April 24, 2009
A Few Words on Active Defense
One of the things flying around the interweb these days is the active shooter doctrine of police. That’s the idea that an active shooter requires different tactics than those requires for, say a hostage situation. Self defense can be thought of in much the same way.
Seung-Hui Cho had several hours in which to kill on his rampage through the halls of Virginia Tech. One of the main reasons was the confusion among authorities at the time. Police doctrine was one of the reasons it took so long to help those kids at Columbine over ten years ago. Those tactics dated to the shootings at the University of Texas back in 1966. Even today with the active shooter doctrine, the police may still choose to hunker down, set up a permiter and wait it out like in Binghampton, NY.
This isn’t meant to slam cops. I’d hate to be the guy on the spot and have to make that decision. Especially if you make a decision that will get more people killed. Still it comes with the job. I can’t imagine what those firefighters were thinking when they went charging into the World Trade Center on September 11, except that there were people trapped and they were sworn to go get them. It’s a selflessness you rarely see anymore. If you take the job, you have to be prepared to make those kinds of decisions.
My main point is that in a situation like that you can’t predict what a shooter is going to do, you can’t predict the cops or officials decisions. All you can do is make decisions for yourself. What are you going to do? How are you going to react? What tools do you have that will help you protect yourself and others? You can’t afford to wait for anyone to make a decision for you, you have to choose to act.
April 22, 2009
The Most Overlooked Home Security Device
As I’ve been looking around the forums and different news sites one of the things that I’ve noticed is the relative ignorance of driveway alarms. Granted they’re useful only for single family residences and possibly duplexes and townhomes, but it is a useful tool in your self defense arsenal nonetheless. Many people ask what the best home alarm system is or the best home security company, and quite a few miss this one simple item.
A driveway alarm is a simple motion alarm with dialing capabilities. Much like a do it yourself home security system, you can set a driveway alarm to phone if it is set off. Other all inclusive residential alarm systems have a base unit in the house that notifies you if someone has set off a particular motion sensor. This is very important. With motion alarms in place you know instantly if someone is approaching your home and have time to prepare.
Many times home invaders like to pretend that they are a service worker or need directions or something to get you to open your door. Or perhaps they’re the new breed of home invaders who kick in your door pretending to be police. In those cases people don’t have much time to get themselves ready and activate their safety plans, so anything that would increase the chance of acting in the face of a threat rather than reacting to the threat is helpful.
The Voice Alarm 6 is one such device. It consists of a wireless sensor and base unit. Additional wireless sensors can be added to expand coverage, up to six sensors per base unit. This can provide coverage for a wide variety of areas iincluding front and back doors, ground floor windows, pools, etc. Coverage can also be tailored to your unique needs.
The Voice alarm 6 can have up to six motion detectors provide early warning for visitors, both expected and unexpected. They’re also great if you own a pool and have little ones running around. It’s every parent’s nightmare that their child might have an accident involving the pool. Let’s face it, kids are adventurous, if you tell them they can’t do something, they’ll probably do it.
If you set one of the Voice Alarm 6 motion detectors around the pool, you’ll know when your kid has decided to do a little forbidden exploration into dangerous territory. So even if you’re busy in another part of the home, the Voice Alarm 6 will be ever vigilant, protecting you and your family. Then you can intervene and make sure they know why they aren’t supposed to play around the pool without adult supervision.
Overall the addition of a wireless residential alarm system can make you much more secure and safe in the home. Using a do it yourself kit can be a cheap way of reaping all the benefits of a home alarm system while avoiding the high cost of a monitoring service. Another final benefit of doing it your way is that you are forced to think about your security and as a result adopt an active defense, rather than the let someone else worry about it passive defense that tipify many home alarm companies.
April 14, 2009
The Amazing Rescue or the Sound and Fury of the Pirates of Somalia
The drama in the Gulf of Aden ended with three precise shots. Those guys are so good it’s scary. They really are a credit to their service and their instructors.
Which leads me to my next topic. It’s all about training. It doesn’t matter what you do, the more you do of something the better you get at it. Self defense is no different. Personally I’m a big fan of learning unarmed combat, then learning how to use weapons. What you find when you do things this way is that you’ll be able to pick up any type of defensive tool and use it.
Like when I took the conceal carry course in Missouri. The instructor was surprised I shot as well as I did because I told him that I hadn’t shot or been on a range in twenty years. Yep, I hadn’t shot a gun in twenty years. And I hit my target every time. Now could I do what the SEALS did and take three pirates out shooting from a rolling deck. Nope that’s beyond me. I don’t expect any of my adversaries to be more than 10 feet away from me. If they are more than 10 feet, well then it’s time to exfiltrate and find help.
Not that you really want to get within arm’s reach of someone. I’m a small guy so I like to keep people at arm’s length, it’s safer that way. Still it is useful to know some hard takedown techniques in case you ever find yourself grappling with an opponent.
A good self defense video focuses on hard quick takedown techniques that are easy to use.
Even more than personal alarms, pepper sprays and even stun guns, training will help you avoid most confrontations. The best defense is one that never needs to be used. By keeping your head up and observing the world around you, you stand a much better chance of avoiding or turning a bad situation around, should you ever need to. Nor should you study only one or two systems. The best martial artists I know have studied several different arts through their career. Nor should it be different for those of us interested in personal protection.
A DVD should have simple techniques and be easy to learn and adapt to.
Now if you really want to take control of things, you can look at advanced techniques. These are not for the beginner. It involves things like totally dominating your opponent, stripping guns from them, taking away their knives things like that.
Advanced techniques allow you to toally dominate your opponent.
And so we come back to the SEALS and their rescue of Captain Philips. Negotiations were ongoing, true. But those men then made the decision to act threateningly towards their unarmed and bound captive. Decisions have consequences and the pirates found that out the hard way. Sure they come from a country that’s war-torn and schizophrenic, but we all have to choose to do right or do wrong. Those who do wrong are thugs and bullies and they can never stand up to training, discipline and righteousness.
April 12, 2009
C2 Taser – Most advanced Taser on the Planet?
Is the C2 stun gun the best stun gun for your money? It the C2 really a non lethal weapon? How does a C2 stun gun work? People have plenty of questions about Taser products and today we’re going to look at the C2 Taser stun gun. The C2 is Tasers replacement of the Advanced Air Taser brand.
This is Tasers premier civilian model of their popular stun gun.
The Advanced Air Taser is the precursor to the C2 Taser.
One of the main benefits of the C2 vs the Advanced Air Taser is the size. It’s much more compact and looks less like a weapon than the Advanced Taser. As I’ve said before, non lethal weapons are preferable to lethal weapons for several reasons. The most important for our purposes here is the fact that people will hesitate less when the stakes are not so high. Always remember, it can mean your life when you hesitate, so don’t.
The fact that you have to register the device provides two benefits wrapped into one. On a personal level, you can be sure that people carrying a C2 Taser are not felons. That’s part of the registration process, a background check that you complete on Taser’s website. Second are the ID tags that are emitted from the Taser when fired. This is more a benefit to soiciety. If you use a Taser to commit a crime or unlawfully, the ID tags will tell the police who you are and they will come looking for you. An assault with a Taser is just like an assult with any other type of weapon. Make sure you use it responsibly.
I do like the fact that the C2 has a trigger cover on the top of the device, so you can’t discharge it by accident. Plus it lights up to let you know it’s armed as a further deterrent against accidental discharge.
The C2 is simple and easy in design. The cartridge is loaded in the front, while the rear has a housing for the lithium ion batteries that can power over 50 shots according to Taser. I’d probably not trust it more than 50 times, mostly because you shouldn’t have to use it that much. If you do it’s more likely to be over a long period of time so the battery may not have an optimum charge when you use it. Still, like with any tool you trust your life to, it’s probably a good idea to test it every six months or so.
One of the coolest things about the C2 is the ability to get an LED light attaced to it to provide you with a targeting dot. It costs about $50 extra, but is well worth the cost in my opinion. This can help you immensly espectially if you’re in a combat situation and you have to be sure you’re going to hit your target. Even if you do miss, you’re still not defenseless as the C2 can be used as a contact stun gun provided your attacker still wants to close with you. They’ll probably think twice after you discharge the C2 at them.
So how does a C2 work? Well basically it interferes with the nervous system of the human body. The charge is low enough not to mess with cardiac rhythm, so the C2 is a non lethal or less than lethal device, but powerful enough to interfere with the signals running from the brain to the muscles. In addition the muslces spasm depleting them of glycogen, which is the muscles energy source, leaving your opponent unable to move. The effects last for about 3o seconds, giving you plenty of time to get away. The following video shows the features of the C2:
Taser does offer a replacement gaurantee, so if you do use a C2, seet it down and find help. After you give your statement to the police, get a copy of the report and send it in to Taser. They will then replace your C2 for free. Their philosophy is that your life is more important than a device, so rather than try to get it back, do the safe thing and Taser will replace it.
Now I may get in trouble with the pro-gun crowd, but I prefer a Taser product to a gun when I have to take down a burglar or mugger. With a gun things are chancy, you may hit a vital spot, you might not. Plus when you flash a gun you’ve just increased the level of violence. A criminal now knows they may die and will most likely act more desperately Plus I haven’t seen anyone who can resist a C2 stun gun. The following video shows what happens to a UFC fighter against a C2:
What do you think a C2 will do to a punk on the street?
Finally there’s the less than lethal factor. I prefer less than lethat over non-lethal because you can still get hurt falling when you go down from getting hit with one of these. Those instances, however, fall into the natural consequence category. If they didn’t try to rob and steal, they wouldn’t get hurt. More importantly, by not using lethal force you make it harder for any type of prosecution, be it criminal or civil. That in and of itself is a worthy goal.
April 11, 2009
More on Pirates of Somalia
Unarmed sailors take back their ship. This is incredible for several reasons. The only downside is that their captain, as fitting a man of his station, ransomed his safety for that of his crew. It’s telling that he tried to escape, unfortunately he failed. Somali pirates might think twice before attacking a US flagged merchant ship.
What I have a problem with is the assertion that ships have little recourse against pirates. There’s plenty of options a crew has to secure their ship. It may take some retrofitting, but there are many things a crew can do. First is making it harder for pirates to board the ship. I’ve heard of electrified rails, barbed wire or water cannons washing pirates off the ship like vermin. Second would be covering the superstructure with cameras, probably hidden. In conjunction with this, a secure room to which the crew can view the cameras and the crew can take refuge in. While retreating to the panic room, the crew can lay booby traps with pepper discharge, irritants and other disabling methods.
It only makes sense to make things harder for these scumbags. The only reason the engage in piracy is because it’s easier than anything else they could do. Plus the rewards are amazing for people who live in Somalia. With millions being paid in ransom, one successful hijacking can set a Somali up for life. The international community has shown that they are unable or unwilling to do anything about the pirates, so it falls to the sailors and captains who ply the trade lanes to take measures to protect themselves, their ships and their cargo.
Again while criminals might have the advantage concerning initiative, a prepared defender can suck them in and drop them at a time and place of their choosing. All it takes is determination and action when something like this happens.
April 8, 2009
Fighting the last war.
Two items stood out in the news today. First was a shooting in a Korean religious retreat in California. This will turn out to be, I think, another example of stress violence and a gust front in the coming storm of crime. Politicians will, as usual, react badly and too late to stem this tide. As an example I will use the current economic crisis. Signs of the coming crisis were there for anyone to see as early as 2005, at least by then the writing was on the wall. During the presidential campaign, nary a word was said about the economy until last fall. By then, it was too late.
So too, will this fly under the radar until it’s too late. While the masses are mesmerized by trillion dollar budgets, angered by bailouts and stunned by the antics of those in Washington, they ignore the signs of the coming tsunami in crime much like they did the economic collapse we’re seeing today.
The second item of interest today was this bit on the resurgence of Somali Piracy. I could go on and on about how we came to this pass, but it would seem a better use of our time to look closer and decide what this means in terms of safety.
As usual, it would seem that the Navy is asked to do a job covering too much of an area with too few assets with which to do the job. Plus it would seem that the tactics of the pirates are evolving. While not as dramatic as the tank laden Ukrainian ship seized by Somali pirates last fall, the ransoms paid to pirates has been substantial, especially in a nation as poor as Somalia. Paying those ransoms just encourages more piracy. People are more willing to roll the dice and take their chances. If they die, oh well, they live in a place where life is cheap anyway, so they might as well take the chance.
So what does all this mean? Why should you care? Well for one it seems that the world is getting more and more dangerous by day. Random shootings are increasing, once extinct criminal enterprises like piracy are on the rise and evidence mounts day by day that the world is becoming more and more unstable. Our “leaders”, as usual, are clueless about all of this and either can’t or won’t put the pieces together. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. You and only you can ensure your own safety. Waiting for someone else to save you is a fools errand.
At the very least you might want to consider learning some fighting techniques. At the very least you’ll develop the ability to scan your surroundings and identify places that you might not want to be. Rather than walk blithely through life oblivious to potential threats, you will learn how to stalk your stalkers. The choice of confrontation will no longer be with your attacker, but with you. You will have the initiative and that makes all the difference in the world.
Ideally, whatever system you choose it should be simple, easily mastered and, most importantly, allow you to quickly take down your opponent. Size doesn’t matter, nor does age. I’ve seen small guys take down large guys, women take down guys, old guys take down young guys. What matters is that you have the training and the confidence to overcome your attacker.
Speed is life during a fight.
A system must be easy to learn.
A system must be quick to master.
Remember, there is astorm coming. Will you be one of those who waits for help that will never arrive, or arrive too late; or will you take your destiny into your own hands and learn simple techniques to save yourself and your family?
April 7, 2009
Earthquake in L’Aquila
Reading about the earthquake that L’Aquila reminded me of a seminar I went to about earthquake preparedness. Several of the presenters were architects and engineers who had been in places like the Northridge earthquake and/or the Oakland earthquake and they made some very good points about keeping yourself safe in an earthquake.
It’s a little known fact that earthquakes can happen anywhere. We had a few tremors here in Southern Missouri and Illinois last year after the big spring floods we had. The thought was that the flooding had an impact on the buried tectonic fault under New Madrid, MO. So even in the heartland, we’re under threat from earthquakes. So much from moving here from Southern California.
One of the stories from that seminar concerned those poor souls who were trapped under that overpass that collapsed in Oakland. They actually did find survivors under there. In fact, most of the people who died were the ones who tried to speed up to avoid the collapsing bridge. They either got crushed by the overpass that fell on them or ran into those who ran into the fallen overpass. One of the points they made was that people who had some food, water and some kind of noisemaker were much better off than those without.
I’ve written about personal alarms before, but it was in the context of protecting yourself from an attacker. They’re much more versitile than that. It can be used as a signaler in cases of being trapped under something that has collapsed or if you’re lost, it can signal searchers to your position. I got lost at Boy Scout camp one year, luckily I found my way back, but I could have sure used one of those then.
Preparedness kits are also essential. Every home and car should have some kind of kit to survive in case of emergency. One of the other things I got from that seminar was the need to stockpile some food, medical supplies and other necessities because if there were another earthquake here like the one in 1812, help could be a week away. Personally I think that’s being kind of optimistic. The 1812 quake caused bells in Boston, Boston, to ring. Also this half of the country is not SoCal, which has been living under the threat of a major earthquake for far longer and have built accordingly. Since this will happen in the Mississippi valley, the shock waves will travel up and down the river and it’s tributaries. Plus the land in SoCal has an attenuating effect on how far the quake will travel. The Midwest has a very different effect, it will actually strengthen the effects of the quake. Long story short, it will take much more than a week for help to get here.
So food and clean water is essential, so are first aid supplies. An alarm is useful in case you’re trapped in a collapsed building or in your car. For your car you might consider a multiple use tool like the one pictured here.
Great for helping you escape a wrecked car.
It consists of a flashlight to help you see your surroundings, a flashing light to signal rescuers, a seatbelet cutter and can be used as a hammer to break away glass. If nothing else it can free you enough to move about the cabin and access your stored food, water and safety gear.
As for around the home or an alarm that you can keep with you, I’d suggest some kind of 2 ‘n 1 alarm that incorporates an alarm with a flashlight. Again the flashlight can be useful to get your bearings and to signal resuce personnel and the alarm can let them know there’s someone alive to save.
One of several types of personal alarms that can be used to signal rescuers.
It may seem unnecessary or paranoid to put all of this stuff together, but it’s one of those things that you might never really need to use, but when you do need to use it, you’ll really need to use it.
Whether or not you believe in a God or higher power, take a moment to remember those caught in L’Aquila and pray for those who have been injured or who have lost loved ones. Please take what I’ve written into consideration and at least think about what you might do in such a situation. At the very least it won’t come as a compete shock and that alone might be enough to help keep you alive.
Stay safe out there.
April 6, 2009
Stress Violence
It seems like there’s a fresh tragedy in the news every day now. Churches, community centers, homes, heck you’re not safe out on your front porch anymore. The scariest part of all this is that there seems to be no rhyme or reason behind these rampages.
One of the things I learned working in the mental heath field is that people have differing levels of what they are able to cope with and that people cope with stress in different ways. Now most of the population we worked with were not able to handle much stress at all and when they had an episode, they didn’t handle it very well.
What this means for the rest of us is that there is a population among us that have a low threshold for stress and when they surpass that threashold, they react with violence or self injury. While it is possible to increase coping skills so that you can cope with more stress and cope better with stress, it’s really up to an individual as to whether or not they will practice the skills needed to cope better with stress.
What this also means is that there is no agency other than you that can protect you life, family and property. Police officers can only react to calls about criminal behavior, they can’t be in all places at all times. It’s funny, as I was reading about the news about the shooting in Binghampton and people were grilling the police chief about the time it took to police to respond and whether they should have waited for backup or not.
In a way it’s a moot point. The police can’t respond quickly enough to stop that sort of thing. Plus with the political oversight officers endure, they cannot respond effectively to those sorts of situations. That’s not meant to disparage officers either. They do a tough job, but you can’t be everywhere at once.
So, in the end, each person is responsible for their own well being. By all means try to delay an attacker until help arrives, but don’t expect anyone to be there to save you from a situation. You must be prepared to save yourself. Many people take the time to learn combat skills and unarmed fighting skills and techniques both for men and women. Size isn’t always everything. Others may use tools like personal alarms, pepper spray, or stun guns to protect themselves. Most street cops I’ve talked to like the idea of a citizenry who defend themselves. All too often they have to deal with the aftermath of things like Binghampton.
So read and learn. You don’t have to take this lying down and live in fear. If there’s one sure way to beat the fear of the unknown, it’s to learn as much about it as you can. Then should you ever be in the right place at the wrong time, you’ll be that much more prepared to preserve your live and thelives of the innocents around you. One thing you can be sure of is that we’ll see more people afflicted with stress violence and incidents will increase in the future.
April 4, 2009
Self Defense Synergy
One of the thoughts I’ve been having recently is how in a life or death situation you really need to trade space for time. More so than a gun; alarms, sprays and stun guns can give you the time you need for help to arrive. My apartment, for instance, doesn’t have much space in it, so I have to be quick when it comes to defending against a burglar or attacker. The same thing also applies if I’m assaulted or mugged outdoors or in a public place.
Home/Personal Alarms
Door stop alarms are great for home defense or protection on the go.
Alarms are the first line of defense. Whether alarms on the doors and windows of a home, motion detector alarms in rooms and/or doorstop alarms in the home or personal alarms on your person when outside, a good alarm is critical. This will either scare your assailant away or tell them that you are serious about protecting yourself. This should take care of most of the criminals who just want a smash and grab anyway.
One of the things that I like about a doorstop alarm is that you can use it not only to sound an alarm, but also can use it to create a barricade. Remember you’re trading space for time. Plus the fact that a criminal won’t let something like this deter them from coming into your home or assaulting you tells you something about their intentions. At this point in time you can pretty much rule out burglary and robbery as motives. What’s left are physical injury and/or rape. Which lends itself to a whole different level of threat.
That’s where the next deterrent comes into play. Since we’re trading space for time, anything which delays an attacker from reaching you or enables you to get away from them is a good thing. That’s where we come to the second piece of defensive synergy.
Pepper Spray
Pepper spray is great for denying a person access to rooms in your home or breaking away from an attacker. Space for time. As I’ve said <a href=https://ledefensetech.wordpress.com/2009/03/26/lets-talk-aboutpepper-spray>here</a> and <a href=https://ledefensetech.wordpress.com/2009/03/29/more-on-pepper-spray>here</a>, pepper spray is a great deterrent against an attacker and gives you plenty of time to get away. In addition, many pepper sprays come with UV dye incorporated in them so you can avoid the hassle of a lineup. A simple black-light is all that’s needed to determine who the perpetrator really is.
Fooger type sprays are great for area denial applications.
A large spray like this is p3rfect for home defense and area denial purposes.
A small spray which is concealable can come as a great surprise.
This should be sufficient to deter all but the most fanatical of attackers. I can’t believe that anyone would be able to continue an assault after getting a face full of pepper spray. Still defense it not about I can’t believe or I don’t think. You have to be sure. An attacker only has to succeed once in an attack, you have to succeed every time if you want to keep yourself safe. So now we come to the final tool in the synergy of defense.
Stun Guns
A stun gun will pretty much end any confrontation right there. I’ve discussed stun guns <a href=https://ledefensetech.wordpress.com/2009/04/04/lets-talk-aboutstun-guns>before</a>. Depending on the type you get, you’ll either have to get within arms length of your attacker or you’ll have up to 15 feet of distance to play with. In the end, that’s why an advanced Taser (similar to the ones cops use) and C2 Tasers are usually the way to go. Not only do they give you stand-off capability and the ability to control the situation from a distance, in a pinch they can be used as a regular stun gun.
Now as part of the Defense Synergy concept, if you disable someone using pepper spray and want to take them down for the count, now is the time to use the stun gun. While it would be more prudent to call the police, by this point in time many people would be filled with indignation, anger and, well, how-dare-you-attack-me! So it’s understandable that someone will feel a desire to strike back against thier would-be attacker.
With a regular stun gun, the effects last for several minutes, giving you time to get away. With a Taser style stun gun the effects can take much longer to wear off. That’s due to the nature of the effects a Taser stun gun has over regular stun guns. Plus with the Advanced Tasers and C2 Tasers, you can pull the trigger three times and set up a cycle in which the perpetrator is actively stunned for 30 seconds. Then they have to recover from the effects of that, which can take quite a bit of time. Possibly long enough for you to return with the cops. Even if the perpetrator is not there when you return, all you have to do is get the police report and send it to Taser and they’ll replace your stun gun <a href=http://www.taser.com/research/Pages/ConsumerFAQs.aspx>free of charge</a>. Your life is worth more than any tool. As an added bonus the stun gun will now be ineffective because the Taser is keyed to you by information you provide to Taser when they do a background check on you. They won’t even be able to buy new cartriges and it will be useless to them. So by all means, pull the trigger three times and leave it.
The M 18-L is the civilian version of the Advanced Taser M26 used by Law Enforcement.
Stun Guns can be useful against surpirse attacks, like when you're grabbed from behind.
The C2 is the next generation civilian Taser.
Now many might argue that a gun doesn’t require all of these plans and convolutions, but those advocates don’t take several things into account. First is that anyone can file a lawsuit against anyone in civil court. Even if the plaintiff doesn’t win, the time, money and effort by the defendant is still lost and the opportunities that otherwise might have been realized are now gone forever. Second, there is a political movement in this country to reserve all force to the government. And finally, most people when faced with a live or die situation will, even at the cost of their own life, hesitate. Due to their natures, less than lethal technology can overcome that natural inclination to do no harm. Also, in many cases of assault, you may not have time to draw a firearm. Also when you draw a firearm, that automatically raises the stakes between you and an attacker. Due to the innocuous nature of many of these tools, they can be brought into play before an attacker realizes what the tool is. Surprise can be a useful tool in and of itself. Besides you just can’t beat the 30 second incapacitation that a stun gun brings. With a gun, it’s always a gamble if you can do enough damage to stop someone before they get to you.
On a final note, you can’t predict crazy so it’s best to have many avenues of defense to give youself the greatest chance of turning the tables on your attacker.
Let’s talk about….Stun Guns
Let’s define the two most common types of stun guns. Really when you talk about a stun gun you’re talking about the hand held guns that you have to physically contact someone with in order to get it to work. The other type of stun gun is what most people think about when they think about stun guns. Those are the stun guns made by Taser. So when we talk about stun guns, we mean the handheld ones and the Taser is the “shooting” stun gun.
Now there are two main number you look for when you’re talking about a stun gun. There’s the volts, anywhere from 50,000 to 1,000,000 volts. This actually doesn’t tell you much about the tool except that a 1,000,000 volt gun will work a bit quicker than a 100,000 gun, for instance. Another number to keep in mind is tha amperage of the stun gun. 1 single amp is enough to kill someone. Most stun guns run at about 3 or 4 miliamps.
Another thing to consider is how strong you are. It is pssible that a small man or woman won’t have the strength to keep someone from taking a stun gun away from you and use it on you. There are several styles of stun guns that masqerade as common items like cell phones. In addition there are multiple use items like flashlight/stunguns. This can be an advantage in that a potential attacker dismisses or doesn’t realize that an item really is a stun gun. Since most attackers try to sneak up on someone unseen and grab someone, this can be an effective counter to that kind of a surprise.
Now, one popular misconception about stun guns is that if someone is touching you and you stun them, the current will somehow leap and stun you as well. The human body isn’t that good of a conductor and the energy from a stun gun is discharged from between the two prongs of the gun. What happens when a person is hit by a stun gun is that the current travels along the nervous system of the body interfering with the signals between the brain and the muscles. That pretty much keeps someone from doing pretty much anything while they are being stunned.
The C2 and Advanced Tasers work a bit differently than a stun gun. First off, they shoot prongs that lodge just under an attackers skin and the current travels along the wire into the system of the attacker. While a Taser also interferes with the signals between the brain and the muscles, it also causes the muscles to contract and deplete themselves of glycogen. Glycogen is what muscles use for energy and when that is depleted, blood sugar is converted into glycogen thus the muscles have more energy to use. Now when blood sugar in the body is depleted, as anyone with diabetes will tell you, you get very tired. Very tired. So your attacker won’t be thinking about continuing the attack any time soon. Plus in a pinch, the Advanced and C2 Tasers can be used as regular stun guns, if you’re grabbed unawares for example.
Now I’m a big fan or less than lethal technology for several reasons. First we live in a country that has more lawyers per capita than any other country in the world. So if you go around shooting people, even in self defense, you can expect that sometime you’ll wind up in civil court. I don’t know about you, but I have better things to spend my money on than lawyers and court fees. Not to mention that if a judgement goes against you, you’re on the hook for damages that could run to the millions. Second, when you hit with a stun gun or a Taser, your adversary is going down for the count. With a gun if wing someone in the arm or leg or even in the torso, they might still be able to come after you. Third, I also believe that people do stupid things and sometimes they can learn when they hit a brick wall, especially punk kids. At the very least you won’t have someones death on your conscience.
Best Defense 