One of Weer’d's readers left him a comment on one of his DGU (defensive Gun Use) posts.
Funny story. I tell my GF I want a gun because I follow this blog, but she tells me she doesn’t want me carrying it around her. She argues that pepper spray or a taser would be equally effective. Thoughts?
Weer’d responds here with some videos and facts. His points, in short: tasers and OC (Oleoresin Capsicum) spray are nice, but they only for cops. As to why, I’ll quote Weer’d himself:
You see as a civilian I have one dichotomy when it comes to personal defense. Deadly force, and no Force.
Which ties in with something Bob S. wrote:
What level of violence is acceptable when fighting back against a criminal intent on harming me or mine?
I answered in the comments with something I’ll expand here, the “Axe Theory.”
The philosophy of the Soviet General Staff is no different from that of the horsemen (The Magnificent Seven –ed.) whom I had watched riding the desert. `If you want to stay alive, kill your enemy. The quicker you finish him off, the less chance he will have to use his own gun.’ In essence, this is the whole theoretical basis on which their plans for a third world war have been drawn up. The theory is known unofficially in the General Staff as the `axe theory’. It is stupid, say the Soviet generals, to start a fist-fight if your opponent may use a knife. It is just as stupid to attack him with a knife if he may use an axe. The more terrible the weapon which your opponent may use, the more decisively you must attack him, and the more quickly you must finish him off. Any delay or hesitation in doing this will just give him a fresh opportunity to use his axe on you. To put it briefly, you can only prevent your enemy from using his axe if you use your own first.
[...]
Many years passed and I became an officer serving with the General Staff. Suddenly, as I studied American theories of war, I came to an appalling realization. It became clear to me that a modern American cowboy who is working up to a decisive fight will always expect to begin by spitting at and insulting his opponent and to continue by throwing whisky in his face and chucking custard pies at him before resorting to more serious weapons. He expects to hurl chairs and bottles at his enemy and to try to stick a fork or a tableknife into his behind and then to fight with his fists and only after all this to fight it out with his gun.
This is a very dangerous philosophy. You are going to end up by using pistols. Why not start with them? Why should the bandit you are fighting wait for you to remember your gun? He may shoot you before you do, just as you are going to slap his face. By using his most deadly weapon at the beginning of the fight, your enemy saves his strength. Why should he waste it throwing chairs at you? Moreover, this will enable him to save his own despicable life. After all, he does not know, either, when you, the noble hero, will decide to use your gun. Why should he wait for this moment? You might make a sudden decision to shoot him immediately after throwing custard pies at him, without waiting for the exchange of chairs. Of course he won’t wait for you when it comes to staying alive. He will shoot first. At the very start of the fight.
This is why police officers draw their weapons. This is also why so many people who try to use “less than lethal” force end up in hospitals… or the morgue. If you have a good tool, use that good tool. If a guy is attempting to beat down your door in the middle of the night, don’t try to build up to things… go for broke. After all, he might get phased when you crack him over the head with a frying pan… or he might get pissed off and hurt you.
Remember, most DGUs result in no shooting. Which of the following is the better scenario:
1. You are exiting a Quickie Mart one night when a rough-looking gentleman in a T-shirt and shorts accosts you for your wallet. Observing that he is holding a knife, you pull your OC spray and dose him. He begins to fail about, and then charges you and stabs you. You end up in the ICU with multiple knife wounds.
2. You are exiting a Quickie Mart one night when a rough-looking gentleman in a T-shirt and shorts accosts you for your wallet. Observing that he is holding a knife, you draw your sidearm and aim it at his center of mass. He holds his hands up and surrenders, and you hold him until police arrive.
I know which one I’d rather participate in…
For humor: here’s how scenario one would play out, and how I feel about OC spray.
