subject: Proactive Self-defense: Pepper Spray Or Stun Gun? [print this page] The idea of self-defense conjures up images of Dirty Harry or Bruce Lee, but the reality is a lot more prosaic than that (which helps explain to some degree why such movies are so entertaining). Indeed, for most of human history, self-defense was just another fact of life, another chore in life, and an everyday affair, too. Speaking of movies, one of the most famous cut-scenes in all of cinematic history was in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, near the beginning of the film when an ape throws up into the air a bone he'd just used as a weapon, said bone then "becoming" a cylindrical spacecraft - thus connecting war and technology, a case that's been made by many thinkers through the ages. Far from being some relic of uncivilized times, war and struggle is what has made civilization possible! As the ancient Greek historian Heraclitus remarked, war is the father of all things. Or as an old Roman military manual advised, si vis pacem para bellum - if you seek peace, prepare for war.
Self-defense should be taken up as a chore, then, a duty - to oneself, for one's loved ones. It is too often either something frightening or something exciting, thus deterring the right crowd and attracting the wrong one. But taken as just another task in life, it can be seen in the proper light and then pursued properly, which is to say seriously, with respect and with focus.
In today's modern environment, self-defense is a lot more complicated and also a lot simpler. More simple because it needn't involve eliminating one's enemy, as in times past, with blood feuds that can run several generations, but more complicated because it takes real skill not to fatally harm someone. Indeed, the true martial artist is one so masterful as to be able to finely tune his or her lethality. Such an ability is a whole skill-set in itself, and requires years of training at the least, not to mention innate aptitude and who knows what else!
A simpler way would be to employ weapons, specifically those which only disables one's assailant(s), and only temporarily so, with no permanent damage incurred. After all, it wouldn't do to win on the streets but lose in the courts! So this rules out firearms immediately, and even knives, which have great potential for inflicting fatal injury. Stun guns, then, seem to be the best choice, all things considered. They are basically non-lethal but definitely effective, capable of knocking someone out for up to a whole half hour at a time, even the drug-fueled. That's plenty of time to run to safety or run for help. A pepper spray is a much cheaper alternative that's almost as effective. Both options are great where allowed by law.
