Carl Levitian
member
I've lived almost all my life without having having a firearm around, exept for in my own home, and on a shooting range. Joining the army not long after high school, I was surpried to find out the military is a very firearm controlled environment. After being medicaly discharged from the army after 10 years servce, I found myself living back in my native Maryland again. Another non-firearm friendly place. So it's natural I guess I came to really appreatiate non-firearm weapons, since there is no way to get a CCW.
There's so much hype though. I see so many things that are for lack of a better term, the south end of a north bound horse. Jaw jackers, sap/blackjacks, dedicated kubotons, even the cult of baseball bats.
I came to the conclussion years ago, that living in a country where lawyers outnumber doctors, it may be bad news to carry an item that is designed from the get go, and marketed, to harm someone. Even if you do use it on someone, and repel an attack, what are the odds that some District Attorney with political ambitions will let it slide? And keep in mind these P.C. days, even if it's legal self defense, there's the suit that comes after.
With the death of Natassia Richardson, it's a painfull reminder how frail a design the human body is when it comes to head injuries. Think very carefully before swinging that baseball bat. Or swinging with a kuboton. Imagine going to strike out with a comtech stinger, and just as you go for his jaw, he moves at the last second, or you miss a bit. You get him right in the temple, and later at the ER he dies. After you are cleared because it was a clear case of self defense, there's the suit his mother will be bringing. After all, he was a good boy; he was in the church choir when he was a kid. O.J was cleared in a criminal trial, but Ron Goldman's father ruined him in a civil suit. Think about it. Want to bet your kids inheritance on it?
There's so many everyday objects that can be used with great effect. Why carry something named a Jaw jacker, when the same effect can be done with a tire pressure guage? Or a AA mini maglight? Hey, you're entitled to check the air in your tires, and it gets dark every night.
A ball bat is fine if you're on the way to or from a game with your buds. But how do you walk down the street with one? Given that it's become the favorite weapon of street gangs around here, a baseball bat in your car will get you detained for questioning. But a piece of 1 inch oak or delrin dowel a foot or two long laying on the floor won't get a blip. Same even more so a cane or walking stick. An over eager DA is going to have a very hard time making a case with a cane, or a wood dowel that was going to be a new towel rack in the bathroom, vs something in a catalogue from a company called Cold Steel, or mall ninja supply.
For the most part, criminals are devout cowards. Sure, there's the myth on the gun forums of the 250 pound crack addict that looks like Conan the barbarian, and if you use anything less than a .454 he's gonna take the gun away from you and kill ya with it. But for the most part, druggies are out of shape, thin, cowards looking for an easy mark to get some money for the next fix. Mostly they don't strike when they're high, it's when thier coming down and need more drugs, they go out and steal and rob. How much hardware do you really need?
Last fall I was stupid.
I went into old town Gaithersburg to get a lamp Karen had put in to have fixed. There's a guy who does real good stained glass and soldier work on Tiffany type lamps. I parked around back, and though it's in the seedy part of town, I left my walking stick in the car as I would be carrying a Tiffany lamp out. I was also in condition dumb. That is white, like not paying attenton to what was around. I get out of the car and start walking across the alley to the back of the store, and two young African American males, late teens-early 20's step out from beside a dumpster and one has a small kitchen knife. One of those little paring knives with a moulded on plastic handle and serrated blade about 4 inches long. I get really mad. Mad at myself.
I'm mad because I realize I've been stupid, blind, and was in a daze listening to the car sterio, and in my own little world. There I am, 68 year old white bearded old fart, plump for the taking. Just cashed my social security check to boot.
The one guy nudges the the one with the knife telling him to hurry up and "do him." The knife guy tells me to give up my wallet and cell phone.
At this point I've been blindly groping around in my pocket for something/anything. What I come up with was a Buck Hartsook. I'd been using it because of a hand condition in my left hand that makes it painful to open a regular knife. I've since had a hand operation, but this was then. And I'm getting madder by the second, both at myself, and these couple low lifes who want to to "do me."
I pull out the Hartsook and start yelling, cursing at my anger at all involved. The thing about having Irish and French blood, is both are emotional and passionate people. They love anger, and I have a bit of a temper. So there I stand yelling curses at them that would make a drunk seasoned Marine blush, while grasping my tiny Hartsook with a 1 7/8ths blade. The one guy with the knife askes what I'm gonna do with that little knife. I yell at him that if it's the last thing on this earth, I'm gonna cut his throat before I go down.
The low lifes run off across the train tracks to the low income housing slum on the other side. They leave. They run off from an old man with a 1 7/8ths toothpick of a knife that's cursing them up one side and down the other. No waved tactical folder, gun, fearsome ninja weapon. Just a foul mouthed angry old dude with a little knife and a whole lot of celtic/galic temper. I guess they don't make criminals like they used to. Or maybe he thought it wasn't worth getting cut by a crazy old man for a wallet. The hedgehog tactic.
If the state of Maryland would let me have a gun, I'd like it. But I haven't needed it yet. In the 68 years I've been kicking around, I've been in a scrape or two, here and there. But I've always manged to get by with what I've had on me. My blackthorn walking stick, a small knife. One time a Cross pen. Most places I've been wouldn't have let me have a gun anyways. Duty in Germany, traveling in Spain, France, England. Going down into D.C or to New York city for museums, art gallerys, great resuraunts.
The human body is not armor plated. Just the opposite. Thin delicate covering, touchy nervous system. A small screwdriver works as well as a medievel dagger. A light fast stick can break bones of fingers/hands/wrists as easy as a heavier club that takes more to swing and is not as fast or manourverable with one hand. And will not look as bad in court. Won't have you looking like some Travis Bickle wacko looking for trouble. Like it or not, appearances count very much these days.
Call it plausable deniability. It gives your lawyer something to work with in case you get sued by a family who had a "good boy who sang in the chruch choir."
There's so much hype though. I see so many things that are for lack of a better term, the south end of a north bound horse. Jaw jackers, sap/blackjacks, dedicated kubotons, even the cult of baseball bats.
I came to the conclussion years ago, that living in a country where lawyers outnumber doctors, it may be bad news to carry an item that is designed from the get go, and marketed, to harm someone. Even if you do use it on someone, and repel an attack, what are the odds that some District Attorney with political ambitions will let it slide? And keep in mind these P.C. days, even if it's legal self defense, there's the suit that comes after.
With the death of Natassia Richardson, it's a painfull reminder how frail a design the human body is when it comes to head injuries. Think very carefully before swinging that baseball bat. Or swinging with a kuboton. Imagine going to strike out with a comtech stinger, and just as you go for his jaw, he moves at the last second, or you miss a bit. You get him right in the temple, and later at the ER he dies. After you are cleared because it was a clear case of self defense, there's the suit his mother will be bringing. After all, he was a good boy; he was in the church choir when he was a kid. O.J was cleared in a criminal trial, but Ron Goldman's father ruined him in a civil suit. Think about it. Want to bet your kids inheritance on it?
There's so many everyday objects that can be used with great effect. Why carry something named a Jaw jacker, when the same effect can be done with a tire pressure guage? Or a AA mini maglight? Hey, you're entitled to check the air in your tires, and it gets dark every night.
A ball bat is fine if you're on the way to or from a game with your buds. But how do you walk down the street with one? Given that it's become the favorite weapon of street gangs around here, a baseball bat in your car will get you detained for questioning. But a piece of 1 inch oak or delrin dowel a foot or two long laying on the floor won't get a blip. Same even more so a cane or walking stick. An over eager DA is going to have a very hard time making a case with a cane, or a wood dowel that was going to be a new towel rack in the bathroom, vs something in a catalogue from a company called Cold Steel, or mall ninja supply.
For the most part, criminals are devout cowards. Sure, there's the myth on the gun forums of the 250 pound crack addict that looks like Conan the barbarian, and if you use anything less than a .454 he's gonna take the gun away from you and kill ya with it. But for the most part, druggies are out of shape, thin, cowards looking for an easy mark to get some money for the next fix. Mostly they don't strike when they're high, it's when thier coming down and need more drugs, they go out and steal and rob. How much hardware do you really need?
Last fall I was stupid.
I went into old town Gaithersburg to get a lamp Karen had put in to have fixed. There's a guy who does real good stained glass and soldier work on Tiffany type lamps. I parked around back, and though it's in the seedy part of town, I left my walking stick in the car as I would be carrying a Tiffany lamp out. I was also in condition dumb. That is white, like not paying attenton to what was around. I get out of the car and start walking across the alley to the back of the store, and two young African American males, late teens-early 20's step out from beside a dumpster and one has a small kitchen knife. One of those little paring knives with a moulded on plastic handle and serrated blade about 4 inches long. I get really mad. Mad at myself.
I'm mad because I realize I've been stupid, blind, and was in a daze listening to the car sterio, and in my own little world. There I am, 68 year old white bearded old fart, plump for the taking. Just cashed my social security check to boot.
The one guy nudges the the one with the knife telling him to hurry up and "do him." The knife guy tells me to give up my wallet and cell phone.
At this point I've been blindly groping around in my pocket for something/anything. What I come up with was a Buck Hartsook. I'd been using it because of a hand condition in my left hand that makes it painful to open a regular knife. I've since had a hand operation, but this was then. And I'm getting madder by the second, both at myself, and these couple low lifes who want to to "do me."
I pull out the Hartsook and start yelling, cursing at my anger at all involved. The thing about having Irish and French blood, is both are emotional and passionate people. They love anger, and I have a bit of a temper. So there I stand yelling curses at them that would make a drunk seasoned Marine blush, while grasping my tiny Hartsook with a 1 7/8ths blade. The one guy with the knife askes what I'm gonna do with that little knife. I yell at him that if it's the last thing on this earth, I'm gonna cut his throat before I go down.
The low lifes run off across the train tracks to the low income housing slum on the other side. They leave. They run off from an old man with a 1 7/8ths toothpick of a knife that's cursing them up one side and down the other. No waved tactical folder, gun, fearsome ninja weapon. Just a foul mouthed angry old dude with a little knife and a whole lot of celtic/galic temper. I guess they don't make criminals like they used to. Or maybe he thought it wasn't worth getting cut by a crazy old man for a wallet. The hedgehog tactic.
If the state of Maryland would let me have a gun, I'd like it. But I haven't needed it yet. In the 68 years I've been kicking around, I've been in a scrape or two, here and there. But I've always manged to get by with what I've had on me. My blackthorn walking stick, a small knife. One time a Cross pen. Most places I've been wouldn't have let me have a gun anyways. Duty in Germany, traveling in Spain, France, England. Going down into D.C or to New York city for museums, art gallerys, great resuraunts.
The human body is not armor plated. Just the opposite. Thin delicate covering, touchy nervous system. A small screwdriver works as well as a medievel dagger. A light fast stick can break bones of fingers/hands/wrists as easy as a heavier club that takes more to swing and is not as fast or manourverable with one hand. And will not look as bad in court. Won't have you looking like some Travis Bickle wacko looking for trouble. Like it or not, appearances count very much these days.
Call it plausable deniability. It gives your lawyer something to work with in case you get sued by a family who had a "good boy who sang in the chruch choir."
