EDC ideas for places where everything is illegal

[BillSWPA]

Awareness, managing unknown contacts, physical fitness, and unarmed defensive skills will be critical. Anything you might carry will require good unarmed skills to really use well.

The Malkoff Bodyguard V2 flashlight with the full shroud over the tail switch makes a really nice flashlight as well as a really nice improvised striking instrument if needed. It does not have crenellations or any other features which scream weapon.

My favorite pens are the Tuff Writer Retro Click pens. Nothing about them screams tactical pen. Unfortunately many of the retro clock models are not regular production items.


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[feudist]

The motto of the International Hoplology Society is "One Mind, Any Weapon"
Cultivate an opportunistic and unsympathetic mind.
Pay rude attention to your surroundings and think the absolute worst of any human you come in contact with.
Start noticing objects, corners, fence rails, steps-things that are unbreakable with hard edges. Things to hit people with, or hit with people.
We're talking about being unarmed during an incident that may leave the innocent killed or crippled.
That's as behind the 8 ball as you'll ever find yourself.

[rathos]

https://www.meangeneleather.com/shop...s-lethal-coin/

You never know when those quarters will come in handy. I take this on planes and have never been looked at twice.

[Whirlwind06]

My post was tongue in cheek, but I do remember reading I think in one of Greg Ellifritz's travel blogs about the screwdriver thing.

[03RN]

The motto of the International Hoplology Society is "One Mind, Any Weapon"
Cultivate an opportunistic and unsympathetic mind.
Pay rude attention to your surroundings and think the absolute worst of any human you come in contact with.
Start noticing objects, corners, fence rails, steps-things that are unbreakable with hard edges. Things to hit people with, or hit with people.
We're talking about being unarmed during an incident that may leave the innocent killed or crippled.
That's as behind the 8 ball as you'll ever find yourself.

"Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet"
Gen. Mattis

[Rocket20_Ginsu]

Taser C2 May be an option to complement all of the above.


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[DC_P]

People that walk down a city street carrying a cane with no obvious need for a cane stand out like a sore thumb.

Sounds like a great way to draw attention to yourself and occupy a hand.

[M2CattleCo]

I’ve lived in Mexico quite a bit where everything is illegal.

You’re just part of the crowd.

The thing about places where everything is illegal, is that fighting back is generally illegal too. So do what you have to do.

[JCN]

[45dotACP]

I strongly suggest a cell phone.

All jokes aside, I think carrying a sharpened screwdriver is a HORRIBLE idea. Don't carry anything you can't reasonably articulate a reason for having. I don't know the laws there, but I'd bet you are in unfriendly territory there if you tee off on someone with a cane or light them up with a screwdriver and it comes about that you have absolutely no fucking reason for having a cane or a screwdriver.

If Pepper Spray is legal there, I'd suggest that. If not, the umbrella thing actually sounds like a decent idea if you can figure out somewhere to keep it.

Some implements however, are useless if you don't know how to fight. For instance, I could keep my keys on a carabiner, which could serve as an improvised knuckle duster, but I'll probably need to know how to box to make that work.

Here comes the big advertisement for physical fitness and a LEGITAMATE martial arts background that emphasizes hard contact, grappling and being able to control and finish someone against their will by forcing them into a situation that is impossible for them to overcome. Think Wrestling, Judo, MMA, Boxing, Muay Thai, or something like those. I shouldn't say MMA is a martial art, because MMA is a set of rules, although there are a number of schools that specialize in training MMA athletes and those places would be good to learn from.

Do not make the mistake of basing your fighting style on an "add on" martial art style. That is not going to help you against a dedicated attacker who is pressing the fight. I refer to some martial arts as an "add on" martial art because you need to know how to fight already if you want to use them. That sort of thing is the case with various forms of Tae Kwon Do, Aikido, and kung-fu. "Hand to Hand Skills" means you need to know how to fight. That means being able to react in the moment to a very dynamic and chaotic situation. That doesn't come from your sensei standing in front of you and saying "Attack me....NO....attack me like THIS" or some self defense guru who says it's all about eye pokes and groin shots but could never even land a leg kick or a straight right on a resisting opponent.

Like yeah, eye pokes and groin shots can work very well. But if you can't land a punch or a leg kick, what makes you think you can hit a smaller target than that in a stressful situation. You don't rise to the occasion. I think guys like Cecil and Paul and Craig have been preaching for years that you can add those things on to a foundation...but you cannot MAKE them your foundation. I can put a guy on the ground with an aikido wristlock because I know that if that fails, I can go immediately to a blast double.

That story of the dude who used a MMA hold to take down a knife wielding assailant is fucking wild, but that's the kind of martial arts you need. Yeah, he got cut badly. He could have died easily. What he did was both brave, and desperate but he defeated and HELD DOWN and armed assailant. That is fucking bananas.

When I was taking YMCA karate as a kid, I would occasionally think to myself about those exact type of situations. "Could I REALLY beat some dude in a fight? Could I bring myself to take down a guy with a knife and know I could do it? Can I land powerful, debilitating shots with speed? If I got the guy to the ground, do I have a way I can defeat him that doesn't include my usual bravado of just saying I would stomp his head or something?"

In the back of my mind, I knew the answer was "maybe...maybe not." because kata, front snap kicks and chambered punches and ridge hand strikes on a wave master were one thing...but we never sparred.

Now that I have been kickboxing with sparring frequently, and have gone up in rank in BJJ, I know for a fact that I could improvise/find a way in the moment to to funnel an attacker into a situation that would be to my benefit. I would maybe still get cut, and maybe still badly. But if desperate enough and brave enough, I have many times before, controlled the pace of striking exchanges against larger, stronger opponents, and have been able to take them down and easily control or finish them.

So yeah, get out the carabiner so you can open up cuts on the guy a little easier, or get the keys to put between your fingers, or the umbrella to daze him with some headshots...get the pepper spray so you can blind him, or groin strikes that you can deliver quickly and use footwork to dodge whatever counter he may have. You can dominate the fight with just a little extra advantage.

But you should learn how to do one thing that you'll never get from a single seminar or a day in training.

You should learn how to fight.

But if your body is too beat up for that, then I suggest you avoid the stupid people, places and times, get some pepper spray and figure out how to get the fuck away in a hurry and notify the cops.

Hence the cell phone.