Recently A.G. sent me this story through the www.jwsgo.org “Submit Your Story” page.
“This is not the story I expected to be telling a couple of years ago. After my husband died I asked my friend, a Police Detective and a firearms instructor on the force, and my nephew, a Lt.Col.in the USMC,(he is a sharpshooter) to help me learn to use a hand gun. I am a good shot with a rifle. Their response was that neither the USMC nor the Police used their guns in the kind of situation I might find myself. They recommended and purchased for me a VERY high powered flashlight which I was instructed to shine in the eyes of an attacker to temporarily blind him and a pepper spray mechanism which shoots like a gun. The combination will give you time to escape, which is really what you need. Just get away without engaging the bad guy. I support your right to have a handgun. I thought I wanted one too. Now I think my advisors are correct. “
This is a good “learning moment.” We extend our condolences at the loss of A.G.’s spouse. That is incredibly hard.
There are a couple of issues here however. Number one is that we MUST be comfortable with our choice of personal defense. AG is obviously satisfied with hers. However, it really relies on ‘running away.’ I am 66 years old and my ability to run is severely limited.
Pepper spray only makes the attacker angrier and the last we want is a drugged up psychotic who is angry. Then there’s the issue of where the spray is used. If it’s in the wind it can and will blow in a different direction than aimed, often right back at the one using it. NOT GOOD! Have you ever been in an area where pepper-spray has been used? I have and it’s not fun!
Many people think stun-guns are good. Again there are problems. They don’t work if the attacker is wearing leather!
Another issue is the type available for consumers. Wisconsin recently passed a law to allow us to use pepper-spray or stun-guns but the type allowed is inferior to cop issue, therefore less effective. Mind you, Wisconsin has yet to allow concealed carry of firearms, but we ARE working on it.
That does bring us to another issue, state and (shudder) local laws. A person needs to consult our gun laws page, and check with local departments since the laws can change literally over night.
Another idea is to carry a can of wasp spray. It shoots further with less fuming, and there are no laws against it!
