Self-defense, what do you recommend?

[Player Twelve]

I'm living in the second biggest Swedish city, and I oftentimes take walks alone, in the middle of the night, when literally no one is around. Maybe I am just too carefree in that regard, I don't know - but like I said, I am just not really scared about something happening; however, if it did, I guess I am out of luck.

Firearms aren't allowed here, but where they are, they seem like a good choice. Yeah, it can backfire (no pun intended), but so can other means of self-defense.

I wouldn't even do that in Karlskrona, much less in Göteborg.

[Dsc]

1) Living in a free state with concealed carry and stand your ground/castle laws

2) your brain. (awareness / common sense don't live in drug infested, inner city shitholes. avoid places where vermin are.)

3. A standard capacity firearm. I carry a G19 + 28 round spare mag in the console. Wife likes her Ruger LC9, Dad carries a 642 Jframe revolver.

4) Home defense : AR15, A shotgun, carry gun under pillow or nightstand. Evil exists and may come into your home, it did for these poor souls. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheshi...vasion_murders]
A dog. cameras, proper locks, and reinforced frame.

5) Training and practice.

[McFuu]

I realized the other day that I haven't carried any sort of self-defense since I lived in Chicago, and that I really should start carrying something to protect myself and my very wimpy 70-lb Golden Retriever when we are on walks. Just in case.

What sort of self defense weapon do you recommend overall, and why?

https://www.range365.com/best-self-defense-handgun
http://www.selfdefenseninja.com/
https://www.asecurelife.com/self-defense-without-a-gun/

I'd like to take some classes on how to shoot one day (I grew up in AK and it's a bit shameful that I don't know how to shoot), but if I do it would likely be for rifle use for hunting game rather than self-defense.

I don't think you can carry in Chicago, you can't even own in City limits I thought.

[Viikkis]

Never bring a knife to a gun fight!

Lets be real if you live in the US then 9 times out of 10 the person mugging you or wishes to do you harm will use a gun.

Plus not many people have what it takes to plunge a knife into someone but pulling a trigger well anyone can do that even under huge stress and fear.

But Frank Castle said in The Punisher that he'd take a knife over a gun in close combat!!!

[jellmoo]

I'm completely anti gun but fuck me if I lived in the states I'd be carrying. And this is coming from someone with 22 years of martial arts training and I specilise in teaching practical self defense.

Outside of the states I'd say pepper spray, you don't just join a self defense course and within a few class become an expert. The way I do it, is teaching the very basic, easy hit targets, proper way of hitting etc.

A few years ago every Saturday I taught a self defense seminar, men, women, teen and towards the 2 month mark most of them thought they were invincible and started 'teaching' their own stuff during breaks from watch youtube. So I bought in a friend and set up the scenario in class, this guy approaches you to attack. Defend. To be successful you had to do enough to be able to leg it to the door and out the building. Out of 15 regulars TWO of them did it. They kept it simple one a kick to the bollocks and the other took the knee down. Everyone else tried to do something fancy one guy even attempted a jumping kick (course the one who was preaching youtube)

Anyways, its just reinforcing my point, self defense classes are great but takes time, depending on your location you should have an alternative. Except a knife. Never a knife.

Here's the thing: I don't disagree. I worked as a bouncer back in the day and you know what I saw? People that took courses like the one you offered and came in like they were king shit. I never hurt a single one of them, but I taught them that knowing a thing or two isn't going to change the outcome.

But I firmly believe that a firearm simply escalates a situation that is already dangerous. Odds are if a criminal is going to make a move on you, the criminal is prepared. Weapon is ready and the intent to do harm is engaged. Relying on a weapon in a situation like that can simply make a bad day into your last one.

I'm not saying that having a weapon (and I include pepper spray or some other non-lethal form of weapon here) isn't helpful. What I *am* saying is that being properly trained on how to handle and survive such a situation is even more important.

[derpkitteh]

The shotgun would be better than a baseball bat or a kitchen knife. Even if it is a single shot. May be all you would need. I would get rid of the .22. Any firearm which you do not feel is going to be reliable, is not worth even having.

well, i watched a video on it actually, and this dude replaced the whole firing mechanism thing. apparently this line of .22's were notorious for failing like this.

i actually know what the issue is. there's this little piece of metal that gets pushed up by the magazine. it catches the hammer. no idea why it's even there, it doesn't hole the magazine in place or anything, it doesn't seem to have any purpose.

[Ghostpanther]

I'm living in the second biggest Swedish city, and I oftentimes take walks alone, in the middle of the night, when literally no one is around. Maybe I am just too carefree in that regard, I don't know - but like I said, I am just not really scared about something happening; however, if it did, I guess I am out of luck.

Firearms aren't allowed here, but where they are, they seem like a good choice. Yeah, it can backfire (no pun intended), but so can other means of self-defense.

I think having the choice is one thing I love about the Second Amendment in my country. I never condemn those who choose not to have or carry a firearm for self defense. I do vigorously defend my choice to have one however. And I firmly believe in my reasons. The odds are nether of our concerns will ever happen. I certainly pray mine does not. But I like the feeling knowing I am not going to be caught defenseless if they do. I carry my firearm everywhere it is legal to do so and know the laws in each state I may be visiting.

[Deleted]

Shoot the knee

[Ghostpanther]

1) Living in a free state with concealed carry and stand your ground/castle laws

2) your brain. (awareness / common sense don't live in drug infested, inner city shitholes. avoid places where vermin are.)

3. A standard capacity firearm. I carry a G19 + 28 round spare mag in the console. Wife likes her Ruger LC9, Dad carries a 642 Jframe revolver.

4) Home defense : AR15, A shotgun, carry gun under pillow or nightstand. Evil exists and may come into your home, it did for these poor souls. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheshi...vasion_murders]
A dog. cameras, proper locks, and reinforced frame.

5) Training and practice.

Awesome. You are prepared for damn sure.

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I don't think you can carry in Chicago, you can't even own in City limits I thought.

You can own a handgun for home defense there. They tried to ban them period. But that was struck down by the Supreme Court.

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well, i watched a video on it actually, and this dude replaced the whole firing mechanism thing. apparently this line of .22's were notorious for failing like this.

i actually know what the issue is. there's this little piece of metal that gets pushed up by the magazine. it catches the hammer. no idea why it's even there, it doesn't hole the magazine in place or anything, it doesn't seem to have any purpose.

Get it fixed or get rid of it. Is my suggestion. Never, ever rely on or even attempt to shoot a firearm you know is not reliable.

[Deleted]

I wouldn't even do that in Karlskrona, much less in Göteborg.

Yeah, like I said - maybe I am just too carefree in that regard. Or believe too much in the good of people.
Maybe I'd also have a different mindset if something happened. Who knows.

I think having the choice is one thing I love about the Second Amendment in my country.

I understand that. I mean, it does come with it downsides too, and I never really felt like not having guns here would be a problem - but if you have the choice, might as well have one yourself.

[faithbane]

What sort of self defense weapon do you recommend overall, and why?

Sorry to shatter the illusion but there is no "best" self defense weapon. There isn't even a good self defense weapon. Statistically you will find more cases of people getting assaulted/incapacitated before they can use their defensive weapon and/or have it used against him then someone safely using a defensive weapon to fend off an attacker. there is also the chance of panicking and shooting a bystander on accident trying to defend yourself and get charged with manslaughter.. + Guns need to be stored carefully and cleaned regularly as well..

"The good guy with a gun" narrative is also an extremely made up straw man argument. More toddles have shot each other with a gun this year then a good guy with a gun stopped crime in the whole decade.

Try to avoid online articles or clips that claim certain self defense is better than another, and if you see a girl or a showman looking guy teaching you the best move on YT, turn away and RUN! Coming from a guy who did muay thai for 5 years and Brazilian jiujitsu for almost a decade now, I would suggest signing up to any "real" combat sport where you do live sparring for self defense. Boxing, BJJ, wrestling, Sambo, kick boxing/muai thai are all good options that will help you defend yourself, get you in shape to fight or run + boost your confidence and mental state.

I do realize you don't have years to learn a new martial art at the moment or just don't want to, so more quick solution to feel safe is to get a non-lethal, easy to use defensive weapon such as pepper spray simply for the <feeling safe> mental aspect of it. What will help a lot is a confident posture and walk which the possible attacker pays good attention to while picking a target (sadly helps less if you are a girl), and good situational awareness. Don't back yourself into a corner, panic and pace, run into an alley trying to avoid a person chasing you etc.

What I did when I was walking a dog was to carry a baseball bat or a large stick but it was mostly to poke wild strays away.

[Flarelaine]

I'm not an expert on this, but I think packaging whatever you choose with a self-defense course sounds a good idea. Building preparedness and all that.

[Ghostpanther]

Yeah, like I said - maybe I am just too carefree in that regard. Or believe too much in the good of people.
Maybe I'd also have a different mindset if something happened. Who knows.


I understand that. I mean, it does come with it downsides too, and I never really felt like not having guns here would be a problem - but if you have the choice, might as well have one yourself.

You would.

Yep. It does. How many rights do we have which has no downsides? Freedom is never without some costs involved.

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Sorry to shatter the illusion but there is no "best" self defense weapon. There isn't even a good self defense weapon. Statistically you will find more cases of people getting assaulted/incapacitated before they can use their defensive weapon and/or have it used against him then someone safely using a defensive weapon to fend off an attacker. there is also the chance of panicking and shooting a bystander on accident trying to defend yourself and get charged with manslaughter.. + Guns need to be stored carefully and cleaned regularly as well..

"The good guy with a gun" narrative is also an extremely made up straw man argument. More toddles have shot each other with a gun this year then a good guy with a gun stopped crime in the whole decade.

Try to avoid online articles or clips that claim certain self defense is better than another, and if you see a girl or a showman looking guy teaching you the best move on YT, turn away and RUN! Coming from a guy who did muay thai for 5 years and Brazilian jiujitsu for almost a decade now, I would suggest signing up to any "real" combat sport where you do live sparring for self defense. Boxing, BJJ, wrestling, Sambo, kick boxing/muai thai are all good options that will help you defend yourself, get you in shape to fight or run + boost your confidence and mental state.

I do realize you don't have years to learn a new martial art at the moment or just don't want to, so more quick solution to feel safe is to get a non-lethal, easy to use defensive weapon such as pepper spray simply for the <feeling safe> mental aspect of it. What will help a lot is a confident posture and walk which the possible attacker pays good attention to while picking a target (sadly helps less if you are a girl), and good situational awareness. Don't back yourself into a corner, panic and pace, run into an alley trying to avoid a person chasing you etc.

What I did when I was walking a dog was to carry a baseball bat or a large stick but it was mostly to poke wild strays away.

It is no illusion. There are more effective choices depending on a person's situation and what they are willing to do.

Statistics do not mean shit to a victim. And even those, are based on ones reported to the police. There was a study done several years ago, where the estimate of firearms being used to stop or prevent a crime was over a million cases per year. Of course if you are anti-gun you would dismiss such study. Like I dismiss the statistic I am more likely to shoot myself than I am going to use it successfully in a self defense situation. Those statistics assume I am not trained or responsible when it comes to a firearm. I do agree too many are not.

[looorg]

Firearms aren't allowed here, but where they are, they seem like a good choice. Yeah, it can backfire (no pun intended), but so can other means of self-defense.

Firearms are totally allowed and legal here if you get the proper training and permits, most people are just not allowed to carry concealed handguns in the streets.

[XDurionX]

You would.

Yep. It does. How many rights do we have which has no downsides? Freedom is never without some costs involved.

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It is no illusion. There are more effective choices depending on a person's situation and what they are willing to do.

Statistics do not mean shit to a victim. And even those, are based on ones reported to the police. There was a study done several years ago, where the estimate of firearms being used to stop or prevent a crime was over a million cases per year. Of course if you are anti-gun you would dismiss such study. Like I dismiss the statistic I am more likely to shoot myself than I am going to use it successfully in a self defense situation. Those statistics assume I am not trained or responsible when it comes to a firearm. I do agree too many are not.

That's not true at all.

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/hicrc/f...nse-gun-use-2/

We use epidemiological theory to explain why the “false positive” problem for rare events can lead to large overestimates of the incidence of rare diseases or rare phenomena such as self-defense gun use. We then try to validate the claims of many millions of annual self-defense uses against available evidence. We find that the claim of many millions of annual self-defense gun uses by American citizens is invalid.

Hemenway, David. Survey research and self-defense gun use: An explanation of extreme overestimates. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. 1997; 87:1430-1445.

Hemenway, David. The myth of millions of annual self-defense gun uses: A case study of survey overestimates of rare events. Chance (American Statistical Association). 1997; 10:6-10.

Cook, Philip J; Ludwig, Jens; Hemenway, David. The gun debate’s new mythical number: How many defensive uses per year? Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. 1997; 16:463-469.

[breadisfunny]

Isn't this what you guys feel "you need" to defend yourselves over there?

most definitely possibly even this:

[Ghostpanther]

Firearms are totally allowed and legal here if you get the proper training and permits, most people are just not allowed to carry concealed handguns in the streets.

Well, if they are not available for most people, then it is not a realistic choice for self defense outside your home. So her point for the most part, as a choice for self defense, is correct.

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That's not true at all.

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/hicrc/f...nse-gun-use-2/

We use epidemiological theory to explain why the “false positive” problem for rare events can lead to large overestimates of the incidence of rare diseases or rare phenomena such as self-defense gun use. We then try to validate the claims of many millions of annual self-defense uses against available evidence. We find that the claim of many millions of annual self-defense gun uses by American citizens is invalid.

Hemenway, David. Survey research and self-defense gun use: An explanation of extreme overestimates. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. 1997; 87:1430-1445.

Hemenway, David. The myth of millions of annual self-defense gun uses: A case study of survey overestimates of rare events. Chance (American Statistical Association). 1997; 10:6-10.

Cook, Philip J; Ludwig, Jens; Hemenway, David. The gun debate’s new mythical number: How many defensive uses per year? Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. 1997; 16:463-469.

Would depend on which study you want to believe is true and also, what you own bias are. I can link other studies which would refute the ones you linked.

[looorg]

Well, if they are not available for most people, then it is not a realistic choice for self defense outside your home. So her point for the most part, as a choice for self defense, is correct.

Yes, no doubt. I just wanted to point out that guns are as a matter of fact not illegal in Sweden even tho people seem to claim that all the time for some odd reason. Just cause there isn't a (legal) local gunstore in every other corner of the hood. You can own almost limitless amounts of rifles and handguns if you just do it properly.

For self defence? Don't be there if probably the best idea. If that isn't an option unless you are a fighter just give them your damn wallet and then leave unless you figure it's worth dying for.

[Ghostpanther]

most definitely possibly even this:

The AR- 14 or 15 is a good home defense weapon. Esp if you are dealing with multiple targets.

Lol! The tank would be only good if you keep it maintained and in running order, which would be expensive and for running over things. It is not legal to have the ammo and the tank to be fully combat ready for private ownership.

[breadisfunny]

The AR- 14 or 15 is a good home defense weapon. Esp if you are dealing with multiple targets.

Lol! The tank would be only good if you keep it maintained and in running order, which would be expensive and for running over things. It is not legal to have the ammo and the tank to be fully combat ready for private ownership.

we'll let the courts decide that.