Everyone wants to feel safe whether at home, in your car or out and about doing business. Unfortunately, there may come a time when you need some means of self-defense, or some way to protect yourself, your home, or your family. If you’ve spent any time checking out different types of martial arts and training weapons, you’ve no doubt seen stores and websites offering everything from handguns and shotguns to pepper sprays and martial arts courses. If none of these standard approaches appeal to you, here are some other suggestions (some serious, some not so serious):
- Instead of pepper spray, use a can of wasp and wasp spray. It’s readily available and has an effective range of up to 20 feet, compared to six to eight feet for most pepper spray products.
- Steel shot gloves are stitched at the knuckles. It looks harmless but works like a blackjack and is available from various online vendors. You can also find similar baseball caps, with steel shot sewn into the cap itself – I’m not sure how comfortable that can be worn.
- A can of WD-40 and a butane lighter makes a cute miniature flamethrower. However, collateral damage can be an issue.
- The sharp edge of one of your credit cards can make a fairly effective (and innocent-looking) weapon for slashing someone at close range.
- How about a wrist slinger and a bag of golf balls or balls. It takes quite a bit of practice to become skilled but some serious damage can be done if you are using a high quality slingshot and can actually hit your target.
- The hockey stick has a number of advantages in terms of self-defense. It’s a very good weapon for attacking something or someone and doesn’t look particularly out of place if you’re carrying one outside.
- For home defense, a large dog or two is an excellent choice. And if you don’t have or don’t want a large dog, continuous duct tape or a CD of dog barking can work, too.
- Kevlar gloves can provide some protection against knife attack.
- Some experts recommend a bite—not a regular bite, but something on demand for a bull-type bite, preferably on an ear or a finger.
- One of the “unbreakable” umbrellas for sale on the Internet provides a way to deflect an attacker; And if you’ve ever seen commuters vying for a spot on the London Underground, you can appreciate the parachute’s use as an offensive weapon.
- If you want a self-defense firearm, you can take a look at the Palm Pistol. It’s a .38-caliber single-shot pistol that fits in the palm of your hand. It is specially designed for the elderly or disabled with limited physical dexterity and is released with the thumb instead of the index finger. It has been classified as a “medical device” by the Food and Drug Administration.
- If you’re really determined to avoid a confrontation, you could try leaving some money or valuables on a table near your door or window and hoping that anyone who breaks in will “take the money and run.”
We hope these suggestions provide you with some new options for self-defense. And if you’re really into home defense, you might as well take a tip from the Army Ranger you’ve heard of. He has rigged his porch light so that if you turn the light on, it turns on the porch light; If you flip the switch down, it fires a small explosive charge—more than enough to dissuade someone in their intent to break down the front door. In any case, take some time to think about self-defense – you never know when the moment might come when you will need some way to protect yourself.
