Self Defense Options in Baltimore

[Rblakely]

My office is in Baltimore and I often have to make treks through the city to see clients. Since I can not legally carry my firearm in Baltimore I have been looking at other options. I was looking at stun guns on-line and thought I should double check to make sure they were allowed by the MD Gestapo. Turns out stun guns are banned in Baltimore city (and a couple other places in MD).

Since my options are severely limited what do other members recommend? I would like something that puts at least a little distance between me and the bad guy (knife doesn't give me much distance). Pepper spray? What is the effective range?

[Shisno]

Have you looked into harsh words? That's probably all you're allowed down there. But I also think your limited to 10 harsh words in a sentence. Any more than that and you could offend way too many children too quickly.

On a more serious note, pepper spray will probably be the best option so long as it's not illegal there. (I have no idea and IANAL)

[uniballin]

I know a guy who does a lot of work in Camden, NJ and he carries. He said to me, "when in Rome, do as the Romans do" and I don't think he was referring to butt sex.

If everyone else in the ghetto is armed, and you have to spend significant amounts of time there, why should you be unarmed? (this is a philosophical question, and by no means am I telling you to break the law).

Your best bet is to carry a dummy wallet with 20 bucks in it and some expired credit cards so if you do get held up, you can just toss that over and hope they leave you alone.

[Shisno]

I know a guy who does a lot of work in Camden, NJ and he carries. He said to me, "when in Rome, do as the Romans do" and I don't think he was referring to butt sex.

If everyone else in the ghetto is armed, and you have to spend significant amounts of time there, why should you be unarmed? (this is a philosophical question, and by no means am I telling you to break the law).

Your best bet is to carry a dummy wallet with 20 bucks in it and some expired credit cards so if you do get held up, you can just toss that over and hope they leave you alone.

Another version of the fake wallet would be a simple money clip with a $20 on the outside with a bunch of ones on the inside to make it look like a lot. Throw it one way and run the other way while screaming "FIRE FIRE" as loud as you can. You're screaming fire not help because people always want to see a fire but nobody wants to get involved if someone is screaming help. The idea is to attract as much attention as possible. Also you want to come off as crazy to the mugger so he doesn't follow you. Criminals dont mess with crazy generally.

[bill gray]

See the Canemasters website. They sell canes and instructional videos that are worth a look. The canes are about 1 1/8 thick with a larger than normal crook that ends parallel with the shaft. This allows twirling the cane (works very well on aggressive dogs) and trapping or hooking an ankle or neck. It is legal everywhere, it is already in your hand and no one thinks twice about it. However, you can deliver an upward strike to the groin, two handed horizontal blow to the mouth and another whack or two to the knee, ankle or upper arm plus a poke to the gut, ribs or throat in about three seconds. It will stop an attack. Go to the site, see the online videos and think about it. By the way, the cane looks good, people open doors for you, you go to the head of the line at Disneyworld and board first on airplanes.

[Philiberty]

Learn how to box or jiu jitsu

[Rblakely]

Learn how to box or jiu jitsu

When I was in my 20's there was such a thing as a "good fight"....now not so much

[Rblakely]

Thought about something like this

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Hunti...3Bcat104496480

[RebelRaider5]

Thought about something like this

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Hunti...3Bcat104496480

Plus one on the Kimber Pepper Blaster. I have one and carried it before I got a CWP [From Arizona, Ah, the days before Krazy Kane].

Here's the Kimber website with a few videos of the Pepper Blaster. What I like is it's effective in wind where as a traditional spray you have to worry about blowback.

http://www.kimberamerica.com/pepperblaster


Amazon has them cheaper. About $35 shipping included.

Here's a model in Gray:http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listi...&condition=new

The safety Red: http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listi...&condition=new

here's a pocket holster for the pepper blaster:http://www.midwayusa.com/product/767...-leather-brown


Midway also sells the pepper blaster for the same price as a Cabela's. Watch Midway tough, Sometimes they'll have a sale and sell them for $29.99. I would recommend you buy two. One for the car to keep in your visor and one for your pocket. Also if you get the holster, Rub the inside of the holster and blaster itself down with wax paper like crazy. Also work the hell out of the holster by bending it back and forth. Otherwise it will squeak like crazy.

Also I would recommend the gray one. I have the red one and depending on what pants I wore the butt of the blaster was visable. I would always worry a safety red butt would be an attention grabber.

Kimber offers some holsters for it also:

This looks like a cell phone case and with the gray model most people probably won't take a second look:http://store.kimberamerica.com/Produ...2/Default.aspx

This looks good if you want to wear it under a suit jacket and don't want to move around stuff in your pockets:http://store.kimberamerica.com/Produ...8/Default.aspx

*I still recommend the Midway holster, After it breaks in it's a great holster.

Also, Even tough it's pretty straight forward, Kimber offers a training unit that shoots out blue food die. It's two shots and non reloadable and $35 plus shipping. So don't know if it's worth it but seeing how you might rely on this one day with your life, I'll leave that up to you.

http://store.kimberamerica.com/Produ...1/Default.aspx

http://store.kimberamerica.com/Produ...1/Default.aspx

Last but not least, Here's a video with some Security Officer testing the Blaster: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMmBCSvSaPo

[theshadow]

hmm the only legal self defense I can think of permitted in the City of Baltimore is the rape whistle and the fetal position. To be frank I'm not sure about the whistle, they may charge you for disturbing the peace if you use it.