Just as in hand to hand close quarter combat scenarios, so too in the realm of self defense, distance is an important consideration.

If you are subjected to an attack and you lack the expert skills of a martial artist or don’t like the idea of carrying a firearm, then you will want a self defense deterrent that affords you some protection at a distance that’s further than grappling range.

Stun batons offer you the same power as a stun gun, but allow you to maintain some precious distance between yourself and an attacker.

Keychain Pepper Spray

A quality pepper spray with a quick release keychain can form a self defense strategy that will assist you in a lightning quick self defense response. Pepper spray will stop an attacker in their tracks or have them flailing about blindly while you escape or mount a counter attack.

There’s a couple of great things about pepper spray. It’s non-lethal, it’s legal to own, it’s easy and effective in use against attackers of all sizes and species of mammals. Get some!

Wikipedia describes a certain type of person, usually male, that can be extremely difficult to handle, especially if they’ve manipulated themselves into a position of authority. Often times we’re confronted by such individuals in our daily life at work, on the highway, behind our computer’s monitor and in local watering holes.

“Napoleon complex is a term describing an alleged type of inferiority complex which is said to affect some people, especially men, who are short in stature. The term is also used more generally to describe people who are driven by a perceived handicap to overcompensate in other aspects of their lives. This term is also known as Napoleon syndrome, Short Man syndrome, Little Man syndrome and Small Man syndrome.”

These are the guys who generally drink a bottle or 2 of “Joe Louis Beer” and set off to picking a fight with the biggest or toughest guy in the house. Not a rational though process or behavior.

Other examples of men who exhibit this behavior are types who seem to be working overtime, having low self esteem – trying to make up for real or perceived shortcomings in their lives and/or imaginations. They come off as smug, rude and even “catty,” seeking revenge for petty injustices.

We have to deal with real bodies in a street confrontation and it helps us in self defense scenarios to know what it is that “drives” our aggressors, what causes the aberrant behavior that we see displayed.

The best defense to a man with Napoleon or Small Man syndrome, is simply to allow them to spout off and like a vessel filled with compressed gases, they will deflate in time.

Other times, when the threshold of good manners or law has been breached and an attack is launched, a good way to meet it is “head-on,” which plays against the disturbed individual’s innate, self deprecating, mindset. This allows the force of your defense to be magnified greatly and will shut down the majority of verbal, mental, and physical attacks from people exhibiting these symptoms.

A good rule for self defense is to “know your enemy.” This isn’t always possible, but very often it’s easy to spot an opponent’s weakness by their actions.

Police Pepper Spray

I was watching another of my favorite Animal Planet programs, called Headline Attacks I believe. This episode was about big cats attacking their owners and keepers.

The first segment showed an animal expert working with a mountain lion. For some reason, the cat went sour on him and began sorting him out very quickly. It was only through the heroic actions of a quick thinking friend that he was saved. His friend had picked up an ice chest and began beating the big cat until it decided to go elsewhere, to find a tasty morsel that put up less of a fuss.

The narrator said that no one involved had pepper spray or used the proper precautions in handling this American lion.

In the second segment, there was a trio of juvenile (very large) tigers in an enclosure. A hired hand who had cleaned up after them since they were cubs, turned his back and upon bending over, set off one of the juvenile tigers. Once one of these young tigers jumped on him playfully, it triggered a response and all of them swarmed him with bites and raking paws. A co-worker bravely got into the enclosure and started yelling and hitting them with a gardening implement until they broke of their playful attack. Not before mauling the 1st man badly and nearly costing him his life however.

Again, the narrator mentioned that the man shouldn’t have turned his back to them and that neither man was equipped with a proper pole or pepper spray.

So where am I going with this? I believe in self defense and these attack victims put themselves “at risk” which one should never do. I can’t stress enough, how effective pepper spray is in warding off an attacker, whether human or the king of beasts. Get some and learn to use it. It may save your life!

I wanted to give you a “heads up” on the sale of stun guns, pepper spray, Mace and personal alarms that’s going on at SafetyEnforcement.com, an online outlet.

This website is a Yahoo! Top Rated merchant and has a huge inventory of these products at prices generally below anywhere else on the internet.

If you need a non-lethal self defense product, now’s your chance to stock up. There is only one low flat rate to anywhere in the USA and buying 2 or 3 items doesn’t affect the shipping fees. Get Some!

A 200 pound pet chimpanzee in Stamford, Connecticut, viciously mauled a woman he had known for years, leaving her critically injured with much of her face torn away, the authorities said.

The 90-kilogram animal was shot and killed on Monday by the police after he assaulted an officer in his car. That is one huge chimp and easily capable of ripping a person limb from limb!

The woman, Charla Nash, 55, a friend of the chimpanzee’s owner, was being treated at Stamford Hospital and might not survive, the authorities said…..full story here…http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/world/americas/17iht-chimp.1.20241928.html

There are lots of self defense deterrents for one to choose from. For those who are so inclined, a gun is extremely effective in thwarting a home invasion and takes no special permit to keep one in your home. If you plan to carry a hand gun, then you’ll need to apply for and be issued a Conceal Carry permit before doing so.

Guns aren’t for everyone and that’s understandable. There are loads of quality self defense products like stun guns, pepper spray, alarms and more that may be just as effective in stopping an attack.

Finally, we have our own will to survive, as well as any self defense training we may have picked up, to resist an attacker with. I recommend that for beginners, one should not use fists to the face – use your palms, as they won’t be injured as easily and will still deliver a crushing strike when employed.

We don’t want to forget to use our elbows and knees to deliver hard blows – again, these are joints in our arsenal that will generally keep you safe from injuring yourself while striking. Scratching eyes, biting – it’s all good when your life is on the line. There are nor rules in a real self defense scenario. You either win and walk away or lose and well….who knows what condition you’ll be left in.

Remember to keep things simple and tap into your primal survival mode if you’re attacked and you find yourself unarmed!