Here are the contenders: 1) a firearm, 2) a knife, 3) a stun gun, 4) pepper spray. (Tasers are illegal for non-law enforcement). And I didn’t include a stick or baton or club of some sort, because they’re either illegal or impractical to carry.
1) Firearms. Highly effective by also hghly impractical. It’s either illegal or nearly impossible to get a concealed carry permit in most places unless you’re one of the politicians who keep passing laws forbidding anyone but them from legally carrying a firearm. Besides, even if you have one, they usually get the owner in more trouble or hurt innocent people because they don’t know how or when to use them.
2) Knives. Again highly effective for self-defense. But like a firearm, they’re pretty final. You don’t stab someone and then say, “Oops, I thought you were coming at me from between those two parked cars. Didn’t see you had your family with you and were headed to the grocery store.” In addition, stabbing or slashing another human being isn’t the easiest thing for most people to wrap their minds around. When it comes down to it, most people won’t have the guts to use a knife against someone.
3) Stun gun. These come in many sizes and strengths, and they’re extremely effective. Trouble with stun guns is that you have to be close enough to the bad guy to use it on him. That means that he’s close enough to touch you and possibly take it from you and use on you. Not good. But if you decide to carry one, keep it handy so you can access it immediately. And the best place to zap someone with a stun gun is on the thigh. Stun guns work best when the current hits a muscle. The thigh is one of the more “muscle” parts of the body. Plus, people usually don’t wear multiple layers of clothing on their legs, which diminishes the effectiveness of a stun gun. Someone wearing several layers of clothes topped off by a thick coat will be hard to bring down with a stun gun.
4) Ta-da, the winner (in my opinion) is pepper spray. If you can find the cone mist (which I’ve had a hard time locating as of recently), one spray covers a person’s face, basically setting it on fire, and once he inhales the floating pepper spray particles, they hit the lungs ad cut off his breathing to minimal levels, making further aggression very difficult. You can wear pepper spray clipped to your waist or your purse so it is readily accessible. It is not lethal. Someone sprayed with pepper spray will usually recover from the firey effects within an hour if water is used to rinse and dilute the spray. For these reasons, I feel that pepper spray is the most effective and most practical self-defense device available to the general public, and I highly recommend all women AND men to consider carrying it, especially when they’re going to be out and about by themselves – during the day or night. Just as many assaults happen during the daytime as at night. Stay safe. Anyone interested in a free copy of my PepperSafe handbook can e-mail me at dbhallford@yahoo.com and just ask for one.
Tags: assault prevention, free self-defense, free self-defense information, legal self-defense, legal use of force, martial arts, mugging defense, pepper spray, personal protection, rape defense, rape prevention, self-defense, self-defense information, women's self-defense
