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How useful is a retractable baton in self defense situation when your opponent(s) do not have projectile weapons like firearms? I see police carrying them even when they have guns. Do they need one? What would they use it for? Police riot control teams carry some kind of baton too, just fixed length though, wonder why. Lets say you are walking alone at night and are attacked, but your attacker does not have a firearm. He is either just unarmed or has a knife. How useful would the baton be? How would you use it?
How useful is a retractable baton in self defense situation when your opponent(s) do not have projectile weapons like firearms? I see police carrying them even when they have guns. Do they need one? What would they use it for? Police riot control teams carry some kind of baton too, just fixed length though, wonder why. Lets say you are walking alone at night and are attacked, but your attacker does not have a firearm. He is either just unarmed or has a knife. How useful would the baton be? How would you use it?
How can anyone know whether a criminal has a gun or other lethal weapon? Police are massed in riot control. The ordinary citizen is alone or with just a few other ordinary people.
Police are employed to arrest criminals. Our only job is to defend ourselves from them. Since the early Sixteenth Century when the wheellock was invented the handgun has shown itself to be the most effective weapon in encounters with criminals.
When used by a properly trained individual, the extendable baton is a devastating weapon, capable of uses from restraint to lethal force. I will take the ASP model I have had for years over anything but a gun. I fully expect to win a confrontation against anyone but an experienced swordsman, given equal skill levels. Not too many experienced swordsmen out there...
Of course, against any projectile weapon, any impact weapon is sucking hind teat in a big way, as long as the user of the projectile weapon maintains some distance. Up close and personal, a skilled baton user is a match for a gun, too. Not to say I do not carry a gun along with the baton, but within contact distance, the baton is more likely to incapacitate the assailant in a timely fashion than the gun, unless the shooter can place a round in the CNS under those conditions with some degree of certainty. Just my own personal opinion, other may see it differently.
If you're trained in its use it can be effective. If not trained, then there are even odds that it will taken from you and placed in an area of your body you'd likely rather not have it.
Police carry either an ASP or baton, along with pepper spray, and a Taser with a firearm because they have to use a Force continuum. If someone is resisting, they're not going to shoot them but may whack them with a baton or use pepper spray.
And they get a LOT of training, hours and hours and hours. ASP or a baton is usually a felony for a citizen to carry, so you may want to check local laws. Plus if you use one on a bad guy, get ready to have it taken from you and used against you.
... if you use one on a bad guy, get ready to have it taken from you and used against you...
And then once you get out of the hospital, make sure you're ready to be charged with assault, be incarcerated, and have the low-life bad guy slap a lawsuit on you. Our legal system is quite often 180 degrees out of phase with justice and logic.
I've always thought a good, stout walking cane would come in handy. Along with some training in the bo plus perhaps a hidden sword and you should be all set for the average non-firearm encounter!
Perhaps Mr. Zimmerman would have gotten less grief if he'd used one of these instead of a firearm in his little encounter with young Trayvon.
And then once you get out of the hospital, make sure you're ready to be charged with assault, be incarcerated, and have the low-life bad guy slap a lawsuit on you. Our legal system is quite often 180 degrees out of phase with justice and logic.
Depends on if you live in one of those liberal states that think you should be a sheep that runs away instead of protecting yourself.
As jim9251 said, police officers have a series of steps they follow when attempting to arrest someone that increase the amount of force with each step. If step #1 doesn't work, move on to step #2, etc. Of course, some circumstances call for deadly force or baton or whatever without going through all of the steps.
I am interested in knowing whether anyone else has used a baton with any success. Seems like the offender would just try to grab it from you as others mentioned. I bet it would be hard to stay away from someone and keep swinging without allowing them to get a hold of you at some point. Ultimately, I think the effectiveness would depend on your striking points. A blow to the head or a kneecap would be very painful.
Police carry either an ASP or baton, along with pepper spray, and a Taser with a firearm because they have to use a Force continuum. If someone is resisting, they're not going to shoot them but may whack them with a baton or use pepper spray.
And they get a LOT of training, hours and hours and hours. ASP or a baton is usually a felony for a citizen to carry, so you may want to check local laws. Plus if you use one on a bad guy, get ready to have it taken from you and used against you.
I imagine being effective with a melee weapon like a baton, which is just a stick if you will, much physical exertion is required. Even in practice, you need alive sparring much like any other martial art to be really good at it. And you have to practice on a regular basis like any martial art, and becomes regular physical training. Now with that said, you would think a cop gets this regular physical exercise, and will be in decent shape. But I often see police like NYPD and they are not in good shape.
I am not trying to make fun of cops. You say they get LOTS of training. But for that training to be effective, wouldnt it have to be physically exhausting, and done often? But I dont believe I am seeing that. The cops ought to be in better shape LOLZ.
Around where I live, there are a few places that offer Fillipino stick fighting. Who would be better with the baton, an NYPD officer or an average guy who attends the filipino stick fighting school for like 3hrs out of the week? I just ask for fun.
I began thinking about this incident. In it, a guy was being knifed on a subway train, and the cops were behind a door and can see what was happening, but too afraid to do anything.
In a situation like this, if the cop chose to act, but not shoot the perp, and instead use it retractable baton, will the cop be able to save the victim from further damage?
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Ultimately, I think the effectiveness would depend on your striking points. A blow to the head or a kneecap would be very painful.
