Best way of protecting yourself

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Hunter2011

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Let me just say it as it is. I am not Bruce Lee. I am over 40 and getting older by the day. There is no way I can take on a big built 25 year old guy.
What is the best and most effective weapon/tool I can get to protect myself with?
I know what it is, a nice pistol. That I allready have. But what if you know the guy coming for you just want to kick the S out of you? I will not feel justified in pulling out my pistol. That may become a legal challenge I would rather not have. To own a gun legally is difficult enough allready in my country.
What can you legally use against such a attack that can really put the attacker down without killing him or putting him in a wheelchair? I will only draw my pistol as a very last resort.

Such situations can easily happen. Road rage, the guy was just dumped by his wife, add the two together and you could very easily be in just such a situation, that may even turn out to be life threatening.
 
There's no way for us to give you good advice on non-firearm weapons since you haven't told us where you live, nor what is actually legal in your country. We need more information to help you.
 
I do realise that. I feel it is a question I should have rather asked on a local forum. But let me answer as far as I can.
I am in South Africa. You are allowed to protect yourself, even with deadly force. But I would prefer not to pull out my pistol if there are other ways to deter an attacker.
I'm not talking about a BG kicking down your door at 2 am in the morning. But more about just normal confrontations.
 
I know this isn't the answer you're looking for, but the best weapon you can get is the one you already have, and it's between your ears.

Learn not to put yourself in bad situations. Practice honing your situational awareness. Be vigilant.
 
without killing him or putting him in a wheelchair
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Pepper spray or Taser (real Taser, not some stun gun).

As said, the best thing to do is to avoid situations/locations that might put you at risk, deescilate what you can't avoid, flee from what you can't deescilate. If all that fails use a less lethal system like pepper spray and/or Taser.
 
[I know this isn't the answer you're looking for, but the best weapon you can get is the one you already have, and it's between your ears.

Learn not to put yourself in bad situations. Practice honing your situational awareness. Be vigilant.]


^^^This pkus 10.

I made the discovery as I got older, that 99.9% of trouble can be avoided with a little bit of common sense behavior and for thought in daily life. There's a lot of wisdom in the old Masai proverb that Teddy Roosevelt quoted; "Speak softly, carry a big stick, and you will go far."
 
Go with the CS Blackthorn cane. Looks mean enough that they won't bother you. I'm 63 and never picked on when that is with me ... just looks nasty. There's an SAP baseball cap oth there - whack someone with that will leave a mark and is totally not expected. Pepper spray is also good.

Do not discount a bandana handkerchief (see my book "Birang Silat: The Handkerchief Dance" - using it as a flexible weapon) ... and wearing steel-toed boots or sneakers ... 'nuff said!
 
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Look into a local boxing club. These aren't as demanding as say a MMA or other martial arts dojo designed for kids and young people and fancy (useless) kicking. Most people don't know how to punch, and more importantly block & counterpunch. You'll develop your ability to watch for opponent moves. You'll learn footwork and develop stamina. Best of all, you'll stay off the ground, which isn't where you want to be if there is more than one attacker.

Carry a small mag light. Legal in every country I've been to and useful as a fist load. If you get specialized training with it, you can do some amazing disarms and control techniques.
 
Carry a small mag light. Legal in every country I've been to and useful as a fist load. If you get specialized training with it, you can do some amazing disarms and control techniques.
__________________

Excellent point! Any real world tool or item can be used as a force multiplier, and inflict real damage. But they are not considered a weapon in the real sense of the word, and keeps he risk of law suits after the fact down to a minimum.

Minimag, metal pen, tire pressure gauge all work great.
11950210504_41b5c97371_c.png
 
I am in South Africa. You are allowed to protect yourself, even with deadly force. But I would prefer not to pull out my pistol if there are other ways to deter an attacker.
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Last time someone approached me with road rage, he chased me and cut me off with his car, traffic was blocking me from behind. I rolled down the window a little and tried to talk with him, but he didn't want to have a conversation. He kept shouting and cussing and beating on my car door, yelling for me to get out. Damn, that didn't work. I didn't want to bump chests and he had me blocked in. I reckoned he was just blowing off steam AND there were plenty of witnesses AND I can handle myself just fine AND my car at that time was a POS, anyway. So I sat there, calm as a cucumber, just thinking of how to defuse the situation. In a stroke of genius, I decided to act scared. I raised my left hand up to shield my face and did my best to cower. Even though I had already rolled the window up and the guy was unarmed.

Wow, that produced faster results than anything else I can imagine. The guy is immediately confused. He actually looks over his shoulder, to see if there's someone else coming up behind him. And then he thinks... about all the witnesses in the cars behind me. He realizes that the way I'm acting, he's clearly the aggressor against an unwilling victim. I see the realization hit him, along with fear. Fear that he is going to get himself arrested. He let out a final curse and hastily returned to his car and drove away.

I've been surprise ambushed by a road rager who followed me to my destination. While I was walking to my destination, he ran over and shoved me. It got physical, and I was luckily the one in better shape and with better skills, and no one was injured. As superficially satisfying as it was to embarrass the guy in front of his wife and the crowd of people that just got off the train just 20 feet away, it was way more satisfying watching the change go over the guy in the first scenario. The look on his face was priceless. And it didn't rely on luck.... I mean, you never know who you can handle just by superficial appearance. In the latter scenario, the aggressor sure thought he had the better of me, having at least 3-4 inches in height and 30 pounds on me.

In a situation where you do not feel your life or health is in imminent danger, be sure to consider all of your options.
 
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I have to add that I have been on the other end of the "fear" response.

One time I was walking in a large crowd with my GF. I thought I felt something, so I turned around. The Caucasian male behind me immediately fell to the ground and raised his arms over his face as if to protect himself.

I was so confused, I forgot why I even turned around. To the crowd of people around us, it probably looked like I was trying to hurt the guy. My GF was confused as heck, no doubt. I backed away from the man, and he got up and quickly disappeared into the crowd. That's when my GF noticed my backpack was open. Her wallet was missing.
 
You want, first, a clear mind and situational awareness.

After that, you need a range of tools to fit the particular situation. Even for obvious self-defense, a firearm is not always the best choice. When the threat is fire, I want a fire extinguisher, so to speak.
 
Train for situational awareness. I carry a cane when I can. I'm 50 now and there is some good training available for defending yourself with everyday items. The metal pen is always in a pocket as well as s knife. I can't carry a firearm on company business so these are what I usually have (it seems I work a lot lately).
 
Walk confidently, with awareness.
Put the cell-phone away and pay attention!
Look over your shoulder on both sides, often.
Set in the back, with your back to a wall.

And stay out of bars after 10:00 PM.

Worked for me for 70 years.

rc
 
As stupid as it sounds pull out your phone and start recording him/them. They sometimes lose steam that way. Did this with a drunk fella a month ago and for some strange reason his story didn't jive with the video when as it turns out, witnesses called the police.

It also looked bad that he followed me into the parking lot and blocked me in with his pickup.:rolleyes:
 
Knives, pens, bottleopeners they are all fine. I carry at least one of them with me all of the time. But these, as firearms, are just tools.

However, unlike with firearms, people generally tend to realize immediately, that they do need actual force-on-force training.

I'd recommend looking into something like "Dog Brothers" or "Gabe Suarez". They even made at least one video together: "Die Less Often".

However, that's just a vid. Actual training is still mandatory. No "tool" can help you to circumvene this. You have to hit the Gym.
 
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DNS said:
As stupid as it sounds pull out your phone and start recording him/them. They sometimes lose steam that way. Did this with a drunk fella a month ago and for some strange reason his story didn't jive with the video when as it turns out, witnesses called the police.

It also looked bad that he followed me into the parking lot and blocked me in with his pickup.:rolleyes:
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I don't think I can agree with this advice. It might make an overall honest person who is acting like a buffoon slink away, but it seems like a good way to get a real BG to decide to commit to your assault.

We had a 66 yr-old lady near here who was shot and killed because she was recording two suspected gang members. Nobody knows what she was recording because they took her cellhone after killing her.

http://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/2-arrested-in-killing-of-Oakland-s-pet-nanny-5426979.php
 
We had a 66 yr-old lady near here who was shot and killed because she was recording two suspected gang members. Nobody knows what she was recording because they took her cellhone after killing her.
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She also tailed them in her car back to their house.
 
glistam said:
She also tailed them in her car back to their house.
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If she tailed them back to their house, why would it have taken 8 months to find who they were? These two gang thugs were not residents of Maxwell Park, a nice family neighborhood of Oakland.

Comes back to, she was using her cell camera to record their assumed illegal activities and was first assaulted, and then killed.
 
Jack Worf said:
Knives, pens, bottleopeners they are all fine. I carry at least one of them with me all of the time. But these, as firearms, are just tools.

However, unlike with firearms, people generally tend to realize immediately, that they do need actual force-on-force training.

I'd recommend looking into something like "Dog Brothers" or "Gabe Suarez". They even made at least one video together: "Die Less Often".

However, that's just a vid. Actual training is still mandatory. No "tool" can help you to circumvene this. You have to hit the Gym.
Click to expand...
Hit the gym? Yes it can work, but what about when I am 70? I do need a good non-lethal weapon.
How good are pepper spray really? I mean you must hit the guy in his eyes.
Stun Batons? How good are they? What model is the best? I've seen many youtube vids where the guy stands laughing after his girlfriend/friend shocked him. They don't look good enough.
 
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