self defense class or gun? (Chicago, Naperville: HOA fees, loft, landscaping)

[hellothereIN]

New to avondale/Logan or whatever it is called...walking dogs and some man with a face hiding hoodie following. I slowed he slowed. My daughter and I and pets get into my car parked on Wolfram off n Western and he has approached the car. I started the car almost hit the SUV in front and took off.Jeez!
He vanished in the river walk loft area.
Then there was a man last week carrying books that followed us into a gated lot. We took off with the dogs...again.
What is the best safety measure? I am concerned. The tall thin face concealing hoodie guy also had a small cross body type bag. Wolfram is not lit up too well.

[Lookout Kid]

Both.

The move somewhere safer and ignore the idiots on here who try to tell you that neighborhoods like Avondale and Logan Square are completely safe. They are not.

[hellothereIN]

You ain't kidding! Moved from Naperville here.
That dude was up to NO good. Caught site of us near the storage place next to CVS.
I am thankful I didn't back into him with the car. He had NO business approaching.
That street is too dark...why pay hoa? Unreal.
I hate it here.

It is NOT safe.

[hellothereIN]

Oh...by the way lookout, safe....Chicago....is there such a place?
I think we should all carry our big ass guns...and wear vests. Have attack dogs. Tasers are a nice gift.
Gots to take power back. Its getting to be too much.

[UnderTheLiveOaks]

Originally Posted by hellothereIN

Oh...by the way lookout, safe....Chicago....is there such a place?

Yes. There is.

[Huckleberry3911948]

i love the jokes about muggers, usually posted by muggers.
signed
a chicago native

[Lookout Kid]

Originally Posted by hellothereIN

Oh...by the way lookout, safe....Chicago....is there such a place?

It's all relative. Avondale is certainly safer than the neighborhoods that have all-out open gang warfare, but falls below the standard of safety that most middle class Americans have come to expect in their lives.

Some people will live there and have no issues for a decade or more. Others will have multiple incidents within a short period of time.

I'm not sure that carrying an assortment of weapons will help you, but you may just want to vote with your feet and leave--especially if your child is threatened.

[jwuk45]

Don't get a gun, it's illegal and will likely cause more problems than it solves. Get the book Meditations on Violence, it will benefit you a lot more than any self defense class.

[hellothereIN]

It just seems unreal to me. The prices of these properties and safety or security comes after weed free landscaping. Plus to pay hoa fees? That street is extremely dark. If my car hadn't been there...I know it would have been bad. The way he came up to the car,still with face hidden. It was 9pm. My daughter is an adult. We both had our pets. Less than a block from home. I do want to leave as soon as I can. She is signing up for self defense. We are both just fed up.

[Attrill]

That area is generally safe, but is also a weird in between area that's kind of abandoned at night - not really a neighborhood, but just one of those strange psuedo-industrial areas between neighborhoods.

If you feel unsafe I'd go with classes and mace - skip the gun. If anything ever happens to you you won't see it coming. You're doing the right thing by simply staying alert, that is usually enough to stay safe.

If you ever do find yourself in a dangerous situation being able to pull out some mace and make everything within 3 feet of you an unbearable area is your best bet. I've been mugged twice (in the 80's in NYC and Boston) and both times I never saw it coming. The very few people I have met who've been attacked in Chicago had the same experience. I've never met anyone who has been mugged or attacked by a random person who felt they would have had any chance of pulling out a gun.