In my state getting a concealed carry permit is the easy part. There are so many places where you cannot carry at all, permit or no, that carrying a handgun becomes monumentally impractical. If I had my gun in my purse I would not be able to go into almost any place I would be going to (bars, restaurants, schools, stores…“any place cash is exchanged”…) so pepper spray is the practical alternative, sometimes.
I did lose my last can of spray because I was walking to the courthouse (in a dodgy area) and had to park far enough away that I was concerned. Pepper spray in hand (in my pocket) worked okay to instill a sense of security, but it had to be ditched at the door of the courthouse (wasn’t allowed in) so the walk back to the car was a bit scarier for me.
If you are in territory where there is no possibility that the next car that pulls up might be a boyfriend or family member, you are monumentally stupid anyway. Muggers can operate in crowded places, but they tend not to, and I doubt someone talking confidently on their phone would be top of their list of targets, so I can still see how it might be a deterrent for some. Not all, but some.
My husband works in a different county, and works 48 shifts, sometimes 72 hour shifts. My entire family (except for my children) live out of state. Whenever I go anyplace alone there is no possibility that the next car might be a boyfriend or family member.
What about flashing my 3-year-old cheap phone with the missing battery cover? (The battery cover won’t stay on any more. I have it at home, but I haven’t gotten around to getting it fixed yet, because the phone works OK without it.)
There are some of us for whom a gun isn’t an option. Like me. I have depression. I seriously don’t think I’d be here now if my parents had had guns in the house when I was a teenager. I won’t allow anyone to bring a gun into my house, because I don’t trust myself around them, and I know that depression is not curable (I’m in treatment for mine, and it does help, but it is not a cure). I certainly wouldn’t want to carry one in my purse. I’d live in more fear if I had a gun than if I didn’t.
My mental issues aside, even, I know I’d forget to take it out when I went to the airport, or somewhere else where you’re not allowed to have a gun, because I’m just forgetful like that.
What about one of those stun gun thingies? I guy I know that works late in kind of a sketchy area has one, and it has one of those features where you can show the blue sparks and it is loud and scary as hell.
I DO think that talking to someone else on the phone would be a deterrent. First of all, I don’t believe waving a cell phone around will necessarily attract negative attention. This isn’t 1990, everyone has a cell phone. For that matter, just try to find anyone on the street wearing a scarf who doesn’t already own an iPhone.
Second, human motivation is tricky and not always based on explicit calculations of the likelihood of escape. For example, there are studies that indicate that students are less likely to cheat in the classroom when they’re facing a mirror, which would seem odd because that shouldn’t factor into any such calculation. Perhaps it sort of feels like there’s a bystander in that situation when a potential victim is talking on the phone. I could definitely see it being a deterrent.
Finally, even from an escape perspective, I have to believe that an assailant would prefer targeting someone walking alone silently versus someone talking on the phone. The person on the other line may not be able to arrive or contact police quickly enough to stop the initial crime, but you’d better believe that your odds of getting away are better when the body is found three hours from now as opposed to having police on your tail in ten minutes.
Oh, by the way, I’m not suggesting that the mechanism behind the students not cheating in front of a mirror is because they think there’s a bystander. I was just trying to say that guilt and habit and perception are important factors, that’s all.
After a friend was mugged, I bought a used stun gun for her. It seems to work (when the trigger is pressed there is a very large and bright electrical arc and suitable popping and crackling noises. We’ve never tested it on a human being though). Then, we found out that Philadelphia law bans stun guns.
Um, some people live in those territories. Hell, even some suburbs round here are completely bare of people or passing cars most of the time. Do you only ever walk in crowded places?
I really don’t understand the scarf/iphone connection. My household all wear scarves, but don’t have iphones.
If someone is willing to kill you, a stranger in the street, do you think they’d be worried about there being a person on the end of the phone? You’re a stranger - ten minutes or three hours makes no difference. If they just want to steal from you, then they’re more likely to steal from you if they can see - right there in the open - something that they can steal just by grabbing it from your hand.
Obviously, things can be different based on the situation, but I’d fathom talking on a cell phone is generally not effective. Just seems like one of those anti-mugging “tips” Snopes keeps debunking. It fits into that image of the bimbo talking on their phone, not paying attention, when they get to their car they’ll probably fumble with their cars, get in and get everything situated before they lock their doors, oblivious to all around them.
Stun guns are the ones you have to press into the person. All they do is cause pain, so a determined attacker could continue. Tasers are the ones that shoot barbs and shock the person in a way that makes all their muscles contract. It should disable anyone as long as it hits and doesn’t get stopped by a bulky coat or something, but Tasers are expensive and they only have one shot.
Agreeing with the general consensus: I was always taught NOT to talk on my cellphone when walking down the street, on the grounds that it would you would look distracted. I always instruct my boyfriend not to call me after I get off work if it’s dark out.
In fact, Dru Sjodin was kidnapped while talking on the phone with her boyfriend.
If it makes you feel any better, I read the sentence the first time as “…make you look…” and didn’t notice the missing word until your correction.
There have obviously been cases where kidnapping/mugging/other crimes have occurred while the victim was talking on a cell phone, but I wonder if it is correlation or causation.
In other words do you think Dru Sjodin was kidnapped because she was talking on the phone (easy target because of being distracted) and if she had not been then perhaps her murderer might have chosen a different victim? Maybe even no victim at all, choosing instead to not commit the crime? Or was she targeted and then just happened to be on the phone when it happened?
Heh, that’s the way I saw it too, until I read more closely.
And no, I don’t actually think Dru Sjodin was kidnapped because she was on her cellphone. My (admittedly poorly stated) point was simply that talking on your cellphone doesn’t deter an attacker. I was taught that talking on the phone would make you look more distracted, but that doesn’t necessarily mean I think criminals actively target folks who look this way, or stay away from folks who DON’T look this way. I don’t talk on my phone outdoors after dark if just because I, personally, don’t want to be distracted. (And not just because of baddies, either. At this time of year I want to be able to concentrate on not blundering into a hidden patch of ice and falling on my ass.)
I agree; I think that is a big point too (or was) in women’s self-defense classes: always walk with a sense of purpose, look like you know where you are going, etc. That way you don’t look like an easy target and the criminal might (or might not) take that into account.
I don’t talk on a phone and walk too much at all because it will distract me and I am just as likely to walk into a tree or something. As I mentioned above I have been known to call my husband when walking through a sketchy area where I was scared, but that is mostly to tell him, “this is where I am, and I am scared because…” Then at least I know if something does happen, he (or the police) would be able to find me, or at least have something to go on in looking for me.
For the sake of ignorance fighting and having complete information, some of this advice isn’t applicable in Canada, and presumable other countries as well.
Concealed carry is illegal in Canada, with only very, very few exceptions, (wikisays about 50 permits in the past decade), so this is not an option for Canadians, at least. There are, I think, also tight restrictions on carrying handguns at all, even in the open.
Pepper spray is a prohibited weapon in Canada and there are restrictions on who can carry it (mostly police officers). Bear/dog/animal deterrent sprays are legal to carry, but cannot be used if there is a risk of “death or serious bodily harm” to a person, which unfortunately includes muggers. The use of animal sprays in self-defence situations is, again according to wiki, dealt with on a case-by-case situation in the courts. I have no clue how often this may have happened/whether charges were pressed/what the outcome was/etc.
Self defence classes are, of course, legal and an option.
( just using your post because it includes both these terms)
Tasers are prohibited weapons in Canada. Thispage also states that stun guns less than 480mm are also prohibited weapons (I presume anything 48cm or more is basically a cattle prod?)
I’ve never really feared getting mugged walking around in Montreal at night, but I am very rarely alone, I stick to public/populated areas, and the bus stops I take are really close to my house and typical destinations. I admit to often taking out my keys early, to have them at hand and available as a weapon if needed.
