Amara Graps wrote:
>
> From: Dehede011@aol.com
>
> >It seems to me that about
> >half the physically fit adult men in the country are capable of doing that
> >under the right circumstances. Bare handed adult males are dangerous - when
> ^^^^^^^
> >they want to be or when they lose their heads.
>
> Don't forget the other gender. Women may be generally smaller and less
> massive, but they can succeed at an effective self-defense or offense
> too (bare handed). Their effectiveness would be due to education,
> skill and training.
>
> For example, one piece of information that would be valuable for every
> human for their own self-defense is knowledge of the vulnerable places on
> the human body. And then learn how to use that information. It's not
> hard physically to hurt someone else (esp. in their vulnerable places).
>
> In my opinion, the hard part of that action is actually in one's mind-
> that is, giving oneself permission to badly hurt someone else. You
> must work through the mental exercise that if someone takes physical
> action against you, then that person has lost all rights, and it's
> morally OK to take action against them. That exercise must be worked
> through far in advance of any real-life threatening situation, so that
> if, or when, it happens in one's life, then you can act
> *instinctively*, without thinking (the mind would then just get in the
> way).
Not many of us are Bruce Lee caliber martial artists or capable of
becoming anywhere close to one. For most of us a male agressor in his
early twenties in reasonable shape is very much capable of overpowering
us and of closing the distance between himself and us all too quickly.
As much as I hate to say it, if worry about such agression is warranted
in your life, I don't think anything can beat the "stopping power" of a
personal firearm. Pepper spray just isn't all that effective in as many
situations. If he his close enough for you to kick or gouge then he is
close enough for one swing that connects to knock you for a loop or do
real damage. Frankly I have had enough friends raped, mugged and even
had a second level friend beaten to death. Like most of us I tend not to
dwell on these things too much. But I can't help but wonder if one
friend would still be alive and if the others would have been a lot less
traumatized if they were armed. The issues aren't all academic or a
matter of 2nd amendment justifying of not justifying it. These things
are also a matter of life and death of real people, some of them quite
close to me.
- samantha
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Oct 02 2000 - 17:38:43 MDT