Ok, so you're armed...

[treelizard]

I'm going to sound like a suburban white girl, but I just bought a cell phone a few months ago. I had this gift certificate to Best Buy and I've been spending a lot of time driving out of town and it sucks to try to find payphones late at night. Anyway, since I bought it I've pulled it out to call the cops three times and never had to call them. The first time was when some crazy guy was pounding on my car window and wouldn't leave. I even had a green light! Anyway, he left after I pulled out the phone, before I even called the cops. Much more effective than a weapon, I think. The second time was when I was wandering around Phoenix after a job fair. On my way out I asked someone if there was anything cool going on around town, and they told me about the Bodyworlds exhibit. I had five minutes to RUN there to get tickets in time. After I left and was walking back to the parking garage at around 9:30 PM some weirdo kept trying to sell me bottled water and followed me for about a block. I told him to go away several times while trying to find a public location on this street I didn't know, and he ignored me. I pulled out my phone and he left. Like a charm. Then that same day I ended up in some extremely extremely sketchy gas station. Because I was running on empty, I stayed in the store for the fifteen minutes it took the owners to try to get license plate numbers for people who were stealing alcohol. I decided since the cops were on their way anyway it'd be better than getting stranded half a block away and having to WALK through the 'hood. Anyway, I certainly didn't have a weapon on me (I'm so paranoid about accidentally bringing a weapon into a school where I'm interviewing at that I usually check my bag/car several times before heading out to make sure I am unarmed). I didn't think I was going to have to call the cops, but it was really nice to be able to pretend I was texting (well, I guess I was texting myself a description of the dude that kept trying to talk to me)--both because it was a way to break eye contact without feeling very passive and because I felt like I was still aware of my environment in a stealth kind of way. So I'm all about the cell phone, baby. One with a camera would be even better, I think.

[jubaji]

Ok, so a number of folks walk around armed most of the time. How many have ever used the weapon they carry 'for real'? When, where, how, and why?

If you have never used it, have you never been in a violent confrontation, or has it just never reached that point?

If you have been in violent confrontations but never used that weapon, would the time you spent training on that weapon have been better spent on empty hand skills that you are more likely to use?

Just wonderin'

[DickHardman]

i train in muay thai and jiu jitsu, but i alwas carry a pocket knife. sometimes i carry a steel kabuton with a rounded tip as well. through practice of my own i have found at that stick and knife can be blended into muay thai/boxing quite easily.

i figure, you should have at least a decent pocket knife on you just in case. you never know when you may need it. carrying around a basic spyderco endura for 50 bux aint that big of a deal.

as for using it, everyone has to make that decision for themselves when put in that situation. and if you make the wrong one, the consequences will be extreme.

[Troll Virus]

Cocking an expectant ear for groans.
I'm always armed.
Got two of them in fact.

It's the same thing though.
With or without weapon, the dividing line is ego.
If you are in a situation where you can't impersonate Carl Lewis on rocket propelled roller skates, then you get your retaliation in first.
If you have the opportunity to escape or de-escalate, you have a responsibility to do so.

[The_Judo_Jibboo]

So just for the sake of argument, some guy (maybe a drunk kid, or a homeless guy with mental issues for example) roughly grabs your shirt. You're going to pull your knife right away?


Now, I don't like the whole *whiny voice* "what if you get in trouble?" thing that people say all the time, but the fact is that there may very well be a bunch of witnesses who now just saw you stop and pull a knife on some guy. Better yet, he falls on you, or moves the wrong way or you lose your footing and now you've cut the guy in front of God and man and 20 people are gonna swear that they saw him just trying to stop and ask you a question or some such thing and you "tried to kill him". That might complicate your evening a hell of a lot more than a less dramatic response would have. I know it won't do you a lot of good if you are interested in gradual escalation and he's not, but...

ok, so i get a little dramatic when i get riled thinking about these topics but remember that example was if i had someone else with me to worry about.
plus i used a bad example because someone grabbing your shirt, though a bit rude, might not be an act of aggression. i'm trying to communicate though that when you feel genuinely threatened there is no "over the top" reaction. again, of course there are a ton of variables that come into account like if the guy is drunk or not all there, and even the question of how you determine if you are genuinely threatened in the first place.

Just sayin,' just putting it out there for consideration.

it's very important stuff to consider, we should all want to know the answers to these questions before we have to act on them and you're making me realize i have some ponderin' to do

[gregimotis]

I knew a guy who told this story (disclaimer, I wasn't there)

He was attacked outside his girlfriend's (possibly ex-girlfriend, which might explain why he got attacked) house.
As he tells it, he and his friend were getting beat pretty badly by three guys. He pulled his knife out of his pocket and stabbed one of the guys in the belly. This created enough commotion for him to escape.
Later, he called the police and explained what had happened. He did not clean up his face however, until after the cops had seen him - bloody and busted up.

No charges filed.

[Albert]

An interesting article on shooting people.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/07/us...rssnyt&emc=rss

[jubaji]

if i'm walking a street at night with my sister or my girlfriend and a guy so much as roughly grabs my shirt, the knife is coming out and the fight won't be over until i'm at least sure that he can't get up to give chase for a good while. Maybe it was over the top, but tough sh*t. he just made me choose between the safety of someone i love and rolling the dice that some thug may beat me up but has some other moral scruples that will stop him short of beating, murdering or raping a woman.

So just for the sake of argument, some guy (maybe a drunk kid, or a homeless guy with mental issues for example) roughly grabs your shirt. You're going to pull your knife right away?


Now, I don't like the whole *whiny voice* "what if you get in trouble?" thing that people say all the time, but the fact is that there may very well be a bunch of witnesses who now just saw you stop and pull a knife on some guy. Better yet, he falls on you, or moves the wrong way or you lose your footing and now you've cut the guy in front of God and man and 20 people are gonna swear that they saw him just trying to stop and ask you a question or some such thing and you "tried to kill him". That might complicate your evening a hell of a lot more than a less dramatic response would have. I know it won't do you a lot of good if you are interested in gradual escalation and he's not, but...

Just sayin,' just putting it out there for consideration.

[The_Judo_Jibboo]

And what if Bubba is getting the better of you? He probably won't kill you but he's whuppin' you, and that knife is in your pocket...

this is a really good, thought provoking topic jubaji.

fights are unpredictable. on the street there is always the possibility of it ending very badly for the loser; freak falls knocking your head off of a brick wall, etc. you certainly don't want to be unconscious, at Bubba's mercy if he probably won't kill you.

the way i see it is, if someone initiates a physical altercation with you, then, whether they acknowledge it or not, they are submitting to the facts that it is your responsibility to protect yourself, that you will naturally value your own life above theirs, and that they are forcing you to make possibly life and death decisions in a state of uncertainty where it is more reasonable to react with excessive violence than with too little violence.

That being said, it's still a very fuzzy subject with so many variables. I can tell you when it gets alot clearer for me though; when loved ones come into the picture. if i'm walking a street at night with my sister or my girlfriend and a guy so much as roughly grabs my shirt, the knife is coming out and the fight won't be over until i'm at least sure that he can't get up to give chase for a good while. Maybe it was over the top, but tough sh*t. he just made me choose between the safety of someone i love and rolling the dice that some thug may beat me up but has some other moral scruples that will stop him short of beating, murdering or raping a woman.

[jubaji]

In the event that Bubba decides he wants to be stupid... "he fell down" It was an "accident" or I'm not there at all....

And what if Bubba is getting the better of you? He probably won't kill you but he's whuppin' you, and that knife is in your pocket...

[Tant01]

A weapon is just another tool. In my case I carry every day but don't expect to need it for SD. It's a last resort, it's very short and mostly for other cutting tasks.

In the event that Bubba decides he wants to be stupid... "he fell down" It was an "accident" or I'm not there at all...

Call 911 for a civil standby and detain him for arrest. You can charge him with anything form disturbing the peace to public intoxication...

Zip ties or duct tape will keep him nice and safe.

[Garland]

I ain't into them artsy films.

I don't think fatty cream pies IV is out yet either...too bad.

[jubaji]

I ain't into them artsy films.

[Garland]

S'mores?! Fucking s'mores?! That's it, I'm off to a movie.

23 sucks
300 is a pro-Iraqi war propaganda piece
Hannibal Rising is not out yet...
I suggest renting this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1xXERFt_Zg

[jubaji]

s'mores can cure the soul.

S'mores?! Fucking s'mores?! That's it, I'm off to a movie.