Use the Weapon(s) at Hand

I’m by no means a defensive tactics/personal defense expert. I have had a couple firearms classes, I have studied some self-defense/unarmed combat techniques, I hit the heavy bag occasionally for exercise and stress relief, and I wrestled in high school. But I have some thoughts that I am going to share following a rather humorous “accident” that befell me yesterday evening.

Last night I was relaxing on the couch before I needed to start getting ready for work. I was lying down with my phone over my face/head and watching some Facebook reels. One started off with a creepy clown supposedly standing on someone’s porch in the wee hours of the morning after having rang the doorbell. The resident indicates that he will use his shotgun if the creepy clown doesn’t get off of his porch. The creepy clown slowly complies and the camera shifts to the open door. Then the camera turns back suddenly and the clown is right on top of the camera with an axe and is evidently attacking the resident. Classic jump scare.

Yes, I absolutely should have seen it coming. But I got startled, panic-dropped the iPhone in its protective case, and managed to hit myself squarely in the face just below the eye. Very slick. While painful, I couldn’t help but laugh out loud at the absurdity of the situation. As you can see from the picture below, I did manage to damage myself slightly.

So how does this apply to protecting yourself and/or others. It’s simple and something that I myself have heard from someone who is more accomplished and well-recognized in defensive tactics/personal defense. Unfortunately, I am not positive who it was or where exactly I heard it, so I can’t give him (Tim Larkin?) proper credit. But the important thing is the message.

Yes, your phone, your tablet, your laptop, or other item might be expensive and possibly fragile. But in a self-defense scenario it might be a reasonably effective weapon that can help you to escape a dangerous, even potentially lethal situation. I merely dropped my iPhone on my face and did some damage. Imagine if someone had bludgeoned me forcefully with it in the face/head or some other bony part of the body like the collarbone, the sternum, or the hand/fingers/wrist with the intention to do damage. Is it likely to be as effective as a dedicated weapon like a firearm or a knife? Perhaps not. But if it’s available and already at hand, it might be your best option. Just don’t try to pocket or secure the item when you should be fighting back. And just as importantly, don’t let your technology distract you from potential threats.

Hopefully my embarrassment and my pain taught you something useful that you hopefully will never need to use.

Nice welt. Well done, Ace. 🤦‍♂️