Street smarts for everyday people: why own a stun gun?
I was sitting on my terrace the other night with a friend. Joe is a retired police officer from Indiana and I am a retired police officer from Florida. I was telling Joe about the stun guns I sell. Joe and I both have concealed firearms permits. Joe commented that he did not need a stun gun because of his permission to carry a firearm. I asked Joe, “where is your gun right now?” Joe looked at me a little funny and said, “oh, it’s in the glove box.” I commented, it’s not going to do you any good in there!”
Joe was wearing the popular “cargo cargo pants” and a T-shirt. He could have put a small pistol in the big baggy pockets of his cargo pants, but he didn’t. He went on to comment that everyone here can get a concealed firearms permit so easily, why would anyone want a stun gun?
Joe was a perfect example. He had permission, but he still wasn’t packing a gun. In a confrontation with a criminal, how is Joe going to get the gun from him? The confrontation with a bag snatcher, mugger, or crazed maniac will likely take place on the sidewalk or in the parking lot. All the cases that I worked on as a police officer, whether the perpetrator was armed or unarmed, took place in the parking lot as the victim was returning to his car. Even if it happened in or near his car, will the perpetrator wait while he opens the glove box, removes all the trash that was piled on top of the gun, and gives him time to get the gun and use it? I do not think!
Okay, now you decide to take the gun. Where did you put it? As a cop for 25 years, I found that carrying a gun off-duty while wearing street clothes was NOT practical. Especially in hot weather, where can you carry a gun? You’re not wearing a coat, so a shoulder holster or belt holster won’t work. If you wear the tail of your shirt out, that may help a bit. Baggy cargo pants offer a great place to hide a gun. I guarantee that you will be constantly worried that someone will notice the lump and it will become sacred.
I was wearing an ankle holster in addition to my uniform duty kit. It was a fantastic way to carry a backup weapon. Out of order, I found it wasn’t that viable. Department uniforms included the classic “straight leg” uniform pants. The department issued shiny black shoes that were only worn on the day shift or on special occasions. Most cops like to wear the Rocky 911 Lace-up Tall Boots. The tall boots keep the ankle holster pulled up to just above the ankle and its occupant, a snub-nosed .38, ready in standby mode. But getting to that was another matter all together!
The technique is: crouch on the opposite knee from where the gun is, pulling up on the pant leg with your free hand while reaching and drawing the gun with your other hand. Or: flopping onto her bottom, and then as above, pulling the pant leg up with her free hand and pulling up with the other.
This works well if the pants are loose enough around the hem. This rules out most blue jeans. I haven’t seen bell bottoms since the 60’s!
Well, how about a colder climate? Now you’re wearing all kinds of clothes with tons of places to carry a weapon. Guess what, a weapon can still be very hard to come by! If it’s cold and the coat is buttoned or closed, you’ll really have to dig to find it. How are you going to do this while some crazed rapist has his arm around your neck! Do you think he’s going to pause and let you grab your gun?
If you carry a weapon on your belt and it is easily accessible, you will surely scare off any attacker before they have a chance to do their evil deeds. BUT, it will also save everyone else! You just don’t need people at the mall calling 911 about a man with a gun!
Okay, if you have a concealed firearms permit, keep it and keep the gun too, BUT, consider the non-lethal stun gun. Especially the Stun Guns that look like a cell phone!
90% of people carry a mobile phone with them! Nobody called the police because a crazy man with a cell phone was walking in the mall!
This “cell phone” stun gun will take a man down and leave him drooling like a baby. You can carry this “weapon” without alarming anyone. You would carry the “cell phone” in your hand with the lanyard around your wrist. The lanyard is a safety device. If a perp were to take it from you, the wire would be pulled and the stun gun would now be OFF!
As he walks to his car, a perpetrator approaches him from behind and attacks him. You place the innocent-looking “stun gun” against his body, anywhere; ZZZAPPP falls in a heap, his muscles contracting, rendering him helpless, as he gives you time to escape!
(Okay, I know it’s tempting, don’t hit him again, just get out of there!)
A weapon? Most likely, it will be hard to get to, or worse, the perpetrator will end up taking it from you. One of the biggest fears for police officers is having their gun taken away. Happens. Statistics have shown that many policemen lose their gun during a fight, the bad guy ends up with it and it is a deadly end for the policeman.
As a cop, I almost lost my gun to a bad guy. During a violent domestic investigation, the perpetrator lunged at my gun while he was holding him down. My high security holster kept the gun safe long enough for me to get the man’s hand off the gun, but I ended up on light duty for 3 months while recovering from a torn rotator cuff in my right shoulder. The bad guy had to be taken to the hospital for treatment before being admitted to jail. I then went back to the ER for x-rays and CT scans to find out why my right shoulder was frozen.
I guarantee that if your weapon is already out and you don’t use it, the crazed perpetrators will try to take it from you. It happens with cops more often than most people hear about.
Stun guns were not available when he worked on the street. He now he leads the entire division on patrol.
Get your stun gun now, before you need it. And get one for the person you love.