Hello all, here is today's article posted on TheArmoryLife.com. It is titled “Prepared, Not Paranoid: Practical Self-Protection Tips” and can be found at https://www.thearmorylife.com/prepared-not-paranoid-practical-self-protection-tips/.
Prepared, Not Paranoid: Practical Self-Protection Tips
- Thread starter Mike H.
- Start date
The Night Rider
Hellcat
Everybody in the world has an EDC. Everybody in the world has certain things they do not leave home without.
Everything in my EDC is stuff that at some point in my life I got caught short without and there was a real consequence to me not having it.
Here's a real world non firearm example.
I do not leave my home unless I am carrying a handkerchief. Even if it's one of those ugly baby poop brown Army handkerchiefs that I still have after 20 years (I'm also cheap).
I carry that because I was at work one day in Houston Texas in 1983(?) And you got chili in my nose started running and there wasn't any toilet paper to blow it on in the porta potty. So I went and asked the job site superintendent if I could borrow a paper towel to use as a handkerchief.
I never knew why he didn't like me but he didn't like me. He told me no. Actually he told me "No" in language that I can't use on this forum and I spent the rest of my work day with snot running down my face.
Never left home without something to wipe my nose again.
Everything in my EDC is stuff that at some point in my life I got caught short without and there was a real consequence to me not having it.
Here's a real world non firearm example.
I do not leave my home unless I am carrying a handkerchief. Even if it's one of those ugly baby poop brown Army handkerchiefs that I still have after 20 years (I'm also cheap).
I carry that because I was at work one day in Houston Texas in 1983(?) And you got chili in my nose started running and there wasn't any toilet paper to blow it on in the porta potty. So I went and asked the job site superintendent if I could borrow a paper towel to use as a handkerchief.
I never knew why he didn't like me but he didn't like me. He told me no. Actually he told me "No" in language that I can't use on this forum and I spent the rest of my work day with snot running down my face.
Never left home without something to wipe my nose again.
Anchorite
Custom
I’m with you on the handkerchief. It started for me when my boys were young, it’s just carried into my later years. So many uses for one.
Saint Joseph
Operator
A collapsible baton, pepper spray and a lock blade knife with a lever that can be used with one finger to open. I've carried these in my car for years along with a firearm and first-aid kit.
The Night Rider
Hellcat
In a lot of states private citizens are not permitted to carry a baton. And pepper spray in your car doesn't do you any good in the parking lot
The Night Rider
Hellcat
As usual I've told this story before, multiple times. When I was working as a security guard I ran into an EDP (AKA a homeless nut job) on one of the properties that I was supposed to check one morning.
He was ranting and raving and telling me that he owned all the land between South Academy Boulevard in Colorado Springs and the New Mexico border.
He also told me he was going to get an ax out of his shopping cart and kill me with it.
The fact that I was armed with an M&P 40, wearing body armor and on the radio with my dispatcher who was on the radio with the Sheriff's Department and who was giving me updates on their ETA did not faze him in the least.
When he turned around from the shopping cart with his ax in his hand and realized that I had a can of OC spray in my hand and I was shaking it up, that got his attention.
He dropped that ax like it was hot.
I say this all the time too.
When I was working I never got to conceal my gun. I've had people tell me that the gun wasn't real, I've had them tell me that the gun wasn't loaded, and I've had numerous people tell me that they were going to take the gun away and beat my ***.
The fact I was carrying a gun never impressed anybody. I've decided before I truly believe they did not think I was willing to shoot them but they had no problem believing that I was willing to spray them.
The funny thing about that is the only time I ever actually sprayed anything was when I spritzed a raccoon that was going after my cat and all I did to him was spray it on the ground in front of him.
And I spritzed a baby coyote that bit me in the cemetery one morning
He was ranting and raving and telling me that he owned all the land between South Academy Boulevard in Colorado Springs and the New Mexico border.
He also told me he was going to get an ax out of his shopping cart and kill me with it.
The fact that I was armed with an M&P 40, wearing body armor and on the radio with my dispatcher who was on the radio with the Sheriff's Department and who was giving me updates on their ETA did not faze him in the least.
When he turned around from the shopping cart with his ax in his hand and realized that I had a can of OC spray in my hand and I was shaking it up, that got his attention.
He dropped that ax like it was hot.
I say this all the time too.
When I was working I never got to conceal my gun. I've had people tell me that the gun wasn't real, I've had them tell me that the gun wasn't loaded, and I've had numerous people tell me that they were going to take the gun away and beat my ***.
The fact I was carrying a gun never impressed anybody. I've decided before I truly believe they did not think I was willing to shoot them but they had no problem believing that I was willing to spray them.
The funny thing about that is the only time I ever actually sprayed anything was when I spritzed a raccoon that was going after my cat and all I did to him was spray it on the ground in front of him.
And I spritzed a baby coyote that bit me in the cemetery one morning