Your Overall Personal Protection Plan ?

[FLA2760]

Hi All
Those on this board are concerned for their personal safety as well as that of their loved ones. We all know ;or we should know that a firearm is but one tool within the larger framework of our plan. Are you always aware of your surroundings? When you park your car do you try to park under or near a light source? Do you avoid parking beside vans and other large vehicles that could afford a BG an ambush point? This is a pet peeve of mine that I preach to my wife and daughter! Do you have a cell phone and if so is the battery charged? Do you carry Pepper spray and or an edged weapon as well as your firearm? I find myself going over what if situations where you could utilize Pepper Spray if that would stop the threat without endangering your life. None of us wants to shoot someone but sometimes it is unavoidable. It is good to have multiple options. I for one carry OC and a knife in addition to my gun. It seem that in the litigious society we live in this is prudent. Your ideas on this?
Steve

[Henry Baker]

I always park carefully under a light, near a cop car, or where I can see my car. The reason is because I drive a Jeep Wrangler with a soft top and have been robbed multiple times. I always carry Buck pocket knife with a 3 1/8 inch blade. But again thats for utilitarian reasons not safety. My friends dad was an under cover Narcotics agent for years and has a lot of pepper spray around the house. We spray eachother with it occasionally and it doesn't feel good. :barf: However, we can still opperate fine. If it can't stop stupid kids playing I wouldn't trust my life on it. A 45 slug through is brain or a good sharp knife to his throat will do it for sure. Every time!
(grusome but true)

[Dwight55]

FLA, . . . just for the record, yes I do do most of the things you mentioned. I came home from VietNam, . . . a bit "different" than I was when I left.

Some have called me paranoid, . . . I prefer the term, careful.

I try very careful to know what is going on around me at all times, no matter where I am, . . . no matter who is with me.

It has saved my bacon too many times to tell, . . . but it all boils down to one phrase, . . . stay alert. If you are alert, . . . you will most always get some kind of warning before stuff happens, . . . you can then react much earlier than if you wait until the problem is upon you.

I also avoid crowds, . . . bad areas of town (if I can), . . . I try to be off the streets before midnite, . . . and don't go out again until after sun up if I can. When I can't, . . . my radar is on "high alert".

Yes, . . . I carry a full size .45, . . . 2 extra 8 shot mags, . . . and a small pocket knife, . . . no to the pepperspray. If I can't walk away, hobble away, drive away, or talk my way out of whatever is going down, . . . I'm too old to mess with some whacko I just peppersprayed. He'll see my stainless Springfield and decide once and for all if he wants to further the altercation.

But again, . . . just to emphasize, . . . being alert has saved my six far more times than my .45 has. I have sidled out of situations because of the alert factor, . . . long before it became a shooting match. And yes, . . . I'm glad.

May God bless,
Dwight

[Twycross]

I am in condition yellow anytime that I am in contact with people. I'm not old enough for a CCW, so I only pack a gun out in the woods, but I carry a knife of some sort, blade lengths varying from 2.75 inches to 3.5 inches. I tried carrying OC for a while, but the spray-cap kept coming off in my pocket. I charge my cell phone every night, and carry it everywhere but at work (company policy). College stopped my MA lessons, but not before I earned a black belt in Kempo Karate. I still need to work on parking my car right. I seem to always find it out by itself in the dark at a far end of the lot.

[SomeKid]

Situational awareness is the first thing I always keep up on. Being a college student, I cannot carry far more often than I can. (I hate it. But I want to be reach, so I deal with the infringment.)

I don't bother with mace, IMO it just isn't worth it, considering how close they have to be. I would like to carry a knife, but it is illegal to carry over 4", so I decided to just go unarmed, much to my dislike.

When I DO carry, which is everywhere that is not school, it is a G23, and an extra mag. Again, I keep alert on my surroundings, and have never had to pull my weapon.

I read a phrase somewhere...'Be polite to everyone you meet, and have a plan to kill each and every one'.

Oh, and Dwight, I read that in English. Thanks.

[John Ringo]

Being aware of one's surroundings is the biggest strength. Thugs often go after people they know that they can easily handle. Some people walk around with their head in the clouds and give the streetwalkers and thugs an easy target. They simply don't believe that someone would ever actually harm them. I do know a few people like this.

[Twycross]

Some people walk around with their head in the clouds and give the streetwalkers and thugs an easy target.

Amen. I bet at least a third of the people I pass each day fit this discription perfectly.

[Mannlicher]

Staying away from unsafe areas, and being constantly aware of your surroundings are as important, if not more so, than what you 'pack'.

[chadwimc]

A lot has to do with attitude. I have to work nights at a major midwestern university. Hardly a week goes by where I'm not challenged in some way. Either an aggressive bum or some " poor mis-unnerstood yoof " wants something for nothing from me. Some people don't seem to understand that "Good evening, young man" only invites further attention. If "they" see you as weak, you're toast. I have no problem matching MF'er with MF'er.
Other than attitude, I carry a folding Gerber knife. When going to and from, I ride with an guy named "Roscoe"...

[Double Naught Spy]

I for one carry OC and a knife in addition to my gun. It seem that in the litigious society we live in this is prudent.

Oh great, another person who lets the possbility of being sued by and unknown person in some unknown future event determine his defense needs.

I may carry a knife and/or OC spray in addition to my concealed handgun (or handguns if I am at work), but the notion of potential litigation had absolutely nothing to do with my selection of potential defense tools. Of the non-firearm options, the knife really isn't much better than a gun as a knife is considered a lethal force tool, only one that you have to use at very close range (contact) unlike a gun.

So what was the logic argument your lawyer made to you to suggest that knife offered a reduced litigious threat to your future finances as compared to that of a gun?

[BloodyBucket03]

I don't do alot of the things some of you guys do. I am big guy about 240. I look like I could chew up a chump up and spit them out, I guess I was a little hardened from my tour of Duty in OIF II. I am always alert. I carry my .45 two extra mags. I like to park far away from everyone at the store. I do go out late nights and sometimes into shady area's of town but I am very young and if Hajji couldn't take me out with his IED's and his RPG's no punk trying to be tuff can!!!!!

[23Skidoo]

I grew up in NY.

Avoiding potentially bad situations is probably more important for survival than being good with a gun. Be aware of who is around you. If you feel uncomfortable, get moving elsewhere.

[JuniorCommando]

FYI a knife is considered a dangerous weapon and legally you would be no better off if you stabbed someone over shooting them.

[308Enfield]

In terms of preparedness rather than strictly SD I like having my Swisschamp and Photon micro LED light in my pocket at all times. I work in IT, so the big swiss army knife comes in handy more for me than it would for most people, but short of moving up to something as bulky as a Leatherman or other multi-tool its the most useful thing I can get in my pocket. The Photon microlights are also great, I know if I'm ever stuck in an office building or other area when the power goes out I'll be glad to have it; its already come in handy once on a dark night at our family farm.

As for SD, I work and study on a university campus, so carry isn't allowed here at all, even if I had my permit. I've just taken my permit class and hopefully will have my permit soon; at that point a good carry pistol will be with me when I'm off campus. I'll agree with all those who have stressed situational awareness, I've had more than one martial arts instructor tell me that the best martial art is track - running is easier than fighting if you have the choice.

[Jehzsa]

Overall Personal Protection Plan ?

Shoot to kill?