The simple and quick answer: it depends. Of course that’s never the answer that anyone wants to hear, so here’s the long answer.
The image that comes to mind when self defense is mentioned is almost always a gun, followed closely by knives, pepper spray, and stun guns/tasers. I don’t like the term self defense weapon, I prefer self defense tool.
If you decide that you want to use a self defense tool as part of your personal protection plan, ask yourself these four questions:
Is it practical?
What makes a self defense tool practical? Access. It needs to be readily available to you all of the time, or at the very least, most of the time for you to be able to use it. For example, if you decide that you’d like to carry a knife as a self defense tool, but it’s at the bottom of a purse or stuffed inside a backpack, how are you going to be able to get it out to use in time. You don’t install a home security system and never turn it on, so why would you have a self defense tool if you aren't going to have on you ready to use?
Do you know how to use it?
The tool that you are deciding on using should be something that you know how to use and practice using on a regular bases. You should also understand the benefits and more importantly the limitations of the tool. Be familiar with what the tool is capable of as well as what it's incapable of doing. For example, understand that a gun is capable of shooting someone, but only one at a time, and only until you run out of bullets. Don't choose a gun as a self defense tool if you don’t know how to shoot it or won’t practice shooting it on a regular bases.
Can you defend yourself against it?
Keep in mind when choosing a self defense tool, that there is a chance that it could be taken away from you. Providing your attacker with something to use against you is not something you want to willing do. Learning how to defend against the very self defense tool you want to use is just as important to know as knowing how to use the self defense tool. Just like practicing regularly to use your self defense tool, you’d need to practice how to defend yourself against it as well.
Are you prepared to use it?
The most difficult choice you are going to have to make is using actually using your self defense tool. This should always be addressed before you have to use your self defense tool. Don’t get a self defense tool to use to scare or threaten someone if you won’t follow through. To make an empty threat to someone isn’t going to work in your favor, you must be ready to shoot, stab, cut, electrocute, hit or burn someone, which isn’t an easy thing to do.
Sure, in the safety of our head, not having to actually do it, we can say that we’ll do it, but can you live with that decision? Hurting, maiming, and possibly killing someone is a tough burden to bear. Make sure to think about the possible consequences that could stem from using your self defense tool. Lawsuits, medical bills, jail time; in the heat of the moment, you could make a choice that may have long term effects on your life. Making the choice to spraying someone with non-lethal pepper spray may seem be something that you are willing to do, but what if you spray someone that is allergic, and they die, which you didn’t think about. Could you live with that?
