In a perfect world, the only self-defense weapons you’d need to keep safe would be your hands, your feet, and your gun. But we can’t all be Chuck Norris, and the double-tap method of home defense isn’t always appropriate – plus, in our increasingly litigious society it may even land you in some hot water if you’re not careful. So we’ve got your not-necessarily-lethal middle ground for home security right here.
A Cane
A good old-fashioned walking cane may look innocent, but once you see a skilled martial artist put one to work, you’ll find yourself steering clear of little old guys hobbling down the street. Hapkido is particularly well-known for its use of this bludgeoning, levering, and hooking tool. Of course you don’t have to spend years honing your Hapkido skills to use a cane effectively; almost any blunt or edged-weapon skills transfer to it with a little practice, and it makes a fine club. Best of all, you don’t need a permit to have one around, in or out of your house.
Defensive Spray
Depending on where you live, your options for buying pepper spray are age-restricted, and you might even be required to have a firearms license to carry it outside your home. But if pepper spray is available to you, it’s an effective, non-lethal option for handling intruders. If pepper spray isn’t available, what if you just happened to have a can of wasp spray sitting around instead? You never know when you might have to exterminate a pest.
Stun Guns
Stun guns, batons, and so on, are a mixed bag. Some of them require you to make direct, close-range contact with the intruder. Others fire projectiles with a range of up to several dozen feet, but if the twin projectiles don’t make contact with your intruder (or if the voltage isn’t sufficient to penetrate his clothing), you’re back to square one. On the plus side you can get a stun gun built to resemble almost anything, from models that resemble cell phones or tubes of lipstick to a cane.
Flashlight
There’s a reason police carry large Maglites: They’re the perfect club and, hey, they make light too. Even a smaller metal flashlight can be used to focus the force of your strikes on vulnerable areas of the body, as long as it’s big enough to hold firmly, and long enough to stick out on either side of your closed fist. Going hand-to-hand with an intruder is never the first home-defense tactic of choice — you never know if the intruder might have a weapon tucked away — but if you’ve got to do it, you should do it with the combative mindset that turns everything — even a handheld flashlight — into a potential weapon.
Training
Whatever you choose as a non-lethal home defense tool, make sure you know how to use it. That doesn’t mean sitting at home, imagining the mad skills you’d use to fend off hordes of intruders. It means getting hands-on training and practice, so your body will know what to do even while your mind is still trying to make sense of what’s happening.
Security Safe for Home Defense
By locking away weapons, jewelry, and other possible targets of theft in a high security safe you limit your exposure to burglary. In the event of a home invasion you can be sure your important documents, priceless photos, and other treasures will be kept out of prying hands while you focus on getting your family away from attackers to safety. Visit BrownSafe.com to learn more and to purchase a security safe
