What Would You Do If Confronted? (Spray: 2013, apartment, neighborhood)

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Also, OP, a 115 pound person is capable of doing a lot of damage. If you are committed to causing a serious injury, you can stop a huge assailant. If you are worried that you might hurt someone, then you are going to have a more difficult time.

A 10 pound cat can put a 200 pound man into the hospital or drive away a grizzle bear. You are much bigger than a 10 pound cat. It is more about your determination than your size. It is about your willingness to give a serious, perhaps permanent, injury.

[oregonwoodsmoke]

Steve, yes, but not because you look crazy. Because you have a gun.

(That's a handsome outfit)

[KJoe11]

Some you folks suggestions might get lady seriously hurt or worse. Check to see if there any safety, self protection courses in your area.

[Pinkmani]

Invest in a taser?

http://www.womenonguard.com/Search.bok?category=Tasers

[Steve Pickering]

Originally Posted by Larry Caldwell

Ditto lolligrump. You need to carry an equalizer, if you can qualify for a CCP. You don't even have to wave it around, just quietly put your hand in your purse. If you don't look like a victim and act like a victim, they will move on.

Never, never, NEVER, wave it around. If you are going to carry, it is not to deter or threaten. It is to kill. If you can not do that in an instant, do not carry.

The same for mace or a stun gun. Can you use it? Will you use it? Do you know how and “WHEN”?

If you carry it just to make you feel safe, you are in for some real trouble.

[Steve Pickering]

Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke

Steve, yes, but not because you look crazy. Because you have a gun.

(That's a handsome outfit)

Thanks. I have several. I actually dress that way on occasion.

This is how I dressed and walked the Bike path between the Fairgrounds and Chambers, when I had my fill of prostitutes, drugs, and taggers. The problem went away and I was never once accosted.

[Steve Pickering]

And before you ask, I was never arrested either, although I was questioned.

[mortpes]

Yes you were in danger and only lucky. You should learn about situational awareness, be armed, carry mace and carry backups. Assaults in parking lots are up and assaults in which there are more than one bad guy/girl in the group are way up.

[AndyAMG]

Are you sure they were "after" you? My mom became paranoid in her 60's. One time at Lloyd Center she threw down her purse and ran saying "take it all" when 3 mulatto boys "approached" her. The boys brought her purse and said "I think you dropped this ma'am." She felt about 1 inch tall. She clutched her purse, or stopped dead in her tracks, or changed course a few times when young men or people of color would approach. None of those times, did anything happen. She said it was because I was with her, I said no "it was because they were just walking down the street"

But she did get taken by some nice guy in a suit wanting money to build a christian youth after school program. "He was so professional, had brochures and everything".... $1000 dollars later, he vanished, there was never any christian youth program. In fairness, I almost got taken by a similar scam. They were good, everything seemed legit. The church was a real place. They planted fake news paper articles for you to visit online, and that's where I caught them. The address for the real newspaper was different, but it was frighteningly well done, I could see how my mom got suckered.

That said have a current can of BEAR mace. Mace is debilitating, I know, in FTX training they but you in a chamber with it, you want nothing more than to jut jump in the nearest body of water or find a sink, . Mace is still technically assault so if they don't touch...or come close enough to you and you mace them that's your butt.

A friend of my moms maced some guy passing through a parking lot at night. He didn't press charges because he was an outstanding young man. He was just taking a short cut through other cars to his car and was mad about what had just happened at work. The story was convoluted (the way she told it), but she was in no danger. Some poor guy had a bad day at work, then got maced randomly by some paranoid old lady.

That said, I avoid Lloyd Center after seeing a large brawl between 10-15 black youths at the 16th st max station. I saw something similar in downtown a few months ago too.

All I'm saying is you can't always judge a situation correctly and you could go from being victim to attacker. Even if the person may have initially meant to do something dubious they could play victim. The best thing to do is give them what they want, talk to them nicely, plead with them. If they go after your person, then do whatever you need to do make as much noise as possible fight like hell.

Remember, it's just stuff. Credit cards can be canceled. Most Importantly: Don't antagonize an attacker or attackers!

Trust me, This advice comes from someone who was an Air Force officer who has been on the streets in every barbaric backwards crime ridden no hope **** hole third world country you can imagine. In order of danger:

Iraq, Afghanistan (mortar shells landing in the FOB, gun fire all night long. kids throwing rocks at us, random gunfire at all times, you never knew where it was coming from)

Yemen ( The most uneasy feeling I have had in a supposed friendly nation. )

Djibouti (for me this is #1, we were surrounded in our truck in a town square by 120-160 pissed off people who rocked the truck, that was the most scared I have ever been, had we fired at them, we would have been dead, luckily they just damaged our truck and that was it)

Eritrea (Djibouti's equally crappy next door neighbor)

Tajikistan (people there did not like us and let us know quite frequently)

Turkey (bar fights, street gangs, pushy merchants, they aren't afraid to stab people in turkey)

Azerbaijan (Quasi police force threw a few of our idiot troops in jail for talking to women, they were specifically told not to do this) (roving gangs of street youth that demand money)

Malawi, Zimbabwe (police were going to arrest us if we didn't pay a bribe, more police bribes, 8 times in total for just me)

Latvia (couple of our guys got beaten to near death in a bar), Slovakia (same thing).

The worst day of street or random violence in america is tame compared to any of these places. The guys that talked smack and antagonized their attackers ended up getting beaten severely or (killed (2 dead in bar brawls in my career), the guys with level heads that played dumb or dead came back in one piece.

[LaylaM]

OP, you ask a very important question. Coincidentally, I found this article just yesterday and I think it's good advice for everyone, especially women:

WRITTEN BY A COP: Everyone should take 5 minutes to read this. It may save your life or a loved one's life. In daylight hours, refresh yourself of these things to do in an emergency situation... This is for you, and for you to share with your wife, your children, & everyone you know. After reading these 9 crucial tips, forward them to someone you care about. It never hurts to be careful in this crazy world we live in.

1. Tip from Tae Kwon Do :The elbow is the strongest point on your body. If you are close enough to use it, do!

2. Learned this from a tourist guide. If a robber asks for your wallet and/or purse,
DO NOT HAND IT TO HIM. Toss it away from you... Chances are that he is more interested in your wallet and/or purse than you, and he will go for the wallet/purse.
RUN LIKE MAD IN THE OTHER DIRECTION!

3. If you are ever thrown into the trunk of a car, kick out the back tail lights and stick your arm out the hole and start waving like crazy.. The driver won't see you, but everybody else will. This has saved lives.

4. Women have a tendency to get into their cars after shopping, eating, working, etc., and just sit (doing their checkbook, or making a list, etc.
DON'T DO THIS!) The predator will be watching you, and this is the perfect opportunity for him to get in on the passenger side, put a gun to your head,
and tell you where to go. AS SOON AS YOU GET INTO YOUR CAR ,
LOCK THE DOORS AND LEAVE..

If someone is in the car with a gun to your head DO NOT DRIVE OFF, Repeat:
DO NOT DRIVE OFF! Instead gun the engine and speed into anything, wrecking the car. Your Air Bag will save you. If the person is in the back seat they will get the worst of it. As soon as the car crashes bail out and run. It is better than having them find your body in a remote location.

5. A few notes about getting into your car in a parking lot, or parking garage:
A.) Be aware:look around you, look into your car, at the passenger side floor ,
and in the back seat.
B.) If you are parked next to a big van, enter your car from the passenger door.
Most serial killers attack their victims by pulling them into their vans while the women
are attempting to get into their cars. C.) Look at the car parked on the driver's side of your vehicle, and the passenger side.. If a male is sitting alone in the seat nearest your car, you may want to walk back into the mall, or work, and get a guard/policeman to walk you back out. IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO BE SAFE THAN SORRY. (And better paranoid than dead.)

6. ALWAYS take the elevator instead of the stairs. Stairwells are horrible places to be alone and the perfect crime spot. This is especially true at NIGHT!)

7. If the predator has a gun and you are not under his control, ALWAYS RUN!
The predator will only hit you (a running target) 4 in 100 times; and even then,
it most likely WILL NOT be a vital organ. RUN, Preferably in a zig -zag pattern!

8. As women, we are always trying to be sympathetic: STOP It may get you raped, or killed. Ted Bundy, the serial killer, was a good-looking, well educated man, who ALWAYS played on the sympathies of unsuspecting women. He walked with a cane, or a limp, and often asked 'for help' into his vehicle or with his vehicle, which is when he abducted his next victim.

9. Another Safety Point: Someone just told me that her friend heard a crying baby on her porch the night before last, and she called the police because it was late
and she thought it was weird.. The police told her 'Whatever you do, DO NOT
open the door..' The lady then said that it sounded like the baby
had crawled near a window, and she was worried that it would crawl to the street and get run over. The policeman said, 'We already have a unit on the way,
whatever you do, DO NOT open the door.' He told her that they think a serial killer
has a baby's cry recorded and uses it to coax women out of their homes thinking that someone dropped off a baby.. He said they have not verified it, but have had several calls by women saying that they hear baby's cries outside their doors when they're home alone at night.

10. Water scam! If you wake up in the middle of the night to hear all your taps outside running or what you think is a burst pipe, DO NOT GO OUT TO INVESTIGATE! These people turn on all your outside taps full blast so that you will go out to investigate and then attack.