{"id":113753,"date":"2019-08-06T09:57:04","date_gmt":"2019-08-06T13:57:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/digest\/?p=113753"},"modified":"2019-08-06T09:57:04","modified_gmt":"2023-10-06T16:39:46","slug":"grow-up-baseball-bats-golf-clubs-swords-are-not-viable-self-defense-tools","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/grow-up-baseball-bats-golf-clubs-swords-are-not-viable-self-defense-tools\/","title":{"rendered":"Grow Up! Baseball Bats, Golf Clubs, Swords Are Not Viable Self-Defense Tools"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Grow<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editor\u2019s Note:\u00a0<\/strong>The following is a syndicated article by author Ed Combs that first appeared in USCCA\u2019s Concealed Carry Magazine Volume 11, Issue 8 November\/December 2014 under the title, \u201cChoose Wisely: Sporting Goods Need Not Apply.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Almost everyone reading this column has made the decision to carry a firearm to defend themselves and their families against violent assault. I applaud you for this, but for those who do not employ a firearm to do so I have a very simple question: What\u2019s the plan?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is your Personal Protection Plan? Do you intend to use\npepper spray? Empty-hand techniques? Maybe something a little more exotic? If\nyou have to, put this magazine down and write out, specifically, what you would\nbegin to do while dialing 911 when glass is smashing in the dark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, almost everyone I know says that they\u2019ve thought about\nwhat they would do were someone to gain entry into their residence with the\nimplied intent to injure them or their loved ones. The very fact that you\u2019re\nreading this means you are sufficiently concerned with self-defense to at least\npick up a publication called Concealed Carry Magazine<\/em> while waiting for\nan oil change. So why am I even bringing this up? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am bringing this up because I have been in dozens of homes\nwith recklessly irresponsible Personal Protection Plans (when there is even a\nplan in place at all). Families allegedly protected with weapons that are\nborderline impossible for their intended users to wield. Weapons that \u2014 were\ntheir utility in a lethal force encounter to be ranked on a scale from\n\u201cdrinking straw\u201d to \u201c.30-caliber battle rifle\u201d \u2014 would land slightly ahead of\n\u201cstick of deodorant in a knotted sock.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve noticed there is often a strong correlation between an\nindividual\u2019s understanding of violence being limited to what they\u2019ve seen in\nmovies and irresponsible, unrealistic Personal Protection Plans. But hey, I\u2019m\nno scientist. Only a scientist would be able to tell you that acquiring actual\nself-defense training and effective self-defense equipment could save your life\nor the life of a loved one, so I\u2019ll stick to my job and leave the beakers and\nlab coats to smarter folks than I.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With this in mind, I present to you the Poor Improvised\nSelf-Defense Weapon Hall of Shame. These are the \u201cweapons\u201d I see the most often\nin homes of acquaintances who have convinced themselves that as long as they\ncan get to their trusty chain saw, all will be good in the event of a home\ninvasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Baseball Bat<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

These do a bang-up job as ambush murder weapons, but they\nare not particularly practical as self-defense weapons. I\u2019ll say that again: as\na murder weapon, it\u2019s an old standard. As a self-defense weapon, it leaves a\nlot to be desired. This is because baseball bats have been refined and\nperfected over the last 150 years to be really, really good for hitting\nbaseballs, not employing in close quarters as a means of self-defense. (In case\nyou have never used one, a baseball bat is designed to be swung two-handed in a\nlong horizontal arc approximately level with your hips, which is not exactly\nwhat you have the time or space to do while defending your life from an\nattacker.) Even worse, a bat can be readily countered by forcing a forearm into\nthe hands of the wielder, and as the majority of the weight of the bat is out\nin the barrel, it is very difficult to prevent someone from doing so while\nyou\u2019re occupied with your windup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you do find yourself forced to use a bat for\nself-defense, hold it with two hands equidistant from the ends. Strike your\nattacker as hard as you can in the face, jaw, or solar plexus, pounding at them\nlike you would with a spear or pugil stick. You can also strike them in the\nnose or jaw with the middle of the bat, but more energy is transferred into\nthem when you use a smaller surface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Golf Club<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This one ranks a close second to the bat and for exactly the\nsame reason: not only are irons and woods not designed to be used for\nself-defense, they are even harder to swing in their intended manner while\nindoors. If you are forced to use an iron for self-defense, treat it like the\nbat. Hold it with both hands \u2014 one up almost to the head \u2014 and feed that hard\nend to your attacker as many times as necessary to convince them they should\nseek their evening\u2019s entertainment elsewhere. If it\u2019s a wood you\u2019ll have to go\nwith the butt-end, as the smaller surface area will transfer energy to your\ntarget better than the ultra-light carbon fiber driver head. (If you own and\nuse actual wood drivers, I am forced to assume that you also have a firearm in\nyour home and these instructions are not for you.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sword<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We all understand that it is impressive to watch a skilled swordsman\ndemonstrate his prowess with a rapier, sabre, katana, or foil. We get it. Sword\npeople: please stop advocating for the sword as a viable weapon for\nself-defense inside or outside the home. It\u2019s ridiculous. Now, do I consider a\nsword a deadly weapon? Absolutely. Would I shoot a man who was brandishing a\nsword and telling me he intended to use it to end my life? You bet \u2014 until he\nno longer presented a threat to me or anyone else. However, every time someone\ntells me that their Personal Protection Plan involves a sword, several\nquestions reveal that the plan is basically to hope that their attacker sees a\nperson holding a sword and runs away. Pro Tip: if your plan hinges on a violent\ncriminal running away after you present a threat display, your plan is unsound.\n(Super-Secret Pro Tip: that is a similarly poor plan when \u201cgun\u201d is substituted\nfor \u201csword.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, before every Knife Guy From High School starts sending\nme letters filled with strange powder, note I said sword, not knife. If you\nhave to defend yourself with a blade, make it an actual fighting knife. Knives\nare faster and easier to deploy, knives are easier to keep at the ready, and a\nknife can actually be carried concealed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Martial Arts Weapon<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Bo staves, nunchaku, and other martial arts weapons common\nin competition often find their ways into police reports generated from home\ninvasions. Were I forced to select a weapon from a martial arts catalog, I\nwould choose a single escrima stick. A short stick beats a long one in a\nhallway, and no one is scoring you for form while actually engaging an attacker\nin the dark. Additionally, law enforcement officers employ short sticks they\ncall \u201cbatons\u201d and a myriad of training materials are available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover, please save your assertions that such weapons are\nthe great-grandfathers of modern self-defense weaponry (you\u2019re correct) and\nremain viable primary options for responsibly armed Americans (you\u2019re\nincorrect). Saying you are worried about safety and will therefore employ a\nmedieval halberd as part of your Personal Protection Plan would be like me\nsaying I\u2019m worried about over-penetration and will therefore defend myself with\nfireworks. Grow up, buy a gun, and train in order to be of unquestionable help\nto yourself and your loved ones when violence comes to call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enough of the negatives \u2014 here are a few pointers for those\nwho choose to defend themselves with something other than a firearm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Danger Hates Illumination<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

What is commonly called a \u201cTactical Flashlight\u201d is the\nsingle most important piece of self-defense equipment that literally anyone can\njust walk into a store and buy. It throws piercing, blinding light that\ndisorients attackers who prefer to operate in the dark, it lets them know that\nthey no longer have the element of surprise, and it advises them that they are\ncurrently in your sights. A good 90-lumen light is about the base level for\nself-defense utility, and anything above that is all the better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have A Weapon And Train In Its Use<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Rule Number One of gunfighting is Have A Gun, and the same goes for non-firearm self-defense. I have often signed off in this column by saying, \u201cStay safe, and if you do ever have to fight, cheat your tail off.\u201d I stand by this sentiment and demand that anyone I instruct live by it. This isn\u2019t a match or a bout; this is a fight and you need to avail yourself of every possible advantage you can take, the most basic of which are to arm yourself and train.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No Weapons By The Door<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Have it on you or have it in a readily accessible place, but\njust leaving it by the door will bring you problems. Not only will it become\ndifficult to access if you are involved in a struggle by the entryway, it also\nbasically dishes up your defensive weapon to an intruder if you are not\nstanding right at the door when they arrive. Writer and irresponsibly armed\nAmerican Hunter S. Thompson once stated that he was proud to have \u201ca shotgun\nhanging over every window for easy access\u201d at his Woody Creek home, but anyone\nwith even a tepid imagination can understand why such an arrangement would be unwise.\nKeep your self-defense weapons accounted for, within your reach, and absolutely\nnot in a location that could compromise your safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Meek Never Come Out Of Nowhere To Save The Day<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t say this to mean that people never unexpectedly\narrive to render aid. I\u2019m saying this to remind everyone of an adage old enough\nthat I\u2019m not certain it can be attributed to one single person: you don\u2019t rise\nto the occasion, you default to your level of training. Do not make the mistake\nof believing that your intense wanting to be able to defend yourself and your\nloved ones will make that want a reality. A want without a plan is a wish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know we beat this one into the ground, but you need to\ntrain as much as you can. You need to practice your draws and dry fire drills,\nbut you also need to practice retrieving your firearm from where it will be\nstored when it is not on your person. (You also need to practice doing so\nwithout any light.) Practice moving through your residence with your unloaded\nfirearm, and if you do not have a dedicated weapon light, practice this\nmovement in the dark with a flashlight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Slice the pie throughout your residence. This means to\nslowly approach each corner and take note of when what becomes visible. If you\nhave a training partner, have them stand in an entryway or at the bottom of a\nflight of stairs and slice the pie toward each other, notifying your partner\nwhen they come into view. All of these exercises better prepare you for the\nunfortunate event of someone thinking they\u2019ll find a victim in your house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

None of us like to think about having to shoot a human being and none of us ever wants to have to. This aside, we as responsibly armed Americans have no choice but to train like our lives depend on it, because they do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discover how you can join nearly 300,000 responsibly armed Americans who already rely on the USCCA to protect their families, futures and freedoms: USCCA.com\/gunsamerica<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

***Buy and Sell on GunsAmerica!<\/a>***<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With this in mind, I present to you the Poor Improvised Self-Defense Weapon Hall of Shame. These are the \u201cweapons\u201d I see the most often in homes of acquaintances who have convinced themselves that as long as they can get to their trusty chain saw, all will be good in the event of a home invasion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":113754,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_specdata_upc":"","_specdata_placement":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,234,340,216],"tags":[132,586,127,844,961],"featured":[],"hunt365":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-113753","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-gunsamerica-authors","8":"category-columns","9":"category-columns-ccw-edc","10":"category-s-h-blannelberry","11":"tag-buzz","12":"tag-column","13":"tag-concealed-carry","14":"tag-home-defense","15":"tag-uscca"},"yoast_head":"\nGrow Up! 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These are the \u201cweapons\u201d I see the most often in homes of acquaintances who have convinced themselves that as long as they can get to their trusty chain saw, all will be good in the event of a home invasion.","og_url":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/grow-up-baseball-bats-golf-clubs-swords-are-not-viable-self-defense-tools\/","og_site_name":"Gun Reviews and News | GunsAmerica.com\/Digest","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gunsamerica","article_published_time":"2019-08-06T13:57:04+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-10-06T16:39:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/FromThePages_42.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"S.H. Blannelberry","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@gunsamerica","twitter_site":"@gunsamerica","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"S.H. Blannelberry","Est. reading time":"10 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/grow-up-baseball-bats-golf-clubs-swords-are-not-viable-self-defense-tools\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/grow-up-baseball-bats-golf-clubs-swords-are-not-viable-self-defense-tools\/"},"author":{"name":"S.H. Blannelberry","@id":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/#\/schema\/person\/9c0e3aec459f0bf4d28e46e0e1a70f43"},"headline":"Grow Up! 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Baseball Bats, Golf Clubs, Swords Are Not Viable Self-Defense Tools","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/grow-up-baseball-bats-golf-clubs-swords-are-not-viable-self-defense-tools\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/grow-up-baseball-bats-golf-clubs-swords-are-not-viable-self-defense-tools\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/FromThePages_42.jpg","datePublished":"2019-08-06T13:57:04+00:00","dateModified":"2023-10-06T16:39:46+00:00","description":"I present to you the Poor Improvised Self-Defense Weapon Hall of Shame. Don't depend on these \"weapons\" if you need to defend yourself or your family.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/grow-up-baseball-bats-golf-clubs-swords-are-not-viable-self-defense-tools\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/grow-up-baseball-bats-golf-clubs-swords-are-not-viable-self-defense-tools\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/grow-up-baseball-bats-golf-clubs-swords-are-not-viable-self-defense-tools\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/FromThePages_42.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/FromThePages_42.jpg","width":1200,"height":800,"caption":"Grow Up! 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