Pepper Spray, Stun Guns, and Tasers… Oh My!

To borrow one of the anti-gun control slogans “Guns Don’t Kill, People Do”, I’d like to offer the following:

“Stun Guns and Tasers Don’t Kill, People Do”

If a person really wanted to kill or otherwise injure you, just about any object could work. A steak knife, a tire iron, a two inch thick tree branch cut into a club, even a ball point pen used in a certain manner… Equal opportunity at its finest.

Yet you will not find crazed opposition picketing in front of Bic Pen Headquarters or otherwise trying to ban and regulate pen use.

But seriously, even if some sort of ridiculous legislation was passed to specifically make it illegal to stab and kill someone with a ball point pen, it would not stop a criminal from doing so. Criminals could care less what the laws are. Best case the killer may opt to use a legal mechanical pencil instead… yeah right.

Let’s for the sake of argument, we use the newer, politically correct term of “Less-than-lethal” self defense weapon, since “Non-lethal” falsely implies that a fatality could never occur… (insert eye roll here)

So now a police officer, doing his unenviable job of keeping the peace, and protecting the public comes across an unruly person resisting arrest or attempting to harm someone. It does not matter if this person was pulled over for speeding or is being chased down the street after robbing a liquor store with a gun.

The uncooperative suspect is going to be tasered if he does not comply with the orders of the police officer. Stop means stop, no means no. If the officer does not have a “less-than-lethal” TASER Device as an option, he is left with his baton or gun.

But then you are going to have people question their judgment while trying to uphold the law, protect civilians, and keep themselves safe in the process? I’m not talking about blatant Rodney King style police brutality, which is wrong and would need to be dealt with on a case by case basis. No one is arguing that. I’m simply talking about police officers doing their jobs, apprehending the bad guys, and protecting themselves from those who resist arrest. And OMG possibly having to use a TASER device!

It is so easy for those not in harm’s way condemn something, but these same people would be wishing they had a stun gun or a TASER device if they were being beat half to death by some thug in an alley. That is unless they would just rather have their cell phone to call 911 instead, I mean violent criminals have rights too, who are you to fight back…

Did you see that story the other day about the math teacher who tackled a shooter in a Colorado school parking lot? A 32-year-old gunman was walking through a middle school parking lot with a bolt-action hunting rifle, taking shots at students. He shot 2 kids before David Benke tackled the man, and wrestled him to the ground.

What the hell is wrong with some people these days, you may ask?

Good question. You just never know when minding your own business, some random lunatic with a gun, baseball bat, pocket knife or machete might turn his head funny and trigger a chemical imbalance induced act of violence.

Personally I’d rather have a telescopic steel baton and some pepper spray first, then my cell phone to call in the cleanup crew afterwards. Unless there is a real “protect and serve” police officer already standing there. But I’m not going to wait around and take a beating, especially if there is only a “observe and report” security guard watching from a safe distance.

Be Safe, Be Prepared.

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I have most of the major social networking pages somewhere, not that I still use all of them. I have still, or have in the past used MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google Buzz, Digg, Technorati and probably a bunch more if I felt like checking all of my internet book marks.

To tell you the truth, it takes up way too much time trying to “stay connected”. But there are even apps that tie 2 or more of these sites together, which I suppose makes keeping up with friends, followers, and stalkers much easier. That way you can tweet a message and it automatically posts to your Facebook. Or you can status your Facebook and it will tweet it too. Hopefully you don’t have it set up to FB to Twitter that tweets back to FB which goes back to Twitter in an endless loop of insignificant social babble…

One of the latest Facebook/Twitter fads is called geolocation. Which is when you can download an app to your smart phone that grabs your precise physical location and tweet or status that spot to all of your friends. I have a Facebook buddy that does this all the time. He is always letting us know what restaurant he is waiting in line at, or other event he is hobnobbing around.

A while back, when he first started doing that, I thought, “Hrrm, “Ted” isn’t at home and he just told the world… and if you wait an hour or two, he’ll probably let you know when he is heading back.” Sure enough he did. Perfect time to rob his house, if you were into that sort of thing.

Usually your Facebook account is only full of your nearest and dearest friends, not 100s of casual acquaintances, and people you hardly know but sent to a friend request, right? …RIGHT?

What about those college kids that friend everyone on campus? Probably not the best course of action. You know how those mature co-eds act.

How likely would it be for some loser college “friend” to ransack your dorm room when they just saw your tweet that you and your roommate just took off for the long weekend?

Worse yet, leave it to some techno-nerd to one up the whole geolocation snooping. There is actually a website called Please Rob Me dot com. This site will filter out all the “I’m taking a shower” and motivational quote spam on Twitter and just get down to the nitty gritty. It takes all the real-time geolocationing info and displays them in a one-stop-shop list. Here is a snippet of the results from last night:

Listing all those empty homes out there

Recent Empty Homes

@HolzJS left home and checked in about a minute ago: I’m at Celebration Town Tavern (721 Front Street, Sycamore Street, Celebration). http://4sq.com/8BCs0A

@amisij left home and checked in about a minute ago: I’m at Kirkhof Center (GVSU, Allendale) w/ 2 others. http://4sq.com/6Xvr8B

@jacobkampen left home and checked in about a minute ago: Woot! #fb (@ Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) w/ 2 others) http://4sq.com/31ZCjK

@argonman left home and checked in about a minute ago: I’m at Edwards movie theater. http://4sq.com/bHeIQr

And of course there is a search box if you have a specific target in mind, perfect for selecting a burglary target, or narrowing down your night’s stalking route.

From their home page, you can click on the WHY link and get their reasoning for creating this site, which states their goal is to raise some awareness on the potentially dangerous issue of willy nilly geolocation spamming and have people think twice about how they use those services like Foursquare, Brightkite, Google Buzz etc.

The danger is when you get in the habit of publicly telling strangers where you are, and consequently where you are not… which is at home. “So here we are; on one end we’re leaving lights on when we’re going on a holiday, and on the other we’re telling everybody on the internet we’re not home.”

They also state their “intention is not, and never has been, to have people burglarized.” But it should make you wonder. Who is keeping tabs on you, especially when you are so freely giving out boatloads of personal information, intentionally or unintentionally.

Take a piece here, take a tweet there, read a couple social profiles, and then use Google. You’d be surprised how much info you can find on someone. I hope you have some sort of home security or a dog (real or fake) keeping an eye on things at the homstead.

I’m just waiting on the following:

@geotweeter is at the new restaurant, long wait to be seated, I may be here awhile.

@geoburglar is at @geotweeter’s house. Wonder if he’ll get back in time before I clean it out…

Be Safe, Be Prepared. Keep your geo tweets to yourself.

Related Posts:
Infidelity and Facebook Cheating
Burglar Smacked Silly with a Shovel
Another burglar drops his cell phone
Home Ransacked After Fake Craigslist Ad

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When the air gets frigid, and the snow starts to fly, it’s just a simple fact that things start to slow down. No one likes to brave the cold weather more than they have to. This in turn, means less people to target and fewer criminals out to commit their acts. Like supply and demand… and being lazy.

Sure there are still burglaries, muggings and whatever other nasty crimes going on in the winter, just less of them. Let’s face it criminals are lazy. You go out and get a job, work hard, make some money, cash your check and then some loser on the street mugs you and steals your wallet, iPod and cell phone. Why work when you can just rip off someone else who does? Hrrm, that kind of sounds like this redistribution of wealth crap, Obama’s answer to the US economic troubles? Well that’s another story.

Back to lazy criminals. So basically you have fewer criminals willing to camp out behind the bushes in the freezing cold or less hoodlums hanging out on the streets causing trouble because it just isn’t fun to stand around freezing your butt off. And it’s just too hard to run away with your loot in 2 feet of snow and on icy streets.

Many of the areas that have been recently affected by the sudden back-to-back(-to-back) Mid-Atlantic blizzards have noticed a temporary lull in criminal activity. Don’t get too excited, it won’t last long.

Once the streets get plowed or the snow starts melt, the stir-crazy thugs will be back in business. The economy isn’t getting any better, and the criminals are not getting any less lazy.

Once the good weather hits and spring has officially sprung (it isn’t too far off, no matter what that stupid groundhog says), the thugs will be back in full force.

Get yourself ready now; don’t wait until the streets are hopping.

If you are living in a location that isn’t experiencing Jack Frost Winter Wonderland conditions, you probably are not getting any seasonal breaks and should be tooled up year round. Just in case. You never know when the next lazy thug may target you for a redistribution of your wealth… or worse.

Be ready to redistribute your supply of pepper spray or voltage from your stun gun. Fair is fair, right?

Be Safe, Be Prepared.

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Back in the day (and by that I refuse to admit it was that too long ago), we used to play “cops and robbers” or “cowboys and indians”. Opps, am I still allowed to call that game that or is there a newer politically correct term? When we played video games, we were playing Centipede, Pac-Man and the original Donkey Kong. Yes, the one when Mario was second billed to a monkey.

We used to actually play dodge ball in gym class! We watched violent cartoons like “Bugs Bunny” and “Tom and Jerry”. And it seemed like society was pretty normal, at least it seemed the news wasn’t reporting as much crime and adolescent mayhem.

More recently, children are exposed to the likes of Tommy Vercetti, the popular character from “Grand Theft Auto 4 – Vice City”. He is a perfect stereotypical bad guy that gets what he wants by any means necessary. Not the best role model.

Computer games don’t affect kids, I mean if Pac Man affected us as kids, we’d all be running around in darkened rooms, munching pills and listening to repetitive music.
– Marcus Brigstocke

You are always seeing reports about how today’s video games are negatively influencing our youngsters to such an extent that they actually want to gravitate towards violence. The sad part is that some misguided adolescents actually find it funny and amusing, while killing “school mates with a gun”, slashing your dad’s throat with a knife over a video game, or just trying to rob a jewelry store for kicks and laughs.

I suppose this is a far cry from a cat and mouse smacking each other silly with a frying pan or wooden mallet, then immediately getting up and returning the favor before running away. Did we just understand action/consequence better back then? I mean I would watch the cartoons, laugh, and then NOT hit my brother with a frying pan. I knew the difference. What is so different today?

Take for instance that botched “Benson Jewelry and Loan” robbery attempt a couple years ago by Brandon Bowie and Kendall Tealer. Fortunately for the owners, but unfortunately for the would-be burglars, there was a gun behind the shop counter for security.

While Bowie pulled a gun on one of the owners, the other owner pulled their gun on 18-year-old Bowie and 17-year-old Tealer. Bowie was shot and fell inside the business and ended up paralyzed, Tealer was shot then collapsed and died outside when attempting to flee. The authorities found in favor of the store owner, and deemed he acted in self-defense when he fatally shot the two armed robbers.

It was later reported that both of those burglars had a disturbed childhood and a history of criminal activity already at an early age. You can bet it wasn’t from watching “Tom and Jerry”, but is quite similar to something you might see in Grand Theft Auto I, II, III or IV.

Nonetheless, the important thing is that in this unfortunate day and age of violence, you can never be safe enough. I personally consider those people with Pepper Spray cans or TASER Devices for self defense to be much wiser than those wandering around oblivious to the possibility that they may need to protect themselves. Even worse, when you might need to protect a loved one from harm.

It’s nice to think you will just run away and make it, but that is pretty weak when you leave your wife in high-heels lagging behind, or your children unable to catch up.

You see, some people understand that dangerous opportunities don’t leisurely stroll up to you and wait until you are ready after knocking. They just run right up, violently knock you over and can leave you completely lifeless.

Your best bet is to be alert, and be prepared, packing self defense weapons at the ready, backed by having practiced using said items so you are both competent and confident using them. It is NOT enough to have pepper spray with you, if it is buried at the bottom of your purse or if the first time attempting to use the device is at the brink of being attacked. Epic Fail.

Self defense and personal protection, by definition is personally defending and protecting yourself. When seconds count, the police are minutes away. And like that story last week from Toledo, Ohio, you can’t even count on people driving by in broad daylight.

Be Safe, Be Prepared.

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I’ll tell you where I’ll be at 4:30 AM on Black Friday… in bed sleeping. And at 5:30 AM and 6:30 AM… You can have your once-a-year Black Friday deals.

Let’s see, ridiculous traffic, jam-packed stores full of irate, obnoxious and combative consumers, as well as empty shelves that were supposed to be stocked with what you wanted to buy? Yeah, no thanks.

Especially with the tighter budgets this year, I’m expecting hotter tempers and more unfortunate incidents. There shouldn’t be any Tickle-Me-Elmo fist fights this year, Elmo is so couple of years ago. But what is the hot present starting scuffles going to be now? Hopefully the hot-pink Nintendo DSi. I already got one, they NEVER go on sale anyways so there was no point in waiting. They were sold out in that color at one of the local Toys-R-Us stores; I had to grab one at Wal-mart.

I think I’ll stick to shopping online for the rest of my shopping list, from the convenience of my bedroom, in my pajamas if I feel like.

Amazon is your friend if you are looking for the same-old same-old; however, if you are looking for more useful and unique gift ideas this year, check out Worth Protection Security and show your loved ones how much you love them with the gift of personal safety.

Our prices are low everyday. We don’t need to mark down inflated prices to celebrate made-up holidays like Black Friday. Get the best deals any time of the year.

Looking for stocking stuffers? We have the perfect choice with a wide variety of keychain pepper sprays and small stun guns to suit everyone on your Christmas list. Keep them safe, keep them secure.

Looking for something a little bigger? Check out our selection of other personal protection and self defense items, instructional DVDs or home security devices. Perhaps even a TASER Device?

Although we may find ourselves unable to afford many of the frivolous things that our hearts desire, many of us are approaching this holiday season with a different attitude this year. This occasion is now more than ever, an opportunity to spend quality time with your family. We are forced to make the best of what we are able to manage, and put the safety and security of our family first.

Shop Smart, Shop Safe, Shop Worth Protection Security for all your Holiday shopping needs.

Other Sort-of Related Posts of Interest:
Grand Theft Eggbeater?
Self-Defense with a Candy Cane?
Merry Freaking Christmas Dad!

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“I know what you’re thinking, ‘Did he fire six shots or only five?’ But to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I’ve kinda lost track myself. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well, do ya, punk?”

I didn’t win Powerball last week. It was somewhere in the neighborhood of $165 million. Some lucky soul in Indiana hit it. I believe the odds of winning are around 150,000,000 to 1, give or take a couple hundred thousand (which is twice as likely as the 300,000,000 to 1 chance of being killed by a shark, cue the Jaws music)… But whatever the odds are, be sure they are not in your favor. However, those with no lottery ticket have absolutely ZERO chance of winning, so if you buy a ticket, at least you have that micro-chance of god shining some favor on you.

I read this story last week about a guy, down on his luck in Kentucky. Apparently, he walked into a building, which to his credit, was in fact a bank at one time. However, presently it is an office that takes payments for water bills for the Jessamine South Elkhorn Water District.

So the guy walks in to what he still thinks is a bank, flashes a gun and demands some money. One of the office employees tells the guy they don’t really have money on hand (just checks), to which the robber says “I know you have money. It’s a bank.”

Having to be convinced the establishment is no longer a bank, the confused robber left the building empty handed. What are the odds of that?

Sometimes if it wasn’t for bad luck, some of us would have no luck at all.

A 26-year-old man from Worcester, Massachusetts was shot multiple times in front of Golden Pizza this month. Sadly, last April the same guy was shot multiple times, in front of the same pizza joint. It looks like the man will recover again, but I am thinking he will want to avoid this general area after being shot on two separate occasions.

Come on guy, if Golden Pizza doesn’t deliver, I’m sure someone else in the neighborhood does. Just stay at home. Or buy a lottery ticket. After your past year, you may be due some good fortune.

Did you know the odds of a your house being hit by a meteor is a mere 182,138,880,000,000 to 1 but your chance of dying from a part falling off an airplane is 1 in 10,000,000?

The odds of being struck by lightning typically range 500,000-576,000 to 1 but most people actually survive if hit, with the odds of being killed by lightning at 2,320,000 to 1. Running around during a storm with a large metal pole or flying a kite with a metal key attached would swing the odds back into your favor of taking some damage, but I’m thinking most normal people are generally safe.

So with most odds, there are always circumstances that can vastly increase or decrease your chances depending on what actions you choose to do. Not buying that lottery ticket at all, jumping into shark-infested water with a bleeding wound, etc. Nevertheless, sometimes, no matter what precautions are taken, you cannot always beat fate.

Sure you can take measures to prolong life, such as eating well, exercise… but you have a 1 in 1 chance of death at some point whether it is by shark, meteor, lightning, auto accident, old age… eventually mortality will kick in. Sorry.

Since this is ultimately a self-defense and crime related blog have you ever considered the odds of crime happening to you or a loved ones?

Without a real personal sense of frequency, statistics state one violent crime occurs every 22.2 seconds, a property crime every 3.2 seconds, a larceny-theft every 4.8 seconds, a burglary every 14.4 seconds, a motor-vehicle theft every 26.4 seconds, an aggravated assault every 36.6 seconds, a robbery every 1.2 minute, a forcible rape every 5.7 minutes, and a murder every 30.9 minutes according to the 2006 FBI Crime Clock Stats.

But what does that actually mean to you?

Well, independent of other considerations, your chances of being the victim of a serious crime in your lifetime are about 1 in 20. Drop the “serious” qualifier and your chances of being the victim of a crime in your lifetime are about 1 in 7.

Hopefully, that means someone steals your lunch out of the office fridge and your cosmic quota for being a crime victim is satisfied. More realistically, you or a loved one has a relatively good chance of encountering an unpleasant situation when crime rears its ugly head.

Locking yourself in a fortress and never leaving would be an effective measure of personal protection, but extremely unpractical. Since we all have to live life and interact with the real world, we have collected a number of safety tips for you to consider and leave in the back out your mind. You never know when you may recall one of these tidbits and possibly inadvertently prevent a dangerous situation by employing some common sense, but often overlooked tips for many common daily situations.

We also strongly encourage carrying some sort of personal protection device. Our extensive line of self defense products are of the highest quality and have been proven time and time again that they are effective.

Hopefully, you will never need to use our products in a self defense situation. It is far better to have it and not need It… Then to need it and not have It… Think of it like automobile insurance, except for your personal safety.

However, if you find yourself requiring a means to defend yourself, your family or your home, we have made it our specialty of offering non-lethal ways to accomplish. Your self-defense arsenal may be comprised of stun guns, pepper sprays, Mace, tasers, keychain kubotans, telescopic steel batons, folding knives, instructional fighting DVDs or other featured products.

Once your assailant is incapacitated, run to safety and call the police. This products do not prevent crime from ever occurring, they assist in defending yourself and getting away if and when something unpleasant occurs.

Again, whether it is 1 in 20 or 1 in 7, and after you add or subtract personal habits, environmental concerns, neighborhood safety, Murphy’s Law or your degree of good or bad luck, I’d still wager the bet that it would be a good idea to tool yourself up and be prepared.

Do you feel lucky? Well do ya, punk?

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A quote from Jeff Marder states “We live in an age when pizza gets to your home before the police do.”

I’m not sure if I totally believe this, but some pizza delivery is really fast. Sometimes it’s like a guy is driving around with hot cheese pizzas in his car and a side bar of toppings in the center console. Made to order on the way to your house.

Police response time will however vary greatly from neighborhood to neighborhood, and district to district. But you can fairly easily surmise that by the time the police get there, most of the time the incident will be over, and all that is left is the report to write. Thanks for the info, we’ll get back to you shortly. By the way, lock your windows and doors…

Lets face it, pizza joints outnumber police departments probably 15-1. Check your local yellow pages.

The bad guys don’t want to get caught. Typically they will be in and out or hit and run, not sticking around long enough to wait for you to call the cops and have them show up. Then when they don’t get caught, they are able to do it again to someone else.

You need an immediate deterrent, solution or equalizer, on hand and at the ready. An alarm, some pepper spray, a stun gun or Taser. Many choices to fit your situation and comfort level. Pick the one that suits you best, then pick the next one as a secondary option. I’d personally go for a triple decker, and practice using all of them until it is habit forming. Never leave without them, and always know how and when to deploy them.

I just had a buddy telling me about some creep causing some problems in his ’safe’ neighborhood. He wanted some information on self-defense and security products for himself and his neighbors.

Apparently, some homes were broken into and one of his neighbor’s wife was grabbed but got away from the guy over the course of a week or so. All the women were scared, and all the guys were anxious.

So I typed up a recommendation e-mail with some products, descriptions and links to the webpage. He was going to forward it off to the group and figure out what he wanted. A couple days past, and no orders from his neck of the woods, my buddy let me know that the creep was caught and everything was all hunky dory again.

The excitement was over as quick as it started and everyone was back to feeling safe and complacent again. I hope that he saves the e-mail for the next time. Oh well. Maybe they should just have a neighborhood pizza party.

When you hear it on the news and it happens miles, states or countries away, random acts of violence, theft and other ‘bad things’ don’t always sink in as a potential reality. If you don’t know the victim, or it didn’t happen to you personally, it is hard to relate.

The most surprising gal from my buddy’s neighborhood is the woman who got grabbed by the arm and managed to get away without being assaulted, robbed, raped or worse… I would have expected her to be the first and probably largest order.

I used to end every post with the following slogan, but I recently decided to just add it to the page sidebar next to every post.

It would be nice to believe that nothing will happen to you, but the reality of it is that an ounce of protection could be worth more than a pound of cure. What is Worth Protection to you? Your belongings? Your family? Your personal well-being?

Don’t wait for the first time or the next time. Be ready now, just in case. It may save your life, or the life of a loved one. Or at least detain a creep until the police arrive and prevent something bad from happening to someone else, even if you don’t know who the next victim is.

Then you can order your pizza in peace.

Popularity: 11% [?]

It has been reported that the rate of justifable homicides has been rising in the past couple years to the highest levels in over a decade.

A justifable homicide is when a private citizen kills another person in self-defense while the person is committing a felony or when a police officer kills a suspect in the line of duty. Analysts claim these numbers represent a change in the attitude on the street where regular citizens are taking greater responsibilities concerning their safety, while police officers may be feeling increasingly threatened by well-armed criminals.

Police departments have been faced with arms escalation where they have been forced to utilize higher powered weapons to keep up with criminal offenders, who in turn keep upgrading their arsenals.

Besides Illinois and wisconsin, the other 48 states allow law-abiding citizens various rights to carry some sort of gun. In a recent landmark Supreme Court ruling of the Second Ammendment, law-abiding citizens are allowed keep firearms in their home for self-defense purposes. Still, non-law-abiding criminals are able to freely carry whatever weapons they see fit in blatant disregard for whatever laws or restrictions are in place.

Pepper Sprays are restricted in some way in Alaska, Hawaii, New York, Massachusetts or Wisconsin. Stun Devices are regulated or illegal to own in the states of Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Wisconsin or the city of Baltimore, MD, and Philadelphia, PA.

Besides the country wide reality check of the Septemeber 11th attacks, widespread looting, chaos and violence after Hurricane Katrina and other natural disasters, and the increasing desparate acts by desparate individuals in the midst of the current financial turmoil, many people are being spurred to take a greater responsibility for the safety and security of themselves and loved ones. Sad what it takes to turn some folks around, but as long as they finally realize before its too late…

“Americans are simply refusing to be victims,” say a NRA spokesman.

So this brings us to Conscience and Consequences. While few can (but some still do) argue about the benefits of owning, carrying and using a hand gun to defend themselves or their family, either their conscience or fear of consequence prevent them from purchasing and using a firearm.

Are you actually able to pull the trigger and shoot someone? Even if they are dead set on harming or killing you or a loved one? Maybe, maybe not.

Let’s say in the heat of the moment, you are able to muster up the conviction to pull the trigger. Are you so afraid of a possible consequence afterwards that you would rather not have a gun readily available to save yourself and spare a court appearance?

As the old saying goes “Better Judged By Twelve Than Carried By Six…”. Or whatever the juror to pallbearer count was.

Even Jiminey Cricket had an umbrella that he could use to lay the smack down if need be. (Bad conscience reference, I know, it’s less funny if it needs to be explained.)

But you do have to weigh the facts of the situation during those spare split-seconds during a confrontation. We aren’t shooting that unarmed teenage punk trying to grab a purse. He can have some pepper spray to the face. But that naked sex offender in your daughter’s bedroom with a knife at 3 am in the morning is probably getting a bullet. Sorry dude.

Unless you are Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Steven Segal or any other martial arts movie actor that can effortlessly disarm and disable an attacker. Well, Steven Segal does usually pack a gun in the movies.

So for all us normal guys and gals, Is there a day that goes by that crime isn’t in the news? Child abductions, rapes, robberies, assaults, car-jackings, break-ins and home invasions are in the headlines every day. Every law-abiding can use a slight edge. The bad guys have them. Shouldn’t you be protected?

Whether it be a firearm, pepper spray, stun gun, Taser, steel baton, or better yet, a combo of 2-3 items to use at your discretion, Be Safe, Be Prepared.

It looks like things will be getting worse before they get better. Economy goes down, crime goes up. It is simple math, make sure your personal protection measures add up.

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Rule of thumb, if you want to decrease your chances of someone stealing your bike, lock it up. But realistically, if someone really wants to go to the trouble, they can easily clip the chain and be on their way. I have even seen people lock the front tire of the bike and then have someone unhook the rest of the frame an steal everything except the secured front tire. They need a new front tire, you need a whole new bike.

But a rather ingenious safe city gauge has come out of Buenos Aires. The basis of the test is “How long will an unchained bicycle last on a city street before someone steals it?” How safe is your city or neighborhood?

“It’s not a statistic but in a way it shows that the places where the bicycle gets robbed really quickly perhaps the quality of life is poorer,” said Mariano Pasik of Argentina.

Hidden cameras monitor the bait, which is a cheap bicycle, unsecured, laying out in the open. His hypothesis is the longer the bike remains in place before it is stolen, the safer the area is.

Pasik edits the video footage, blurs the thieves’ faces, puts it to music and posts the results to his website. Pasik runs his own publicity firm called Liebre Amotinada Ideas (Mutinous Hare Ideas), and says this safe neighborhood project is “part art, part reality show, part journalism and part fun.”

“What you see on the videos is that they aren’t professional thieves, they aren’t people who went out to rob. They are people who ran into temptation and decided to commit a crime, they become thieves at the moment they take the bike,” Pasik says.

“The popular fantasy is that the bike will be stolen in seconds, and it isn’t quite like that,” Pasik said.

In a recent video, a bike lasted only a few short minutes on the upscale shopping street of Santa Fe, while another lasted a whole hour without being stolen in the unsavory Constitucion neighborhood.

A neighborhood “passes” Pasik’s bicycle test if an hour passes, the filmer gets tired or the camera runs out of batteries. Pasik hopes other videographers around the world will join his nonprofit “Bicycle Test” project and help create a worldwide insecurity index.

Fans of his site have already offered free bait bicycles and some have sent in test footage from Uruguay and Spain.

The thieves from these videos are often more opportunists than hardened criminals. “You see the person thinking and thinking and thinking, coming and going. Sometimes they talk by phone. They go away. They come back. It’s more about an internal dilemma between good and bad, than about the bicycle itself,” Pasik says.

Another interesting fact, so far in Pasik’s Bicycle Test, a woman has yet to steal a bike on film…

As a side story of note. Did you see the one about the guy who got busted stealing an unchained bike next to a police station in Fargo, ND? Apparently some guy was in detox at the station, and his bike was put into the bike rack outside of the police station. So while a cop is outside doing some paperwork in his patrol car, he sees this other guy walking down the street, approach the bike rack, grab the bike and attempt to take off. He tried to plead his case that it was in fact his bike, but the cop wasn’t buying the story.

Come on guy. That’s almost like trying to steal a donut in a donut shop.

Popularity: 10% [?]

Dutch statisticians, who apparently have had some free time on their hands, have determined that Friday the 13th is actually safer than your average run-of-the-mill Friday.

The Dutch Centre for Insurance Statistics (CVS) has recently concluded that accidents and crime actually occurs less on this widely regarded “unlucky” day. “I find it hard to believe that it is because people are preventatively more careful or just stay home, but statistically speaking, driving is a little bit safer on Friday 13th,” a CVS statistician says.

This study did not report on the probability of being attacked while camping at Crystal Lake or what your chances are if confronted by a hockey mask wearing, machete wielding psychopath named Jason, whether it was Friday the 13th or not.

When statistics aren’t going to protect the physical well being of yourself or your loved ones, check out http://www.worthprotectionsecurity.com. Even if luck is on your side, I’d prefer a little something extra, just in case.

It would be nice to believe that nothing will happen to you, but the reality of it is that an ounce of protection could be worth more than a pound of cure. What is Worth Protection to you? Your belongings? Your family? Your personal well-being?

Yours in safety,
Rob

Other Friday the 13th Facts and Superstitions

According to Smithsonian Magazine “fear of the #13 costs American a billion dollars per year in absenteeism, train and plane cancellations, and reduced commerce on the 13th of the month.”

Fear of Friday the 13th dates back to Nordic Mythology. Many of their thirteenth Gods met with violent deaths, such as Loki, the trickster.

Ancient Romans regarded the number 13 as a symbol of death, destruction and misfortune.

There were 13 original colonies.

A witches coven consists of 13 members.

Tarot Card number 13 is the Death Card, depicting the Grim Reaper (although it is read as transition or change and not literal death).

Hotels rarely have a room number 13. Usually it is called 12a or 14. Same with floors of buildings and the elevators without a #13 button. Highways sometimes will skip exit 13 altogether also.

There are 13 steps leading to the gallows.

13 knots in a hangman’s noose.

Lizzy Borden uttered a total of 13 words at her trial.

13 feet which the guillotine blade falls.

The driver of Princess Diana hit pillar #13 at Place de l’Alma when she was killed in Paris, France.

The Bible, Luke’s Gospel Chapter 22, tells us that there were 13 present at the Last Supper. There is evidence that this Last Supper was held on a Friday, and of course this is when Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus Christ to the Romans.

Beware naming your children with 13 letters in their name, they may be cursed for example, Jack the Ripper, Charles Manson.

Certain ocean liners will be held in dock until after midnight to appease passenger’s fears on Friday the 13th.

British study concluded that even though there were less cars on the road on Friday the 13th (as compared with other Fridays) more accidents were reported.

Trisadekaphobia is the technical name for fear of Friday the 13th.

E Pluribus Unum has 13 letters.

The US Seal has 13 stars, bars, feathers in the eagle’s tail, 13 bars in one claw, 13 olive branches in the other.

On the USA Dollar Bill, there are 13 steps on the pyramid, 13 bars on the shield, and 13 leaves on the olive branch

A “quatrorzieme” is a professional 14th guest hired by the French who had only 13 guests in attendance for dinner, who felt that was unlucky.

A baker’s dozen consists of 13 for a reason! So the story goes a witch near Albany, NY demanded 13 items every time she came in to a particular bakery, and one day the old baker could not afford her extra biscuit. She sneered some strange words at the man, and he suffered terrible luck from then on, until he brought her another 13 rolls. After that life was once again easy for the baker and word spread around town. The custom is still sometimes practiced today.

Apollo 13, 1970, the 13th mission launched from pad #39 (13 x 3), mission was aborted, after an explosion occurred in the fuel cell of their service module. The rocket had left launching pad at 13:13 CST and the date was April 13th.

The Knights Templar achieved great influence in Europe between 1096 and 1307. Their downfall came on Friday 13th October 1307. This date saw the catastrophic destruction of the Knights Templar at the hands of King Philip of France and his puppet Pope Clement V. Some say this event, in which the Templars were burnt at the stake, gave birth to the superstition associated with Friday 13th.

Popularity: 5% [?]

It is getting uglier at the gas pumps in Cypress, CA where gas is already averaging around $4.50 per gallon. Now consumers have to deal with Road rage, well at least Fuel Rage, as violence broke out at the gas pumps at the Costco warehouse store in Orange County California. A doctor from La Palma was waiting in line to buy gas when another motorist pulled in front of him out of turn. The aggravated doctor grabbed a tire iron from his car and attepted to confront the guy who cut into the line.

Sgt. Tom Bruce said the doctor was arrested for the misdemeanor charge and booked for the investigation of “brandishing a deadly weapon in a rude, angry or threatening manner”.

Witnesses reported the doctor was waiting in line at the pumps this past Monday night when the other vehicle cut in front of him. When the doctor got out of his car and confronted the motorist with the tire iron, the other driver locked himself in his car and called police.

http://www.worthprotectionsecurity.com

It would be nice to believe that nothing will happen to you, but the reality of it is that an ounce of protection could be worth more than a pound of cure. What is Worth Protection to you? Your belongings? Your family? Your personal well-being?

Yours in safety,

Rob

Popularity: 5% [?]

I was going through some old notes and found this little
nugget from awhile back, not sure why it didn’t get posted
back in last August (2007), but since it was a pretty good
article, I’ll post it now.

Self-Defense is a Personal Choice, you can choose to take
action, or choose stand by and allow things to happen.

“Three cheers and a replacement bottle of fish sauce for
Ross Vannarith, the owner of a Methuen, MA liquor store who
fought off a would-be robber with the help of his son and a
bottle of the salty condiment.

Vannarith had just returned from the Methuen Package Store on
Route 110 when he saw a man pointing a gun at his daughter
behind the register. Vannarith crept up behind the man and
wrestled him to the ground, where he and his son beat him
into submission with the first thing that came to hand, a
bottle of fish sauce. It was, Vannarith noted later, their
last bottle of the southeast Asian condiment.

Police arrested Douglas Brown of Lowell and charged him with
armed robbery. It took about 40 stitches to close the wounds
in Brown’s head.

Police have not charged the Vannariths with any crime
related to the beating. Nor should they. People have a right
to defend their lives and property.

Vannarith showed courage in taking on an armed robber. But
it was a risky decision. Police usually recommend offering no
resistance to such robbery attempts. A few dollars lost is
far preferable to a life lost.

But it sends a poor message as a society if we simply
surrender to any thug or hoodlum who walks through the door.
If we all offer ourselves as willing victims, there will be
no check on criminals at all.

The decision whether to resist or submit to a criminal’s
demands is an intensely personal one. It depends on an
instant reading of the circumstances and a realistic
evaluation of one’s options. No one knows truly what he or
she would do until faced with the decision in real life.

So while we applaud the bravery of those like Vannarith who
resist the thugs of the world, we in no way condemn those
who choose a more prudent course.

It keeps the criminals off-balance, too. It’s good that
they never know whether they’ll get an easy score or a
beating they’ll not soon forget.”

What do you think you would have done in a similar
situation? The choice is up to you.

Visit http://www.worthprotectionsecurity.com/weapons.htm
now to take control of a situation before it gets out of
hand. Most of the time, attackers don’t expect you to
fight back, and when you do, you significantly increase the
chance they they will give up or become unsuccessful in
committing the crime to the extent possible.

It would be nice to believe that nothing will happen to you, but
the reality of it is that an ounce of protection could be worth
more than a pound of cure. What is Worth Protection to you? Your
belongings? Your family? Your personal well-being?

Yours in safety,

Rob

Popularity: 6% [?]

It really amazes me sometimes when I hear how oblivious some people are to the possible threat of crime. I’m not talking about full fledged paranoia all the time, but some people take the “It won’t happen to me” syndrome to the opposite extreme. There are even self-proclaimed self-defense experts that will lead you to believe that avoiding the dangerous neighborhoods and dark places will sufficiently keep you 100% safe. While avoiding potential trouble spots is not bad advice, by and large trouble may randomly seek you out, no matter what neighborhood or time of day you venture out.

I’m not sure where the false sense of security comes from when living in “good” or affluent neighborhoods come from. I mean, where do you think the criminals want to go to steal stuff, the run down projects or the “good” neighborhood where people have money and better stuff to steal?

And what about being safe in public during the day when there are crowds of people around to “deter” crime? What about that lunatic in Japan who decided to drive his car down the street in Akihabara, Tokyo’s biggest electronics shopping district? This disturbed individual intentually crashes his car into a crowd, then proceeds to get out and rampage through the street with a knife. He ended up killing seven random people.

This attack in early June followed the killing of a person in a random stabbing during the day outside a train station north of Tokyo in March. Five random people were hurt in a similar attack in January. Also in March, a teenager pushed a random stranger under a train in western Japan, simply saying he felt like killing someone. All of these particular incidents out of a country typically proud of its low crime rate.

While these random acts of violence are comparatively rare occurrences, they are not as improbable as some would make them out to be. And they don’t always happen in the bad neighborhoods or dark alleys late at night.

Some members of the public pointed to an economic downturn and government policy as reasons for rising frustration. “Politicians don’t think about the people, they raise taxes and change the healthcare system,” is the opinion of one Japanese citizen. “I think that’s what breeds this violent behavior. People begin to hate society when they can’t succeed.”

One of Japan’s top government spokesperson said it is hard to pin down reasons for attacks like these but thinks tighter controls should be considered on weapons, like the survival knife the attacker used. Again with the misguided weapon controls as the answer to end crime. Come on now. What about his car that he started his rampage with when he crashed into a crowd of people? Should the now try to ban automobiles, or only automobiles when used as weapons?

So what is the answer? Stricter laws and harsher penalties would likely not be helpful. Statistically this has not really seemed to work. “If they have the urge to commit suicide, people will do these things in countries that have the death penalty,” says a criminal psychologist at Tokyo Institute of Technology. “But when these people fail to fulfill themselves in socially acceptable ways, they are treated as losers and their frustration builds up,” he added. “A series of disappointments can lead them to try to regain their sense of self through crime.”

Not feeling too warm and fuzzy at the moment. So while the “experts” and government officials debate the issues, apply more misguided legislation and continue to depress the economy further causing desperate people to take desperate measures… You might want to take some proactive protective measures for your home, family and self.

Again, not the holy grail answer to keep you 100% safe against the randomness of violence and crime, but I’d rather have a security alarm, some pepper spray, Taser or stun gun on hand and ready… just in case.

http://www.worthprotectionsecurity.com

It would be nice to believe that nothing will happen to you, but the reality of it is that an ounce of protection could be worth more than a pound of cure. What is Worth Protection to you? Your belongings? Your family? Your personal well-being?

Yours in safety,

Rob

Popularity: 6% [?]

Over the past couple years a good number of people, mostly women have taken issue with my business, which is selling personal protection products. I have never once advocated starting a fight, or using any products to go after anyone in an offensive way. I have always talked about using the products defensively for self-defense purposes only.

Nevertheless, many women have attacked me for being a purveyor of violence, and a thug.

It stings, but it doesn’t hurt. For the most part, they don’t have any idea of what they are talking about. They have bought into the “Give Peace a Chance” hokem that has been around for all the years I have been standing upright. It will go on after I take my leave too.

It’s a powerful theory, just like Marxism, and it is easy to believe, even though any sane person can see the obvious flaws in the fabric. But I have hope that the landscape may be changing, and there are signs that it is.

Years ago men bought 95% of all the products sold in this industry. Today it is about 60/40, and more and more women are buying every day. I would venture to say that if things continue at the same pace, by this time next year the buying ratio will be 50/50.

That’s an amazing statistical change in a relatively short period of time.

Many of the emails and letters from women today are very apologetic.

Here’s what I say to that:

Don’t apologize… Evangelize! Don’t write me to say that you’re sorry you didn’t get the message earlier… tell a friend, family member, or business associate how to get themselves tooled up. Pass on the http://www.WorthProtectionSecurity.com website to them.

The learning curve is different for everyone. It doesn’t matter what you did before, or how you felt before. When you hit paydirt, enter the zone, or have an epiphany, what matters is what you do then.

We will never stop all the crime or violence. That isn’t possible. Nobody can do that job. But we can save tens of thousands of people from being victimized, and the numbers bear that out in a big way.

Tell a friend. You don’t have to be a big mouth, or browbeat anyone. Just tell your story. It will get the job done. You won’t necessarily know when or where, but that doesn’t matter.

That’s just the way it works.

Please feel free to forward a link of this blog post to anyone you think might benefit from hearing this message. They will thank you for it… eventually.

If you’re prepared, you’ll never be surprised.

It would be nice to believe that nothing will happen to you, but the reality of it is that an ounce of protection could be worth more than a pound of cure. What is Worth Protection to you? Your belongings? Your family? Your personal well-being?

Yours in safety,

Rob

Popularity: 4% [?]

A 15-year-old gets busted in Bremerton, WA for stealing
candy bars. The kid is riding his bike away from the
store when a cop responding to the shoplifting report
stops him. “You been stealing candy, son?”

“Nope, Not me!” responds the boy, chocolate in his teeth
and the smell chocolate on his breath. Kinda caught brown
handed. Besides the incriminating chocolate residue, a
couple of witnesses identified the boy who eventually
confessed. As if that was still neccessary.

As well as confessing to stealing the candy, the boy
also stated he was hungry and did it for the thrill.
That part is probably the most disturbing. Stealing
candy for the thrill of it.

What happens when stealing candy isn’t as thrilling
anymore? What is the next level thrill fix? What if fix
after fix eventually becomes the thrill of armed robbery,
assault and battery or worse?

Hopefully this 15-year-old got hauled back to his house
and his Dad “took care” of any more immediate thrill
vacancies. But even that is becoming less and less of
the case in our undisciplined society.

Taking this to the next level, this is what you may be
faced with. Today, criminals are getting younger and
younger, and with this comes a certain lack of discipline
and a less maturity to the consequence of their actions.
Alarmingly, you may very well be faced with a adolescent
or young adult with an unmatched ruthlessness or worst
yet, a group of negatively like-minded youths. Looking
for a thrill…

Take the recent beating of a high school girl by a group
of other high school girls. This was that bunch who
thought it was a good idea to kidnap the girl, bring her
to a house, severely beat her down, all while filming a
video of the attack to upload to YouTube. Thrilling
isn’t it?

We are not dealing with the best and the brightest here.
Expect the same or worse on the street.

Your first priority should be to know how to protect
yourself, and your second priority is to teach that skill
to every member of your family. You don’t have to be a gym
gorilla or an NFL lineman to do the job. In fact, those
guys would only win a small percentage of battles with a
street thug anyways.

The key to self defense is to walk softly and carry a
powerful tool. Get some pepper spray or get a stun gun.
Pick up a Taser or a telescopic steel baton, whatever
suits your fancy and gives you a thrill. The thrill of
knowing you are more likely to make it home at night
if something unfortunate occurs. The thrill of your
children or loved ones that count on you to be home,
knowing you will make it home…

http://www.worthprotectionsecurity.com/weapons.htm

It would be nice to believe that nothing will happen to
you, but the reality of it is that an ounce of protection
could be worth more than a pound of cure. What is Worth
Protection to you? Your belongings? Your family? Your
personal well-being?

Yours in safety,

Rob

Popularity: 4% [?]

In an attempt to beef up security in China before the
Beijing Olympics, Chinese citizens must now register their
identities when they buy potentially dangerous knives.
Knives being targeted include daggers with blood grooves,
lock-knives, and knives with blades measuring over about
8 1/2 inches.

So basically it is the same old story. All law abiding citizens
will follow the laws and register thier knives. All non-law
abiding criminals will continue to NOT register their weapons
and carry them with the same reckless abandon that the
would have before these laws went into effect.

Sorry, but just like many of the gun control laws, I believe
these knife control measures are well intentioned, but
somewhat missing the mark none-the-less. More laws to
restrict the people that would not follow them anyways are
not helping the situation.

if you are interested in some of our legal to be carried at the
moment folding knives, check out:
http://www.worthprotectionsecurity.com/foldingknives.htm

It would be nice to believe that nothing will happen to you, but
the reality of it is that an ounce of protection could be worth
more than a pound of cure. What is Worth Protection to you? Your
belongings? Your family? Your personal well-being?

Yours in safety,

Rob

Popularity: 4% [?]

The world is a different place these days. I’m not positive when it happened, but if you look at the following passage you will remember doing it, and wonder how it all became so unheard of in today’s world. Is it the media to blame? Society? Video Games? Satanic influences? You decide.

Here is your stroll down memory lane (if you are old enough to have experienced it first hand):

“—————————
This is dedicated to those Born between the years 1930-1979!

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 1930’s 40’s, 50’s, 60’s and 70’s !!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked, drank and/or took a few drugs while they were pregnant. They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna fish from a can, and didn’t get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered with brightly colored lead-based paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking (No way today).

As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, booster seats, seat belts or air bags. Riding in the back of a pick up with the dog on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a fancy plastic bottle. We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and drank koolade made with sugar, but we weren’t overweight because…

WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on. (Not the case anymore) No one was able to reach us all day. And we were OK. (Definitely not OK in today’s world)

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.

We did not have Playstations, Nintendo’s, X-box 360s, no video games at all, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVDs, no surround-sound, CDs or Ipods, no cell phones!, no personal computers, no Internet or chat rooms…

WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them, not on Facebook or Twitter!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend’s house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn’t had to learn to deal with disappointment. We even kept score during the game! Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!

If YOU are one of us… CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives… for our own good.

And while you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave (and lucky) their parents were.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn’t it?!”

Quote by Jay Leno:

“With hurricanes, tornadoes, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, Are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?”

—————————”

It would be nice to believe that nothing will happen to you, but the reality of it is that an ounce of protection could be worth more than a pound of cure. What is Worth Protection to you? Your belongings? Your family? Your personal well-being?

Popularity: 3% [?]

Whenever I hear the word machete, the first thing that pops into my head is teenagers running through the woods near Crystal Lake as Jason hacks and slashes victims in a “Friday the 13th” movie.

Apparently on “Monday the 4th” (Feb 2008), a much less catchy day and date, a man in Springfield (DOH!), Massachusetts was accused of slashing a 42-year-old man in the throat and a 42-year-old woman in the arms and egs with a machete. (I don’t think I even know anyone who actually owns a machete.)

Police say this incident may have been in retaliation of an action by the female victim, where she may have stabbed the attacker’s sister earlier in the day. (Probably with a much less ominous sounding weapon)

So far the attacker is due in District Court for charges including assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, he is pleading not guilty, and the slashed couple is in fair condition at a local hospital. No word on the previously injured sister. I can only imagine that a hockey mask was NOT involved, that surely would have made the headline…

I guess some things are not only in the movies.

If I ever had some fool coming at me with a machete, I’d want something that would work at a distance. I’m thinking some Pepper Spray, probably in the pepper gel or pepper foam variety. Any of them would work, but personally I like the sticky goodness of the Mace Pepper Gel or the foaming action of the Mace Pepper Foam. Kinda like the scrubbing bubbles bathroom cleaner which I’m sure would burn someone’s eyes too, but I’ll stick with good old Mace.

http://www.worthprotectionsecurity.com/peppergel.htm
http://www.worthprotectionsecurity.com/pepperfoam.htm

Besides, I’d want a product that could also fill up the eye holes of the hockey mask…you know, just in case.

One of the benefits of gel or foam pepper spray is they are thick when applied. Most pepper sprays are liquid. They work very well, but drip off. Gels and foam more or less stay put and act like a blindfold. And this isn’t a paper or cloth blindfold for playing pin the tail on the donkey, this one hurts… and burns…

Another added feature of this thick concoction is it just begs to be rubbed off, further intensifying its effects. Then the fun begins, depending on what side of the canister you are on.

Make sure you have a full array of options in your self defense tool box. An attack could happen at anytime and anywhere. Be tooled on your person, in your car and in your home.

It might not be a machete, but if the time comes to deal out some punishment to those attempting to cause you or a loved one harm – Be ready. Be ready and be prepared. Have a plan and have a backup plan.

It would be nice to believe that nothing will happen to you, but the reality of it is that an ounce of protection could be worth more than a pound of cure. What is Worth Protection to you? Your belongings? Your family? Your personal well-being?

Popularity: 4% [?]

I found a couple real good posts on a Self Defense Forum
that were far Worth sharing.

First one comes from a poster named Kharnivore:

“I worry more about the false-sense of security that any
short seminar can give to a casual attendee. I think that no
matter what the material, how good the trainer, without a
refresher course regularly people slide back into old
habits.

Two anecdotes (if I can remember them correctly):-

A well-known self-defense instructor finished a talk to a
crowd, and was approached by middle-aged woman. She quickly
told him that she was a hardened city dweller and that’s
she’d survived three attacks, that she was already very
knowledgeable about self defense but she’d still enjoyed
his talk. The chap nodded politely but inwardly thought:
‘attacked three times? And you didn’t learn from your
mistakes the first or second time? Uh-oh, get ready for
number four.’

The other story is again after a talk, another woman
approaches a different instructor, thanking him for his
training, saying that she now feels far more confident when
she takes shortcuts late at night through the park or down a
back-street. He shoots back quickly that if she’d
understood his training, then she wouldn’t do either of
those things.

(it so happens that in both cases the person was female, but
I don’t think that is indicative of anything. I think both
sexes are equally stupid)”

The next gem comes from Seth Thomas:

“Well, I tried to get my female training partner to
register and post to this forum, but she prefers to stay off
the internet. It’s a real loss for this forum because of
her background. Her profession places her face-to-face with
some of the most violent offenders that victimize women. She
prosecutes them and puts them in prison, however, the system
being what it is… they get back out onto the street. Faced
with both veiled and overt threats, she takes her SD
training rather seriously.

Detailing cases of assault and rape allows insight into how
these vermin work. And, What it takes to deal with them.

A large amount of her training involves handguns, but much
of the day her handgun is locked away from her. So it’s
unarmed, or low key armed, much of the time.

In unarmed practice, she wants a training partner that is
intense, strong, and intimidating. Besides the obvious that
this is the high-probability attacker(s), there are
advantages in this training profile. First and foremost is
that her mental and emotional elements get mixed into the
training. Fear, panic, shock, frustration,… anger,
rage,… get mixed into the physical defense techniques.

(She warned me to state here that this is advanced training,
a woman should build to this level. But it’s a important
level to achieve)

Her insight is simply this: The techniques of eye gouges,
chin jabs, elbows smashes, etc… are simple — performing
them while under paralyzing shock, fear, and panic is a
different matter entirely. The only way to survive in this
realm is to place oneself into that ‘zone’ and gain
familiarity with those conditions. She states that driving a
pen into scumbag’s eye or ear requires cultivating and
embracing a ugly level of brutality. She has to work toward
that ugly mental place. It won’t simply ‘be there’ when
she needs it.

The way to that place is by facing big, fear inducing,
smelly brutes. When she gets dumped, and she does get
dumped, she doesn’t quit until she’s clear.

There’s a part of her that hates having to find the
ugliness within her… there’s another that knows without
the ugly, vicious, rageful — her survival chances are nil.

She thinks ‘no males’ training classes are a sad joke.
Something about… never prosecuting a violent female
rapist.”

I have seen many instances of this personally. Some
people just don’t get it, and don’t believe there is a real
world out there full of bad things and bad people. I have
have several women training partners that are ‘just going
through the motions’ or women attending a training
session that probably “feel much safer taking the shortcuts
late at night” now. It is often said that the martial arts are
90% mental, 10% physical. Without the proper mental
state or understanding, that 60 minute self defense lesson
did more harm than good.

It would be nice to believe that nothing will happen to
you, but the reality of it is that an ounce of protection
could be worth more than a pound of cure. What is Worth
Protection to you? Your belongings? Your family? Your
personal well-being?

Yours in safety,

Rob

Popularity: 4% [?]