Although I agree with you, I beg anyone who decides to walk around armed. Concealed or open carried. Please please please, get training. Not one class, not two, not even three. Take as many classes as you can. I try for once a month. Just when you think you know everything you need to. Start back at the basics. Getting a good sight picture. Learn to shoot with both eyes open. Pay attention to your surroundings. Learn how to clear a room or even the whole house. Always looking for both soft and hard cover. Learn your state laws, again, know your state laws. Too easy to end up in jail for the simple fact of not knowing what you are allowed to and then not knowing how to do it.
Any class that bypasses any basic gun safety, get a refund and leave. Better yet, just leave before you learn something that might get you or someone else killed. It’s a monumental responsibility to carry a firearm 24/7. You can’t use it to intimidate. You can’t use it because you are angry and have a point to prove. You can never ever ever leave it unlocked where anyone can get to it. If you can’t do that one thing responsibly you may end up contributing to the death of completely innocent people.
Finally, get those thoughts of using a flashlight as a blinding instrument out of your head. You will get yourself seriously hurt or even killed with a false sense of security. If all you have is a flashlight. Run, don’t walk, don’t mouth off, run, fast. Don’t let your mouth get you into trouble you are not able to get yourself out of. An idiot friend of mine from years ago, always carried a gun in his truck. He got pissed off one too many times, brandished his gun at other people many times out on the road. Got caught. Did a little jail time for a felony. Guess what? No more guns for him, no more voting, no more decent jobs. His gun got him a lifetime of never getting a job with benefits and, he’s still an idiot.
That’s great advice! The only thing I would add to that is to take some self defense classes and learn how and when to fight back. At best (in a fight) light is only a distraction, like sand in the face, it will P1$$ people off, the flashlight itself then becomes an impact weapon for you or your opponent. However, it has drawbacks, if you leave it on it can make you a target.
"Too easy to end up in jail for the simple fact of......"
And same with doing what you have to do, and doing it right.
If you have a self defense incident, you can plan on having a self defense case.
Me? 8,000 pedestrian miles, 50 miles per week, two self defense incidents, two self defense cases.
I love to walk around with big flashlights, but the speed at which I can wield them, compared to the speed that an attacker can send me to the hospital, indicates that a flashlight is not an ambush charge attack defense equipment of first, second, or third choice.
Dark? Reach for a flashlight.
In physical danger of immediate attack? Reach for self-defense equipment that was designed for such use.
Again, as toddcshoe said, get plenty of training and keep up with it!
MY recommendation to any of you.
Would be migrate here to Australia.
Stay out of the braindead full of, city’s.
and live a nice peaceful life.
We didn’t even lock the cars or house up round here till a few yrs ago.
When the Southerner Dole Bludgers started moving up here.
And staying.
We live in the sub Tropics on Tropic of Capricorn.
Climatic Heaven. Shirt. Shorts and sandals 11 months of the yr.
Plus the light surf rolling in puts me to sleep most nights.
Biggest weapon carried round here. Is a six pac on way to beach or visitting somebody’s pool.
Why the hell would people want to live in Areas with those conditions.
We have the maniac foreign Imports here too. But at least Guns aren’t legal here yet.
Outside of the Police. and clubs safe’s.
What sort of idiots would let the public walk round with legal guns in their pockets. with the number of Brain dead maniacs loose on the streets nowadays.
In our country as well as yours.
We stop off over there most yrs going on holidays. To visit madam’’s son and kids.
But don’t stay long.
NC, Kentucky. and Ontario.and don’t get out of car much.
Most of the rest of the world is a much more peaceful place.(NOT counting Ayrabs)
I feel safer in Egypt and Mexico than US.
This is America. God, Guns, Apple Pie.
I do not understand any populace that would allow a government to disarm them. Read history. Hitler, Stalin, Mao all went down that path to tyranny.
Hmm.
There seem to be a few “Group Murders” going on at present.
We travel all over the Western world and some Eastern.
For a coupla 3 months every yr.
Usually Visit family in Canada and US on way out, or back.
US is the only country I feel uncomfortable in whether driving or walking around.
You don’t know who has a gun and who will use it.
(I Know… Mental attitudes, we brought up without them basically)
Sorry.
You may be brought up with them. (I was for 20+ yrs)
But over there. I never feel comfortable.
Most of the rest of the world was brought up with a different Mind set to US I think.
I’ve lived and worked in 4 or 5.
Better if we agree to disagree methink’s. We both happy.
and neither could win.
Well most people live in fairly safe places. Sometimes it’s just a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Not sure of how many people know this or not but, here in the US the police have absolutely no constitutional or civic duty to protect you. Now the guy putting the graphic on might have thought was a good idea. Protect And Serve. Serve they do, their government. Protection of every day Joe’s isn’t a requirement.
You kind of answered your own second question. Though I can see by the punctuation that that was more of a statement than a question. I’ll shorten it though. Idiots with legal guns. Maniacs on the streets.
What better reason is there to actually take advantage of one of our rights. Sorry, our rights. It’s easy to forget sometimes that not every country works the same as others.
Hmm, group murders as you call them aren’t new or numerous. They count around 1% of yearly deaths by guns. Media love to play it up like everyone who owns a gun is going to shoot up a school or movie theater. Percentage wise it really is quite rare.
If you feel uncomfortable I highly doubt it has anything to do with worrying about who has a gun or not. Now you are just traveling through and making yourself miserable because now you are using your imagination to convince yourself that everyone is carrying a gun. Not true at all. A lot of states have very restricted gun laws. Some don’t. I live in one that has very little gun laws of any kind. 99% of the state being fairly rural. It’s not uncommon at all to see men and women grocery shopping or just running errands with a firearm openly carried on their hip. You know how many people die of gun shot wounds. Now this doesn’t count suicide or accidental shooting of ones fool self. In my county? 7, yep 7. More people were killed by pencils in my county than shot by a armed person.
Anyway I have a sneaking suspicion that your level of discomfort increases the further you get from home. I think it’s like that with a lot of people. Especially if that culture or country is doing something totally outside what you see as normal.
Outside of inner city gangs U.S. murder rate drops on par with many European countries. We shoot them, they stab each other. I’ve been in Law enforcement over 25 years, have yet to shoot any one. Our agency of 1300 is rather peaceful. It is a mind set, I carry a firearm every where, shoot competitively, and teach pistol, rifle and shotgun. Lately I’ve been changing more tires than arresting, U.S. is getting more peaceful overall. We do have a drug and mental health crisis going on.
But this is a huge side track from the original post. Flashlight are not self defense weapons. There are a tool. If it’s a big tool than it’s got a place in self defense as a club. A little flashlight than as a strike item like a Kubotan. I use mine to deprive people of there night vision. I also carry pepper spray which is close to a liquid sledge hammer. Good shoes and a phone go a long way too. Lots of training too. All of this is legal in most states. Pepper spray far surpasses tear gas and being all natural is not as controlled as tear gas. In general flashlights, rubber chicken and kazoos are not preferred self defense tools.
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^ yep, wrong place, wrong time is what happens and it happened to me of all places right here in Canada at Costco. Steroid junky on crack ready to take a go at me for no other reason than to get into a fight. De-escalation worked for me, but I was ready just in case.
In England and Aust. The local police are there to protect. YOU. ANd your property.
against damage and theft.
Control unruliness on streets. Drunkenness. Drugs. Bad tempers etc.
Can be hired for party’s Clubs sessions etc.
Generally to protect the public. and most…. are very good and nice about it.
You always get the odd bent one and dick.
They BLEND. Mostly. Rather than being authorative Unless it’s req’d.
and have only carried open weapons in recent yrs.
The only thing I think should be changed though.
Is. Do NOT have police fully armoured.armed squads.
They not normally the right mentality for it.
The Army needs practice and we paying them anyway.
A Squad or Platoon of full dress. Armed. squaddies
WILL do and be a better deterrant than a handful of overdressed policemen.
That tend to go in spraying bullets everywhere.
I can think of a significant section of the population of the UK that might disagree with that assessment of military forces used domestically, based on some fairly recent history.