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Maybe you would only get one shot with it before it breaks, but if you place it on the right place on the person, you could do some very serious damage and no one is going to stop you from carrying a pen around.

I like flashlights. There are a lot of valid, good reasons to have a small flashlight. They make some now that are 600 lumens. You could blind someone temporarily with that in daylight! Plus you could hit someone with it. Some tail caps are crenellated almost like a saw blade, and I’m not sure I’d carry one of those because I’m not sure I could explain that real well in court. Most of the tactical lights have a crenellated top, albeit not as sharp or “weapon” like. The lights generate so much heat that if you put it lens down on something it will actually catch fire unless the crenellations let the heat out.

I don’t like stuff that is called tactical. I realize it is a marketing trick, but I don’t really like having to explain that in court. I like something like the Streamlight that is made out of aircraft-grade aluminum, because it is pretty sturdy and you can drop it and it doesn’t break easily, that is what I would say, right? Yet if I have to smack somebody with it, it still works pretty well.

eJournal: I suppose most anything could be used in a pinch.

Kane: One favorite impromptu weapon that I have used a couple of times that works great is a hot, steaming cup of Starbuck’s.

eJournal: Huh?

Kane: Try blocking a hot cup of coffee being thrown at you! You can’t do it.

eJournal: And, unlike pepper spray, it delivers through wind and rain and will probably not disable you in the process.

Kane: There have been a couple of times that I’ve been at the ATM machine in the middle of the day in good neighborhoods where somebody came up and tried to rob me. I have to tell you, the best six bucks I ever spent was on a venti extra hot latte that I threw in a guy’s face that made it very easy for me to get away from him. It worked great.

Fire extinguishers, pool cues, even your laptop computer makes a great impromptu weapon, though I guess you’d need a new one afterwards. There is a plethora of stuff around you. Do be aware that there are laws some places, for example, if you hold a beer bottle from the fat end–like you would drink out of it–and you smack somebody with it, you will be charged with less of a crime than if you held it from the narrow end, and use it more like a club. There are lots of nuances in the law, so it depends on where you live and work, so be aware of that, but just about anything can be a weapon if you know how to use it right.

Then, if it’s working, you keep doing it until the threat stops. If talking is working, you keep talking! If punching is appropriate and it is working, keep doing it until the threat goes away. If it does not, you have to be immediately prepared to go to the next level.

I could be in a fist fight then realize that I’m bleeding all over the place because I didn’t see the knife in the guy’s hand–that’s fairly common, actually–well, that’s not working and I need to jump levels quickly.