CCW options, gun, knife, mace, fists, flashlights and strobes
I think those about sum up your options for fighting and maybe if you are in good shape a good kicking foot will do. I primarily count on firearms for self defense because there are levels of threats and levels of criminal intent and showing a gun is enough to deter most crimes when a knife or flashlight really might just make a bad guy laugh at you especially if he’s bigger. I’ve seen first hand that a untrained person with a knife isn’t going to inflict much damage and unless you actually know how to move with a knife, don’t even try and wield it. A tactical knife is a good accessory to concealed carry, but not something for the amateur to fight with.
Something to consider which is showing up more and more in CCW flashlight courses I have sat in on are the strobe flashlights. Now, first of all, I’m not going to tell you that it’s something that is going to stop a threat, I’m just saying that it is something else to consider especially when Streamlight Flashlights only cost you about $50+ dollars and might give you something else to use on a dumb drunk that is really just an annoyance rather than a threat. An unsuspecting drunk isn’t going to like having a 180 Lumen flashlight and a ” Hi, how are you” from a friendly CCW that flashes him in the eyes and then gets into a car and drives off.
If you have ever taken a course at Thunder Ranch, one of the things you will hear from an instructor is to put a white light on your gun. I think there are valid arguments about how to use lasers and lights on a firearm, but there are mostly liabilities in not having a light available in defensive situations, especially in your own home. Why would anyone not put a light on a firearm in there house? Police are trained to move and turn lights off and on as they move white pretty much voids the argument that it gives the bad guys a place to aim, well, if the guy with the light spots the guy in the dark first, his gun is probable already pointed in the right direction.
We was flipping through a few gun magazines and noticed I was living in a new era of flahslight technology. The age of ever ready flashlights and mag-lite flashlights seems to have passed. Battery technology has also improved, but we still haven’t gotten to wear we need to be to really break into a new era. The major advancement is in light bulb technology. LED bulbs are thousands of times longer lasting and don’t drain batteries like the previous designs. Flashlights are almost all water proof these days and the beam and throw is increadable.