How to protect yourself?

I was watching this one survivalist online and he was talking about the importance of having a gun in case of people trying to invade your home. He was talking about invaders in case of a food shortage or an electrical outage. How does one prepare who never owned or used a gun before? I honestly do not feel comfortable using a gun. I am wondering are their other methods of protecting myself again invaders. I am pretty certain the police won't even bother to show up if there is a major crisis. We also own chickens and I fear someone may try to steal them. My question is twofold. What would you recommend for a beginner in trying to protect the home with or without a gun? Are there other methods that you plan to use?

 

You really do need to decide if you want to be master of your own destiny or a speed bump in someone elses destiny!
If you decide to fight but dislike guns a pistol is useless as you will not become proficient with it!
A shotgun on the other hand is easy to get proficient with even with little use!
It kicks but if you hold it proper you will not notice it at the time!
Cheap target loads are fine for self defence but have a few slug loads handy!
A single shot break open shotty with a long barrel and exposed hammer are cheap and are fool proof!
The long barrel needs more space but it is far easier to just point and shoot than the shorter barrels!

 

I totally understand what you are saying. However, when it comes to protecting yourself, you have to consider what are you willing to do and what you will not do. Some people imagine what if their kids or loved ones were home or a family member who couldn't fend for themselves. For a long time, one of my sisters thought the same way you did until one day I wasn't around and she heard somebody trying to break into her apartment. She called me and I immediately told her to call the police. She didn't have a gun either, but I advised her to get a knife from her kitchen and to keep quiet. They eventually left before the cops came and I stayed on the phone with her the whole time until I could get there. I already had a weapons permit, so this convinced her to get one. I explained all the possibilities of what could go wrong and even went to the shooting range multiple times with her. The gun makes her feel more secure. Even if she never uses it, the added security just like car or health insurance, is knowing that you do have it just in case something happens.

Sometimes it's also not even about what you have. Because I know some people who are just as confident without a gun if they have a baseball bat, a taser or maybe even a dog. A good alarm system helps too. But you can also arm yourself by taking defensive courses as well. The thing is if something happens, you don't know which way it could go. Because both you and the assailants are pumped up on adrenaline, there's no telling what could happen. But I'd rather you be prepared than not prepared.

Let me know if any of this helps.

 

She called me and I immediately told her to call the police. She didn't have a gun either, but I advised her to get a knife from her kitchen and to keep quiet. They eventually left before the cops came and I stayed on the phone with her the whole time until I could get there

The problem here is not a lack of weapons but a victim mentality! knife or gun or bazooka it would not matter she would not have used it!
You actually put her at a greater danger than otherwise! By arming her she became an armed opponent and it is OK to fight an armed opponent!
Bit like brandishing an empty gun at a policeman! you are just asking for trouble!
Unless one is willing to launch an aggressive attack with a weapon you are trained in and willing to use
DO NOT ARM YOURSELF!
You should have advised her to just hide with her phone on silent!
If she don't fight or look them in the eye there is little reason to harm her unless she is the target!
In an altercation there is no gender or good/bad there is only combatants or non combatants!
If one chooses to be a combatant one must accept the price of failure!
Do a what if?
What if they found her with knife in hand?
Would she have prevailed?
Would she have survived?
Would it have been your fault for advising her the way you did?

 

Hi,

Thanks for your response. There is no one way or right or wrong way to answer this question. You have to use your best judgment. The "what ifs" apply to any given scenario, whether you are trained or not. I've seen trained people get taken down by the untrained so it's all a mindset. Now, that's not to say that the scenario always happens, but nothing is really 100%. What matters is that she is more comfortable now and she is trained. She's actually taken it upon herself to go to weapons classes at the shooting range and learn how to handle different firearms. Both of us also have taken self defense courses. Let me also add, that my brother used to be a police officer and she also got some tips from him.

So I do agree with some of your info above and totally appreciate your stance. But I do feel each person has to feel out what they are or are not comfortable with. We can only give advice, it's up to them to decide if/how they want to use it.

 

Yes the mindset is the thing!
Once a person says FXCK IT I AM MORE IMPORTANT! then they become lethal in themselves and any weapon is just another advantage!

 

You may not believe this but we had rented a house for 5 years which was located in the center of the drug den - surrounded by drug pushers who peddle illegal drugs in the street. The family friend who owns the house advised us to buy a gun. But my husband said that he does not have the heart to kill people. What we did was to get a dog and that did the trick. We were fortunate to have a ferocious dog that became notorious in the neighborhood such that criminals residing in the area were scared of our dog.

By the way, although my husband doesn't want a gun, he knows how to handle one. In fact, his father used to be a champion in target shooting with so many trophies and countless of medals to boot. Our only weapon in the house now is the night stick made of rattan which can maim a person when hit in the leg and can even kill when hit on the head.

 

Alright this might sound silly but hear me out: You can always take martial art lessons. Becoming good in karate or judo or something of the kind would prepare you for a lot of situations against intruders. After all, most intruders aren't very adept at fighting hand to hand combat when it comes down to the technicalities and the specifics. Having the skill to disarm a person and/or knock them out is very useful when being able to protect yourself and you may not even need a gun. But if you don't have the time to spend on doing that, you can always have something simple like a baseball bat, mace, or something that you can knock somebody out with. After all, you don't want to necessarily kill the intruder. You want to be able to stop him until the police arrive.

 

But any weapon in hand or the hand itself NEEDS "INTENT"
without THAT ATTITUDE no weapon or skill is any good!

FEAR paralyses many people even highly skilled ones!

Case in point
13yo boy rather big and strong for his age while at martial arts class's got a little too big for his boots!
The master decided to take him down a peg or two by bringing in from another club the female open heavyweight champion!
That would teach him a lesson! get beat up by a girl!
Well match time came and mister 13yo faced off
The two minute match went for 18 seconds
The 13yo boy learnt a valuable lesson
Fear is 80% of the way to losing!
He bowed and walked of the Victor!

That lesson gave him many victories in many tournaments over many years!

 

I so agree. Fear has its way of winding and embedding itself deep down. And with being pushed even further by the rush of adrenaline, there are moments of shock and that's all an intruder needs. We do agree on the mentality and mindset. That is the most powerful weapon of all. It's one of the reasons they say, "Education is the key to success".

 

Education is but part of it!
From what I have gathered it is mostly just the way you are!
Problem is once fear is set early on in childhood
It is damn near impossible to really change it!
You can do as much training as you like with as many weapons as you like but if it ain't in you it just ain't in you!
My opinion! be a fighter if it is in you and train but don't bother even trying if it ain't there, accept it and find a protector to serve!

 

you can have any weapon you like but if you aren't willing to use it there isn't much point in having it.

So true!

 

If you're just using the gun to threaten and have no intention of using it there's no point. Other physical combat would be unadvised honestly.

 

Thanks Keith. This information really does help. We or shall I say, my husband owns rifles. I don't know the name or type. They were actually my father's weapon that he would use to go deer hunting. My husband uses them to keep predators away from the chickens. I will check and see what classes are offered here in my area. I would feel safer using a gun since it's smaller. All the other items you mentioned would be more difficult since I would have to be close up to that person. We are in a rural area so word gets out doing hard times, a gun/rifle would be much safer. My husband doesn't want to teach me how to use the rifle. I guess he thinks I would shoot myself in the foot. LOL.

 

Thanks DaBozzLady for the good advice. You guys are awesome! I really do believe that all of us have to be ready to protect ourselves. When times get really hard and there is no food, or water or electricity, people will do whatever it takes to survive. Even if it means turning on their neighbor. I hope it does not come to that but who knows. I look at what is happening in other countries and I think it could happen here.

 

You are correct, we do have to know how/when to "show up or out". It's a given that something inevitable is going to happen sooner or later and why not be prepared? That's part of the reason why I said education is the key...we all know what we are capable of, in some form or fashion. Use what you have to your advantage. It's one of the reasons I'm glad I lucked up upon this forum because there are so many great ideas and options available. Protecting yourself is necessary to your survival-how you do it is totally up to you.

 

The first thing to do is to control your fears and use your presence of mind because if you do have that you might have big chance to survive specially if the criminal is so dangerous.
The other thing is to look for help.

 

Deeishere
If hubby won't teach you it maybe a good idea to learn somewhere far far away!
And keep shtum about it to all!
If you learn locally you will do your husband a great dis-service! he will be seen as weak and soft and unable to control his woman!
You might not think so but many will and the weaker he is perceived to be the more likely you will need to defend yourself!

Get him to teach you or go far far away to learn!

Have you got relatives in another state who could teach you?

Heck I have a coaching class next weekend and you would be welcome but I am a little far away for you!

 

You own chickens so I'm guessing you live on a farm. Living anywhere that there are animals you have a way to protect them from predators. Unless you live somewhere that doesn't have dangerous animals you might not need a gun. Most farmers own at least a shotgun, I had a uncle who was a farmer who had at least that. In a situation where the police won't show up and you have people around who don't mind breaking into your house and stealing, you have more to worry about than getting robbed. If someone doesn't have to worry about getting caught by the police there's no telling what they'll do especially since your a women, you could be raped or your kids could be raped and killed or anything. You should shoot anyone who breaks into your house, if there unarmed give them a warning and let them know you have a gun and they should retreat. If you don't have a gun you'll have to defend yourself with a knife or some other weapon this will leave you no other choice but to kill them because you'll have to follow up quickly if there's more then one of them. A gun is really more humane believe it or not because in most cases you can scare people away with that, if you're forced to defend yourself without one you may have to actually kill someone depending on how dangerous they are. You should get a legal fire arm and get training on how to use it.

 

There is no limit to what I will do when protecting myself and family. My mmfather definitely made sure everyone in the household knew how to shoot a pistol correctly by the age of 9. He use to teach us when we was 4 and 5 with a play gun so that we knew how to hold one and what the trigger was. I think you should go to a gun range and learn how to use a gun. It's kind of the only reliable protection these days.

 

Good point. I like knives because I'm not much of a marksman and know that with a knife I can only hurt someone who deserves it...but then again, if the attacker wants to get into a knife fight...what you said.

 

True. If you begin to panic and lose control of yourself, then you will most like not be able to protect yourself.
Having presence of mind and being calm in a situation like that, will give you more options on how you are planning to protect yourself.