Just out of curiousity. I’m thinking about getting something as a “just in case” for self defense and not sure what to get?
I don’t want something that can easily become lethal so that rules or things like knives/switchblades.
I was thinking police level pepper spray. The one that can shoot like up to 10 feet. That way if someone comes at me i just pop off the cap, turn around, and bam they’re blinded and hacking up a lung. No one is permanently hurt either.
What should i get thats legal and not too expensive? This is in florida by the way, so that’s another reason i can’t get a switchblade, they’re illegal here.
You have basically limited yourself to mace/pepper spray or a collapsible baton, carrying pepper spray is a good idea but it has limited utility and you really should run after using it.
Without knowing what situations you’re worried about it is hard to advise.
The one area pepper spray can come in handy is clearing a violent mob or crowd.
You run not only because it is basic self defense, getting away from the threat, but also because pepper spray is NOT instantly effective. It takes minutes for the burn to really set in and become incapacitating, it isn’t going to instantly take down a determined attacker, much less if they are drunk or high on stimulants etc.
My advice in the situation you describe? If you don’t want to carry a gun, carry a knife so you at least can do some damage if caught. Don’t wear expensive jewelry, and flee when confronted if possible.
A lot of people advise co-operating with a robber, but I’ve seen enough go bad with perfect co-operation I’ll take my chances with fleeing. Even trained shooters have trouble hitting a moving target.
What’s wrong with a taser? As I understand it, tasers block the actual muscles that an attacker uses to harm you with. If the electrical connection is good, they will not be able to do anything but collapse to the ground. Also, tasers have been tested tens of thousands of times and have not killed anyone under controlled conditions - they aren’t nonlethal, but nothing is. Pepper spray someone, and they might have an anaphylactic reaction or fall down some stairs while blinded and break their neck. Tasers are more expensive, but they appear to be pretty effective.
Also, unlike a gun, if by chance an attacker does get ahold of your taser, they can’t just immediately kill you with it…
A couple people I know have gone to the sort of riding clothes people use on sport bikes; they won’t stop a bullet or good stab but they can help against the casual broken bottle or chain.
I’ve used my keys a couple times. Close-quarters but they work.
I’m saying that a baton, pepper spray…it isn’t effective. A really bad dude is still going to kick your ass. Tase the thug, and maybe disarm/kick/tie them up when they are down and still recovering from the tasing, or book it, and you’ve got a lot better chance of making it.
Pull out a baton, and they may just grab it from you and beat you with it.
In terms of devastation? IDK
In terms of portability and legality,
A small LED flashlight
can be used like a “roll of dimes” in your fist for punching
or a hard surface for a hammer fist blow
My former roommate said, actually quite humbly, “pain is not going to stop me”. He is a Muy Thai instructor and had a blue belt in BJJ. He’s fought (in the ring) with broken bones before. Pain will stop most people, but not all people.
The most important tool in protecting yourself is situational awareness, it can allow you to avoid being the victim of a crime long before it happens in the first place, and remove your need for using any self defense at all.
If you want to carry a type of weapon with the parameters you’ve given, pepper spray is probably a good option given what you’re looking for and what you want to do.
Something everyone needs to know is that if the weapon doesn’t kill the person immediately, there is a chance you will need to be able to defend yourself or flee after using it. Without taking special classes on self defense, at least keeping that in mind can help you.
There are many videos of people being repeatedly tasered, and eating a face full of police grade (same stuff as whatever you’re buying, “military grade” isn’t any more effective than what the police use) pepper spray and continuing to assault the police officer. A trained fighter is an example of someone able to function through pain because they’ve been trained to, a lot of agencies that issue pepper spray also train their officers in how to work through it (since it’s not out of the realm that they may be hit by it.) Are you likely to have any of these people rob you? No. But sometimes just mean raging drunks can take a surprising amount of punishment. I’ve seen it personally and you can find the YouTube videos. There’s many out there of sloppy drunks taking tons of taserings and pepper spray and they just keep coming.
That being said–being sprayed in the face with pepper spray hurts and is very disorienting. If you spray someone and back away, I do think that will be more or less effective against most attackers–but again, even through the pain and the red eyes they can still move around, distance can help keep stray thrashings of theirs from catching you. Just keeping in mind that pepper spray isn’t a magic toy that is like pressing an “I Win” button will be the mindset. It’s a way to significantly impede an attacker and hurt their quality of life, but you need to be prepared to do more evasively or offensively if necessary.
I’d rate collapsible batons and knives as “worthless” for you. Both require skill to wield effectively and if you aren’t trained in their use (and knife fighting is almost a lost art these days and you won’t easily find training in it) you could easily just have the weapon ripped out of your hands or find that you can’t use it effectively.