Self Defense For Women Tips

Kirsten Joy Weiss says:

What are some of your self-defense go-tos or attitudes? Share them here!
Also, Be sure to check out http://www.simplisafe.com/KJW <— no kickbacks for me, only potential deals now & in future for you!

Dee Vee says:

Jui jitsu isn't good martial arts for self defense. It's good for bullying, fighting non-agressive/non-violent/unwilling opponents and looks interesting on stage and camera.

Clownsaurs Rex says:

i only use headphone in my house, never outdoors
be always ready for the worst and hope for the best

in germany u can't wear or use guns on the street (except you are police or criminal)
greetings from germany

VTPSTTU says:

Thanks for another good video.

We've talked on your Patreon about the break-in that I experienced last year. Based on that experience, there are several things that I'd say regarding the home system.

First, the usual principles of layering and early warning apply. I have an enclosed front porch and a storage room between my garage and kitchen. I keep the front door to my enclosed front porch locked. I keep the kitchen door to the storage room locked. If either hadn't been locked that night, the intruders would have walked right into the living room or kitchen and been able to see me sitting in a recliner. I didn't have my gun on me at the time, so I might be dead by now if that had happened. Even with a gun, I'd have been shooting from my recliner and unable to move much while the intruders would be on their feet and able to move. The kitchen door and front door gave me an additional layer, and that layer may have saved my life.

Secondly, additional warning is helpful in addition to layers. I heard an intruder on the front porch, but he sounded like one of my pets in its cage behind me. Even when the guy knocked a piece of metal onto the floor, my first thought was that a mouse knocked a nail or something off a windowsill onto the concrete floor. I didn't notice the sound of the second person breaking the glass from my French door into the storage room. I heard her fiddling around somewhere near the kitchen. Maybe she was trying to pick that lock. Maybe she was trying to remove the window air conditioner that cools the living room. When I first heard the noise, I felt that something was wrong, but I wasn't sure. I've now put chimes in both places. If anyone is walking around in either place, chimes in the living room sound. I've had a couple of false alarms. One spooked me enough that I got on the phone with the dispatcher before I went onto the front porch to investigate. The nearest sheriff was forty minutes from my place. If I'd found anyone and lost a gunfight, the sheriff couldn't have gotten there in time to help, but at least my body wouldn't have rotted before someone found me. I can't really put chimes pointed outside my house because the deer, rabbits, and coyotes would have me responding to false alarms every day. For those who don't have that much wildlife, a chime facing outside is good. For others, something inside is good. Even in an apartment, little motion detector chimes pointed at the entry points are a useful warning.

I don't have good enough internet to have a system that requires broadband data transfer to work. Most of those doorbell cameras operate on WiFi, and my upload speed is too slow for me to get the pictures in time. For people who have good enough internet for that, I recommend those systems.

Thirdly, the siren alarms are a good precaution. I now have sirens in the enclosed front porch and the storage area. I even have one outside my home. They operate from a fob, and I have two of those. If I suspect something, I can send an ear-splitting noise through those rooms. When I've had a false alarm from the chimes, I've immediately hit the panic button on the fob. I shut it off after a few minutes and then hit it again. Before I've gone onto the porch, I've hit the button again to sound the siren. I use that to try to cover my unlocking the door. I then turn off the siren as I come through the front door shouting, "I have a gun and will shoot. Is anyone there?" On the night of the break-in, I let out a howl when I saw a shadow of one of the intruders. That one started to leave at that point, and I shouted a threat. By the time I got back to my room to get my gun, I think both were out of the house. If I'd triggered sirens that night when I first heard something suspicious, they might have left much earlier.

I've also added motion lights all over my property. Those have positives and negatives. In addition to all kinds of animals setting them off, just the blowing of the wind can set them off. As a result, the batteries can die fairly quickly. Part of the problem for me is that I have high snow drifts against my house for much of the winter, and I couldn't get a ladder next to the house to change the batteries until the drifts melted. Even now, I haven't gotten up there to change batteries because my pain and fatigue levels have been pretty high over the past month or so. I haven't felt safe on a ladder.

In terms of hand-to-hand self-defense, we all have preferences. I took about two years of Krav Maga, and Krav Maga was ideal for me. The Israelis developed Krav Maga to be effective for anyone of any age and in any physical condition. They developed the system to be effective for those of us who are less coordinated. I know that many people who practice Krav Maga overestimate its effectiveness for the average person. I'm not saying that it's best for everyone, but I'd recommend that anyone give it a try.

Ever since my late teens (starting around 1980), I've always thought that the old-fashioned cigarette lighters in cars might have some self-defense value. The older ones in particular seemed less safety-oriented and therefore more potentially effective. If I'd been a woman, I'd have pressed the cigarette lighter in whenever I got in the car. If someone had jumped me, I'd have waited for the sound of the click, pulled out the lighter, and branded him with the hot end. I used to say that car manufacturers should make a remote control so that women could activate the lighter before they got into their cars. That way, they'd have the lighter ready to go from the moment that they opened the door. As a guy, I haven't been as worried, but I've punched in the cigarette lighter once or twice in my life when a situation seemed off.

One of my other pet peeves is that I think too many gun people place too much emphasis on a fast draw. In a street situation, I doubt that we'll have time to draw before someone is on us. We can't draw on every person who walks in our direction. If someone is good at acting casual until the last moment, that person will be five to ten feet away before starting his attack. That's not going to leave anyone time to draw. The first defense will need to be something other than the gun. If the first defense surprises the attacker enough, then one can draw while the attacker decides whether continuing the attack is really a good idea, and at that point, drawing the gun will likely send the attacker running. The best defense there is in avoiding situations where an attacker will believe that he can get close enough to make an attack without witnesses. The other situation is where a situation starts near us but is not directed at us immediately. For instance, if I'm in a convenience store and someone tries to rob the place. Again, trying to outdraw someone who is already holding a gun is a low percentage tactic. I don't yet have CCW, so I don't carry that often. Even so, if I'm in that situation, I'm first going to go for cover or at least concealment while I evaluate. From cover, I don't need an extremely fast draw. I'm going to draw slowly as I evaluate. If I end up shooting, I'm going to have my arms and hands positioned before I start to reveal myself or my gun.

As an example, I'd duck behind an aisle in a convenience store. Ideally, I'd be at the end of an aisle while the robber is at the cash register. They like to have convenience stores arranged so that the clerk can look down the aisles to check for shoplifting. That means that a robber at the cash register would have to shoot through ten or fifteen feet of junk food to hit me. If I'm in one aisle and the robber is in the next aisle, I only have concealment. His shot through two boxes of aspirin and three bags of chips will still go through me. If the robber doesn't see me, then I wait and evaluate. If he is pointing his gun at the cashier and starts to tighten on the trigger, maybe I try to distract him and take the shot. One thing that many robbers do is walk to the front door to look across the parking lot before turning around and shooting the clerk. A guy I had known in college died that way although he was in a camping/climbing/hiking store. I would certainly track the robber as he walked towards the door. If he looked out and then turned to raise the gun at the clerk, I'd be shooting.

Thanks for caring and letting an old man vent.

Adam Shepheard says:

Great basic advice. Take a look at ppm for short courses in basic self defense suitable for everyone, even for people with no background in martial arts.

jason young says:

Kirsten Joy Weiss, now I'm curious. What is your martial art background?

Ballistic Bob says:

Awesome necklace…awesome vid! Thanks

Frederick Becker says:

u da woman!