Ways to defend yourself/Gun Alternatives

If he has a gun, your going to have a gun fight with him if you do have a gun. if he is close to you, you'd have the advantage of surprise with the cane.

edited 17th Nov '12 5:26:27 PM by Joesolo

Perhaps better home security is the best bet?

If you're attacked in your home, I guess. Sturdy locks on your bedroom door?

Still gonna go with the shotgun route.

A pack of underfed pitbulls?

Hmm, how about evasion strategies?

Erm, run.

Being alert is honestly the most important thing you can do to stay out of trouble. If you see it coming and react, you can make it someone elses problem and move along.

I think I have that avenue covered.

edited 17th Nov '12 9:43:53 PM by Barkey

I plan to get rich and have a castle with a moat and draw bridge.

edited 17th Nov '12 11:43:19 PM by Joesolo

A lot of this thread depends on your circumstances. If you don't like guns, and if you are unlikely to encounter a home invader or mugger with one, then it is perfectly acceptable for you to defend yourself with a Maglite or a baseball/cricket bat.

A melee alternative will not be as effective as a decent home defense gun. IMHO, if you live with family, especially children, then it is your duty to arm yourself with the most effective weapon to defend them. If that weapon is, under the circumstances, a firearm, then get one. It is your choice to put yourself at a potential disadvantage if you face an armed home invader - that choice does not and should not extend to anyone who is potentially relying on you for protection, however.

With this in mind:

If you want a melee weapon, then something like a baseball/cricket bat or a Maglite is a good idea. You could also check out something like an ASP or a side-handled baton.

Other potential self-defense kit could include something like a taser, or pepper spray.

However, the best way to defend yourself is to run away. If you can escape without putting either yourself or others at risk, then do so. It is never a good idea to get into a fight with a mugger unless you absolutely have to. Some jurisdictions even have a duty of retreat in such circumstances.

edited 18th Nov '12 2:06:07 AM by Achaemenid

Or get a Hidden Blade

Guns and kids in the same house. Nope, can't see that being potentially hazardous at all...

@Barkey: Are you seriously suggesting a bow and arrow as home defense, or did it just happen to be in the corner beside the gun? (AK-47, by the looks of it?)

Best defense, just give them what they want. Your wallet is not worth your life.

That gets problematic when your assailant has an itchy trigger finger. There are cases where people get murdered in their sleep. Sleeping, man, it's already the most harmless thing you can be to an armed intruder!

This. There are people who just go in a house, kill anyone inside, then take their shit at their leisure.

lol, the longbow just happened to be in the corner, I wouldn't use it for home defense.

I'm on a second floor with a balcony though, so I guess I could pick people off in the street with it, though that is made redundant by my firearms.

Honestly I'd just use my XD 40 or shotgun for home defense though, the AK is a poor choice.

Best defense, just give them what they want. Your wallet is not worth your life.

You're betting on the assailant not being a nutcase, not strung out on something that affects their judgment, or that they have any empathy whatsoever for others. Depending on the specific situation that can be a rather poor bet... and possibly the last one you'll ever make.

Snarky second thought: Airline passengers were advised to go along with hijackers, too, with similar reasoning ("cooperate and you won't get hurt").

edited 18th Nov '12 10:29:23 AM by Nohbody

@Achaemenid You sound a bit annoyed there. Are you speaking from personal experience?

Not where your own home is concerned.

Letting someone have that control, to let them have the ability to take your shit and have the option to kill you in the act in the first place is just unacceptable. The best option is never "Hope they show you mercy and just acquiesce to what they want."

That's a good way to get yourself killed, quite possibly worse than trying to defend yourself. How confident are you that someone who is already willing to break the law and is already bold enough to break into your home isn't prepared to harm or kill you or your family? I'm not willing to take that chance, and I damn sure think it's foolish of anyone else willing to as well.

Even just a baseball bat. Giving in isn't an option.

@Barkey I really don't know how to respond to that...but I still feel uneasy with railroading to that.

edited 18th Nov '12 10:51:01 AM by blueflame724

If it's a wallet case,the best option I'd say is to ensure the wallet is empty and the valuables are well hidden. For example a neck pouch that's harder to nab and less likely to be suspected (if you hide it enough).

Then you can give the wallet,and they can't do anything.

If you just give your wallet in plain,...firstly they could still kill you. And second if they don't,it still leaves your identity open to theft.

In your home, I believe so.

If you're out in town or somewhere, you always have that option to run unless you're somehow backed into a dead-end. But you should never retreat from your home(or have to).

Home is a place you retreat to. It's your place, and your castle, and fuck anyone who tries to control you in your own home. Hurt them if they try, and kill them if you have to. That's your own little piece of sovereign territory, and nobody should be able to take that away from you.

Now I suppose you could have an escape ladder out your window and shit, but still.

I live in a really defensible spot, and don't really worry about that kind of thing. I'm on the second floor condo of a fourplex, and there's only one way in, and it's up a set of stairs that make a lot of noise in my condo when climbing them. Those stairs only go up to my apartment, so if I'm not expecting someone, there is no tangible reason for anyone to be going up my stairs. Plus it's a really exposed position at my front door, because it can easily be seen from the street, and the balconies of every identical fourplex across from and next to it.

I live in a kind of ghetto neighborhood, but breaking and entering isn't really a concern for me because of how exposed everything is. If I lived in a house with a bit of land, or had an alley behind me where people could jump the fence into my backyard without being seen at 1 AM, I'd be a whole lot more conscious of that and plan for it.

I'd rather just defend myself at any rate. I don't want to see people who victimize others succeed. Ever. Anyone who beats the shit out of or kills a burglar/murderer/criminal of any sort while they are invading your home is making your city a better and safer place.

Because sure, you could just let them take your shit and leave, but what will they do after that? They'll keep on robbing places until they are caught. And what about that robbery gone wrong where he does kill someone? That's your fault if you could have done something about it and taken that fucker out. Proactively defending yourself and making it known that shit like that isn't to be tolerated is a criminal deterrent.

People talk about the sanctity of human life for burglars and all that other garbage, but rarely stop to think about what happens next. What if that burglar kills someone next time he breaks into a place? That life would have been saved if you had put him into submission and had him arrested, or killed him. It's a worthy thing, defending yourself against a criminal.

edited 18th Nov '12 10:59:28 AM by Barkey

Also, to borrow a turn of phrase, the life you save could be your own.

Or your family, or whoever you're living with.

Nah. Don't have an empty wallet. That can just get you hurt/killed. Call me a coward, but I'm more likely to carry around 20$ in my wallet for random use/"handoverstuff," and then have the rest hidden somewhere on my person. That way, if you do end up getting mugged, and unable to defend yourself, it's likely you'll end up unhurt, out 20$ or so, but holding on the rest of your valuables. Having and empty wallet just invited a beat-down out of frustration/disbelief. Feed the tiger, but don't give him your arm.

You bring up some interesting implications. On one hand, if someone commits these criminal actions, it's ultimately their responsibility(bar a few exceptions). In a sense, they've brought this upon themselves and by that logic it should be justified to defend yourself. Perhaps it's too easy to be tolerant of people when you're not actually a witness to what happens. At the same time, do we have the right mindset? Is it really just "eliminating someone for the good of the community"?

edited 18th Nov '12 11:28:12 AM by blueflame724

I believe so. If you decide to victimize other people, I feel you've forfeited all of your rights for the duration of your crime. So if you break into my home, while you're in my home, you've forfeited your right to a fair trial, I'm going to point a gun at you and demand you stop in your tracks and go down to the floor, and if you try to attack me or escape, you're getting killed.

You get out of my house and down the street? Then good for you, have a nice day. You're home free and I'll just tell the cops about it. But so long as you're a threat and in my home, there's a nasty surprise coming your way, and it is in no way unfair to the burglar if he gets killed. Victimizing other people is not to be tolerated.

ID theft. I'd rather go to jail for an assault that I actually did, than to go to jail for debt that I never actually spent or crimes that I never commit. Thank you.

edited 18th Nov '12 12:30:15 PM by IraTheSquire