How'd you guess?
self-defense....what do you carry?
- Thread starter Jr_Bullit
- Start date
That might be fun...
There's a lot of truth in this. I've often wondered if I'd be self-possessed enough to "act really crazy" in the event that I was approached or attacked, and thereby throw off the attacker enough that he would leave me alone.
When I was 13, I was at the Texas State Fair, wandering around on my own. I found myself behind one of the buildings in a rather secluded area. Looking around, I saw two rather rough looking guys, and decided I should exit immediately. As I turned around and quickened my pace away from them, one called after me,"Hey! Hey, girl! Hey!" I could hear him running toward me, and knew there was no way out but by speaking to him. I'm good at accents, and turned around to face him confidently, with an inquisitive look, and with a British accent that would pass BBC screening said, "Were you addressing me, sir?"
He stopped in his tracks, looking confused.
I continued, "Sorry. Were you addressing me, sir?"
"Uh, well, we thought you was someone else. That's why... why we was addressin' you." He still looked very confused.
I smiled. "Ah. Mistaken identity. Well, cherrio!" and I turned and walked away, my heart pounding.
So, my best defense, if I can manage to pull it off, would be to adopt a facial tic, turn my head sharply, focus my eyes while looking at nothing, and mutter, "It just won't get the spots out. Won't get the spots out..." then look directly at whomever and demand to know, "Where is the letter? What did they do with it?" If I'm successful, I can scare him. People don't want to mess with crazy people. They are no fun.
That's my escape plan. I can be scary crazy if I have to be.
I go to WPI, so I know what kind of shennanigans go on over at that place.
I like this think:
The Kubotan (sometimes spelled Kubaton) or self-defense keychain, is a highly accessible, durable, and effective self-defense weapon. It is essentially a shortened Yawara, usually less than 8" long and slightly thicker than a marker pen. Typically attached to a keyring for convenience and concealment, the kubotan appears to be an innocuous key fob to the untrained eye. Often it is carried instead of or as a complement to pepper spray, with the advantage that it does not deplete or backfire due to wind direction.
In usage it is very similar to the yawara, except that it is only long enough to protrude from one end of a closed fist, and the attached keys can act as a flail of sorts. It is often touted as needing very little training to be effective.
Common uses include stabilizing the fist for punching, applying pressure to sensitive parts of an assailant's body, or gaining leverage on an assailant's wrist or fingers. The end of the Kubotan may also be used for jabbing, or by gripping it by the key-ring it may be swung or flicked with some precision.
As with the Yawara, the principal targets for use in self-defense are boney parts, such as knuckles, forearms, bridge of the nose, or shins. In addition to this, it is a very effective pressure point weapon; it can attack any point a finger can, with much greater effectiveness. Its techniques are greatly linked to 'empty handed' martial arts techniques, and almost all of its uses derive from the fighting style in which it is included. It is one of the few weapons that adapts to an art, rather than having its own set of movements and uses.
The kubotan (and equivalently the yawara) is a particularly interesting weapon because makeshift versions can be readily found and are equally effective. This property makes it one of the few weapons that can be replaced by household items, whilst retaining all its combative properties. Typical improvised items can include credit cards, keys, pens, torches, twigs, etc. Almost anything with roughly the same shape and size can be a viable replacement, while still using all of the kubotan's techniques. It is because of this property that adaptive martial arts such as ninjutsu value the yawara and kubotan.
The Kubotan (sometimes spelled Kubaton) or self-defense keychain, is a highly accessible, durable, and effective self-defense weapon. It is essentially a shortened Yawara, usually less than 8" long and slightly thicker than a marker pen. Typically attached to a keyring for convenience and concealment, the kubotan appears to be an innocuous key fob to the untrained eye. Often it is carried instead of or as a complement to pepper spray, with the advantage that it does not deplete or backfire due to wind direction.
In usage it is very similar to the yawara, except that it is only long enough to protrude from one end of a closed fist, and the attached keys can act as a flail of sorts. It is often touted as needing very little training to be effective.
Common uses include stabilizing the fist for punching, applying pressure to sensitive parts of an assailant's body, or gaining leverage on an assailant's wrist or fingers. The end of the Kubotan may also be used for jabbing, or by gripping it by the key-ring it may be swung or flicked with some precision.
As with the Yawara, the principal targets for use in self-defense are boney parts, such as knuckles, forearms, bridge of the nose, or shins. In addition to this, it is a very effective pressure point weapon; it can attack any point a finger can, with much greater effectiveness. Its techniques are greatly linked to 'empty handed' martial arts techniques, and almost all of its uses derive from the fighting style in which it is included. It is one of the few weapons that adapts to an art, rather than having its own set of movements and uses.
The kubotan (and equivalently the yawara) is a particularly interesting weapon because makeshift versions can be readily found and are equally effective. This property makes it one of the few weapons that can be replaced by household items, whilst retaining all its combative properties. Typical improvised items can include credit cards, keys, pens, torches, twigs, etc. Almost anything with roughly the same shape and size can be a viable replacement, while still using all of the kubotan's techniques. It is because of this property that adaptive martial arts such as ninjutsu value the yawara and kubotan.
hey are you out of jail already Paris?...D
That's really cool! I dunno if I could pretend insanity or not.
I watched the betty page movie a while back...you know, the scene where she got herself in a rather awful situation by thinking some guy was taking her on a date instead of to a gang rape situation...she told him she was on the rag so they let her off with like 20 blow jobs instead.
I don't think that would fly in this day age...never know ifyou might meet a german into that sort of thing. ick.
If you're not willing to kill someone, which you're not, don't carry any lethal or stabbing weapon. Even non-lethal impact weapons, like batons, still need a decent amount of training/practice to be useful, as well as an aggressive mindset. Plus, there may be legality questions where you live.
Pepper spray, if it's legal in your neck of the woods, gives you standoff from a potential attacker, doesn't require a ton of training, and can be reasonably to extremely effective. And since it doesn't kill (except in that ultra-rare allergic reaction case, or if a blinded subject stumbles into the street and gets hit by a bus), you'll generally get the benefit of the doubt legally as to its use, esp. if you're a lone woman with a male potential assailant.
I recommend using a stream spray variant. Fogs WILL blow back on you and are extremely suceptible to wind...might never even hit the target. I've never used a foam, but if your assailant is wearing sunglasses, they might prevent the stuff from getting where it needs to be. Streams have the same problem, but the liquid will drip down behind the glasses from the forehead.
It's also not very bulky compared to a lot of other things.
If you have a shotgun in the house, load it with #4 buck. You're doing yourselves a HUGE disservice by elevating a home defense situation to a deadly-force level but not having the deadly-force option out there. If it comes time to pull a trigger, it's time that someone needs to be stopped, decisively. Not pissed off or antagonized and simultaneously alerted that you can't actually hurt him.
Edit: Along the same lines...don't play the 'kitty's got claws' game (as you put it; I'm assuming you're talking about presenting a visible threat without necessarily being ready to actually be a threat). Carry only something you're truly willing to use, otherwise it's worse than carrying nothing. Brandishing a weapon can potentially be part of your use of force in a situation, but it's not the point, and may even escalate the situation further
Your brain is your first line of defense, and your legs are often the second. (You're probably in better shape than most bums out there...and a hard sprint can solve a confrontation pretty decisively.) But that gets academic when things actually do get *bad.* Good that you're thinking about that stuff and what you are able/willing to do to defend yourself.
Edit II: To re-hash the standoff thing, if you're using the all-important brain, you should avoid any situations in which you're within impact weapon range/arm's reach of an assailant. KEEP MOVING and don't get engaged by anyone you don't choose to talk to. Staying aware keeps you ahead of the game and lets you develop the situation as you want rather than reacting to someone else's plan.
MD
Pepper spray, if it's legal in your neck of the woods, gives you standoff from a potential attacker, doesn't require a ton of training, and can be reasonably to extremely effective. And since it doesn't kill (except in that ultra-rare allergic reaction case, or if a blinded subject stumbles into the street and gets hit by a bus), you'll generally get the benefit of the doubt legally as to its use, esp. if you're a lone woman with a male potential assailant.
I recommend using a stream spray variant. Fogs WILL blow back on you and are extremely suceptible to wind...might never even hit the target. I've never used a foam, but if your assailant is wearing sunglasses, they might prevent the stuff from getting where it needs to be. Streams have the same problem, but the liquid will drip down behind the glasses from the forehead.
It's also not very bulky compared to a lot of other things.
If you have a shotgun in the house, load it with #4 buck. You're doing yourselves a HUGE disservice by elevating a home defense situation to a deadly-force level but not having the deadly-force option out there. If it comes time to pull a trigger, it's time that someone needs to be stopped, decisively. Not pissed off or antagonized and simultaneously alerted that you can't actually hurt him.
Edit: Along the same lines...don't play the 'kitty's got claws' game (as you put it; I'm assuming you're talking about presenting a visible threat without necessarily being ready to actually be a threat). Carry only something you're truly willing to use, otherwise it's worse than carrying nothing. Brandishing a weapon can potentially be part of your use of force in a situation, but it's not the point, and may even escalate the situation further
Your brain is your first line of defense, and your legs are often the second. (You're probably in better shape than most bums out there...and a hard sprint can solve a confrontation pretty decisively.) But that gets academic when things actually do get *bad.* Good that you're thinking about that stuff and what you are able/willing to do to defend yourself.
Edit II: To re-hash the standoff thing, if you're using the all-important brain, you should avoid any situations in which you're within impact weapon range/arm's reach of an assailant. KEEP MOVING and don't get engaged by anyone you don't choose to talk to. Staying aware keeps you ahead of the game and lets you develop the situation as you want rather than reacting to someone else's plan.
MD
Did you go to Clark? If so, when did you graduate?
Edit: Nevermind, saw that it's a yes. I had a few friends who went there, graduated 98 and thereabouts...when were you there?