Only if you can confidently wield that weapon and maintain control. Lose your gun—80 percent + chance you are going to be killed with your own gun!
The best is a big ass GUN…
With the death of our constitution and the lieing and cheating and evil and sitantic and demonic people that are running our country and all those that fallow them and love there ways. These will be the very ones that will bring slavery and death camps back.
They have to make a reset. Because they have to hide there sick and perverted ways. So they make up a bunch of more lies to cover the already lies. They are coming to your home and bust in and take ALL your stuff. If you think they will stop at your guns and ammo. They will take what ever they want and you will stand there and watch them steal YOUR belongings.
We have to be a bunch of worthless and weak dumb asses and very small minded so the .gov can show y’all how to live. You will want this and you will obey every thing they tell you. They have to get us just as weak as the rest of the world is. So this one world gov can start there depopilation. We are the true and last ones standing in there way and that’s a big ass problem for them. That’s why they have to bring in followers to set them up to make it look like some nut is killing every one.
I can’t believe that this is going on. But here we are. It’ coming to your door. Save them the trouble and just take it to them. You will COMPLY to there AGENDA.
OR WILL WE…
No guns no freedom.
It’s the only way satan can ruin GOD perfection. By using weak minded and greedy people to destroy every thing that GOD has created. They will destroy you and your family.
They might save your little ones for biden…
It’s coming .
A big ass GUN is what you need in your car…
As much as I wish you were wrong Red Ant, I must concur with you 99%. I would not advocate carrying a firearm in the car in California. Other than that I agree
All that is necessary for evil to propagate is for good people to do nothing! Standing together we are strong
I hadn’t owned any guns since childhood. They were stolen while I was travelling. The Rodney King riots made me realize law enforcement could not be everywhere at once. I bought a pistol and a shotgun to protect my family. I carried the pistol on the seat beside me with an extra magazine for at least 6 months after the riots as I had to travel through the areas and the anger was still high.
You can legally carry a gun in your motor vehicle in the PDRK. It must be locked in a container in the trunk of your car or an area not easily accessible to folk in the car. It must be unloaded and the ammunition in another separate container which interestingly enough at the present time does not have to be locked. Do not take the last phrase as the law as I am not a lawyer who is familiar with the PDRK’s gun laws which are almost as voluminous as the federal tax code. To be on the safe side, lock the ammo container.
That is not quite as onerous as it appears on its face. A semiautomatic already cocked in a container with a 3 digit combination lock with two numbers already in position and the third number two or three numbers away can be accessed quite quickly. A loaded magazine or two in another container in the same state of readiness means that although not readily at hand, can be nearby and quite quickly accessed, especially if one practices the procedures outlined above.
Why should the firearm be cocked? If you have ever noticed, it is easier to chamber a round if the piece is already cocked than it is if you are trying to cock the striker or hammer and seat a round.
While there may be some truth to the theory that keeping a semiautomatic cocked continuously introduces a “set” in the mainspring, practical experience indicates that falls into the area of urban legend.
It is likely that if you cock the firearm, put it away and don’t come back for 50 years, the mainspring may well have taken a slight set. But in that case, it is more likely the congealed oil that you put on the firearm before putting it away is the culprit keeping the firearm from operating as opposed to a set in the mainspring.
I recently had occasion to experience that phenomenon. I wanted to put a .22 semiautomatic back in service in preparation to selling it. I found that I could not operate the slide. The firearm worked perfectly when last I cleaned it and put it away which was approximately 1983. Can you say “Safe Queen?” It was hard to believe it had been that many years but when I thought back it had really been that long.
I finally was able to pry the action open with a very small pry bar. After I cleaned the firearm thoroughly it operated just fine. There was no “set” to the mainspring, the gun had been stored in an uncocked condition. The set was the congealed oil in the coiled mainspring that kept the spring from fully compressing to allow opening the action and seating a round. Had the chamber been loaded and the mainspring compressed, I am confident that the firearm would have fired and the action cycled — unless the firing pin were locked in its channel with solidified oil.
So if you regularly take your trunk gun out and work it and clean it before returning it to its locked container you shouldn’t experience a malfunction due to the mechanical parts. It might malfunction due to the solidified nature of the lubricants you put on the piece before putting it away.
One final note on carrying a weapon in your trunk. Make sure it is a firearm that you have purchased through a dealer and is on record in Schizomento. It makes getting it back from the confiscating fuzz much easier than if it is one that you purchased from a private party that did not make it to the “terrorist” files in Schizomento.
You will have to wait ten days after the fuzz decides it’s okay for you to get your gun back, if they seize it, for them to “run a records check” to make sure you haven’t managed to join one of the numerous categories of proscribed individuals.
Remember that misdemeanor battery charge you pled guilty to 30 years ago when you were involved in a macho display soon after you turned 21? It will come back to haunt you. You won’t get your gun back. You will need to hire a lawyer to get your gun back and it will cost you five times as much as the gun cost to begin with. Oh, and by the way, now that you have been flagged, you won’t be able to purchase a replacement unless you buy via an illegal felony private party purchase. That is unless you pay the lawyer additional fees to get your misdemeanor battery conviction set aside and get you declared “rehabilitated” by a judge.
On the other hand, possession of a loaded firearm or use of a firearm in the commission of a crime had been reduced by the legislature last year from mandatory sentences to discretionary sentencing on the order of drunk driving or speeding more than 20 mph over the speed limit.
Note: Tiger Woods was doing 30 mph over the speed limit at the time of his vehicle left the road and overturned. It remains to be seen if he will be charged with a moving violation. In any event he won’t have to appear in court. His attorney will be paid handsomely to make all of his court appearances for him while he will likely be sentenced to community service and a hefty fine which will be of no real concern considering his income.
His insurance company will probably put him in its assigned risk category and extract a handsome yearly sum from him for his three property damage/self-inflicted injury collisions. It might be cheaper for him to hire full time drivers or put a limo service on retainer. Couldn’t resist the dig at the PDRK court system which is designed to extract maximum dollars from law abiding subjects while using any excuse at all to exculpate the criminal element in the state. Any wonder why I feel like an inmate too?
If you think gods perfect plan could ever even be swayed by stupid people or satan, you got another thing coming. Or do you seriously thing god did not account for those?
Good choices… of course, if you don’t have a gun
Better yet, get a gun while you still can.
If you’re just going to be rude and nasty, why don’t you just click the X to close the page and move on with your day – do you seriously have nothing better to do?
most won’t be effective sitting in the vehicle – and if you exit the vehicle to defend yourself >>> have something in your hand that will finish the fight fast on your unharmed terms …
have something that does the job and can be expained away at anytime as a normal auto carried object ….
The gas pedal on your car is another good self defense item when they are singing break your windows put the pedal to the metal.
While it sounds somewhat gruesome, actually bodies piling up in front of your vehicle, barring driving in some four wheel jacked up super truck. will impede and stop your forward progress.
Most of the advice I have read from “experts” in how to avoid getting trapped by a mob recommend backing up and doing a J-turn if there is room or moving slowly against the mob sounding your horn. In any event, in using your vehicle as an escape pod they recommend moving against the crowd where it is the thinnest even if it is in the opposite direction of your intended destination.
The object is to get away from the crowd no matter what direction it takes you. Better to take a very circuitous route to your destination than to get pulled from your car and beaten to death with the same happening to any passengers in your vehicle.
It is true, your vehicle is an incredibly dangerous weapon. It doesn’t take much of an impact from a 4,000 pound weapon to create more significant injuries than the larges rifle that can be carried. Force is mass times velocity. Very large mass with only moderate velocity equals a tempos amount of force.
Someone shot by a bullet seldom has laced up, tied shoes knocked off their feet. In getting struck by a moving motor vehicle it is not uncommon for the injured person to have one or more shoes knocked off by the impact and flung some distance from the P.O.I
I have often wondered if these folk who have to walk around holding their pants up with one hand get disrobed if struck by a car, thus adding self-inflicted insult to injury.
Errata: In case a “tempos amount “— whatever that is —my on-line dictionary defines “tempo” as the speed at which music is played, so I guess it has some inconsequential connection to speed — it should have read “tremendous amount” before predictive decided that it knew better than I what I meant.
I managed to get predictive turned off on my phone and not at least my text messages don’t read as if I am either mentally handicapped or drunk.
In a former life I worked with a private investigator who claimed he never drank vodka. He wanted people to know he was drunk and not stupid because drunk was only a temporary condition whereas stupid was permanent.
There is a joke about Winston Churchill who was known to have a brandy or four or five who, at an elegant banquet when Winston was in his cups, leaned across the table and said to the woman sitting across from him, “Madam, you are very ugly.”
The woman is alleged to have said, “And you, sir, are very very drunk.”
To which Churchill replied, “Quite true, Madam, but in the morning I shall be sober and you will still be very ugly.”
There were moments when even Churchill could be undiplomatic.
Thank you so much for this info. Great stuff!
In the PDRK as is typical, if you have a gun in your car not being carried in the approved manner the DA can charge you with a felony or a misdemeanor, his choice. If you have brass knuckles in your car it is a felony, no discretion. There is a long list of proscribed items described in various places in the penal code. Any “ninja” weapon that has ever come to the attention of the legislators is proscribed and possession is a felony. Even possession in your home discovered as a result of a lawful search will be charged as an additional felony or may be the only charge if the basis for the search warrant didn’t lead to anything that could be charged. So if the warrant is for possession of dope but the cops didn’t find any but did find brass knuckles, you can be charged with illegal possession of brass knuckles even though there was no dope. If the warrant was valid any incriminating evidence of a crime discovered as a result of that warrant is valid.
My suggestion is to research what is forbidden in your state, then make the decision as to what you will carry for self-defense.
Many times intent enters into the matter and whether the DA thinks he can prove intent. A little league bat by itself in the car may find you standing in front of a judge. A little league bat in the car with a glove and a ball may not even get a second glance from the cop who pulled you over for turning through the red light without a stop.
A tire iron under the front seat may also cause you to be standing in front of a judge. A tire iron in the trunk, not so much.
A tool box with a 14 inch long box wrench and other assorted tools may get a cursory glance from the cop. A 14 inch box wrench all by its lonesome on the floorboards of the back seat may get you standing etc etc.
If you carry AOW (any other weapon) make sure you have a good story with backup evidence in case you are inadvertently stopped for a brake light being out or some other minor traffic violation. If the cop can see it looking through your windows, it is in plain sight and it gives him a green light to go through your car.
Locked in your trunk, lacking any other probable cause, he can’t open your trunk without your permission. Never, ever give a cop permission to look through your car.
That’s the main reason to be polite no matter how much the officer may engage you in a manner that seems offensive. He can be rude and threatening. You must keep your cool and maintain an even presentment. No matter how much it galls you to do so, you need to avoid being confrontational. You will lose every fight on the street with law enforcement. It won’t help you a bit that your heirs get a nice monetary settlement for your wrongful death at the hands of the police. You will still be cold in the ground.
The only admonition about pepper spray and stun guns is that pepper spray won’t always put a bad guy on the ground. Bad guy have been known to fight through pepper spray. It will give you an advantage. Whether that advantage can be utilized by you is another story.
Pepper spray is most definitely influenced by ambient winds. You have to be mindful of the wind direction before you deploy pepper spray. After you deploy pepper spray you need to leave the area and then notify law enforcement. There was an incident where a bum confronted a couple in our downtown. The guy pepper sprayed the bum but the couple didn’t leave. They continued wandering around downtown. It wasn’t long before the bum again confronted them but this time he had his knife out and stabbed both of them not fatally but seriously enough to send both the the E.R.
Stun guns only work as long as they are in contact with the stunnee. As soon as the juice is no longer applied the stunnee is fully recovered and now is mightily annoyed with the stunner. The urban legend that somehow the stun gun renders the stunnee unconscious is just that, an urban legend. There may be occasions where hitting a main trunk nerve with the stun gun’s charge will temporarily paralyze the stunnee, unless you know exactly where to place the probes in order to obtain that effect and can manage to so place the probes, your stunnee will be fully recovered when the charge is turned off.
Once again, after you put the stunnee on the ground, it is time to do a Hank Snow and move on — quickly.
excellent points
I have always carried a baton in my drivers side floor between the seat frame and door, easily accessed with door closed, but ready for action in an instance if need be. These are usually found at garage sales that had kids stuff , since I got mine when my daughters wanted to be in cheerleading in school. They are about 18-24″ long with the hard rubber tips and weigh about 1 to 2 pounds, hurt like hell when it hits you, and can be easily explained as your kids stuff instead of a weapon if a cop ask what is during routine traffic stop.
Everybody saying guns….a gun is only good for one thing…killing. Dont misread that…I have plenty. Guns are too dangerous for an edc self defense scenerio… not to mention you hit an innocent with a round that missed its mark your fucked! The best defense you can have is awareness followed by a weapon you are fluent with…if your a female use something your use to having with you all the time. A weapon can be anything…litterally anything. Your purse or clutch a little heavy? A well placed shot to the head of an assailant will buy you the time you need to flee and attract attention. Guys…same for you…I dont know a man alive that dont have a knife in his pocket…that’s your best defense. Leave the gun carrying to the police…they do it daily and train daily. Unless you devote a ton of time to being proficient with your firearm…your just looking for trouble.
Sean
Maybe a good thing for you to do as you say, but a gun is the only way.
Leave guns to the cops. Joke.
@Sean: I’m breathing a sigh of relief that at least someone in these comments seems mentally stable and capable of critical thinking.
A lot of these people seem to forget there’s also people who can’t legally own a gun for any number of reasons. Ammos also ridiculously pricey right now and even a basic lightweight self defense pistol will run hundreds, plus the permits, training, ammo, holster, and anything else you might need. Not optimal for anyone living paycheck-to-paycheck.
When it comes down to it, some people might fantasize about being their own saviour and pulling a gun on an assailant. Then they’re caught off-guard one night. The human brain can go haywire in a predicament like that especially if they’re ambushed from behind. Their muscles tense up or they start shaking and all that practice at the range becomes moot. Also they bought that shitty Taurus and oops now it’s jammed, lol.
Guns might be good for self-defense, but they’re not the be-all, end-all solution.
Old Joke:
A cop pulls over an old lady for speeding…
…”Afternoon ma’am. May I see your license and registration?” The old lady wordlessly hands the officer these items. As the officer reaches for the papers, he takes observation of the old woman.
She wasn’t just old, she was very old. Must have been in her mid 90’s. The fact that she was speeding so comfortably was a surprise to the officer. While reading the license over, he notices that this old woman has a license to carry a concealed weapon.
For no other reason than curiosity, the officer asks if the woman is carrying now. She obliges and reaches for her purse and reveals a 22 caliber pistol.
This surprises and entertains the officer, for he couldn’t have conceived that this tiny old woman would be packing heat. He felt that she may have another, so he asks her. She nods her head in agreement and reaches for the center compartment between the driver’s seat and passenger’s seat and reveals a snub nosed pistol.
The officer was amazed to think of this 90+ y.o. woman driving around with these guns. On another hunch he asks simply, “Are there any more?”
The old woman nods and says there is only one more, and removes a colt 45 from the glove compartment.
The officer’s curiosity had been peaked but not satisfied. He asks the old woman, “Lady, what in the world are you so afraid of?”
She turns to him, looks him dead in the eyes and says, “Not a God damn thing.”
Make sure that ‘any’ self defense item you have is legal. Example…In some areas ‘brass knuckles’ are not legal and you will end up going to jail if you use them.
I always have a dry chemical fire extinguisher where ever I can. In the backseat of a car for my wife, Near the garage door to the house hanging on the wall etc.. This way my wife can use it as a weapon. She was taught to spray them in the face till they stop or she runs out. Then use the empty can to beat the s*** out of them and get away as soon as possible. I’m a firefighter and as anyone who sprayed one of those dry chem extinguishers can tell you just being near one of these being discharged , it gets hard to breath and it can be blinding. It can be used in the crack of a door or window too. Spray and hold your shirt or something over your face and give them a bad day. I don’t know anywhere that bans fire extinguishers or will ban fire extinguishers. Just my thoughts I thought I would share.
Outstanding advice. There is a “gun training expert” who uses that advice in his advertisements in various gun related periodicals.
“Spray ’em with the white stuff then hit ’em with the red thing” I believe is the precise wording of his ad.
Who can argue about the validity of a fire extinguisher in the back seat floorboards of your vehicle? How many folk trapped in their cars after a collision have been saved by a passer-by using his vehicle carried fire extinguisher to hold the flames back while others pulled the trapped person from the burning car?
The only caveat I would mention is to watch your six. Did you see the video of the retired service man protecting his friend’s store during the Minneapolis summer festivals with a fire extinguisher? A sheepdog rushing to protect his friends property. He violated one of the main principles of combat and failed to watch his six and was killed by being struck in the head by a murderer who snuck up behind him and hit him in his unprotected head with some object.
Perfect example of the entirely innocent, no explanations needed, self-defense weapon. Slip your mandatory CoVD mask on and spray away. Should be able to take out any small crowd around your car.
Even if they are wearing protective goggles as is common now in “peaceful demonstrations” the chemical will fog the lenses and inhibit their ability to see you swing the canister at their noggins — or their arms. A broken arm will take out one of the demonstrating pansies just as well a a cracked skull.
If you’re threatened while in a car the only effective defense you have is to drive away. Run the red light, back up,, go around other cars or obstacles. If attacked remember you will be awkward and completely helpless while getting out the door. An old tactic we used to use against somebody pulling up in a car to start a fight was to yank the door open and start kicking the guy behind the wheel in the face.
It’s a good idea to remember that, in real life, most attacks on your person will come without warning. No cussing, jive talking, or squaring off, just a vicious surprise attack with the goal of making it a one punch fight. Best defense is always to be aware of your situation, second best defense is to leave your ego at home.
You forgot the part about the car itself being a great weapon. Gas pedal being the trigger
In another unrelated topic, but of interest to preppers, space weather.com announced this morning that as a result of a more detailed study, geomagnetic storms of the magnitude of the one that blacked out Quebec in 1989 occur more frequently than previously thought.
The new research traced geomagnetic activity as far back as 1900. While some may say, “Wow. That’s 120 years ago.” I would remind readers that 120 years in solar time is less than a blink of the eye.
Previous solar activity research had only extended back to 1950. That’s sort of like the sky is falling doomsayers looking at weather data from the last several decades and predicting doom and gloom, ignoring historic weather changes that have been recorded since the founding the of Roman Empire, more than two millennia ago.
Followers of space weather will recall in the 1920s there was a large geomagnetic storm along the intensity of the infamous Carrington event. It was more noticeable than the Carrington event because there were more railroads in existence than in 1853 and more telegraph lines plus some cities had started installing electric lights.
The 1920 storm was named after a city in Brazil and archives of the scientific report on that storm were recently discovered. Following is a snippet from space weather.com’s article
“”My colleague, Hisashi Hayakawa, discovered that a copy of the Vassouras yearbook (an annual summary of magnetic data) was held in a Japanese archive maintained by the World Data Center in Kyoto. It contained a magnetogram we needed; the chart recording was in fragments, upside down, and mislabeled, all of which had to be sorted out.”
The new data revealed that the frequency of geomagnetic storms originally thought to be on a 100 year cycle now appear to be on a more frequent cycle of 45 years.
Inasmuch as we are entering into a new 11 year cycle of increased solar activity that means the end of the 11 year current cycle will coincide very closely with the predicted 45 year cycle of geomagnetic storms of the intensity of the 1989 storm. Any such impact, however, will have considerably more effect than in 1989 due to the increased use of computers and their susceptibility to the effects of a CME if connected to long lines, ie., plugged into your house circuitry.
While other end of the world scenarios are in the possibility realm, a crippling CME is in the probability category. The only questions are: When, how severe, and what all will be affected.
If we are lucky, it will blow out all the computers in China. That however will have a significant although indirect impact on WalMart shoppers. It may also affect our supply of drugs, both legal and illegal. It is my understanding most of the illegal fentanyl circulating illegally in the U.S. is from our BFFs China.
If it hits the U.S., it will have a devastating blow to the economy of China as WalMart and KMart will no longer be major customer’s of Chinas shoddy goods.
I must admit however, that I just read an editorial in the catalog of the Uline Corporation, a huge industrial supply company wherein the owner of the company states that it is her experience in attempting to purchase mainly U.S. goods viz a viz offshore goods that the biggest percentage of quality goods comes from China.
That certainly puts a different perspective on what I had long held as dictum that if it came from China it automatically was junk. She certainly is in a better position to evaluate quality across a broad spectrum of products than I. The Uline catalog is very large. It is about half the size of the old Sears catalog but still has over 800 pages of products.
It may be the only weapons you will have available are a club and a wooden spear which will solve the problem of what to carry as you forage for goods.
Fortunately for me, I won’t run out of ammunition before my demise even if I am involved in a daily platoon level firefight. I am of the school of thought that there is no such thing as too much butter, mayonnaise, capers, sugar or ammunition.
I read a sage aphorism recently: You only have too much ammunition if you are drowning or are on fire.
Inconstant Moon by Larry Niven, award winning sci-fi short story about a giant solar eruption impacting our world. Prepper talk about CME and EMP seems to center around cars working or not, but having seen the great big snow storm and Hurricane Harvey hit Texas I think either a CME or EMP would destroy us, not through immediate damage but through the cascading effects of important parts of the infrastructure going down. Maybe that new Subaru will keep working, but the gas stations will be dry by the second day, and etc…
I don’t know if butter, mayo, and sugar complement each other to make a complete protein , nor do I care.
I think that I’ve read that a CME would take some time to
arrive thus allowing warnings to be issued and enabling
the power companies and private citizens to take measures that good possible reduce damage.
With the planet rotating wouldn’t it be a crap shoot on where the CME would hit the surface?
NORMAL CHUCK FROM ABNORMAL CHUCK:
It is my understanding the velocity of the CME leaving the sun directly influences the warning time. Apparently however, in 1989 the warning time didn’t allow the operators of the power grid time to take protective action.
The CME waves follow long metal lines. If one reads the effects of the CME generating the Carrington Event, telegraph lines burned out, sometimes causing the telegraph shack to catch fire. Railroad tracks got too hot to touch and were distorted by the heat, thus in 1853 everything electric was halted until it could be repaired.
In 1853 that wasn’t a big deal as most of the world had neither telegraph nor railway systems. Perry hadn’t yet visited Japan. Telegraph might not have yet stretched from the East Coast to the Left Coast. I would have to see the years the Pony Express was in service. I don’t have those dates committed to memory. But communication from Missouri to Sacramento might still have been by Pony Express.
I haven’t researched the 1989 black out of Quebec and eastern Canada so I don’t know the full extent of the blackout and how long it was before service was restored.
Duration of a CME depends on the sun. I know from reading (I am really not old enough to remember it) that the Carrington event lasted three days. That means it had plenty of time to bathe the entire northern hemisphere. Whether it affected the southern hemisphere, I can’t say.
You must remember even as late as 1920 lots of areas of the world were pretty primitive. Even in the States I don’t know when Philadelphia street lights were 100% electric. My mother was born in 1912 and she remembered that as a girl and young woman the street lights in Philly were gaslights. She had gaslights in her house as a young woman growing up.
in 1920 Philadelphia was one of the major cities of the U.S., if not the world. If Philly had gas lights for street lighting in 1920, what do you think Des Moines, Iowa had?
I took the train across the country in 1958 on leave from the Far East. We stopped in Cheyenne, WY, still one of the major cities in WY. The main street of Cheyenne from the train station which at that time was the major intercontinental transportation mode, was still dirt in 1958. I know that for a fact because another guy and I got off the train and walked into town to buy a bottle of liquor which is another story for another time.
Unless you subscribe to a solar reporting service, you are going to have to rely on governmental sources to learn about a possible devastating solar flare. Given all that has transpired this past year, do you really want to rely on the government, I don’t care which party, telling you that our world is likely to be destroyed?
If you tell me that, “Yes, we can depend upon the world governments to tell us that the world is likely to end in 18 hours.”
If you tell me that, I will pray for you and your family. I trust the rest of the list who believe in a Supreme Being will do the same. In the atomic age, there was a popular similar question and the punch line was “bend over and kiss you azz goodby.” I think it applies in this situation too.
How is anyone going to disconnect the power lines that stretch across this country connecting basically the whole 48 with the exception of Texas which is on a power grid all its own. We also have parts of Canada and Mexico connected to those grids. It is not even feasible to consider that all those power lines can be protected. Perhaps main transformers in power stations can be taken off line so that they don’t melt down, but do you think all the transformers on just about every street corner in the whole country can be taken off the grid? The electric companies can shut down local grids to help offset the damage, but the electric current from a CME, as I understand the problem, follows long lines of conducting material, melting it with overloaded current. In the meantime, all the heavy current that it produces blows out and destroys anything that isn’t strong enough to handle that massive dose of amperage.
That’s why telegraph lines melted and in some cases set the telegraph station on fire and railroad tracks got so hot they expanded and distorted. Those are effects we know about. From those effects other effects are extrapolated such as burning out your computer if it is plugged in.
One effect I have not heard discussed and for which I have no answer is: How will the wiring in your home be affected in a CME? Will every house that has internal wiring catch fire and burn because of the massive current flowing through the wires? Will the main circuit breaker at your service entry melt and disrupt the flow of current so that your house is not set on fire? Will the flow be so massive that even though the circuit breaker pops and disrupts the current, it will be so powerful it will jump the gap in the circuit breaker and race through our homes setting them on fire.
Certainly, should we somehow find out that a massive X category CME is heading this way it would behoove us to unplug everything in the house and cut off all the circuit breakers in the electric panel to our house.
Those factors are what lead me to say it is only a question of when; how strong; and where it hits. If we are lucky some other unfortunate part of the world will be thrown back to the 18th century. Some countries won’t even notice, except if they have cell phone service, their cell phones won’t work.
There was one line from the report I read that I didn’t include in my summary of the report that stated something to the effect: Electric companies are still trying to figure out how to protect their plants from the effects of CME.
That is not verbatim but states in essence the content of the statement. That doesn’t bode well for coming through a CME unscathed if power companies are still scratching their heads. I have read that their basic approach is to cross their fingers and hope for the best and that they will be retired to their ranch in Wyoming when the CME hits.
I think it was Ted Kopek who wrote that the head of the senate committee charged with oversight of the power companies has retired and lives on an isolated spread in West Virginia that is a fully stocked ETOW retreat for his family. Well, that’s a clue.
Oops. Ted Koppel Ted Koppel Ted Koppel.
His book is “Lights Out”
As the earth rotates I always imagined the charged particles of a CME would completely envelope the earth then gravitate to the poles but that could be just my interpretation of what I read. Science is not my strong point. Small events could be localised but a mass ejection has the capacity to effect every continent.
I could be wrong, actually wouldn’t mind being wrong on this point…
Ginny: My PhD is in Piled High and Deep, not solar physics, but I have done a little reading about the topic. How much of earth gets bathed in the wonder rays depends upon a few factors. One is the intensity of the solar flare, ie., how strong the emission is initially. The second is the duration of the flare. The Carrington Event flare lasted three days. Obviously the earth had plenty of time to get throughly soaked in three days’ time. There is a third factor and that is that sometimes there are multiple ejections from the same sun spot. Sometimes the multiple ejections act as a force multiplier and sometimes they cancel each other out.
We dodged the bullet sometime in the past six week when there were G class multiple eruptions that targeted Earth. This time, instead of acting as a force multiplier they did the opposite and cancelled each other out. A G force CME is not in the same class as an X force CME. They generally only create interference with radio and TV transmissions and navigation systems. Perhaps that’s why sometimes your GPS gives you weird directions that no thinking person would ever give.
The reading I have done has led me to believe that Earth is bathed with low level CMEs on a far more frequent basis than most of us think. The good part is that so far they have not wreaked much havoc.
I know of several CMEs that generally are not discussed. One took place in the 8th century. The Carrington Event in the 19th century. The 1920 event that was talked about in the newspapers of the time. Then there was one during WWII that bathed the North Atlantic interrupting communications from and to shipping in that area of the world. There was the 1989 CME that blacked out Eastern Canada. There was a massive X category CME that just missed Earth by a day or two in 2012.
I am sure there have been others, but a CME that bathes some remote area of Earth may not be reported because there was no one in the area to see it. Or, if they did see it, it didn’t appear different enough from normal aurora borealis to be remarkable. Or they just didn’t have the means to report the phenomenon to the rest of the world. There are significant portions of the world that are very sparsely populated which may or may not have constant communications with the rest of us who have cell phones permanently attached to our bodies.
Your country has vast areas where there are few or no people except for the occasional aborigine doing his walk-about. A CME could bathe the Outback and no one would realize it except for the folks whose job it is to follow and study such things.
Except for folks like me who are obsessed with coronal mass ejections, few people even know what they are and really don’t give them any consideration. They may even fall back on, “Well, the government will take care of it.”
If not before, we certainly should know now that the government will not take care of it. They will be running around with their finger up their nose (usually use a more colorful expression) in as much a quandary as the rest of us — if not more so.
According to Wikipedia: Carrington Event, September 1 & 2, 1859. Pony Express 1860 and 1961. Pony Express was in operation only 18 months according to Wikipedia.
AFTER WRITING THIS.. I realized it sounds like a bad ad for a service… But it is not. It’s just me typing/talking as I usually do.
I have supplied a few people with a form of self-defense hand-to-hand-killing (not fighting, but killing) and out of maybe ten people, only two will actually use it. The other eight were revulsed/horrified by the capability of being able to easily and brutally kill an attacker that they pretty much disowned me as a friend. One set pf parents actually threatened to sue me after I taught their son and daughter these “skills” which my dad taught me as I was growing up. He taught a lighter version of them in Korea during the 1950’s semi-War that pitted Americans against Chinese commies and Koreans in a lot of hand to hand killing.
Any how… A gun is best IF you know how to use it and aren’t afraid to pull the trigger and end a life. If not, hand over our money, your wife and your life.
Big gun show in Tulsa, OK 4/10/2021 & 4/11/2021
Mr Biden should come & see if all sales are legal and background checks are done… or not…just try to ban private gun sales if you think they can actually be stopped!! And see if anyone actually obeys the EOs you try to make everyone think are law, that are actually not law, when you try to confiscate weapons.
In Biden’s own words…ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
MOLON LABE!
Another product that has come on line recently is pepper ball guns. I have only casually investigated them but so far I do not believe they are illegal in any state that doesn’t outlaw paintball guns.
From my very casual investigation, it looks like they are a combination of a CO2 cartridge powered air pistol and a paintball gun. They are powered by the 12 gram (I think the tis correct) CO2 cartridges but have the capability of firing a pepper ball which theoretically breaks open upon striking the target or some other hard object as a paintball does.
The first ones I saw were in the $300 to $400 dollar range but just recently I saw one for between $60 and $80.
The biggest disadvantage to them that I see is that I have found through experience with my own CO2 guns is that the CO2 bleeds off after the cartridge is pierced. If you only use have the CO2, put the gun down and come back the next day there will be no CO2 left in the cartridge.
It may be that one can install a a cartridge, leaving it in the cartridge chamber without piercing the seal. If that is the case, then one could carry a loaded pepper ball gun loaded ready to go but for piercing the cartridge which is simply screwing the the device that does that operation.
Needs more looking into for articles such as this. This is especially true in locales where other self defense tools are prohibited.
Who knows, might even be able to carry one in Noo Yawk City.
I agree with the responses. Carry nothing illegal. Above all, ALWAYS be aware of your surroundings. But not in an obvious way, like constantly looking around, etc. Ask yourself is there a reason for someone to be standing where they are, or walking around that area?. Learn to use common everyday items, like a nylon, or plastic comb, ink pen, pencil, hair spray, breath spray, hair clip, wooden hair brush, nail file, or wooden spoon, which would not arouse suspicion, or leagal questions for having said item with you, or in your car. Learn how to easily and simply release your self from someone’s grip. The thumb is one of the weakest parts of the hand. But do so quickly!!!! No offense meant, but it seems that most women for some reason, can’t seem to grasp the concept of speed, when releasing them selves from an opponents grip on their wrists, or arm. (No it doesn’t mtter how strong your opponent’s grip is.)
They will invarribly SLOWLY struggle to release them selves. I never understood this. Even after explicitly telling and showing them how to do the simple maneuver as FAST as they can.
Break an opponents finger or fingers.(also with speed) Very difficult to continue an attack with a broken finger, or fingers.Don’t be afraid to poke your attackers eyes either, if the situation looks like it is going to be a dire out come. Also if you are grabbed from behind, or are pinned and can’t employ other defensive moves, don’t be too macho to bite! Not what most attackers would expect. Your personal safety is at stake here, not to mention the possibility of your life being at stake. There are many other items and options, that with just a little thought, can be a big game changer for your side. I carry a hickory cane. That I have reshaped from round to five sided. Then I put a couple coats of epoxy resin on it, to weather proof it. You can even put some fiber glass cloth and clear resin on it, and the wood grain will still show through, and it will be weather proof, and stronger. The angles on it hurt more than just a round piece of wood. Also there is just so many things that you can do with a hickory cane. If you carry any stick, or baton (wooden, or other material) it can be called a weapon, and there are many areas that you cannot carry it. However a walking cane, with the curved handle, a half arc, so to speak. THAT is considered a medical device. And you do not need a Dr.’s note to carry it. The curved handle is also a very handy part of the cane for defense, and offense. I widened the arc a little by heating it. More useful. I carry one, and seldom need it for medical reasons.. Once in a while my knee, or hip will give me a twinge, but I normally just carry it and walk normally, and no one says anything, or looks twice. Plus, you can carry it into the halls of Congress, on airlines, and airports, perfectly legal. I have carried one on airllines. I say hickory cane, because the aluminum ones are not ideal, and are flimsy, and would pretty much be a one time inefficient whack. Plus hickory is an amazing hard wood with strength, flexibility, and light weight. That means easy maneuverability and speed. Get a cane that is the correct length. Put your arm down at your side, and bend your hand out horizontally, and the cane’s handle should be at your wrist. Cut off what you don’t need, or if it is your personal prefference, and don’t actually use one for an aid in walking, leave it longer. If you want to see just few examples of cane defense,and uses, look up Cane Masters, and some of the side bars. And that will give you some idea, of the many, many, examples of what that little old lady’s medical device can do. A very basic rule of thumb with cane, stick, baton, etc. hack the hard parts, and jab the soft parts. Yes if necessary, a cane can be a fatal weapon. But mainly used as a defensive object to get out of a bad situation. But always try to avoid being in areas where bad situations can occur, and always try to leave. If you are prevented from avoiding contact, then react to the situation, with SUDDEN SPEED, and sufficient force to be able to leave. Do not be afraid of hurting someone. THAT is their choice in the first place to accost you, and possibly do you harm. Also you have no idea what their actual goal is for attacking you. They would not lose any sleep over doing you harm or worse. If you are lucky enough to live in a state that is a constitutional carry state, then by all means carry!!! Also the length of a foot ball field is not 50 feet. Try 300.(reference tactical flashlight) Yeah, I agree with the others, avoid the brass knuckles. They are NOT paper weights. Having one of those in your car or on your person, would be like carrying a baseball bat with spikes, and barbed wire wrapped around it. Not looked on approvingly. Also be proficient with whatever you choose to carry, on or about your person, or keep in your vehicle. Or at least be very familiar with it. And within reach! Also KNOW the laws where you are at. Including different states and localities where you might be, or going to. Be aware, and safe. Enjoy this beautiful world, and be thankful for what you have, and not down about what you don’t have. You have so many things millions of others don’t. Be aware, and be safe, God bless.
Hackbat: Thanks for your post. It contains really good, sound advice. At my age, carrying a cane doesn’t raise any eyebrows at all. You can buy hickory canes or oak canes at fashionable canes.com I always buy the ones rated for 300 pounds, although thankfully, I haven’t approached that weight yet.
They are heavy duty canes, thicker and made of more durable wood than standard canes. You can get them cut to any length you want free of charge by the fashionable cane folks. Be sure to read their instructions carefully on the correct length for your height.
As Hackbat says, you can carry them anywhere. I have a big scar on my knee where my bionic knee joint is located so even the most officious TSA agent shouldn’t blink about my cane when there is a big white splotch where my knee used to be on the scanner.
Even a young man can carry one. Anyone questioning can be hushed with, “I really don’t want to talk about what happened in the sandbox. It makes me remember bad memories.”
Doesn’t say that the utterer was in combat; doesn’t say was wounded; doesn’t even say it was a combat zone. Could have been a traumatic incident from childhood. It’s what I call a lawyer lie.
a 20oz straight claw rip hammer can do mucho damage.
roofing hatchets are a dime a dozen these days >>> that’s a handy tool to have in quantity
I carried a 22 Oz. straight clawed hammer in my tool belt with the claws filed to a very sharp edge a long time ago when I was a lineman for an electric utility company and climbing poles for a living.
That tool can be/could be a good equalizer if the need arises.
What I would like to see is someone manufacture an article such as a flashlight, cane,book, or similar common used item that would have built into it a device that would hold and fire a sigal 20Ga ( could be 410-16 0r12 Ga. ) shotgun shell. At close range this can be anything from very deadly ( )) buck shot or slug) to blinding wounding with bird shot.
It would also pose a legal problem for police if this would be classified a firearm Not mecessarily so because fireworks, rockets, flash bangs etc are not classified as a firearm. Where is the American spirit and inganuity.
Ahh but, ED, cane guns are verboten by our masters in the District of Corruption. There are a whole raft of really clever devices that used to be legal until the first anti-gun legislation was passed. I think it 1968 was the year, but it might have been 1934. I would have to go back and check history to know which.
Before then, you could have all manner of hidden guns, whatever man’s imagination could produce.
As with each additional proscribing rule making, there was no appreciable reduction in crime after the laws were passed.
ED Take a schedule 80 steel pipe that a 12 gauge shell will fit in. Drill a washer that will fit inside the cap and the shotgun shell will fit through but stop when the ring on the shell comes in contact with the washer. Then drill a small hole in an end cap that screws on to the pipe use a nail with a blunted end and a rubber band. put a shot gun shell in the pipe and put the end cap on. The nail using a rubber band will set off the shell. The length of pipe will give the pattern, the shorter the pipe the larger the pattern.
I saw one made and I carried it in a tool box. If asked about it I use it as a lever to break hard bolt lose. I worked for an amusement company repairing pinball machines in clubs. The law back then in certain areas would not allow you to carry a weapon. So boss came up with this but he did not use 00 buck shot in it he used 00 rock salt lol. Talking about stopping someone in their tracks it will. Rocks hurts and burns like hell. But this would not kill but you did not need it to because you have the pipe to beat the crap out of the guy lol.
So this is a non lethal weapon if a shotgun shell is reloaded with rock salt.
Most of the rock salt turns to table salt as it leaves the barrel and is harmless, any rocks staying intact have the same ballistic performance as a bb fired from a Red Ryder, won’t penetrate a jacket but you might put somebody’s eye out with it. Good way to salt a side of beef at a Texas BBQ.
We used to engineer little zip guns and stuff as kids. You can’t aim one, if you want to injure somebody with one you have to press the end of the barrel into contact with the target’s center mass. My favorite device we made was the marble cannon, a piece of galvanized pipe capped at one end, diameter to make a good fit for the marble, drill a little touch hole at the closed end, squirt in some lighter fluid, drop in the marble and fire it off. We used to shoot at the city buses with these. In college we upgraded the design to tennis ball cannon, duct taping tennis ball cans together. It was bad luck coming back to the dorm late at night if the drunken tennis ball grenadier was roaming the halls.
Looks like the choices are bludgeoned instruments or knives.
Thank God we have “Expanded Castle Doctrine” in my state of N.C.
This includes the automobile and ANY PLACE you have a LEGAL RIGHT to be at is included (such as pumping gas, shopping, ect..)
No requirement to retreat, just blast away if they come at you.
We also have a law that protects drivers from criminal and civil prosecution if they hit protestors in the street that get in the way (as long as you didn’t mean to hit them)
That is most enlightened legislation. Too bad other states don’t have down-to-earth legislators such as NC.
If you would like to read a critique of the class of weapons mentioned in this article I would suggest GATdaily.com. Look for the April 5 newsletter wherein the author reviews the weaknesses of some of the items mentioned in the AAP article.
He also recommends specific pepper spray that in his opinion is superior to other brands. Some of the self-defense items he decries are not mentioned in this AAP article but can serve as guidelines if you are interested in non-lethal alternatives to a 1911A1 or Ruger .357 GP100 with a four inch barrel.
Personally, I like a 3-inch barrel on my concealed carry revolvers. It is still comfortably concealable but also has enough length to allow the cartridge to develop more velocity than a 2 inch or even a 2.5 inch barrel. Ruger’s revolvers are made of steel which means that worst case, it still makes a dandy club and won’t suffer damage while beating the bad guy over the head with it.
I hae always considered the 5 inch barrel the perfect barrel length for any revolver. Long enough for accuracy at distance, short enough not to be awkward to handle, long enough to develop the finer points of velocity from high speed ammo. Robust enough that whacking a bad guy over the brain bucket will leave a significant impression.
It’s too bad that most manufacturers jump from 4 inch to 6 inch. Six inch is okay if you are going to be shooting at 100 yards for money, but five inch in my opinion is the ideal length for a general all around revolver to be used at varying distances.
Of course, others may disagree, but that is my opinion, after 60 years of revolver shooting.
Brass knuckles aren’t jewelry? We must be from different parts of the country. 🙂
Keys, always. Anyone who knows nunchucks can take out a perp who hasn’t a gun with a keys.
Small calibre guns are scary to most. Disabling someone rather than killing them means no lawsuit or revenge-minded kin. In fact, it’s turned people into friends.
Lib states hate guns because with no guns, perps can easily reduce the ‘surplus’ population. to a real lib, that makes criminals heroes.
niio
Today I got an e-mail from Sportsmansguide.com which contained the following item for sale: Sabre Red Pepper Gel Reloadable Deployment System
Item # WX2-718002
/Mfg. Number: SDP-G-03
/UPC: 023063103501
It is a squirt gun that takes a pressurized pepper gel canister and is advertised as being capable of “up to” seven shots of pepper gel.
Squirting pepper gel is, in my view, a little more effective than spraying pepper spray. I think a stream of gel would be less affected by breezes than pepper spray.
Obviously, if you are spraying in a storm, all bets are off.
The price of the item with canister of gel was in the $60.00 range. You get a discount if you join the “club”
Here in the big city the name of the game is to not under any circumstance drive alone, especially in Manhattan. No matter what you may think you have in your car to provide you with some sort of self defense it will not be adequate when you are alone and descended upon by an angry mob on ATVs. NYPD now only seems to respond and then write up reports after the fact. If they do haul anyone in, they are quickly released back on the street to offend again. Turn down the music and off the phone so you stay alert to your immediate surroundings. Keep the windows rolled up, the gas tank full, and lock your car doors.
Yeah, I see that the perp that killed an older man in a strong-arm robbery was released with a $1.00 bail. Yes, you read that correctly. It is not a typo. $1.00 bail for a homicide and robbery. Why bother why not just release the perp OR? I would have to be paid an annual salary of at least nine figures to the left of the decimal point to live and work in NYC
Strong-arm robbery? That’s nothing. Their solution? When they are released they now give them money.
Yes, CC. I read someplace where some really incredibly fuzzy thinking politicians are saying, “If we pay them they won’t have to commit crimes. ”
What worm hole have these brainless individuals crawled from? What voters are so incredibly brain dead that they voted for them?
That’s why we have so many homeless because in order to reduce the ever skyrocketing unemployment rates during Barry’s reign, he had disability requirements changed so that folks who were drug addicts or alcoholics were deemed disabled by their habits and entitled to federal disability payments if they could scrape up 10 quarters of employment at anything, Now they all get $880 a month plus FREEEE medical with no co-payments, free cell phones, free EBT cards for groceries — the list is ever-growing.
AND THEY STILL PANHANDLE!!! I am not especially religious but even the Bible says if you don’t work you don’t eat. That’s pretty simple. Even the most alcohol sodden drunk can understand that. Well, I will stop there, otherwise dinner will be delayed and my wife will be annoyed.
Once again this list proves its value to followers. While the base article was sadly lacking in mentioning precautions needed to be taken with regard to possession of many of the items listed, brass knuckles, sap gloves etc., which mere possession of at home are felonies in California and some other states and the description of what the device can do was incorrect, the discussion that followed provided many more suitable devices such as a fire extinguisher and the every present and handy cane. Items that no law enforcement wonk can criticize or impound for mere possession.
So while Ms.M again posted another vacuous article while missing important warnings and posting erroneous application information, the article generated lots of accurate postings from our knowledgable readers.
I can hardly wait for a treatise on long range shooting from Ms. M.
As far as the police are concerned, they do not train daily.
Most do not know much of anything about guns except for the BARE minimal basic of their duty weapon, how to strip it just enough to clean it, and which end to point. Give them another weapon, and they are clueless. I was at a gun show, and was talking to an older Sheriff officer, and told him that for the most part, most of the police officers that I had talked to, didn’t know one end from the other if it wasn’t what they were issued, and trained with. I said no offense meant, but it is what I have observed. He said no problem, because you are absolutely right. He said he taught riot training down in Miami, and that none of the police officers he was training knew that if you push the slide on a 1911 back just a bit so it is out of battery, it will not fire. Police only fire their weapon to qualify annually . Hopefully they will go to a range somewhere and practice before that, and hopefully during the year, to stay familiar with their weapon. I had a Sheriff deputy stop by the fire station, and asked if anyone knew how to put his shot gun back together. They all pointed to me. So I told him I could. He had a Remington 1100, that he taken apart to clean, and forgot how to put it back. So I showed him how to put it back together. I do think departments need to have voluntary classes on different weapons, so the officers will at least be somewhat familiar, on how to safely unload them. I have had police officers look at me like I was nuts, for using a shotgun to hunt doves and quail. they said “Buck shot would blow the birds to pieces! They had no idea of bird shot, or the different sizes of buckshot and birdshot, or different types of slugs, Like I said before there are a vast number of common day objects that can be used as weapons, both defensive, and offensive, none of which would arouse suspicion, from police or thug, if you ust put a little thought into it.. The key is to familiarize yourself with these items, and at least do a little practice with them, against an air foe. (going through the motions of use against an attacker) But you need to defend with speed, as soon as you realize the situation is not good. When you react to an attack with a sudden attack, on the attacker, it takes the element of surprise from the attacker, to your side. Attack and press it, with sudden speed, and force. I have some training in the martial arts, and know a few ways to cripple, both temporarily and permanently, and quick ways to kill. I never want to ever employ those moves, but if it ever comes time that I feel it necessary I will. I am at an age, where I can’t play with an opponent like I used to be able to when I was yunger. I am in no way “Joe the martial arts expert” So if I should suddenly find myself in a life threatening situation, I will use what I have to, to end the situation, or get away as quickly as I can. Balance is king in a fight. Keep your self balanced, and your opponent off balance. Both physically, and mentally. The person from S. Korea might have been talking about Tae Kwon Do. Nasty martial art. As is the seemingly peaceful (excercise) Tai Chi. Make no mistake, Tai Chi is NOT just an excercise! It is a very nasty martial art. Various styles of Kung Fu, are also nasty martial arts. The TV series “Kung FU” Never showed Kane using any of the terminal or disabling moves. Hence the name “Martial Arts”=Militry Arts. If you want to get an idea of what Tae Kwon Do is, look up the Choisin Ninja. But these are arts that you have to keep in shape and practice. Which is good for your health anyway. There is a mind set and training that goes with these arts. But there is a pretty much unlimited array of available weapons that we never think of as being used for defense. Like the guy who carried a claw hammer. Keep it in a tool belt, and no one questions it. How about a kids squirt gun filled with salt water and dish soap. if questioned, it is for the neighbors dog that is aggressive or likes to jump on you.
Don’t disclose the liquid ingredients. Uh, water, yeah, that’s the ticket yeah, water. And it does contain water. Just don’t disclose the other ingredients. Perhaps even household amonia. Not easy to breath with that in the face. As I mentioned earlier about nylon, or plastic combs. They can be used as raking and scratching weapons, a hair brush’s bristles scraped across the eyes, or the handle whacked or jabbed, on the wrists, or hands, or the the end of the handle jabbed in the solar plexus, or temple, or whacked on the collar bone, or jabbed in the space behind the collar bone, the notch in the throat, etc. There are a lot of ways to use simple items. The long slim handled womens comb with the pointed end. great for jabbing the hand, throat, solar plexus, facial areas, up the nostril of the nose, in the ears, etc. especially if the end is made even more pointy! Can be used to mortally wound! Whatever is neccessary to get away. NEVER grab your item of defense, and threaten the attacker! Use it immediately!!! If you threaten with it, you give the aggressor time to counter, With just a little thought you can come up with some nasty uses for common everyday, acceptable items, that no one would look twice at. I carry whenever I am able, and carry my cane, as an alternative to leathal force if able to. These are just my personal ideas and beliefs. I am in no way aggressive, I will try to diffuse the situation, and walk away if able. Until I am given sufficient reason to be aggressive. Then I am Sudden! I am old, and have all the associated aches and pains, and can’t afford to do battle for any length of time. But when forced to, I will give it my all! As for the fire extenquisher….. The dry chem ones, will leave an EXTREMELY fine powder residue that will take one hell of a lot of time, and washing on surfaces to remove. When I was in the fire accadamy, the training room was broken into during the weeked, and the fire extinguishers were deployed, and we spent over a month, of mornings, wiping, washing, and wiping the tables to get the powder off. Not an easy cleanup. Just think of what the lungs wi be doing! If able, maybe the aggressors car interior, maybe a little in the air vents would be a nice reminder not to be an idiot. Plus anyone riding in Joe Cool’s car later on, will also be reminded of it.
Good points, Hackbat.
This seems like a poorly researched article, sorry to say. Self defense experts would recoil at half the suggestions made here.
Both of the knives: they say there’s only one winner in a knife fight. Knives are also easy to wrestle out of your hand and be used against you- possibly fatally- in am instant.
Brass knuckles: straight up illegal in a lot of places and I’m surprised that’s not mentioned. Get in a tussle and whip those out to defend yourself, police show up, and the law won’t care what your reasons are.
The claw: this thing has been proven time and time again to be an utterly useless waste of money. It’s got more grip than a knife, but you need to be in very close range to use it, and because of its location it’ll be very hard to inflict any worthy damage to let you escape.
Stun guns: most of what’s on the market doesn’t even do enough and has a huge risk of just angering your assailant and sending them into an adrenal rage. There’s also so many cheaply made ones that have about as much shock as licking a 9V battery. This stuff is for teenagers, drunks, or drunk teenagers to try and be edgy zapping each other, not for serious self defense.
The flashlight, pen, and OC spray are the best options on the list, but you should also make sure the OC spray you buy is from a legit brand like Fox, and not some cheap minimart crap that’ll clog or have such a weak amount of pressure it’ll just hit YOU with backspray in the slightest gust of wind.
So glad to have stumbled upon this very enlightening discussion. Being behind enemy lines here in Commiefornia really limits your self defense options. One has to be creative and to always have the law in mind. I recommend reading and watching anything by the attorney Andrew Branca, on the laws of self defense. Be prepared legally, before you have a problem … I also discovered this useful thing called the parachute app, which will securely record all your video/audio evidence to the cloud.
Upgrade you Pepper Spray to Bear Spray to put a cloud out there 30 feet. Illegal to use in some areas like National Parks.