I've met a lot of people in my life who carry weapons in case they ever need to "protect themselves" and that's always been a difficult issue with me. I can appreciate the need to do that, but I also respect the consequences of this kind of escalation. On the one hand, we don't want to be caught unprepared in a crisis and, on the other hand, statistics have always consistently shown that people who carry weapons are far more likely to be on the receiving end of much more violent repercussions. Having been on both sides of the spectrum to some extent, I can appreciate the moral issues and the reality of tempting fate. The fact is, while in some cases drawing a weapon might save your life, in most cases it escalates the violence beyond any reasonable control.
Mace
Certainly one of the most popular in women self defense, Mace is also one of the most effective tools in all of self defense and security. Often illegal for civilians to carry (mostly in Canada), I would argue that this is one of the safest and efficient ways someone can defend themselves. The spray invades the eyes and nose and the pain becomes too loud for any thought to take place in the brain, without leaving any kind of long term damage (except for the eyes in some cases, although rarely). Perfect way to stop an attacker for plenty of time to get away. I remember being at a club when a riot broke out and the security thought to spray their Mace into the air vents. Smart move. The fighting stopped and the place was clear in minutes. Highly effective. Downside: repeat exposure can build an immunity and the defender will also be affected if they can't leave the area. So that means that in some cases the spray won't have an effect on the person. This also means that in some cases like working security, the person who deployed it might have to stay in the area to work and would be affected as well.
Tasers
Highly effective to say the least. I remember in high school we got our hands on one and, like all highly evolved primates, we played with it like a toy and shocked ourselves. Although I respect it for what it is now, I'm also glad that my friend snuck up on me and shocked me in the leg. I can now honestly attest to how well this works as a tool for restraint, de-escalation and self defense. Downside: can risk death for people with heart conditions and is often used too aggressively among civilians or anyone with too little training. In some self defense cases, the victims (out of fear and adrenaline) have held on too long when using the taser and that can have lethal consequences. This has also been the case among professionals who were poorly trained. Aside from that, this would be my weapon of choice as both a civilian and a security worker.
Knives
Highly effective for lethal purposes, rarely ever trained properly and morally controversial. One of the worst thing that can happen in a self defense or security incident is when someone pulls out a knife. I've been exposed to this in a few different contexts and I have a very healthy respect for this kind of game-changer. Everything becomes more tense. In many cases the person who draws a knife is doing this out of desperation and is just as scared of the weapon as everyone else. Anyone who trains and spars with weapons knows that it takes nothing to land a lethal cut. The most likely person to get badly cut is often the person that regularly carries a knife. Legally, this is obviously not a great option either. The results are often lethal and so is the person's intent. It would be pretty tough to convince a judge that you just meant to restrain the attacker with a knife. Downside: almost everything. Again, one's morals are none of my business, just as long as we're all clear on this. Knives often kill. There is very little else we can do with them. I carried one for a long time to get over a fear of them and I often wondered what kind of situation I would have to be in to let things escalate that far. I've also had to work against them in some cases and disarming someone with a knife is not something that I want anyone to have to experience.
Batons
Batons are popular among police officers, peace keepers and security personnel. In my experience they are very useful when used properly. Training is important for legal, ethical and practical purposes. For one thing, most places require a certain amount of training before you can legally own a baton. This is to make sure people learn the best ways to use this tool to defend or restrain, but also to illustrate how dangerous this can be. Baton, when used too aggressively, can become lethal very fast. Blows to the head with a blunt object like this can lead to brain damage or death. I would argue that it is the responsibility of the owner to learn about any weapon, especially this one. Also, training is important because it can be extremely effective at restraining an attacker. With bit of training, the user can be properly prepared to escalate with the situation. I've been trained and certified in this and use this as my primary tool on any security job.
Guns
This, of course, is the mother of all hot issues. I'm not going to waste any time debating if it's someone's right as a civilian to own a gun. Let's just objectively consider this as a self defense tool. Obviously for military, police or private security this has proven to be quite necessary. For civilian purposes, there have been some extreme scenarios where that has proven to be or could have been useful. Public shootings have, unfortunately, become more common and in those moments a gun becomes the equal response to the threat. Statistically, these events won't be the only time civilians would make use of carrying a firearm, though, and that's where things get difficult. Studies have shown relentlessly that gun carriers are the most likely people to experience getting shot. Disputes among civilians have new levels they can escalate to and will often go there. The only people I'm ever comfortable knowing carry guns are military or law enforcement officials and that's just because I know they've been trained and are over (usually) their infatuation with it. Hiding one in the home makes me uncomfortable too, unless someone lives alone. I'm all for someone having the right to defend where they sleep, as long as they're not accidentally shooting a loved one who went to the bathroom in the middle of the night.
These, of course, are just my opinion based on my training and various experiences with the above selection. I've encountered all the mentioned weapons at some point (in varying degrees) each incident made one thing clear to me: training is key. You need a license to drive a car and this is no different. Regardless of the ethical issues behind arming yourself, it is the responsibility of the person making this decision to educate and train themselves first. Often people carrying weapons make everything worse when they were doing that to be "safer".That's just ignorance, which is more dangerous than any of the weapons I've mentioned here.
When in doubt, just walk around with a sword. No one will mess with you.
Jordan Bill
Fight or Die
youtube.com/scrapyardmartialarts
twitter.com/scrapyard514
twitter.com/jordanbill
No comments:
Post a Comment