"Self-Defense for a Woman in a No-CCW State? "
That's what we've been dealing with in Maryland for most of our lives.
How your wife will deal with it is going to all depend 100% on her attitude. How far is she willing to go?
My wife is a compact little lady, and she has carried an array of common everyday objects in her purse and/or on her person for our almost 40 years of marrage. A very long time ago, before our children came into this world, but we knew we were going to be raising a family, we worked out some things. We both were very serious about defending ourselves and our kids. We took some MA courses, and studied some unconventional tactics. Made it a unconcious habit of scaning our suroundings, and muttering quietly to each other if we saw something bogus by the clock. "Two guys at 9 o'clock checking us out" and the like. It's become so second nature to us, we don't even think of doing or not doing it, we just do in a quiet mannor. We make it a long ingrained habit to keep an eye on who's around us at any time. K. carries a medium screw driver in her purse, sometimes if out at night, a Stanley sliding blade utility knife. Later when pepper spray was out, we carried that too. On hikes in the woods, we both carry stout hornbeam short staves, about rib high, and a sheath knife openly. K. has had her Swedish Mora for about 30 years now.
At home down the basement we'll hang an old pair of jeans with the legs stuffed with rags and practice thrust and slash technigues, as well as stick work. When our kids got to teen age, we got them into self defense tactics with common everyday objects. Screwdrivers, tightly rolled up magazines, maglights both D cell and the pocket AA minimag used as a fist load or kuboton. A ball point pen is capable of doing a great deal of damage if used with surprise and afor practiced techniques. In resturuants, that butter knife is not to be under estimated. It will still go through a throat if shoved hard. So will a fork. Work on routines with your wife. You may not have your gun on vacation someday, and it's nice to have alternatives in weapons and tactics.
We taught our kids, especially our daughter, that a stick can be gotten anywhere. A rung kicked out of a chair, a garden stake, sturdy pen shoved into a throat or eye or mastoid gland, a towel rack pulled off a wall. Modern sheet rock being what it is, that should not be a problem in todays world when she finds herself out someplace.
Some women have good luck with a box cutter. It's cheap, flat and easy to carry, and if the woman is attacked, can be deployed with surprise to inflict serious injuries. She should go for the motor tendons in the hands he's trying to grab her with, then the face. Very few attackers will press on, and the woman uses the distraction to break off and retreat.
But again, it all depends on how hard and vicious your wife will fight. A woman is smaller and weaker than her attacker, so she needs to use the cornered cat approach. It does work. The third generation is learning these things, as we teach our grandchildren how to defend themselves. Our granddaughter is a brown belt now at age 14, and is also well drilled in how to use a small screwdriver or sturdy pen to go offensive. Her mother, our daughter, is her prime example; Jess is a Maryland state parole agent. Two years ago when she informed a less than well behaved client he was going back to prison, he went ballistic on her and tried to strangle her. Jess is 5' 6" and just over 120 pounds. The guy did go back to prison, but it was after he got out of the emergency ward having the damage fixed. Jess found that a Cross pen will indeed go through a throat.
You need to sit down with your wife and have a long talk with her. If she does indeed realize she's going to have to fight like a cornered Mrs. Tom Cat if something happens, then thats 95% of the battle. Some Krav Maga training to start with, and a good instructor to open her eyes to the weapons that are all around us is an other step. She does not need a gun most of the time to protect herself, when the human mind is the most dangerous potential weapon she has with her all the time.
Having lived most of my life in Maryland, a gun has not been in the cards for us. But I don't see it as that much of a bad thing. Mental attitude, staying alert, keeping track of your suroundings, and not blundering around in condition white will go a very long way to seeing she is never in trouble. Carrying a gun and thinking if there's trouble you can just pull your rosco anbd shoot the perp is not a good mindset. The second you pull that trigger your in a world of legal trouble that will cost you good money for a lawyer to get out of. Even if you get out out of the criminal trouble with a good shooting, the slimeball's family will come up with a shady lawyer and sue you for all you've worked for in your life. Less than leathal is good. Besides, a gun just can't travel with you to some places. New York, Washinton, your town, London, Paris, and some of the other places we've been to, it would have been impossable to have a gun. But my blackthorn walking stick, AA minimag, and my wife's Canemasters cane screwdriver was there in the Louve, The Gugenheim museum of art, and the British museum in London. We didn't feel unarmed.
But it all depends on your wife and her mental makeup. Her mindset.
