I'm not even scanning the above, but I will tell you, Nerbly, please do not carry a knife. If you are dumb enough to pull it on someone, they will simply use it against you. And you will have genuinely pissed them off before handing them a weapon.

If you could easily imagine actually killing somebody...well, it takes a certain type. If you aren't that type...well, you aren't that type, and all the better for it. You might get the living shit kicked out of you, or worse, but you are much better off just avoiding anything like that kind of crap. There is no dishonor in running like a flaming ape if the alternative is death/brain damage/maiming/etc. Don't fuck around. Don't learn 'the hard way'. I have more than one friend who has been beaten retarded. It is a profoundly sad scene.

I just hit on an idea:

In case someone attacks you or mugs you, carry a spare wallet in your back pocket. This spare wallet will be filled with fake or out-dated credit cards (like the ones the companies send you in the mail), an out-dated driver's license, and fifteen dollar-bills wadded up to make it look like a significant roll of cash.

Give that to the guy and he'll never know the difference and you'll be able to keep from having to spend five hours at the DMV when you should be at class or working. Carry your cash, license and credit/debit cards in the tiniest, slimmest wallet possible and put it in the other back pocket. He's not going to want to frisk your ass.

Am I right? Am I right?

No.


What you do is hand over all the cash you have. Hopefully it's enough to keep them from killing you, and not so much that they think you deserve a little something special.

Then, if possible, you run. Fly like the wind. First, out into the street, under the nearest streetlight. Watch traffic, but get visible. If you can't get visible, curl up and scream bloody murder. Keep your kidneys safe, too...back up against a wall. And keep screaming. If you can't outright escape, you need to do your absolute best to remain visible and audible to anyone within sight/earshot. That way the bystanders will, at some point, think to call an ambulance. This may keep you alive.

The ass frisking thing? C'mon. Even the 'sheltered' watch Oz.

Marsupialized wrote:

Earwicker wrote:Get a rape alarm Bear - it sounds like it'd be more useful to you.

hahaha yeah just get a rape whistle, someone will think you are a chick and come to help

Man those things are annoying! There is no way you can concentrate with that shit going off.

NerblyBear wrote:

Minotaur029 wrote: Read his original post again, and you'll see that that's NOT what he's saying at all.

Jam Into Life wrote:You're missing the point. It's not the idea of carrying a weapon that's ludacris, but rather the idea of carrying and intending to use a weapon that you have no business either carrying or using. If you're, say, the great great great grandson of Wild Bill Hickock or something and have somehow inherited his gunslinging prowess, by all means feel free to swagger through the projects with your pistol at the ready.

Is he just being flippant, then?

While it's always nice to see people get what they deserve, i.e. a mugger experiencing an unexpected and flawlessly effective anti-mugging, the wild westish comment was largely intended as a dramatic exaggeration. Allow me to be clearer.

In my opinion, one should:

-Avoid being mugged at all costs. Need I say more on this?

-Accept the logical conclusion that muggers are called muggers because they "mug" or "steal" or, as it is called in an episode of the children's animated television show Arthur, "gleep". If they were out to kill, or even seriously injure, it would probably be bad for business. Maybe I'm making assumptions here, but isn't keeping a rather low profile an important part of crime?

-Not engage in any activity that is likely to escalate the potential for a bad situation to turn into a lethal one. That said, remember that general rules often disintigrate when applied to a real world scenario. I can't imagine a case where I wouldn't act submissively and unmemorably if I was being mugged. If I felt as though my life was in danger, however, I would be forced into some split-second decision making that could understandably result in a bad end for either myself or the bad guy. I understand the desire to defend onesself, but I think it's important to keep a cool head when the price difference might mean thousands of dollars in the form of hospital bills or your LIFE as opposed to a wallet and a cuff on the head. Allow me to paint a foresty illustration to make my point. It should fit well in this thread following the flattering but maybe slightly overstated comments by my good friend Minotaur.

If you were in the woods and found yourself in an intimate encounter with a bear, what would the appropriate response be? Well, considering that the bear's lifestyle involves a good deal more ass-kickery than yours or mine, wise people would say that the appropriate response would be to lie down and play dead since bears are curious creatures but usually don't consider humans prey. Isn't living to hike another day worth a few bites or scratches? On the other hand, if you had a gun or a knife, chances are you'd only end up pissing the bear off to a point where it would kill you just for the hell of it.

My final judgement, after weighing the potential "good" outcomes to the act of carrying and attempting to use weapons against muggers against the potential "bad" outcomes, is that it is a bad idea.


...However...

If you are living in or frequenting locations where crime is common, I do not think it is a bad idea to learn how to handle yourself in a fight (or how to handle weapons/defend against weapons). Nerbly, you would have done better to be more specific. I might have supported you if you had said something like "it's a good idea to carry a knife in case of an emergency where someone is ALMOST CERTAINLY GOING TO KILL YOU unless you find some way to prevent the person from doing so." I know, I know, it's hard to be sure when that state of emergency has arrived, so it's kind of a fucked up tricky puzzle.

JamLifeIntoDeath wrote:
If you were in the woods and found yourself in an intimate encounter with a bear, what would the appropriate response be? Well, considering that the bear's lifestyle involves a good deal more ass-kickery than yours or mine, wise people would say that the appropriate response would be to lie down and play dead since bears are curious creatures but usually don't consider humans prey. Isn't living to hike another day worth a few bites or scratches? On the other hand, if you had a gun or a knife, chances are you'd only end up pissing the bear off to a point where it would kill you just for the hell of it.

All of what you've said was sensible except for this little detour.

Answer: Shoot the bear in the face. Kills him immediately. Knife? Hell no, because you can't get into close combat with him without him completely demolishing you.

But even if you fail to hit his face on the first shot and he comes up to attack you, you can always hit him in the face close-range as long as you've got passable gunsmanship skills.

Playing dead sounds like a risky gambit. He could still demolish you if he's starving.

In any case, take a gun with you.

NerblyBear wrote:

JamLifeIntoDeath wrote:
If you were in the woods and found yourself in an intimate encounter with a bear, what would the appropriate response be? Well, considering that the bear's lifestyle involves a good deal more ass-kickery than yours or mine, wise people would say that the appropriate response would be to lie down and play dead since bears are curious creatures but usually don't consider humans prey. Isn't living to hike another day worth a few bites or scratches? On the other hand, if you had a gun or a knife, chances are you'd only end up pissing the bear off to a point where it would kill you just for the hell of it.

All of what you've said was sensible except for this little detour.

Answer: Shoot the bear in the face. Kills him immediately. Knife? Hell no, because you can't get into close combat with him without him completely demolishing you.

But even if you fail to hit his face on the first shot and he comes up to attack you, you can always hit him in the face close-range as long as you've got passable gunsmanship skills.

Playing dead sounds like a risky gambit. He could still demolish you if he's starving.

Sigh.

Dumbest thread ever.

NerblyBear wrote:It's much less dangerous to "brandish" a knife than to point a gun at someone.

That statement shows a distorted perception of reality. They're both *very* dangerous, but if you have to brandish anything, it should be the most powerful weapon you can lay your hands on.

NerblyBear wrote:If you do the latter, you risk being shot if he's carrying a gun. If you do the former, he will either (a) brandish his own knife if he has one, at which point you can run away,

If running away is an option, you should have done that in the first place and you would have avoided all this dangerous bullshit.

NerblyBear wrote:or (b) point a gun at you, at which point you can drop the knife and surrender,

Congratulations! you've just successfully increased your chances of getting seriously injured, or worse - being killed.

NerblyBear wrote:or (c) run away himself if he has no weapons.

That would be great, but unfortunately it ain't necessarily gonna happen. Bear in mind that anyone that has the balls to attempt a mugging is going to be (very likely) pretty streetwise, and they'll see that you're not in a split second - and you've lost the advantage, because they know they can take you with or without the knife. Hell, nearly everyone here can see you're not streetwise, and that's without a mugshot.


As far as the idea of carrying a knife being a bad one, generally it is - but if a person knows how to use it, can keep a good poker face in a stressful situation and has a lot of front - then *maybe* they can get away with it, but that's a personal choice. You have to be a certain type of person.


You would be better off with a gun than a knife, but I would advise against it. You have to be prepared to use it once it's out, and you have to be prepared to live with the consequences once you have - and I don't think you're prepared for either.

I don't know who is the most frustrating member of the forum...it's either krakabash or NerblyBear.

The fact that JamLife posted so many times is a testament to your idiocy...you're gonna get fucking ruined or killed.

Also, it might very well be a fellow classmate at your law school who ends up kicking your fool ass, not a mugger.