Home Defense/Self Defense: The Precautions you Take

[A True Kaniggit]

I suppose this is really two separate topics. What do you do to keep yourself safe while at home, and what do you do to keep yourself safe while away from home? (If anything, in either situation)

 

At home, I don’t really worry. I own a fairly large dog. And Laci barks at anything and everything. I consider loud dogs the best defense against any kind of home intruder. Guns should be the very last resort. I own two pistols and keep one on each end of the house, but I doubt I’ll ever have to use them.

 

Away from home I don’t really worry either since I’m usually only outside during daylight hours in highly populated places. I have a 2.5 inch Ruko knife I carry with me sometimes when I remember it. But the only thing I’ve ever used it for is cutting random strings off of what I’m wearing and killing fish I catch before I cook and eat them.

If I ever got jumped, I doubt the knife would help me. An Army E-6 I worked with in San Antonio got jumped (I guess it was a gang initiation thing. They didn’t steal anything. Just beat him up and left). He was a big tough guy. Those 3 punks still kicked the shit out of him. But at least he walked away alive with only a scar above his eye to show for the incident. Who knows what would have happened to him if he had pulled a weapon.

I hear snooker balls are in vogue right now. They seem like a useful deterrent if you don't advertise the back-swing. 

[Luzifer's right hand]

I don't. 

Well I do have a door I guess that counts. 

[A True Kaniggit]

Just now, Luzifer's right hand said:

I don't. 

Well I do have a door I guess that counts. 

But do you lock the door?

[Luzifer's right hand]

Just now, A True Kaniggit said:

But do you lock the door?

Not really. You can only open it with a key from the outside but it is not locked properly. 

[A True Kaniggit]

Just now, Luzifer's right hand said:

Not really. You can only open it with a key from the outside but it is not locked properly. 

Fancy European technology right there.

[Soylent Brown]

I lock my door at night I guess, but that's probably more because I like having my telly stay indoors rather than any personal concern.

Away from home, it's not something that ever crosses my mind either. Admittedly, I'm a 6'5" guy, so I'm probably less likely to be targeted than others, but still.

The last actual fight I got into was when I was about 9, and the fight ended because the other guy tore my jumper, and I ran home crying because I knew my mum would kill me for getting my clothes wrecked.

[Luzifer's right hand]

1 minute ago, A True Kaniggit said:

Fancy European technology right there.

It is a pretty standard door. But I doubt that most American doors are like those I know from TV which can be opened with a few kicks. 

[A True Kaniggit]

2 minutes ago, Soylent Brown said:

Away from home, it's not something that ever crosses my mind either. Admittedly, I'm a 6'5" guy, so I'm probably less likely to be targeted than others, but still.

Yeah. I suppose that's also a deterrent.

I'm 5'5" And weigh 134 lbs. Not that intimidating I've heard.

[Soylent Brown]

I try my best not to be intimidating either.

[Lord of Oop North]

I make sure that I am often seen on my property with my propane torch, chainsaw and/or framing hammer.

 

[A True Kaniggit]

Just now, Lord of Oop North said:

I make sure that I am often seen on my property with my propane torch, chainsaw and/or framing hammer.

 

Goro?

The world is already properly wary of you without the multiple weapons.

[Lord of Oop North]

Just now, A True Kaniggit said:

Goro?

The world is already properly wary of you without the multiple weapons.

The number of jobs where I can combine a torch, chainsaw and hammer are rare indeed, but when the stars align to make that possible - oh boy is that a fun day.

[Spockydog]

I keep a rubber headed mallet under my bed. I pity the fool who breaks into my gaff in the middle of the night.

[A True Kaniggit]

1 minute ago, Spockydog said:

I keep a rubber headed mallet under my bed. I pity the fool who breaks into my gaff in the middle of the night.

But you'd be asleep.

[Spockydog]

Just now, A True Kaniggit said:

But you'd be asleep.

Unless that motherforker is an actual legit ninja, I would most definitely not be asleep. I am a very, very light sleeper.

[A True Kaniggit]

Just now, Spockydog said:

Unless that motherforker is an actual legit ninja, I would most definitely not be asleep. I am a very, very light sleeper.

You should be safe then. The title of Ninja is indeed thrown around too lightly these days.

[john]

27 minutes ago, Luzifer's right hand said:

It is a pretty standard door. But I doubt that most American doors are like those I know from TV which can be opened with a few kicks. 

I went to Ohio for study abroad when I was in university. I had my own off campus apartment and the front door was just the same as any other door in the place and had a thin bolt you could turn like on a bathroom door. You could definitely have kicked it down.

On the other hand, my European front door is thick and resistant to kicks but when it’s on the catch you can open it in seconds with a credit card. I’ve seen the building manager doing it. 

[Ormond]

My apartment building has one of those contraptions where you have to punch a code onto buttons to open the outside door, but it;s not an especially strong one, and people leave the door propped open with a brick regularly when they are carrying things in or out, so it's not much security, really.

I keep the door to my own apartment locked, but otherwise I never think about "security". My life is such that I don't find myself outside in what I perceive to be high crime areas at night, but I am really not consciously avoiding this -- I just am not someone who goes out at night much, even before Covid-19, except to restaurants with friends, and that was never really late at night, almost never past 9.

I carry no knives and don't own any guns, tasers, or any other weapon. 

I am a 69 year old man, and I'm gay, but I have luckily never been threatened because of that, except perhaps once while visiting downtown Atlanta in 1983, and that was in broad daylight around 10 am. 

 

[Mlle. Zabzie]

I’m a pretty small person.  I have always known that my best bet out and about would be surprise and then running as fast as I can.  I trained in a martial art for a few years (am sadly out of practice) but know (and have sadly had to apply) the basics of SING, and using an assailant’s momentum against them.  A weapon would just get used against me.

We have a proper security system at the house.  That’s about all I will say about that, because frankly, though I love y’all freaks, I’m not going to let the internet know in detail about anything else that an intruder might (or might not) expect.  

[HexMachina]

I shut my front door and  usually lock it, although that is more so I know where my keys are than any other reason (I leave them in the lock). The building I live in also requires someone to buzz you in to the lobby, and then there is a door with an access code to get to the actual flats. 

When I lived with my parents we just locked the door too. Because they live in a house rather than in a flat, there is a handle on the outside of the door too so it can be opened from outside if it's left unlocked. Other than that we have two dogs but neither is likely to get aggressive at a stranger in the house, they'd just go looking tombs stroked.

Out and about...nothing really. I have my phone, I suppose, but other than that nothing.