Wife followed to work. Where can I get an affordable tazer?

[Zoogster]

Phone call first.

Tazers are effective if they work right. If they miss, or hit someone wrong, or the person is wearing thick clothing like many do in winter, or heavy leather, or something in a pocket gets in the way..etc Then they can do absolutely nothing. If they were powerful enough to go through such things, they would be too powerful for safe use against bare skinned or lightly clothed individuals.

Basicly they work well as an extra tool to someone with more tools available. As a single line of protection they are severely limited. More limited than pepperspray.

Shooting someone with a taser not yet posing a clear threat you could describe in court is risky legaly. Someone stopping, following, walking up to her, or other actions not illegal is not a valid strong legal defense for use of the taser. It can be a reason to be ready to defend herself, and make it known she is feeling threatened, but there is many variables.

If she has to wait until the last moment to defend herself it is probably better she has something much more decisive if that last moment comes.



If she is anti, maybe she just wants a chance to stop someone, and is willing to accept being a victim if that does not work. That is her decision, but someone with such an attitude probably won't take training and self defense techniques seriously. Giving her a tool she feels protects her that may not could actualy place her in more danger if she does not take self defense seriously and feels the taser solves the problem.
Would she be slower to flee from percieved danger with the taser? Would she be stunned with no backup plan if the taser fails to perform?

Tasers also tend to be bulky and larger than most compact firearms, and currently come with a higher price tag than many firearms.

 

[Jerry Morris]

Some people are just plain determined to be victims. Accept it.

Jerry

 

[Zoogster]

A spray is also more likely to help her. The taser must be aimed and fired, often they only have one shot.
If it fails to perform for my previously listed reasons, or she misses then it is no longer useful.
With a spray she could miss, adjust, hit with some, miss with some, and still have accomplished something.

A taser also tethers you to the attacker. The attached wires must be removed to flee and keep the taser. In some models it is easier than others, but still requires conscious manipulation of the device in a high stress time, and once removed no longer can shock the person. If she is not going to take them into custody, and prepared to do so placing her at more risk, then planning on how to accomplish that without leaving the taser at the scene should be done. Running away with many feet of wire hanging from something dragging on the ground would be an easy way to trip, and the barbs would have to pull out of the attacker.
So removing the wires (in some models it is a whole portion of the taser containing the propellant and wires sold as units etc) afterwards is a pretty important step.

A lot to think about for someone that does not take self defense seriously.

 

[Rexster]

Tasers are worthless against multiple opponents, and that is the real Tasers, that fire darts and transmit the shock via wires. The abbreviated cattle prods sold as stun guns are even more worthless against multiple opponents, and against one opponent, are only zapping when held against the opponent's body. Not many opponents just stand there, still, and let themselves get zapped. One hard hit, and that stun gun goes skittering across the pavement.

 

[Autolycus]

Consider some Foxlabs spray. What about some sort of martial arts training?

 

[Dravur]

Ya know... If tazers were the cat's meow when it came to defense, wouldn't the police just carry it? Seems to me, the police carry a sidearm as well....

Must be a reason.... hmmmm What could it be?

They carry pepper spray and a gun....why?

With pepper spray and a tazer, a cop should be able to wrestle a polar bear and a determined badger as well as 2 bad guys. There must be another reason to carry a sidearm. Darned if I can figure it out.

Oh well, I guess I'll just have to continue to carry the Sig P220 and fore-go the pepper spray and Tazer. I must be crazy....

 

[bear71]

Situations like those presented by the OP irritate me a great deal. Far too many places in this country the situation would go down like this. Wife gets raped but manages to defend herself in progress by shooting the assailant.

County attorneys office scurries in a frenzy to charge the wife with assault with a deadly weapon and work with a huge concerted effort to imprison the wife so the conviction record gets another gold star.

The rapist? People do have sexual urges you know, it's only human nature.

Sickening.

 

[alwilliam]

I am always in trouble...


C-3 LT-1 1970

 

[inkhead]

Go with pepper spray. If she needs to "feel" safe get her a giant sized red one that she can hold up like the police have ;-) That probably wouldn't work. But pepper spray is way more effective, also anything she can do to keep them as far away. If somebody gets close, and they they could just be a regular person who's not out to harm her, she can stop and yell, "stop following me!", That will make the person intentions clear. Also I know this is cheesy but a $15 air horn or loud buzzer alarm you put around your neck and pull will generally scare off those kind of people, then you can just get her mace for backup..

If there are are houses in the area, somebody is going to freak out when a 200db sound goes off and run...

 

[alwilliam]

I agree with the above...All BS aside...Go with a whistle or air horn...

Really think about it..... most females and even a few males I know are so passive by their nature that they tend to "freeze" up tight and any weapon or device will be taken away by a true player and used on the victim.Happens all the time.

I have seen it many times even with semi-hard street type people...they will pull a knife and stand their and blink ..its weird.

I have even been with friends from my youth who are not wimps but when the chips fall heavy they will hesitate a bit and thats all it takes for a even a semi-pro criminal to move in and end it all.Most people are NOT ready to turn it on in a instant and fight like a animial and really when its for real thats what it takes.

A whistle is easy to deploy and I have never met a criminal that likes noise and attention.

 

[Don Gwinn]

True, but will he flee or will he shut you up by force?

I think I'd go with CS spray. That's what my wife, sister and mother have, and I haven't seen anything that's made me think they should switch. Additionally, everybody--men and women both--is pretty good at using a spray can because they do it every day. The people I'm talking about don't shoot, but I have confidence that they can at least manipulate the spray can very well since they've effectively been training with them.

I like the idea of the LifeAct giving you more distance, but others have pointed out that you'd better hit with your two shots; it's basically a non-lethal derringer.

TASERs are great tools for cops, but cops use them when they've got a bunch of other cops ready to dogpile a suspect and take him alive. I don't think you'll see the average cop using a TASER when he's alone and fighting for his life. Hitting someone with a TASER is like hitting a really good hook right on the point of the jaw in that it might knock someone out, but more likely it will gain you a moment to do something else. You might hit him again, you might flee, you might take him down. What you can't do is count on it to put him down.

I look at CS as a way to blind someone and take his wind so you can outrun him. A TASER will hurt him a lot while it's cycling, but if he chooses not to give up, he'll have all his tools when it's over. Then what? Again, cops don't worry about this because at that point, he should have five cops swarming him, but she doesn't have the same needs they do.

 

[Don Gwinn]

A quick note on martial arts training:

If we're talking about empty hands like Judo, karate, TKD, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, combatives or boxing, I don't know that it would fit this situation. To get good enough to accomplish much, she needs to train with some dedication. If she wants to train in a way that will give her the ability to fight, there are going to be failures, pain, and injuries along the way. That's just the nature of the beast. You almost have to like this stuff to get any good at it. Would she do that?
I guess what I'm saying is that chances are, if she were really going to show much dedication to martial arts training, shooting, etc., then she'd be the one trying to find out about it.

Also, even if she got very good unarmed fighting, she's still at a disadvantage in most situations where it would be used in self-defense. She's at a weight disadvantage against the average man, so she needs to be significantly better than he is. She's also apparently alone on these walks to work (and at work?) so she stands a good chance of being outnumbered, depending on who's checking her out. There's no good martial art out there for multiple opponents as far as I know. Someone will hasten to tell me I'm wrong on that, but I'm not buying it. The most effective arts in one-on-one competition don't handle multiple opponents very well. The most ineffective arts usually claim that things would go differently against multiple opponents, against weapons, or on a real street littered with hypodermics and broken glass. I don't see it. If your training won't let you beat one person, I don't see how it would work against two.

I guess all I'm saying is that martial arts are great, I recommend them, but do not treat them as a replacement for weapons and mindset. They're not.

 

[ashgee]

Very little to add to the good advice here, but FWIW: don't take any chances with your wife's safety, really.

My missus was v e r y anti-carrying (though not so much on having them around the house), but has slowly come round over the years. What worked for her was:

a) a few situations such as the one you describe;

b) a good look at a cross-selection of horrible, yet all too common stories from all over the civilised (no irony intended) world;

c) a gradual acceptance of carrying spray, electric device, gas cartridge J-frame copy, and finally a nifty German 8mm mini-automatic which shoots tiny shot from brass cartridges topped off by a little wad of pressed cotton. REKA brand name - built in GDR before the wall came down, I think.

The latter will not be lethal over any sort of distance over a few inches, but will take off an attacker's face. It's legal where I am now (which is kind of a miracle - EU), so you should have no trouble with it in the States.

Good luck.

 

[inkhead]

The funniest thing I ever saw in my life, was a martial arts match outside, that was going on for fun, and one of the guys was going to play a prank on the opponent by being handed an airhorn behind his back. After one knockdown the guy is about 8 feet away, and running towards the guy with the secret airhorn, he pulls it out pushes it and the other guy runs straight into the wall. It was ****ing hilarious. I'm laughing as I type it now. I'm not saying sound will save you, but it's going to make a huge difference. We're not talking a car alarm loud were talking space shuttle engine loud. It just disrupts everything, and should be enough to buy time for wonderful pepper spray.

As far as the phone? What the hell? What cellphone do you have? Mine has a number pad on a touchscreen, and you have to push buttons, and hit DIAL then wait 4-5 seconds before it connects, then you have to speak clearly, and probably wait on hold for 911. So if your attacker is polite enough to wait, "hold on a minute, please.".. By all means. It doesn't do anything to be on the phone with your loved one either except make you crazy...

Get spray, sound, tell your wife if she loves you she will JUST do this thing. PERIOD. You get some of those "if you love me's" in every marriage. Get some test cartridges for the pepper spray to test them out if you are nervous.

If she's going to a job, she has friends at work right? Male friends? Can't she call them when she parks and they come out to meet her? Surely something can be worked out, a supervisor doesn't need employees getting attacked.


I know this is blowing everything into a big deal, and it sounds like your wife doesn't think it's a real threat because of the feedback you are posting. So if it's just a strange unsure thing that you might not be able to push, just order the spray,sound without her knowledge and give it to her. I doubt that she won't take it just to have..

 

[1911RjB]

Here is another, less expensive choice.....................

http://www.life-act.com/

+1

 

[tblt]

wife followed

Get her a real gun that way that guy won't follow anyone again

 

[GhostRider66]

HELP! My wife followed me to work too, tazer slowed her down a bit....ooops. Different situation. Sorry.

 

[Macmac]

Only semi related:

I just got back from being in upstate NY where my wife was raised. Her mom is in a nursing home there.

I stopped in the city (Rochester) to get gas and drinks, and asked her to drive since she knows the area. So she went to the car from the store, and I headed to a wash room.

When I came out some guy was talking to her thru the car window she cracked. He was in winter wear, but dressed pretty well. It was dark however so I didn't get a very good look at his back.

The guy ran like he was on fire when she reached over to unlock my passanger side door, and so he was gone.

I asked her what's up with that....??? She said the guy was telling her, and showing her a 20 dollar bill she had supposedly dropped.

Fact 1, she didn't drop no 20 dollar bill. Fact 2 that guy was trying to con her into thinking she had. Fact 3 The guy ran because he assumed she was alone, since she got in the driver's seat. Fact 4 I was armed as always.

Ya wanna watch it out there....

 

[alsaqr]

"I don't want to sound like a jerk, but if the reports of her being anti are true, at some point she is going to have to reconcile hurting people and protecting herself."

It seems so. You can only do so much to help some one who will not effectively help themselves.

 

[SilentArmy]

Cold as it may sound, there is only one cure for the irrational raving anti's and that is a good dose of 100% pure victimization! Some will require multiple doses. My wife cannot even be in the same room with a balloon as it might pop and startle her so she sure as hell would not shoot a gun! I have armed her with a small OC cannister and some common sense training but beyond that... what can you do?

 

[Timthinker]

I am surprised that no one has offered a very simple suggestion. Pay one of her trusted coworkers to pick her up early in the morning. In this situation, she is not walking alone before God gets up. In addition, purchase some strong chemical spray as a backup plan. Ask your wife about my suggestion. If it works, great. I hope this helps. Merry Christmas.


Timthinker

 

[The Unknown User]

I hate to agree with that, but until something happens, your wife won't realize her safety is her own responsibility.

 

[Zoogster]

As far as the phone? What the hell? What cellphone do you have? Mine has a number pad on a touchscreen, and you have to push buttons, and hit DIAL then wait 4-5 seconds before it connects, then you have to speak clearly, and probably wait on hold for 911. So if your attacker is polite enough to wait, "hold on a minute, please.".. By all means. It doesn't do anything to be on the phone with your loved one either except make you crazy...

In this specific OP situation she was indoors at her workplace with people outside not posing an immediate threat. It was not an immediate attack. She took the effective action of reducing the threat by going indoors. In that situation the appropriate action is to document the harassment or suspicious people with photos, phone calls, and a police report. If they escalate it then force becomes appropriate.

Advice needs to match the situation at hand. Did you read the original post?
Any aggressive hostile action taken by her in this situation could have unnecessary escalated the situation or become an illegal attack by her on someone else. Being creepy and suspicious is not against the law.
Advising someone to commit a crime in a situation where they obviously got indoors and merely had someone watching from outside is bad advice.

Being ready and capable of defending themselves is important. However as the situation turned out the best tools available would have been a phone and a camera to document the situation, and help law enforcement follow up on the situation if they chose or at least be aware of it if self defense was required in the future or even later that day.

A camera would have provided photos of visible people, a license plate and car model, and given law enforcement a lot to follow up on later. It would have also provided a lead to investigators if they no longer posed his wife a threat but targeted and victimized someone else later on.

Had the suspicious people chosen to take further actions that required her to defend herself then other tools would have been appropriate.


Having the tools, training and overall capability of dealing with an attack is important. However situations that force is not required are going to be more common in life. Someone should be just as capable of handling those.
It is not all or nothing.

That also does not mean someone should remain in a dangerous situation longer to document things either. Actions taken need to be appropriate to each and every unique situation.