During my police career, we had two categories for the weapons we used: lethal and non-lethal. Our firearms—in those days .357 Magnum revolvers,12 Gauge shotguns, and pepper spray and batons. It gradually dawned on the police pepper spray sometimes kills people, and so do poorly placed, or too many, baton blows. Contemporary police training speaks of inherently lethal and “less-lethal” weapons. It’s a distinction about which non-police officers—cops call them “civilians”—must be aware.

The police would like to protect everyone, but they can’t. There are too few of them, and far too many civilians. Even better, the police can’t be sued for failing to protect any individual. We’re solely responsible for our lives, and the lives of those we love. We’re on our own. So what good are the police? They deter crime by their presence and investigate crimes after they occur, both vital functions. Of course, they do far more than that, and if they can catch criminals in the act, so much the better, but that’s uncommon.

What, then, should men, and particularly women, carry to save their lives if the worst happens? Obviously, concealed handguns are the best choice. A great many manufacturers make many models in serious calibers that not only conceal well, but shoot well. I can’t say it often enough: preserving the Second Amendment is the ultimate women’s issue.

However, the women’s press is full of articles about less than lethal weapons, usually depicting them as devices that will stop an elephant in its tracks, and are infallible at saving lives. The Lamestream Media usually leaves the topic alone, not wanting to give anyone any ideas, on the general theory lesser weapons are gateway drugs to guns. Either way, they’re producing bad, and potentially deadly, advice.

I’ll deal only with two less-lethal weapons: pepper sprays and knives.

Image: US Marine Corps. Wikimedia Commons.org. Public Domain.

Pepper Spray: It’s marketed in containers of various colors and sizes, with or without hand straps. It comes in three primary types: sprays that produce a reasonably tight, liquid stream, sprays that produce a sort of fog, and sprays that produce a sticky, gel-like stream. I can count on one hand the number of times I used the stuff during my police career.

It’s designed to irritate the eyes, throat and lungs, producing a burning sensation on the skin. It does this reasonably well. The problem is not everyone is affected. Police officers tend not to use it, particularly indoors, because when they do everyone gets dosed, and the cops and crooks end up coughing, snorting, their noses running and eyes burning, but still have to wrestle it out. Many people are so drugged or drunk they barely notice the pepper spray. Some people just get really mad and determined to hurt the person that sprayed them. It causes relatively few to suddenly become cooperative, but sometimes the threat of being sprayed does. That’s a very slim possibility on which to bet one’s life. Another problem is wind and precipitation greatly hamper effective employment. It has to be aimed, and from close range, and digging it out of pocket or purse is slow and clumsy.

Getting into grappling range of someone who wants to beat, rape or kill you is, for obvious reasons, to be avoided. That’s one of the primary advantages of firearms; they’re distance weapons.

Knives: the law considers them deadly weapons, and their effective use is a martial art requiring years of careful study and practice. This is particularly true of the little knives often marketed to women. Absent that training and practice, one is likely only to cause superficial damage to someone bent on their destruction, if they’re that lucky. Deadly cuts or thrusts require anatomical knowledge, speed, timing and skill, and worst of all, they require the user to be in direct contact with their attacker. Knife fighting also requires upper body strength and ferocious aggression, qualities women usually lack. Knife fighters know everybody is going to get cut.

The necessity of keeping one’s distance from an attacker renders such weapons as keys, long-tailed brushes, hair pins and various other sure-fire “defensive” devices even less effective and more dangerous than pepper sprays or knives. All of them require direct contact, and without strength, speed, aggressiveness, and determination to do damage regardless of the damage one sustains in the attempt, are of minimal value.

The best possible defensive tactic is the Pythonesque King Arthur option: run away, run away! If that’s not possible, the next best option is a handgun which one carries every day, and with which one is intimately familiar and confident. It really is the ultimate women’s issue.

Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.